Surface- The issues

[BrandonMills]

It's running on a Tegra 3. I consider that a crap chip for phones, no idea why Microsoft thought it would be a good idea to run the Surface on it.

Bingo. Tegra 3 was already slower than iPad 2 if I remember correctly.

I'm satisfied with my Surface, and I'm happy I got it, but you need to know that this is the 'iPad 1' of Surface hardware. If you're bleeding edge, you know this kinda stuff already.

 

[Reflexx]

I'm happy with Surface. The performance has been fine for me. But then again, I don't have an iPad to compare it to. I only have a Kindle Fire and an older Android tablet.

But being able to use Office on this makes it just so much cooler than everything out there.

I'm sure I could be more critical if I wanted to be. But I'm happy. And I'm happy being happy.

 

[AngryNil]

They should have put in a Qualcomm S4 Quad core, but I presume it wasn't ready or available during the Surface's development.

Is that really such a big deal? I understand they pack these devices tightly inside, but would it have been so hard for them to just switch in the S4 Pro? I say this because we see many devices in the world of Android being updated to a "plus" version with new internals and identical exterior designs.

 

[Wyn6]

been having a funky problem with the message hub that it disconnects and I can't re-connect.

I had this happen to me in the Release Preview for awhile. You have to uninstall that suite of apps and then reinstall. I was never sure why it did this.

Note: Just got done reading the first page so someone may have answered this already.

On to issues: I have yet to experience any real issues with the device (knock on wood). It can drop frames when swiping through apps sometimes but that's about it. MS said they would have an update out for performance issues soon.

Another small thing I did notice and other people have seens this is that the volume will randomly mute. It's only happened twice on mine and people are speculating it may have something to do with the touch cover which works excellently by the way.

 

[stewpeanut]

no, it wasn't. i wasn't at best buy, and am familiar with the differences between the vivo and the surface...and own the surface. i was at a microsoft pop up "holiday" store when i was playing with one of the many surface rt units on display there.

I believe the unit you test drove at the store is Asus Vivo RT tablet. Not Microsoft Surface RT. I can confirm Asus RT tablet has 8mp (rear) and 2mp (front). I already talked to a Microsoft Store techinician and he said Microsoft advertise the camreas (Front and Rear) to be 720p camera. I tested some in-store Surface RT tablets and they all show 1MP in the Settings. I think Surface RT only come with 1MP camera both front and back.

BTW, Asus Vivo RT tablet's camera seem to have Auto-focus feature too...

 

[Wyn6]

...but since a restart takes about 10 minutes I'm hesitant because all I wanna do is play all day. and if I was in lecture and this happened, obviously I would just have to sit there and not take notes for 10 minutes while my ipad companions point and laugh.

10 minutes to restart? Take that thing back. It should be under 30 seconds. No computer requires ten minutes to start up now days. You can launch a nuclear missile in less time. If you're being serious and not embellishing, I'd seriously consider returning that device and getting a new one.

 

[johnbash612]

I'm almost positive they said it would support micro sdxc. That came out of panos panay's mouth at launch, with his shanghai story of having 10 movies on it, if i am not mistaken.

Yeah

"microSDXC card slot"

pulled straight off of the site just now. But it only supports up to 64gb. Again I would only go with reputable manufacturers, since they have better quality control. And again faster the card the better for movies and music.

***not to get off subject but you guys JUST HAVE to try the speech control, it's freaking on point. Amazing feature as long as there is not a lot of ambient noise.

What is speech control and how do I try it?

 

[Wyn6]

how does it handle the web? I'm using an HP Touchpad and I have issues with it not loading websites every so often.

Web browsing is butter and the ability to move backward and forward through web pages by swiping left and right cannot be overstated.

I also just listened to about 25 minutes of music with the screen off and touch cover closed. No stutters or lag. So, considering all devices aren't having these problems we can assume most are software or firmware related and will be fixed in short order. For those few that are hardware related, only a return will take care of that.

 

[Wyn6]

how does it handle the web? I'm using an HP Touchpad and I have issues with it not loading websites every so often.

Web browsing is butter and the ability to move backward and forward through web pages by swiping left and right cannot be overstated.

I also just listened to about 25 minutes of music with the screen off and touch cover closed. No stutters or lag. So, considering all devices aren't having these problems we can assume most are software or firmware related and will be fixed in short order. For those few that are hardware related, only a return will take care of that.

 

[anon(5335877)]

Is that really such a big deal? I understand they pack these devices tightly inside, but would it have been so hard for them to just switch in the S4 Pro? I say this because we see many devices in the world of Android being updated to a "plus" version with new internals and identical exterior designs.

I'm not really sure, can someone answer this?

I mean, there must be a reason most of the other RT tablets use a Tegra 3 too. I don't think any used a TI OMAP (plus they said they're going to stop making them) and I think only one Dell tablet said it was going to use a Qualcomm Snapdragon, though the specs on the site said Qualcomm S3, which I don't think is correct.

 

[Narr]

I've had a couple of issues so far; the keyboard doesn't work first time and sometimes I need to connect it 5 times before keystrokes are registered. I'm not sure if this is a hardware or software issue. The WiFi worked great at home, took the device to work and no networks were detected, I had to restart the Surface before the networks appeared . Apart from that the device is awesome.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

 

[AngryNil]

Didn't realise the chipsets for announced RT devices were that restricted, alpine. I don't think it would be impossible on a software/driver level to integrate the S4 Pro, though.

