yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Microsoft Surface] lviv73:
You dont miss ipad's high res display,being able to play any video file on vlc and emulators?Or you dont use these things?

From my understanding windows rt cant play avi,xvid,dvx,mkv and such yet.

Im a android fan and own 2 GS3's,Epic Touch and Epic 4g.Im looking to get a tab and i cant decide between Surface,Nexus10 or Ipad 4.

If it was just for me i would get Nexus 10 but im leaning torwards Ipad simply because i have a two year old son and from what i hear Ipad has many real good educational apps.Is Ipad really that bad?And do you think Surface is something that a two year old can interact with or its to complex?

Oh and how is the screen on Surface?Im Amoled fan but unfortunantly they dont make 10in amoled tabs yet and screen quality is the most important thing to me,i know that Surface has low res compared to ipad and nexus but how are the colors on it?I know that some tabs like Asus have really bland colors.
[Microsoft Surface] mr_dan:
Hi there, 2 days before i got my surface...

i dont wanna write whats been written before.. i love the device.. but it has its flaws

1) cameras just suck.. if you want to use it as a school tool for taking notes and stuff.. dont expect the camera to help you much.. it just sucks (though you can still attach some extern camera via usb)

2) once again.. student stuff - i just cant sign in with our college wifi.. dunno why.. its Eduoram with Cisco stuff or whatever

3) buggy = sometimes my keyboard doesnt work when i open it up and i have to click off and on again.. (satisfaction :) and sometimes the device wants me to sign in via password or something.. sometimes not..

4) get type instead of touch if you wanna type a lot (obviously)

bottomline = it is cool.. im not gonna mentioned whats obvious...and there are many many perks and profits.. IE is cool.. speed aswell.. usb..
[Microsoft Surface] equisbox:
I dont own the surface yet but was thinking aboutt buying it. Well, when i heard that there was a pro version and it is x86 and u can do everything u can on a pc I wanted to wait for it. But after some research I realized that i do not want the PRO and want the RT. Office is important to me as a grad student and after learning that RT will come with a fully functional version i figured it would be perfect. Plus I read in how the Pro isnt really going to function the way people expect a tablet to function because it more like a laptop. After doing more reasearch I stumbled on some android tablets - nexus 10, asus infinity. Now I am really confused which one i truly want. (What i do know is that I do NOT want an apple ipad) :)

Here are some of my thoughts/concerns:

*I love android and i own a samsung galaxy s3, and have lots of experience with the OS so android tablet will be easy to use. - but maybe its time for something new and different

*The screen resolution on the RT seems kind of low compared to the android tablets

*I hope RT does not end like HP webOS (i dont think it will but i dont know why it worries me still.)

*Not too worried about the app availability..i can wait

*How "locked" will the RT be in the future. Im worried about how much freedom MS gives us with it...already seem like they dont want to give us firefox

*I dont expect the RT to be flawless but it seems like it is kind of slow/laggy even when compared to the 1gb asus

* lot of 'hackability' with androids

*other stuff i forgot..ill prolly add later

So if anyone can shed some light please feel free to. I really want the RT...I want it to do good. I just cant decide. I do like that the RT is new and just getting started so if I get it, i get to be part of the early adopters and be there to witness its expansion as a device and as a community.
[Microsoft Surface] GoodDayToDie:
Some answers for you, @equisbox:

First of all, the Surface Pro can do basically anything the Surface RT can (there are few, if any, RT-only apps), and more. However, it is thicker, weighs a bit more, has a shorter battery life, and *might* require purchasing Office separately. On the other hand, it's faster, can run legacy apps, can use a stylus in addition to multitouch and conventional inputs, has USB 3, has a much higher resolution, is available with more storage, and will *probably* come with an unlocked bootloader (unlike the RT). It's also not available yet.

The Surface RT has an excellent display in every way except resolution, but it can't be denied that it's resolution is somewhat meh. This is only occasionally even noticeable though; it's high enough for everyday usage and has a DPI comparable to most laptops.

