The Verge reviews of Surface 2 and Surface pro 2

[Highdefjunkie]

They got just got pulled. I guess they showed too early.

In short. S2 got a 7.1 and SP2 7.8

Blah! You'll see the full review tomorrow.

 

[alv3st3r]

Here's Anandtech review:

AnandTech | Microsoft Surface Pro 2 Review

AnandTech | Microsoft Surface 2 Review

 

[HeyCori]

Here's Anandtech review:

AnandTech | Microsoft Surface Pro 2 Review

AnandTech | Microsoft Surface 2 Review

Good review. Probably the most fair review the Surface 2 will get.

 

[alv3st3r]

Good review. Probably the most fair review the Surface 2 will get.

I always prefer Anandtech reviews. They do the most detailed review than anyone else and touch almost all the aspects of the product being reviewed whether be it hardware or software.

 

[Daylife]

The Verge killed the Surface 2 and Pro 2 lol.....Called the Surface 2 laggy and a Tegra 3 a Dual core LMFAO.

 

[Daylife]

Look at this fail, I guess this hipster loves his Apple products.

Surface 2 review - YouTube

 

[psudotechzealot]

So the IPad is better for watching movies/videos than the surface 2? Really? So according to theverge, 4:9 >16:4, when it come to movies/videos?

 

[HeyCori]

Look at this fail, I guess this hipster loves his Apple products.

Surface 2 review - YouTube

While some of his grips are legitimate, I do take issue with his intention to define the Surface for other people. Almost everything he did in that video is in desktop mode, and that's fine, but that's how he choose to use the Surface. There are plenty of people that would love to see the desktop disappear. The Surface 2 can be seen from two perspectives (productivity or general consumption) but he really only focused on one, the productivity aspects, and basically regulated everything else to a footnote. Furthermore, I must also question the reliability of your review when you can't even get the specs right. And saying things like the iPad is better for movies is completely subjective. Who is he to tell other people that letterbox is the superior way to watch movies? In fact, it comes off as a completely unprofessional thing to say and only further illustrates that he was burdened with writing this review and didn't want to take a fair position. I just read the Engadget review, and while she does take some jabs at the Surface, her review is both more fair and doesn't try to skew your opinion to fit one particular perspective. In short, The Verge once again shows their terrible inconsistency with non-Apple products.

 

[Skynetz]

You can read the verge reviews here:
Microsoft Surface Pro 2 review | The Verge
Microsoft Surface 2 review | The Verge

 

[wapoz]

Most the reviews I've seen today have been pretty poor. It's extremely obvious at the lack of actual tech knowledge that most reviewers have. Some gems I've seen today:

The original surface only had 1gb of ram, Windows 8 did not have a calculator.- Engadget

Tegra 4 is dual core, too heavy compared to an ipad (it's only .06 grams heavier), the ipad is better for watching Netflix and HD video (they don't explain why).- The Verge

Pricing and specs completely wrong- gizmodo

The most hilarious talking point I've seen from every huge reviewer is the lack of a tablet version of Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, and Vine- Apps that DO NOT have a tablet version on iOS and Android. They also completely ignore 3rd party tablet versions of those apps. Oh, and they're still complaining that you "can't run x86 apps on it" a year later...

 

[rebornempowered]

I am constantly blown away by how bad these reviews are.

Bad app ecosystem but very few mention IE 11 being a full browser. With being able to run multiple instances of Modern IE 11 it can really be more like an app because you can have it be in it's own window and run certain things in the background. Sure you don't have notifications but who needs a notification for Spotify?

 

[wapoz]

I am constantly blown away by how bad these reviews are.

Bad app ecosystem but very few mention IE 11 being a full browser. With being able to run multiple instances of Modern IE 11 it can really be more like an app because you can have it be in it's own window and run certain things in the background. Sure you don't have notifications but who needs a notification for Spotify?

According to reviewers, that's a bad thing. Yet Chrome OS only being able to use the browser to access everything is a good thing, because "everything is moving to the (magical) cloud."

