Google has cancelled its Android event on Monday, at which the search company had been expected to reveal a new Nexus smartphone and tablet, over fears about Hurricane Sandy. The event in New York City was widely expected to see the new LG Nexus 4 smartphone make its debut, as well as a Samsung-made Nexus 10 tablet, but has been cancelled at the last minute for safety reasons.
The hurricane is predicted to reach New York City on Sunday or Monday, with the threat of flooding and wind damage. Travel is being curtailed by airlines and other routes, and NYC could evacuate almost 400,000 people as a precaution.
“We are canceling our Monday morning event in New York due to Hurricane Sandy” Google told us in a statement. “We will let you know our plans as soon as we know more. Stay safe and dry.”
For Google, it’s an inconvenient blip on the announcement calendar, which comes in the midst of a packed month of mobile news. Apple’s iPad mini event last week saw the Cupertino firm directly challenge the Nexus 7, while Microsoft will hold a Windows Phone 8 launch event on Monday on the West Coast, safely out of the reach of Sandy.
Rubbing salt into the wounds, many of Google’s surprises for Monday have already apparently been revealed ahead of time. The LG Nexus 4 has been spotted in the wild, seemingly left at a bar, and already listed at one retailer.
As for the Nexus 10, that’s also been caught in the wild, and Google exec Vic Gundotra even used the tablet to share photos from a recent holiday. Both are expected to run Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, with the inclusion of a new Swype-style keyboard.
A new date for the event is yet to be announced; we’ll bring you more when we know it.
Apple’s legally-mandated acknowledgement that Samsung did not copy the iPad has gone live on the company’s site, though the Cupertino firm does not shy from the opportunity to get a few digs in at its Korean foe. The acknowledgement page, linked from the footnote of Apple’s UK homepage, quotes the relevant court order and then the section of the original ruling in which Apple’s own products are praised for the “striking” nature of their “extreme simplicity” and “cool design”; it also mentions the judge’s comments that Samsung products “are not as cool.”
It’s the final paragraph where things get particularly passive-aggressive. Although Apple was instructed to publicly announce that Samsung had been deemed not copying the iPad with the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9, adn Tab 7.7, the firm also takes the opportunity for a reminder that other courts haven’t felt the same way.
Apple cites the Germany case, where Samsung was found to be guilty of unfair competition, and the recent US case where it was awarded more than $1bn in damages. “So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement,” Apple concludes, “other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad.”
It’s not clear whether Samsung will have any room for legal complaint about Apple’s choice of phrasing. The court ruling insisted on a certain minimum font size for the text, but didn’t set out exactly how it should read. It also said that Apple could host it on a separate page, linked from somewhere on its homepage.
The statement will have to remain in place for at least a month, and as well as appearing on Apple’s site, the company will be publishing it in various magazines and newspapers in the UK.
Samsung / Apple UK judgment
On 9th July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic (UK) Limited’s Galaxy Tablet Computer, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do not infringe Apple’s registered design No. 0000181607-0001. A copy of the full judgment of the High court is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2012/1882.html.
In the ruling, the judge made several important points comparing the designs of the Apple and Samsung products:
“The extreme simplicity of the Apple design is striking. Overall it has undecorated flat surfaces with a plate of glass on the front all the way out to a very thin rim and a blank back. There is a crisp edge around the rim and a combination of curves, both at the corners and the sides. The design looks like an object the informed user would want to pick up and hold. It is an understated, smooth and simple product. It is a cool design.”
“The informed user’s overall impression of each of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets is the following. From the front they belong to the family which includes the Apple design; but the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool.”
That Judgment has effect throughout the European Union and was upheld by the Court of Appeal on 18 October 2012. A copy of the Court of Appeal’s judgment is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html. There is no injunction in respect of the registered design in force anywhere in Europe.
However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design. A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple’s design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc. So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad.
In addition to the massive takeover of a fabulous 39 digital boards with one massive Windows 8 Start Screen later tonight, Microsoft has made it’s play for the very center of Times Square with a hands-on experience for the public. Each of Microsoft’s major manufacturing partners was invited to bring their own wares to what’s essentially the most highly-visible showroom floor in the world, with anyone and everyone invited in to take a peek at the wares starting here at the launch of Windows 8. This presentation adds to the already unique display the company (and companies, as it were) has made for the press and the public in an effort to create a winning atmosphere for the birth of the newly released operating system.
