Dell Venue 8 Pro: A User Review

By Rich Woods

I’ve been using the Dell Venue 8 Pro for almost a month now and I’ve got quite a bit to say about it. I’ve been putting off writing this review because I still don’t have the active stylus that Dell is offering as an accessory to the device, but it is “temporarily unavailable” and no one seems to know when or if it will ever be back in stock. We’ll get to that later.

This is unfortunate, because a guide to how good this tablet is really depends on the accessories that you have for it. Dell sells three accessories for this device: a folio case, a keyboard, and an active stylus. The first one that I got was the folio case because the keyboard and the stylus were unavailable at the time. I was able to order the keyboard from Dell and I was a little upset when it arrived. It comes with a folio case that has the same capabilities as the folio case that is sold separately and more. It is magnetic so the keyboard will cling on to it and a clip for the stylus in the back. So the folio case by itself is a waste if you plan on investing in the keyboard, and the keyboard is a must for this device.

This brings me to the touchscreen. At times, it can be a bit under-responsive and at times it can be a bit over responsive. There have been some firmware updates from Dell that seem to be addressing issues with the stylus so it would seem that they are working to fix issues with the touchscreen, but coming out of the box it is a little troublesome. When I try to type my password into it to log in, more often than not it will double type characters making you have to type your password over and over. This is resolved by using the Bluetooth keyboard. There are other times when the touchscreen seems under-responsive. Sometimes I will tap the screen and nothing will happen. This would be resolved with an active stylus, which is not available. Also, if you own a Surface Pro or any other Windows 8 PC that comes with some kind of active stylus, don’t plan on it being compatible with the Dell Venue 8 Pro. Apparently, each brand uses their own technology in their styluses.

The form factor is the thing that really saves this thing. I have an iPad Mini and a Google Nexus 7. The iPad Mini has a 7.9″ screen and a 4:3 aspect ratio and feels just a bit too wide when holding it in one hand. The Google Nexus 7 has a 7″ screen and a 16:9 aspect ratio and feels a bit narrow. The Dell Venue 8 Pro’s 8″ screen with the 16:9 aspect ratio feels just right in one hand and the textured back makes it feel perfect when holding it.

The keyboard is pretty exceptional as well. Most keyboards for mini tablets are cramped and hard to work with. This one actually does the job. It spaces the keys out by taking out the punctuation keys and putting them under the top row of letters, giving the user access to them by use of the Fn key. It takes a bit of getting used to, but since it ships with Microsoft Office it is the first mini tablet that you can actually get some work done with.

Intel’s Atom processor is not something that I’ve ever been a fan of. It promises a “full Windows experience” but if you ever try to run any kind of powerful application on it, it will most likely become unresponsive. Programs like Microsoft Access or Visual Studio are not made for this device. On the other hand, it does allow you to use certain applications that you cannot run on Windows RT such as iTunes or Chrome. It also provides a rock solid 10 hours of battery life which is just great.

Next: games. When I want to test a new device, the first game that I try on it is Temple Run. It is a simple game, but it is fast moving and has high definition graphics so it really is a good way to test how well a tablet or phone performs. I would give this device an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. The app runs smoothly, but at times the touchscreen is unresponsive and you end up crashing. Also, as I proved in my post The Problem with the iOS Game Center that No One Talks About, I am the best Temple Runner in the world so I find that this is a good way to sum up what I can expect out of a device.

On Windows devices, Halo: Spartan Assault is another must. Unfortunately, it’s not ready for the Dell Venue 8 Pro. The game simply wasn’t designed to scale to an 8″ screen and it is completely unplayable. I have to assume that a software update is coming soon, but it is not here yet.

The display is as good as any modern tablet as is the camera. With all of the talk of retina displays, 4K displays, HD, ultra HD, and all other kinds of displays, we’ve really reached a point where it’s not really worth talking about anymore. They’re beautiful. It doesn’t really matter anymore which device has more pixels than the other.

The same goes for the camera. It is a standard tablet camera. Even Apple, who takes so much pride in their iPhone cameras, still hasn’t gone past 5 MP or even added a flash to their latest generation of iPads.

At the current time, I would give this tablet a 5 out of ten. There is no native e-reader app, which is a popular use case for the mini tablet form factor. Also, it doesn’t come with LTE support which tends to come in handy when travelling. As the owner of many tablets, I find that full size tablets are the ones that I am most likely to use at home and the mini tablets are the ones I’m likely to use while travelling, so cellular support can be important.

Although I only gave this tablet a 5, I feel like it’s only a few firmware and software updates away from being a solid 8 or even a 9. Bring in the stylus and it could be really nice. It all depends on the road that Microsoft decides to travel. You can read more on that at the The Elephant in the Room with the Dell Venue 8 Pro.

