Surface

Kids want an iPad for Christmas – and nothing else

Ed Sutherland ∙ November 20, 2012

Listen up, parents. Your kids want an iPad. Don't be swayed by the Microsoft Surface commercials or the Nintendo Wii U chatter. No matter whether your child is 6 or 16, the iPad is at the top of Christmas wish lists for 2012, a new survey has it. According to Nielsen Wire, the top four out of five most-wanted gifts for children and teens bear an Apple logo.

Even more intriguing are the changes in what Apple products are wanted this holiday season versus last year. If anything, the trend can be summed-up in one word: tablet...

Oh, boy: Oprah tweets Surface raves from an iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 20, 2017

Billions of marketing dollars can't hide the obvious disconnect and lack of creativity plaguing Microsoft's PR department. Windows Phone commercials are boring as hell, annoying, heavy on celebs and short on imagination. And now comes this. Oprah tweeting her love for the Surface this morning isn't out of character: she's well-known for endorsing stuff.

It reads: "Gotta say love that SURFACE! Have bought 12 already for Christmas gifts. #FavoriteThings”. She unfortunately sent that tweet, which Microsoft's Corporate Communications immediately retweeted, from her iPad.

I know Oprah hosts regular giveaways of favorite products, but boy did that stupid PR stunt backfire. Besides, she previously professed her love for Apple's tablet to the whole world. This is nothing if not way too clueless marketing on Microsoft's part. Speaking of clueless...

Steve Ballmer maintains the iPhone is overpriced, promises more Microsoft gadgets

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2017

The hardware arena is becoming an increasingly crowded space and that's a good thing for consumers who want more choices. Not that long ago, tech giants used to sit on the sidelines and leave the gadget making biz to Apple and the iPhone maker happily exploited the opportunity, churning out music players, cell phones, wireless appliances, set-top boxes, tablets and computers.

But things have changed quite a bit. Nowadays, everyone and their brother wants to build hardware, software and services in a vertically integrated fashion that made Apple a popular choice among the consumers. Amazon now sells tablets and e-readers and is allegedly building a phone. Google has become a handset vendor thanks to its pricey purchase of Motorola Mobility. And with a recent trifecta of Nexus devices, the search monster has become a hardware force to be reckoned with. But what's Microsoft up to?

Display shootout pits the iPad 3 against the Surface

Cody Lee ∙ November 13, 2012

The experts over at DisplayMate have put together another display shootout, this time pitting the Retina screen of the iPad 3 against that of Microsoft's new Surface tablet and Samsung's older Galaxy Tab 10.1. The Galaxy Tab was really just thrown in for good measure here, the real shootout is between the first two.

Last month, a Microsoft engineer claimed that although the Surface has a lower resolution than the iPad, 1366 x 768 vs 2048 x 1536, its display can still outperform it. DisplayMate's Raymond Soneira laughed off the claim, saying there was no way this was possible. And now he has the head-to-head tests to prove it...

Ballmer qualifies Surface sales as ‘modest’, but there’s a huge opportunity

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

For all the talk about the Surface - and we've said some nice things about it - Microsoft's foray into big league tablet computing has been marred with teething problems and lackluster sales. Arriving in a crowded tablet market on October 26, the Surface was praised for its industrial design and build quality as it was panned for its resource-hungry and buggy OS and insufficient third-party software.

The software maker did not release exact sales data and its CEO Steve Ballmer is dogging such questions in absence of a milestone like Apple's three million tablet sales in three days. In an interview with a French newspaper, Ballmer qualified the beginning of the Surface sales as "modest", which probably means way worse than expected...

Fan-made ad teaches Microsoft how to advertise the Surface against the iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 10, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4d5xkULjc50

Instead of a boring teaser, the weird Movement commercial, a meaningless self-made drop test clip, cheesy making-of footage and a whole bunch of other all too easily forgettable videos, maybe Microsoft should have employed the talent of Forest Gibson? The guy clearly has a better idea of how to position Microsoft's Surface tablet against the iPad juggernaut...

Microsoft working on a 7-inch Xbox Surface tablet focused on gaming

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 6, 2012

This is really interesting. Hot on the heels of launching its full-sized Surface tablet to a mixed market response, Microsoft is thought to now have their sights set on the smaller form-factor tablet space, currently dominated by seven-inchers from Google and Amazon, in addition to Apple's iPad mini that launched last month. Microsoft's secret project for a mini Xbox, it's been said, involves a custom-built ARM processor and high-bandwidth RAM designed specifically for gaming tasks...

Microsoft clarifies Surface storage requirements

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 6, 2017

So we've known that the operating system powering Microsoft's Surface tablet along with bundled apps eats up a lot of storage space. Earlier today, the software giant published an interesting support doc clarifying the exact storage requirements. Turns out out that a 32GB Surface RT leaves users with only sixteen gigabytes of usable storage space because the Surface OS and preloaded Office apps consume a whopping 16 gigs. I'm using the whopping adjective here because the Surface after all is a mobile device, not a full-blown desktop.

This is hardly a surprise to us geeks who've grown accustomed to Redmond' resource-taxing desktop software but as it is, the situation inevitably begs the question of the gizmo's prospect with average Joes who've seen the iPad and expect a 32GB tablet to at least provide 30 gigs of usable storage space. Also, we've got a nice new video below the fold highlighting the Touch and Type Covers for Surface...

Maybe Microsoft should hire Forstall?

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 29, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwhv8U614Vo

In the hope that this will have an instant meme value, I just came across this nice little clip of somebody demoing saving a document in Microsoft Word Preview on the Surface RT tablet. Go past the break to join the discussion in the comments...

Microsoft’s Surface is more repairable than iPad 3

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 29, 2012

The repair experts over at iFixit pried open Microsoft's Surface RT tablet (model number 1516) and awarded the device a repairability score of four out of ten (ten is the easiest to repair), thanks to several components being modular and replaceable without requiring desoldering. Plus, the battery can be removed "pretty easily", iFixit notes.

This is better than a score of two out of ten for the third-generation iPad with Retina display, but lower than Amazon's Kindle Fire, which has an impressive eight out of ten repairability score. Google's seven-inch Nexus tablet is the easiest to repair among these tablets with a nice seven out of ten score. More tidbits and teardown analysis right below...

iPad vs Surface boot speed test

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Just a few minutes ago, I pitted the newly released Microsoft Surface against the 3rd generation iPad with Retina Display. Keep in mind that neither tablet is a slouch when it comes to specs, and that this isn't exactly a scientific test. Still, some of you might be surprised as to which tablet came out on top in a cold boot speed test.

I won't spoil the results, but if you're interested in seeing it for yourself, head inside and check out our iPad vs Microsoft Surface boot test video...

iPad vs Surface: size and dimensions

Jeff Benjamin ∙ October 26, 2012

The Microsoft Surface launched today to quite a bit of fanfare. I just received my unit via FedEx a few hours ago. Although I've yet to actually power on the unit (such is the life of a tech blogger), I have thoroughly inspected its hardware.

In the following video, I compare the Surface's dimensions and weight to that of the iPad 3. It's an interesting look at two wildly different tablets on pretty much every level. Take a gander...