Microsoft Surface 2 tablets to come September 23

Microsoft’s flagship tablets, the Surface RT and the Surface Pro, have been out for a year now. This month, the company plans to unveil the next generation of Surface tablets in New York – set to go out in the limelight with hardware & software improvements.

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The first tablet, the Surface 2, is expected to continue on where the Surface RT left off. The device will run on an Nvidia Tegra 4 CPU and a 10.1-inch full-HD display. Everything else will remain the same – including, of course, the Windows RT OS, and with the introduction of the new white color variant.

Microsoft Surface Invitation

As for the Surface Pro, we’re expecting the new model to sport the 4th generation Intel Core CPUs, also known as Haswell, 8GB RAM and new accessories in addition to the signature touch-covers.

Windows 8 will be running the show here, and since Windows 8.1 is rolling out in October, we’re guessing the release of the said tablets to be within the same month or later.

Of course, that is all preliminary. We’ll be updating everyone as soon as we get the official details so stay tuned.

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Windows Phone 9: What We Think It Should Be

We have been playing around with Windows Phone 8 for quite a while and we had different views on Microsoft’s mobile platform. It turns out that there is a ton of room for improvement. Check out what we think it should improve on after the break.

1. Unification of Windows 8, RT and Phone.

First off, there are rumors going around that Windows Blue might unify the platforms of Microsoft: Windows Phone, Windows RT and Windows 8. It is very likely for this to happen, and we are welcoming this idea as well.

The Next Windows

After all, a single store for all the apps & less compatibility problems will work for their advantage. If Windows RT can run on the HTC HD2, then what stops this idea from coming true?

2. Changing of the Windows Name

However, I think it would be a good idea if Microsoft were to rebrand Windows.

Surface OS logo

The probability of this happening is very low, but what makes me say this is because Windows has lost its hype - especially among the new generation. Only a few would call it ‘in’ or cool’.

Also, Windows Phone isn’t as catchy as Android. Maybe for it to gain traction, they need a new naming scheme.

3. More Personalization

Come on. Almost everyone wants to feel unique and special. Maybe that is why Android has become very successful and why iOS is getting a lot of hate. People want their devices to stand out – which Nokia and HTC tried to capitalize on with all the colorful handsets, but it’s still not enough.

personalized screenshot

Windows Phone might attract several people such as the minimalists, but for it to be successful – there should be at least more personalization options.

4. A More Flexible Start Screen

Remember Grid OS, Fusion Garage’s OS that had Android in its core but never was? Well, we talked about the flexibility of that OS’ homescreen and we found it most suitable for Microsoft’s Live Tiles.

Grid OS

Grid OS makes use of a very wide space where similar tiles can be found, and by pressing the home button, you’ll be redirected to the center. It seems like a more practical UI than simple vertical and horizontal sliding.

UIs

5. A Choice Between Grid and List App Drawers

Everyone uses grids for their app drawers, so why not Windows Phone? iOS is a grid of apps. Android has a grid for its app drawer (some skins even add the option to choose). Even Symbian had this.

6. An Improvement of The Little Things

While Windows Phone does a lot of things well, there are a lot of things that need improvement. For example, to reset the live account – you need to do a full reset of the phone.

bing

They could also improve on their services like Bing, SkyDrive, Live and etc., especially since they are forcing you to use them throughout the experience.

Perhaps we could also capitalize on the existence of the search button, which we barely used on our days with Windows Phone devices.

Surface S

Don’t get us the wrong way. Windows Phone is a wonderful OS; in fact, we all saw potential in it since day one, but it still has a long way to go. Is there anything that we missed? What about you? What would you add to Windows Phone to make it truly competitive with iOS and Android?

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Microsoft Surface RT: Unboxed, in the flesh!

One of the first things I did when I arrived in San Diego earlier this week was to go to the nearest Apple Store. I was surprised that there was also a Microsoft Store nearby so I checked it out and finally bought an MS Surface RT.

The Microsoft Store features a lot of OEM partners that have Windows 8 tablets and ultrabooks released since October (Asus, Acer, Sony, Samsung). Samsung’s Ativ Pro PC is there (over $1,200 a pop), the Asus ViboTab ($599) and a Core i3 VivoBook for only $499 (~Ph21k).

The Surface RT is the star of the store with dozens of sales people teaching customers how to use it. The tablet alone sells for $499 (32GB) and an additional $99 if you want the keyboard/cover to go with it. The 64GB model sells for $599. The other optional docking keyboard goes for $169.

I got the 32GB and the basic cover for a total of $651 (taxes and environmental fees included).

The Surface tablet itself feels a bit thick (especially if you’re already familiar with the iPad and other Android tables). I guess that impression of thickness is due to the full-sized USB 2.0 port that comes with it. The combination of aluminum magnesium and polycarbonate materials used for the body gives the Surface some considerable heft but also puts a solid feel to it.

The thick bezel also gives that impression that the Surface is like an 11.6-inch tablet but in fact its just 10.6 inches (diagonally). The pop-out stand at the back is really useful especially when you are using the keyboard cover and doing some typing.

The basic cover-keyboard needs some time to get used to since there’s no feedback when you type on them. On the other hand, the trackpad is surprisingly very usable.

The USB port becomes pretty useful nad is the one thing that would really separate the Surface from the iPad. I was able to use a Bluetooth mouse with it, read off of a card reader from my camera and even use the tablet to charge my iPhone 5 (among other things you normally use the USB port on a laptop).

As for battery life, I can’t make any final conclusions yet since I’ve only used the tablet for just over day but based on that short time, I think it’s pretty good and can do somewhere between 5 to 8 hours with heavy use. I am now looking at the Surface RT as a device between an iPad/Nexus 7 and the ultrabook. It can pass for a comfortable and very capable content-creation device (some of my articles in the last 24 hours were done on the Surface).





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