Surface Adaptive Kit Is Microsoft's Most Universal Release Today
Microsoft has a set of sticky-backed strong and custom-cut materials prepared for a Surface Adaptive Kit. This kit consists of keycap labels, 3-dimensional bump labels, port indicators, and openers. With these elements, users will modify their Surface devices to their hearts' content. This sort of kit should be available from hardware manufacturers across the board – if you make moving parts, 3D labels and add-ons like these should be ready to roll at launch, by default.
This product includes 1 set of 12 keycap labels, 1 set of 16 3-dimensional bump labels, 1 set of 5 port indicators, 1 ring opener, 1 pull tab opener, and 1 keycap applicator. Microsoft includes several colors in each set to match whatever device you have on-hand and/or to assist in color indication of individual buttons and/or ports. Colors include gray, white, green, orange/red, blue, and yellow.
Keycap labels can be applied with the keycap applicator included in the kit. These labels "highlight keys for confident touch interactions" with tactile indicators. Opener support (with 1 ring opener and 1 pull tab opener) allows the user "additional leverage and flexibility to more easily open the lid or kickstand of a Surface device."
Even if this kit was designed with certain users in mind – as shown in the press photos from Microsoft – they really could be used by just about anyone. Modifying one's hardware in this way is the sort of thing that makes a person love their own unique purchase more the longer they interact with it – assuming the hardware and the materials that make up this kit can stand the test of time.
There is a list of compatible Surface devices offered by Microsoft, but the could (technically) work for most any laptop. Microsoft says this kit is compatible with the Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard, Number Pad, and Designer Compact Keyboard. They also suggest you could use the kit with Surface Laptop 4 or 3, Laptop Studio, Pro 7, 7+, or 8, Surface Book 3, or Surface Dock 2.
We will know more about the release date and price of this kit soon. Stick around and see the rest of the new Surface devices and accessories from Microsoft this afternoon and, in the near future, on the SlashGear review bench.