MS Surface 2nd generaton

[pl001]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

Frankly, I dislike these "well my dad can beat your dad" type of shoving matches.

Yeah, that wasn't my intent.

I'm the first to admit the Surface and RT are not perfect, and in fact have done so numerous times. I don't believe the Surface with RT is the perfect tablet solution for everybody's needs. However I do believe most people are uninformed about what it offers and how capable it is. So when people who have zero experience with it make blatently false statements I can't let it go unchallenged.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Problem is:
Majority of users/buyers obviously doesn't care much about the OS.
It's 99% about apps.
Else my beloved BlackBerry PlayBook and the equally advanced HP TouchPad, about 2 years ago, would have been way more successful. At their time, their respective OS was way ahead of iOS or Android. Still: Lack of apps killed them both rather quickly.

If I look at reviews in iTunes or Google Play or now in the Microsoft Store, I get the impression, the average user is about 15 years old, has very limited cash resources ("for such a high price of 3 Euros I would have expected a way better game") and mainly is interested in games. One just has to check out the top 100 Apps: Angry Birds and the likes.
You don't need an advanced OS for that, nor multi-tasking and the likes.
But you have to offer the majority of the top 1000 apps...

This has been the biggest issue IMO, and also the hardest to overcome. It doesn't matter how good the hardware or OS are, if you don't have apps people want or need you're not going to make the sale.

Microsoft has been much more aggressive though than RIM or HP were in getting apps out there, and they also have a far more developed ecosystem of their own products like Office, Bing, Skype, XBox, SkyDrive, etc. Plus their store is not just for RT but full Windows 8 as well, whose sales are somewhere over 100 million.

While I would to see more of the latest and greatest apps on RT, it's not like it was with my Blackberry where I felt I was missing out on huge chunks of functionality and entertainment. All my needs and most of my wants are covered, and there's enough to keep the kids occupied as well.

[Kumabjorn]

So I succumbed when I went to buy some rechargeable batteries. I also brought home a Microsoft Surface Pro 2 (4MB RAM/ 128 MB SSD) and a Docking station. Have to admit it is a nice little tablet, comes with a fan, have yet to hear it. The Wacom digitizer is equal to the one on my Note 10.1 so that is good, actually the main reason I bought it, I want to to handwriting in OneNote.

[HarryT]

Excellent - I hope you find it as useful as I find my 1st gen Surface Pro, which I use every day.

[Kumabjorn]

I think I will. They didn't have any Type Cover, so I thought I might wait until the Power Cover is out and do a comparison then. Now it is just a tablet with a BT keyboard (MS Wedge). Im writing this using that combination. The new Touch Cover is supposedly an improvement, but obviously it doesn't have tactile feedback. Perhaps if I tested it for a while...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I think I will. They didn't have any Type Cover, so I thought I might wait until the Power Cover is out and do a comparison then. Now it is just a tablet with a BT keyboard (MS Wedge). Im writing this using that combination. The new Touch Cover is supposedly an improvement, but obviously it doesn't have tactile feedback. Perhaps if I tested it for a while...

I have the Type cover, and wouldn't want to be without it. It's a pretty good keyboard - certainly on a par with the keyboard on my "real" laptop as far as "feel" goes. I tried the 1st gen Touch cover in the Microsoft store when I bought my Surface Pro and didn't like it at all.

The Power cover does look good. Is there a date for its release yet?

[Kumabjorn]

Not as far as I know. I think it is out in the US but the rest of the world needs to wait a little longer.

[HarryT]

I'll probably be visiting the US again at some point this summer, so I'll probably buy one there, if I find myself within reach of a Microsoft Store.

[Kumabjorn]

You can probably find it in a Best Buy as well. More of those around.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

You can probably find it in a Best Buy as well. More of those around.

Thanks - that's useful to know. I'm not at all familiar with who sells what in the US .

[Kumabjorn]

Neither am I, just read too much.

[WillysJeepMan]

The keyboard on the Type Cover 2 is amazing. Because of the 16:9 aspect ratio of the Surface, the keyboard on the Type Cover is the same size as the keyboard on my 15" Macbook Pro.

The trackpad on the other hand is virtually worthless. I end up using it only when it is not practical to use my bluetooth mouse.

I have the RT. Terrific little device. I don't really miss x86 support but the quality of apps in the apps store really needs to come up a bit.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

The keyboard on the Type Cover 2 is amazing. Because of the 16:9 aspect ratio of the Surface, the keyboard on the Type Cover is the same size as the keyboard on my 15" Macbook Pro.

The trackpad on the other hand is virtually worthless. I end up using it only when it is not practical to use my bluetooth mouse.

I find that the trackpad works fine. What problems do you have with yours?

[WillysJeepMan]

The trackpad itself is fine, but the trackpad buttons are not mechanical but capacitive touch (like the trackpad itself) Getting the button tap to register is tricky.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

The trackpad itself is fine, but the trackpad buttons are not mechanical but capacitive touch (like the trackpad itself) Getting the button tap to register is tricky.

I wonder if they're different on the 1st gen Type keyboard, which is what I have? The buttons work fine for me - they have a positive "click" action and are 100% reliable.