Microsoft is right on schedule with its yearly Christmas promotion, “12 Days of Deals”. If you haven’t taken advantage of it yet, you still have almost an entire week left to browse around and take advantage of the remaining offers. The promotion started on the 8th of December and will not be over until the 21st.
The way this works is pretty straight forward: Microsoft will offer a special, unique deal every other day for the entire 12-day duration leading up to the holidays, in a limited stock. This year’s theme seems to be top technology gadgets and devices – laptops, tablets, 2-in-1 PCs, and much more.
Some offers will certainly catch your eye, but be wary! The sale starts every day at 8AM ET with a limited amount of items, so hurrying up might be a good idea or you risk missing out on some really great offers.
So far, Microsoft’s offers have been more than generous, ranging from tablets to unlocked phones and even video games.
Day 1 of Deals
Day 1 of the offer, on December 8th was a Toshiba Encore Mini tablet that you could get for just $79.00 – instead of the regular $119.00 – and would earn you a free 16GB Micro SD card included in the package. The tablet comes already packed with the latest Windows 8.1 version in 32-bit variant, planning to give you power and efficiency packed into a handy 7-inch, widescreen display tablet.
The Toshiba Encore Mini is meant to help you with most aspects of your life – check your emails, communicate with friends, family and coworkers, watch movies, play games or shop online. It can do it all, and it does it well, incorporating powerful multitasking capabilities. To top it off, Microsoft is offering a year long subscription to Office 365 for the tablet, to help keep you in touch with your work when it needs to be done on-the-go. The package includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and 1 TB of OneDrive online to keep your documents safe and available between all of your devices.
The technical specifications of the Toshiba Encore Mini will work brilliantly with whatever you choose to do, the tablet packing an Intel Atom Z3735G 1.33 GHz processor that includes the Intel Burst Technology up to 1.83 GHz. While there is only 1 GB of RAM, it’s DDR3L-RS class at 1333 MHz frequency. The tablet is also complimented by a 16GB SSD hard drive that will ensure fast data transfer between your devices. Communication is made easier on the tablet just as well with the addition of two cameras, both rear and front, rendering video calls an easy thing to do.
Day 2 of Deals
Day 2 offered the first-comers an unlocked BLU Win HD Phone for the price of $129.00 instead of the regular $179. This is probably one of the most affordable Windows phones you can get. The 5 inch display and bold quad-core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 200 processor compliment the colorful phone and allow it to stand out as one of the best deals you can get, be it during the 12 Days of Deals, or otherwise.
Its 8 GB of storage can be easily expanded through micro SD cards of up to 32 GB and, unlike so many other smartphones out there, this one does have a dual SIM capacity, allowing you to operate under 2 phone numbers from the same phone, regardless of carrier.
Naturally, the BLU Win HD Phone also comes with the latest Windows Phone 8.1 Update, bringing several features to the table such as Word Flow, Wi-Fi Sense and Live Folders, alongside with the new Windows personal assistant Cortana.
Other tech specs include 1 GB of RAM, the 5 inch IPS HD capacitive touchscreen with a 1280 x 720 resolution, at 294 pixels per inch and 16 million colors, and dual cameras: an 8 megapixel camera with autofocus capabilities on the back, and a 2 megapixel one on the front meant to make video conferences possible off of your mobile device.
Day 3 of Deals
Changed the tone of the sales slightly and focused on a different side of the tech market: video games and consoles. People who visited the Microsoft 12 Days of Deals web store after 8 AM were able to get a brand new Xbox One Console with a $50 off promotion, alongside a free game for the console. The game offers were rather limited but still popular titles such as the latest Destiny, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare or the lighter Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare for Xbox One.
Only two models of the Xbox One were part of the offer on December 10th however, the brand new 500 GB Xbox One including a wireless controller and chat headset, or the refurbished Xbox One with Kinect that also allowed you access to two game downloads: Dance Central Spotlight and Ryse: Son of Rome.
Day 4 of Deals
Microsoft decided to take it up a notch in its fourth day of promotion by offering one of the more impressive hybrid tablet ASUS T100 Baytrail. This is the kind of device that will wink at you if you’re undecided about getting a tablet or a laptop.
