The Z10–the essence of cool finally coming to Blackberry?

March 2013 has been an interesting month for me.  For a one man show, I’ve been playing around with the Nokia Lumia 920, Microsoft Surface RT and now this, the recently launched Blackberry Z10.

And combined from late 2012, with the very likeable LG Nexus 4 which is very much one of the highest performing smartphones for a relatively small outlay, I came into the Z10 with intrigue, partly prompted by Stephen Fry’s excellent article in which he answers the question of which smartphone he would take with him if he only had a few seconds in a fire situation.

As usual my post is more about my perceptions having only had the device for just short of a week.  I had two main objectives in mind, would I want to use one of these for the corporate day job (for which Blackberry is renowned and secondly, is this cool enough to replace other phones, such as my beloved iPhone 5, which for me is still my go-to device in the-leave-everything-and-choose-one-device situation.

Solid build

Let’s get the specs out of the way – Dual-core brains, 2GB RAM, 16Gb storage expandable to 32GB via a micro SD slot, USB 2.0 port and a HDMI out port.

The display is very very nice. 4.2” 1280 x 768 screen at 356ppi (yes, another one higher than the iPhone Retina display). The hardware spec is completed with an 8Mb front and back camera  and its 4G (LTE) ready.

Two things jump out here. You can take the back off and change battery, SIM, micro SD card.  I forgot how useful that is over the sealed designs set by Apple. Weighing in at 136g, the form factor combined with a lovely rubberised gripped back, the Z10 holds beautifully in hand. Probably the best native feel of a smartphone since its reinvention by Apple.  I no longer reach for a case, because the smartphone feels like a bar of soap in my hands.  In fact, its the first time I don;t actually need a case.

Blackberry 10 OS

Like the other platforms, Blackberry’s key challenge in the touch and gesture related world of mobile devices has been to seek a way of creating its own user experience of distinction which, if applied well, can be done across a range of their own devices.  If done well, it heralds a competitive form of innovation seen across other mobile OS’.

The new OS is centred around the two important centrepieces – the Blackberry Hub and some key gestures.  The BB Hub ties in system notifications, and a unified inbox of updates across mail and social media accounts, a sort of version of the People hub seen in Windows Phone 8 and Android OS’. 

Gestures are based on 2 key actions, swiping up from bottom to close and app and reveal all other open applications (up to nine of them) in a task manager, and secondly, swiping down from the top (to reveal individual applications settings).  Combined with the unlocking of the phone using the swipe up, Blackberry markets these gestures and the hub as a sort of fade in feature between your hub, notifications, open apps and then your app icon stack.  It works really nice. 

Given my steeped history in OS and Android, I liked it. It took a bit of getting used to, but it works well and over time it starts to feel natural, and better that iOS or Android.  For a first release, it does have a few annoying quirks, but they are not off-putting enough.  It’s certainly a welcome change from the go into and out of your apps world which iOS has and I supposed we’re all so used to, it begins to attract the stigma of being stale.

The keyboard, nice – laid out well. Features a number row above the qwerty keyboard so you don’t have to switch.  That parts works well you can see enough on the rest of the screen. Makes a nice sound. Camera and recording (which goes up to 1080P) is broadly as good as everything else on the market.

Blackberry 10 OS? Cracking start Blackberry.

A real shortage of apps

Having said, all of that – the real problem for me with the Z10 and Blackberry OS10 is the even worse paucity for apps than there was on Windows Phone 8 and Windows RT.  It reasonable for Blackberry to want to lock you into their ecosystem of apps, but the reality is to be up in the game, the big software publishers need to develop for Blackberry as a ranking 4th option after iOS, Android and WP8.  Based on my use case, it’s not great, but not that bad.  In everyday terms, for example:

• I can read BBC News, The Times, Independent and The Guardian and my RSS feeds (although that needs some adjustment in the summer when Google ends the Reader service)
• Follow up and update my Tweets
• Watch BBC iPlayer programmes
• Access Dropbox files and edit them with DocsToGo
• Connect to a WebEx virtual meeting
• Check what movies are on at my local picture house
• Check the weather, train and bus timetables
• Check my TripIT travel  itinerary
• Order my groceries from Ocado
• Sync my iTunes library
• Of course, buy Blackberry store books, magazines, TV shows, and Movies (yeah, right)

But I can’t –

• read my Instapaper saved articles
• access my Evernote notes
• logon to my personal banking applications
• stream Spotify music
• tag Shazam or SoundCloud new music when I hear it
• control my Sonos music
• order from Amazon or eBay
• check IMDB
• access my Passwords store
• scan my network for all IPs,

In the grand scheme of things, it could actually just be a question of time for the main publishers to see Blackberry as another ecosystem to viably publish for. I hope this happens as this is a good OS from Blackberry.

The dark horse for the enterprise?

In the company I work at, our strategy like many large blue chips is heavily centred on iOS as the platform for creating and distributing line of business applications to have a real mobile alternative for getting stuff done vs. a laptop. MobileIron is the Gartner Quadrant leading MDM platform supporting both company owned and BYODs which at various releases on its roadmap support iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 and Blackberry 10.  While our standards are geared for am entire technology stack (e.g mail , device management, and the ability to provide VPN, internal Wi-Fi, and app distribution), it has not gone unnoticed that Blackberry will be pretty much as capable as iOS on the MobileIron MDM at its next release. And this is where for me, it gets interesting. If Blackberry have sufficient traction in the market, then it makes commercial sense for blue chips to listen up and evaluate Blackberry into their mobile device strategy. 

Not because Blackberry is offering anything special which blows the competition away – far from it (but in a good way). But because from a value proposition in terms of cost, ease of integration, and as a favoured corporate road warrior tool, Blackberry has a chance – in fact, a possibly better chance than Android or WP8. The missing piece for Blackberry is to be able to showcase a breadth of quality of consumer apps, which would then drive interest in better business apps. It’s a big ask.

The consumers case

Blackberry started as the corporate brand. As its average selling price fell, it became attractive to the younger generation. As a device and brand which has lost its way, I’m not in a position to say how Blackberry can really get back in the game in the consumer space. The Z10 and its pricing suggest Blackberry are going back in at the premium end of the market.  The product feels that way. The problem is, while the product is good to excellent in places, it does not have enough in the tank to sway new or loyal iOS and Android followers to switch sides. And that alongside the perception of the Blackberry brand, suggests a long road ahead for Blackberry. If they want the consumer to treat Blackberry OS 10 seriously, then a Playbook which marries this one and perhaps an entry point handset means the brand has a joined up plan.

Wrapping Up

When I started this piece, which I expected to be short – I wanted to know if the new Z10 would be a device I’d want to use as my corporate smartphone and if it could replace my iPhone 5 as my main go-to device. Yes to the first question, not quite on the second.  But it must be said a really good effort. Like the Nokia Lumia 920 I previously reviewed, it will be hard to send this one back, given the positive experience I’ve had. This is by no means an exhaustive review, but in the techmobabble way, this is a bloody good device and OS and it deserves success and support from the market. Goodbye RIM, hello Blackberry.

Nokia’s comeback kid – Lumia 920 & Windows Phone 8

With the ascent of iOS and Android as the leading mobile operating systems powering smartphones and tablets, it easier to to write off the work which Microsoft and Nokia (alongside HTC and other OEMs) have been doing in getting Windows Phone 8 as a major player in the market place. It wasn’t until working with some fine colleagues in Germany and Italy who have been seriously considering Windows Phone 8 as the core platform to replace Blackberry devices, did I start to think that I’ve been blind sided in really understanding the increasing consumers and enterprises appeal of Microsoft’s revamped attempts to make a real player out of this.  I tell you now, why Microsoft didn’t use WP8 as the OS for its tablet devices is beyond me.

