Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#211

Post by InclinedPlane » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 12:53 AM UTC

ThomPete wrote: post #32

LockeWatts wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>some sort of Retina? The power of Apple's marketing cannot be overstated here. You're referring to a Microsoft screen by an Apple trademark.

Heh yeah well. First mover advantage I guess. And apple of course had it right. If you want to bring something new to the table, call it something new. Don't mix unrelated terms in a monster called ClearType HD Display.

Something new, and meaningful too. Retina is a specific reference to the limits of the human eye, it tells you pretty directly what DPI a display should have at a given viewing distance.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#212

Post by mwilliamsgvsu » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 12:53 AM UTC

makecheck wrote: post #172

Apple was smart to release the iPad 2 with a design that practically "had to have" a special cover. This allowed them to legally advertise the iPad's price at one amount even though the majority of their customers would really be paying more (i.e. $549 after shelling out for a $50 cover, instead of only the base $499 amount). Microsoft probably has the same plan here. A cover that contains a keyboard can be even more…

This is from the about page (http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/about.aspx): "Surface comes with an integrated kickstand and a revolutionary, 3mm thin, pressure sensitive cover that doubles as a fully functioning keyboard and trackpad". If I had to guess they will probably charge somewhere around the $50-$100 amount for the "Type cover" which will probably be more preferable to use over the "Touch cover".

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#213

Post by greedo » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 12:54 AM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #165

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pen+touch+type seems like a great idea. It is something no other manufacturer has tried to do. Apple Newton MessagePad, 1993. It had a stylus, handwriting recognition, you could use it with just your fingertips, and you could connect an external keyboard. http://www.flickr.com/photos/atow/4314242537/ That was almost twenty years a go. Newton was a very expensive experiment for Apple, and they have learned the hard wa…

On the other hand, nearly ever doctor or professional I've seen using a tablet was using a Thinkpad with a pen rather than an iPad with their finger. Screwing around with iTunes and doing work are two completely separate use cases, and it seems that Microsoft is more interested in "the Enterprise" than Apple is. So with that in mind, they're trying to accommodate all use cases. (I did have one doctor that insisted on…

My anectdata trumps yours. I took my daughter to the pediatrician yesterday, and the entire practice was equipped with iPads.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#214

Post by fluidcruft » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 12:54 AM UTC

nilsbunger wrote: post #115

MrFoof wrote: post #7

They have a video on the main page. The video is a minute long. They have asked for my attention for a minute. In that minute, they have not told me anything about what the Surface can do for me, and why I should care about it. I'm absolutely baffled by that. Yes, I might know what it is, and have some idea about what it can do, but if this was a television commercial, I'd bet money that such a campaign would be a qu…

They are letting Apple define what a tablet does, then adding "ps. it has a keyboard in cool colors". MSFT should be able to do better and show the kinds of things we can do with this that would get us excited.

Honestly (and I think I represent a certain segment here--the people that really are interested in a tablet but have to deal with Office and other Windows-shackled things) all they need to show is "Hey it's an iPod + Office so you can do your damn work sometimes without always lugging your laptop about". For the people that understand this, that's implied by the Windows logo. The closest I got to settling on an iPod/Android tablet was when OnLive came into existence. Partly, if I could just use OnLive from my linux workstation, I'd almost reach nerdvana and I wouldn't need my netbook for the windows anchorware. But I still sometimes need/enjoy thinking by scribbling with a pen on paper and I want a device for that. Smearing fingers doesn't cut it.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#215

Post by InclinedPlane » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 12:55 AM UTC

dannyr wrote: post #79

ashbrahma wrote: post #67

Microsoft has a big event, announces new hardware and doesn’t announce price or availability?

This is why I'm very skeptical about this. They probably won't ship until the end of this year. HP & Microsoft announced the Windows Slate tablet back in 2010 & it never made it to market. http://gizmodo.com/5442200/hps-windows-7-slate-device-reveal...

