[SteviePat]

Hi all,

Thought I'd post about my experience as a new Surface 2 owner - which isn't going well so far.

First Surface I received was fine until it came time to use the micro sd slot - after thinking I was going crazy and my cards were faulty, turned out that the card reader was faulty. When I pushed the card in, if I held it in as far as it would go the Surface would see it. When I let go till it locked in with the click, the Surface lost the card. Must have been a misalignment in the reader by a few millimeters. Sent it back and got a replacement unit....

......which turned out to have a crack in the case on the right hand side across the charging slot, which looked to have pushed the casing off the screen further down on the right hand side, and it also had the worst wifi reception I had seen on any device. I've not looked into it but as a guess the wifi antenna may be down the right side where the Surface was damaged? Anyway - long story short I've called it in again for replacement. By the way I am in the Uk and ordered from Tesco Direct - their customer service has been excellent with no hesitation in arranging for a replacement to be sent. That should arrive on Friday.

Being a very happy Windows Phone 8 user, seems I also mis understood the availability of some of the apps in the app store - I believed if it was available for WP8 then it would also be in the store for Windows RT. Clearly I was wrong - BBC iPlayer for example, The Guardian, some of my calendar apps etc aren't available as RT downloads. My bad for not researching properly but still disappointing.

It's not been a good start for the Surface - I really want to like it but at this point I've not had much chance. Here's hoping it's 3rd time lucky......!

By the way has anyone got a recommendation for a more feature rich calendar app with better live tile options? Have used Super Calendar, Simple Calendar and Chronos Calendar on WP8 which I much preferred to the built in calendar. Can't seem to see any options in the store.....

Cheers.

[etphoto]

By the way has anyone got a recommendation for a more feature rich calendar app with better live tile options? Have used Super Calendar, Simple Calendar and Chronos Calendar on WP8 which I much preferred to the built in calendar. Can't seem to see any options in the store.....

Cheers.

By chance have you tried the default calendar in the surface? I was a calendar nut since it was my most used app and I have No issues with the default calendar.

Since I have been following there are about 300 - 500 new apps a week added to the RT store. You can follow here if you wish MetroStore ScannerLast time I checked there was 145000 plus apps in the store.

[Ed Boland]

Wow, sorry to hear about your experiences.. My Surface 2 has been perfect from day one and I love it! Flawless.
X2 for the Windows calendar...

[Paul Nicholas]

You can add the guardian as one of your sources in bing news.

Windows 8 is really picking up steam with it on 10 percent of pcs and that's without the December boon so 2014 is going to be a big year for Microsoft I reckon.

Welcome to the family by the way ��

[GreatCanadian]

Santa brought me a Surface 2 and it's been flawless functionally. However my impression of battery life is still up in the air.

[kristalsoldier]

Santa brought me a Surface 2 and it's been flawless functionally. However my impression of battery life is still up in the air.

Give it some time. Also, a lot depends on how you have set it up in terms of brightness etc. You may want to try the following: (1) temper the brightness - personally, I use it at around 40-45%, which is more than enough for me. Of course, YMMV; (2) Keep your Bluetooth on (there is some issue with this on the RT platform - was supposed to have been solved, but I don't know whether it has been. I keep mine on though I never actually use it; (3) If you are using the Mail app and have multiple accounts, see if you can set each of them to refresh themselves at some interval - for example, I have three accounts of which one is a work-account. That one I have set to receive mails as they arrive. The others (an Outlook and a Gmail account) I have set to check for new mails every 30 mins.; (4) Whenever I am not using the Wifi - for example, when I am moving around, I try to keep the device in flight mode (when I remember that is!).

Doing all of the above, I use the device for about 9 hours on a daily basis. Usually, I have IE11 with 3-4 tabs open, SkyDrive app open and updating documents that I am working on, usually a Word document (long one) open. In addition to this, I may also have at least one and sometimes two apps open all the time. Additionally, all the Live tiles are updating themselves as per default settings. And I am connected to the Internet - usually over Wifi - all the time. In some instances, I tether to my phone (but I have not seen any significant difference to the battery life).

I am not saying that doing all this will help you. Just a few suggestions for you to try out.

[SteviePat]

Hi etphoto,

Yes have tried the default calendar - wasn't loving the format overly although it is functional. I just found the other apps I have on my WP8 to be better in terms of the live tile, and just the overall functionality of them. I'll keep a lookout for any new apps coming in - thanks for the MetroStore Scanner heads up.

[SteviePat]

You can add the guardian as one of your sources in bing news.

Windows 8 is really picking up steam with it on 10 percent of pcs and that's without the December boon so 2014 is going to be a big year for Microsoft I reckon.

Welcome to the family by the way ��

Cheers :)

Just find the dedicated app that bit better rather than adding a source to Bing News - which actually I've never done so once I get my replacement Surface I'll give that a bash.

Slightly off topic - anyone having any issues with Homegroup involving a Win 7 pc? I can join the Homegroup no problem from the Surface just couldn't get any files available (actually they did appear once and I thought I had cracked it after I found windows firewall was causing some issues - tried it again the next day and the Surface just says no Homegrup pc's are available). I suspect its more likely to be my old pc to be honest......

[Ed Boland]

No problems with Homegroup here. My Win7 desktop, Win8.1 laptop and my Surface 2 all see each other and share files etc just fine on my home network.

[Winfonejunkie]

No need for a special player when the browser is FULL IE man. Do you use a special app to play BBC shows on your desktop?

[SteviePat]

No need for a special player when the browser is FULL IE man. Do you use a special app to play BBC shows on your desktop?

I'll be honest with you Winfonejunkie - using the excuse that you can, on a tablet, use the full IE to access a website detracts from the accepted and established usage of tablets and apps. Yes I can do it via IE - but an app would be preferable. I can also access Outlook.com but I have a calendar app to make it easier, I can access www.facebook.com but I have a Facebook app to make it easier, all with the added bonus of having live tiles with additional updates/notifications (not applying specifically to BBC iPlayer of course but apps in general). It doesn't make me throw the Surface out the window as I have that IE option, but is slightly annoying.

[SteviePat]

Cheers :)

Just find the dedicated app that bit better rather than adding a source to Bing News - which actually I've never done so once I get my replacement Surface I'll give that a bash.

Slightly off topic - anyone having any issues with Homegroup involving a Win 7 pc? I can join the Homegroup no problem from the Surface just couldn't get any files available (actually they did appear once and I thought I had cracked it after I found windows firewall was causing some issues - tried it again the next day and the Surface just says no Homegrup pc's are available). I suspect its more likely to be my old pc to be honest......

Quick update - have tried Bing News and adding various sources - quite liking it at the moment (now that I am able to play with the Surface) so thanks for the pointer