Enterprises would clearly be attracted by Microsoft’s partnership with them in terms of enterprise licensing agreements, ease of platform and device integration into their corporate infrastructures notably Exchange, Lync and SharePoint.  But Microsoft has focused on the consumer market with its first release of WP8.  Yes, consumers are driving the demand in the enterprise.

And of course, consumers are driven by unique mixture of needs and wants. Smartphones are upgradeable accessories, and given the intimacy of this single device in the lives of most people in western and emerging economies, driving the multiple forces of social, web and cloud. What does this mean? Smartphones are increasingly driving innovation in term of being fresh and fun to use with life via apps. I’d even succumbed – while I love my iOS devices, and have been seriously impressed with the current generation of Android hardware and software, I had to take a up close and personal look at Windows 8 and its metro UI. It offers something head turning that I wanted to geek out on.  What follows is not a warts and all of every feature of the Lumia 920 or/and the Windows Phone OS itself, just what it means in terms of how I use it and most importantly, is it worth keeping.

Lumia 920 hardware

The Lumia 920 is big. Fat big. For a large handed person like me, it’s substantial in the hand. You don’t feel you’re going to drop it. Yes, it’s a lot larger and weightier, but that does not always need to be seen as a bag thing,  It’s outer material is made of a single slab of colored polycarbonate. Combined with my rubberised case, I’ve been running with the ‘920 and it feels solid.

The 4.5 inch screen with a 336 ppi 1280 x 768 resolution (yes higher than Retina iPhone) is just gorgeous. WP8 on it uses a 800x400 pixel set s that its UI elements appear larger and more spaced out. It works for me. As expected it supports 720P HD, and one would expect the next iteration of the flagship to go 1080P like its recent Android rivals.

The other hardware stuff is pretty standard fare – 4G radios, 2.4Ghz Wireless N, 2000mAh battery, 1GB RAM, a plentiful 32Gb of storage and so on.

Sonically, I really liked the ‘920.  Syncing iTunes music and downloading Spotify, confirmed what I reckoned for the device – it hums real nicely.  There was a level of musicality on the device which was on a part of exceeded my experience on Android, certainly far in excess of the iPhones, which always need equalisation to sound reasonable.

The Lumia 920 is a well made phone. May not sculpted to the reduced weight and sleekness of of the iPhone 5, but it’s solid engineering.  Class A build quality. Check.

Windows Phone 8 experience

Having no previous experience with Windows Phone 7, I came into the experience of WP8 as a relative noob, hoping to be blown away and feel fanboy affection once I got used it.  While there were some strange things which happened in getting it set up – for example, I couldn’t set up the Wallet on the device (had to do it on a laptop) and the MehDoh Twitter client had a horrendous screen in authenticating to Twitter, I really liked it.  WP8 is a fresh and easy to pick up UI.  The Metro UI tiles really work and after a few days I become quite attached.  It relatively simple and is intuitive to see how the other gestures work in terms of press and hold for switching apps or revealing sub-commands in an action.  Microsoft, I salute your innovation here. It’s a really good attempt to do something different.

The overall keyboard is a mix or good and bad. Again, I love the soft and tactile touch feel that the ‘920 and WP8 provide, but hasn’t anyone learned properly, that Apple seriously know how keys for an on-screen keyboard should be spaced?  On the ‘920, too cramped.

The software and bugs which do hang and do odd things, and overall its a great effort.  One thing, of the three buttons on WP8 hardware, the Search button is an odd one.  While Android dedicates a button for home screen, going back and a task manager, WP8 forces Nokia and HTC and others to dedicate a Search button.  I use twice, to realise it’s wired for Bing search only.  WTF?!

Applications

My recent list highlights the apps I installed on the device which I can re-install across other WP8 devices, given the cloud back up on apps and settings built into the OS.   The need for better integration across the Windows ecosystem is something I think Microsoft is not really appreciating.  Xbox integration is only one part (I haven’t really played with it), but phones, tablets and desktops are able to share data via SkyDrive, but there is so much more which Microsoft could be doing in terms of offering differing types of on the go uses between the different form factors of Windows 8.