All weekend I will be answering any tech questions on Twitter @rwoods716 and on our Facebook page at “For the Love of Tech”. Any questions from phones to PCs and pretty much anything with a display, feel free to ask.

The Elephant in the Room with the Dell Venue 8 Pro

By Rich Woods

For Christmas this year, I received the Dell Venue 8 Pro. One of the three Windows 8 tablets to ship in 2013 along with the models by Acer and Toshiba, my first impressions is that this is a fine device, but it raises a fairly obvious question: Why does it run Windows 8?

It comes with Microsoft Office, as does any Windows RT tablet or any Windows 8 tablet that is under 10″. It supports “legacy” apps, but with 32 GB of storage and 2 GB of RAM with an Atom processor, which ones would you really use? I suppose that since it does have an x86 processor it has to run Windows 8 and it wouldn’t support RT even if they tried, but it raises some important questions.

We’ve been hearing for some time that Microsoft was going to combine Windows RT and Windows Phone in some way. After all, if I can run an app on my phone, I should be able to run it on my tablet as well, right? I know that with iOS I can.

The current state of the Windows Market is that there are two of them. One of them is for Windows Phone. The other is for both Windows 8 and Windows RT. There is a problem with this model. It’s very hard to put tablet apps into this store (such as temple run) because they need to run on a laptop as well that could possibly not even have a touch screen.

It would make sense to have three separate app stores, much like Apple has. If you own a MacBook, you would see only apps that are designed for Mac OS. If you own an iPad and open the AppStore, you will see all apps designed for the iPad, although you will have the option to download apps designed for the iPhone, even though they are not optimized for the iPad. Finally, if you have an iPhone, you can download apps specifically designed for the iPhone.

This model works and has been working for Apple for some time now. Microsoft’s model is a bit more confusing. Windows RT was supposed to be their tablet OS, and if that’s what it ended up being, there would be a simple answer to this.

Let’s say for a moment that Microsoft adopted Apple’s model. Windows Phone can continue the way it’s been. Windows RT can download apps designed for tablets with the option to download phone apps as well and Windows 8 would sell apps specifically designed for laptops.

Where does that leave these new 8″ tablets? They are all running a full version of Windows 8. What happens when they “merge” Windows RT and Windows Phone into one OS? Perhaps there could be a fourth OS?

It seems that the Dell Venue 8 Pro that I’ve been using for a few days now would work better with the Windows Phone than any other OS. It’s clearly meant to be used in portrait mode, unlike any larger Windows device. It seems like the tiles should be vertically scrolling like they do in Windows Phone but of course they scroll horizontally as they do in larger devices.

It would be impossible to put Windows Phone or Windows RT on the Dell Venue 8 Pro because the Atom processor has an x86 architecture and the two aforementioned operating systems require an ARM processor.

So what is the answer? As much as I love Microsoft’s products I’m getting very tired of hearing about how great it’s going to be. You can’t tell your customers to have faith in your product if you charge for it. You can’t tell someone that they have to pay $200 for a phone, sign a two year contract, and then say, “don’t worry, in a year this is gonna be REALLY good”. That’s why beta software is free.

I’m getting tired of Microsoft telling us that we should be excited because we are finally getting Vine, Instagram, Temple Run 2, or any other app that the rest of the world thought was popular a year ago and is already tired of. No one plays Angry Birds anymore.

Windows needs original apps. This is where I thought that they were heading when they released Halo: Spartan Assault. That turned out to be a one shot deal. There are people out there making real innovative apps for the iPad. Instead of porting over crappy games and apps that were popular once and no one really cares about anymore, bring us original stuff. They can do it. They have the Xbox platform. They have the ability to bring tablet gaming to the next level.

But when Microsoft gets all of this sorted out and they get Windows Phone and Windows RT to where they need to be, where is that going to leave the 8″ tablets? When Microsoft finally has their Surface RTs and Surface 2s finally acting like modern tablets, are they going to leave the 8″ tablets acting like limited functionality laptops?

Although it’s a fine device, I’m not sure of the purpose of the Dell Venue 8 Pro. It’s not exactly an e-reader, which was the original purpose of mini tablets. You could download the Kindle app, but that’s pretty much you’re only option. It’s not exactly for gaming. You can’t play Halo: Spartan Assault on it. It hasn’t been scaled to an 8″ screen. After reading the customer reviews, I’m sure they’re working on it. But the games are always going to be limited as long as it’s using the same app store that non touch screen laptops are using. It comes with Office but it’s not a work machine. Even if you attach a keyboard it’s just to small. I have a keyboard for my Nexus 7 and you can’t do any serious typing on it.

It’s good for entertainment. Netflix and Hulu and some other streaming video apps are there, but I see no reason why anyone would buy this tablet over an iPad Mini or a Nexus 7, unless you need to be on the platform for one reason or another, which I tend to have.

