Surface 2 and Pro 2 |OT| Lap it up
- Thread starter GK86
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Xplatformer
Member
Does this look comfortable to hold?
Compared to a phone or 7" tablet? No.
Compared to any other 10" tablet? Heck yes.
LaserBuddha
Member
I've done it, it's not comfortable to hold in one hand period, and the wide distribution of weight toward the top and bottom is awkward IMO. It's like you're trying to balance it so it doesn't do a seesaw motion out of your hand and onto the floor. Resting it my lap solved that issue but then wtf am I doing with this 9:16 screen?
Does this look comfortable to hold?
Actually, yes 16:9 tablets are more comfortable to hold in portrait than an iPad, the only usage problems are related to the oddly high ratio for certain content, nothing to do with holding the thing!
I definitely enjoyed talking with you this morning. Brought a bit of sunshine to this otherwise rainy and dreary day.
Complex Shadow
Cudi Lame
does it look comfortable? yes.Does this look comfortable to hold?
does it feel comfortable? i wouldn't know. but imho, it looks like it would be easier to hold than the ipad 3. dunno though.
-COOLIO-
The Everyman
all i said was 'more comfortable', whether or not it is ultimately comfortable depends on whether or not your resting your arm/hand on anything, hand size, strength, etc. it would also be mooore comfortable with 2 hands in portrait. i played around with the pro1 and that was my experience with it.
dem
Member
Well I've read all the reviews.. and its the same old complaints.
One one hand they will whine and cry that RT doesn't have legacy apps.. then complain that the legacy apps aren't very usable on a tablet.
The Verge review actually says netflix is better on an ipad? How? They don't elaborate.
The Surface is 16x9 which is better for video... I can snap netflix to the side and still browse the web. What can the ipad do better, exactly?
No one will come out and say IE is better than Safari... which it clearly is.
One one hand they will whine and cry that RT doesn't have legacy apps.. then complain that the legacy apps aren't very usable on a tablet.
The Verge review actually says netflix is better on an ipad? How? They don't elaborate.
The Surface is 16x9 which is better for video... I can snap netflix to the side and still browse the web. What can the ipad do better, exactly?
No one will come out and say IE is better than Safari... which it clearly is.
LaserBuddha
Member
If being stronger or having bigger hands or resting it on something are deciding factors here, that means it's uncomfortable. I agree, it is more comfortable with two hands, but you need a hand to use it.
I really can't fathom finding it better than holding an ipad.
I watched the video review (I didn't read the article) and they didn't say that Netflix was better, but they said that watching videos was better and I can understand why - it's apps again. Sure, some of them you can just use the website, but for the tablet form factor a dedicated app for Hulu, Amazon, YT, Netflix, iTunes, etc. is much better.
And I can't see myself ever using the Pro in portrait mode, especially considering the weight/thickness.
NeOak
Member
People bitching about Portrait mode on a Surface Pro have never used OneNote.
And You've never had the pleasure of using a fucking full convertible in portrait mode.
Stop bitching about it, because you just are "oh iPad". Give me a break, the fair comparison would be against a Dell Latitude XT3 or a Lenovo ThinkPad x220t which run full Windows, not an over glorified phone OS on it.
And You've never had the pleasure of using a fucking full convertible in portrait mode.
Stop bitching about it, because you just are "oh iPad". Give me a break, the fair comparison would be against a Dell Latitude XT3 or a Lenovo ThinkPad x220t which run full Windows, not an over glorified phone OS on it.
Tathanen
Get Inside Her!
I assume the Pro 2 isn't gonna come with MS Office, right? Really OneNote is the main thing I'll need, but Word/Excel would sure be nice. Someone said something about free OneNote on the Windows Store but maybe I imagined that. Is it just the metro version, or the desktop version as well?
I should probably just buy home/student office huh.
I should probably just buy home/student office huh.
NeOak
Member
The one in the store is the metro version. Its nice, but uses Skydrive for everything :|
If one note is free on windows store its the Metro version
Yup its come to the point where I dont really take the verge seriously at all. Its the same idiotic BS. If RT had legacy apps they would complain they dont work in tablet mode. It doesn't so they complain it should. In the same review they say they want legacy apps but then they say remove the desktop.
Also I in the review the guy is like "apps" are hard to use in IE... lol wth does that even mean. Its browing the websites and IE is one of the best tablet browsers and has full flash. I haven't had any issue on surface 1 with any sites.
