Microsoft Surface RT & Windows 8 ... thoughts ...

Introduction

Over the past few weeks I've several friends and clients ask me to weigh in on the new Microsoft Surface tablet. While the current version is not the promised "full" version coming in Spring 2013, it does run a new version of Windows 8 known as Windows RT. I have played with the current Surface running Windows 8 RT. I've also played with Windows 8 inside a VirtualBox on my laptop. So let me share with you my thoughts and what I know.

Hardware

First, the Surface tablet from a purely hardware perspective is a really nice piece of equipment. The case feels really solid and the VaporMg manufacturing process makes the unit itself feel very light. The lines are crisp and clean and it is a very attractive tablet. Also, they learned from Apple and all the standard attachments (power, keyboard, etc.) are magnetically attached. So if you accidentally pull the unit beyond the reach of it's power cable the cable just 'pops' off ... no harm done. The video, however, is not that impressive at 1280 x 720. Most newer Androids or iPads have better video displays, candidly.

There are 2 keyboards available. One is flat while the other is an ultra low profile traditional keyboard. The unit I played with had the flat keyboard. It's cool at first, but the 'coolness' quickly wears off when you figure out it's not well suited (for me anyway) to do any kind of touch typing. And it offers NO tactile feedback. Personally I would go with the traditional keyboard if I were to go at all (read on).

Windows 8

As far as Windows 8 RT goes, it was a little 'eerie cool' to fire up a tablet and have it connect to your WiFi network and be able to instantly browse all the file shares on your local network and open many of the files (i.e., Microsoft Office, Adobe PDF, etc.). That coolness quickly wears off when you actually try to use the Surface tablet. In my humble opinion the Microsoft Surface could be the ultimate hybrid between a tablet and a laptop or ultrabook ... were it not for Windows 8. That initial screen on the front looks great with all those moving tiles that update their info in real time ... until you actually want to get behind that and get real work done. This is where Windows 8 falls flat on it's keister, IMHO.

Windows 8 has eliminated the Start menu. After multiple Windows iterations and years and years of 'press the Start button', all that user interface (UI) commonality is instantly swept away. Finding installed applications is a nightmare (please note the Surface RT came with a pre-release 'beta' copy of Microsoft Office 2013 Student). Since there is no Start menu you're left to poke and plod through the vastly different UI hoping you'll stumble upon what you're looking for.

And God help you in remembering how you got to where you just were once you do find what you were looking for (or put EVERY application on the desktop). Most all the familiar Windows reference points we've used for so long (Start Menu, Run box, Command window, etc.) are all gone from plain site. Some may still be there. But that ones that are have been hidden behind new UI layers. What I found after a week of working with the Surface was the new UI, for me at least, was almost unworkable. I spent so much time working the UI to get to where I wanted to be it was vastly quicker to go back to a Windows 7 machine and perform the same tasks.

Microsoft Store

And the Microsoft Store is a joke! I think I counted about 11,000 apps total versus 650,000 Android or 950,000 iTunes apps. Of course Microsoft promises there will be more apps by the time the full Surface ships in Spring 2013, but who knows. The fine print on the Office 2013 Beta says MS reserves the right to remove it later. The reason people buy a tablet or smartphone is for the apps and Microsoft has seriouslydropped the ball here. There was not even a Gmail app! Gmail!?! The most popular free email service on the web!?! No app! What does that tell you about the app store and the selection of apps it contains?

General Feedback

And apparently I'm not alone. I've already had clients who bought new machines with Windows 8 pre-installed call and beg me to downgrade them back to Windows 7, which I've done (Thank God Microsoft is still selling Windows 7 copies). In short, I think Microsoft has really shot themselves in the foot with Windows 8. On a small cell phone or tablet screen that "tiled" front screen with real time updates may be useful. It's not to my liking personally, but I can see where it may be liked by some. But on a large screen desktop or laptop it doesn't cut it. Further, if you don't have a touch screen much of the viability and usability of Windows 8 goes right out the window (excuse the pun).

Final Thoughts

In my humble opinion Microsoft has created a new operating system nobody asked for, with a new user interface nobody demanded, that can't run some legacy apps Windows 7 still can, created largely for an environment (smartphones & tablets) where they (Microsoft) are number 4 in a 3 horse race. If that "tiled" look is really what you're going for there are already Android launcher apps that can give you that same look and feel on your Android smartphone or tablet. Overall I just see a LOT of downside risk and very little upside potential. I think Microsoft may well alienate more of their user base and drive them over to Apple ... or at the very least drive up sales of Windows 7.

Time will tell. Welcome to the future ...

Ice Cream Sandwich, and other sweetness ...

