Typical MS marketing hype, much like MS Lync (overhyped, under delivers), the Surface is more hyperbole from MS. They should embrace the MS bigots in big corporations as their only hope for unloading these tablets, the consumer world is going to reject it convincingly.
The interesting thing here is that the rumoured iPad "mini" will have a 1024x768 resolution with the difference being on the [I]widescreenedness[/I] of it. The PPI of this budget iPad will also be higher than the MS Surface about 10% and yet the MS Surface its priced to compete with the iPad (3) more than halfway through its release cycle.
Unless this ClearType technology is magical in a way normal Windows 8 ClearType technology is not, it is inferior to the font-smoothing and resampling capabilities that have been in OS X (and iOS) for a while now. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it is the same technology as found in Windows 8. Also, even if it was just as good, it can't automatically make up for a lower resolution.
I disagree that ClearType makes Surface superior to RetinaDisplay, but your commentary is just pedestrian and ignorant.
ClearType is not about boldness and shadow. Nor is it about "nasty looking" font, thank you.
Reflection does matter. Seriously.
The sad thing is that you cannot talk about what donkey doo is because you have not looked at Surface and iPad side by side. My bet is iPad with RD is superior but your ignorance makes me wish I was wrong.
You get a lot of those types of opinions here, unfortunately. While I don't think Surface will in anyway compete with iPad, I do think they're pretty nice. MS has some good ideas - at least they're being original. The kickstand is creative (you have to buy Apple's Smartcover to get that), and having the rear-camera angled is thoughtful. The display on Surface won't be nearly as good as iPad 3, but they do give you some extra hardware goodies at least in the form of a USB port, microSD slot and HDMI-out. In the end it will all come down to the quality and quantity of software/apps MS is able to provide and how quickly. Personally, I think they're way too late to seriously challenge Apple. I think it will be fun to watch them try, though.
There's a reason for that. That it's an MS Office equipped tablet is the only real selling point of the Surface. That's why it has a keyboard and a touchpad as well, because they're hoping to sell this as something that people who absolutely need *proper* Office, but think a tablet might be quite nice as well. The keyboard and touchpad reveal this thing for what Microsoft really want it to be: a small laptop, they haven't really jumped into the whole Tablet idea with both feet yet.
I totally agree with what you said. Considering the amount of people that use Office, I'm sure there are many people who want a device like this - enterprise users and college students being two groups of people.
You get a lot of those types of opinions here, unfortunately. While I don't think Surface will in anyway compete with iPad, I do think they're pretty nice. MS has some good ideas - at least they're being original. The kickstand is creative (you have to buy Apple's Smartcover to get that), and having the rear-camera angled is thoughtful. The display on Surface won't be nearly as good as iPad 3, but they do give you some extra hardware goodies at least in the form of a USB port, microSD slot and HDMI-out. In the end it will all come down to the quality and quantity of software/apps MS is able to provide and how quickly. Personally, I think they're way too late to seriously challenge Apple. I think it will be fun to watch them try, though.
"While I don't think Surface will in anyway compete with iPad....."
Make no mistake, this is definitely going to compete head-to-head with the full-sized iPad. MS is not hiding that fact.
"Personally, I think they're way too late to seriously challenge Apple."
I don't agree. The mobile device war is just starting to heat up. Even though tablet sales are growing faster than traditional pc / laptop sales, they don't make up more than 20% of the overall pc / device market. There's a lot of room for growth and for more than one player.
"Doing a side by side with the new iPad in a consistently lit room, we have had many people see more detail on Surface RT than on the Ipad (sic) with more resolution," he wrote.
sounds counterintuitive, and cringeworthy excuse. But it might not be entirely impossible to pull off a perceptual prank on the human brain.
There are a couple of ways to tweak a lower resolution display to appear to have a higher resolution: assuming the photos are exactly the same and contain sufficient resolution. I'm assuming that they didn't display the photos at 1:1 ratio between photo pixels and display pixels. They probably took a full sized photo (12-24MP for typical DSLR) and allowed the device's software to scale the photo down to fit the device's screens. Depending on the algorithm used, this downscaling can affect the perceived sharpness of the image. If Microsoft boosted the contrast, or even applied tricks such as unsharp masking to the image as part of the downscaler, it would create the perception of "more detail." People perceive "detail" when there's high frequency changes in the luminance channel, so it could be something as simple as Microsoft's downscaler subsampling (as opposed to averaging the luminance of neighboring) pixels.
