Microsoft Surface Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 23, 2012 9:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Microsoft
- Mobile
- Surface
- Windows RT
Camera
Surface features two 720p cameras, one on the front and one on the back. Neither camera provides particularly great image quality but they are sufficient for web use.
The camera UI is quick and fairly simple. Tap and hold to lock exposure is supported, and you can tap anywhere on the screen to actually take a photo. Switching between front and rear facing cameras is quick, as is switching between photo and video modes.
The only aspect of Surface’s cameras that takes some getting used to is the 22-degree angled camera assembly on the back. The angled rear facing camera is designed to offset the inline created by the kickstand when deployed, so you can prop Surface up on its kickstand and not have the rear camera pointing at the ground. Unfortunately when handheld it means that you often have to tilt Surface a bit to get the right shot. I guess that’s better than having the rear facing camera pointing at the ground when used the kickstand deployed, but that likely depends on what you’re using Surface’s rear camera for.
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tipoo - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
AFAIK they built it ground up in their existing hardware division.shompa - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
The rumour is that Steve Jobs ghost work at MSFT.Press, that are "Apple" nerds have been to MSFT labs and looked at their stuff. They have amazing laptops, computers and other stuff that they would buy direct. And these are people who are fanatical about beautiful design, liberal arts and that stuff should work.
The sad thing for MSFT is all the politics. They have great products in their labs and cant release them because it makes OEM angry. Surface is for example a compromise. The 600 dollar price is ONLY because of OEM. MSFT cant price Surface aggressive since OEM would stop building RT stuff.
And that is a huge threat to Windows. Surface was rumoured to cost 199 dollars. HP/Dell and other OEMs have started to look for alternative to windows (Unified Android). Valve have ported steam to Linux(and later Android).
That is probably the feature.
MSFT continues with their new integrated approach. Same as Apple.
OEMs will start to use "open"/fragmented Linux/Android.
kyuu - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Except not, since the only OEM who can make a profit on Android is Samsung.Stas - Monday, November 5, 2012 - link
You're delusional, if you think an open source platform can become dominant in the computer market.ol1bit - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
One word describes Microsoft and all their ideas.... LATE.They had a good lead in the smartphone arena and gave up. They couldn't see what the next big thing was going to be. iPhone took off, then Goggle really jumped on Android, pushed changes at a blistering pace. Microsoft lost the phone race...So go keep Nokia alive and try to catch up, doubt they will.
Tablet are the same way. Market already lost. A gazillion apps for both iPad and Android Tablets.
Everything MS does is 2 steps behind. I know they hope to catch up, but I have 3 Android devices, and Love it. All my apps carry from device to device as it should. Goggle keeps pumping out great enhancements, same with Apple.
Oh well.
sunflowerfly - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
"Tablet are the same way. Market already lost. A gazillion apps for both iPad and Android Tablets."Actually Android has very few tablet apps. I believe Microsoft will take over and become the number 2 tablet within a year. Google is giving away tablets at cost because the public is not buying them (not that a few million sold to geeks is a bad gig).
PubFiction - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
people said the same thing about netbooks when they were all launching with linux, what you forget is that yes MS is late but they have won even though they were late to many parties. Vertical integration and supply chain control are huge factors. To most people office cost $100 and any of these devices shipping with free office means it is $100 cheaper. Now you get vertical integration, MS is going to leverage office to muscle into the tablet space, and what is so nice is that rather than just sit on office / windows and let that win the game they are actually going a little above and beyond by bringing the surface keyboard to the market and bringing out what is mostly a high quality well built device.DukeN - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
How the fuck is Microsoft late wrt to ideas?Microsoft had a tablet OS out about 10 years ago, couldn't execute it with their partners so it languished.
Maybe they can't execute but they definitely aren't LATE.
xSauronx - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
Last year work gave us all ipad2 32gb units as part of the christmas bonus. i dont love ios, and prefer android for a phone and tablet, but i understand why people like it, and it was definitely a great tablet. sold it for an android, however.id love to get one of these this year...i'd be very interested in trying one out for a week. hopefully there will be apps a plenty for this, or at least a good ecosystem for the full windows 8 tablets in the future. i could see me moving away from android for this...maybe
OVerLoRDI - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
I really am impressed with this offering from MS. As a long time PC user and one who types a lot, tablets were absolutely out of the question for me, typing on glass has and always will be a fail.That being said, I don't love it enough to pony up that much money.
I'm also curious to see how Win8 works on smartphones, it seems like it could be a great OS.