Surface- The issues

[anon(5335877)]

Look at this comparison :

Benchmarked: NVIDIA Tegra 3 VS. Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 | TechnoBuffalo

The Tegra 3 is quite decent...

Yeah, but that comparison was a dual core S4 vs the quad core Tegra 3. The S4 Pro version we're talking about is the quad core S4 with better graphics compared to the dual core S4.

 

[neova333]

a few issues that have been bugging me.

-random muting. at times the device just mutes itself. I've seen reports that it only happens with a cover attached...which I usually have...and haven't been able to confirm if that's the case or not. pressing the volume rocker unmutes, but then it will randomly mute again at some point.

-non responsive links or tiles. I fairly regularly have to touch a tile a few times before it will launch anything. the finger 'circle' will appear, and the tile will even 'depress', but nothing happens for several attempts.

i'm sure some of these issues will get smoothed out with subsequent software updates.

What are you trying to do when you press and hold on a tile? If you press and hold a tile, nothing is supposed to happen, but if you press and hold then swipe up or down you'll get the bottom options bar. If you press and quickly swipe then you'll pick up and move the tile.

If you were press and holding expecting to get some kind of right click menu or select the tile it doesn't work that way. Coming from android it took me a bit to realize that as well.

 

[neova333]

New gripes. Again, I love the form factor of my surface, but I'm getting enough little things that now I'm seriously contemplating using my 14-day return privilege.

Last night I charged it to 100% right before going to sleep around midnight. I got up at 7AM.

The battery was at 74%. That's WAY too much battery use while in sleep mode. My android devices and apple devices (yes, I have both) will use about 3-5% overnight with Bluetooth off and wifi on checking email in the background.

On wakeup, the built-in mail utility takes forever to get going. I had notifications of emails and opened up the built in mail app and it took a good two minutes for the tablet to finally "show up" in the inbox. This is coming from an exchange server. Again, my android and ios devices are pretty much instantaneous. The mail and browser functions are, frankly, the single two most important things for me with battery performance close behind.

Has anyone else tested their battery drain and have sluggish mail performance?

Mail does seem to be a bit slow to sync compared to my android phone which is almost instant.

My battery has been fine. Do you have Bluetooth turned off in settings? It's on by default.

 

[lmckinley]

Microsoft states support for the SDHC standard (max of 32 GB) not the SDXC standard (max of 128 GB) so those of you complaining about your 64 GB cards not working don't blame MS - they never promised support for SDXC.

The MS website says 64GB

 

[jhoff80]

I've got the random mute issue, only with my Touch Cover attached.

Also, I haven't quite figured out the best settings in my router to connect the Surface to it with Wifi, because occasionally it'll lose the signal.

Is that really such a big deal? I understand they pack these devices tightly inside, but would it have been so hard for them to just switch in the S4 Pro? I say this because we see many devices in the world of Android being updated to a "plus" version with new internals and identical exterior designs.

For this, yes. It's not as simple as an x86 device, where you just pop in another chip and everything runs the same. Basically, the kernel has to be optimized around each chip. In the Android world, the SoC makers have a ton of experience with this, and so they're able to leverage that experience. With Windows RT, there's new driver models and code that they're not familiar with. (For example, only Nvidia, out of all the SoC makers, has experience with WDDM (Windows Driver Display Model) GPU drivers that are now necessary.) So it's going to take some time before that sort of switch becomes simple.

 

[berty6294]

I've got the random mute issue, only with my Touch Cover attached.

Also, I haven't quite figured out the best settings in my router to connect the Surface to it with Wifi, because occasionally it'll lose the signal.



For this, yes. It's not as simple as an x86 device, where you just pop in another chip and everything runs the same. Basically, the kernel has to be optimized around each chip. In the Android world, the SoC makers have a ton of experience with this, and so they're able to leverage that experience. With Windows RT, there's new driver models and code that they're not familiar with. (For example, only Nvidia, out of all the SoC makers, has experience with WDDM (Windows Driver Display Model) GPU drivers that are now necessary.) So it's going to take some time before that sort of switch becomes simple.

