If you found yourself watching Wednesday’s Microsoft Surface event and wanted to get your hands on the newly announced Surface Dial, then you are in luck. The new Dial accessory unveiled by Microsoft at the event is now available for pre-order.
According to Microsoft, the new Surface Dial is expected to start shipping around November 10 but pre-orders for the unit opened up Wednesday for $100. That’s not a bad price at all if you are one of the Surface users targeted by the device.
The Surface Dial is an accessory designed to make accessing app-specific functions and submenus easy on most Surface Pro devices including the Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4, and Surface Book. It also comes with some special Surface Studio-0nly features. The Dial can be used in a variety of configurations, including on your desk like a mouse or other input device, but the true appeal of the dial comes when you use it on top of the surface screen.
When used in this configuration, the Surface Dial gives you the ability to access specific submenus or use the dial as a tool such as a ruler or even something like a color picker in Paint. You can also use it to do other common tasks like controlling the volume of your music, scrolling through websites, or even zooming in or out.
Currently, only 16 apps support the Surface Dial, but that should change quickly once more developers get on board. More information about the Microsoft Surface Dial can be found on the Microsoft website.