I will be writing a more full review of the Dell Venue 8 Pro in the coming weeks as well as a full comparison to the iPad Mini with Retina and the Nexus 7. Make sure to follow me on Twitter @rwoods716 and like us on Facebook at “For the Love of Tech” and don’t miss a thing.

The Surface RT is Alive and Well, Despite the $900 Million Loss

By Richard Woods

Well, Microsoft’s earnings call came in on Thursday afternoon and it seems that the news wasn’t so good. Over the course of Friday, Microsoft’s (MSFT) stock plummeted a whopping $4.04, which is more than 10%. The problem is that the people that control the stock market don’t always understand technology or even the technology business. The general consensus seems to be that the Surface RT is a failure. Well I’m going to tell you why it’s not.

Since the release of the Surface RT back in November, it has received harsh reviews about how you can’t run any Windows software that’s not available in the Windows store. More recently, Microsoft has been selling these things at ridiculously low prices at various events (most notably for $99 at TechEd), then they started offering the keyboard attachment for free (a $119-129 value) then they marked down the price by $150 to a retail price of $349.

$349 is a great price for something that comes with a full version of Microsoft Office 2013, which is a pricey piece of software on its own. It would appear that Microsoft is trying to give this thing away to anyone that will take it.

Well, it’s true. Is that so bad of a thing though? Microsoft is facing the facts that they were late to the mobile game. They have to get market share however they can. We have to remember that the new Microsoft is not just a devices company but also a services company. An 8.9″ Kindle HD only costs around $269. An iPad 2 retails for $369. With the reviews that the Surface RT is getting they have to get these things into the hands of consumers.

The other issue is that it seems that the Surface RT was marked as a $900 million loss for Microsoft. In all fairness though, most businesses lose money in their first year and Microsoft is only 9 months into the tablet business. I understand that $900 million is no small number, but for a company like Microsoft that’s about how much I would think that it would cost to get into an already saturated tablet market.

Someone came to me the other day and asked me which tablet she should purchase for the business she was starting. She said she didn’t have a lot of money because it was a new business. The Surface RT was the first thing that came to mind as it seems that it is the most logical product for a startup business.

Others may want to wait for the next generation of Surface products. The next iteration of the Surface Pro will undoubtedly have all day battery life since it will have the fourth generation Intel processor and the next generation of the Surface RT will most likely bring Windows RT and Windows Phone closer together, making it a more iPad-like product, which is what everyone seems to want.

The more people that they can get to use the Surface RT the more they will sell their other products and services. We can’t forget that Windows isn’t just a desktop operating system anymore. It is a fully functional ecosystem that gives you a seamlessly integrated experience between your computer, your tablet, and your smart phone.

Windows 8 is new but people will learn to use it. It’s the next generation of Windows and Windows is the default operating system when you buy a computer. The tablet market is dominated by Android and the iPad at the moment, but when the Surface RT crosses your desk you may realize just how much more convenient it is that your tablet runs the same way that your laptop or desktop does. You may even consider going out and getting a Windows Phone.

Do people remember that when the first generation of the iPad came out everyone thought that the tablet was a fad that would never replace your smart phone or your laptop, so why could you ever really need one? Well the first generation became obsolete the day that iOS 6 came out and you couldn’t install it on the first iPad but here we are yet another year later and the second generation of the iPad is still being supported with iOS 7. In fact, even though the newest iPad model is the fourth generation, the iPad 2 is still for sale by Apple.

It is entirely possible that they are clearing out extra inventory and we should be getting closer and closer to the announcement of the next generation of Surface devices, but I think that it’s jumping the gun a little bit to assume that the reason that they are pushing these things out so hard is because the Surface RT is such a massive failure, because it’s not.

The Surface brand will come to thrive in the months and years to come. The second generation models are coming soon and they will fix any complaints that consumers have about the first generation models. In the meantime, Microsoft will continue to do whatever they have to do to get them in the hands of consumers. So expect a loss for now, because the tablet market is a war, not a battle.

Is the Lumia 1020 Worth the Price Tag?

By Richard Woods

The phone (or phamera) that we’ve all been waiting for is here. Over a year ago, Nokia released the Pureview 808 with a 41 mega pixel camera. The only problem was that it ran the Symbian operating system making it pretty much useless. A month ago, we all thought it was coming and it turned out that they got us all tuned in to see the release of the Lumia 925 and 928.

But now it’s here. The Nokia Lumia 1020 with a 41 mega pixel camera running Windows Phone 8 is an exciting thing to see, but at what price? The price tag is going to be a steep $299 with a 2 year commitment to AT&T. This means that at no commitment pricing it should run around $749.

Last time Nokia released a high end phone with AT&T they rolled it out for $99.99 with a 2 year contract which can be very attractive. I was immediately drawn to it being the Windows fan that I am but one thing drew me back. It actually seemed a little too cheap.