You’ll see many of the devices on tables here that were given final details over the past few weeks. These devices come from Acer, ASUS, HP, Dell, Toshiba, Samsung, Sony, and Lenovo, and can be found in run-downs galore throughout our Windows 8 portal. Microsoft is making an effort also to differentiate between the coverage and attention they give to their 3rd party partners and their own Surface tablets, giving them both their own space and a completely separate presentation at the main Windows 8 release event for the press.
The actual launch of Windows 8 takes place on October 26th, with the switchover from the advertisements you see above and below on boards galore to Microsoft’s own Start Screen, one by one, right as the operating system is available for the world to purchase at midnight. Of course global availability doesn’t chime at the same moment around the planet, but in New York City, there is but one moment when Microsoft jumps head-first into the future.
Also included in the Microsoft bid for attention in New York City is an art-like presentation on Pier 57, it being a city of Windows 8 products in a color-splashed white city, each of them able to be viewed and in some cases available for hands-on action as well. This public display is advertised throughout the city and on the web for the public to head over and see for several weeks.
If these presentations are any indication, Microsoft is not about to let this release go unnoticed. With their very future in the balance with this very major release of their next-generation operating system, they’re not going to risk that the entire universe doesn’t at least know that Windows 8 exists – and with hands-on experiences here and there and everywhere, they’re going to make sure you can get every chance possible to touch it too – then buy it, of course.
We’re here at the biggest Microsoft event in many years: the launch of Windows 8, right here on the shores of New York City with not just a press event set up for the blast, but a full-on takeover of Times Square as well! We’re expecting to see final iterations of many of the key products in Microsoft’s extended family as well as 3rd party manufacturers galore, not to mention releases of software and final details on the Windows 8 OS for the whole world. It’s here that we’ll also be watching Microsoft launch their global campaign for Windows 8 as their key system – it all begins at 11:15 Eastern Time.
We’ll be posting each news bit as it comes down the pipe, five by five. There’s also a live video of the event you can watch while you’re getting pumped up for the event as well. Microsoft will be presenting Windows 8 as a simple-to-use beautiful and powerful system – clean as that. The brand is what will be pushed here, of that you can be certain. Brand NEW hardware is unlikely today, as such a reveal would be a bit confusing for the public that’s still wrapping their heads around the fact that Microsoft does have their own tablet on the market – check our >full review of the Microsoft Surface RT now!
Those of you interested in learning all about the final form of Microsoft’s big release here should check out our massive Windows 8 review and drop your jaw at the size of it. Be sure to read up before the big event here starts. Also have a peek at what Samsung has done to keep the eye on them for the week – it involves Kanye West (spoiler). Also keep your eye on the word Nexus today to see if Google will release any big hints on their own upcoming event next week – and be a bit suspicious of all the “leaks” thus far.
Finally get pumped up about the gigantic Times Square takeover that Microsoft has let fly a bit early – a full on mega Star Screen that’ll be covering the whole of the center of the modern world. Microsoft is pulling out all the stops with this one, then hitting the afterburners to blast forth unto the next generation for their brand – this is about to be big, big stuff.
LG’s Nexus 4, expected to be officially unveiled by Google at its event next week, has been prematurely confirmed by a UK retailer. The 4.7-inch Android handset has cropped up in a listing at Carphone Warehouse, running 4.2 Jelly Bean and packing an 8-megapixel camera and a quadcore 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, as expected. According to the page, shoppers can preorder now for delivery on October 30, with the Nexus 4 priced from free on a £31 ($50) per month, two-year agreement.
As for specifications, the phone has NFC, WiFi, 3G and Bluetooth, and measures in at 68.7 x 133.9 x 9.1 mm. LG isn’t making any runtime estimates yet, but whatever the Nexus 4 can muster is all you’re getting as the battery is believed to be fixed inside, just as per the LG Optimus G. Memory is apparently limited to 8GB, while RAM is 2GB.
