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My iPad is Collecting Dust, Thinking Surface Pro 3
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Rumor has it that now that the SP3 is selling so well MS may release the surface mini. Unfortunately it will probably be hobbled with windows RT.
Lol, here we go with the "crippled" argument. If I remember quite a few run their business and do all their work from an iPad. I don't have the links on me, but authors have composed books, musicians have composed albums on their "crippled" iPads.
It really depends on your work flow. Obviously, there are Office Suites, Music Composition, and huge assortment of productivity and content creation app on the iPad. For some people, those apps give enough features to get the job done.
Lol, it always makes me laugh when people talk about how an iPad is just a toy and you can't get any work done on one.
Nice! Linux on Microsoft hardware. I like it.What distro are you using? How well does it work with the touch screen and active pen?
I do agree, the hardware is lovely.
Ubuntu. Just straight up ubuntu, with a custom UI (full screen app) on top of it. The pen and touch screen work just like you would expect. It's really some great hardware, with Windows or Ubuntu.
Nice. Come to think of it, I think Wacom has been supporting Linux for a while now.
How is the "tablet experience" on Unity? I heard that Canonical built Unity to also function as a tablet UI along with being a desktop UI.
No idea. We use a custom UI on it, so I never see Unity. But if I had to guess, it's just as bad on a tablet as it is on the desktop
So it's ok to spend over £100 on a keyboard that should really be included in the price, is not that great and doesn't line up properly every time but an apple Smart Cover/case looks absurd?
It is great and works amazingly: the Type Cover for the Surface Pro 3.
I never said the Apple Smart Cover looks absurd. First I can tell you're British.
The Smart Cover:
- Does not have a keyboard built-in
- Does not do portrait mode well at all
- Is flimsy and has literally no degrees of freedom
The Type Cover for the Surface:
- Has a backlit keyboard and touchpad (mouse) built-in
- Is well attached and integrated into the device
There is no contest here. What is really laughable is all of the THIRD PARTY accessories for the iPad. Most of them look butt ugly and function questionably on the iPad. The fact that so much of this aftermarket junk exists for the iPad shows how lacking the device is and with demand, that people want this functionality in the iPad.
So there it is. The product managers/designers should be looking to build this stuff in. I do product management in the software industry. We must design products in the service of the user 110%. If you just want to create a product that is handicapped to keep some third party market going, you're failing your users.
If you don't think the iPad can be designed well... even incredibly well, with a built in stand, you have no business in the creative world/product development. You can bet that Apple has prototype iPads with built-in stands and Smart Covers with built-in keyboards. Interestingly, Apple has filed some 10 patents on a smart stylus for multi-touch devices.
No, I don't have any business in the creative world, you're right. I'm just an average human. And yes I'm British and I actually own a SP3, and it is lying by the bed while I tap this out on my iPad.
I don't know about that not aligning properly thing. I spent a little while in Best Buy playing with an SP3 the other day, and a good quarter of that time was me snapping the keyboard on and off.
From what I saw of it, it went in without a hitch each and every single time. The magnet on it is more powerful than the one in my iPad, and it snaps on easier than my Smart Cover.
1. The ipad is designed to be what it is. Its not an all in one. Its a pick up an play simple device, that kids, adults, old and young, can use.
2. I don't know why you keep ranting what the ipad isn't. If the surface pro 3 is...............then get it. Why wish for it when its already here? Its available, right now in the Microsoft store, the one that looks suspiciously like an Apple store.
3. Be happy and stop complaining.
Like what's next for the iPad? Are we reaching a tipping point with the competition catching up and in some cases surpassing the iPad? etc.
The problem is that the iPad is too simple a device in some respects. I have an iPhone 6 Plus in my pocket at all times that has literally the EXACT same software and very similar hardware. With something like this in my pocket that also serves as a phone, life is different in 2014 than it was in 2010. The screens on smartphones have gotten huge. It's harder and harder for an iPad to compete.
I think three/four devices is absurd. Tablet, PC and/or laptop, and phone. The world has been here several times in the past and every time convergence wins out. Every time.
Mainframes > Personal Desktop Computers
Personal Desktop Computers > laptops
Cell phones and PDAs > Blackberries (Organizer phones)
PDAs + iPods + Internet communicators + point and shoot cameras > smartphones
Smartphones > being augmented likely by smartwatches
I think a device like the Surface Pro 3 is somewhat ahead of its time. It's promising that MS is reporting the highest revenues ever this past quarter for Surface, with close to $1 billion in revenues. It's a start at least.
This is a device that can be a desktop computer plugged into a large monitor, laptop, and tablet all in one. What I'm saying is by the time I'm done with the truck computers during work, and on and off my iPhone 6 Plus, there isn't much room for the iPad anymore.
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You're title states otherwise, as well as you're post from another thread.
