Windows 10 still sucks as a tablet experience

[HeyCori]

What's wrong with YouTube on edge? I don't see anything broken..

Not broken, just slow.

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-to-fix-slow-edge-youtube

 

[ochhanz]

The other slick features of windows 8's tablet features was the app switching, you could literally cycle through the apps by flicking left from the left hand side of the screen. Once you found the app you need, you could tap+hold the app and then dragged it to the left to create a thumbnail list of apps. Then you could drag another app onto the otherside of the screen.

, that does sounds like a mix of 'task viewer' and start menu or taskbar.
I think they should bring back switching apps with left/right gestures when in tablet mode.

 

[Mike Buckhurst]

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.

I love the idea you spend ages getting windows 10 to how you like it and that's hacking, but Android, oh no doing exactly the same, that's customization - wtf do you think rooting is, if it's not hacking?????

Personally I just get the windows device out of its box, sign in with my ID, install office, visual studio and SQL server, from a folder on a network share, install firefox, login. A couple of minor 3rd party tools and my machine is ready to go, it takes as long to find the settings on Android.

You're not hacking to make it work, just like Android, you're changing it to work how you want it to. I have 6 windows 10 devices here, all of which simply work without issue. I switch between them and between Onedrive, Edge and Firefox, they could all be the same machine and work identically.

mike

 

[midnightfrolic]

I use Win10 desktop mode on my Dekstop mchine and tablet mode on my 2in1 and Surface Pro 4. they work very well for me.

If you don't want 3rd party bloatware, do a clean install from a USB drive like I did using Microsoft Windows Media Creator tool. If you don't want all that Win10 "bloat", there is a slim installer. Consider upgrading your key to Win10 Pro to give you more options. Gotta pay to play.

there are ad blockers for Edge. also other ways to block unwanted popups. Win10 has a roll back feature in case if something breaks.

I don't think Android has a roll back feature. And if you buy subsidized carrier phones, some bloatware are not removeable unless you do some "hacking". Android has its own share of issues and breaking stuff after an update. Check out Android Central forums and other Android centric forums. My Razer phone no longer connect phone calls via Bluetooth after 8.1, but music plays fine. WiFi connectivity drops randomly, especially 5ghz WiFi.

 

[wolfpack219]

So I'm using the GO as we speak in tablet mode. It's working flawlessly without any issues. I think people are extremely critical of technology, and often nit pick things they are not accustomed to. I use Android on a daily basis on a phone and a tablet also. I enjoy the Surface GO just as much as those devices, however Microsoft Office is more productive on this device. I picked this up with the alcantara kb for $565 before tax. That's half the price of my Samsung S7 phone which blows my mind. This device has no issues with touch and I have yet to see anybody list anything specifically they are having problems with. If it's just your opinion fine, but to come on here speaking as if your an expert in all things touch is ridiculous and just factually inaccurate. It's the same as the people who tell you not to vet the 4gb version even though they haven't even used the device. End rant.

 

[john clove]

Re: Windows 10 still sucks as a tablet experience. Ha!

Your problem is that you've bought a windows tablet on the cheap, Due to a debilitating illness i had, I found it difficult to use a laptop, And when I saw adverts and reviews of microsoft surface pro 4, I took the plunge, out with the credit card and dived in to the top end. and I haven't looked back, ok I invested a large sum & went for the i7, 16gb version. But wow what an amazing bit of tech.... Ok there may be one or two teething problems with Win 10, but its improving !
I use my surface all the time my £600 tower pc and laptop sit in the cupboard gathering dust ! I can even play games on it, ok I'm not a massive gamer fan, but it runs need 4 speed and a good few others quite nicely, It plays all the new fiims, my music the lot, It even mirrors nicely to my Tv, I've had mine 3 years now, and even the battery is lasting well,in fact if I decide to uograde I'll go for a surface book 2, and would never touch Apples tripe, yeah I've tried out the Ipads there nothing compared to the Surface machines.
Btw I know a fair bit about computers, have been using window since w95, I follow all the latest tech news and do repairs fault finding.

