Samsung demos SUR40 display with Microsoft Surface

Microsoft and Samsung have teamed up to offer an interactive touch screen device, designed for use by retailers, banks, schools, hospitals and even restaurants.

The Samsung SUR40 comes built in with the Microsoft Surface interface, which displaya interactive apps. Although the unit has Windows 7 Professional 64-bit built in users will primarily be interacting with the touch-based overlay.

The device comes with a 40 inch Corning Gorilla Glass display, which has full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution and a brightness of 300cd/m2. The SUR40 uses technology called PixelSense where little transistors that can see in the infra-red spectrum are embedded directly into pixels. This allows the device to effectively "see the user," explained Somanna Palacanda, director of Microsoft Surface marketing, at the launch event in London today, attended by IT Pro.

The device is also capable of recognising objects that have custom Microsoft tags. Businesses can send out brochures or leaflets that will interact with the screen when the customer comes into a branch, for example.

"Customers are demanding a touch experience and we have provided a device that incorporates a multi-user experience," Palacanda told IT Pro. The table has 50 simultaneous touch points to enable collaboration and it knows where your standing, so information is automatically re-orientated based on your position,"

"The SUR40 helps to personalise interactions, whether they are between customer and staff at a retail store or a doctor and patient."

To help ensure a smooth experience, the SUR40 is powered by an AMD Athlon X2245e 2.9GHz dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6750 GPU and also features 320GB of storage.

Connectivity comes in the form of an Ethernet port, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The device also has 4 USB ports, an SD card reader and HDMI connectivity.

A standard unit comes with four legs, making the device look similar to an Air Hockey table. Samsung is offering the device at a base price of 8000, but the cost will increase as custom applications need to be created.

Other configurations are available, depending on customer needs. It is possible to embed the SUR40 into furniture such as coffee tables (as seen below) or counters, and it can be hung on a wall.

It is also feasible to add a NFC reader and POS system so users would be able to share content with their mobile device, as well as pay for goods using the SUR40.

The Microsoft Surface SDK is available for free from the website and has been downloaded over 15,000 times so far, according to Palacanda.