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Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

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Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#501

Post by taligent »

blhack wrote: post #482
kulkarnic wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, so what? If you read HCI papers from the 90s (it's what I do for a job-- I'm a PhD student in HCI), you'll see that a lot of very respected researchers claimed that speech technology is not useful (their claim is well-founded: it is slow, environmental noise is unavoidable, what to say is often not obvious, and there's the Midas problem). But, here we are, with people praising Siri. It's how technology works--…

Do people actually use siri? The extent to which I've seen it used has been: 1) Making it say silly things about hiding dead bodies in ravines. 2) Trying to make it text things, only to give up and type the message by hand. Usually done while driving, and usually spanning the course of around a minute. It's not even remotely close to something usable yet, at least not from what I've seen. Just look at how people use…

I use it at least 4-5 times a day mainly for setting events and alarms.

It is much, much quicker to say "remind me about X tomorrow at 6pm" than unlock screen, find the app, open it up, create event etc.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#503

Post by codex »

Microsoft couldn't choose between ARM and x86 and this will be a huge problem for them. It's emblematic of the terrible position that they're in, trying not to be left behind while trying to refresh and extend their aging desktop OS monopoly. These products do nothing well. A stylus? That's a bullet on a PowerPoint, not a compelling feature. I felt sad watching them retell their passionless internal talking points while giving a more pathetic version of an Apple launch.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#504

Post by corporalagumbo »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #125
ashbrahma wrote: post #67

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

There's a good reason for that. These are going to run Windows 8, they have to, but Windows 8 isn't coming out for months yet. If they announced these the day of Windows 8's release they'd lose out on a lot of business because people would have already made other purchasing decisions in the interim. Windows 8 ready ultrabooks, ipads, etc. Now they're giving people enough time to change their minds before they've pull…

Also, by announcing this now, they can get people excited, and especially the developer community thinking about Metro apps.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#505

Post by malkia »

I didn't see anywhere a way to adjust the angle of the stand. I constantly change the angle of my laptop monitor, and sometimes even the one at work.

Now this device would want me to adjust myself to stand at the right angle looking it. Hopefully it would be still readable from other angles, but then how would you touch it?

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#506

Post by yread »

evo_9 wrote: post #66

This is seriously one of the most heavy handed, almost laughable attempts at being hip and cool I've ever seen. I thought it was a parody for a second. Honestly could they scream any louder 'We are absolutely terrified of Apple. Please love us again.'

You mean something like "Apple changes everything. Again." ? I actually read it with a sigh at the end...

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#508

Post by corporalagumbo »

tylermenezes wrote: post #485

I don't understand the "OMG MICROSOFT MADE A TABLET IT IS CLEARLY COPYING THE IPAD" reaction Microsoft's getting here. They're absolutely ahead of the curve with the blending of mobile and desktop operating systems, something which I am extremely happy they are doing, and this is absolutely the logical design choices someone in that position would make. Yes, it's very similar to the iPad in many ways. But other than…

I've been using my iPad with a BT keyboard, and one of the thing that excites me about the Surface is that the OS is actually optimised for both touch and keyboard use. With the iPad, you can type text and use a couple of system commands (homescreen, brightness, music controls). But you still have to reach up and swipe through apps and touch the app you want to load, swipe to shift between apps, etc etc.

But with Windows 8, every touch gesture or feature is baked in intelligently to keyboard/trackpad use. Swiping between apps, bringing up charms, splitting the screen, selecting tiles on the start screen, etc etc. I think this will make a huge difference. Microsoft has an advantage here because W8 has been built simultaneously for all of these usage models, whereas Apple started with touch and is still tethered to a fingers-only UI basis.

Re: Microsoft Introduces New "Surface" Tablet

#509

Post by dsirijus »

josephcooney wrote: post #490
tylermenezes wrote: post #485

I don't understand the "OMG MICROSOFT MADE A TABLET IT IS CLEARLY COPYING THE IPAD" reaction Microsoft's getting here. They're absolutely ahead of the curve with the blending of mobile and desktop operating systems, something which I am extremely happy they are doing, and this is absolutely the logical design choices someone in that position would make. Yes, it's very similar to the iPad in many ways. But other than…

To say nothing of the fact that Microsoft have been doing tablet PCs since circa 2002.

I'm using TabletPC as swiss knife for 3 years now and couldn't be happier with it.

Native unobfuscated desktop experience? Check. Pro drawing with stylus? Check. Multi-touch for slacking around? Check. Power for development? Check.

Personally, I'll just check the specs and price on this one and compare them to my needs, as I always do with any device I own.

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