YESSSSS somebody else with a router problem! I have been spamming the forums trying to find out why I'm having a router problem! Is your surface really slow with your router and have a hard time connecting to it?

 

[jhoff80]

YESSSSS somebody else with a router problem! I have been spamming the forums trying to find out why I'm having a router problem! Is your surface really slow with your router and have a hard time connecting to it?

It's actually pretty fast, but every so often it thinks it's a limited connection (ie, no connection to the internet, only the local network) when my other devices all are connected fine to the internet through it. Not really sure what the cause is.

 

[cp2_4eva]

I'm on the fence about getting this tablet. I am using windows 8 on my desktop and I love it. I am sure the apps will come with time. Seeing all of your gripes has me a bit wary of getting one though. Here are a few questions from me

1. Is IE 10 a full IE 10? Meaning, how limited will I be as far as what sites i can go to and will they show up as mobile versions or full versions?

2. Is Wifi really that bad? because for an item that doesn't have the data radio on it, that's a bit suckish

3. How limited is the Microsoft office suite compared to what you would use on a desktop?

4. Would you rather use your keyboard to type or the screen being that there are issues with it.

5. Has MSFT posted anything talking about updates to the device? I'm on the side of faith saying MSFT will make the proper updates to fix all of these issues rather swiftly.

Also, 10 best useful apps? GO!!!

 

[cp2_4eva]

I'm on the fence about getting this tablet. I am using windows 8 on my desktop and I love it. I am sure the apps will come with time. Seeing all of your gripes has me a bit wary of getting one though. Here are a few questions from me

1. Is IE 10 a full IE 10? Meaning, how limited will I be as far as what sites i can go to and will they show up as mobile versions or full versions?

2. Is Wifi really that bad? because for an item that doesn't have the data radio on it, that's a bit suckish

3. How limited is the Microsoft office suite compared to what you would use on a desktop?

4. Would you rather use your keyboard to type or the screen being that there are issues with it.

5. Has MSFT posted anything talking about updates to the device? I'm on the side of faith saying MSFT will make the proper updates to fix all of these issues rather swiftly.

Also, 10 best useful apps? GO!!!

 

[NickA]

1. Is IE 10 a full IE 10? Meaning, how limited will I be as far as what sites i can go to and will they show up as mobile versions or full versions?
2. Is Wifi really that bad? because for an item that doesn't have the data radio on it, that's a bit suckish
3. How limited is the Microsoft office suite compared to what you would use on a desktop?
4. Would you rather use your keyboard to type or the screen being that there are issues with it.
5. Has MSFT posted anything talking about updates to the device? I'm on the side of faith saying MSFT will make the proper updates to fix all of these issues rather swiftly.

1. All the sites I go to view them as desktop versions. I think the user agent reports itself as full IE 10. The only issue I have are some sites with dropdown menus, like lowes.com. Unless I use the keyboard/mouse, I can't get the menus to work properly. Could be an issue with those sites not conforming to standards though.

2. Wi-Fi has been great for me, in various locations. I've been connected to older and newer routers with no issues. Sometimes it's as simple as changing the channel on the router.

3. The only limitation I see with the Office suite is screen real estate. I'm not a heavy Office user though; just the basics. But there is nothing I have found so far that I can do on the desktop that I can't do in the RT version.

4. I'd rather use the physical keyboard. The width of the screen keyboard in landscape mode slows me down (compared to typing on my iPad). I love the touch cover keyboard.

5. I'm not sure about updates. It's a Microsoft product, so they have full control over it. I would hope it would be like the Nexus line of products and get the latest updates first.

 

[Nataku4ca]

I'm on the fence about getting this tablet. I am using windows 8 on my desktop and I love it. I am sure the apps will come with time. Seeing all of your gripes has me a bit wary of getting one though. Here are a few questions from me

1. Is IE 10 a full IE 10? Meaning, how limited will I be as far as what sites i can go to and will they show up as mobile versions or full versions?