Details on Jelly Bean 4.2 are sparse, at least compared to what we’ve already heard about the “point” update, though the page does confirm what sounds like a Swype rival:
“Stay in touch with Gesture Typing, a faster way of typing that lets you spell words by dragging your finger across the screen from letter to letter”
Whether this is an authorized early sale or not is a contentious point. Google is holding an Android event next week, where the Nexus 4 was expected to be one of the stars of the show alongside Jelly Bean v4.2; it’s possible Carphone Warehouse has simply jumped onto the hype bandwagon, thrown together a page based on the latest rumors and leaks, and is using it with a guesstimated price to build up pre-launch enthusiasm and sales.
So, there’s still no SIM-free pricing, and the full specs will have to wait until Google gives the official nod. Still, this is likely to be a more contentious Nexus device than others we’ve seen.
Update: The Carphone Warehouse listing has been taken down.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has reiterated the company’s new commitment to hardware, suggesting that it will “dive in” when “opportunities to set a new standard” arise. Speaking to the BBC, outspoken Ballmer confirmed what he had previously hinted at in a letter to shareholders earlier this month, a “fundamental shift” of Microsoft’s attention from primarily software to a combination of that and the hardware it’s used with. The first significant example of that is Surface, Microsoft’s Windows RT tablet, but it won’t be the last.
Microsoft’s decision to launch a Windows 8/RT tablet of its own led to some surprise among OEM partners, especially given the fact that extreme secrecy meant that the notice each was given amounted to a couple of days. Now that Surface is out of the bag, however – our full review of the Windows RT model is here – Ballmer seems less reluctant to talk device plans.
“Is it fair to say we’re going to do more hardware? Obviously we are” the CEO said. “Where we see important opportunities to set a new standard, yeah we’ll dive in.”
A shift in focus was presented as essential if Microsoft was to be nimble against rivals – and at the forefront of the minds of its OEMs – Ballmer told investors. “There will be times when we build specific devices for specific purposes, as we have chosen to do with Xbox and the recently announced Microsoft Surface” he wrote, with echoes of Google’s Nexus program to position Android phones and tablets that epitomize what the company believes is the best direction for the platform as a whole.
“We have committed ourselves on a path where we will do whatever is required from both a hardware and a software innovation perspective and the cloud innovation perspective,” Ballmer teased, “in order to propel the vision that we have.” The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, however, with Microsoft yet to reveal preorder figures for Surface.
If you were thinking about forgetting that the Galaxy Note II existed for one reason or another, the party happening tonight hosted by Samsung and starring no less than Kanye West is surely meant to change your mind. With the Samsung Galaxy Note II about to be available on several carriers across the United States and abroad, this week Samsung has brought on a media event blast normally reserved for a slightly less publicized event than this – ie a product announcement. Here though, it’s all about keeping the thunder while Microsoft is in town.
This week New York is also home to the premiere of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system, with hardware manufacturers and software titans bringing their own fire throughout the week. The biggest Microsoft showing is set for Thursday as well, it containing both a live-televised press event and a major Times Square send off the likes of which the world has never seen – it’s the most screens taken over by a single company, after all.
We’ll be at the Microsoft Windows 8 press event tomorrow morning too, mind you. It’s a full week with more lovely mobile and near-mobile action than the computing universe can handle.
At Microsoft’s approach, Samsung about to be out-done. With the Galaxy Note II already up in international reviews as well as national reviews, the push this week acts more as a waving of a flag than it does an opening of door. Kanye West is here to knock the door down and wave the flag like a maniac, one way or another.
We’ll be at this stop on the Galaxy Note II World Tour 2012 throughout the night. We’ll let you know how it goes. Stay tuned, and check the timeline below for more Galaxy Note II hands-on action!
Microsoft is no stranger to tablets, though with Windows RT and Surface the company is hoping to have its first tablet success. Borrowing frugal processors from the mobile industry and a distilled version of Windows 8, and pairing it with distinctive and high-quality hardware, Microsoft certainly appears at first glance to have ticked the right boxes. Still, in a market where tablets are generally scaled-up smartphones, does Microsoft’s pared-back desktop OS do enough to rid its reliance on the keyboard and mouse? Read on for the full SlashGear review.