A well written OS does its job in a clean, consistent, reliable way. A superbly written OS does all that, but then entices you with its attention to detail indicating the developers really care about their work. The latter is the what Android has been elevated to with the release of Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), also known as Android 4.0.

Even with its idiosyncrasies, ICS still proves to be one of the best Android versions released to date. Obviously your mileage may vary (YMMV), but overall it’s one of the most stable mobile OSs that I’ve ever used. Android enthusiasts (like myself) will find a lot to like in the new version. But will still probably find various reasons to want to replace the stock applications with third-party alternatives (read Handcent SMS for one) ... it's not perfect. But the major improvements to the user interface (UI) & experience do help to make ICS better tasting right out of the box.

A Fresh New Look
ICS is by far the most visually appealing version of Android released to date. The holographic interface in Android 3.x (a.k.a., Honeycomb) has been passed on to ICS, though it doesn’t translate that well on smaller displays. On a tablet such as my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the holographic interface looks as if it has some depth, but on a phone such as my Samsung Galaxy S II it appears much more two-dimensional. ICS, however, adds a few new colors to Android’s repertoire, swapping out the old green and gray for a vibrant blue. Might I add the Galaxy S II's AMOLED screen loves these new colors.

Text is also much easier to read thanks to the use of a new high-resolution font Roboto. Roboto was designed to be used on HD displays, and is a massive step up from the old Droid Serif originated in Android 2.x. The font looks a lot cleaner than the default font from Honeycomb, and it complements the holographic UI quite nicely.

Features Galore
Face Unlock and Android Beam were two features that sounded great in theory, but in actual practice they didn't play out too well. Face Unlock lets you unlock your phone by using facial recognition software, but it has one too many bugs to make it really useful. Face Unlock can be difficult to use outside on sunny days, because bright sunlight obscures your face to the camera. Also Face Unlock can be tricked by either a picture or someone who closely resembles you. Face Unlock is not an entirely foolproof security measure (Google even warns that it’s not as secure as a PIN or a lock pattern), but it’s still a novel way to interact with your phone.

Android Beam is supposed to make it easier to share data between devices using near-field communications (NFC). The instructions for Android Beam are quite vague, and it seems to behave differently in each app. To use Android Beam, you must first make sure NFC is enabled and the Android Beam feature turned on under Settings. Once you’ve done that, open the app you’d like to send data from, and simply hold your phone against another NFC device to begin a connection. Your phone should make a noise to announce the pairing, at that point just tap the screen to begin transmitting content. IMHO, it’s an interesting piece of ICS that still seems to need a bit more work to flesh out fully.

Another handy new feature is the ability to resize Widgets to your liking. You do this by holding down a widget briefly, then dragging the sides until the widget is as big or as small as you’d like it to be. Android Honeycomb tablets and certain proprietary overlays have had this feature for a while now. But this is the first time, it's a built-in part of the native OS.

Almost all of the core apps have received major redesigns. Gmail more closely resembles the desktop version, and it’s now much easier to attach photos and other files onto emails. Your inbox is also available for offline viewing (should you not be able to connect online), and a new context bar on mobile makes it easier to quickly compose new emails and delete the ones you no longer want.

The Calendar app was tweaked so you can view multiple Google Calendars at once, and now you can pinch to zoom in or out of events to see more details about them. The old Music app has been replaced with Google’s new Play Music app that is tied to its online music service. You can still play local files, but now you also have the option to stream content from your online music library to your device. Google Talk now lets you sign in using multiple Gmail accounts, and it was just recently updated to support video chat. The Gallery can do some rather robust editing, and the camera now includes a very-easy-to-use panorama mode.

Upgrading
For users coming from Gingerbread (a.k.a., Android 2.3.x) you'll notice a host of improvements. For users coming from Honeycomb (a.k.a., Android 3.x.x) the differences will be more subtle and will mostly be a significantly smoother visual and tactile experience. I found after upgrading my Galaxy Tab 10.1 from Honeycomb to ICS the screen to screen scrolling and app/widget scrolling was significantly smoother.

On the technical side, techie users will notice this is the first version of Android to support preemptive symmetric multi-processing (SMP). For those readers who are less technical, this means the OS will transparently suspend (or preempt) background processes in favor of foreground processes (or applications) which require additional CPU time. This can be verified by looking in Settings under About Phone/Tablet, Kernel Version. This means users with dual-core and quad-core CPU's will find the OS does a better job of handling multiple tasks simultaneously and also means Android will begin to make better use of these multi-core devices going forward.