The iPhone 5 costs $199 just like the Galaxy S4, the HTC One, or the Blackberry Z10. It seems to me that for a flagship phone, $199 is the price you want to be paying. $99 is the price you pay for a mid-range phone, like the HTC First (better known as the Facebook phone), the Galaxy S3, or the iPhone 4S.

The price range of Lumia phones range from free to $99, but now for the 1020 they want $299? The Windows Phone is competing with the Galaxy Note now? If $199 is the price for a high end smart phone than what is the $299 bracket for? The answer is specialty phones. Phablets and phameras.

Although the Lumia 1020 is no doubt a specialty device it surprises me that they price themselves in the specialty phone price bracket. After all, their high end phone was in the mid range price bracket. Also, now that the 920 has been marked down to $49, is it really worth an extra $250 to have that 41 mega pixel camera in your phone? The pro software that will ship with the 1020 will be part of the amber update coming in August for the 920, 925, and 928. If you are a photo professional I would imagine that you are already using a DSLR, so it might just be a good idea to stick with that 920. It’s a fine device. I switched from the iPhone last month and I’m still not looking back.

Every Home Needs a Kinect

by Richard Woods

It seems like the big question around the Xbox One is why they’re charging $100 more than Sony is for the PS4 and forcing the customer to get the Kinect camera instead of charging $399 and offering the console by itself. After all, the Xbox One is supposed to be the “all-in-one” home entertainment solution. But if it’s not all about gaming, isn’t there a very strong possibility that I might buy it for purposes that wouldn’t require a Kinect?

“Well, that’s just Microsoft trying to take a few more of your hard earned dollars,” they’ll say. “Microsoft is spying on you through that camera”, they’re already saying.

But that’s simply not true. The Xbox One is supposed to be the all-in-one entertainment solution, but what if it is more than that. What if it is an all-in-one solution for everything? With Windows 8, you swipe your hand across the screen to close or move between apps. With a Kinect and a wall-mounted screen, you could do the same by simply waving your hand through the air. Add a wireless keyboard and the Xbox One can become your main computer as well as your gaming console and your media center.

So every Xbox One comes with a Kinect because the Kinect is the future of Microsoft. Even if the Xbox One doesn’t give you the ability to turn your wall-mounted tv into your main computer, that is clearly the direction that Microsoft is headed. Imagine streaming a game like Madden to your Xbox One. You could play against nine different friends that are in nine different locations. With a Kinect, you could move like you were actually playing the game. But if you let your imagination take it a step further, perhaps you could design your own plays using a Surface tablet. You would then be playing a real game of football in every way, except in a virtual environment.

Microsoft needs to put the Kinect in as many homes as they can as fast as they can. That way, they can unleash the true power of Windows 8 and change the way that we use computers forever.

Microsoft vs. Apple: Part 5, Windows Phone vs. iPhone

by Richard Woods

Just in case you haven’t been following along at my blog at rwoods716.wordpress.com, it’s a tie ballgame between Microsoft and Apple at 2-2. The Surface Pro beat the new MacBook Air due to the tablet form factor and the touch screen but the iPad beat the Surface RT because of the number of apps available, the 4:3 aspect ratio, the games, and the entertainment value. The Windows RT 8.1 Preview overpowered the iOS 7 beta 2 build due to sheer functionality but Windows 8.1 on a non touch screen fell to Mac OS X 10.8 Snow Leopard only due to the fact that Snow Leopard is a more mature operating system.

Next we’re going to compare the Windows Phone to the iPhone. More specifically the Nokia Lumia 920 and the iPhone 4S, because of the $99 price point of each. When I wrote about iOS 7 beta 2, I was comparing it to the Windows RT 8.1 Preview so the iOS 7 that I was writing about was on an iPad. For the purposes of this evaluation, we’re going to look at an iPhone 4S running iOS 7 and giving it a little imagination and saying that it’s fully functional.

Where do I even start? The camera? Why not? Both of these phones have amazing 8 megapixel cameras. In fact, the iPhone 5 and 4S and the Lumia 920 and 928 are known for having the best cameras in the smart phone market. The Pureview lens on the Nokia Lumia 920 allows you to take a much sharper picture than the iPhone when you are shaking the phone, which gives a slight edge to the Lumia. So I give the point to Microsoft for the camera.

Siri vs. the voice assistant on the Windows Phone. Does the voice assistant on the Windows Phone have a name? I wouldn’t know. I didn’t even know that it existed until I bought the phone. Previously, I had my iPhone connected to my car via Bluetooth and Siri was an excellent way to safely use my phone while driving. If someone sent me a text, I could hold down the home button, ask Siri to read me my message and she would read me my message through my car speakers. If I wanted to respond, I could hold down my home button on my iPhone and tell Siri to send a text and dictate the message through the microphone in my car.

