MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

mgmueller · 10-30-2012, 05:42 AM

It's here!
20 hours after shipment confirmation.
3 days later than expected, but a 50 Euro gift certificate from Microsoft fot the inconvenience, very nice!

First impressions:
The keyboard (the soft one) comes in the very same package.
The keyboard itself looks a bit strange. The front (the external side) looks like the inner side of the Kindle covers. It's not ugly or cheap, but it looks kind of "unpolished".

The Surface looks great. It's not as stylish as Apple's iPad, but it looks and feels very "businesslike".
I guess, it compares best to Motorola's Xoom 1 and 2.
The foldout stand is well thought out, although I won't have much use for it.

The keyboard attaches magnetically (where have we seen that before?

) and is extremely stable. You easily can hold the whole tablet at the edges of the cover and won't get afraid about your tablet falling off.
The touchpad seems to have similar functions as on MacBook Air: 2 fingers scroll and such.

The on/off button of the tablet is at a bit strange position.
In portrait, when opening the keyboard cover to the left, the on/off button is at the lower right corner. Exactly where I would hold it in portrait position. The button is very rigid, so you probably can't activate it by accident. Still, I'd prefer the upper corner...

I'm just configuring it. The keyboard is surprisingly smooth. I had feared, you have to push the buttons more roughly. But actually, it's extremely smooth. You almost "hover" over the keys.

To summarise: The soft keyboard is surprisingly smooth.

I'll compare displays (iPad 3, Kindle Fire HD, Google Nexus 7, ...) later on. But fist impressions are great. Vivid and natural color saturation, great viewing angles.

Now to Windows 8.
Where are the settings? I need the MAC address for my WiFi.
Ahh...I've found the settings: They "hide" behind your user name.
And if you switch to Desktop mode, you find the settings icon at the right edge of the screen.
Ahh...The good old command prompt.

So far, it all seems pretty familiar: Drive C, Explorer, Cmd.exe, ...
Ohh...There's a setting button on the keyboard. Well, this has been too easy...

What's pretty obvious:
It really is totally different from iOS or Android.
It's a whole new experience, to work touchscreen and keyboard in parallel in such a way.
But I like it. A lot!

Apps:
I'm installing from the Microsoft Store:
Skype
Wikipedia
OneNote
Evernote
StumbleUpon
7Digital
Merriam-Webster
Spiegel (German News Magazine)
Kobo
Kindle

Battery duration seems to be very good.
It came with 50% charged and still has 25% left after 3 hours.

Surface makes use of the bezel.
Similar to BlackBerry PlayBook or HP TouchPad.
Swiping down for example opens the context menu.
On one hand, that's great. I've always missed this on iOS or Android. On the other hand, it feels somewhat inconsistent: Do I want to use the mouse/touchpad? Or the bezel/touchscreen? Both?

The sound is quite powerful. Distance between speakers is far enough to have stereo effect.
I never understood, why iPad only comes with a single speaker.
I'd say, Surface's sound quality is slightly above average. I have to compare, but Kindle Fire HD may sound a bit "clearer".

10-30-2012, 05:42 AM	#1243
mgmueller Member Retired Posts: 3,308 Karma: 13024950 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Augsburg (near Munich), Germany Device: 26 Readers, 44 Tablets	Microsoft Surface RT It's here! 20 hours after shipment confirmation. 3 days later than expected, but a 50 Euro gift certificate from Microsoft fot the inconvenience, very nice! First impressions: The keyboard (the soft one) comes in the very same package. The keyboard itself looks a bit strange. The front (the external side) looks like the inner side of the Kindle covers. It's not ugly or cheap, but it looks kind of "unpolished". The Surface looks great. It's not as stylish as Apple's iPad, but it looks and feels very "businesslike". I guess, it compares best to Motorola's Xoom 1 and 2. The foldout stand is well thought out, although I won't have much use for it. The keyboard attaches magnetically (where have we seen that before?) and is extremely stable. You easily can hold the whole tablet at the edges of the cover and won't get afraid about your tablet falling off. The touchpad seems to have similar functions as on MacBook Air: 2 fingers scroll and such. The on/off button of the tablet is at a bit strange position. In portrait, when opening the keyboard cover to the left, the on/off button is at the lower right corner. Exactly where I would hold it in portrait position. The button is very rigid, so you probably can't activate it by accident. Still, I'd prefer the upper corner... I'm just configuring it. The keyboard is surprisingly smooth. I had feared, you have to push the buttons more roughly. But actually, it's extremely smooth. You almost "hover" over the keys. To summarise: The soft keyboard is surprisingly smooth. I'll compare displays (iPad 3, Kindle Fire HD, Google Nexus 7, ...) later on. But fist impressions are great. Vivid and natural color saturation, great viewing angles. Now to Windows 8. Where are the settings? I need the MAC address for my WiFi. Ahh...I've found the settings: They "hide" behind your user name. And if you switch to Desktop mode, you find the settings icon at the right edge of the screen. Ahh...The good old command prompt. So far, it all seems pretty familiar: Drive C, Explorer, Cmd.exe, ... Ohh...There's a setting button on the keyboard. Well, this has been too easy... What's pretty obvious: It really is totally different from iOS or Android. It's a whole new experience, to work touchscreen and keyboard in parallel in such a way. But I like it. A lot! Apps: I'm installing from the Microsoft Store: Skype Wikipedia OneNote Evernote StumbleUpon 7Digital Merriam-Webster Spiegel (German News Magazine) Kobo Kindle Battery duration seems to be very good. It came with 50% charged and still has 25% left after 3 hours. Surface makes use of the bezel. Similar to BlackBerry PlayBook or HP TouchPad. Swiping down for example opens the context menu. On one hand, that's great. I've always missed this on iOS or Android. On the other hand, it feels somewhat inconsistent: Do I want to use the mouse/touchpad? Or the bezel/touchscreen? Both? The sound is quite powerful. Distance between speakers is far enough to have stereo effect. I never understood, why iPad only comes with a single speaker. I'd say, Surface's sound quality is slightly above average. I have to compare, but Kindle Fire HD may sound a bit "clearer". Last edited by mgmueller; 10-30-2012 at 05:57 PM.