Live Windows 8/ Surface Tab Thingie

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

I'll let other people be the guinea pigs first.

Always the best idea.

No one loses, since we won't have to deal with initial issues and others will want to own it first anyway.

My question is whether or not certain limitations might be temporary or disappear in later versions. Omitting Outlook, for example, seems a trifle odd.

Even so, I'm really looking forward to demoing the 920 and the Surface RT.

* * * * *

A minor cosmetic quibble:

Strange how Android users' pretend-W8 desktops usually look more contemporary than the real thing. That corporate blue is one step away from teal and the entire palette reminds me of the side of a Lego cube.

Same goes for Lumia 920 iterations unless you stick with black. They'd line up perfectly with the color scheme of a Dick Tracy comic strip (or a Roy Lichtenstein painting).

[HansTWN]

Prestidigitweeze, can't wait for your thorough evaluation of the Lumia 920 and the Surface RT.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Thanks so much for the kind words.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by shalym

There are actually LOTS of tablets that will be running Windows 8 Pro--even a version of the Surface. Why would you think otherwise?

Shari

Sure there will be. But all indications are they will cost a lot more. They will have to be full laptop replacements to justify their price. Whether or not they will remains to be seen.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Barty

Isn't the screen the biggest determinant of price? Highes res screen costs more by itself but it also means you need a beefier CPU and GPU to drive it and a bigger battery to fuel everything.

32GB Tablets (by price)

• $299 -- 256 ppi -- 1.5 GHz dual -- 9.0" -- Nook HD
• $369 -- 254 ppi -- 1.5 GHz dual -- 8.9" -- Fire HD
• $429 -- 163 ppi -- 1.0 GHz dual -- 7.9" -- iPad mini
• $499 -- 148 ppi -- 1.4 GHz quad --10.9" -- Surface
• $599 -- 264 ppi -- 1.3 GHz dual -- 9.7"-- iPad 4

[Prestidigitweeze]

Here's hoping October 29th bumps the theoretical Nexus 7 32GB to the very top of that price list.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Here's hoping October 29th bumps the theoretical Nexus 7 32GB to the very top of that price list.

It should; and when it does, I'm pulling the trigger.

[JAcheson]

I tried Windows 8 and did not like it, will be sticking with 7 thank you.

If you do take the plunge, I recommend waiting for the first service pack or whatever they will call the updates for RT.

[markbot]

So, I’ve been playing around with the Microsoft Surface RT since yesterday and can satisfyingly say that it’s a great device that fulfills its promise as a tablet for both work and play. The real star is the O/S. “Live tiles” are so much better than boring icons, a metaphor that has been around for 20 years without much change. Windows RT is a leap forward beyond both iOS and Android in several respects. One of the first things you will realize is that RT is a full blown desktop operating system…but has a touch interface that works smoothly on a tablet form factor and gets 9 hrs of battery life (not as good as the iPad but it gets the job done). After using the Surface, I found my iPhone to be very restricting because Windows 8/RT has so many natural gestures that give you full command of the computing environment. The iPad is just a large and powerful iPod Touch, isn’t it? On the other hand, the Surface RT is an ARM PC in a tablet form factor with a touch optimized O/S.

The hardware in tablets is so powerful, doubling each year,...why not give them the tools to be productive also? This is exactly what MSFT did with the Surface. It is wide so you can naturally use their innovative keyboard/cover that works great. It has MS Office....indistinguishable from the desktop version. It works the same, except for VBA as far as I can tell....it's completely compatible with the other versions too. There's a full USB port that is compatible with legacy devices, like mice. The drivers are apparently Windows drivers because I immediately saw my printer on the network and can also access my desktop computer files via the HomeGroup.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Barty

It does have 32gb. Which brings to my question: why is everyone so stingy on memory? Aren't flash memory pretty cheap nowadays? There's some serious price gouging going on there.

My question is why has it taken so long for 32GB tablets to arrive? My phone from 2009 has 32GB internal AND a microSd slot. And the internal 32GB is pretty much all available for me to use because the OS is on a 400MB EMMC.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

My question is why has it taken so long for 32GB tablets to arrive? My phone from 2009 has 32GB internal AND a microSd slot. And the internal 32GB is pretty much all available for me to use because the OS is on a 400MB EMMC.

Because the Amazon fire started the trend of reducing on-board memory and telling people "you don't need it, you have the cloud". Before that Apple took away expansion slots. And the others were only to happy to jump on that gravy train. Since users keep buying I don't see 128 GB tablets in our future, perhaps Windows will change that.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Finally, an accurate history of the expense of internal storage without bias toward any particular platform.

Yes, a hardware company wanted you to have to to buy extra memory without the option of an SD card (Apple), a content vendor wanted you to have to depend on them and not your device to store what you bought from their site (Amazon), and an ad-driven software company wanted you to use a form of storage that left you vulnerable to more ads (Google). All three are trying to maximize profits and there are no white knights on the horizon.

Let's hope that Microsoft has a different strategy (and I don't mean SkyDive).

[pl001]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Let's hope that Microsoft has a different strategy (and I don't mean SkyDive).

That was a nice breakdown. This is not looking very likely, unfortunately. Not with they way they are locking down their ecosystem.

There's always hope with OEMs though. There are several good Android OEM models that offer good flexibility. I suspect some Microsoft OEMs will as well.

The key is that if you want removeable memory or batteries or large amounts of internal memory, stop buying devices that don't give you that. So long as people are buying these limited devices the corporations will keep pushing them. While frustrating to some of us, it's good business. We know for example that Apple really isn't that arrogant to never change if the market demands it, just look at how easy the new little iMacs are to upgrade. They know what consumers want. More importantly they know what consumers will buy. That difference is a pretty big part of their success.

[tubemonkey]

Updated the list to include Nexus 7 and Nexus 10.

32GB Tablets (by price)

• $249 -- 216 ppi -- 1.2 GHz quad -- 7.0" -- Nexus 7
• $299 -- 256 ppi -- 1.5 GHz dual -- 9.0" -- Nook HD
• $369 -- 254 ppi -- 1.5 GHz dual -- 8.9" -- Fire HD
• $429 -- 163 ppi -- 1.0 GHz dual -- 7.9" -- iPad mini
• $499 -- 300 ppi -- 1.7 GHz dual -- 10.1" -- Nexus 10
• $499 -- 148 ppi -- 1.4 GHz quad --10.9" -- Surface
• $599 -- 264 ppi -- 1.3 GHz dual -- 9.7"-- iPad 4