2. Is Wifi really that bad? because for an item that doesn't have the data radio on it, that's a bit suckish

3. How limited is the Microsoft office suite compared to what you would use on a desktop?

4. Would you rather use your keyboard to type or the screen being that there are issues with it.

5. Has MSFT posted anything talking about updates to the device? I'm on the side of faith saying MSFT will make the proper updates to fix all of these issues rather swiftly.

Also, 10 best useful apps? GO!!!

just for fun

1. it's "full" IE, the reason I put it in quotes is because you can't install plugins anymore, not that I use any, but as far as flash goes, they are white listed, meaning if it's not in the list flash won't work so occasionally you will have quirks, and ya like the guy above me said, some websites aren't coded properly yet so things like maps on some sites won't work properly (like realtor.com)

2. mine has been perfectly fine... i don't know why people are having issues, may want to try a wifi usb stick just to see if it's the wifi or win8 not liking your routers (yet)

3. its the full office, except for macro or something, for most people you will never know the difference, oh and screen realestate issue, just use an external monitor, don't really want to hold a larger tablet

4. i like both the on screen and the touch cover, if u really want to type fast then you will want to get a usb keyboard (by that i mean like super fast, my typing ain't that fast so ive had no issues)

5. i've already seen an update come through, so i think it's going to be on the same schedule as the regular window (ie. patch tuesday)

apps? wellllll..... lots of them are useful, but it still depends on ur needs, no fb app yet though for some reason,

- the people hub has been great, skype is almost a must have (unless u don't use it to begin with),
- youtube app im still trying to figure out which one is better but youtube RT seems like the better one so far,
- teamview if u support ppl on tech...
- 8zip will cover alot of compressed files,
- OneNote app version is pretty good
- wordament if u play games

still lots of apps popping up and im not really an app whore so.... (i hope imdb and cineplex comes out with an app soon...)

 

[cp2_4eva]

Took the plunge....I bought one. They cheated me on my red touch board though. Lol. Hope I don't regret this and return it.

 

[Digital Moe]

This thing really needs a rotation lock. Lying in bed turn on your side and bam it just keeps flipping between portraits and landscape.

Edit: pops a quick Google should me there is one.

 

[berty6294]

This thing really needs a rotation lock. Lying in bed turn on your side and bam it just keeps flipping between portraits and landscape.

Agreed!

 

[RedLine78]

For you guys with "Router" problem ie "Limited Connection" issue, try this. Go to "View connection properties" of your connected wireless network and change Encryption type from "AES" to "TKIP". I was having same problem until I changed Encryption type to TKIP and that seem to solved the problem with Limited Connection problem for me.

 

[Sonic77]

For you guys with "Router" problem ie "Limited Connection" issue, try this. Go to "View connection properties" of your connected wireless network and change Encryption type from "AES" to "TKIP". I was having same problem until I changed Encryption type to TKIP and that seem to solved the problem with Limited Connection problem for me.

Change to tkip on the router or Tablet?

Note I have the same issue on the VIVO RT.

 

[stewpeanut]

What are you trying to do when you press and hold on a tile? If you press and hold a tile, nothing is supposed to happen, but if you press and hold then swipe up or down you'll get the bottom options bar. If you press and quickly swipe then you'll pick up and move the tile.

If you were press and holding expecting to get some kind of right click menu or select the tile it doesn't work that way. Coming from android it took me a bit to realize that as well.

Neither. It's not an issue with holding down a tile, just touching a tile to launch an app.

 

[stewpeanut]

Has anyone seen a setting to enable a low battery warning? I was in the middle of an email earlier and the unit just shut down due to low battery with no warning.

 

[jhoff80]

Rotation lock = press the screen button on the settings charm, and tap on the top rectangle.

 

[RedLine78]

Change to tkip on the router or Tablet?

Note I have the same issue on the VIVO RT.

Tablet. Change the connected wireless network's Encryption Type to "TKIP" on the tablet.