I think it's crazy it actually runs on a Tegra 3. Just an Engadget Mobile podcast or two ago Myriam Joire was gushing over how the Note II (I think it was the note) allows you to have two apps on screen at once, granted from a limited selection of apps. Yet the Note II has far more processing power than the Surface.

 

[ken800]

New gripes. Again, I love the form factor of my surface, but I'm getting enough little things that now I'm seriously contemplating using my 14-day return privilege.

Last night I charged it to 100% right before going to sleep around midnight. I got up at 7AM.

The battery was at 74%. That's WAY too much battery use while in sleep mode. My android devices and apple devices (yes, I have both) will use about 3-5% overnight with Bluetooth off and wifi on checking email in the background.

On wakeup, the built-in mail utility takes forever to get going. I had notifications of emails and opened up the built in mail app and it took a good two minutes for the tablet to finally "show up" in the inbox. This is coming from an exchange server. Again, my android and ios devices are pretty much instantaneous. The mail and browser functions are, frankly, the single two most important things for me with battery performance close behind.

Has anyone else tested their battery drain and have sluggish mail performance?

 

[anon(5324511)]

My only gripe or issue - the backside gets covered with finger prints and smears!

There is one app that slows things down which is the accuweather app. Other than that, everything seems buttery smooth!! mail music calendar...all built in apps or come with apps seems just fine! Battery appears to be ok too, but I never like timed it, but I have played with it a lot and do not think the battery is draining super fast!

 

[Kush]

Issues connecting touch/type covers

Really liking the experience of using my Surface, but having problems with connecting both my Touch and Type covers. Will connect a few times in a row, but then not connect again for several tries. I have tried:

"Refresh My PC" option
Reinstalling keyboard drivers
Hard Reset
Factory Reset
Swabbing the contacts of the device and covers with rubbing alcohol

Nothing really seems to be improving. Any suggestions? I'd hate to go without the device for the time it takes for a repair/replacement.

 

[paulm187]

Really loving the Surface, my issues

1) Can't print to my Cannon Printer
2) The back is a smudge magnet

 

[avazee]

I have used the Surface extensively the past several days and here are the biggest issues I have experienced so far:

1) The speakers are very soft (not loud enough). I have it maxed out at 100 and can barely hear the sound if the Surface is more than 2 feet away. My Lumia 900 (or my wife's iPhone) plays youtube videos much louder than the Surface. I really hope they can fix this.

2) Type Cover stops working randomly. I have to detach it and then re-attach it for it to work. I don't have a Touch Cover so I can't see if it affects Touch Covers as well.

3) I'm a very fast typist (approx. 125 wpm) and a lot of times, the Type Cover can't keep up. When I'm typing (such as this post), all of a sudden, none of my keypresses go through. I have to stop for a second and then it starts working again.

4) The Mail app - EAS (Exchange ActiveSync) options don't take effect when adding more the several accounts: I have 5 different email accounts enabled in the Mail app, all of them are Google Apps hosted. Therefore, like my WP7, I am adding the accounts using the "Outlook" option so I can use EAS. The 4th and 5th accounts, the "Download new email -> As Items Arrive" option does not come up. Therefore I have to use the "Check every 15/30 minutes" option which is less efficient and uses more battery, from what I'm told.

5) WiFi connection get sluggish/disconnects randomly. I have to either reset the WiFi connection (by turning on/off Airplane Mode) or just reboot the Surface to make it work again.

6) Internet Explorer (Metro): Pressing (via touchscreen) links on web pages sometimes don't work the 1st time. I have to press the link multiple times for it to actually work. Seems like an IE10 bug/glitch with touch input.

 

[Dirk W]

Is that really such a big deal? I understand they pack these devices tightly inside, but would it have been so hard for them to just switch in the S4 Pro? I say this because we see many devices in the world of Android being updated to a "plus" version with new internals and identical exterior designs.

Look at this comparison :

Benchmarked: NVIDIA Tegra 3 VS. Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 | TechnoBuffalo

The Tegra 3 is quite decent...

 

[stewpeanut]

a few issues that have been bugging me.

-random muting. at times the device just mutes itself. I've seen reports that it only happens with a cover attached...which I usually have...and haven't been able to confirm if that's the case or not. pressing the volume rocker unmutes, but then it will randomly mute again at some point.

-non responsive links or tiles. I fairly regularly have to touch a tile a few times before it will launch anything. the finger 'circle' will appear, and the tile will even 'depress', but nothing happens for several attempts.

i'm sure some of these issues will get smoothed out with subsequent software updates.

 

[berty6294]

a few issues that have been bugging me.

-random muting. at times the device just mutes itself. I've seen reports that it only happens with a cover attached...which I usually have...and haven't been able to confirm if that's the case or not. pressing the volume rocker unmutes, but then it will randomly mute again at some point.

-non responsive links or tiles. I fairly regularly have to touch a tile a few times before it will launch anything. the finger 'circle' will appear, and the tile will even 'depress', but nothing happens for several attempts.

i'm sure some of these issues will get smoothed out with subsequent software updates.

yes! those are the same issues im having with the addition of not being able to connect to one of my routers! idk why but my surface just doesn't work with 1 of them! all my other devices work with it!