Even the new surface go looks pretty neat. Get yourself around to pcworld and try one out, or better still get a secondhand pro 4.

 

[allanbond]

My major grips about Windows 10 in tablet mode is the on-screen keyboard.

a) It often never shows up when I enter an input field. Often forcing me to click back and forth (if there are multiple) fields trying to cox is out. Usually, I give up and press the keyboard icon on the task bar.

b) Even when the keyboard comes up... it often hides the input field -- or fields around it. In Edge, I find myself closing the keyboard, zooming and panning, and then hoping I can open it in some way it won't obscure what I'm doing. Or detaching the keyboard and moving it elsewhere.

c) The keyboard often don't go away. Meaning even after you type in something, you can't see the OK button anymore and there is no way (other than the icon) to get rid of i


d) Lots of apps (even UWP) force a ton of issues with the keyboard. Edge repeatedly zooms and unzooms as fields are selected, others has UI issues once the keyboard is taking up 1/3 of the screen -- such as scroll bars in large text fields not being visible and the scroll position jumping around. Many force you to switch to touch to get to other tabs, buttons, show submit error messages under the keyboard, etc.

e) Non-UWP are often hopeless. Entering values in tablets, editable combo-boxes, edit areas near the bottom or right of the screen, etc.

What is more troubling is that these existing in Windows 8 and were never fixed. I use my wife's iPad and I've never had an issue entering anything into any field.

I'd add to that:

f) should ALWAYS switch to desktop mode when external monitor or keyboard (except surface keyboard) is attached. Or at least make it an option. My surface frequently gets confused about what mode to be in when I attach to the dock. And I frequently need to manually switch between desktop and tablet mode in the message center

 

[scoob101]

No, really, the tablet experience on Windows 10 needs a hell of a lot of work.

Well, maybe not a hell of a lot. Maybe just a few native edge gestures, like the ones from Win8/8.1. Without something like that, my Surface is basically useless as a touch tablet (though amazing as a pen tablet, btw).

I use TouchMe Gestures and its engine to set up a bunch of custom gestures. Otherwise, touch-tablet use is almost impossible.

If you give me some specific, detailed, use cases, I`ll tell you how they work.

I`ve been using windows 10 as a tablet for at least a couple of years, and I dont experience any significant issues.

Perhaps you should get the lastest October update installed so you can enjoy the swipe keyboard to start with - that will improve keyboard use significantly.

 

[gnirkatto]

So I'm using the GO as we speak in tablet mode. It's working flawlessly without any issues. I think people are extremely critical of technology, and often nit pick things they are not accustomed to………...This device has no issues with touch and I have yet to see anybody list anything specifically they are having problems with. If it's just your opinion fine, but to come on here speaking as if your an expert in all things touch is ridiculous and just factually inaccurate……….

This
https://forums.windowscentral.com/showthread.php?t=477905&p=3756985&viewfull=1#post3756985
not specific enough?

 

[gnirkatto]

My major grips about Windows 10 in tablet mode is the on-screen keyboard.

a) It often never shows up when I enter an input field. Often forcing me to click back and forth (if there are multiple) fields trying to cox is out. Usually, I give up and press the keyboard icon on the task bar.

b) Even when the keyboard comes up... it often hides the input field -- or fields around it. In Edge, I find myself closing the keyboard, zooming and panning, and then hoping I can open it in some way it won't obscure what I'm doing. Or detaching the keyboard and moving it elsewhere.

c) The keyboard often don't go away. Meaning even after you type in something, you can't see the OK button anymore and there is no way (other than the icon) to get rid of it.

d) Lots of apps (even UWP) force a ton of issues with the keyboard. Edge repeatedly zooms and unzooms as fields are selected, others has UI issues once the keyboard is taking up 1/3 of the screen -- such as scroll bars in large text fields not being visible and the scroll position jumping around. Many force you to switch to touch to get to other tabs, buttons, show submit error messages under the keyboard, etc.

e) Non-UWP are often hopeless. Entering values in tablets, editable combo-boxes, edit areas near the bottom or right of the screen, etc.

