Why Should I Not Get The Surface RT?

[NickA]

Maybe I am misunderstanding what he intended to say. But just like anything other product on the market. There are things that my Droid tablet does better than my Surface and vice versa. People need to choose which product best fits their needs.

Well said. And in the end all that matters.

 

[jnanettes]

I just purchased the surface PRO and the Canon Pixma wireless printer. I'm encountering problems connecting the tablet to the wireless printer. HELP any best practices??

 

[Guytronic]

Printing probably won't be the biggest issue you'll confront with the RT. Trying to use it as a "tablet" will be.

Interestingly I find this true!
Any small issue aside I do prefer using a mouse and touch cover with me RT.

The Surface as a tablet gets tiring after 10-15 minutes for me if handheld.
Taps and swipes confuse me at times also.
A stylus does help, yet I find the screen slightly stubborn in certain cases using a cheap-o stylus.
This may be true for any platform large screen tab.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Interestingly I find this true!
Any small issue aside I do prefer using a mouse and touch cover with me RT.

The Surface as a tablet gets tiring after 10-15 minutes for me if handheld.
Taps and swipes confuse me at times also.
A stylus does help, yet I find the screen slightly stubborn in certain cases using a cheap-o stylus.
This may be true for any platform large screen tab.

Same here. I've found that the Surface RT works fine as a netbook (with TypeCover2) but is lacking as a tablet. It keeps coming back to:

- 16:9 Aspect Ratio : Too narrow in portrait, too wide in landscape. Onscreen keyboard is too cramped (portrait) or takes up too much of the screen (landscape).

- Apps : I won't beat a dead horse, but even when the apps DO exist, they don't appear to be well designed for use in portrait mode.

- Modern UI : Too much whitespace. Too much wasted space. Have to drill down and swipe to get to the information that I am interested in.

 

[jaimeastin]

It is a great tablet for me... My nexus 7 is not on par... In any way. No fanboyism. I purchased the nexus after my surface rt and surface 2... I wanted a small and fun tablet. For me, gaming, web browsing, media, etc ( all the reasons I purchased it) lack in all ways compared to the surface. I had an ipad before my surface which I sold after I bought after my surface... I am about to sell my nexus and possibly get an 8 inch windows 8 tablet.

I am probably not the the average person as media and games take a back seat to productivity, but even in those arenas my surface is wonderful as a tablet. As a netbook it is find too, but I will go to my xps13 or desktop for heavy stuff.

Windows RT is the best mobile os, for me. I don't need any of the apps that I was forced to find on ios or android to do things that I desired from a core OS.

Again, ios and android are nice and I still recommend them to others, but for what I wanted, the surface/windows rt has been everything I wanted on a mobile platform. The ipad lacked for me... I purchased the surface and felt like I was missing something... So I bought the nexus and come to find that I was not missing a thing, in hindsight I had what I ultimately needed all alone

Shoot, all I use the nexus for is for playing dice with friends with a new lady-friend ... Which we are passed... hmm, anyone want a hardly used nexus, poetic case with box? Purchased in December 2013.

 

[xchange]

It is a great tablet for me... My nexus 7 is not on par... In any way. No fanboyism.

You have very special tastes... I'll leave it at that. :-SS

 

[jaimeastin]

You have very special tastes... I'll leave it at that. :-SS

Lol, I will accept that. But on that note, I am really disappointed with my nexus. I went nexus as I wanted something that would give me the best android experience. It is laggy with multitasking and which is not what I expected at all. You can find my and others comments on these issues over at android central.

Yes, I actually like work and manage my home network in ways that many do not. I also work a lot out of the office. For years I have wanted a mobile device that would allow me to do things that most find laborsome. Android and apple apps that remoted in with limited functionality just left me wanting more... The surface is just a fantastic tablet, for me. I have had many others that I wanted to make that special someone. I think in the end, I just wanted windows... I welcome the future designs and innovative ways that computers and operating systems are evolving to... But for now, I need something that can do what a computers does now and what they are moving to. You can only get this with windows 8.

 

[jaimeastin]

I don't see a reason other than chrome... I have more computers and devices than many need, but the surface rt/2 have been the best of the bunch for me. My girlfriend has a dell venue 11 pro and it is great, but in the tablet space, windows rt has been all that I have really required for any task that I need mobile or in a tablet format. When I need windows 8/pro I will use another computer.

