Windows 10 still sucks as a tablet experience

[wolfpack219]

I like it.

 

[wolfpack219]

I hate win 10. I shouldn't have to hack an os to make it work. Between bloatware and forced updates to me it'vs useless out of the box. I have a plethora of freeware I use to debloat and nuke updates along with registry tweaks. Updates break more than they fix. I'm finished as far as any new machines. No money anyway. I shouldn't have to do all of this crap just to make it marginally acceptable.

IOS is for rich kids. Never had one. Fixed income and poor.

Android is a different story... I can customize the hell out of it and I root my devices so I can debloat and install adblockers. On Android I never see an ad in Chrome or in my apps. Only drawback is fugly apps that are not tablet optimized.

Sounds like you would enjoy a Chromebook.

 

[ochhanz]

Sounds like you would enjoy a Chromebook.

, it is kindy ironic/funny though that he hates w10 for bloatware and 'tweaks' than loves android because 'tweaks' and while it has lots of bloatware.

Why are you paranoid? Almost every big tech companies nowadays tracking you. Would you avoid big tech companies and use DuckDuckGo instead?

, it is not paranoid if it is true? Besides there is a difference between google sucking your data for google ads and apple/ms for diagnostic/bugs (is much easier to turn off on windows too). Duckduckgo I like more than google anyway functionality wise.

 

[E90 Commie]

My 2 cents:

I use my Surface Go as my primary device including tablet in bed. Absolutely excellent but I have a couple of principles, which I apply to all my devices:

1. No proprietary media services, which require a proprietary client are allowed (i.e. no Netflix, Spotify, whatever)
2. Only standard format files (i.e. MP3, MP4, PDF and so on) are allowed

I have no issues with controlling my Go using my fingers and my major "tablet" use cases are browsing, reading and media consumption, which works great. I use Edge/Chromium Dev as my primary browser, supplanted by Brave and Chromium (Chrome is a banned browser here, I don't touch it). No problems navigating with my fingers or typing addresses using the on-screen keyboard. I like the touch keyboard even if I prefer physical keys (I don't like to type longer texts than a few sentences on a touch keyboard).

Media playback using Kodi is great and the interface is very easy to manage using fingers (I have the exact same setup on all my devices including Android TV boxes).

Navigating Windows itself is no problems since I am used to those kind of interfaces and I very much prefer it over Android and iOS (the only "tablet interface" I really like is the "Hildon" created by Nokia and used in the 7710 and later the 770, N800, N810 and N900). I was happy with Windows Mobile and running full desktop mode without having the Type Cover simply works.

Reading books works great with Calibre and I very much prefer it over MoonReader on Android, which itself is great. It's just that Calibre is even better.

I also use PWAs and with the latest Chromium builds and "Edgium" et al, they work well (YouTube PWA, AirBnB PWA etc).

The idea of using proprietary media apps (Netflix, Optik TV et al) is just alien to me, too much issues, especially on Android when they complain about system configuration (root....) and so on. Standardized file formats, which I use just work. No problems, they can be played back with any player on any device.

I had an iPad once upon a time and no, I wouldn't trade my Go even if they offered me a free iPad Pro. Those things I do doesn't work on iOS and starting to circumvent different limitations doesn't bring me any excitement. My Go does everything and it run everything I want including Office, the Adobe CS6 suite, Calibre, Kodi, media tools and messaging services including Google Voice (my primary "carrier").

So I am very happy with my Go as a computer AND tablet. It just works with everything I throw at it. I have an Android device on the side as a pure wallet (i.e. paying using Google Pay, transit passes and that kind of stuff).

I don't have any of those traditional "conceptions" about a "tablet" - i.e. that it must have some special OS or some special "apps". A tablet is just a physical form factor and can run any system. There is a space in the market for "consumption tablets" (iPad, Android tablets) and "tablet computers" (Surface series, 2-in-1s running desktop systems). There are some overlap between them nowadays but it's still distinct categories.

I have been using the Go for around six months now and I couldn't be happier. What I would like to see is an ARM (8cx) version. Further refinements of touch interface parts are welcome but I would prefer them to be more along the lines of Hildon (Maemo OS 2008) rather than Android or iOS. They could also bring back the gadgets.

PWA is the obvious route for "service apps" (i.e. apps that are online based). There's absolutely no reason to have a 200 MB "app" for such a service when you can have a 300 KB PWA.

The constant "app gap" arguments are nostalgia I must say. They remind me of all those arguments against the Mac back in the days when the order of the day was: "There's no applications for Mac!"

If the major argument against a device is something along the lines of "They don't have a client for [Proprietary Media Service]!" my reply is: "That's great because it means that we have a pure, unmolested DRM free device, supporting standard media formats!"

It was fun to read the reviews of the Huawei MediaPad M5: "It doesn't support HD video". OK, what does it mean? Does it mean no support for 1080p? No it doesn't. It does play those videos well. "HD video" in 2018/2019 meant "Amazon Prime Video" and "Netflix"... sigh. So the tablet should be bashed because of non-standardized, proprietary services?

So "app gap" won't ever be an argument I would use against a device, especially not today when there's emulation or VMs if your life depends on "app X".

 

[wolfpack219]

Still using my Go at about an 85% tablet mode rate. I still have no issues, KB works well, touch works well, scrolling works well, loving the device and OS in tablet mode. Learned some new touch features or features as well which have further improved my experience.

 

[lisukovigor]

P.P.S. Rereading your post, I found that you mentioned "websites" and employee monitoring applications.
I have not spoken about sites (although it happens there too). I talked about apps and the W10 keyboard overlapping input fields. Telegram is one of them.

hi, are you using with a setting of 85% and is it really working fine for you?