Microsoft is working on fabric-covered Surface Pens

Microsoft’s industrial designers are always working on ways to improve their Surface Pen, and their latest idea is a little bit out of the left field.

Microsoft’s industrial designers are always working on ways to improve their Surface Pen, and their latest idea is a little bit out of the left field.

Their February 10, 2020 patent described an easy to apply a “TEXTILE COVERING FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICE”, specifically a Surface Pen.

Microsoft writes:

Examples are disclosed that relate to textile coverings for electronic devices and methods of manufacturing textile coverings for electronic devices. In one example, a fabric covering for an electronic device comprises one or more structural fibers woven into a seamless tube, the seamless tube configured to enclose at least a portion of the electronic device. The textile covering also includes one or more heat-shrinkable fibers and / or one or more adhesive fibers woven into the seamless tube. The heat shrinkable fibers shrink when the seamless tube is heated above a threshold temperature, thereby constricting the seamless tube around the electronic device.

Microsoft is, of course, a fan on textiles, as proven by their Alcantara-covered laptops, and Microsoft notes that covering a device with textile can confer “a visually-appealing appearance and/or a pleasing tactile user interface.“

I would, on the other hand, worry about a textile covering collecting dirt and bugs.