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Microsoft may add Kinect-like detection to Surface Mini

Would you buy a tablet you could operate by moving your face and hands? Such a feature could be in the works for Microsoft's reported Surface Mini.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
Microsoft's Surface Pro 2 tablet
Microsoft's Surface Pro 2 tablet Sarah Tew/CNET

Owners of the much-rumored Surface Mini may be able to control the tablet via face and hand recognition. At least, that's the latest tidbit served up by Chinese blog site WPDang.

Pointing to information from an anonymous news source, WPDang said that the Surface Mini will adopt the same type of somatosensory technology used in Microsoft's Kinect. That means the tablet would be able to recognize and react to your face and hand movements. The source also claims that the feature would work more smoothly than the gesture capability currently offered on Samsung's Galaxy S4 and Note 3.

As for other specs, WPDang says the Surface Mini would sport a screen size of 8 inches but still maintain the same 1080p resolution of its bigger brother. Powered by an Intel Bay Trail processor, the tablet would run Windows 8.1. However, a less robust and undoubtedly cheaper version of the Mini might also pop up equipped with an ARM processor.

When should consumers expect the Surface Mini to actually surface? In September, ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley said that the diminutive tablet may be delayed until the spring of 2014.

(Via Boy Genius Report)