I just received my Surface Dial (running the latest Windows 10 on a PC) and was hoping I could replace my Powermate with it. The actual Dial is wonderful. It has a nice feel and scrolling is buttery smooth -- when it works. Unfortunately, the way it works seems kind of hinky.
I'm basically using the Dial for scrolling around pages using my left hand while my mouse is in my right. The Powermate will scroll any window the mouse hovers over. The Dial doesn't seem to work that way. Frankly, I'm not real sure how the Dial determines what window to scroll. For example, when I open a File Explorer it will sometimes allow me to scroll the active pane. Sometimes it only gives me a volume option and I end up inadvertently turning up/down my speaker volume. Not cool. In Visual Studio 2015, it will only scroll the first open text editor window no matter what window/pane is active. In Chrome/Edge it works very well and as it should. What window gets scrolled is a random choice.
Is everyone else seeing the same thing?
My Surface Dial wish list includes:
1) Being able to change the default scroll direction when turning the Dial clockwise/anti-clockwise.
2) Make it more obvious that adjusting the Mouse Roll options also affect the Dial behavior (took me a while to figure that one out)
3) Have the Dial respect the "Scroll inactive windows when I hover over them" option
If those three things worked, this Dial would be extremely helpful. Right now it's kind of a toy that I use then switch back to the Powermate to get work done.