Skip to main content

Microsoft’s Surface heads to the sidelines in the NFL pre-season

Are you ready for some football? Microsoft sure is. On Sunday night during a pre-season game between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Giants, special versions of Microsoft’s Surface tablets were all over the sidelines. Depending on how well the experiment works out, quarterbacks and coaches may soon say bye-bye to their binders and hello to an NFL-approved version of the Surface.

Lately, the NFL has begun to embrace new technologies, including smart tracking of players’ movements on the field, which should arrive this season. Just last year, Surface tablets were used by the NFL to help coaches keep tabs on their players’ health.

Recommended Videos

The Surface tablets that were on the sidelines last night are much more rugged than their consumer counterparts and offer severely limited functionality, so as not to give the more tech-savvy team the advantage. The NFL’s Surface tablets feature a rugged build and waterproof screens, have no cameras, and can only access in-stadium Wi-Fi. The tablets basically run only one app, called the Sideline Viewing System (SVS), so players and coaches can’t even access YouTube.

Surface NFL tablet
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In other words, these Surface tablets mean business. The main point of having the tablets on the field is to allow coaches and players to review plays more quickly, take notes on what’s going on in the game, and save plays to review later. Coaches and players also get the benefit of seeing all that info in full color on a more portable device. They can also use the Surface stylus to draw diagrams, outline plays, and make other annotations on images from the game.

The NFL keeps the tablets under lock and key when they’re not in play, so that no one can tamper with the team’s private strategies and info during the week.

At this point, the Surface tablets have only been used during one game, so the verdict is still out on how much they enhance life on the sidelines.  After the game, Bills coach Doug Marrone said his Surface didn’t work.

“I was told mine was going to work, and mine didn’t work,” Marrone said to WGR 550 AM in Buffalo. “They said they would get it right, and it was miscommunication. But I was excited. I did use it in the second half, and I like it a lot.”

One viewer noted that the coaches seemed to be sticking to their paper playbooks during the game, even though the NFL did a little promotional clip about the tablets.

Malarie Gokey
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Mobile Editor, Malarie runs the Mobile and Wearables sections, which cover smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and…
How to order the Microsoft Surface Duo 2
Microsoft Surface Duo 2 feat image.

Microsoft has made some serious enhancements to the new Microsoft Surface Duo 2, fixing most of the mistakes people found with last year's Surface Duo. The folding dual-screen still shines, and it now comes with a 90Hz refresh rate on both panels. This is augmented by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, triple camera array, and the addition of 5G. Thanks to these improvements, the Surface Duo 2 takes its place among the top-tier folding phones and commands a correspondingly high $1,500 starting price.

The Surface Duo 2 is slightly thicker and heavier than the first Surface Duo, but it's also more solid and sturdy in the hand. The outside glass discreetly curves into the edges for a more elegant and subtle look and feel. The display sizes are somewhat larger at 5.8-inches, while the bezels have lost some fat around the edges. A fingerprint reader with a power button tops the updated package. The phone runs Android 11.

Read more
Surface Duo 2 vs. Surface Duo: Which is better?
The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 rests on a staircase railing because: right angles.

The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 is one of the most interesting phones to launch this year. It's Microsoft's unique take on the foldable genre of smartphones, and it advances the concept rather than collapsing into the more consumer-friendly style we see in the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip-series of foldables. Instead of a single, folding screen, the Surface Duo-range uses two separate displays side-by-side.

While it might be the newest, sometimes the latest isn't always the greatest. We're trotting out the original Surface Duo to see if it's a viable alternative to the Surface Duo 2 by looking at their specs, designs, and overall capabilities. You want a foldable phone from Microsoft? Let's see which one of these two is the best.
Specs

Read more
There’s a HUGE SALE on Microsoft Surface devices today
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 with a nature scene on the display.

Microsoft's Surface devices blur the line between tablet deals and laptop deals, with different configurations and form factors available. You have plenty of options from the available Surface Laptop deals and Surface Pro deals -- it's all just a matter of choosing the Surface device that's perfect for your needs and budget.

If you're set on a Surface device as your next purchase, the good news is that there are discounts that you can avail yourself of today from Amazon and Best Buy. The Microsoft Surface Go 2 is available on Amazon for $475, after a $75 discount to its original price of $550, while the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 with Type Cover is sold on Best Buy for $599, after a $360 reduction from its original price of $959. Amazon is also selling the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 at $69 off, bringing its price down to $930 from its original price of $999.
Microsoft Surface Go 2 – $475, was $550

Read more