Huh? I've used an HP slate, I have a friend who owns one, you can buy one right here:

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Slate-500-8-9-Black/dp/B00465QM6Q

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#216

Post by chj » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 12:55 AM UTC

sho_hn wrote: post #83

So they're not just going after the iPad, they're also going after the MacBook Air: The Intel version + Touch Cover was repeatedly shown with the regular desktop and apps on it, and generally spun as a sort of light laptop. Ambitious, and finally makes sense of their Metro/desktop combo OS strategy to a degree. The hardware to go along with it was a missing puzzle piece, and I guess shows just how important it can be…

I don't think MS is going after MBA. sure, keyboard may be nicer than bt keyboard for ipad, but that doesn't make it a laptop replacement. the os -- windows rt -- may be as restrictive as ipad is, quite different from the windows for desktop.

There is nothing inspiring in this product, at least they didn't answer a question: is there something new we can do with this tablet?

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#217

Post by thought_alarm » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 12:56 AM UTC

I occasionally use a Bluetooth keyboard with my iPad when I feel like firing off a bunch of email from my recliner. The keyboard is on my lap and the iPad is off to the side. It's nice because it's literally the exact same keyboard I use with my laptop and my desktop.

The Surface's attached, floppy keyboard wouldn't work for me at all. If I need to set up at a desk then I'll just pull out my laptop.

The concept of a screen-cover/keyboard is interesting, but I'm not sure how practical it is in real life. Virtually 100% of the time I use my iPad it (or its BT keyboard) is on my lap. (As I type this I'm sitting on a lawn chair on my patio). And if it's not a full stroke keyboard then I don't see it as being very comfortable to use.

I also dislike the 16:9 screen. On a tablet, 16:9 is useless for everything but movies: Too wide to thumb-type in landscape, too narrow and tall in portrait.

I also suppose they'll be able to severely undercut OEM manufacturers on price, especially of this thing stumbles out of the gate. If I were Dell or HP I would seriously question how to move forward.

But ultimately success will depend on the software. Microsoft is going to be ramming Metro down the throats of faithful Windows users in a few short months. If users love it, they'll surely flock to Metro tablets where they can use the apps they've already collected on their desktops, and Surface becomes the quick number 2 tablet. If they hate it, Metro and Surface will be about as popular as Vista and Zune.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#218

Post by senthilnayagam » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 12:56 AM UTC

Have seen a pre-production device in Bangalore manufactured by Samsung.

I expect Pricing and distribution would be announced by Samsung in a seperate event .

The tablet app I saw looked good but it had touch responsiveness issue, and internet access was slow, saw the app crash and restart , but not sure if that was hardware related as it was a beta app.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#219

Post by seanmcdirmid » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 12:56 AM UTC

MrFoof wrote: post #75

WrkInProgress wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe this is just a teaser video. It certainly seems that way. They are revealing the product right now ..... Look at the video they have for the consumer preview of Windows 8 ... it's more in the vein of what you are talking about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM5pFkNQ7no&feature=plcp

If General Motors aired a commercial showing a stationary car, and some bouncing objects, my default reaction is not to go to a Chevrolet dealer to ask further questions. My default reaction is probably a non-reaction, which is to quickly forget what I just saw -- or more accurately, what I didn't see. Come to think of it, perhaps General Motors is using a similar ad agency?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_OfzaZcz9…

Does anyone remember Nissan's initial Infinity commercials? It was just scenery and nature; no car shown at all.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#220

Post by Samuel_Michon » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 12:57 AM UTC

aik wrote: post #180

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pen+touch+type seems like a great idea. It is something no other manufacturer has tried to do. Apple Newton MessagePad, 1993. It had a stylus, handwriting recognition, you could use it with just your fingertips, and you could connect an external keyboard. http://www.flickr.com/photos/atow/4314242537/ That was almost twenty years a go. Newton was a very expensive experiment for Apple, and they have learned the hard wa…

And it failed. I think the point is that it's nothing that anyone has tried recently, as the technology just hasn't been good enough. We're in a completely different world than the one in 1993. The question now is whether the technology today is good enough to be usable. No one else has tried it recently, meaning common understanding is that even today it's too complicated/not good enough. Until now.

Microsoft has been trying to sell stylus based tablets for years, and they never stopped: Windows for pen based computers, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, UMPC, Courier, Slate PC, etc etc.

I'm all for experimenting by releasing products in the wild, hoping that the next iteration will finally find its market. But seriously, it's getting a little ridiculous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Tablet_PC#History