Dropping the other shoe on one of tech's worst-kept secrets, Microsoft has officially unveiled the cellular broadband-ready Surface tablet, officially called the Surface 2 (AT&T 4G LTE) .
The update comes more than a year after Microsoft first launched the Surface tablet (originally called Surface RT), a few months after Microsoft's own Surface lead Panos Panay promised the mobile broadband option, and potentially puts it on more equal footing with Apple's iPad, which has had mobile broadband support since its launch in 2010 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX 4G.
See also: Microsoft Surface 2: Powerful, Classy, Confused
Little else is changed in the Surface 2. At 10.81 inches x 6.79 inches x 0.35 inches, its dimensions are virtually unchanged, though Microsoft said the addition of a cellular radio makes it a couple of grams heavier. I held both the original Surface 2 and the 4G model and could not feel the weight difference. The Surface 2 4G ships with Windows RT 8.1, Office and Outlook 2013 RT and comes with 200GB of OneDrive cloud storage (free for 2 years).
For now, Microsoft isn’t talking about Surface Pro 4G availability. The Pro model runs an Intel mobile CPU and offers the full-blown version of Windows 8.1. Some business users prefer this model because it can run standard x86 software.
Even though Microsoft selected AT&T as its 4G launch partner, the Surface 2 is actually unlocked and is capable of accepting any micro-SIM on 2G GSM, 3G UMTS and 4G LTE networks. Microsoft claims the new broadband radio does not impact battery life, which was previously rated at 10 hours of video playback.
The new mobile-broadband-ready Surface is available now on Microsoft's website and Best Buy in one configuration: a 64GB model listing for $679. When asked about the limited SKU options, a Microsoft spokesperson wrote back in an email: "Our customers have told us that 64GB is the ideal configuration for a mobile broadband-enabled device and our goal was to tailor Surface 2 (AT&T 4G LTE) to our customers’ wants and needs."

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