Partial review, full review in comments.

Physical Updates:

The first thing you notice when you compare the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter V2 to its predecessor is the change in how the device is arranged: While the original V1 of the Wireless Display Adapter placed all the electronics in a single unit with a USB connector on a one foot wire, the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter V2 has split the internals into two units and placed them on opposite ends of the wire.

The benefit to the new design is that it helps ensure the adapter can fit behind monitors and televisions that are mounted to the wall. Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter V2 with Extension CableThe new adapter ends up being around one inch shorter than the V1 adapter, but that can be made up with the included extension cable.

The extension cable adds six inches to the adapter’s sixteen inch length, making it suitable for most TVs and monitors. Microsoft made an interesting choice with V2, providing a USB Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter V2 connected to a hotel TV.extension cable instead of the HDMI extension cable provided previously. I’d say the choice was made because the larger size of the previous adapter required an HDMI extension for tight spaces behind TVs, where this one does not.

UI Updates:

The previous version of the adapter would show a very basic screen, While this was enough to get going, the new UI really is a step up. The new screen makes it very easy to see which adapter you are connecting to (useful if you have more than one adapter nearby), as well as clear instructions on how to connect to the adapter (assuming you’re using Windows 10).

Continuum:

One noticeable improvement (among several) with the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter V2 is when using it with Continuum with a Windows 10 mobile Device, such as my Microsoft Lumia 950 XL.

The V2 adapter has less lag when working with a phone in Continuum mode than the previous V1 adapter. I find the V2 adapter doesn’t provide any noticeable lag in my use. It’s far closer to the dock experience even with video running through Microsoft Edge, using both Netflix and Youtube in my testing.

Using the V2 adapter, combined with my Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse and Microsoft Universal Foldable Keyboard, I have a very compact, lightweight workstation that can be attached to any HDMI display with a nearby USB port (and there’s always USB extension cables and Wall Chargers if you don’t have a port nearby).

Other Devices:

I was also able to use the V2 adapter with my Windows 10 laptop to wireless project to my TV without lag or any other issues. Where previously I used a longer cable plugged directly between the laptop and TV to send watch streams and video, the wireless adapter proved to be a much better choice, and being able to run the wireless display as a second stream made things easier when I wanted to watch a stream and catch up on some email, all without lag!

Conclusion:

Microsoft Wireless Adapter V2, Closed.The Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter V2 is an incremental, but quite welcome upgrade to the previous V1 version. It eliminates the lag of its predecessor while assuming a form factor that is easier to use in cramped quarters like those found behind a wall-mounted screen.

If you are using the adapter for strict display mirroring to watch videos and display pictures, the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter V1 is on sale for $29.99 (available here) and may be more economical, but if you are planning to use Continuum with a Windows Phone or mirror a display for gaming or more interactive use, you’re better off buying the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter V2 for $49.95 (available here).versal Foldable Keyboard for iPad, iPhone, Android devices, and Windows tablets]].

This is an initial impressions review as I've only had the device for a day at the time of writing. I'll update the review if I uncover something that would change my review considerably.

Note: This product has specific requirements on what type of devices and operating systems it will work with. I recommend reading both Amazon and Microsoft's product page (model P3Q-00001) before purchasing to confirm if it will work with your device.

Here are the 2 devices I am successfully using with the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter v2:
- Dell Inspiron 15 5000 Windows 10 laptop with Intel WiDi adapter (AC 3160 NIC).
- ASUS Nexus 7 Android tablet running Android version 6.0.1.

The reason I bought this device is that I wanted to be able to:
- Display the contents of my Android tablet or Windows 10 Laptop screen onto my Samsung TV screen. (e.g. Display pictures, web browser, etc.)

- Stream video from either of those 2 devices to my TV without any noticeable playback issues. More specifically, I wanted to be able to stream items such as YouTube videos or regular DVD movies from my Windows 10 laptop or Android tablet to my TV.

So that is the extent of what I needed/wanted the device to do well. And so far it has definitely met those needs.