My iPad is Collecting Dust, Thinking Surface Pro 3
You clearly want a Surface Pro 3. You're like ga ga over it. I don't understand you're point of informing us?
You're like in denial of the point of the ipad. Its designed to be what it is. Its not a all in one. You think three/four devices is absurd....that is you're opinion.
Many people own three/four vehicles, be it cars, trucks, suv's, giant rv's. Some own different guns, Shotguns, hand guns, rifles, snipers. Many of us enjoy separate devices.
Its not absurd at all, different strokes for different folkes.
If you're point is the ipad is not the surface pro 3..............you are correct its not, and isn't designed to be.
Bottom line.......if you're ipad is collecting dust, as you put it, and you found the answer in getting a surface pro 3, then go get it. What is the point of informing us what you want to do?
My iPad is Collecting Dust, Thinking Surface Pro 3
You clearly want a Surface Pro 3. You're like ga ga over it. I don't understand you're point of informing us?
You're like in denial of the point of the ipad. Its designed to be what it is. Its not a all in one. You think three/four devices is absurd....that is you're opinion.
Many people own three/four vehicles, be it cars, trucks, suv's, giant rv's. Some own different guns, Shotguns, hand guns, rifles, snipers. Many of us enjoy separate devices.
Its not absurd at all, different strokes for different folkes.
If you're point is the ipad is not the surface pro 3..............you are correct its not, and isn't designed to be.
Bottom line.......if you're ipad is collecting dust, as you put it, and you found the answer in getting a surface pro 3, then go get it. What is the point of informing us what you want to do?
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And yet the Type Cover and kickstand and OS on the SP3 support portrait usage even more poorly, and you slough that off as unfair criticism.
Often I will just fold the iPad Smart Cover back on itself and use it as a bit of a handle/grip. Works great like that. Plus you have a plethora of alternative third party cases to choose from.
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You can fold the SP3 keyboard cover back also if you want to use it in portrait. Windows also handles portrait mode quite well, just as well as an ipad. You can still use the onscreen keyboard on the SP3. Heck you can even buy many aftermarket case for the SP3.
Especially the kickstand should not be getting a bad rap for not working in portrait mode. Portrait mode is made mostly for writing IMO, something the SP3 excels at. The kickstand is such an incredible innovation it leaves you scratching your head at tablets that don't have a kickstand.
Holding up great. No sign of loosening up at all. Personally I don't see how it won't loosen over time, it's friction based and you can't defy physics. That friction will eventually erode the plastic. It's not a concern for me though as I usually replace my devices when the new model comes out.
But so far, have had mine since release and I use the kickstand a LOT on a daily basis and it feels like the day I bought it.
Best I can tell it looks like the gears are plastic, but I'm not 100% sure. The case isn't plastic.
I agree that the SP3 excels at writing, heck anything that can read my chicken scratch is awesome! However my experience with the DVP8 and limited trials with the SP2 and SP3 I always find that the start menu and many if not most Metro apps seem to work better in landscape mode. I don't feel the need to rotate my iPad quite as much.
I have tried folding back the type cover in the Microsoft store and it feels like it is in the way. I might get used to it, but it's far from a slam dunk.
As much of a bad rap as the iOS on screen keyboard gets, I find it works extremely well on my iPhone 6 and various iPads. Maybe the Windows 8.1 keyboard learns over time, but so far I have not been impressed with it on my DVP8. It's usable, but barely.
That continues to be the primary use case that keeps me interested in the SP3. Slate mode, handheld or laying mostly flat. No touch cover. Such as you might want to do on an airplane in coach.
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Yeah the windows 8.1 onscreen keyboard could be a bit better. It's not bad by any means but it's missing stuff like swype and I find it doesn't fill in things like email addresses automatically as well as android/ios do.
I really don't give a damn what you were responding to. I posted my opinion and if you don't like it don't read it. Nobody has informed me you own the board, shouldn't you be in school anyway?
Welcome to the ignore club.
This thread is pretty hilarious.
OP, as we all know, if it was an ipad vs sp3 then the sp3 would win as it does more. But since you've got a laptop, it does change the situation slightly. But if you think you'd use it more than the ipad then deffo get it! Plus the ability to run full pc games is awesome. Personally i'd get one too, but as a full time pc user, i really dislike windows. Nothing wrong with it, but i've used windows for so long that im bored with it. Would move to linux if i could properly game on it - but thats a story for another day.
The big question is, what colour of keyboard are you gonna pic?
OP, as we all know, if it was an ipad vs sp3 then the sp3 would win as it does more. But since you've got a laptop, it does change the situation slightly. But if you think you'd use it more than the ipad then deffo get it! Plus the ability to run full pc games is awesome. Personally i'd get one too, but as a full time pc user, i really dislike windows. Nothing wrong with it, but i've used windows for so long that im bored with it. Would move to linux if i could properly game on it - but thats a story for another day.
The big question is, what colour of keyboard are you gonna pic?