14 DAY TRIAL // Today Microsoft released this month's Patch Tuesday improvements to patch flaws and fix issues in Windows, Office, and Internet Explorer, but the company also showed some love for the Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Surface Pro 3 tablets thus received new firmware update today, which comes with a number of improvements for the digital pen and for the Surface app that's available in the Windows Store.
Basically, the new Surface Pen Settings driver update, which, according to the SP3 update history page, is version number 3.0.64.0, comes with new functionality and features for the Surface app, but Microsoft says that there's even more in today release.
In a statement released this morning, the company confirms that the new update also includes additional levels of pen pressure sensitivity based on user feedback.
"The Surface Pen Settings driver update released today enables new functionality and features for the Surface app found in the Windows Store. In response to customer feedback submitted through the app, we have added additional levels of pen pressure sensitivity adjustment, allowing Surface Pro 3 customers the ability to further personalize the responsiveness of the pen," the company says.
The Surface Pro 3 pen
Today's update is living proof that Microsoft is betting big on the Surface pen, which shouldn't be called a "stylus," as the head of the Surface division Panos Panay said on several occasions.
The pen uses Bluetooth to connect to your tablet and comes with three different buttons, one for launching OneNote and to take a screenshot, a right-click button that also serves multiple purposes in OneNote, and an eraser button that comes in handy to designers who use the Surface for drawing.
The pen requires an AAAA battery and can be used with either the right or the left hand, with dedicated settings in this regard available in Windows 8.1.
Rumor has it that the Surface pen is here to stay and would also be used on several other releases, including the next-generation Surface tablet expected later this year.