Like I said, I didn’t even know that my Lumia had a voice assistant when I first got it until someone sent me a text while I was driving and the podcast that I was listening to was interrupted. I was told that someone had sent me a text and was asked if I wanted the message read to me. When I said “read it”, the message was read to me and then I was given a list of options of which I chose to respond. I then dictated my response to the message and told it to send it. The phone never even came out of my pocket.

For a digital voice assistant, the point definitely goes to Microsoft. It makes the Windows Phone that much safer to use when you don’t have to press that home button to activate it. For this reason, I would recommend a Windows Phone to any parent who is buying a smart phone for their teenager who is learning to drive.

Let’s take a moment to compare the apps. Apple brags about its 900,000 apps and Windows Phone only has around 100,000-150,000 but there are some really cool apps on this Lumia. The “City Lens” app allows you to hold up your camera and through augmented reality find local businesses or restaurants or shops. There’s even a “Job Lens” app that does the same thing so you can even find businesses around you with job openings! It’s really amazing. Both platforms have Office now, although you need a 365 membership if you want to use it on an iPhone.

The difference between Apple’s apps and Microsoft’s apps is that most of Microsoft’s apps are available across platforms while Apple’s apps are only available on iOS. If you were to compare Apple’s FaceTime to Microsoft’s Skype for video chatting, the one thing that you would notice is that you can only FaceTime between iPads, iPhones, and Macs, but you can Skype between virtually any smart phone, tablet, laptop, and desktop running just about any OS. Other useful apps by Microsoft like OneNote, SkyDrive, and PhotoSynth are also available on both platforms. In fact, if you still have an iPhone 4, Apple’s native camera app won’t let you take panoramic pictures but if you download Microsoft’s PhotoSynth app from the AppStore, Microsoft makes it possible to take a panoramic photo with an iPhone 4! For those reasons, the point for apps goes to Windows Phone.

I’ll admit. I was scared to switch. When you are invested in Apple’s ecosystem, it’s not that easy to switch. All of your music comes from iTunes, all of your books come from iBooks, and all of your Apps come from the AppStore. Once I did switch, I never looked back. This Nokia Lumia really does support an astronomical amount of features. At a shutout score of 3-0, Windows Phone blows away the iPhone giving Microsoft the lead in the Microsoft vs. Apple comparison at 3-2.

“The New Windows” just keeps getting better and better and one thing that Microsoft hasn’t talked a whole lot about was what the Windows Phone 8.1 update will be like but I am super excited about it.

For part 6 we’re going to do a blast from the past for those that aren’t using the latest pieces of technology like I’ve been reviewing. I’m going to compare a second generation iPod Touch to a Zune HD. Stay tuned. There’s more to come.

Microsoft vs. Apple: Part 4, Windows 8.1 on a non-touchscreen vs. Mac OS X 10.8

by Richard Woods

Let’s start off as we always do, with a recap shall we? Despite the shorter battery life the Surface Pro edged out the all new MacBook Air mainly due to the tablet form factor and Windows RT 8.1 Preview beat iOS 7 beta 2 chiefly due to how well the Windows 8.1 previews run compared to the extremely buggy iOS 7 beta builds. The only victory that Apple has in these first three installments was that the iPad won the battle against the Surface RT due to the amount of apps and how well it works for games and entertainment. So the score is Microsoft 2, Apple 1.

I thought about reviewing the Mavericks beta for this instead of Snow Leopard but Windows 8.1 seems to run so well and iOS 7 beta ran so poorly it seemed like if I used a beta against Windows 8.1 it would be another blowout.

But there is this myth surrounding Windows 8 and 8.1 that if you don’t have a touch screen computer you should stay with Windows 7, and that is simply not true. When Windows 8 first came out in November, I got my $40 preorder and upgraded my Toshiba laptop and spent a couple hours learning to use it and once you get used to it, it is much more practical than Windows 7 was, even without a touch screen. At the same time, it is preparing you for the next time you upgrade your computer so next year or the year after when you do get a touch screen computer, you will be familiar with the controls. Let’s face facts. We’re all going to have to learn to use this. Why are we trying to fight it?

There are other benefits to Windows 8.1 as well besides the touch screen. The computer starts up super fast now and you can save and open files directly from SkyDrive. Office 2013 automaticallly saves your work while you’re working, which is a huge reason to upgrade if you ask me. The problem with Office 365 is that if you install it on a Mac, you still get Office 2011 and you don’t quite get all of the same features.

The main thing that I noticed with Windows 8 or 8.1 when I started using it was a feature that Apple had adopted a few years ago and seems to have perfected. Instead of having a simple user ID like you had in previous versions of Windows, you now have a Microsoft ID which works very similarly to your Apple ID. You use one ID to log into all of your devices whether it be your MacBook, iPad, and iPhone or your PC, tablet, and Windows Phone and it syncs all of your settings, messages, mail, calendar, and even wi-fi preferences. Microsoft is even pushing a Windows store out that compares to Apple’s AppStore.