Mozilla is welcome to develop and release Firefox for RT. They would have to run within the same sandbox as other RT apps, and use the new interface rather than run on the desktop, but there's no reason they couldn't do these things. There are already alternative web browsers for RT that wrap the WebBrowser control (which embeds the IE10 rendering engine); Mozilla would have to port their Gecko rendering engine to RT but that shouldn't be terribly hard.

Slow and laggy hasn't been a problem for me, but peoples' opinions on that threshold differ. Try it out for yourself.

Surface RT is quite "hackable" although we're only getting started just now. For example, the devices come already "rooted" in that you can run something as Admin just the same way you can on Win8; no hacks needed. Registry editing, full filesystem access, changing security policies, and more are all possible out of the box. With that said, the Android hacking scene is more mature, and also Windows RT devices come with a very heavily locked-down bootloader that will have to be cracked or bypassed if we want to put any kind of "custom ROM" (including a Linux install or some such thing) on the Surface RT.
[Microsoft Surface] ohgood:
if you need an office suite, look around, there are alternatives. there are NOT alternatives on RT, as all you can download for it comes through the ms store. there are no outside app developments at all for RT. no Firefox, chrome, Mozilla, third, you will likely never see similar projects developed for rt.

the pro will allow x86 apps just like w8. Firefox, open office, and everything you ever wanted in education , right there, ready to download, just like always.

there are already people using bt keyboards with their phones plugged into monitors as laptops. if the form factor is too small, wait for the pro. if the price is too high, get a $300 laptop and plunk away on it for 4-5 years and look at rt/pro again to see if they panned out.
[Microsoft Surface] guitar1969:
Its a good tablet. I was originally wanting a Pro like everyone else, but after hearing the cost and the limitations, and understanding the different Win8 versions I ditched the idea - I am not sure why everybody is so crazy about legacy apps - they are not really a big deal unless you have specific ones you need - Many newer Win 8 apps will be coming from all the main developers over time. I think the screen looks great, and helps with not bogging down the performance. I have a screen protector on mine - bought the only one I could find off ebay - its not great and I will redo it, but it protects it right now. I like the size, battery life, instant on, and use it for work and play. Of course more quality apps will help, but I like that the browser is not limited.

Stylus is Capacitive so you can use any of those, but you won't get the performance you would like on the Pro - Screens are different technology.
[Microsoft Surface] schettj:
C#/.Net

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee804774(v=surface.10).aspx

You don't put this in your pocket. No screen protector, that's what the keyboard is for.

If it ends up like anything, it will be the zune. So, yeah, about 4x the life of WebOS. It IS just windows 8, recompiled for ARM. Windows 8 desktop Metro apps run on it with a no-effort-of-the-dev compile... so its more a question of will win8 be webOS. I don't think so.
[Microsoft Surface] equisbox:
Curious. Can you download mp3s directly from a website using the tablet? Or would you have to download the mp3s on a PC then move it to the tablet.
[Microsoft Surface] schettj:
Not had any issues using the "desktop" ie10 on the surface to download files off the web to the device. They land in the "download" folder, as you would expect. You can then move them as you wish with file explorer, like any other windows 8 device.
[Microsoft Surface] ohgood:
because those thousands of "legacy" apps are , here, now. Not a promise of sometime in the future, or "coming soon".
[Microsoft Surface] bnlf:
Ii) top tiles - hold and drag Down

Bottom tile - hold and drag up

Mid - hold and drag to any side

Neves try to move left or right before detach

IV) pinch to zoom out will show a list of pages.

You can also click in the topic on index and it will jump directly to the page.
[Microsoft Surface] GoodDayToDie:
For navigating PDFs: Zoom out (pinch or tap the "-" button in the lower right) until a thumbnail view is shown. It's then easy to scroll through pages of thumbnails quickly, if you know what you're looking for or know the page number (page numbers are included in this view). Also, if your PDF has bookmarks/headings, you can use them to navigate too. The bookmarks list is present, but a little hidden. Bring up the app bar (swipe down from the top or up from the bottom, or right-click anywhere) and then hit More (lower right) -> Bookmarks.

