I felt compelled to write a quick note to express my complete dissatisfaction with the new Microsoft Surface tablet. I had hopes and dreams that this could be the platform to bridge my business needs while providing the portability of a tablet. While the iPad is great, there are business applications that still rely on Windows solutions and this "could" have been the solution. But as my son would say, "it is an epic fail"!

For those of you that are not aware of the Microsoft Surface, it is a tablet that leverages a streamed down edition of the new Microsoft Windows 8 operating system to compete with the Android and iPad's of the world. It has a very well designed front-end with its live-tile interface that was introduced in the latest Windows Mobile phones.

Don't get me wrong, perhaps a generation or two of software updates will come along to fix some of the issues we've seen but for now...don't go there.


Issues:
Not a fan of the new Touch Cover - This is a cool, ultra-thin magnetic snap on keyboard cover with no physical buttons. Sure it is very thin and light...at least fells like it has a similar heft to the Apple Smart Cover that really isn't smart. It just didn't cover the gap from a keyboard on the screen to the tactile nature of a real keyboard. But on the other side there is the Type Cover which is a bit thicker and 1/10 a pound heavier but has a great touch feel.

Slow-downs and/or not enough memory - Unlike an iPad that feels like you can have dozens of apps going...this tablet feels like it is slowing down after just getting a few apps going. We even keep notifications when we try to start up some apps that the Surface doesn't have enough capability to run it!

Limited library of apps - Not surprisingly, this new platform requires specific Windows RT apps and thus has a limited library today. There has also been noise in the air about some parties not even developing application support for the platform...including Facebook!

Lower resolution - In an era of high-pixel counts per inch, the 10.6" Surface display feels dated at a resolution of only 1366x768. As a point in comparison, the iPad has a smaller 9.7" display but a resolution of 2048-1536!

Hope for the future?
There is a Pro version of Microsoft Surface that runs the full edition of Windows 8. It is a good bit thicker and chunkier...really leaving the ultra-slim category but it will have more horsepower and will run the full Windows experience. Or we can wait for the inevitable Surface 2?