What is more troubling is that these existing in Windows 8 and were never fixed. I use my wife's iPad and I've never had an issue entering anything into any field.

THIS!

Absolutely drives me crazy too.
It's beyond comprehension that after many generation of Surfaces, and after many generations of W10, MS is still not capable of getting these ridiculous on screen keyboard issues fixed?
Isn't that a major basic function of a tablet, to allow for proper typing, after tapping on an input field?

How can that be seen as working OK, if keyboards don't show, overlay input fields & buttons, or don't go away when they should, etc. etc.?

These issues are the main reason for me, why going back to an iPad (I still have one) always feels like relief, after the Surface.

 

[sd4f]

Win10: I like the start menu (I set it as fullscreen)

Wow, I'm not the only one. I actually much prefer the start screen on all my devices, desktops too. Really happy that it's an option, and actually has a lot of nice inclusions such as the sidebar with is customisable.

 

[Old_Mil]

I wouldn't say that the Windows tablet mode experience is awful. I still use my Acer W4-820 as my daily driver tablet and will continue to do so until it fails.

I did turn custom scaring on at 150% to make things larger than they are in default mode.

The on screen keyboard is substantially better than android's stock keyboard and slightly better than the one Apple provides with iOS. It is nearly on par with the old Blackberry/Swidtkey onscreen keyboard which was the best one ever developed.

 

[gnirkatto]

The on screen keyboard is substantially better than android's stock keyboard and slightly better than the one Apple provides with iOS.

I assume/hope that you refer to eg word recognition/autocorrect rather than general usability. Because that sucks big time:

KB showing instantly when tapping input field: iOS yes, W10Tablet:not always. WTF.
KB overlaying input fields: iOS never, W10 often. A nightmare. Try eg Telegram.
KB disappearing when Text input finished: iOS always, W10 sometimes not. Could live with that, if it was the only bug (calling these things bugs intentionally).

This whole W10 tablet experience is such a mess, compared to iOS, with the keyboard being responsible for that to a high degree.

I’ve been trying hard to get used to my Surface Go over the last 3 weeks or so, as a replacement for my iPad, because I would need/want the bigger freedom that W10 offers, but it just drives me crazy, how clumsy the experience is, compared to the iPad. Even a (supposedly) better word recognition does not help imho.

Admittedly, with a type cover attached, the Surface (Go) experience is much better. But as a tablet - oh my god.

 

[ochhanz]

KB overlaying input fields: iOS never, W10 often. A nightmare. Try eg Telegram.

, and did you notify Telegram about it? Cause that sounds like sites like Telegram are to lazy to fix their website for Windows touchscreen devices. I feel that while Microsoft definitely deserves some criticism, a big part of these faults also comes from developers, e.g. Steam to give an example that still has not added any touchscreen support to their app. I mean how difficult is that for a company that makes so much profit? And there has been a very long thread about it dating at least a year back, so they do know about it. Sames goes for Firefox, wonderful browser but selecting text is just so broken and has been for a while now.

 

[gnirkatto]

, and did you notify Telegram about it? Cause that sounds like sites like Telegram are to lazy to fix their website for Windows touchscreen devices. I feel that while Microsoft definitely deserves some criticism, a big part of these faults also comes from developers, e.g. Steam to give an example that still has not added any touchscreen support to their app. I mean how difficult is that for a company that makes so much profit? And there has been a very long thread about it dating at least a year back, so they do know about it. Sames goes for Firefox, wonderful browser but selecting text is just so broken and has been for a while now.