Now if this will be your only device or you will be minimizing, pro will be best. You can dock it anywhere and have the same experience. My surface 2 has not disappointed me and takes all I can throw at it within reason. If you can define what you really want and need, you will do fine with it if it works within its "perceived" limitations.

The surface along with other top devices are really nice, but make sure you get is what you require. That is the big thing with any device you select, define what you need and make sure it fits not only your requirements, but expectations. The only way to do that is define and research/try. My and other's opinions help, but you have to do this.

 

[calfee20]

I have been very surprised at how well I can use the desktop with touch alone. You just have to be careful and accurate with your finger placement. Like picking up a grain of salt with your fingertip.

I am a retired auto mechanic who taught himself how to build PC's and do OS installations, formatting etc. because I can not stand having anyone fix anything for me. I have never needed office. I don't type papers or make presentations. They are just things I don't do. Then I got my RT on black Friday. It just so happens my gun club is trying to get out of the past and we have installed an electronic keycard system for the clubhouse and a sliding gate for the range access. We are also going to finally nail down our membership list using excel as a database. I am the guy in charge of the key cards and related software and my son-in-law is doing a proper membership list now that everyone is renewing for 2014. We have to coordinate our efforts to make sure these two separate lists are identical. It seems I am using office all the time now and I am making some presentations to the membership about club bylaws and future construction projects.

I bought a micro HDMI to HDMI cable to plug my RT into an Epson projector. I am astounding myself and everyone else with how well the RT drives the projector and how well Windows 8x works with a touch device to run a presentation. Pinch and zoom and finger scrolling as opposed to fooling with settings and arrow buttons on a laptop. The RT has just been great................calfee

 

[Guytronic]

Think I figured out why I have trouble with the touchscreen input.

 

[pseudoware]

For the past week, I decided to put away my Nexus 7 and use my RT exclusively. It's mostly been positive, but here's what I miss most so far (excluding anything due to tablet size):

- Tapatalk. Using IE for several forums is not the same. Board Express? Don't even go there.

- GoToMeeting. Used daily. Video and screen-sharing don't work with the metro app. Lame

- XMPP client. Can't find one that works. Not as big of a deal, but still...

- SMS w/my mobile #. Not sure if there's an RT sol'n if I had a WP instead of Android.

- RT is generally slower. More an occasional inconvenience than a deal-breaker. An S2 would likely remedy that, but I can't get one for $170.


IE works well enough for most missing apps. Honestly, if I switch devices for a week, I might find I'll miss more without the RT. I only bought it because of the cheap Black Friday price, to just toy around with. It's turned out to be more useful and enjoyable than I expected or much of the tech press had me believe.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

For the past week, I decided to put away my Nexus 7 and use my RT exclusively. It's mostly been positive, but here's what I miss most so far (excluding anything due to tablet size):

- Tapatalk. Using IE for several forums is not the same. Board Express? Don't even go there.

- GoToMeeting. Used daily. Video and screen-sharing don't work with the metro app. Lame

- XMPP client. Can't find one that works. Not as big of a deal, but still...

- SMS w/my mobile #. Not sure if there's an RT sol'n if I had a WP instead of Android.

- RT is generally slower. More an occasional inconvenience than a deal-breaker. An S2 would likely remedy that, but I can't get one for $170.


IE works well enough for most missing apps. Honestly, if I switch devices for a week, I might find I'll miss more without the RT. I only bought it because of the cheap Black Friday price, to just toy around with. It's turned out to be more useful and enjoyable than I expected or much of the tech press had me believe.

I think that you summed things up very well. I do something similar... set aside one device for a while and use another exclusively. The challenge is remembering to revisit a deficiency from the last go-round to see if the situation has been improved. I probably should keep a written journal of observations so that I have a list rather than rely on memory. Too often I'm like, "oh yeah, this works great... why didn't I decide to stay with it... (moments later) OH, I now I remember!" :grincry:

 

[pseudoware]

I was just browsing another tablet forum. One guy was trying to get a game emulator to work on Android. Another girl needed help on vacation getting pics from her DSLR to her tablet. Rooting and getting other accessories and a paid app were the respective suggested solutions.

I didn't want to be "that guy", but I felt like posting that these can be done with an RT out-of-the-box!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[xchange]

Game emulators are 1. A hobbyist thing and 2. Not necessary on Android (better game selection on Play Store than Windows Store has). As for the DSLR post, I'm not sure what to tell you. What kind of techno-challenged does she have to be to not be able to do that on ANY tablet?