Hope that helps.
[Microsoft Surface] equisbox:
Oh true. I was expecting that..so I'm not even surprised you said anything about pirated apps. I don't need your respect you can keep it. You're just someone on the internet.....But I probably shouldn't have asked so I apologize to the community. Anyhow, Thanks for good answers goodDayToDie..much appreciated. Also, The only reason I was asking about if we can download directly to the device is because I just wanted to make sure before I bought it. Anyways I bit the bullet n bought it :). Thanks again.

I'm fairly decent at c sharp and vb.net..so I am a little excited but really no need to be.

Im upset because I wanted the type cover but ended up with the touch cover. The only 64gb Best Buy had was the one bundled with the touch cover. Oh well I guess I'll just use this for now and eventually buy the type cover.

Thank you guys.
[Microsoft Surface] GoodDayToDie:
Microsoft's decision to sell the 64GB Surface RT without the option of a Type Cover instead of Touch Cover seems... unwise, to me, but you can probably sell it to somebody who bot the 32GB/no cover model and use the cash to offset a Type cover.
[Microsoft Surface] mapaz04:
Bought mine tonight from Best Buy...

So... I unboxed the 32gb Surface RT from Best Buy and within 5 minutes it told me I had 5 mins before a restart for updates :confused: . When the 5 mins were up, it began to do... 17 :( ... updates... That was a little past midnight... still waiting for them to complete to get to use it and give an actual review. (Its ok, rather the updates to fix the bugs then to find them and wait for a fix to be implemented later) Anyways... So far... here are my:

***INITIAL IMPRESSION***

1.) I have to say that it feels heavier then I expected, maybe its the wider screen that distributes the weight differently.

2.) It feels a little awkward in my hand (due to the 11" form factor). I have used the 10.1" tablets and they seem to be more easily balanced while using a one handed operation.

3.) The touch cover didn't feel right when I tried to type, though incredibly accurate and easy to use it felt as though it did not provide enough protection for the device. The type cover was being offered for a few dollars extra therefore I opted for the type cover...

*** Neither of the covers seem to provide the feeling of protection we all expect, specially for extra $$$ we shell out as both covers feel inferior to a true cover/protector (E.G. If you drop the device these will only serve as screen covers)***

Will let you guys know after all these updates. cant wait, it still is a SEXY SEXY device, my wife is even kinda jealous... jejeje (j/k) :p
[Microsoft Surface] lilstevie:
Honestly the screen is the only thing that you need to protect. the VaporMg case is seriously tough, look at the reports of surfii being run over by cars, and abused, the only time I have seen it get damaged is in a video where they dropped it screen first onto concrete, something which the cover would protect against.
[Microsoft Surface] Zytryx:
I only wish the type cover had an actual hinge, sometimes you need more then the one angle the kickstand provides. I hope that an aftermarket one appears. So far I find it quite a bit more powerful then the iPad since it's almost a full OS. I mainly am using it for a browsing device and it beats iPad there I do find going back a page slow at refreshing but having a true full internet experience is awesome.
[Microsoft Surface] tvrtim:
I would like to point out that all of the Microsoft apps can link in the googles push services.

I have a RT all linked up to my google account. I can edit contacts, emails and calender events all fron the Surface :)

You just need to connect you google account it is very simple. If I remember correctly you just need to be in one of the apps and add an account.
[Microsoft Surface] agp64:
I have had my 64 GB Surface for 3 days now and loving it. Earlier today I had to go to JBhifi to get a second one as my wife was trying to swap mine for the IPad, She only used it for about half an hour. My only frustration is how they have implemented access to the micro sd. My son is going to be over the moon tomorrow morning when he inherits the IPad.

The thing that really amazed me the most about surface, is my 72 year old father in-law was using it within 10 min of picking it up. He has never owned a computer or worked with one. All this rubbish about to complicated? What's wrong with some of these jokers.
[Microsoft Surface] lilstevie:
I don't get to properly play with mine until tomorrow, but I am kind of worried about the better half wanting to steal mine. May have to hit up JBHifi on Boxing day for her
[Microsoft Surface] equisbox:
I realized this after purchasing the tablet and it asked me to add an account. It also asked if I wanted to import google calendars. It works great. Thanks.
[Microsoft Surface] derausgewanderte:
purchased mine a week ago. 64Gb and a few days later bought the type cover. Although I was surprised at how accurate the standard cover was it wasn't accurate enough. Strange feeling to the fingers and didn't get comfortable with it. Most of the misses I had were with the space bar.

totally different story with the type cover. The fact that the fingers feel the physical action of the keys is miles different and better at least for me. I am expecting a sleeve for transporting it around soon.