Hardware
Windows on an ARM processor is new territory for Microsoft. With Windows RT, the field is open for companies like NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and others to push the sort of frugal chipsets that are more commonly found in Android tablets, reaping potential benefits in power frugality and reduced heat output.
In the case of Surface, Microsoft opted for NVIDIA’s quadcore Tegra 3, here paired with 2GB of RAM. It’s a chip we’re very familiar with from Android phones and tablets, and in fact much of Surface’s other specifications are par for the course in the mobile world. A choice of 32GB or 64GB of storage – no 16GB option, though Microsoft prices its entry-level Surface directly against the 16GB iPad 3 – with a microSDXC card slot, WiFi a/b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.0.
As you’d expect there are stereo speakers – which are on the quiet side, even at maximum volume – and dual digital microphones, an HD video output which, with the right $39.99 dongle, hooks up to an HDMI or VGA connection, and a cluster of sensors: ambient light to control screen brightness, an accelerometer, gyroscope, and digital compass, though no GPS. Microsoft also isn’t offering a 3G/4G version of the tablet, claiming that consumer research suggests the vast majority of tablets of a similar size to Surface don’t ever get taken outside of the home or office.
LifeCam video recording demo
LifeCam photo examples
Unlike most rival tablets, however, Microsoft has also outfitted Surface with a full sized USB 2.0 port, opening the door to regular peripherals like printers, keyboards, mice, and other accessories. There’s also a “Cover port” which works with Microsoft’s magnetically attached keyboard covers – more on which later. Finally, there are front and rear “LifeCam” cameras, each capable of 720p HD video recording.
Microsoft currently has three hardware packages: the entry-level $499 Surface with 32GB of storage and no cover; the $599 Surface 32GB with a black Touch Cover; and the $699 Surface 64GB, again with a black Touch Cover.
Design and Construction
You have to give Microsoft its due when it comes to design and build: the company’s hardware division may be best known for its range of simple peripherals – keyboards, mice, and trackpads – along with Xbox, but Surface is another level of focus and thoughtful materials selection. If Microsoft needed to borrow any sort of strategy from Apple in tablets, it was attention to detail, and while Surface is distinctly different in its design and approach to mobile computing to the iPad, both slates share an exacting and rigorous conception.
Where the iPad is all curves and tapers, Surface musters angled edges and bevels to make its design mark. It’s crisp, and clean, and beautifully cohesive: its 676g weight is evenly spread through the chassis, meaning it doesn’t feel top-heavy or biased when you hold it in your hand, no matter the orientation. The “VaporMg” – Microsoft’s name for the specially treated magnesium alloy it has used – casing is both smooth and easily gripped, and though it’s still early days has proved reasonably resilient against scratches. It’s also meant to be fingerprint-resistant, though our unit had little trouble picking up enough prints from us to be a goldmine for law enforcement.
Surface with Windows RT unboxing and Accessories
Surface – and Windows RT – seems intended for landscape orientation use primarily, and so Microsoft has fitted the tablet with one of its most distinctive physical features: the pop-out kickstand on the back. Spanning the whole width of the slate, and almost half of its height, the slice of neatly machined metal clicks out with a thunk that’s both aurally and physically satisfying, propping up Surface at a 22-degree angle for typing or watching video. Closing it is equally pleasing, with hidden magnets making sure the stand snicks into position without vibration or wobble.
It’s not just a design afterthought, either. The rear camera shares the same angle – 22-degrees – as the kickstand, which means that when Surface is standing upright the webcam is pointing straight back, not down at the table. The front camera, meanwhile, points straight out from the fascia of the slate, since users are likely to be looking down at it, even when Surface is stood up.
Display
Beyond Windows RT itself, the display is probably the most contentious aspect of Surface. Microsoft opted for a custom-sized 10.6-inch panel that best fit with its keyboard sizing ambitions and the split-pane multitasking of Windows 8/RT, falling in-between the more typical 10.1- and 11.1-inches we’ve seen on slates from other manufacturers. What the company hasn’t done is go beyond the usual 1,366 x 768 resolution, rather than chasing Apple’s third-gen 9.7-inch iPad with its so-called Retina Display.