Of notable mention goes to MeTweets and NextGen Reader the Twitter and RSS reader apps.  Nice, just real nice re-imagination of the app using the Metro UI.

The needs of the Enterprise

In my firm, outside of iOS and Android, there are countries in the global organisation which have expressed a strong interest in switching to WP8 devices as the primary devices (i.e.away from Blackberry).  Take Italy for example, talking to the CIO there, shared that through telco and ISPs, the cost of an iPhone (a standard device in my firm), is significantly higher and not cost justifiable from a business standpoint.  WP8 devices are often free with ISP contracts and thereby with its capability for device management and forthcoming integration with middleware products such as IBM Traveler and MobileIron for MDM, it’s an appealing option from a enterprise and consumer perspective.  The Lumia and WP8 support the needs of the enterprise, with hardware, data, traffic and integration with a range of MDM platforms. 

Performance

Geekbench is not on WP8 yet, so no benchmark comparisons can be drawn to iOS and Android device counterparts in terms of hardware and software performance.  But the Lumia 920 and WP8, felt reasonably quick.  Not as fast as iPhone 5 and Nexus 4, but acceptably quick. Apps can take a few seconds too long to load at times (something consistent to Surface RT as per my other post), but caching seems to help significantly.  What you get with the Lumia 920 and WP8 is a smooth fluidity based on Metro.  The Lumia has a soft rubberised curved finish, with a soft tactile feel on button presses and on soft like audible screen clicks.  This dovetails really nice with WP8.

A couple of quirks came out which I thought were odd. Setting the date and time direct from the internet didn’t work. I had to set this manually. Crazy. Secondly, resetting the phone took ages.  After leaving it for 2 hours, I had to restart the ‘920 3 times for the reset to finish. Odd.

Wrapping up

I really liked the Lumia 920, I mean seriously.  It’s feel nice in my big hands, takes good pictures and the screen and software experience is fluid and feels great.  Yes, there is a current paucity of apps in the store, and I think it will improve.  (Sonos – please release a WP8 app – please!).  The ‘920 is due to go back in a week or so.  Think I’m going to struggle with that.

Mobile Wi-Fi devices–why didn’t anyone tell me these things are so damn useful?

Being a collector of different handsets and tablets can mean restricting usage of them at home for connectivity. Getting a real sense of them on the move, at first suggests individual SIM cards for each device which is not preferred due to the cost and in some cases lock-in on some providers contracts.

4G (LTE) connectivity s also something I wanted to take an up close and personal look given EE’s first off the bat launch in late 2012. There pricing for SIM and Phone plans on their 4G network were completely uncompetitive and its reported take up is seen as moderate at best. It was only when I realised there was a more clever way to get on to 4G and use remove any spend across any individual handset or tablet SIMs, did I come across the solution – the Huawei E589 mobile broadband modem from EE.

It’s pretty standard fare as these devices in their 3G form have been around for some time.  What clicked was realising I could cancel all of my handset SIM deals (as I never use the phone, except for my iPhone) and could then get the benefit of a) 4G Wi-Fi spot speeds and b) sharing them across my devices anytime I needed to take them out with me.  Of course there are corporate uses when I’m in the airport or just travelling around the UK. And of course there are international versions of this device, which are great to get better roaming charges on data.

Using it for the last week has seen a big boost in using my iPhone 5, Lumia 920, iPad mini and the Surface RT when I using them on the train or in the office. Performance was snappy, given that the download speed test results ranged between 10-20mpbs when in and around Docklands area in London. Having one of these on hand is like being a walking Wi-Fi spot having access to 4G speeds (dependent on location given the rollout programme), regardless of the device you are using and its native capability.

