The Microsoft Surface

[Superphil]

It has a USB port and micro SD card reader too, makes sense.

 

[Cian]

then, apparently, it completly fails to integrate with MS networks. So you wont be able to integrate your Surface with your Exchange server. oh dear.

It can't go on to AD, so you won't get single sign on, but it has an Exchange client.

That said, virtually EVERYTHING has an Exchange client these days.

 

[4-p]

I like the way that on the presentation, the guy couldn't get it working and had to ask for a new one cos it was broke

 

[beorhthelm]

It can't go on to AD, so you won't get single sign on, but it has an Exchange client.

ah yes, thats sounds more like what i read. point is theres a failure to integrate well with the corporate MS network, which isnt good or normal behaviour from Microsoft.

 

[disgruntled h blocker]

It's all very exciting. I hope it doesn't go the way of my ipaq and the zune for MP3s

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

I like the way that on the presentation, the guy couldn't get it working and had to ask for a new one cos it was broke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTrWPqS4Kxk&feature=related

 

[Colossal Squid]

As a second handset I have a Nokia Lumia 800 which runs the latest Windows Phone 7.5 software. This tablet is going to be running Windows 8, which is visually very similar.

For my money the Lumia experience is very good, aside from one crucial flaw: lack of apps. When you compare it with Apple's App Store and the even larger Google Play Store (Android Marketplace) there is absolutely no contest. What few apps there are available to download are usually expensive or very shoddily designed. It's a real shame because if there was an abundance of well integrated apps you'd be looking at a very decent mobile OS. In fact a great dal of tech experts and industry insiders, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, have admitted Windows Phone is probably the best designed of the three current major mobile operating systems. But of course people NEED their multiple apps - the ones they favour for everyday tasks, the games they enjoy most and the applications that just look and feel better than everything else.

With Windows 8/Windows Phone 8 Microsoft are trying to make it as easy and desirable as possible for developers to code for their platform. If they succeed and the apps start piling up, with conversions of already popular iOS and Android apps then they could be onto a winner, assuming their new Surface hardware is competitive in terms of power and price.

But nobody knows whether it's going to happen. Right now I think there is room in the market for a genuine competitor to the iPad, and no Android powered device has made any significant dent in market share to date. But whether somebody knocks up a desirable Android device or Windows gets the apps it needs to take off, is anybody's guess at the moment.

 

[Titus]

I get it, its a tablet but it can also be turned in to PC with the keyboard. In the end your going to want to do more than just surf the web, your going to want to reply to emails, docs. Your going to want to use a mouse with the keyboard laid out because it more feels natural to do that. You might as well buy a laptop then which is half the price.

This is what I don't get about these tablets. We solved portability with laptops, but what makes this so different compared to other tablets on the market?

I'm with you sir. Why should I trade my netbook which does so much more and fits in my very small briefcase?