Firstly, it runs the full Windows 8.1 version, not the RT, cut-down alternative of the operating system. Secondly, its hardware power is not something to be taken lightly – a quad-core 1.33 GHz Intel Atom Bay Trail Z3740 processor is complimented by 2 GB of RAM memory, both of which will contribute to something the Asus Transformer Book T100
Day 5 of Deals
Gave a little attention to audio devices by releasing a convenient sale for the Jambox Mini – a wireless Bluetooth speaker released by Jawbone that you can connect nearly any mobile device to play your tunes at a high sound quality. The Mini Jambox is a simple gadget that gets updated through your mobile phone or tablet; any improvements brought to the technology are rendered through the Jawbone App that gets constant updates and tweaks to its functionality.
The Mini Jambox was put on sale at a price of $69, $60 less than its regular price.
Day 6 of Deals
The promotion took another turn towards the gaming community on December 13th when Xbox One games such as Sledgehammer Games’ Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Bungie’s Destiny were released at particularly low prices – $29.99.
Day 7 of Deals
Two days ago was the 7th day of the 12 Days of Deals and we are back on track with hardware and technology. The offer of the day involves a sleek, unlocked affordable Nokia Lumia 635, sold at just $179.00. The Lumia is the first phone that came with the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system, featuring Cortana – the new personal assistant that learns what you like or need and develops on the way.
It does not fail to bring another new feature of the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system – the Word Flow keyboard that will make typing easier than ever.
Image Source: https://cnet2.cbsistatic.com/
The 16:9 aspect ratio of the 4.5 inch screen will ensure that you can watch all the media you desire on the Nokia ClearBlack Technology display. But that is not the only thing the Nokia Lumia 635 smartphone can do, packing a quad-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processing unit itself and 512 MB of RAM. Sure, it won’t be your laptop replacement but can easily get most of the job done, wherever you are.
The phone comes with 8 GB of storage memory, and another 7 GB you can get for free via cloud storage on OneDrive to keep your documents, photos, videos and other files safe and backed up. Both cameras of the phone – back and front – incorporate continuous autofocus technology and will make video streaming as comfortable and clear as it can get.
The offer starts at 8AM ET this morning where you will be able, for a limited amount of time, to get this phone for $129, unlocked and with no commitments whatsoever.
Day 8 of Deals
Starting tomorrow, December 15th, you will still have 4 days’ worth of chances to take advantage of the 12 Days of Deals Microsoft is throwing out this year.
On the eight day of deals Microsoft customers could enjoy a 200$ discount for the coveted Asus TransformerBook. In other words, the price of the device dropped from 499.99$ to 299.99$. This was one of the best deals.
Specs for the ASUS TransformerBook
- 15.6-inch HD touchscreen
- Intel Core i3-4030U
- 4GB memory/500GB HDD
- Up to 5 hours battery life
The company hasn’t made any statement as to what the offers in the following days will be, preferring to keep it a surprise for every morning of the promotion. However, prior leaks have made their way out here and there, and while they were never confirmed in an official manner, most have turned out to be true.
There is a complete lack of information regarding one of the days of the promotion, even originating leaks not having been able to cover it. Does this mean Microsoft has a bigger surprise for us? We will have to wait and see what the 17th of December has is store for us.
If you have only found out about this promotion now, don’t worry. While products that have already been on sale have little chance of returning on the first page, there are plenty other that might suit your needs or make for a wonderful last minute present. If you want to get ready to catch an early start and maybe get to take advantage of the deals, here’s a speculated list of what is there to pop up on the 12 Days of Deals webpage these days:
- ASUS Flip 15.6” for $399 – December 15th only
- Fitbit Charge + Yurbuds for $129 – December 16th only
- HP pavilion x2 10.1” 1366 x 768 Atom for #249 – December 18th only
- 12-Month long Xbox Music Subscription for $49.90 – a 50% off deal that will come online on the last day of the promotion, December 19th.
In the meantime however, the Microsoft promotional website is up for careful inspection and more information on products and other deals.
Direct link to the promotion: click here
Shipping information: click here
Roxanne Briean
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