Microsoft Surface (RT Version)

I pre-ordered a 32 GB Microsoft Surface (RT version) with a touch cover immediately after MS opened the pre-order doors online. However around 48 hours after I received it, I called MS support and initiated a return. So what went wrong?

 

Microsoft Surface is the first computer ever built by Microsoft and I was very intrigued with this device. The brand shining new Windows 8 (RT) along with the integrated touch cover seemed to hold lots of promise. I tried a few Android tablets and got burned. Android to date has very few high qualit y tablet apps. The tablet experience is all about apps. Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire have been very successful because in my opinion they are priced right. At this time and in this market they are not worth more than $199. Tablets are still luxury devices. They can't completely replace laptops because they are good only at consuming content, atleast not any of the tablets that are available in the market today. So both Google and Amazon got the price point right with these devices and the market responded.

 

In 2010 while introducing the iPad, Steve Jobs mentioned that for a device/category to exist between smart phones and laptops such a device/category should be better than both laptops and smartphones at certain tasks. According to him some of these tasks include Email, Photos, Browsing etc. iPad has been a tremendous success ever since. It is amazing for all the above activities and for a lot more.

 

Steve Sinofsky, Microsoft Windows president said multiple times that Microsoft Surface is not a laptop but it is the best laptop he ever used and that it is not a tablet but it is the best tablet he ever used. I beg to differ with Mr.Sinofsky. Surface RT is probably the worst tablet I have ever used and is definitely the worst laptop I have ever used. It's aspect ratio makes it almost completely unusable in portrait mode which is the preferred orientation for reading books. The bundled apps including the MS Office apps are just plain bad and seem unfinished. Surface's screen is very good for watching videos but is just not good for reading text, not after getting spoiled with retina displays and other high resolution screens. It is priced like an iPad but it offers far less value than an iPad. So it will be very interesting to see how the market responds.

 

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