Microsoft Surface With Windows RT Hands-On Impressions

How does the Surface RT hold up after a weekend of use? We put it to the test.

I originally wanted to do this entire story with the typos left in.
My first day using the Touch Cover was plagued with so many typos, I figured it would be a fun way to show off how steep the learning curve on the new Touch Cover is. But then, miraculously, after a weekend of use I stopped making so many typos.

My words per minute is still nowhere as fast as it is on a normal keyboard, and dragging and dropping is a huge pain, but I’m pleasantly surprised with what I’ve been able to accomplish on the Surface’s Touch Cover. When the Microsoft employees tell you it has a steep learning curve they mean it. But it is learnable.
That steep learning curve is present in more than just the Touch Cover though. Just take my horrific day of setup as proof. For some reason, you need to use the same Microsoft Account as your Xbox Live Gamertag is connected to upon setting up your administrator account, or else you can't access your Gamertag. As far as I can tell, once you’ve created an administrator account, there’s no way to switch the administrator account – shy of reformatting your Microsoft Surface. Which I did. Twice.
Sure, it doesn’t sound like a huge problem, but I had to reformat my Surface twice in single day just because there was no clear instructions during the setup process. Weird glitches happened throughout the process (perhaps most bizarrely, it told me it couldn't accept @outlook.com addresses, which Microsoft invented.). It was a nightmare, and there is no way people like my parents would have figured out how to fix it.

But enough about the weird, frustrating setup process. I have been consistently and simultaneously shocked by what the Surface RT can do (and at times what it cannot).
With the tap of a button, the Surface can display a full desktop, which allows you to quickly sort through your file hierarchy. This is the kind of dream people on iPads have - a computer OS-style folder format for their files and media.
This alone gave me the impression that RT really was something just a bit more than a tablet. Similarly, the hardware has a few tablet/PC-hybrid tricks up its sleeve. The USB port works flawlessly, and allowed me to quickly add a keyboard when I needed to get things done faster than the Touch Cover allowed, and worked with a mouse as soon as I plugged it in.
everything in Surface RT is designed to be done by touch
Adding a mouse is hugely valuable, as the Touch Cover’s trackpad and small buttons are a bit hard to use. But ultimately, you may not need it – everything in Surface RT is designed to be done by touch, and frequently I found myself switching between touch and Touch Cover.
I cannot emphasize the mind-boggling accomplishment this represents. If Microsoft can successfully get us to simultaneously use touch and hardware for input, they’ve created a brand new way for us to use a device, and it frequently felt like something completely different from its competition.

Still none of that matters much if you just want to use the Surface RT as a gaming device, and unfortunately our initial impressions are not favorable. On the first day of using the device, the Surface had significant slowdown playing every single game we tried. Jetpack Joyride dropped significant frame rate whenever touch input occurred and Pinball FX was rendered virtually unplayable due to a delay in input and paddle action. However, later in the weekend I was able to play Jetpack Joyride without significant stutter, so further testing is required.
Some other snap judgments: the charger is tough to fit in the device, the speakers aren’t great, and finally the Surface is super easy to use as a tablet with a folded Touch Cover behind it.
What do you think? Has this hands-on piece made you more or less excited for the Surface RT? Our review should be posting later this week, so keep checking out IGN for all things Surface RT. In the meantime, feel free to hit me with questions in the comments.

Microsoft Surface Tablet Detail:

  • 676g
  • 9.33 mm thick
  • 10.6" ClearType HD DIsplay
  • 31.5 Wh battery
  • microSD, USB 2.0, Micro HD Video
  • Office Home & Student 2013 RT, Touch Cover, Type Cover
  • 32 GB, 64 GB
Windows 8 Pro, is the obvious pro option, and is touted as a "full PC." It comes with a heftier weight (and, we can assume, a heftier pricetag too):
  • 903 g
  • 13.5 mm thick
  • 10.6" ClearType Full HD Display
  • 42 Wh battery
  • microSDXC, USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort Video,
  • Touch Cover, Type Cover, Pen with Palm Block
  • 64 GB, 128 GB

