I go through tablets like some people go through shoes. I get to play with lots of them, and I usually end up rooting, and re-ROMing most android tablets several times over. My iPad 4 flips through my gigantic PDF files as if i'm reading a magazine. So the Surface has some stiff competition for a power user such as myself.
With that asside here we go....
Cons:
- Not as much battery life as the iPad.
I can really crank out some use of the iPad 4 and the Surface just isn't quite up to that 10 hour mark. I mostly blame this on the fact it does push notifications while in standby where the iPad is better at just not caring until I bring it out of standby mode. I have this same problem with Android tablets (such as the ASUS Transformer Prime, and the Nexus 7).
- RT has a tiny little app store that really wants to....but doesn't.
There are some really neat apps in the Windows version of the App Store. Sadly the important ones just aren't there. In Microsoft's defense, most of the social media sites you can just pull up the full versions of on IE for Surface. That's not good enough. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ need to have official apps on the Surface at launch. At the least for G+ have the google search app working on RT. Microsoft should have pushed to have these apps on their store (make deals, pay out the butt, the return would be worth it). People feel better when they have the app as an app and don't have to make a boring little IE shortcut with no push notifications, etc...We get that the store is going to be lean at the start, but if you don't come out swinging with those apps, you might as well have not stepped into the ring.
- Why do you exist?!
So the ARM architecture would require some pretty narly emulation or something like that to run x86 applications. From a technical stand point I understand this, but most consumers aren't that technical and don't give two cents. Why not just wait and release a version that has that built into "ONE" operating system (....to rule them all.....sorry...couldn't help myself). Seriously, this just feels like a strange form of separation for tablets. This feels like the days when NT was a different OS than say Win 95 or Win 98. Microsoft eventually came to their senses and merged the OS versions. (I know technically there are 7 different versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7 but its more like shopping for the Bells and Whistles of what you need and doesn't effect application compatibility.) I know i'm not alone in the opinion that this simply should not have been.
Pros:
- My fingers really like to touch this.
I know Windows 8 gets hell for the new start menu. On a touch interface though, its such a nice experience. Once you learn to group your icons, scrolling through your start screen is a breeze, and the apps you are looking for stick out nicely (except IE shortcuts which all look like IE icons BOOOOOO).
- My birds, they love me!
I really hate relaunching angry birds because I had to close it for 5 seconds to look at a text, facebook notification, or watch youtube (some levels vex me. You know you do it to. Don't judge me!). On the surface, unless you swipe the app from the top down (this closes it), the app stays running in the background. This does nothing to help the battery life, but does great things for my sanity. I can go back to an app right where I left off.
- You can't hide from me little app
On that note, its also really easy to see what apps are running in the background. A quick swipe from the upper left corner on any screen, and wallah! Switch between actively running apps. Long press and close or open and swipe down the close. Done and done...
- I can search for anything. Just ask your mom.
The "Charm" bar (giggle) is accessible on any screen. The search feature works really well. You can select an app to search in (which it defaults to if you are bringing up search while within that app..how handy?!) or just do a general search of existing apps. Simple and to the point. On my desktop mouse clicky thing i'm still getting used to doing this (dual monitors make the charm bar a little tricky), but on a nice tablet interface..its wizard.
