Microsoft doesn’t make televisions, and yet over the years it has made some impressive displays. The first of those was the original Microsoft Surface interactive display, then the second-generation Surface, and now they’ve created a one-of-a-kind 120-inch 4K TV.
The super-wide display is hanging on a wall in Microsoft’s newly opened Envisioning Center located in Seattle. It is there purely to act as a way of showing off the future, as Microsoft sees it, to its partners. And it’s certainly a future I wouldn’t mind seeing come true.
The 120-inch panel not only manages a 4K resolution, it has Kinect built in and is linked to a lighting system reminiscent of Philips’ Ambilight. Not only that, but it can wirelessly link up with mobile devices located nearby, allowing whatever is being displayed on the main TV to be enhanced by further content in your hand. This is effectively Microsoft’s SmartGlass in action.
The images you can see on the display form part of a storytelling app made specifically for this demo area. It’s an interactive storytelling app that takes full advantage of Kinect and use of a second screen, and should get anyone using it excited about future tech and undoubtedly what Microsoft has planned for the Xbox 720.
Microsoft doesn’t see this being a typical setup in our homes for at least another 5, and maybe even 10 years. I’d agree, as it will take at least 5 years for 4K displays of that size to become even remotely affordable, and could take 10 before they completely replace the 1080p TVs we all buy today.
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