Microsoft has announced their new Microsoft Surface tablet... failing to announce the price, when it will be available or any software. But, hey, it runs Windows 8 so it must be good, right? Gizmodo has the details.
Quote:
Microsoft doesn't want to take any chances with Windows 8—if it's going to be the best tablet OS ever, it's going to need some serious hardware. So Microsoft is getting serious and building its own tablet. Meet Surface.
Microsoft's home cooked tablet is a very thin cookie: the non-Pro version is only 9.3mm thick (a little less than the iPad), 1.5 pounds (a little more than iPad), and packs a 10.6-inch, 16:9 "ClearType" 1920 x 1080 display, available with either 32 or 64 GB of storage. ClearType is definitely aiming for a Retina connotation, although Microsoft's screen falls short of Apple's 264 pixels per inch at 208.
Going by Microsoft's history this might be a good tablet in a couple of years after it has been revised and updated a dozen times. Right now the start screen is as far as you have to look to see it needs some work.
Another glaring problem... they didn't announce partnerships with any cell carriers or any 3G or 4G connectivity. You can't compete with the iPad without internet access.
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The "Metro" GUI of Windows 8 (and the Xbox dashboard) is a total disaster from a user's experience perspective.
Having said that, I hate Apple's iron grip hold on their products. So anything that offers a little more user control of the hardware is a good thing. Also, the cover/keyboard looks fantastic.
I am sure that they will somehow provide G3/G4 connectivity, or else like Evil states, Surface will be deader in the water than the Zune ever was.
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I hope it works out well also. The Pro model seems like something I could really use. I've been holding off on a tablet since I'd like to be able to do some gaming. And that full tablet with the the keyboard cover and usb for wireless mouse, I could use this as just a mobile machine.
Still waiting to see what kind of GPU/RAM this thing will have. Or at least how well it can run games.
The problem I see with this at the moment is app support, which Apple has because of it's multiple years on the market. I don't own an iPad, but I borrowed one from some friends for a couple months for school, and it was great, but only because I was able to do almost everything I needed for school on it by using various apps.
If Windows 8 can't do everything that the iPad can at launch, it's going to be rough. And there's a lot the iPad can do because of apps.
Just watched their little Surface promo video--damn, that thing looks pretty slick. Keyboard on the inside of the cover? Genius.
And the advert was actually cool to watch? MS be learning shit.
It's pretty clear that Apple's design influence has produced a better market, one focused now on user experience. Surface is even thinner than an Ipad? Been a long time since I remember Apple being up-staged like that.
That said, the name sucks: "Surface"? Like surfing the internet, hurr?