Why would I notify Telegram about something that is clearly an opsys issue? Telegram works fine on all other supported platforms. On touchscreen devices, it is the responsibility of the operating system to push the active input field to a position above the onscreen keyboard, as soon as it appears.
And, why does this problem occur so often on a W10 device, never under iOS? ALL apps being misdesigned on W10, ALL apps good on iOS? Nah.
P.S. even during the Windows setup process, some (Microsoft-) input fields were overlaid by the on screen keyboard on my Go.

 

[gnirkatto]

P.P.S. re-reading your post, I found that you mentioned "websites".
I did not speak about websites (although this also happens there). I spoke about apps and the W10 keyboard overlaying input fields. Telegram being one of them.

 

[ochhanz]

Why would I notify Telegram about something that is clearly an opsys issue? Telegram works fine on all other supported platforms. On touchscreen devices, it is the responsibility of the operating system to push the active input field to a position above the onscreen keyboard, as soon as it appears.
And, why does this problem occur so often on a W10 device, never under iOS? ALL apps being misdesigned on W10, ALL apps good on iOS? Nah.
P.S. even during the Windows setup process, some (Microsoft-) input fields were overlaid by the on screen keyboard on my Go.

, fair enough, OSK is indeed wonky sometimes. I was a bit to hasty to lay the blame on telegram. :sweaty:

 

[stodge]

My major grips about Windows 10 in tablet mode is the on-screen keyboard.

a) It often never shows up when I enter an input field. Often forcing me to click back and forth (if there are multiple) fields trying to cox is out. Usually, I give up and press the keyboard icon on the task bar.

b) Even when the keyboard comes up... it often hides the input field -- or fields around it. In Edge, I find myself closing the keyboard, zooming and panning, and then hoping I can open it in some way it won't obscure what I'm doing. Or detaching the keyboard and moving it elsewhere.

c) The keyboard often don't go away. Meaning even after you type in something, you can't see the OK button anymore and there is no way (other than the icon) to get rid of it.

d) Lots of apps (even UWP) force a ton of issues with the keyboard. Edge repeatedly zooms and unzooms as fields are selected, others has UI issues once the keyboard is taking up 1/3 of the screen -- such as scroll bars in large text fields not being visible and the scroll position jumping around. Many force you to switch to touch to get to other tabs, buttons, show submit error messages under the keyboard, etc.

e) Non-UWP are often hopeless. Entering values in tablets, editable combo-boxes, edit areas near the bottom or right of the screen, etc.

What is more troubling is that these existing in Windows 8 and were never fixed. I use my wife's iPad and I've never had an issue entering anything into any field.

This!! This was the reason I didn't buy a Surface a year ago. I played with the Go today in the store and it was slightly improved but this still happened far too often.

 

[darrell reimer]

This!! This was the reason I didn't buy a Surface a year ago. I played with the Go today in the store and it was slightly improved but this still happened far too often.

I'm tryin out a Surface Go. Even when switching to Tablet Mode, this machine is not built for use as a tablet. Actually, I shouldn't say the 'machine', it's the Windows 10 OS. Windows 8/8.1 was such an awesome tablet experience; totally built for touch. Not so for Windows 10. Here's a sad example
I was holidaying 3 time zones away from home; I wanted to watch my local sports team's evening game, but it was blacked-out where I was staying, so I pulled out my S8+, used my Optik TV app, and found the game. (too bad we lost). I tried to do the same thing with my new Go, but NO! First: there is no App in the Windows Store (typical; not surprising), so I tried watching via a web brower (Chrome and Edge). This was a disaster. I couldn't scroll through the menu to actually get to the channel I wanted to watch. I spent a few minutes trying everything, and nothing worked; it was a total nightmare. I ended up just going back to my phone and watching it there...my new Go was a no go...for watching my sports...with no proper App in the Windows store, this was just another fail highlighting the fact that the 'App gap' between Windows and Android/iOS affects more than just phones. You don't get the same touch experience using web page versions of the real apps...

 

[Timbre70]

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