Microsoft Surface 2: The Tablet World's Powerful, Odd Duckling
The Surface 2 is an attractive, solid, highly usable mobile device that remains, unfortunately, caught between two worlds. And that's not a place you want to put tablet consumers. Arriving roughly a year after Microsoft's first major foray into the consumer tablet market, the Surface 2 delivers on most of its promises. It's marginally lighter and thinner than the original. It's faster, though it's hard to see that in action unless you play, say, a graphically intense game. It's got great battery life and has a brilliantly sharp screen with some of the lowest reflectance I've seen on a tablet since the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7. So why don't I love it?
It took me a while to realize this, but the pass I gave them last year for keeping a traditional Windows desktop environment and even a second instance of Internet Explorer, just doesn't hold up for a second-generation product. I want Microsoft to figure this stuff out. In fact, I demand that they make the Surface 2 (not the Surface Pro that runs Intel, but the device running on an ARM Nvidia Tegra 4 processor) a consistently Windows Design ( Metro) experience. I don't care if I am running the awesome Office 2013 suite on it - make that suite a part of the Windows Design experience. I hate the jumpy feeling I get when I shift from Metro to the old-school Windows Desktop. On a traditional laptop, I can deal with the dissonance. In fact, I spend most of my time in desktop mode on my Windows 8 Acer laptop. On a tablet, make it a tablet experience. Oh, and stop calling my tablet a PC. It's a tablet! Embrace that fact, Microsoft.
Hardware
Okay, before I let a rant consume this review, let's back up a bit and talk about what we have here. The 1.5-pound, magnesium-bodied Surface 2 truly stands out among a field of, often, plastic or polycarbonate-bodied competitors. Where Apple has chosen aluminum for its iPad full and mini, Microsoft opted for magnesium. It feels cool and smooth to the touch, though there's enough texture for it to never feel slippery. The new generation even comes in something approaching white (though it's actually silver). It's a decent look.The Surface 2 (like the Surface RT and Surface Pro) is an unusual size and shape for a tablet. It's 6.79 inches deep, 0.35 inches thick and nearly 11 inches wide. Why so wide? To help accommodate the full-sized keyboard Touch Cover 2 and Type Cover 2. My test unit came with the former. Just as in the commercials it snaps smartly into a channel along one edge of the Surface. Now, however, it features backlit keys - a real godsend for anyone working in a dark environment. The new Type Cover 2 gets a backlight, too. Personally, I prefer the physical keys of the Type Cover 2 over the printed keys of the Touch Cover 2, but Microsoft has done some neat engineering tricks on the super-thin keyboard so that it's faster and far more accurate. My tests bore this out. The Surface body is also unusual in the tablet space because it features a built-in kickstand. Surface 2 gets a second kick setting, something I appreciated as I worked with the it on my lap in a variety of settings: sometimes the more upright setting worked better and for others, the more laid-back one was just right. The second lower setting is also a lot more useful for counter viewing - if you're standing up.While Microsoft moved some stuff around, like the position of the microSD slot for storage expansion, they didn't change much else about the Surface design. It still has a full-sized USB slot (great if you want to plug in a wireless USB mouse and have it simply work - a favorite feature of mine), an audio port, a Mini Display power (now version 1.2) and stereo speakers, which Microsoft updated - they're significantly larger - for improved sound quality. I found the audio sharp, clear and loud enough, though it can't fill a room. Microsoft also upgraded the cameras. There's a 3.5-megapixel camera on the front and a 5MP camera on the back. Their low-light performance is as good as advertised and even the color verity is strong. The camera software includes an onscreen exposure control, though I do wish it had a button to snap it back to the pre-set level. Also, I would be somewhat less inclined to shoot photos or video with the Surface 2, as it's wider than any other consumer tablet on the market. Seriously, people already look silly enough taking pictures with their iPad. The Surface moves your two hands even further apart. The 10.6-inch screen is now full 1080p resolution (1,920 x 1,080). Photos, video and the Windows Design interface look great. Some of the Window Desktop elements look a bit tiny, though. Also, the 1.7GHz Tegra 4 CPU is paired with a healthy 2GB of RAM. That's a lot of horsepower for a tablet and it shows in the performance. The model I tested came with 32GB of storage and I could add another 64GB in the micro SD slot. You get all this, not including the Touch Cover 2 ($129), for $449. The 64GB model will run you $549.
Getting Started
One of the things Microsoft gets right is the Surface 2 setup routine. It's easy, inviting and hard to mess up. Even though I cringe when Microsoft calls the surface 'your PC,' I still appreciate how simple it is to get started, especially if you already have a Microsoft account (Outlook or Hotmail). The tablet now defaults to storing your files on SkyDrive. Like any cloud-based storage schemes, all you have to do is log in to access your files - anywhere. If you have multiple Windows 8 devices - as I do - it's even simpler. The system knows you, your preferences and where to find your files. This is similar to what Google does with your Google accounts across its myriad products and services. For the record, I've grown to love the cloud. Surface also comes loaded with a lot of stuff that would normally cost you hundreds of dollars. There's a full Microsoft Office 2013 suite of productivity tools. They work great, even if they are all in Desktop Land. You also get 200 GB of free SkyDrive storage for two years. (You do have to enter a code that comes on a small slip of paper in the minimalist Surface 2 packaging.) Microsoft also throws in a Skype 'Unlimited World' package, which means you can use Skype to call friends and family on any phone or landline in the world for one year. Nifty, though, not super exciting if you don't make a lot of international calls. Setting up multiple email accounts is a snap and the Windows Design version of Internet Explorer is solid and clearly designed for the Surface environment. As with most other native Surface apps, you swipe up from just outside the bottom or top of the screen to access to access the URL bar (a tap on that brings up frequently visited sites) and open tabs. I do, however, prefer Apple iOS 7's new Safari tab views on the iPad. As noted earlier, there's another Internet Explorer in the Windows Desktop environment. I only use this when a site isn't working in Windows Design's Internet Explorer or if I wanted to use an integrated extension like LastPass password manager. There is a Windows 8 LastPass app. It's kind of terrible. Usually I just end up logging into LastPass through the Windows Design IE - that's works pretty well.