As far as syncing settings goes, Apple has a little more experience in doing it so they are a little better at it. When I picked up the new MacBook Air last week and logged on, I was impressed at how easily I logged on and saw all of my iMessages from my iPad and my iPhone instantly. Interestingly, the Windows 8.1 update removed Messages from the OS completely. I’ve been told that is a way to get users to use Skype as an all in one messaging solution. But what about my Facebook messages? Will Skype handle those as well as the old Messages app on Windows 8 did?

I wanted to write this to make the point that even a Windows 7 pc would greatly benefit from an upgrade to Windows 8 or 8.1 but the point still goes to Snow Leopard. Windows 8.1 is still in preview release and has some really amazing new features, but Snow Leopard is polished and stronger, so that’s going to bring it to a tie score of Microsoft 2, Apple 2.

I’m really looking forward to writing the next chapter of the Microsoft/Apple comparison which is going to be Windows Phone against the iPhone. In my day, I’ve had an iPhone 3GS, a Samsung Galaxy S, an iPhone 4S, and a Lumia 920. Not a lot of people seem to know what the user experience of the Windows Phone is like so I’m really looking forward to showing you. Hope you come back!

Microsoft vs. Apple: Part 3, Surface RT vs. iPad

by Richard Woods

Welcome to part 3 of the ongoing mission to compare the Apple and Microsoft ecosystems and solve the age old question of which is better. Let’s recap. We’ve decided that the Microsoft Surface Pro edges out its Apple counterpart, the all new MacBook Air (despite having a battery that lasts twice as long) due to the touch screen and the ability to use it as a tablet. Then, we decided that Windows RT 8.1 preview was a better operating system than iOS 7 beta 2 if simply due to the lack of functionality in iOS 7 beta 2, but let’s face it. iOS 7 feels like a fresh coat of paint on something old and Windows 8.1 feels like a continuation on something new and exciting. So Microsoft is winning 2-0 so far.

So today we will compare the Surface RT to the iPad. The main drawback of the Surface RT is that you can’t run standard Windows software unless you get it from the Windows Store. You would think, “I bought this and it said Windows 7 or better, why can’t I install it on my RT?” Microsoft didn’t do a great job communicating that when they released this machine. In my opinion the mistake was in calling it Windows. No one complained when the iPad was released that they couldn’t run their Mac OS software on their iPad. That’s because they called it iOS. It’s a completely different OS. That point goes to Apple.

There are some great features to the RT though. Snap a touch or type keyboard on it and type up all your documents and spreadsheets or make a PowerPoint presentation using the preinstalled MS Office 2013. It’s got SD card expansion which you will probably never even have to use since it also has a USB port, which comes in handy for a mouse or a flash drive and so much more. These are all features that the iPad just doesn’t have. With an iPad, you can of course get a stand and a Bluetooth keyboard, but it still won’t support a mouse pointer. That point goes to Microsoft.

As far as price goes, there are two models of the Surface RT. The 32 GB model goes for $499 and the 64 GB goes for $599. The iPad comes in different models ranging from $329.99 for the wi-fi only iPad mini to $799 for the 128 GB model with retina display. For the purpose of comparison, we will compare the $499 model of each. For $499, you get an iPad with a retina display, wi-fi only, and 16 GB of storage. So for the price, you get better storage with the Surface but you get a better display with the iPad. We’re going to call that one a draw.

The Surface has a 16:9 aspect ratio while the iPad has a 4:3 which makes it look a little weird in portrait mode, but you can really tell when you hold either one of these that the Surface was meant to be held in landscape mode and the iPad was meant to be held in portrait mode. The difference is that the iPad clearly switches to landscape mode much more seamlessly. For form factor, the point goes to Apple.

The one thing that most don’t realize about the Surface that is really important is that you get automatic firmware updates monthly. When I first got mine in November, if the device was asleep and I tapped the Windows icon under the screen, the tablet wouldn’t wake up right away. Just about a month ago a firmware update came out that fixed that problem. So with the Surface RT, mechanical defects can actually fix themselves. The only updates that come to the iPad are the iOS updates which don’t come often at all. The point for updates goes to Microsoft.

The place where the iPad really shines is the apps. Yes, as Apple has always said, whatever it is, there’s an app for it. The AppStore has over 900,000 apps with 300,000 of them exclusively for the iPad vs. about 100,000 for Windows RT. Another thing is that if an iPhone app exists and an iPad app doesn’t, the iPad will allow you to buy the iPhone app and use it on the iPad. Unfortunately, apps for Windows Phone aren’t able to be ported to the Surface tablet. You get Windows store only apps with Surface. The Windows Store seems to feel a lot like the Android market did about two years ago before it became the Google Play Store. The apps point goes to Apple. And that is a very important point.