Either way, it sounds like the same arguments that we heard when Samsung swore PenTile = more resolution. Let it go, Microsoft. You don't have a retina display.
Don't forget the hundred bucks extra for the keyboard. :)
Because, clearly, iPad has 32GB left for your own stuff after you've installed iWork and counting the iOS...
That's such a dishonest argument. You ought to say that ipad takes ~9GB OS+iWork where the (more complete) Office, Windows and the .Net environment take 14GB, saving ineffect space that is "stolen" on iOS by code that's uneeded on Windows due to ... .Net environment.
Understand me well: I won't get Surface, iPad is clearly superior. I'm just taking that argument you raised as not good enough.
I think your figure for iOS is wrong! i have a 64 GB iPad 3... I just checked and it says the capacity is 57.2 GB after the iOS. So, instead.of ~9 GB OS it is <7 GB for IOS 6.
One could also argue that iWorkis usable on an iPad whereas MS Office is not usable on the Windows RT Surface
I think your figure for iOS is wrong! i have a 64 GB iPad 3... I just checked and it says the capacity is 57.2 GB after the iOS. So, instead.of ~9 GB OS it is <7 GB for IOS 6.
One could also argue that iWorkis usable on an iPad whereas MS Office is not usable on the Windows RT Surface
That depends on how you define usable. If by usable you mean, that the app was written from the ground up to take advantage of the multi-touch UI, then yes iWork more than likely is more usable than Office on RT, even though Office will have a touch mode. If by usable you mean functionality, then I disagree. I have yet to see any other productivity software out there (with the exception of Keynote) that can the functionality of Office. Remember too, the version of Office for Windows RT is not watered down. It has nearly all of the features of the standard version minus some enterprise specific features. And you will be getting that for free.
both are taking space from their advertised capacities, 32gb is never, ever, 32gb of user accessible space.
Correct. A 32 GB iPad reports having a "Capacity" of 28 GB. iOS then takes up some of that space. All considered though, the Surface RT initial load does look bloated in comparison.
Comments
Cleartype? You mean the text smoothing gimmick introduced in Windows XP? And this is why the screen is better than iPad's retina display?
Typical MS marketing hype, much like MS Lync (overhyped, under delivers), the Surface is more hyperbole from MS. They should embrace the MS bigots in big corporations as their only hope for unloading these tablets, the consumer world is going to reject it convincingly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jnjnjn
The eerie image of the 'schoolchildren dancing' is difficult to forget.
You mean this one? ;¬)
Quote:
Originally Posted by jnjnjn
The eerie image of the 'schoolchildren dancing' is difficult to forget.
J.
That was the image that bothered me as well.
It's a creepy Stephen King film, alright - "The MiSt."
Of the entrée video, as busy at it is, that single creepy part stood out to me, too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogifan
Since when has iWork been pre-installed on iPads? I don't think I can purchase Surface without Office.
he was trying to make a like for like comparison
WInRTinc Office = 14gb
iOS + iWorks software = ?? gb
both are taking space from their advertised capacities, 32gb is never, ever, 32gb of user accessible space.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harbinger
I disagree that ClearType makes Surface superior to RetinaDisplay, but your commentary is just pedestrian and ignorant.
ClearType is not about boldness and shadow. Nor is it about "nasty looking" font, thank you.
Reflection does matter. Seriously.
The sad thing is that you cannot talk about what donkey doo is because you have not looked at Surface and iPad side by side. My bet is iPad with RD is superior but your ignorance makes me wish I was wrong.
You get a lot of those types of opinions here, unfortunately. While I don't think Surface will in anyway compete with iPad, I do think they're pretty nice. MS has some good ideas - at least they're being original. The kickstand is creative (you have to buy Apple's Smartcover to get that), and having the rear-camera angled is thoughtful. The display on Surface won't be nearly as good as iPad 3, but they do give you some extra hardware goodies at least in the form of a USB port, microSD slot and HDMI-out. In the end it will all come down to the quality and quantity of software/apps MS is able to provide and how quickly. Personally, I think they're way too late to seriously challenge Apple. I think it will be fun to watch them try, though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dr_lha
There's a reason for that. That it's an MS Office equipped tablet is the only real selling point of the Surface. That's why it has a keyboard and a touchpad as well, because they're hoping to sell this as something that people who absolutely need *proper* Office, but think a tablet might be quite nice as well. The keyboard and touchpad reveal this thing for what Microsoft really want it to be: a small laptop, they haven't really jumped into the whole Tablet idea with both feet yet.