 

[Jas00555]

I'll give the Verge credit for the fact that some of their complaints are valid (it is kinda awkward to hold the Surface in portrait mode and there are some apps that aren't there), but.... But... HOW THE ACTUAL FLYING F*** CAN THE IPAD BE BETTER FOR MOVIES?!?!

 

[luv2skipow]

For an Apple biased site it actually wasn't a bad review at all.

 

[Pete]

I happened to read the Gizmodo review this morning. They seem to have made up the headline (One Step Forward, Two Steps Back) before actually writing the review.

Surface 2 Review: One Step Forward, Two Steps Behind | Gizmodo UK

In essence, they note minor improvements over Surface RT across the board, but still complain about the lack of apps in the Appl Store (although admitting that the situation is a lot better than last year).


Still, reviews don't really matter to me. I've been happy with Surface/RT since day one, my experience will only get better with Surface 2 coupled with WinRT 8.1.

 

[gwinegarden]

I'll give the Verge credit for the fact that some of their complaints are valid (it is kinda awkward to hold the Surface in portrait mode and there are some apps that aren't there), but.... But... HOW THE ACTUAL FLYING F*** CAN THE IPAD BE BETTER FOR MOVIES?!?!

Well, it has that cool screen, which it really needs because it has to letterbox the crap out of movies to fit them on that cool screen.

 

[onysi]

Look at this fail, I guess this hipster loves his Apple products.

Surface 2 review - YouTube

that is david pierce. hes the same tool who reviewed surface rt and knocked it silly. I cant believe theyre still making lame excuses to dump the 2.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

I am constantly blown away by how bad these reviews are.

Bad app ecosystem but very few mention IE 11 being a full browser. With being able to run multiple instances of Modern IE 11 it can really be more like an app because you can have it be in it's own window and run certain things in the background. Sure you don't have notifications but who needs a notification for Spotify?

Here's why: On an ARM-based system native apps are almost always going to be superior to browser based versions for one specific reason, efficiency. ARM is not a "general purpose CPU" like an x86 chip is. It's designed to run a subset of code very efficiently (remember, ARM is essentially a RISC-based processor architecture). You can optimize for it, which will help with performance and battery life. IE11 is great because it's a full-fledged browser, but that doesn't make it the answer for the missing apps. You also have browsers on all other platforms, but that was never a valid reason to not want the apps. I want native apps on the Surface 2 for the reasons I stated. I can do without them because of IE11 (just like I could on any other platform), but I still want native apps.

Here's a perfect example. YouTube on WP8. A native app is a much better experience (in more ways than one) than the m.youtube.com that's the current "official solution" right?

 

[Ordeith]

Here's why: On an ARM-based system native apps are almost always going to be superior to browser based versions for one specific reason, efficiency. ARM is not a "general purpose CPU" like an x86 chip is. It's designed to run a subset of code very efficiently (remember, ARM is essentially a RISC-based processor architecture). You can optimize for it, which will help with performance and battery life. IE11 is great because it's a full-fledged browser, but that doesn't make it the answer for the missing apps. You also have browsers on all other platforms, but that was never a valid reason to not want the apps. I want native apps on the Surface 2 for the reasons I stated. I can do without them because of IE11 (just like I could on any other platform), but I still want native apps.

Here's a perfect example. YouTube on WP8. A native app is a much better experience (in more ways than one) than the m.youtube.com that's the current "official solution" right?

and yet Google forces everyone to use dalvik, ensuring that no app will ever be truly native.

 

[cygnus11]

Here's a perfect example. YouTube on WP8. A native app is a much better experience (in more ways than one) than the m.youtube.com that's the current "official solution" right?

But on the Surface 2/RT the choice is not between mobile sites and custom apps, it is between the full-featured browser sites and apps. In many cases (like YouTupe), the website is arguably better than many specific YouTube apps.

And also, isn't IE11 optimized to run on ARM for Windows RT? I'm not arguing that Windows RT does not need native apps, but I strongly believe that a full-featured browser with Flash support helps fill the holes when apps are not yet available. And in many cases, being able to go to the website is preferrable to an app.