I am considering selling the extra touch cover on ebay. Extremely happy with it, especially after finding that many of my USB peripherals work great with it, even my CAC reader to access my gov email account.

Battery life is wonderful and I do not think I will miss the Surface Pro or regret buying it later.

cheers
[Microsoft Surface] lilstevie:
I find that the touch cover is more than accurate enough. After a few hours of use I am finding that my typing speed is similar to that of a normal keyboard, and in some cases faster. Only problem I have with the touch cover is how hard to press the "keys".

Sent from my Windows 8 device using Board Express
[Microsoft Surface] truffle1234:
I was not sure how the touch cover will type and how it will feel, but it is very good and feel just fine without a real key.. and I am loving it from day one, my son is the one who is using the surface to play games and he is loving it as well..
[Microsoft Surface] lilstevie:
yeah, I am quite happy with it. I am almost at the same wpm as I am with a normal keyboard after only a few hours. The only problem with not having a real key so to speak is that I am pushing down way harder than required
[Microsoft Surface] Caramel:
Hi all, Merry Xmas :D

I come from an ASUS Transformer, i've my Surface since one week and nothing to say but it's the night and day. Where Android need more and more tweaks to have less lags ( i dont say no lags ), RT is sufficient itself.

Microsoft just need to investigate more against the devs to fill the store, who have already great softwares and games.
[Microsoft Surface] mapaz04:
UPDATE

Now that I have had an oportunity to use the tablet a little more I am sad to announce I will be returning it and getting myself the

Acer W510

, there are a few problems that I found with the Surface that I just cannot get over...

:crying: Since using the device, it has actually locked up on me thrice, there was nothing that I could do but hold the power button and hard-boot the device (never my preferred method to reboot anything).

:( It appears that everytime I open the stand, the tablet thinks I am re-inserting the MicroSD and takes me back to desktop mode and stops what I am doing.

:( While watching movies, it appears to have glitches when rewinding/forwarding. Sometimes I can still hear the sound but the video will not continue to refresh so I have to stop the video, close the app, and start it again.

:( The Audio capability of the device is very minimal. I can hardly hear the device speakers on full blast over minimal noise and there is no way to amplify it.

:( The device seems to have issues with its own drivers, when I unplugged my headset it gave me an error with the SOUND drivers on the device and I had to reboot before my sound came back.

:( My type cover does not seem to "seal" completely. The magnetic strip that attaches to the device still seems to leave a gap between the tablet and the keyboard. Adding to this, it appears to be coming apart at the magnetic strip, the material is not "glued" all the way? and is slipping out...

As far as the kickstand goes, I love it! I cant believe no one had come out with this as of yet. The issue I have with it is that it does not have multiple angles, it keeps the device a little too upright for my taste, I prefer to prop it up from time to time instead.