Set up is quick once you’ve inserted the SIM. You can do the usual in terms of hiding your SSID and changing the supplied password and you’re good to go.  You can even toggle the Wi-Fi to save on battery.  At the moment, I get about up to 3-days charges toggling it when I need it.  There’s an iPhone app to check your usage and all the other basic admin things you would expect to do. Nice.

So £50 up front for the device, £21 per month for 5Gb of data – shared across up to 5 devices. I’ll never need to buy a cellular iPad ever again.

Applications in use across different mobile platforms

The table below shows the applications I use across iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 RT:

As at March 2013

	iOS (iPhone 5, iPad mini, iPad 3rd gen)	Android (Nexus 4)	WP8 (Lumia 920)	W8RT (Surface RT)	Blackberry OS (Blackberry Z10)
News and RSS	BBC News Reeder The Times The Guardian Sky Sports Football Soccer Saturday FT Instapaper The Economist	BBC News gReader Pro Times Guardian Sky Sports Football Soccer Saturday Instapaper	BBC News Mobile The Times The Guardian Sky Sports News Nextgen Reader Stacks for Instapaper	BBC News Mobile Microsoft News Sky News FT The Economist ESPN FC	BBC News BBC Sport The Times The Guardian The Independent The Economist gNewsReader
Browser bookmarks	iCloud XMarks	Xmarks	Xmarks	Xmarks	no Xmarks
Books	iBooks Kindle	Kindle	Kindle	Kindle	no Kindle
Productivity	Dropbox Evernote Due OmniFocus	Dropbox Evernote	Evernote SkyDrive	Dropbox Evernote Touch SkyDrive	ConnectToDropbox
Communication	Skype Bria	Skype Bria	Skype	Skype	X-Phone Pro
Social	TweetBot LinkedIn Fancy Pinterest	UberSocial LinkedIn Fancy Pinterest	MeTweets LinkedIn	Tweetro+	Tweetings
Music	Music Spotify Sonos Shazam	Play Music Spotify Sonos Shazam	Music Spotify Shazam	Music	Music
Entertainment	IMDB, Sky+ SkyGo TVCatchup YouTube BBC iPlayer Netflix iTunes TED	IMDB BBC iPlayer Netflix TED	IMDB Netflix YouTube TVCatchUp	Movie Guide Netflix TVCatchup TED	BBC iPlayer
Shopping	Amazon eBay	Amazon eBay	Amazon Mobile eBay	Amazon eBay	no Amazon no eBay
Utilities	Speed Test LogMeIn Ignition 1Password mSecure Airport Utility WeatherPro HD	Speed Test LogMeIn Ignition mSecure	Speed Test The Weather Channel	Speed Test Pro mSecure	AccuWeather
Travel	Trainline.com FlightBoard TripIt	Train Times UK TripIt	Trainline.com	National Rail Enquiries	Skyscanner Train Times UK
Photography	iPhoto Snapseed	Snapseed	Photosynth Camera Effects	Nothing available	Photo Studio
Finance	High St Bank app PayPal Moneywise	High St Bank app Paypal	High St Bank app Paypal Account Tracker	All About Money	Nothing available

Two weeks with the Microsoft Surface RT

In the UK, I had not seen the new Surface RT, so only on looking for one in the high street (such as PC World where it’s not on sale), I was directed to John Lewis where I was told it was available. When I showed up at John Lewis, it was not apparent that it was on display, yet alone on sale. An assistant pulled one out of a glass display cabinet where it was folded up in tablet form in a not very obvious place. So much for John Lewis’ attempts to really sell these.

Why was I so interested? To gain my own day to day experience of Microsoft’s hybrid PC and to decide for myself if this has a) its own value for me b) can hold its own with the competition and c) see where this might fit into consumer or enterprise space.

First impressions

Unboxing the surface, I was impressed. Not totally, but enough to see the attention to detail focused on quality which Microsoft put into this to win over customers. The packaging is very simple and understated with only 2-tones in the outer and inner packaging. Touch Cover, Surface RT and 24W power adaptor are inside alongside light instructions + warranty bits. Very Apple-esque. Liked it.