During my testing, I played a regular DVD movie from my laptop, streamed to the TV, and it played smoothly without any hiccups. I also played several videos from YouTube in HD format on both my Android tablet and Windows 10 laptop and those videos displayed smoothly on my TV. In-short, I did not experience any unexpected pauses, scrambled video, considerable lag, or audio issues. So that is all good news.

As for lag, it is so minimal (at least in how I use the product) that I'm very impressed with the results. It is literally a fraction of a second for my TV to display what my tablet or laptop is displaying. So that was also good news and meets my needs.

As for range, the official product page advertises a 23-foot range for reliable connections. In my house, I was able to walk my tablet or laptop up to 30 feet away before it would disconnect from the wireless display adapter.

Overall, I'm definitely happy with it so far. There are a couple minor technical issues I listed at the end of the review. But, ultimately, the wireless display adapter worked right out of the box with no additional configuration, and it performs very well for how I wanted to use it (i.e. stream video and audio reliably).

Some additional info about the product that may be useful to some:
- It measures just under 16 inches long end to end, with the flexible cable portion being approx. 11.75 inches long.

- The box also included a 6 inch USB extender in case you need it for your installation.

- Its boot-up process only takes about 30 seconds before you can connect a device to it. (on firmware version 2.0.8350)

- I always like to check on how warm devices like this get during normal use. This wireless display adapter does very well in that category. It only gets the slightest bit warm, but not really warm or hot like other similar devices I have plugged into my TV over the years.

- As referenced in the included instructions, I installed the free, optional "Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter" app from the app Store onto my Windows 10 device. This app allows you to do more advanced configuration such as 1) change the display name of your wireless adapter, 2) enable security settings such as requiring a PIN when pairing a device to the adapter, and 3) displaying/updating the firmware. This app is completely optional, and is meant for users that like to use or experiment with these types of settings. If you are not that type of user, rest assured you can skip installing this app, and just use the device straight out of the box (no additional product configuration needed).

I'm giving it 4 stars simply because of the below 2 possible problems I've noticed (but ultimately these are minor in my situation and I’m still happy with the purchase). Disclaimer, the below is a bit technical in-nature:

- In firmware 2.0.8350, there *might* be a bug with the "PIN when pairing" security option. I saw behavior where when I enabled that feature, only one of my two devices was prompted for a PIN. I then performed a ‘factory reset’ on the display adapter, and repeated the test and a third device that I borrowed was also not prompted for a PIN. I then noticed an obvious display issue in the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter app where on the "My Adapter" page it says "Pair with PIN code: Off" but on the "Security Settings" page it says "On." So at a minimum, there is a display issue in the app that should be fixed. But it also appears sometimes devices can connect without going thru the pairing process. I'll continue to play with this to see if I can get some consistent results of what is happening. If there truly is a problem, I imagine it will be fixed easily enough through a future firmware update. Check the "comment" section of this review to see if anyone else has confirmed this behavior or has reported that there is no issue.

- A few times my Android tablet has gotten "stuck" when trying to connect to the display adapter. This has only happened a few times, and it was when I was performing a lot of "disconnect" and "connects" in succession amongst my two devices during testing. When it happens the display adapter on the TV lists that it is trying to connect to my Android, but it never fully connects. I then have to clear the attempted connection by one of the following three options: 1) restart the wireless display adapter (unplug/replug), 2) restart my Android tablet, or 3) on my Android tablet uncheck the "Enable wireless display" option and then re-enable it. This so far has been a pretty rare event and again, I think it was only because I was doing a lot of disconnect/connects as part of testing. Normally you wouldn't be doing this day-to-day, so it should be a non-issue for most people. It is also possible that it is a bug with Android OS as I did not experience this problem on my Windows 10 Laptop.

Well, that was easy! The minimal instructions made me wary of how easy the setup would be, but it was simple. My TV had a spare HDMI input and a USB port, so that part was trivial: plug both ends into their respective ports, one for inputting the signal and the other for supplying power. I turned on the TV, switched to the correct HDMI input source, and set the screen to landscape.
The instructions for the Surface computer were similarly simple: open the Action center, click the Connect tile, and the Miracast device shows up. Click connect. What's on your PC screen is now on your TV. I watched a web cast TV show, and was happy to be able to watch it on my TV screen rather than on the smaller and less crisp Surface display.