Let’s take a second to talk about games and entertainment, because that’s what a tablet is really for, right? Not only are there more games on the iPad, but they run better too. Many are linked to the Game Center where you can challenge friends and compete for high scores. Surface has a similar game structure with Xbox Live, but it’s really not quite as focused on the Surface and it’s more focused on the console. As far as entertainment goes, you have iTunes on the iPad as well as iBooks (the only e-reader that will allow you to scroll vertically through a book. Try reading a book this way. You will never want to turn a page again). Games and entertainment goes to Apple as well.

So, I really have to say that while the Surface RT is a fantastic first generation tablet for Microsoft it still has a ways to go before it catches up to the iPad. If you’re looking for a tablet to do work on, you’re probably better off with a Surface Pro, unless your work is limited to word processing, spreadsheets, PowerPoint, and internet web apps in which case the RT might be right up your ally.

The iPad wins this battle making the tally Microsoft 2, Apple 1.

Next up was going to be Windows Phone vs. the iPhone, which is a comparison that I’m really looking forward to doing. But there seems to be this myth going around that Windows 8 on a non touch screen is just this blasphemous thing. So, with all of this hype around Windows 8.1, the next installment of the Microsoft vs. Apple comparison will be Windows 8.1 on a non-touch screen vs Mac OS X 10.8. So come on back. You keep reading, I’ll keep writing!

Windows 8.1: The World’s Most Advanced Operating System

by Richard Woods

 

When I thought of what I was going to call this, a number of titles crossed my mind. Among those was “Microsoft, Start Your Buttons”, because the “return of the Start Button” seems to be the main headline surrounding Windows 8.1 along with the ability to boot straight to the desktop. I found it interesting that the two biggest headlines around Windows’ biggest update since its release are the two features that add the least functionality to the OS. There’s already a Start Button on everyone’s keyboard and if your PC or tablet is new enough, there’s one right below the screen. Let’s not forget about the charms. Booting to the desktop is fairly pointless when it’s so easy to get there from the Start Screen.

The feature of Windows 8.1 that I found most impressive is one that no one seems to be talking about and it’s a feature that’s only found so far on the Android OS and has been there for years. They call it Active Desktop. It’s the ability to have a moving image as your background on your screen. In Microsoft’s own words: “Windows 8.1 offers more colors and backgrounds for the Start Screen – including ones with motion.”

This is a feature that is not available for iOS nor on Mac OS. Also, Mac OS is clearly not optimized for a touch screen. So, next time you read the headline on Apple’s web site that reads iOS: The World’s Most Advanced Operating System, you may just want to question it.

Although this is just a cosmetic change like the Start Button and “boot to desktop”, this is a more important one because it’s showing that Apple is falling further behind. Another feature of Windows 8.1 that’s important is the unveiling of Internet Explorer 11, which promises to be the world’s first touch based web browser. A feature like this one does more than just make the screen look better, but it will add much needed functionality to the web browsing experience.

Right now if you compare the major browsers – those being IE10, Safari, and Chrome – Safari is undoubtedly the worst at handling a touch screen, even on iOS. Take a simple concept like tapping a hyperlink with your index finger, for example. In Chrome on an Android device, you would tap the link and if the device is unclear at all about the link you meant to click it will magnify the link and the surrounding links to make it easier for you to click. With the new Windows 8 touch screen devices, the stylus makes it all easier to navigate; however, in Safari many times you will find yourself having to click the back button because you clicked the wrong link. It can get tedious.

These are only a few of the features coming to Windows. As you can see at the screenshot at the top of the screen, we will be able to split the screen in more ratios than the current 1:2 or 2:1 ratio that’s currently available on Windows 8, but perhaps more importantly is the integration of Bing into search. As Windows 8/8.1 continues to build momentum, the integration of Bing will bring Bing along for the ride with Windows which should finally make it the competitor with Google that they always wanted it to be.

Windows 8.1 clearly is going to have the functional advantage over iOS 6, Mac OS X, and Android 4.2. With the introduction of the new Xbox One, Microsoft clearly has some big things in the works. Microsoft is building momentum and they are building it fast and as I pointed out in an earlier post, Microsoft is the smart bet.

Microsoft: The Smart Bet

Windows 8 has been on the shelves for a whole six months so and here’s a shocker: it turns out that people don’t like being forced to relearn how to use their computers after using the same method for the last twenty years. Everything was fine the way that it was. You turned on your pc, clicked the Start button, hovered the mouse over programs, and clicked on whatever program you wanted to open. And it worked right? Sure, and why fix it if it’s not broken. There are a few answers to that.

The first is that the world is fast approaching an age where the pc is a thing of the past. More and more users are using devices like tablets and smart phones to do most of their computing and because of this, pc sales are down. People ask me a lot what kind of computer they should get and I always ask the same question: “What do you intend to use it for?” The answer is almost always the same. Listen to music, watch movies, and surf the internet. These are three basic needs of the average consumer and they are three things that you can do very easily and efficiently on even the cheapest of computers; however, neither a smart phone nor a tablet is going to completely replace a laptop, desktop, or at least some type of device that has a physical keyboard.