Switching on and getting started was easy enough,  I signed in with my Hotmail account and connected to the home Wi-Fi, and a few minutes later it was up with the default metro tile arrangement. If anything, given I’m used to the smooth and faultless Apple delivery of a new device start up, it just felt slow – a long negative association I’ve held with Windows going back the years.

Given the Surface RT has been out for a few months and a firmware update had been released, it made sense to put it down onto the machine to ensure I was getting the latest fixes and could baseline my experience accordingly. Shockingly, the firmware update took an hour – yes, I said that - 60 mins to download and install.  At that point, I was not impressed, particularly with blue screen Windows update screen thrown into the mix for familiarity.

Beyond that, and having a play for the rest of the day, I’ve been much captivated with the unit and enjoyed the learning curve of discovery and tinkering (what all us geeks love with new kit). 

Getting used to Surface RT & Windows 8

Let’s get past the tech basics – it has this NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip, with 4 cores running at 1.5Ghz, 2GB RAM and my unit is the 64GB model (~46GB usable space). The display runs 1024 x 768 using something called ClearType display (meaning its smooth's out jaggies to make a non Retina resolution look better).  The display is 16:9 which is good in some use cases, but difficult to use in others.  Wireless is 8.02.11n but at 2.4Ghz only so its theoretical maximum for connection and transfer is a 150mbps.

It must be said, having used touch UIs via iOS and Android, my general attitude has always been if the product design is good enough, I should rarely, if ever, reach for a manual or instruction guide,  Looking back over the last few days, I struggled with with navigating Windows 8 UI, which in one sense should not be surprising, but in another sense was because a number of things are not obvious until someone tells you (i.e, the manual).

Gestures for closing apps, displaying two apps side by side, switching apps, the charms bar – are not readily understandable unless some guidance is provided.  Fortunately, Microsoft have recently release a Surface Getting Started Guide, which helped me understand the navigation around this thing to a comfortable level.

Finding applications on RT

This new version of RT means developers now need to need to write for Intel based Windows 8  and the new RT platform, as well as Windows Phone 8 itself. It’s easy to see with the launch and the mixed market response, that apps from the big players are few and far between as the market needs to be convinced that Win 8 RT will thrive.  I had done some checks before getting the unit in and part of my value is in what is available in the app ecosystem of the platform. From that point, and given my investment in iOS, it made sense to compare apps to use across each of platform I have a device. This was never intended to be an exhaustive list, but identify what I must have in order to derive value (blue items).  The exercise in itself did reconfirm how much I am dependent on the app world to access the cloud and the web.

While this is heavily skewed in favour of iOS  and is looking purely at my own choices and needs, then as we move across the different platforms, you can see I’ve found other and in certain cases, useful apps to give me what I want to do on that device.  From the list, it is clear from that from a Windows RT standpoint, yes there is a clear paucity of apps (as evidenced in the Windows 8 Apps Store), but it’s should never be judged purely on volume, but on quality of what’s available. If there is more support for Windows Phone and Windows RT apps from the major app providers, it could soon be easier way to feel adopt different mobile platforms (barring the specific types of applications such as personal finance ones which tend less to be cross platform).

Using the Touch and Type Cover

My unit came with the Touch Cover as part of the package.  I really like this innovation from Microsoft in executing the hybrid tablet and PC to do both consumption activities for which the iPad is the best in class for and then to do the content creation pieces which often has been reaching back for the Lenovo X220 or the iMac/MacBook Air (depending on where I am).  Touch typing on my iPad’s is for light short bursts, such as e-mail, tweets, notes and very short blog posts.

Having read of the difficulties with the Touch Cover other reviewers have had, I really wanted it to work. Aesthetically it looks great, and fits nicely with the Surface itself. As a long standing touch typist, where the weight of my touch varies across the keys I’m pressing, the Touch Cover in short is difficult to use. In the week that I’ve been using it, I too often find that my style of typing misses keys regularly and leads to inaccuracies in creating anything effectively. (Not that there’s enough apps on the Surface RT to use in the first place, but I’ll come to that in another section).