So, while other tablets are chasing pixels so densely packed you can hardly make them out individually in normal use, Microsoft refuses to join the resolution arms race despite complaints that Surface isn’t at least HD (oddly, even Microsoft seems to quietly agree on some level, since the Surface with Windows 8 Pro due in a few months time has a 1920 x 1080 display instead). Instead, it’s relying on “ClearType HD”, the latest iteration of Microsoft’s subpixel rendering system.
ClearType in fact dates back to late 1998, though it was only turned on by default in Windows from Vista onwards. It works by individually controlling each of the three subpixels – the red, green, and blue segments – in each overall pixel, and in the process effectively tripling the resolution of the screen. So, rather than just treating each LCD pixel (e.g. block of three subpixels) as a whole, ClearType can individually turn on or off each subpixel, allowing for more granular control.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, ClearType met with mixed reactions. On the one hand, it allows for a greater degree of detail than the on-paper resolution of the display would imply; however, because each of the pixels is a different color there is color fringing introduced. Depending on which subpixel is active, that fringing might be red, green, or blue. Some users find the fringing more noticeable; others complain of fuzziness around text. During our testing, at least one person using Surface found reading extended amounts of text could trigger headaches.
Happily other aspects of the display treatment are more successful all round: for instance, optically bonding the LCD and cover glass so as to reduce the distance between the two layers, increase the amount of light transmission, and cut out internal reflections that can lead to glare. It’s a process that’s increasingly being seen on smartphones, but has been slower to appear on larger devices like tablets due to the cost and complexity of the lamination process.
Overall, then, it’s a mixed bag. If your eyesight and ClearType HD play nicely together, then the combination of that and the optically bonded panel help bypass the need for the sort of huge resolutions Apple and Samsung are chasing on tablets. It’s worth remembering that more pixels require greater backlighting and thus a bigger battery (which adds weight, bulk, and takes longer to charge) too.
However, zoom in on graphics in the browser on the Surface and, side by side with an iPad 3, the difference in resolution is clear. It’s the same when you’re viewing photos in the gallery app: the Surface screen just doesn’t look as good.
Windows RT
To say there’s a lot of confusion about Windows RT is an understatement. Microsoft’s decision to split Windows 8 into two versions – one “full” build for the sort of x86 processors from Intel and AMD that Windows has been running on for years, and one pared-back version for ARM chipsets – makes sense in many ways, but poor communication as to the differences between the two means there are bound to be some tears early on.
Although there are numerous factors that separate Windows 8 and Windows RT, the biggest difference is in how software is handled. Windows 8 gets the full gamut of apps, whether they’re from the Windows Store – the on-device app store – or loaded separately, just as Windows users have been installing software for years now. The OS works with so-called “legacy” software; that is, apps designed and released when older versions of Windows were current.
Windows RT, however, is a cleaner break with the past. It doesn’t even try for compatibility with older apps, with no backward-compatibility. If you want software, it will have to be available in the Windows Store, though obviously with Internet Explorer onboard you have access to webapps too.
Muddying the waters somewhat is the fact that Windows RT still allows access to the traditional desktop, even if you can’t load traditional software to it. This is primarily of use with Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 RT Preview edition, preloaded on Surface, and the key app which uses the more familiar interface. Still, in a way, it’s as if the iPad had an option to peel away the iOS interface and reveal OS X underneath, only an OS X that you couldn’t really do much with. There’s no escaping the feeling that Microsoft left the desktop in place in Windows RT simply because it hadn’t had time to refresh Office with the Metro-style interface; indeed, no third-party apps will be allowed to use it.
So, Surface is a balance between two environments, and they do a good job of reminding where Microsoft struggled with tablets in the past. The Live Tile based homescreen, and apps designed specifically to fit in with it, are clean, clear, and easy to use: the epitome of finger-friendly. As on Windows Phone, they can pull in updates from social networks, the calendar, and other sources, and cycle through those new tidbits automatically. You can pin new apps, bookmarks, contacts, or other content to the homescreen; organize your icons into groups and subgroups; pinch-zoom to see your entire app landscape.
