The Windows RT Review
by Vivek Gowri & Anand Lal Shimpi on October 25, 2012 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Windows RT
- Operating Systems
- Microsoft
- Mobile
- Windows 8
- Tablets
Skype for Windows RT: The New Messenger?
I decided to give Skype its own page, because it’s kind of a hybrid first-party/third-party app and I think it’s going to be very important to Microsoft going forward. It’s not pre-installed so you need to install it from the Windows Store, but Microsoft’s ownership of Skype means that the service is very well integrated to the Windows 8/RT platform.
The new version of Skype runs within Modern UI and has been redesigned from the ground up, with some critical changes being made to the Skype platform. You can login now with any form of Microsoft account, including Skype, and your Skype ID will be linked to your Windows ID. Your Skype contacts can be found either from within Skype or from the People application, so you can just call people directly out of the People application where the rest of your contacts are.
Skype’s new UI is clean and relatable, for the first time in quite a few revisions. Metro has more than done its job here, taking what has become a clunky and archaic interface over the years and really turning it into a modern, streamlined application. There are four areas, showing recent calls and conversations, favorited contacts, and a list of all your contacts as distinct panes. The fourth area, actually the first one you see, is an advertising column for Skype Premium with the sell being “More Skype. No ads.” How tempting. If you’re a free Skype user, like almost everyone I know, it’s just something you ignore but it really does bug me, because it mars what is an otherwise great looking app.
The edge swipe context bar brings up options to add contacts and numbers at the bottom, as well as thumbnails of recent contact history at the top. Once you enter into a contact, you’re free to chat with them, call them over voice or video, or add participants for a group chat. Overall, it’s well organized and very straightforward to use.
The cool part is that you can snap video chats to the edge of the screen, giving you a slice of the chat window. This is actually a really awesome way of doing things, since as long as the other person is generally in the middle of their webcam field of view, the 320 pixel width is actually more than adequate to carry on a good Skype conversation. I’m a big fan of using snapped applications for multitasking, and I think Skype’s implementation of it is very sleek. For the first time in a while, I’m very pleased by the design and responsiveness of Skype.
Eventually I think MSN/Live Messenger will be folded into Skype, paving the way for Skype to become the default messaging client for the Windows platform. The first step in this was combining the Skype ID with the overall Windows ID, and in time we will see how important this was for Microsoft to get right.
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Sherlock - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
IMHO WIndows RT on ARM is an stop-gap solution till the x86 architecture becoms power efficient to give tablet like running times. I belive Microsoft began working on Surface about two years ago & at that point of time, there was no viable competitor to ARM, in terms of power efficiency. This is the primary reason I belive Microsoft had to create an ARM version.Several of the commentators on this site have mentioned that they see no reason to buy an ARM over x86...and it definitley makes sense. Why have an fragmented ecosystem?
I believe that as time passes on & people get used to the Modern UI & the x86 architecture catches up, Microsft would phase out their support for the ARM version.
Microsoft could have chosen to do away with the "Desktop" environment with Windows RT & created a Moder UI version of Office (I don't agree with the argument of they not having enough time...they have been at it for 2 years) but I guess they deliberately chose to retain it so that users experience the familiar environment while using their killer app in this war - Office. I think people have underestimated the importance of bundling Office with Windows RT which remediates the biggest shortcoming of Android/iOS tablets
prdola0 - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
Hi, the article is nice, but I keep wondering about one thing. Why do Apple articles start with a nice and colorful image of the devices, and a lot of it's competition articles start with a smudgy ugly images or devices turned off? Maybe it's just accidental, but please give it a thought. It looks a bit like bias.B3an - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
Lol i've said this before! They often put more effort in to images taken of Apple stuff, which i've never liked as it's bias in way.But to be fair, this time the image at the start of this article is old and to show the Win 7 tablet. It makes sense to have it with the opening of the article.
beginner99 - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
...but doubtful very usable in practice. I really like the thinking behind Surface with the touch keyboard cover and other things. According to this review Windows 8 isnt that bad on tablets. I'm just gonna believe that.However the Application load times are very, very bad. 7 sec for mail app? That is just frustrating. Just shows that ARM is still very much underpowered....Or that surface uses an extremely crappy flash storage.
milkod2001 - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
@prdola0this site belongs to Anand a trully Apple fanboy plus there's no such thing as unbiased review, any review on any web is only as good/positive as much is reviewer/site owner getting pay
yyrkoon - Sunday, October 28, 2012 - link
Funny, I thought the review was rather in favor for Microsoft. This review, and the Microsoft surface review. Both.Anand is no dumbie.. I absolutely HATE anything Apple based on pure personal beliefs / reasoning. Yet, even I, can not deny that iOS as far as polish goes is second to none. Until now. And the hardware used is usually top quality.
At a higher cost, with less freedom, and a strangle hold on their software regime. A lot of people claim these are all problems from Microsoft. Which may be true, but Apple trumps Microsoft in computer-land tyranny. Until now.
It could be that 90% of the market will be driven to using Mint Linux x, in the not so distant future. We'll see if Microsoft gets another clue.
GnillGnoll - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
I very much like that the on-screen keyboard has cursor keys, even if it's just left/right. It's one of the main features missing from the iOS keyboard, as precisely positioning the cursor with your finger is a huge pain.I assume that Ctrl+Left/Right skips words, and that Shift+Left/Right can be used for selection. Does anyone know if there is a way to go up/down?
I don't like that quick access to punctuation is so limited, though.
bitbank - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
From your comments throughout the article, it's clear that you're a fan of Metro and you overlook many of the shortcomings of Windows Phone and Windows RT just because of the "smooth tiled interface". The truth is that the GUI isn't that important. It's not where you get your work done. Apps are where you work.As you said, an ARM version of Windows is good to wake Intel from their slumber and get some competition in the low cost/low power CPU market. Intel's Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors get decent battery life and run 3-5x faster than the best ARM offerings to date. I get 8-10 hours of battery life out of my 17" HP Sandy Bridge notebook with the medium capacity battery. I would much rather have an x86 slate running Windows 8 with support for legacy apps. Having a half-baked version of Office on an ARM based WinRT tablet isn't much incentive to be stuck with virtually no apps.
WindowsRT feels a lot like the launch of Windows CE notebooks. Interesting form factors and improved battery life don't make up for lack of app compatibility. The value of Windows is in its huge selection of apps. Win8 Pro is taking the right approach. Similar to the transition from DOS and 16-bit to 32-bit apps with Windows 95, there needs to be a transition product (Win8 Pro) which bridges the gap between old and new. When presented with a completely new device with no legacy support and very little app support, it makes very little sense for the average user to buy it. Besides reviewers and people who have to buy the latest gadget, why should an average person want to buy WinRT? According to you, they should patiently wait for the app store to get some decent apps. That's asking too much. The smart move for the average consumer is to wait a year or so and see if developers have given any attention to Windows 8's "little brother" and published apps in both x86 and ARM versions.
karocage - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
But the interface is how you navigate all those apps. It's legitimate to point out that WP7 and W8/RT have clearly surpassed iOS in terms of speed of navigation between things like the back button, hubs, task switcher, charms and so on. That's not a function of the tiles really - although of course the tiles are another place where MS has a much better implementation than Apple.steven75 - Friday, November 2, 2012 - link
Completely disagree on speed of navigation. Are you familiar with the four-finger swipes on an iPad to switch apps, bring up the "task manager" tray, etc?I'll give you getting to the settings screen to find apps settings takes longer but thankfully on iOS apps launch lightning fast unlike on RT.