There’s clearly a trade off Microsoft made in its creation. In Windows 8 desktop mode, it’s the only way to directly type on the Surface, which meant Office became less appealing.  Suffice to say, I struggle to use it and will be looking to get hold of the Type Cover to see how this improves accuracy and speed as reported by others, despite it not looking as good.

Update: Having had the Type Cover for a week, it is very much an improvement for me over the Touch Cover.  Easier to use, touch typing style improved and the experience of Surface as a PC, is markedly better.  But here’s the thing, I tried writing up another blog post using Word for RT with the keyboard and for my untrained fingers, its still hard going and full of errors.  In the end, my 2 writing pieces were split over my Lenovoa X220 and my MacBook Air where the keyboard experience is completely solid.

Desktop mode

Not much to say with the desktop mode to date.  Something I need to spent more time on, since I’ve been playing more on the consumption side of the device with metro.  It’s should be an advantage to have office available and integrated with Skydrive.  Being thrown back to the Desktop mode from RT is odd from time to time and does confuse the the RT Experience

Conscious that I’ve had the Surface for just a week, I’ve found that while I like the hardware and want more innovation to continue to improve aspects of the unit, the experience to date is less than ideal. Having applied the requisite firmware updates, downloaded paid or free apps, applied preferences and settings throughout and predominantly used the Surface more than the iPad for the last week my view is basic – it’s too slow and does not really excel at anything it tries to do.

Take the metro UI for example, it looks nice – but you often don’t realise which elements are touchable on an app. Hence the learning curve. The touch elements themselves on the screen seem big and not refined  (and knowing that it doubles up for use with a mouse seems ugly). As a result, there have been multiple occasions where I’m touching an element on the screen, frustratingly without a response.

App design and quality varies. NextGen Reader and Tweetro+ come out well.  The Economist and TED are poor cousins of their iOS and Android counterparts.

That brings me on to my main complaint about the Surface – it’s speed. Apps often take 5-10 seconds to start and there’s is a general latency of response to touch input.  That ranges from Mail to Explorer or 3rd party apps. Caching helps. I’m not sure if this is because the NVIDIA chip is not powerful enough or that RT in itself, based on an NT Kernel is not suited or just optimised enough for its this v1.0 offering. It’s why I’d still hold out that v2.0 model can address these issues.

The kick stand is a good idea, just needs more angles to suit individual preferences.  The Touch Cover keyboard is a truly great idea.  But Microsoft need to make the experience of the consumer the centrepiece here to get this right.  They need to find a way that I can use the Touch Cover on a less than firmly flat surface, such as my lap. Touch typing on the iPad is for me, surprisingly more effective than the Surface and in different situations (desk, bed, couch, etc.). 

What can I really use this for?

Windows 8 RT is a product based on some trade offs. Microsoft’s aim (at least to me) is to create a niche product where we get a tablet which can double-up as a PC to switch between the consumption and creation modes. It supports their post PC era vision.  It’s a strategic move to mitigate that OEM licensing revenue has started to take a hammering from iOS and Android. Microsoft have have made an audacious attempt to create lighter and importantly, more mobile form factor, built on a niche and a mobile OS instance of Windows 8. It runs the new RT based apps and has specific inbuilt functionality to run an RT version of the desktop, including Explorer (including Flash content) and Office 2013.  I applaud the creation of an ARM based device, but with Surface Pro now available and with reportedly better performance, its difficult to see where Microsoft are really positioning the product and the lack of wider take up from OEMs.

The problem I found with v1.0 of RT and the hardware is that while it’s appealing and intriguing to use, it doesn’t really do anything especially well. (Think back to the iPad introduction where you knew it would do a whole bunch of things that a laptop could not fare better with).

