One Week Using Continuum Instead of Surface Pro

Don Geronimo

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I got my Display Dock set up on my desk at home office and a Wireless Miracast Adapter at my office desk. The experience, for the most part, is interesting but left me ultimately wanting. Things I liked:
  • Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, and OneDrive are the stars right now. My entire workflow is based on that, and at no time did I not have any file or tool I need to do general office tasks.
  • Solitaire. It works fine.
  • Cortana worked well; was nice to have Hey Cortana and speak about what I needed.

The not so nice things are pretty serious, though:
  • Microsoft Edge on Continuum for Phones is a gigantic performance bottleneck. I use a lot of SaaS tools that became frustratingly slow. I cringed through it for the sake of testing, but I spent more time waiting for JavaScript-rich pages to load (Facebook Ads Manager, Google Drive, and Zoho CRM are the biggest culprits). Continuum would be great if browser performance was great since a lot of 'missing' apps work in a desktop browser, but it was pretty awful the more you try to use web apps.
  • Battery life suffers too much in a Bluetooth-Miracast situation. I found that out one day when I forgot my charger. Lasted me ~4-5 hours using Continuum for office work in addition to calls and Skype for Business calls. Makes the dock feel like it's there mostly to keep the phone charged. 4-5 hours is barely a full work day. That being said, I did really try to do everything on it exclusively.
  • The desktop on Continuum is inconsistent with the desktop on a PC. I can forgive the Start Menu and no windowed mode. Why are Action Center quick actions at the top when they're on the bottom on PCs? Why can't I pin apps to the taskbar to avoid scrolling through a ton of non-Continuum apps? The Back Button present on the task bar is my signal that my Windows PC us in Tablet Mode; I get it's a concession for phone apps but it's still odd. If Continuum for Phones is trying to show a PC-like experience on a phone, it's definitely doing well in reminding me that it's not a PC.

Truth be told, I'll probably continue to use Continuum in the coming weeks, despite the above issues. Those three issues, in my opinion, are too critical to be ignored, though.
 

Chris Phelps

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I am using continuum full-time as well, and my findings are pretty much on-par with yours. Edge seems painfully slow most of the time. The more ads a page has, the more severe the lag time in everything... especially this forum. I find myself giving up and disconnecting from the dock so I can just use the WC app on my phone.

Something that you didn't mention which I feel should be addressed is the fact that the screen has to be on the whole time you are using continuum. I understand this is a security feature, but I feel like it should be an option to disable it and allow the screen to shut off during use. My biggest issue with how it works this way is that after about 30 minutes of usage, the phone gets VERY hot.

The only other major issue I have found with it is that it doesn't seem to like my WD My Passport HDD. I am still trying to figure that one out. It is USB powered and rated for use with USB 1.1, USB 2.0, USB 3.0 and USB 3.1... so it will operate on as little as 500mah, which I am sure the dock supplies. Yet, even with it plugged into the high current port, it keeps disconnecting my phone from the dock during use. Interestingly, if I plug my HDD directly into the phone using a USB to USB-C adapter, it functions flawlessly. I am hoping whatever issue this is has been addressed with the first firmware update for the dock.

A minor annoyance (but an annoyance none the less) is that I can't seem to use my forward and back buttons on my mouse to navigate in Edge.

Like you, I will most likely stick it out with continuum and hope they continue to improve it.
 
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Don Geronimo

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I did forget to mention the always-on screen; thanks for bringing that up. The heat doesn't bother me too much, though it is a bother; what worries me to the dickens is if screen burn-in would happen. Not to mention that I would expect the phone to still work like the phone does--that is turn off the screen when the phone is not in use. I had no idea that it was supposed to be a security feature, though. My guess would be that something screws up at this current moment if they added a "Second Screen Only" option for a connected display--like what they have available to choose when a PC is connected to a Miracast display or another connected display.

Here's hoping that the external hard disk issues work better in future upgrades. I have a 128 GB card in my 950 right now so I should be good for a bit of time, so alack I don't have any experience with how external HDs work. With mice, my guess would be that it only supports the standard features of mice right now. I've only been using a Logitech Solar Keyboard and a Marathon Mouse with my Dock, so I only have access to the normal keys.
 

