14 DAY TRIAL // The Surface Mini is one of Surface projects that never came to be for a reason that’s yet to be confirmed, but photos and specs that were published online today by @evleaks appear to suggest that maybe the device might have been worth a chance.
The design of the device is nothing unusual, and the leak reveals that the Surface Mini would have featured an integrated kickstand, just like the other Surface models on the market.
The Surface Mini was supposed to be targeted primarily at students who wanted to replace their notebooks with a device that can be carried around easily, so it also featured Surface Pen support, USB ports, a headphone jack, and a front-facing camera for video calls. A MicroSD card reader was also included.
The kickstand supported 3 different positions, and the device was made of polyurethane, with 3 different colors, namely black, red, and blue.
The display of the Surface Mini measured 7.5 inches and featured a resolution of 1440x1080 pixels, with 4:3 aspect ratio. Power came from a Qualcomm MSM 8974 chip, with two different configurations, as it follows: 32GB storage and 1GB RAM or 64GB storage and 2GB RAM.
Powered by Windows RT
Probably the most disappointing part of the tablet was that it was developed to be powered by Windows RT 8.1, an operating system that failed to impress given that it was limited to Windows Store apps, which at that point nobody was interested in.
Microsoft didn’t include any battery life specs in the spec sheet, but given that it was aimed at students, more than 8 hours autonomy was very likely.
Unfortunately, the Surface Mini never came to be, and it’s believed that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella canceled it at the very last minute after talks with Stephen Elop, who at that point was in charge of the devices unit at the software giant. The two decided that the Surface Mini didn’t have anything that really set it apart from the rest of the industry and killed off the project completely.