The Surface tablet has a great build quality. It is sturdy, solid, and feels awesome. I am opting out for the Acer W510 as I believe it may be a better fit for me (being full windows instead of RT) :silly:
[Microsoft Surface] mallen462:
I've used surface rt, its very responsive from my experience. Excusably solid design, love the kick stand. iPad is a over priced piece of equipment that I will never purchase. I still prefer Surface pro
[Microsoft Surface] Slymayer:
Myfather got one from his job about 5 days ago, browsing on it is as easy as on a PC, gestures are pretty easy to learn (Already have many experience with Win8 on my desktop computer), this may be one reason why I just love Win8, it's smooth and easy to use once you get used to it. Native RDP is really cool too, you can use it from or from the metro app, you won't miss your administrative Tools as they're all there (perfmon, eventvwr) and the explorer is not missing and it may be oneof the most interesting features of this tablet. Also MKV support will come soon as VLC will be ported on Win8 RT, but I'm waiting for new Tools to come on the market. The market isn't full enough but some apps are pretty cool and well designed. Just don't get lost, it's not a computer but a very high-end tablet. I don't have any problem with the case as the tablet stays in the house but I think about buying one for myself as it's not mine, or maybe I'll buy a notebook with a capacitive screen in the future. Currently the prices are too high but wait and see.
[Microsoft Surface] lilstevie:
I would log an RMA request, that sounds more like a defective device with a few of them.
[Microsoft Surface] Zytryx:
I love that can stream my 2000 album Flac collection over wifi though a remote desktop connection and still able to do whatever I want on the Surface, the multitasking is real unlike an iPad. Just wish it would stay live with the screen off.
[Microsoft Surface] :
Sorry to hear all the bad points of the surface. But aren't there any other tablets that has a kickstand too? I used to have one tablet (forgotten the brand) that has a kickstand.
[Microsoft Surface] netham45:
I had a Surface that was doing stuff like that (Random crashing, SD card was loose and always reconnected, had audio drop out a few times when unplugging a USB headset), it eventually completely stopped booting. MS replaced it under warranty. I haven't had the issues on my new surface.
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tinybilbo:
I've just modded a friend's kindle.

I installed the FFF 1.4a bootloader and TWRP 2.2.2.1, followed by a Jellybean Rom (Jandycane).

I transferred about a gig of apps and media, and whilst transferring the kindle went into SOD.

I thought nothing of it and tried again with the same result.

So I then flashed (factory reset/ wipe cache/ wipe dalvik/ wipe system/ first)

"Unofficial AOKP Jellybean Milestone 1" followed by "Paranoid Android" (always wiping first).

Both these roms go into SOD whilst transferring via USB.

I'm now going to try an ICS rom (glazed).

I really wanted to give him the latest OS....

Is this an issue with all JB roms?

or am I missing something? (a tweak or mod, perhaps?).

Thanks
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Thepooch:
No maybe you should try SGT7 by twa_priv http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1778010 .
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tinybilbo:
Thanks for that, downloading it now, and will flash later, and let you know how I got on.

I have just tried it with the "Glazed ICS" rom and had the same problem....

I'm just trying the "AOKP Milestone 6 ICS" at the moment.

Maybe it's his kindle... :)
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tinybilbo:
Downloaded and tried it, but still the same SOD problem (it only occurrs during USB transfer), over both Jellybean and ICS roms :(

I can't give my friend anything with any issues, he's not a tech-head, and likes stuff to just work.

I have also tried the "Gr9.2-update-modacocustomrom" and it (of course) works absolutely fine...

Also I noticed that the USB transfer was at least twice as quick on the Modaco rom.

So now I'm going to try CM7 based roms...
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jlshady00:
After you flash the Rom and get everything set up, boot into twrp and mount usb. Transfer your stuff over while mounted like this, it will transfer more quickly and not crash during transfer.
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tinybilbo:
Thanks for your reply, I have in fact been using this method...

However I'm not setting this up for me, I could live with that or just transfer stuff via a file manager over wifi.

The guy I'm setting it up for, is clueless when it comes to tech, and I really would'nt want him messing with recovery, and the file manager way, will be too difficult for him.

I think I'm just going to install the rooted OFW and some apps and have done with it...

I have tried at least 5 JB roms and 3 ICS roms now, all with the same issue (at least on this device).

Is this a known issue? or just an issue with this particular device?

Thanks
[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tinybilbo:
I think you must be right, It's not something I've really come across in the forums...

Which is why I asked.

I don't think I've done anything wrong, I rooted, Installed a recovery, then a bootloader, then a custom rom.

I wipe cache, dalvik, system, and factory restore, between each rom flash.

However it's still definately happening on both JB and ICS roms (not the modded kindle firmware).

I guess it's a hardware issue to this particular device.

I've kind of got round it by installing the Modaco custom (kindle) rom, and using a seperate launcher (ADW). It's not Jellybean, but it's a reasonable alternative, especially since my friend is not all that tech-savvy, and would be expecting a bag of jellybeans, if I told him that was the firmware....