Most importantly, it comes from one of the
titans of the technological and corporate world Microsoft. As such, it is an
important launch for the entire industry, backed by Microsoft’s big marketing
bucks and huge cross over potential.
It has been years since Microsoft pulled
off a major product launch that made the entire market stand up and notice part
of the problem has been the move to mobile, where Microsoft has been mostly in
absentia.
So after what Vanity Fair magazine called
‘Microsoft’s Lost Decade’, we now have the company going ail in on not one, but
three different versions of Windows all designed to redefine the mobile touch
screen world, and all designed to sync together.
Over the page, we review the first ever
Windows RT tablet device, the Microsoft Surface. Backed by a colossal marketing
campaign across the TV internet, cinema and in billboards across the country,
it’s obvious Microsoft is finally taking the tablet market seriously but is it
too late?
To put it in perspective, by 2016 Forrester
research expects there to be 760 million tablets in operation, including 375
million sold in that year alone. It is also the year that Forrester predicts
mobile devices will finally outnumber PCs as dedicated work devices. Windows
Phone 8 is self-explanatory it is Microsoft’s newest smartphone operating
system. Like major partner Nokia, the company missed the boat in 2007 and did
not foresee the risk Apple’s iPhone would cause to their business models.
Windows Phone 8 (WP8) is the successor to last year’s Windows Phone 7.5 Tango,
which only launched on Nokia devices. Despite positive responses from critics,
users didn’t see any reason to change and it flopped, taking Nokia’s share
price with it.
Windows
Phone 8 (WP8) is the successor to last year’s Windows Phone 7.5 Tango, which
only launched on Nokia devices.
Microsoft and Nokia have since forged on
with WP8, and picked up Android laggard HTC in the process. WP8 Wi-Fi
controversially not be compatible with earlier versions of Windows Phone
(betraying an entire generation of Nokia-Microsoft enthusiasts from last year),
but appears to fix many of the problems that have plagued its forebears. Once
again, it is being defined by its limited app store offering, which may prove
to make it difficult to entice users to change, despite its inherent quality.
So why is this launch important? Because we at What Mobile believe the market
needs more than just two competitors not just to keep prices down, but to keep
innovation at its peak. Laziness has seen Apple fluff its iOS 6 update, for
example, and a Microsoft-Apple-Google three way battle is something we all like
to see. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is probably aware that his job is on the
line here, which is why the company has changed its strategy to focus on tablet
and phone integration, rather than just selling Microsoft Office to businesses
every year.
Laziness
has seen Apple fluff its iOS 6 update, for example, and a
Microsoft-Apple-Google three way battle is something we all like to see.
The enticement of cross platform use, from
smartphones to Xbox to laptops to tablets is too strong to ignore and if it
works, could bring not just Microsoft, but all its hardware partners back into
the sun. So how did Microsoft’s Surface tablet, the Windows Phone 8X from HTC
and Nokia’s own Lumia 920 stack up? Read on to find out.
Microsoft surface
A curiously unfocused tablet with potential
Even as I sit down to write this review, I
still have no idea what market the Surface is aimed at. Its advertising
campaign suggests it’s a hip, indie-kid cool device that Wi-Fi change the way you
use a tablet an attempt to out-do Apple’s ‘Street cred’. However, Its
exhausting game of techie 20 questions during set up suggest that it is pointed
at census takers who enjoy filling out forms.
The wonderful front end (no longer called
the Metro interface, but we refer to it as such for the sake of simplicity), is
countered by the inclusion of the counter-intuitive old Windows 7 desktop for
some applications.
Ports
3.5mm audio out jack, USB2.0, proprietary power connector, mini-HO Ml out,
cover connector port, MicroSD
It is supposedly a tool for business, but
its consumer-friendly front end is unrecognizable and unusable for anyone who
actually want to do some work.
Put simply, the Microsoft Surface is one of
the most unfocused devices I have seen for a long time, while retaining huge
potential.
An apple-esque body
The body of the Surface is a nice cool
proprietary magnesium casing Microsoft calls VaporMG. It feels nice and tough,
and is very hard to scratch. It picks up finger prints, but little else.
Looking side on, it’s shaping is that of an upside down trapezium, and it sits
comfortably in the hand. It is just as thin as the iPad 4, at 9.4mm, and like
that device the metallic back makes for a far more comfortable in-hand
experience than most Android tablets’ plastic backs.
For tablet users looking to switch from
Apple or Android alternatives (or looking to dive into the tablet market for
the first time) the most striking observation is its screen, which has a 16:9
widescreen ratio, as opposed to the more common 4:3 ratio seen on the iPad and
its rivals.
It
is just as thin as the iPad 4, at 9.4mm, and like that device the metallic back
makes for a far more comfortable in-hand experience than most Android tablets’
plastic backs.
16:9 is definitely much better for watching
films, but on a tablet is awkward for just about everything else. The Surface
is a landscape mode focused device, and it reminds you of this constantly.
Whereas the iPad’s ratio makes book and magazine reading ideal in portrait
mode, the Surface feels like you are holding the 2001:A Space Odyssey’s
monolith. It is long. It is skinny. It is also heavy, and hard to hold in this
position for long.
|
Microsoft
surface Specs
§ Networks
None, Wi-Fi only
§ Dimensions
275 x 172 x 9.4mm
§ Weight
680g
§ OS
Windows RT
§ Screen
TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
§ Resolution
1366x768 - 148 pixels per inch density
§ Processor
Nvidia T30 quad core at 1.3GHz
§ Memory2GB
of RAM
§ GPU
GeForce ULP
§ Storage
GB/4GB, MicroSD slot expandable to 64GB
§ Camera
Front and back 1 2M P. Video 720P
§ Wireless
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, dual-band
§ Ports
3.5mm audio out jack, USB2.0, proprietary power connector, mini-HO Ml out,
cover connector port, MicroSD
§ Battery
life 8 hours claimed accurate
|