Swipe from the right edge into the middle of the display and you get the Start bar, with a button for the homescreen – mimicking the hardware Windows button below the display – as well as Search, Share, Devices, and Settings shortcuts. Swiping up from the bottom of the screen summons the contextual menu, its contents varying depending on what app you’re using at the time. A swipe in from the left flicks through the stack of open applications, in order of their most recent use.
Somewhat confusingly at first, Microsoft has gathered the search functionality into a single, unified hub. When you open the dialog, you can choose to either search across all areas, or to narrow your query down to a specific app, or the Windows Store, or for a particular setting. In addition to local content, you can access files plugged into the Surface’s full-sized USB port, such as from a thumb-drive. Unlike iPad, which isn’t really set up to handle external storage, Surface and Windows RT have no problem mounting an external drive and copying files to and from the slate’s own storage. Alternatively, if you’ve a folder full of videos, photos, or music, you can play them directly from the external drive itself.
If the new interface is a lesson in touchscreen usability, the legacy desktop shows why Microsoft has struggled for so long with its tablet software. For all its UI finessing, you can draw a line between Windows in traditional mode back to Windows XP: small text that is tricky to accurately hit with a fingertip; drag’n’drop that all too often results in a prematurely dropped file or folder. Those prior versions of Windows were designed for mouse navigation, and while it works well with the trackpad on the Touch Cover and Type Cover, it’s simply not intended for fingers to stab at with any degree of accuracy.
Overall, performance has proved solid from the Tegra 3 chipset. The Metro-style interface is slick and responsive; apps open without delay or lag; and the slide-in dialogs like search appear on a single swipe despite what the current app is doing. Microsoft’s multitasking system works similarly well, pulling in an adjustable second panel to the side of the current app, for side-by-side work or play. It’s particularly useful for keeping an eye on Twitter messages or Skype chats while otherwise browsing.
You’ll be spending a lot of time in the browser, since the Windows Store still lags behind in titles compared to iOS and Android, and webapps are a good alternative (or, indeed, the only option in many cases) to native code, so it’s a good thing it’s fast. Side by side with the iPad 3, the SunSpider browser benchmark test came in with a score of 1,128.0ms on Surface and 1,688.9ms on the iPad (faster is better). HTML5 apps and sites run very well, and streaming sites like Netflix have no issues whatsoever.
There’s limited Flash support – in fact, only those sites Microsoft decides simply have to use Flash to give a good experience get to access it – and, while Windows 8 users will have the choice of the Metro-style IE10 browser or the regular IE10 browser on the desktop, the latter with full Flash support, those running Windows RT have the same Flash limits in both variants. That, and the fact that Microsoft’s Flash access policy demands it actively add permission on a site-by-site basis, means most of the time Flash is a no-go on Surface.
That arguably puts RT – and Surface – somewhere in-between iPad and Android tablets for flexibility. For what it’s supposed to do, Windows RT does well. Problem is, Microsoft has done a pretty appalling job of explaining what it’s supposed to do. The baseline guidance is that with RT you miss out on Windows Media Player and Media Center, lack the ability to create HomeGroups and join Domains, and can’t install apps from anywhere other than the Windows Store. On the flip side, it promises instant-on and inescapable Windows Update and Windows Defender, automatically keeping Surface up-to-date and secure.
How much of those messages actually make it through to consumers is questionable, though, and the at-a-glance similarity between Windows RT and Windows 8 is unlikely to help differentiate between the platforms in stores. Surface Pro will span the divide when it arrives in early 2013, but we can envisage early confusion about the limitations and advantages of Windows RT overshadowing its strengths.
It’s fast and straightforward to use, the live tiles are convenient, and the first batch of apps made according to Microsoft’s Metro-style specifications are distinctive, but many users come to Windows – irrespective or unaware of version – expecting to be able to use the legacy software they’re familiar with. And, unless the developers of that software have cooked up a Windows RT version, they’ll be out of luck.
Touch Cover and Type Cover
Windows-based tablets have a long history of working well with keyboards. In fact, slate form-factors have been the Windows tablet minority so far: more common is the so-called hybrid or convertible, usually consisting of a rotating touchscreen that can flip around and then fold flat on top of the keyboard, switching a notebook into a (usually chunky) slate.