I totally agree with what you said. Considering the amount of people that use Office, I'm sure there are many people who want a device like this - enterprise users and college students being two groups of people.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Freshmaker
You get a lot of those types of opinions here, unfortunately. While I don't think Surface will in anyway compete with iPad, I do think they're pretty nice. MS has some good ideas - at least they're being original. The kickstand is creative (you have to buy Apple's Smartcover to get that), and having the rear-camera angled is thoughtful. The display on Surface won't be nearly as good as iPad 3, but they do give you some extra hardware goodies at least in the form of a USB port, microSD slot and HDMI-out. In the end it will all come down to the quality and quantity of software/apps MS is able to provide and how quickly. Personally, I think they're way too late to seriously challenge Apple. I think it will be fun to watch them try, though.
"While I don't think Surface will in anyway compete with iPad....."
Make no mistake, this is definitely going to compete head-to-head with the full-sized iPad. MS is not hiding that fact.
"Personally, I think they're way too late to seriously challenge Apple."
I don't agree. The mobile device war is just starting to heat up. Even though tablet sales are growing faster than traditional pc / laptop sales, they don't make up more than 20% of the overall pc / device market. There's a lot of room for growth and for more than one player.
This:
Quote:
"Doing a side by side with the new iPad in a consistently lit room, we have had many people see more detail on Surface RT than on the Ipad (sic) with more resolution," he wrote.
sounds counterintuitive, and cringeworthy excuse. But it might not be entirely impossible to pull off a perceptual prank on the human brain.
There are a couple of ways to tweak a lower resolution display to appear to have a higher resolution: assuming the photos are exactly the same and contain sufficient resolution. I'm assuming that they didn't display the photos at 1:1 ratio between photo pixels and display pixels. They probably took a full sized photo (12-24MP for typical DSLR) and allowed the device's software to scale the photo down to fit the device's screens. Depending on the algorithm used, this downscaling can affect the perceived sharpness of the image. If Microsoft boosted the contrast, or even applied tricks such as unsharp masking to the image as part of the downscaler, it would create the perception of "more detail." People perceive "detail" when there's high frequency changes in the luminance channel, so it could be something as simple as Microsoft's downscaler subsampling (as opposed to averaging the luminance of neighboring) pixels.
Either way, it sounds like the same arguments that we heard when Samsung swore PenTile = more resolution. Let it go, Microsoft. You don't have a retina display.
I think your figure for iOS is wrong! i have a 64 GB iPad 3... I just checked and it says the capacity is 57.2 GB after the iOS. So, instead.of ~9 GB OS it is <7 GB for IOS 6.
One could also argue that iWorkis usable on an iPad whereas MS Office is not usable on the Windows RT Surface
Yep.
They need to get sales locked in before the reviews come out that it blows
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum
I think your figure for iOS is wrong! i have a 64 GB iPad 3... I just checked and it says the capacity is 57.2 GB after the iOS. So, instead.of ~9 GB OS it is <7 GB for IOS 6.
One could also argue that iWorkis usable on an iPad whereas MS Office is not usable on the Windows RT Surface
That depends on how you define usable. If by usable you mean, that the app was written from the ground up to take advantage of the multi-touch UI, then yes iWork more than likely is more usable than Office on RT, even though Office will have a touch mode. If by usable you mean functionality, then I disagree. I have yet to see any other productivity software out there (with the exception of Keynote) that can the functionality of Office. Remember too, the version of Office for Windows RT is not watered down. It has nearly all of the features of the standard version minus some enterprise specific features. And you will be getting that for free.
You think the Surface is 32gb AFTER Windows 8 etc is installed?
Quote:
Originally Posted by cycomiko
he was trying to make a like for like comparison
WInRTinc Office = 14gb
iOS + iWorks software = ?? gb
both are taking space from their advertised capacities, 32gb is never, ever, 32gb of user accessible space.
Correct. A 32 GB iPad reports having a "Capacity" of 28 GB. iOS then takes up some of that space. All considered though, the Surface RT initial load does look bloated in comparison.