rattlhed

javacowboy said:

Honest question:  Have any of you actually tried Surfaces, for work or otherwise?

What are you impressions?  What are the distinct pros and cons?

I've been using the Surface Pro 4 at work for about 2 years now.  It's not a good machine.  It's buggy, even using Microsoft Office, Excel crashes at least a couple times a week.  Using an external monitor is hit and miss.  Sometimes upon boot it won't recognize the monitor without multiple restarts.  Mapping network drives is a constant struggle as it fails to remember which drives I have mapped.  It's slow and heats up quite often.  Our company was pretty excited about the potential of these machines, but has already started phasing them out in favor of HP laptops which are performing much better.  I have not experience the product after the 4th generation so I don't know if they have improved, but based on my experience I would not recommend them.

Wow, this is quite shocking.  I've been using the X since Friday, and the one thing that bothers me the most is the blatant color shift that happens whenever I don't view the phone straight on.  Even if I turn the phone ever so slightly, the display turns a very cool bluish tint.  This is most noticeable when white is the primary color being displayed on the screen, such as a web site.  Pictures and video is less noticeable.  It's a bit annoying and not something I would expect in a $1200 product.  It's the one thing that may lead me to returning the phone at the end of the week and going back to my 7+. 

I will say though, that the screen does far exceed the 7+ when viewing at an angle and looking at brightness. When I compare the two, and hold at an angle, the X's screen is much brighter and is barely a difference than when looking straight on.  On the 7+, the screen gets very dim as the viewing angle increases.  So OLED definitely has that going for it. 

appex said:

"Microsoft Executive Says iPad Pro Was Apple's Response to Surface".
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/06/16/microsoft-exec-says-ipad-pro-followed-surface

Of course. But the real response would be a true Mac tablet.

I've been using a surface pro for about 1 1/2 years at work now.  As far as a desktop replacement, it's a decent computer.  It's nice to be able to dock it at my workstation, but then grab it to take it to a meeting without having to rely on another computer.  To me it's 90% a portable desktop computer and 10% a tablet.  I almost never use it in tablet mode.  My stylus stays in my desk drawer all the time, and the resolution on the screen is so small using the touch screen as a tablet is too tedious.  

The surface is also buggy as hell.  A microsoft OS running on microsoft hardware should run just like an iPad, perfect.  The surface does not.  Excel (the program I'm in most of my day) crashes at least once a day.  Luckily I've gotten in the habit of saving my work often.  I don't mind it as a work computer, but I would never spend my hard earned $ on this for personal use.  

The iPad is a complete joy to use.  Solid, reliable and a UI that is made for a tablet.  Instant on, instant wake up.  No delay in waiting for anything.  Not with the Surface.  It's still trying to chug through Windows 10 which was not made for an ideal tablet experience.  I'm not saying the iPad could replace my surface because it can't.  I can't run my ERP system on it so I could never use it as a workstation.  So to me, like I said, it's really just a portable desktop replacement, not really a tablet that can compete with the iPad.

GeorgeBMac said:

So, what does 120Hz refresh do for you?   Is it only for gaming?

Likewise:

What is "10 bit color depth" and what does that do for you?   (actually, sounds suspiciously like "a two-bit frill").

Should I be excited about either of these?  Do they justify the 2/3's markup over the base iPhone 12?   (Yeh, I know there are other sifferences, but they don't interest me)

Faster refresh rate means less screen blur when scrolling, display is sharper.  I have witnessed this when upgrading to a 144hz gaming monitor from my old standard 60hz. Even in Windows when moving windows around the screen and scrolling web pages the display is so much easier on the eyes.  Motion blur is almost non-existent and it's more like reading a page in a book vs. a digital screen.  You have to see it to understand but it's a big upgrade.  How this translates to a smaller form factor like a phone I can't say, but it sure sounds promising.
Faster refresh also means better registering of physical input.  Taps, pinch to zoom, etc. all respond better since the screen is taking faster inputs.  Should create a better interface feeling with the phone.  
As for whether the price increase is justified we'll just have to wait until we get our hands on it.  I have an 11 Pro and I'm still not sure I'll be upgrading this year or waiting until next year.  A lot depends on what Lydar has to offer and if the camera upgrades are significant enough.  My 11 Pro is still a workhorse, battery is going strong after 9 months and it's snappier as always, so it's going to have to impress a lot to get me to pay for the next version.

AppleZulu said:

I'm more interested in Parag Agrawal and Bret Taylor. Are there any chances that either of them will give a corporate damn as to whether their company's product is used to facilitate the spread of misinformation that kills people or undermines democracy? Time will tell.

One person's misinformation is another person's fight against the mainstream media and the slander and filtering of real news it provides.  There's a dangerous step when these social media companies 'filter' what they perceive as misinformation.  Remember when Youtube and Twitter were banning posts regarding the origin of Covid19?  Well, that didn't age well.  We need these platforms to be free of the bias of the operator and let the users decide what is real and what is fake.  

The AW4 is an absolute marvel of technology.  I upgraded from a Series 2, and this thing is night and day better.  Everything responds instantly, zero lag...I mean zero!  Having cellular is so damn nice, and even having Siri speak back questions and commands makes it so much more useful.  And that new screen on the 44mm, holy crap, so big and roomy.  I'm sure the watch will continue to improve each year, but right now it feels like this watch has finally become what was envisioned when they first introduced the idea a few years ago.  Reminds me of the leap to retina display on the iPhone and how much of a game changer that was.

mike1 said:

Existing bands???

All existing bands work with series 7

Wow, what a price tag.  Looking forward to some reviews.  If the sound justifies the price then so be it, but half a grand for a pair of headphones better sound out of this world.

Until you can guarantee that every bad guy with a gun has that gun taken away, then you'll never convince me that law abiding citizens should not be able to defend themselves in an equal or superior manner.  

Just because other big tech is already doing this doesn't make "Apple is just late to the party" argument right.  I've always stuck with Apple, and have never considered switching platforms for many reasons, but privacy is my #1.  I can live with tech that isn't as cutting edge as other companies.  Yes I miss the fingerprint reader, I would love a high refresh rate screen, or a super zoom lens, but Apple's stance on privacy trumps those things I don't have on an iPhone that I could have with another device.  But this is a step too far.  There's the question of giving up your rights for the good of society.  Once we start giving up our freedoms for the sake of protection, where does it end? If they can do this with CSAM material, what's to stop other types of material in the future?  Sure Apple will say no, but who knows what 10 years in the future would bring?  Once the technology is introduced it can be changed at any time. What if China says "you need to flag and identify any people in our country that has these 100 images on their phone, or we're going to cut off all sales of iPhone in our country".  What would Apple do then?  Risk the sales of millions of iPhones or concede to the demand? I highly doubt it. Snowden is right, this needs to stop now.