Comments

Post a Comment

Kindly Comment Only related to Post

Popular posts from this blog

Attopedia puts Wikipedia on your Android Wear smartwatch

Image
If the recently gone native Wikipedia mobile app seems to much of a hassle for you, meet Attopedia – the first Android Wear app to put Wikipedia on a smartwatch. The app is free and features an interesting UI paradigm in line with Android Wear’s gesture based control. Once you’ve selected an article, swiping up or down selects an article section, while a left or right swipe explores the content of the section. The project looks like it could be really useful, but we’re sure most of you would prefer to get the phone out of your pocket and browse it on a bit larger display. Nevertheless, this could be an ideal solution for a light reading if reaching for your phone isn’t an option. Packing an Android Wear smartwatch? Great, now head over to the source link below and get Wikipedia on your wrist.
Read more

Chromecast Audio currently available for just £15 in UK

Image
Google's Chromecast Audio dongle has received a price cut in the UK, where retailer Curry's PC World currently has the device listed for just £15, which translates into a solid 50% discount given that the Google Store is selling it for £30. The retailer is also offering the Google Chromecast at discounted rates - £25.00, down £5 compared to what Google is selling it for. However, other third-party retailers like Argos and Tesco are offering the same discount as well. In case you missed, recently, both Chromecast and Chromecast Audio received a $5 price cut in the US as well. Source
Read more

D.M.A. Navi Watch app for Galaxy Gear puts Google Maps navigation on your wrist

Image
You own a Galaxy Gear and need to get somewhere but don’t know the way. While Google Maps integrates with Android Wear, your Tizen-powered Samsung Gear smartwatch can’t use Android Wear apps. How to get out of this conundrum? The free D.M.A. Navi Watch app. The app still uses Google Maps for navigation, but transfers the notifications put out by Maps onto your wrist. To do this it will need access to read your notifications. Here’s a video that shows how that’s done plus the rest of the setup process to get D.M.A. Navi Watch up and running. And here’s a video of the app in action: The app is available for free from the Samsung Gear app store. People have reported successfully running it on both the original Galaxy Gear and the Gear 2. You can get in touch with the app’s developer at the XDA Developers forum .
Read more

iPhone SE teardown shows hardware ranging from iPhone 5 to 6s

Image
The Apple iPhone SE is a 6s in a 5s body, but Chipworks dug into the internals and it turns out the story is more complicated than that. It straddles multiple generations - from the iPhone 5 selfie camera to the iPhone 6s chipset, a whopping four generations. The Apple A9 chipset is brand new and the SK Hynix-made LPDDR4 2GB memory matches the 6s as well. The NFC, audio chips and motion sensor are from that generation as well. The storage appears to be from the 6s as well, but an earlier 19nm chip instead of the 15nm being shipped now. The Qualcomm modem from the earlier iPhone 6 model while the touchscreen controller goes back to the iPhone 5s. Using the images and info from Chipworks, I labeled the parts on the motherboard with the iPhone generation they come from. Source | Via
Read more

OnePlus 2 torn down, gets 7/10 for repairability

It’s not the first time we’ve seen the OnePlus 2 disassembled, but since we haven’t practised our Chinese this lifetime, we have to admit we struggled a bit with the translation on the previous occasion. It’s nice then that iFixit got round to tearing down the self-proclaimed “2016 Flagship Killer” so we can gather up some more easily digestible info. The procedure kicks off with an X-ray shot of the smartphone, but regardless of its outcome, the device was already scheduled for surgery. Removal of the back cover is simple and the non-proprietary screw heads to reveal the innards are a nice touch. The folks then proceed to remove the non-removable battery and dismantle the camera modules, pointing out that the 1.3 micron pixel size of the 13MP sensor is the largest they’ve seen. The mainboard is held by a single screw, while the microUSB Type-C connector/cable assembly should be easily replaceable. Of course, the various chips are detailed, but the bottom line is
Read more

Can a Chromebook Replace Your Laptop?

Image
For years, my daily computer was a commendably-powered and somewhat pricey Asus gaming laptop, but after natural wear and tear began to set in, it became obvious that my machine was slowly but surely breaking down—performance was becoming more and more sluggish, the battery's capacity was dropping, and I even had to have its charging port repaired at one point. But as clear as my trusty Asus' inevitable demise was, I didn't have the funds to replace it with a new Windows-powered machine, so instead of continuing to use an unreliable computer for work, I was given a Chromebook Pixel to try out. The idea had me feeling somewhat uneasy. CES was quickly approaching and the thought of tackling one of the year's biggest tech events using a glorified Chrome browser didn't exactly seem like the best plan. But I was just as curious as I was cautious. Could a Chromebook really replace my traditional laptop? Fortunately, I survived CES using the Pixel a
Read more