gdgt

the surface tablet is an interesting device. The hardware is made by Microsoft and its running the new Microsofts Windows 8 RT.

Hardware wise the tablet is standard for a high end tablet. meaning it was a quad core processor, 2GB of RAM, SD card slot, front and rear cameras and blue tooth. It does have a full size USB 2.0 which is different from most devices. The display is HD.

Hardware wise its a good looking machine. It is a bit on the boxy side and does have some heft to it. its not a device you are going to be holding up for long periods time so its not something you are going to use to read in bed. i think Microsoft knew this would not be lightest device so they added the built in kickstand for it. the model i bought also comes with the touch cover. I find that i am using the device more like i would a laptop than i would a tablet and thats because of the touch cover and the kickstand just scream for it to be set up that way.

Software wise, this thing is different. i find that when i stay in the metro apps and home screen its great but when i go into the desktop which you will if you want to use any of the office applications that came with the device. it is really like the Surface is really two different machine.

when in Metro you have the screen full of tiles that represent the applications you can run some tiles are called live tiles. these live tiles show you information right on them. stuff like Facebook status of your friends, news and sports. the other icons are just static images. you move these tiles around to create groups and to put them into any order you want. you cant side load applications you can only get them from the Microsoft store. the store is new so is lacking in a lot. your core apps are there but you are still missing some big ones like pandora, spotify, Facebook and twitter. The selection of games is weak. There are gestures that if you don’t know about your stuck. things like long swipe down from the top of the screen closes the open app. short swipe from the left of the screen switches you to another open app. Short pull from the top or bottom brings up the menu for that app. swipe from the right brings up the charms menu. if you don’t know these swipes you could be stuck .

When in desktop mode it acts more like a windows seven machine. which can be good because you are familiar with it and something that makes sense. it can be bad because its not really optimized for touch. when in this mode you are better using the type cover then touch on the display. when in this mode IE is different then the IE in Metro.

I am not sure if the surface is a tablet or a netbook. i would say its really two different devices in one machine. Neither is incredible neither is horrible. on the Metro side the lack of apps is a killer. on the Desktop side the lack of real desktop applications or the fact that you can’t load desktop apps also hurts.

So, would i recommend this device for friends and family? Not. yet. i would tell them to wait till there are more applications. Also depending on what they are trying to use it for i may suggest they wait and go with the Pro version instead of the RT version.

overall i think the hardware is good and find that i like the touch cover more than i thought i would its the software that i find lacking right now but i have hope it will get better. Also I am looking forward to seeing what the Surface Pro can do.