Times change, however, and keyboards have become optional accessories not integral parts of the tablet experience. Nonetheless, Surface and its keyboards have been closely developed: one of the reasons Microsoft chased a screen size larger than 10.1-inches was because it reduced tablet width and therefore made the keyboards cramped.
Right now, there are two keyboards to choose from, Touch Cover and Type Cover. The Touch Cover is the thinner of the two, a 3mm-thick slice of touch-sensitive fabric and plastic that docks to the bottom edge of Surface and functions as both a protective cover for the fascia and as a method of faster text entry. Microsoft says it put in several months of experimentation to ensure the magnetic clasp was both sturdy enough that you could dangle Surface from it, but still be so readily detached that a three-year-old could do it (something we tested ourselves).
There are no moving parts, only the outlines of keys laser-etched onto the plastic. Inside, pressure sensors track each touch of your fingers – all ten can be tracked individually at any one time – and decide whether the weight being applied is indicative of your hands resting on the ‘board or actively pressing a key. That point is around 40g of pressure, apparently, though Surface also uses the touch sensitivity to track whereabouts you’re consistently hitting the keys, so that it can continue to register key-presses even if you’re not dead-on with your aim.
It’s not a perfect alternative to a traditional keyboard, but it’s functional and – while we’re now reasonably speedy with on-screen ‘boards – if you stick with it you can reach higher speeds than when typing on glass. There’s a little give and a little textural feedback involved, and together they’re sufficient to coax a few more words-per-minute out. Microsoft claims it takes less than a week to grow familiar with the system, and that in time you can reach roughly double the speeds of a traditional on-screen layout, and though we didn’t quite achieve that sort of rate we were still able to punch out longer emails and other messages in relative comfort.
Those who simply can’t get the hang of a zero-profile keyboard have the Type Cover to opt for instead. Twice as thick, at 6mm, it has mechanical keys – albeit with minimal travel – and adds 0.55lbs to the weight of the Surface, versus the 0.46lbs of the Touch Cover. You get a full five row ‘board, as well as function keys that double as media and navigation shortcuts, plus a trackpad; as with the Touch Cover, closing it on the screen automatically puts Surface into standby.
Even with the extra depth, this is no buckling-spring keyboard. The feel when typing is akin to some of the more recent ultraportable notebooks: key-travel is noticeably curtailed, though we could quickly achieve a faster rate – with fewer errors – than with the Touch Cover. The broad spacebar is a particular boon.
Perhaps the biggest drawback is availability; Microsoft’s launch bundles mean that the only way to buy a Surface with the Type Cover but not the Touch Cover is to opt for the 32GB model. There’s no way to buy the 64GB variant without the Touch Cover too. Alone, the Type Cover is $129.99 (versus $119.99 for the Touch Cover).
Battery
Microsoft rates the 31.5 Wh battery Surface is equipped with for “all day battery life”; it’s a nebulous term, though it translated to real-world performance reasonably well. With heavy use, we managed a full day out of the slate, with a mixture of web browsing, some app use, local and streaming media, and a little camera work. It’s a good, solid showing for the Microsoft slate.
Where things get shaky is in standby time. While we’re used to plugging in our smartphones overnight, every night, tablets can be more sporadic in their usage. The expectation is that they can hold onto a reasonable charge for a more extended period, so that there’s juice available whenever you pick them up from the coffee table.
On that front, Surface falls behind its better rivals. Whereas you can leave an iPad unused for a few days, and come back to it with a fair expectation of having power left, Surface proved more profligate with its standby power. One time, we left it with a claimed 30-percent left on the battery meter, and after around 6hrs – with no active use in that time – it ran itself down and shut off.
Microsoft is still undoubtedly finessing its power management firmware, and it’s entirely possible that a software fix could stem the more aggressive flow of battery life. As it stands, it’s not an insurmountable problem, nor a deal-breaker – like we said, when active Surface posts admirable runtimes – but it’s something you’re forced to consider in your everyday use.
