pandathumb
New Member
I've had my surface for just about a week now, and I'm starting to get a good feel for it. Some things I really, really love, and some aspects of it I can't stand. First and foremost is the design and form factor, which MS has done an amazing job with. The device works a whole lot better in my lap than I had expected, and the fact that the touch screen lets you use it in a sort of hybrid manner switching between touch and keyboard really works. It puts the device in a class by itself, and that is obviously what they were going for. The keyboard by the way is just awesome, it's far easier to type on than I would have expected and almost as comfortable to use as the kb on my MBP.
Probably my biggest gripe with the system is the OS, it just feels like MS stuck a weakly implemented skin on top of Windows 7 and called it a day. It's a pain to set up the start screen, non-metro apps don't mesh with it visually, and nothing at all is intuitive. They've put basic settings in a metro app, but if you want to get to the details you are crudely dumped to the old control panel. It seems like every little thing I want to do requires me doing a web search to figure out; contrast that against iOS where everything is simple, intuitive and straightforward (granted Windows 8 is a far less constrained and more powerful operating system). Clearly MS should have put a lot more thought into improving the user experience on a tablet, and making it feel like more than just a thin GUI mod. Here's to hoping for the best with Windows 9.
The other gripe is the browser, which looks great but really lacks depth - particularly for someone who is an avid Google + LastPass user. This is the one thing that had me thinking about returning the device, but luckily (thanks in large part to the many helpful posts on this forum) I don't need to. IM+ suits my need for hangouts, and the way the OS handles multitasking on the small screen is perfect for putting a chat to the left. Actually, multitasking is perfect in general, so kudos to MS for that. And I'm getting used to using the standalone LastPass app, it's a headache but I'll deal with it.
The killer app is, almost without saying, OneNote. The real reason I bought this device is to be able to take notes and draw sketches at work, and to replace my Moleskines with something permanent and searchable. I love this, and look forward to playing around with the stylus as a replacement to my old Cintiq.
Hopefully now that these things are starting to sell and gain momentum we'll start to see more developers build metro applications in the near future too. That's what this system really needs now.
gary
Probably my biggest gripe with the system is the OS, it just feels like MS stuck a weakly implemented skin on top of Windows 7 and called it a day. It's a pain to set up the start screen, non-metro apps don't mesh with it visually, and nothing at all is intuitive. They've put basic settings in a metro app, but if you want to get to the details you are crudely dumped to the old control panel. It seems like every little thing I want to do requires me doing a web search to figure out; contrast that against iOS where everything is simple, intuitive and straightforward (granted Windows 8 is a far less constrained and more powerful operating system). Clearly MS should have put a lot more thought into improving the user experience on a tablet, and making it feel like more than just a thin GUI mod. Here's to hoping for the best with Windows 9.
The other gripe is the browser, which looks great but really lacks depth - particularly for someone who is an avid Google + LastPass user. This is the one thing that had me thinking about returning the device, but luckily (thanks in large part to the many helpful posts on this forum) I don't need to. IM+ suits my need for hangouts, and the way the OS handles multitasking on the small screen is perfect for putting a chat to the left. Actually, multitasking is perfect in general, so kudos to MS for that. And I'm getting used to using the standalone LastPass app, it's a headache but I'll deal with it.
The killer app is, almost without saying, OneNote. The real reason I bought this device is to be able to take notes and draw sketches at work, and to replace my Moleskines with something permanent and searchable. I love this, and look forward to playing around with the stylus as a replacement to my old Cintiq.
Hopefully now that these things are starting to sell and gain momentum we'll start to see more developers build metro applications in the near future too. That's what this system really needs now.
gary