Interface
Microsoft's Windows Design screen, which is essentially like the 'Start' button turned inside out, is inviting patchwork of colorful squares and rectangles. These boxes or 'tiles' represent apps and environments like Desktop. Some of them are 'Live Tiles' that tell you what's going on in your email inbox, calendar, and people connected to you via your favorite social networks. Instead of filling the screen, they sit along a movable center rail, leaving lots of space above and below. Since you can add as many apps and tiles as you like, they scroll off the screen to the right. A left swipe takes you through them. If you want to see them all, you can pinch the screen to zoom out. This is all largely unchanged from the original Surface RT and is really a product of Windows 8 platform. The new Windows 8.1 RT update that comes with Surface 2 adds the ability to see your full App list with a gesture. Just place your finger below the tiles and drag up. If the Surface goes to sleep on this screen, it will be the one you see when you wake it up. Speaking of Apps, the list continues to grow. The new Facebook app is a very solid execution and works well in the wide-screen interface. Even the native Twitter app is starting to grow on me. There are still too few games, though I was pleased to see Angry Birds Star Wars (but where's version 2?). As before, you can orient yourself in the Surface 2 tablet a couple of different ways. Charms, which were introduced with Windows 8 are still available via sweeping right to left from just outside the screen border, regardless of what app you're running. Inside you'll find a Start button, The now more powerful Everywhere search that looks across Apps, files and the web, a contextual share option, Device control for printing, Playback on external devices and Project to a second screen. You can also always hit the Windows icon just below the screen and you end up back home.
Bugs 'R' Us
The Surface 2 was surprisingly buggy during my tests. Among the glitches I encountered:It shut down all other running apps when I launched Netflix.
It froze with only the Wall paper showing.
The screen turned all blue when I launched another app.
When I wanted to check for a Windows RT update, the system told me some were available, but it would download them later. I couldn't force it to do an update. It finally updated on its own later that night.
These bugs were occasional and generally did not get in the way or overshadow what's great about Surface 2; things like all-day buttery life (11 hours), excellent productivity chops, gaming fun, music (Xbox music and radio), movies (Xbox video and the Netflix App). Also, if you have an Xbox and Xbox live account, you can use the tablet to access the account and even control games via the second-screen Smart Glass App. Apple would do well to copy something like this with, someday, Games on Apple TV and controls on the iPhone or iPad. There are other things that make Surface unusual among tablets. Windows Surface is a true multi-tasker. Not only can you run multiple apps and sweep from just outside the right side of the screen to switch between them, you can run apps side-by-side. So instead of a quick sweep, you drag the app slowly in from the left until it's near the right side of the screen. Surface automatically switches into two panes and leaves the apps running side-by side. Some apps, like Netflix allow this, others like Asphalt 7, which looks quite good on the HD screen, insist on a full screen to continue running. Still it's a neat and, I'd contend, useful trick and something not possible on the iPad. I want to compare the Surface 2 to Apple's iPad and Amazon's Kindle Fire, but where those two products offer clear signals that they're designed for content consumption: Both iOS and Kindle Fire OS start with Video and Music stuck on persistent home screen menus. The Surface 2 puts Video and Music tiles on the second set of apps, largely undifferentiated from anything else around them. Don't get me wrong, a click into 'Videos' takes you to the voluminous Xbox Video collection, which is chock-full of TV and movie rental and buying options. Similarly, Xbox Music is just as rich as anything Amazon and Apple offer. I just worry about how Microsoft is or isn't telegraphing its intentions with the Surface 2. The company is fixated on pitching the Surface as a do everything device with strong - very strong - connections to all things Windows. I don't think this is exciting consumers. For as much as I like the Windows Design, it doesn't naturally lead me to movies, music, books or magazines. It's really my hybrid tablet, equally effective at productivity and entertainment. Put another way, the Surface is the Barack Obama of tablets, super serious, smart and occasionally fun guy/tablet you depend on to get things done. While the iPad and Kindle Fire HDX are the George Bush of tablets, more obviously fun, and certainly the ones you want to hang out with all the time.
The Lowdown:
Excellent construction.
Smart, Easy-to-Use OS
Office Suite
SkyDrive
Good valueThe Bad:
Buggy
Desktop Mode
Content consumption not center stage.
Price does not include a TouchCover 2Bottom Line:If you love Microsoft, Windows and, especially all things Windows 8, this is your ultimate do everything tablet. However, if you want a mobile device that is unabashedly a tablet, this is probably not the tablet you were looking for.
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