Chris Phelps

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The "Security" is a guess, but it makes sense. It would be pointless to have a retinal scanner for added security on a phone, then allow it o be bypassed simply by plugging it into a dock.

But here is some food for thought. How about a "trusted device" option? If it detects that it is plugged into YOUR dock, it just simply works.

The standard feature thing on mice is all well and good, but when was the last time you saw a mouse without a back button? Seems pretty standard to me.


The adapter Im using right now for the HDD is This One. It was actually the center piece for a video review on WC of the OTG feature on our phones. He was demonstrating using USB microphones, Mice, thumb drives, etc. So I figured why not try a 2TB portable HDD? It works flawlessly. Its a bit of a pain, but if I really need access to my files I can just transfer them OTG to the phone, then use continuum from there.

I've been browsing through the feedback app (mostly a joke, sadly), but the top trending feature for continuum right now is the ability to turn off the phone screen while docked. So here is to hoping MS is listening.


EDIT: re-reading this post reminds me of another point. At the moment my wireless keyboard is either skipping letters as I type or it is lagging so bad that I have to pause for 30 seconds after every couple of sentences so it can catch up. The lag starts when the "auto-saved" box pops up on this site, so I suspect it's Edge.
 

snakebitten

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Got back from Panama last night and was happy to see my dock had arrived while I was out of country.
Been putting Continuum through its paces all day today, at the office. I completely agree with what has been stated here.
I will add that I am really looking forward to a Universal Remote Desktop app. For my personal needs, it would be a game-changer.
Would also love some native-universal network utilities. And throw in touch-screen support on the Continuum display.

But before I get too nit-picky, I want to state that I am aware that I am only glimpsing what this feature set can\will support in the near future. (IF it is further developed, of course) The concept is so sound. It is far from a gimmick. This IS a legitimate use of small form factor mobile devices being used to drive full sized desktop experience.

Frankly, I'm impressed. Actually, blown away.
 

Chris Phelps

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Many people are waiting for remote desktop. It's been stated several times in the feedback app that Microsoft needs to lead by example rather than trying to get other developers to do the heavy lifting. All of their apps should be universal, yet many still are not. Not to mention silly things like Minecraft w10 edition, which was based off the pocket edition yet still won't run on phones.

This platform has the possibility of becoming a true all-in-one but rather than sitting back and watching it happen, ms really needs to stay on the front lines and keep pushing their own apps as well.
 

Don Geronimo

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I say this with the full understanding and acknowledgement that Remote Desktop needs to exist as a Continuum for Phones app: For the general populace Remote Desktop isn't particularly valuable to market as a sell for Continuum. I don't think it's a sell for the short term because it implicitly would be stating that Continuum for Phones will never truly replace a PC; to do PC things you'll need to connect remotely to a PC. There would be less need to design Universal apps if people can do that.

(As an aside, a third-party Continuum-compatible app offering a marketplace of cloud-based VMs of full OSes with legal licenses like Windows/*NIX/etc. sounds like a GREAT product to dominate/profit-from a short-term niche need).
 

Chris Phelps

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I guess it depends on how you use remote desktop. My aunt is an accountant for two different business and uses it to access the PCs at those locations to keep their books while she is on the road. For people like her, it's invaluable, and I don't think even 100% universal app support would change her usage.

I also know a lot of IT guys, be it professional or just the one nerd in a huge tech-challenged family, that could live without it.

For what you are saying, the only solution moving forward would be to allow it to connect remotely to other phones and tablets as well as PCs. :)
 

blazewon22

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I too share the sentiments of the TERRIBLE performance of the Edge browser. Also not having Flash support limits the device as a lot of the streaming sites are using it. While I too wish there was a Universal Remote Desktop App, i'm having a problem with VPN working when in Continuum mode. I can connect prior to connecting to the dock but it drops or ignores the connection when docked. This makes RDS useless for me.

Fortunately the Citrix Web Access is really good! I've been able to be on a conference call while simultaneously working out of a Virtual Desktop.

One think I tried which I will pass on is a HDMI to VGA adapter works fine (old monitor at the office).

One problem I noticed was using the Photos app, trying to edit a picture the menu items are cut off by the notification icon in the lower right corner. Haven't seen a workaround for that.

Overall I love the concept and if Edge performance improves then it will really rock!
 

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