One thing that must be noted about upgrading to ICS, all icons on the Home Screens will be lost. While the programs themselves are not lost, the icon layout and general positioning of each of the home screens (e.g., icons, widgets, etc.) is lost during the upgrade process. I recommend noting or snapshot-ing each screen so you can return the phone or tablet to it's prior icon & widget layout after upgrade. The upgrade process itself takes about 40 to 60 minutes, and I always recommend a full battery charge before attempting any OS upgrade.

Final Notes
No one can rightly accuse Google's Android team of putting forth a weak or insubstantial OS update. ICS has reworked Android's style from head to toe, giving it a far bolder identity than before with a polished look and logical feel. For the most part, Google has succeeded in splicing together Gingerbread and Honeycomb to create a single experience that can work identically on both phones and tablets.

At the end of the day, ICS does succeed in moving Google and Android forward, and reaffirming its staying power as a mobile OS. With its bold new personality, Android 4.0 is also a sign of Google leaving less of its visual cultivation to the handset makers through overlays, and taking a stronger role in defining its own 'Droid' visual personality.

Next version up ... Android 4.1 a.k.a., Jelly Bean.

Tablets To Replace Laptops ... by 2016

Thanks in large part to industry efforts to make tablets much more powerful and affordable, Forrester Research predicts that tablets will become the preferred computing device for millions of people by 2016. Global tablet sales have been steadily climbing and there's no doubt the futuristic form factor has found its way into many homes & some businesses: over 56 million tablets were sold in 2011. However, will tablets really replace laptops as the preferred mobile computing platform people turn to? Or will tablets go the way of the 'netbook' and fade from the technology landscape?

In a recent Forrester Research market analysis labeled, "Tablets Will Rule the Future Personal Computing Landscape", the research firm projects tablet sales will top 375 million units by 2016. In addition, the research firm generally expects tablets to last about three years before the aging devices are replaced by their owners, meaning about 760 million tablets will be actively in use by 2016.

Globally speaking, about 40 percent of sales are expected to be driven by "emerging markets" while nearly a third will be pushed by businesses.

For those who are still skeptical, the principal analyst involved with the study had this to say:

"I agree that laptops are still preferred today, if you had to pick one device," he notes. But he is firm in believing that preference "will flip in the next few years. Tablets will get good enough at many, but not all creation tasks — plus they'll become so important and convenient for every day use and consumption, that they will become an individual's primary device."


"Over the next four years, tablets will gain new sensors, processing power, and better wireless capabilities for connecting with nearby devices," Frank Gillette, principal analyst on Forrester's business technology futures team, wrote in the report. "This will enable full voice control and dictation, increased gesture control, more situational context, better accessory integration, and software that anticipates a user's needs."
[Source: cnet.com, Frank Gillette (Forrester Research analyst)]

It is important to note the firm counts hybrid or convertible devices as tablets. Examples of such devices include the Asus Transformer and Transformer Prime series, the Lenovo Yoga, the Acer Iconia Tab W500, and the Asus Eee and Samsung 7 series Slate products. Although the latter products tend to break the traditional 'low cost' tablet mold costing in excess of $1000.

Forrester Research also predicts the introduction of a new tablet-like device intended for larger-scale applications. The firm is calling this device a "frame" and expects the device to sport a far larger display and higher-end hardware. Such a larger device may be useful for presentation, entertainment and business applications. The latter hybrid products listed above easily fit into this emerging classification, as most of these products run some iteration of Microsoft Windows.

Many people feel in a business environment, tablets are nice for checking e-mail and surfing the web but that's about it - they're not really business production tools. However, I would be quick to caution what you may view as true specifically for you may not be true for millions of other people - perhaps even your own staff and/or organization.

Many people in a business environment are finding unique and wonderful new ways to put these devices to work for them and their workforce as an incredible new work machine or tool. If you or your workforce uses forms on a regular basis a tablet can be an effective alternative and even replacement for traditional paper forms based functions. When coupled with the right carrier and data plan, data from the field can be collected faster and with less human error and the results analyzed in a much shorter time frame than was possible before.

As just one example, if you are a Realtor imagine your client coming to the closing and signing (or e-signing) all their paperwork on a tablet device. No more printing out contracts only to have them shredded and re-printed when an offer or counter-offer is made and/or accepted.

Or imagine you're an inspector with a clipboard and a traditional paper form. Now imagine replacing your paper form and clipboard with an online form or even an Excel or Google Apps spreadsheet with macros running on a tablet device. And as you fill out the form the information is immediately available in real time for analysis and/or reporting by you or the home office miles away.

These are both real world examples of how tablets can be put to use in your organization as an effective tool to modernize and streamline your workforce. Need help exploring those ideas? We stand ready to help. Give us a call and we'll help you explore the latest technology, including tablets, to see if there's a fit that's right for you.

Welcome to the future.