Wrap-Up
In the end, it all comes down to ecosystem. If you’re already invested in Microsoft then it’s a good solution: if you’re a Windows Phone user, or an Xbox 360 gamer, or simply have a background with Windows 7, then Surface will likely fit into your world more smoothly than an iPad or Android tablet might. If you’ve considered subscribing to Xbox Music, Microsoft’s streaming audio service, then Surface makes sense there, too, considering cross-platform apps for that haven’t been released yet.
Personal reactions of ClearType HD aside, it’s hard to be too critical of Microsoft’s hardware. The Surface team has cribbed some of Apple’s notorious attention to detail and applied it with its own spin, and the result is a well-constructed slate with legitimately useful design elements like the kickstand. You could argue that the focus on the Touch Cover and Type Cover are Microsoft proving reluctant to let go of physical keyboards, but using Surface without them is undoubtedly practical and their convenience (and the fact that Office is preloaded, albeit in preview form) means you get the best of both worlds.
Windows RT will undoubtedly prove the sticking point. That it comes late to the tablet game and thus with fewer apps than competing platforms is a given. That there are some for whom Windows itself is anathema is no surprise. However, the poorly-explained – and not easy to ascertain at first glance – differences in abilities between RT and Windows 8 will need time to bed down before Surface finds its niche. That will happen, but with headaches along the way, and it may not be until Surface Pro arrives with its higher-resolution screen and digital pen that Microsoft’s tablet gets the respect it deserves.
Apple’s iPad mini is here, and the family resemblance is clear. Slotting in-between the 9.7-inch iPad and the 4-inch iPod touch, the new 7.9-inch iPad mini further closes the ranks of the Apple mobile range, and we wasted no time grabbing some hands-on play following its breathless unveil in San Jose this morning. Read on for some first impressions.
The design is slick and cohesive, with the unibody aluminum back plate curving sinuously around and meeting the glass fascia: everything about the aesthetic emphasizes the relative simplicity of those two halves, though there’s obviously plenty of engineering gone into making them work together. At first glance, the narrow side bezels look somewhat odd, but they make far more sense when you actually pick the iPad mini up.
You can grip it comfortably in one hand, fingers wrapping around the edges just as we’ve praised Amazon’s Kindles and other small ereader tablets for in the past. That, together with the relatively light weight compared to the full-sized iPad, means holding the iPad mini one-handed for extended periods should be comfortable.
The resolution may be the “old” 1024 x 768 of the original iPad and iPad 2, but it’s squeezed into a smaller screen, so individual pixels aren’t so noticeable. Viewing angles are as broad as we’ve come to expect from an IPS panel, and iOS 6 doesn’t look too cramped, either. Steve Jobs may have been scathing about “tweeners” in the past, but – perhaps unsurprisngly, given iOS is also used on the far smaller iPhone and iPod touch – it works just fine on the iPad mini.
Apple didn’t dip under the $300 mark as many hoped, but the premium materials – versus the more common plastics of Android slates – do help differentiate the iPad mini some. Those already invested in the iOS or OS X ecosystem will obviously have a vested interest in opting for Apple’s smaller tablet, too. We’ll know more when we have a chance to play with a review unit, but for now the iPad mini is ticking plenty of the boxes we were hoping it might.
Apple has priced up its beautiful new iMac all-in-one desktop, with the achingly skinny computer priced from $1,299. The 21.5-inch iMac kicks off at $1,299, with a 2.7GHz quadcore Core i5 processor from Intel, paired with 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard-drive. There’s also GeForce GT 640M graphics. Of course, Apple also has a bigger model too.
The 27-inch iMac is priced from $1,799. It has a 2.9GHz quadcore Core i5 processor from Intel, paired with 8GB of RAM and, again, a 1TB hard-drive. It too uses NVIDIA graphics, in the shape of the GeForce GTX 660M GPU.
Both can be specified with considerably higher kit, however. There’s the option of up to 768GB of flash storage or either a 1TB or 3TB traditional hard-drive. However, there’s also Apple Fusion Drive, which combines both flash and hard-drive storage in a hybrid, for the speed advantages of an SSD and the capacity of an SSD.
The new iMac will be delivered with a wireless keyboard and either a Magic Trackpad or a Magic Mouse. An external optical drive will also be offered. The 21.5-inch model will ship in November, while the 27-inch version will ship the following month, in December.
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