Which brings me to my second point. Users are getting more and more used to being able to touch the screen when they use their computer. Who hasn’t at one point walked into an Apple store and touched the screen on a MacBook expecting it to do something. Unfortunately, with Windows 7 touch screens wouldn’t have worked very well. So recognizing that the future of computers is in touch screens, Windows was redesigned for a better touch screen experience.

Microsoft no longer being the huge tech leader that it once was took a lot of criticism for the new design of Windows. Unfortunately for those that don’t like change, Windows 8 is here to stay. One way or the other, we are going to be brought into the new way of using computers. We are all going to learn to swipe down to close programs and swipe in from the left to switch between programs and swipe in from the right to see the “charms”. Now that we’ve talked about the past and the present, let’s look to the future.

There’s much more to the new design of Windows 8 than a better touch screen interface. With such devices such as the Kinect soon we will be able to have a huge screen hanging on the wall and a keyboard sitting in our laps and we won’t even have to touch the screen. A simple wave of the hand will tell the computer to close the app you’re in or switch between apps. Amazingly, now Windows 8 is starting to sound really cool and futuristic. While that may be how your home computer is controlled, that might not be so practical for the office. Instead, in your office you might have a desk that’s made of glass with a touch screen computer behind it. No more need for your computer to take up any physical space in your office at all with a system like that running. None of these things would have been possible with an operating system like Windows 7.

Next let’s take a minute to discuss Windows Phone 8. Just recently, it passed Blackberry in market share with 3% behind iOS and Android. 3% doesn’t sound like a lot and admittedly, it’s not. But as I said earlier, like it or not, Windows 8 is coming and we are all going to learn to use it and it will become the standard for computing. There is no turning back now for Microsoft. Microsoft is definitely getting noticed with the ads that it has been creating around its Windows products. More and more people are going into their local cell phone store to see the Windows Phone that they’ve been hearing about and they just may be more likely to choose the smart phone that works just like their computer does so that 3% number is going to rise and rapidly. Admittedly, the Windows Phone App Store doesn’t have nearly as many apps as the Apple AppStore or the Google Play Store, but it’s certainly no worse than the Android Market looked only two short years ago.

Another thing to point out is that Microsoft has 7% of the tablet market. That’s a huge increase from the 0% it was at this time last year. The Surface RT was the first Microsoft tablet to be released and it’s a fine product. Everyone seems to be criticizing a Windows device that can’t run Windows applications but no one seemed to be too upset when the iPad came out and they couldn’t run their Mac OS software. Perhaps Microsoft’s mistake in Windows RT was in calling it Windows, which created the expectation to be able to run all Windows software. No worries though, because as I stated above the main thing that the average consumer seems to want to do with a computer is listen to music, watch movies, and surf the internet and the Surface RT does all of that very well. So for a price point of $499 you get a 32 GB SSD, Microsoft Office, you can attach a keyboard to it, and there are thousands of games to choose from that sync with your Xbox Live account.

Of course if you do need to run all Windows software on a Windows tablet, there is the Surface Pro which has amazing features. With an i5 processor, it’s the first tablet that can completely take the place of your laptop or desktop. Windows 8 Pro is available on all types of devices from tablets that turn into laptops to laptops that turn into tablets. There is something on the market for every kind of user.

Microsoft’s development style has always been iterative in nature, starting with the earliest memorable versions of Windows. Windows 3.0 didn’t work very well but the 3.11 update had huge success and that’s where many of the older generation had their first experience with Windows. Windows 95 wasn’t a hit. It was the first Start menu and people were afraid of change as they are now. It also had a lot of bugs in the program and this was before automatic updates came along. Of course Windows 98 fixed all that and Microsoft had its next hit. Bring us to the last decade and the turn of the millennium when Windows 2000 was released and it was a flop. Microsoft wanted to switch us all from a DOS based system to an NT based system and the transition wasn’t so quick and painless as you’d expect. Windows XP was the answer. Windows XP was released in 2002 and there are still computers here twelve years later that still use it. The next version of Windows was the infamous Windows Vista, which is one that everyone likes to poke fun of as the worst thing ever, but as the smarter ones will tell you, “without Windows Vista, there wouldn’t have been a Windows 7”. And we all know how popular Windows 7 ended up being.

Microsoft always releases a product they take the user’s response and create the product that we will all love. So expect nothing but good things from Microsoft. Microsoft certainly seems to be the company that the future is coming from. We haven’t heard from Apple in six months, Samsung is just making products with a bunch of flashy new features, and Google seems to be the only other company that’s looking into the future. So bet on Microsoft. It’s a smart move.