Microsoft Surface Win RT

[nostatic]

FedEx dropped off the Surface RT this AM and I've been messing a bit with it. We got it to test as a possible app deployment platform, and I have a colleague who lives on OneNote so I figured I'd use the opportunity to play with that as well (the web client is a bit clunky).

Setup was pretty painless. UI is interesting. Usability is...umm...interesting. One would think that since MS is either late to the party and had a chance to learn from the iPad or has been doing this for years (depending on how you view their previous tablet forays), the experience would be decent. But maybe not.

Maybe I haven't figured out the ins and outs yet, so some of this might be user error. Wouldn't be the first time. But I'm not exactly a novice device user so if I can't figure out quickly how to do something then there might be an issue.

Font sizes - not everything will scale up with a pinch zoom. And the only accessibility options are "high contrast" which changes to white text on black background, and the "make everything on your screen bigger" option isn't supported.

I have a little over a thousand people in my contacts (between work and personal). Who thought that side scrolling through that was a good idea with no quick way to get to a letter?

Pinch zoom is slow in the browser and not very smart. Double taps in iOS and Android will often zoom a section to fill the screen. Double tap in RT brings up a highlight for copy/paste. Pinch has no smart zoom, at least that I can find.

The news feed has no pinch zoom at all - either in the preview or the full story. So if you can't read 9pt text you're out of luck.

With the calendar you can't adjust how many hours you see in the window - you have to scroll to see early or late items.

Oh wait, I think I found a global text change. You have to go into the main control panel (which I only found with a sideswipe while running onenote), then you get the typical windows control panel. And to change the text from smaller (100%) to medium (125%) you have to log out to apply the changes.

Will be interesting to start getting more real world feedback on this as it hits the streets. Early reports have been mixed at best. Since I don't use windows daily I don't have a lot of baggage from that side of the street. But this is definitely a "two-tiered" system. There is the win8 (and RT) veneer, then you scratch the surface and are back to a more typical windows under the hood.

On the plus side, the keyboard cover is pretty cool and I can type ok on it.

[HardDrive]

Does it come with a free Zune?

[enzo1]

Microsoft Surface RT Review: This Is Technological Heartbreak

[island911]

enzo

keyboard cover - is that the Touch cover or the Type Cover?

You were smart to order one.

I went by the local store this AM

This was line one of two....




The lines where for those buying.

[HardDrive]

In Bellevue, 50 yards from a Microsoft building?

Originally Posted by island911

I went by the local store this AM

This was line one of two....




The lines where for those buying.

[nostatic]

I have the touch cover. It is a nice piece of engineering and easier to type on than glass. So far that is about the only good thing I can say about it. The UI and software is pretty half-baked imho. Perhaps comparable to the first iteration of iOS but that was a long time ago. In addition the live.com site is another mess. Wrt to the surface, the whole break between the new UI and the desktop is odd. When you go to use office you are thrown back into the old Win. Maybe the 2nd or 3rd generation will be better, but at this point (to me) it is a curiosity rather than the "no compromise" holy grail as promised by Redmond designers.

[island911]

HD, Those wouldn't be Microsoft employees (or family). ...they would go to the employee store in Redmond.

Knowing that the device could be ordered for delivery today I was surprised to see the huge lines.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by island911

enzo

Have you used the Surface RT yet? I'm a few hours into it and I have to say that much of that article correlates with my experience. I give the touch keyboard higher marks, but beyond that it is a disjointed experience and I'm not seeing the productivity side of things better relative to other tablets. Maybe the full win8 version will be a different story.

[nostatic]

Not that I have much experience with these contraptions

[gtc]

That store really sucks. The windows phone challenge a few months ago had the same line out the door. They are simply not set up to handle large volumes of customers.
I was ready to walk in, sign up for their phone and service, and walk out, but they insisted I wait in line for several hours to do the challenge. Consequently they failed my "shut up and take my money" test.

[island911]

Originally Posted by nostatic

I have the touch cover. It is a nice piece of engineering and easier to type on than glass. ...

It has a better tactile response than I was expecting. The Type-cover is better yet.

I'll note that I was happy to see other hardware offerings as well.

This was looking good for the price/size/performance. (testing Pelican on RT )






This with a 1080 screen, i5 processor ... thin, light..


Lots of devices. I didn't care for the glossy screen treatments (horrible outside/daylight)

[enzo1]

Originally Posted by island911

enzo

keyboard cover - is that the Touch cover or the Type Cover?

You were smart to order one.

I went by the local store this AM

This was line one of two....




The lines where for those buying.

Microsoft offers $100 giveaway to line up for Surface | Brier Dudley's Blog | The Seattle Times

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I just find it hard to believe that anyone would stand in line for ANY electronic device, no matter how "cool" it is.

Having been a victim of Microsoft bloat/crapware since 1987, I doubt I'll be investing in a tablet with an MSFT logo on it.

That said, I'm getting pretty fed up with Android--both my phone and my Acer A500 tablet. Web browsing is really unpleasant, and things seem to get laggy on both devices for no discernable reason. The tablet is worse, to be honest. It's amazing how simple apps can cause the thing to be totally unresponsive for several seconds at a stretch.

And finally, Apple...no way am I going to buy buy buy into that iOS thing.

[island911]

Originally Posted by nostatic

Have you used the Surface RT yet? I'm a few hours into it and I have to say that much of that article correlates with my experience. I give the touch keyboard higher marks, but beyond that it is a disjointed experience and I'm not seeing the productivity side of things better relative to other tablets. Maybe the full win8 version will be a different story.

From a usability standpoint I'm not seeing many differences from Win8 ...which I tested a year-ish ago (Dev preview). For my purposes, I also find the Metro overlay a disjointed experience. (as I've posted way back) But I can see where MSFT is going with this.

[island911]

Originally Posted by enzo1

Microsoft offers $100 giveaway to line up for Surface | Brier Dudley's Blog | The Seattle Times

interesting. I took that photo @~10AM --That store opened at 9:30
...I doubt that most were there for a chance at $100 credit toward a full year of Xbox Music Pass. But, who knows. I wasn't going to stand in that line.

[nostatic]

I just find it hard to believe that anyone would stand in line for ANY electronic device, no matter how "cool" it is.



Having been a victim of Microsoft bloat/crapware since 1987, I doubt I'll be investing in a tablet with an MSFT logo on it.



That said, I'm getting pretty fed up with Android--both my phone and my Acer A500 tablet. Web browsing is really unpleasant, and things seem to get laggy on both devices for no discernable reason. The tablet is worse, to be honest. It's amazing how simple apps can cause the thing to be totally unresponsive for several seconds at a stretch.



And finally, Apple...no way am I going to buy buy buy into that iOS thing.

I've lived with the various Eco systems. Say what you will, but if you can live with apple's limitations, iOS will give you the most cohesive and consistent experience.

[nostatic]

Well, I figured out how to navigate people a bit better. If you pinch it'll turn into a periodic table of the alphabet so you can navigate that way.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally Posted by nostatic

but if you can live with apple's limitations, iOS will give you the most cohesive and consistent experience.

Ah, but I'm not after cohesive/consistent.

I'm after speed and flexibility. And a much better multitasking model than anyone is providing.

I guess when it comes right down to it I want a full-bore Linux box in a tablet, with a stable, usable interface (nothing in the Linux UI world is there, yet) and a workable text-entry system (both standard Apple and Android ones suck).

[flipper35]

Anandtech had one and said the Clovertrail based unit is better in the performance arena. We are getting one to try with our clinicals software to see how they work. Our clinicals requires IE (had it before I started there).

[red-beard]

I'm waiting for the Regular Windows 8 version.