Then there is the complaints about Office being better with a mouse, well you have the touch / type covers there is a reason they have trackpads. I can bet if they removed full office and put a metro version these same people would complain that its not as good as full office on the Pro.
Personally I've had Surface 1 since around the time it came out and mostly it's been gathering dust because I just dont need a tablet when I have a laptop. I think the whole tablet thing is useless (for me). But these reviews for the Surface are just so stupid.
You can always sync the same folder where you store your notes with Dropbox
Serious? The 10" iPad in portrait orientation is far more comfortable to hold than that. There's a reason reviewers mention the dimensions as an issue for the surface, same complaints don't get directed at the iPad.
NeOak
Member
I keep them on SkyDrive, but its too limited for me compared to OneNote 2013.
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
Xplatformer
Member
dem
Member
Newer printers tend to work... Old printers not so much.
Yes you can. There is a video on YouTube showing someone connecting to a wifi printer and printing/scanning.
64 bit is a game changer!
There's still time, but yeah, I'd like to just know it hit the warehouse.
(I work for microsoft I'm obviously biased blah blah blah)
After reading these reviews, the Surface 2 sounds like it basically solves every single problem with the original.
The frustrating part about these reviews is that it focuses entirely on what's missing that the competition has, while merely glossing over what it has that the competition doesn't.
Don't get me wrong - the omissions compared to the competition are important, and should absolutely be pointed out. But we're stuck in this impasse where the press has let the competition define "this is what a tablet is, and any tablet which doesn't do exactly the same stuff or better must be reviewed worse". They barely touch on the unique elements of the Surface at all. And the new Bing apps like Health & Fitness are huge, I couldn't believe how much stuff was in there when I loaded it up. They got a single sentence (if at all) in these reviews.
I traveled with just my Surface RT for the last week, freshly upgraded to 8.1, and was constantly reminded what makes it special.
The only complaints I had the entire time was that the keyboard is difficult to use in my lap, and it's simply slow. The Surface RT is a slowww device, and only web browsing is faster than competing tablets I've used.
There is so much stuff that comes built-into the device that makes it fucking awesome, I honestly don't miss apps at all. I have an iPod Touch and play a bunch of games on there, and the only reason why I'd consider an iPad is for games on it as well. I question how much people actually use apps on a tablet. Things like Instagram etc. seem pretty useless on tablets compared to phones - other than news readers like Instapaper, do people actually use apps other than games on their iPads regularly?
I'm seriously considering the Surface 2 after reading these reviews, even though I'd have to pay my cold hard cash to get it (no gifts this year!)
After reading these reviews, the Surface 2 sounds like it basically solves every single problem with the original.
The frustrating part about these reviews is that it focuses entirely on what's missing that the competition has, while merely glossing over what it has that the competition doesn't.
Don't get me wrong - the omissions compared to the competition are important, and should absolutely be pointed out. But we're stuck in this impasse where the press has let the competition define "this is what a tablet is, and any tablet which doesn't do exactly the same stuff or better must be reviewed worse". They barely touch on the unique elements of the Surface at all. And the new Bing apps like Health & Fitness are huge, I couldn't believe how much stuff was in there when I loaded it up. They got a single sentence (if at all) in these reviews.
I traveled with just my Surface RT for the last week, freshly upgraded to 8.1, and was constantly reminded what makes it special.
- The ability to get real, honest to god work done using a proper, near-fully-featured office suite
- A web browser that supports full flash without any limitations, and yet is still faster than almost every other tablet I've used (including the iPad 3)
- True side-by-side multitasking, unhindered
- USB peripheral support for basically everything
- True multimonitor support for work and hooking it up to any TV effortlessly
- Actual SNES emulator legitimately published to the Store
- Actual BitTorrent client that let me catch up on my legitimately-torrent-distributed shows
- Mobile.HD video player that plays every single file format I've thrown at it
- Full file system access to browse the network, SD cards, and more, without any hassles or requirements for any third-party software
- Using it as a gigantic backup battery. I fully-charged a dead phone and 3DS using its USB port and still had enogh battery for a 2-3 hour layover and the entire flight
The only complaints I had the entire time was that the keyboard is difficult to use in my lap, and it's simply slow. The Surface RT is a slowww device, and only web browsing is faster than competing tablets I've used.