The most telling thing about my use of the the Surface RT not excelling at anything was the fact that I could not even draft or edit this blog post – which was an aim from the outset. No LiveWriter for RT. And the combination of my issues with the Touch Cover and the responsiveness of the hardware with RT meant that  when I tried using Word or Evernote, this quickly became a frustrating experience – Touch or Type Covers factored in.I’ll go back to this point once I test out the Type Cover, and I don’t expect it to change significantly at this moment.

I fired up a subjective table on my usage scenarios for the RT against my other devices.  Sadly, it confirmed my fears:

	iPad	Surface RT	MacBook Air / Lenovo X220*
Email	Best	Worse	Good
Reading (RSS feeds, Books, Newspapers, Magazines)	Best	Worse	Good
Tweeting	Best	Worse	Good
Web Browsing	Best	Worse	Good
Blogging	Good	Worse	Best*
Watching Videos / TV	Best	Worse	Good
Music	Best	Worse	Good
Other Content creation*	Good	Worse	Best

The table simply summaries my ranking preferences in relative terms to each device I have. In fact I would say that the experience between the iPad and the MacBook Air is a lot closer than Best / Good rating suggests. What it did help me understand is that the Surface RT has a lot to do to match the either.

I have a another 3 weeks before I return the Surface RT. I really want to support and believe in this platform and product. But away from the business strategy, the market, the developer debate, Microsoft needs to focus on a 6 key things to get this to be accepted with acclaim:

1. Make it just damn fast (as fast as any Android or iOS tablet device)
2. Get wider and better developer support for the RT apps store
3. Improve the Touch and Type Cover – significantly
4. Match the iPad for doing consumption tasks in terms of speed, slickness and usability
5. Match the Mac/PC for content creation tasks (both in apps available and innovation of touch and type)

Surface in the Enterprise

Given the recent release of the Surface Pro and the need to meet corporate requirements (joining local domain, group and policy management, device management, security, data loss prevention, integration into corporate line of business applications), my initial thought is that there would be limited value of the RT compared to the Pro. Having said that I think given the reported battery life of the Pro, there is a limited advantage value compared to an Ultrabook. I’ll come back to this at some point in the future. A future product based on the new Intel Haswell chip line may mitigate this in the future.  In that situation, it would again raise questions for the long term viability of the Surface RT as opposed to the Pro which keeps the legacy connection to Windows apps which is still considered important..

What happens next?

It’s always interesting to see the range of experiences you can have with a product as you are using it and evaluating it. Liking the hardware is not enough. The software really needs to excel, in terms of usability, apps and overall experience.  Having moved away from Windows more than 6 years ago, I wanted to come back to a new form factor to fall in love with it again. That didn’t happen. The Surface RT v1.0 is going back. Its speed and usability are just too frustrating. I’ll get the Surface Pro and see if my experiences change – although I doubt it, given the weight and  batter trade-offs.  At the moment, I’ll stick with my Lenovo and where I need to upgrade hardware, stick with the Ultrabook line Intel x86 line which combined with SSDs, guarantees solid performance at the very least.

Windows 8 – I think there’s something in this..

Over the last 3 weeks, I’ve been getting curious. About Windows and its form factors. I’d watched and commented on the new Windows 8 phones and Surface hardware from other posters and reviewers on the web.  But these were not my own thoughts and feelings. 

At the same time, I’ve been using a Mac for nearly 6 years. I’ve been ensconced in iOS products since the iPhone 3G and the first iPad.  I’m pretty well invested and it’s pretty much part of my day to day living of tools and data in the cloud via the app model.  I’ve various levels of enjoyment of Android phones, starting with the not so good HTC Desire, but to what I will summarise as excellent in the LG Nexus 4.

You know the drill – the tech guy needs something else to play with. Windows is definitely worth a shout. Coming up over the next few days – an experiential look at the Nokia Lumia 920, running Windows Phone 8.  Starting off in the next post, the Microsoft Surface RT.