The Surface 3 Review
by Brett Howse on May 4, 2015 9:00 AM ESTWi-Fi Performance
For networking, the Surface 3 features the same Marvell AVASTAR 802.11ac network adapter as its big brother. I have seen a lot of the firmware updates for Surface Pro 3 over the last year being network related, so hopefully they have all of the bugs out of it by now. During my time with the Surface 3, I did not have any issues with it. It is a standard 2x2:2 setup, and the top of the Surface 3 has a plastic section to act as a RF window.
The average speed during our TCP test was just about 350 Mbps, which is not too bad but well off of the Broadcom devices, which can see over 500 Mbps.
Speakers
The Surface 3 features to forward facing speakers hidden in the display bezel. It makes for a nice look, and having the speakers facing you helps a lot with stereo and should help with the overall sound quality too.
The Surface 3 is not especially loud, and the frequency response is about what you would expect for a small device with no room for proper speakers. There is almost no sound below 150 Hz, and around 15 kHz the sound drops away. Maximum volume I observed while playing music was 76 dB(A).
Camera
This tablet has two cameras, with the rear camera being an auto-focus 8 MP unit, and the front facing camera is actually a decent camera as well, with 2304 x 1536 resolution shots. The one quirk with the front facing camera though is that it really works best when the kickstand is in the first position, and because this is not a laptop with an adjustable hinge, you will always be limited to where it points.
The rear camera though is surprisingly good, even in low light. I am still not a fan of using a tablet to take pictures, but if you have to, this one will please you.
It will work in a pinch, but I will stick to my smartphone when I can.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
265 Comments
View All Comments
reynolds.jeff - Thursday, May 7, 2015 - link
Excellent, well thought out article. I'm tired of hearing how you "can't edit video" on the Surface 3. No kidding - it's not meant for that. You balanced the shortcomings with the benefits, and further cemented my desire to have one (saving up as we speak). Bravo to you and AnandTech!deiruch - Thursday, May 7, 2015 - link
Was the type-cover-no-longer-works-after-folding-it-back-problem solved with this iteration? Anand wrote in the SP3 review that it still had this problem. I noticed this problem in S1, S2, SP1, SP2 and SP3...Luc K - Thursday, May 7, 2015 - link
One thing worth mentioning with the USB connector is that you can use now an external power battery. It may charge slower but that could be an important feature for some as you can extend runtime bit longer.serendip - Friday, May 8, 2015 - link
This trick also works with smaller Windows tablets like the Dell Venue 8 Pro. With a 10k mAh battery pack, you can go for days without charging and the same pack can also charge phones.serendip - Friday, May 8, 2015 - link
2 GB RAM surprisingly works even for running Linux server VMs, although running a desktop like XFCE is a stretch. I think it's only for video and photo editing that you would need 4 GB, at which point you should be looking at a Surface Pro instead.plm2678 - Friday, May 8, 2015 - link
2GB and Win8 are not a good match. I agree it may work for certain Linux workloads. This is 2015 and memory is cheap.serendip - Saturday, May 9, 2015 - link
No, I meant it's possible to run Win8 *and* Linux VMs together on 2 GB RAM. 4 GB should be the minimum on these new tablets though.plm2678 - Friday, May 8, 2015 - link
Since when is 2GB a "decent spec"? Microsoft should be ashamed of the specs of the $499 model as only the $599 even begins to be acceptable.eanazag - Friday, May 8, 2015 - link
Okay; splain me this:How does the tablet light battery test use more juice than the notebook light test?
Surface 3 gets 7.8 hours of web browsing on the tablet test while getting 8.5 on the notebook test. How does that happen?
As far as the conclusion that was made it, it basically only puts the Surface 3 over the Surface Pro 3 in the tablet chart.
eliz82 - Monday, May 18, 2015 - link
so ... when the first phone with full windows? a 5.5-6inch 1280x720px phone with full windows 10 will be great.