There is so much stuff that comes built-into the device that makes it fucking awesome, I honestly don't miss apps at all. I have an iPod Touch and play a bunch of games on there, and the only reason why I'd consider an iPad is for games on it as well. I question how much people actually use apps on a tablet. Things like Instagram etc. seem pretty useless on tablets compared to phones - other than news readers like Instapaper, do people actually use apps other than games on their iPads regularly?
I'm seriously considering the Surface 2 after reading these reviews, even though I'd have to pay my cold hard cash to get it (no gifts this year!)
BriareosGAF
Member
Apps other than web browsing, podcasts, RSS readers, Mail apps, FaceTime, all the little weather, map, etc., utilities, and then yes, a shit ton of games? Let's not be naive, of course. My wife's primary computing all happens on her ipad, even though she has a nice huge iMac, too.
Your company is gifting me one and I got to play with a prototype last week while visiting. It's definitely a slick package given how much power is packed into it (this was an 8GB 256GB SSD Haswell, not sure what the other configs look like). But who cares if I can run Visual Studio 2013 on it? (Well, admittedly taking VSGD captures with it since it runs Windows 8.1 is sort of handy, but that's just because of poor MS downlevel support for their GPU analysis toolchain.) As it is I'll probably still buy a new iPad for a combination of app ecosystem, battery life, and ease of use/integration with my other machines. But I'm going to try to give the Surface 2 a go first and see whether it can change my mind.
The Bing apps are pretty sweet. Cool features in the cooking app. Would be nice if the shopping list would export to OneNote.
I ask because this won't work on "desktop" browsers, I think. Are you confirming that this works with the IE browser in Windows RT?
Also, another question for dLMN8R: how does the browser handle gif-heavy gaf threads?
I am now leaning towards a Surface 2. Still gonna wait and see what Apple cooks up tomorrow, though.
Well I've just tried it now on Firefox, IE11 and Chrome on my soon to be replaced laptop, and it renders the mobile version of the site fine (Windows 8.1, not RT admittedly, though I can't see how that would make a difference).
It does work with Desktop browsers and works from Metro IE as well. Also IE on WinRT is basically as powerful as desktop IE works great for me with all gaf pages (Surface 1) so Surface2 should be better. It also has full flash.
You know how the ipad chokes? Yeah...nothing like that.
Like a hot knife through butter.
Skel1ingt0n
I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
I oftentimes disagree with your assessments. I regularly find faults and frustration in things you tend to enjoy or simply ignore. For example, I dislike integrated Bing search in everything. Opening a browser is not difficult if I want to search, and then I don't accidentally click on external links when trying to simply navigate my computer.
That said, though, I fully agree with your argument that current tablets have somehow already defined exactly what a tablet should and should not be in the future. I love my iPad - I think it's a perfect travel companion for browsing the internet, checking email, and killing time playing games or watching a movie. It's light, has great battery, a beautiful display, is fast, and has access to a plethora of apps. But there's so much room for competition to do something crazy. The most obvious being that the iPad is an abysmal office tool. A terrible case/stand hybrid. Not a single good keyboard except the Apple BT one that doesn't even attach. No real ability to stay productive or get actual work done with just the device itself.
I think the Surface 2 would be perfect if it had more apps. I think the Pro 2 would be perfect if it was as thin as the S2. Either way, though, I think they both do some things much better than my beloved iPad.
One more day of being held hostage by Ipads and iOS ...256 is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. Flash will work, GIF's will work, I can run whatever I want, do work on it, and use outlook for email. I can't remember the last time used an App for anything on my ipad.
Agreed wholeheartedly
Eh, just tried on my Windows 7 laptop with Firefox 24 and IE10, and it'll load the frontpage if I go to m.neogaf.com but as soon as you click to go into a forum it auto-directs to the non-mobile verson.
This is very good to hear... wait, are you referring to the Surface 1 or 2?
Everyone getting the SP/2 tomorrow should post pictures. You lucky mofo's.
From my short time with the Surface 1...but it was a while back. If Windows Phone 8 is any reference, then it's also buttery smooth.
Yeah you are right my bad. Seems like there is a hack to change the user agent string but then it would show mobile pages for all sites.
On a side note this thread made me wanna get the Surface 2 even though I dont use my current one but man the touch covers are way over priced. There is no way I am paying 120 for a touch cover.
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