Microsoft Surface Pro 2 officially announced

Today Microsoft announced the Surface 2 and the Surface Pro 2 during a special media unveiling event. The Microsoft Surface Pro 2 succeeds last year's Microsoft Surface Pro promising improved performance and better battery life.

The Surface Pro still features a 10.6 ClearType display with a 1920 by 1080 pixel resolution. However Microsoft promises 46% improvement in color accuracy and a record low reflectivity, nearly identical with the sRGB color gamut coverage. Microsoft wants the Surface Pro to be a choice tablet for professionals without restricting where it can be used.

Thanks to its Haswell architecture, the Core i5 processor in the Surface Pro 2 promises a much better battery life. The 75% increase which Microsoft estimates should give you 7 to 10 hours of usage with the Surface Pro 2. The unit is also reportedly much quieter, though that doesn't mean it features a fanless design.

Other improvements include new Dolby surround speakers and an improved kickstand. The kickstand on the Surface Pro 2 can now open at more angles than the 22 degrees of the original, making it much easier to handle the Surface Pro 2 on your lap.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 2 will come bundled with a feature called Best of Skype, which will give Surface 2 owners access to one year of free Skype Wi-Fi hotspots as well as one year of free Skype international calls. Surface 2 owners will also get 200GB of free SkyDrive storage.

The Surface Pro 2 comes with a new series of keyboard covers aimed at various users. The Power Cover accessory for example is capable of increasing the Surface Pro 2 battery life by 2.5x, which means you could have as much as 12 hours of battery life now. You can learn more about the new keyboard covers here.

Microsoft has also built a docking station for the Surface Pro 2, which features three USB 2.0 ports, a USB 3.0 port, a mini HDMI port, ethernet and audio ports.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 2 which will run Windows 8.1 Pro will start with a 64GB form which has 4GB of RAM and will cost $899. The device can be pre-ordered as early as tomorrow and will go on sale on October 22 in 21 markets. There are three additional variations - 128 GB storage and 4GB RAM, 256 GB of storage with 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage with 8 GB of RAM - the last one will run you $1799.