With all the recent fervor that’s been whipped up by the invitations recently sent out by Apple for the suspected iPad Mini announcement you’d be forgiven for forgetting about the other big tablet release that’s happening at the end of this month.
It is of course the Microsoft Surface Tablet. It’s set to be released on October 26th, with the Pro model following 3 months later for a January release. The tablet itself is shaping up to be a very strong competitor in the premium tablet market.
So we at Kumulos (mobile backend as a service) thought it would be good to outline just why you should be paying attention to this new offering from one of the tech industry’s giants.
Performance
Surface is coming in two different versions: the RT, which is designed to compete against iPad and the various Android offerings, and the Pro, which is an ultrabook/tablet hybrid.
The RT will be using a now very familiar Tegra 3 ARM processor. No word on exact numbers, but it’s a good estimate to say it will be around 1.4-1.6 GHz. The RT also comes with 2Gb of RAM, which is twice what any comparable tablet currently sports. At the moment that may or may not be a major advantage, but as more and more apps start to use multi-tasking it may just give the Surface that extra longevity that will keep users holding onto it for longer. It will come in two versions, the 32Gb and the 64 Gb, so fairly standard in terms of tablet memory sizes. Prices start at $499, which is in line with the iPad.
The Pro on the other hand has a yet unclocked Intel i5 IvyBridge Processor and 4Gb of RAM, making it at least doubly or even more so, powerful than any other tablet currently out there. This is where we start to move out of known tablet areas and into competing on the Ultrabook market. The Pro will come in a 64Gb or 128Gb version and will be priced around $799-$899 but no price has been confirmed as of yet. Obviously the Pro will be a powerhouse of multitasking and performance capability, and Microsoft have said that it will be powerful enough to run the full Photoshop suite; which if you include the bundled Stylus, has the potential to make the tablet an attractive offering to digital artists.
Screen
Both of the tablets will sport a 10.6 Gorilla Glass 2 screen, with the RT running a relatively low resolution of 1366×786 which has raised a few eyebrows in the tech world in this age of Retina displays and better than HD screens becoming the standard. Microsoft has defended the choice though, saying that resolution is only one of the things that affect the clarity of a screen and through using MTF (Modulation Transfer Function) they have created a screen that is comparable to the Retina without all the power hungry extra pixels. Time will tell with that claim, but the verdict at the moment is that the screen is indeed pretty, just not quite as pretty as Retina.
The Pro will be bringing in full HD resolution of 1920×1080 however, and combined with the MTF tech, it may just be a sneaky competitor for the iPad’s crown.
Design
The body of both Surfaces is Magnesium alloy to help keep the weight down (although they are still hefty for tablets, coming in at 1.5lbs and 2lbs for the RT and Pro respectively).
It is covered in a chemically bonded vapour deposition coating that is designed to stop the Surface quickly becoming the fingerprint magnet that tablets usually are. This gives it a soft, grippy feel and according to most it keeps the tablet wonderfully blemish free.
It has an inbuilt kick-stand that is magnetically held into the body until you need it. Don’t worry about it being a flimsy, easily breakable add-on though. Whilst only being 3mm thick the stand is solidly built, holding the tablet steady at a comfortable angle, supporting the weight on two long rubber feet that will stop the nightmare of it toppling over in a light breeze.
Both of the versions come with a full sized USB slot (2.0 on the RT, 3.0 with the Pro), that can be used with a massive range of USB devices already in existence. This adds an incredibly functional edge to the Surface that only the Transformer Prime can match, and even then the Prime needs its dock to have the USB support.
In addition to this both models have micro SD slot that allows up to 64Gb expansion on the already generous memory allowance. The RT has a mini-HDMI out port, whilst the Pro has a mini DisplayPort.
Touch Cover
Finally, you can’t mention Surface without also bringing up the slick Smart Cover-esq Touch Cover keyboard accessory that is probably a near essential to get the full experience from Surface.
It comes in 2 varieties: The Touch Cover which is a smart touch keyboard that registers your keystrokes through pressure sensors and clips magnetically into the bottom of the Surface to act as a screen cover as well. This is a much lauded feature, and also one of those “Why hasn’t anyone done this before?” pieces of tech. Apple has their magnetic smart cover, but it’s not a keyboard as well, especially one where the claim is you can type over 80 words a minute on.
Obviously a touch keyboard doesn’t have any tactile feedback, so if you still prefer a proper keyboard or you’re looking to be doing a lot of typing, you can also get the Type cover, which turns the surface into a pseudo notebook a la Transformer Prime style minus the extra battery life.
Both of these accessories come in a wide range of bright colours that match up with the bright visual aesthetic of the recently released Nokia Lumia and whilst users can buy the tablet on its own, the best bet is to go for the package deals that include the touch or type covers.
So there you go everyone, a swift run down of Microsofts very soon to be released offering into the tablet world.
We at Kumulos have been consistently surprised with the recent offerings from Microsoft in terms of Windows 8 with both the Lumia and now the Surface defying expectations to become major competitors technologically in the market. The question now remains as to whether they can use their years of powerful branding to their advantage and start to shift Surfaces at a good rate.
Until that time though, Apple and Android will still be duking it out, and with our mobile backend as a service, we at Kumulos will be making sure that app developers get their apps out of their heads and into the running. So if you’re looking to develop an app, or you already are but need some help with your mobile backend, why not sign up now? It’s free, and you even get awesome tech support to boot!
