Windows tablet computing omnibus thread (Surface, Venue, etc)

[thesameguy]

Memo to Microsoft: if you want people to start picking up your shiny new UI, then make it easy for them to do the things in it that they can do in Android, etc.

I don't think it's that easy. The reason is works on Android and iOS is because they have apps to perform that function. Since the Venue Pro is 8.1, it's not app-driven in the same way that dumber devices are. There is no protocol (per se, that's not technically accurate) that defines moving data from Google to another app - you can't do it with Eudora or Thunderbird or Outlook or Mac Mail or any of those things. It only works in "the Google app." Until there is a desktop "Google app" for Windows, this can never work. It is indeed a pain, but I've been dealing with it for years with Google users say "I want my Google stuff in Outlook." I'm sure you do, but you can't have it. On the one hand, historically it's up to the content provider to produce the app to consume that data on a device - it should be Google making "desktop Google app." Of course, they don't want to do that - they want your data on their servers. OTOH, Microsoft could probably produce that app or add that functionality into Outlook, but a) they would probably get sued or b) Google would make a game of changing the protocol (as they've done with Maps and Youtube) or c) It would be dumb of them to make using Google easier when they would love you to have Office 365. Which does, in fact, work *everywhere*. (I have been seriously thinking about subscribing, maybe having it host my email domain.)

On another note, Dell's driver/BIOS update app is bad at remembering which updates you already downloaded and installed. Lame lame lame.

I have never used that. Big believe in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" so I pretty much never pre-emptively update drivers or BIOS. If something is broken I go hunting, but I never proactively update or let something do it for me. :shrug:

[Yw-slayer]

I wish the devs of One Finger Death Punch would fix it so that you could tap on the left or right of the screen to simulate left/right mouse buttons. Then I could game on the go with my Thinkpad Helix in tablet mode, and without having to attach a mouse to it. That would be FOR. THE. WIN.

[Random]

Bah: Firefox for Metro shelved. http://www.pcworld.com/article/21087...s-8-metro.html

[thesameguy]

I get the distinct feeling Firefox for everything may be shelved. They are not doing well in the face of Chrome. Although, I have not been following the details on FirefoxOS, so maybe they've got that.

I've switched over to IE at work (because I was sick of Firefox's problems with Flash) and I've had exactly zero problems or concerns save one particular day when TigerDirect's website was causing ginormous slowdowns. Since I'm using it here and on the Venue, I think it's not long before I dump it on my desktop and laptop. I can't find a damn thing wrong with IE11. Yeah, I know people love Chrome and blah blah blah, but I also really love sitting down on every single computer I use or work on and have it the same. IE is part of that consistency, so I win by using it. That's all the encouragement I need (now that the days of it genuinely sucking are over).

[Random]

Yeah--I may need to suck it up and move my bookmarks over at home. I was hoping to use Firefox's built-in bookmark syncing across the desktop (Win7), laptop (Ubuntu), and tablet (Win8.1), but... I guess I can look for a third-party add-on to do that.

[thesameguy]

I haven't used bookmarks in probably ten years, so that definitely wasn't holding me back. Heh.

[Random]

Fry's has the Venue 8 Pro 32GB model on sale for $200: http://www.frys.com/product/8075744

[thesameguy]

They seem to have found traction at that price, which makes me happy. Seems like people are willing to give Win8 and tablet computing (versus tablet fucking around ) a go at $200. Maybe Dell is doing MS a favor.

Speaking of, I'm really hoping MS gets off their high horse and lowers the price on the Surface 3 for Christmas. I'll be looking strongly to replace my laptop then, and I'd really like to consolidate on a Surface... but my current laptop will be four years old and I paid $400 for it. No way am I throwing $600+ at a Surface. $500 I'd stretch to it and feel happy. If not, I hear there are several large-format Win8 tablets on the horizon... modest guts running 8 behind a 13" or 14" touchscreen would win my money pretty quickly. We've got 10-12" tablets and 20"+ tablets but nothing in the middle yet. I hear Xmas 2014 is when all lines are completely blurred.

[Yw-slayer]

(Only very slightly related to tablets - but most things are becoming tablets or tablet-like now)

I'm waiting for Broadwell. Hopefully Lenovo will reverse at least some of the major ergonomic fuck-ups on its current generation of Thinkpads (no Thinklight, but more importantly, crappy mouse buttons integrated into trackpad which don't work most of the time and make it impossible to properly play One Finger Death Punch). Then I can turn my W520 into a full-time folding machine and get something like a T450s which will have a 15+hour battery life with the 6+3-cell battery set-up.

If they fuck it up then I may well look into a Surface 3, like you, or some other stuff. I looked at the ASUS offerings yesterday, and while they aren't the shiny new things just announced at CES/Computex (or whatever), they just look and feel low-rent. That goes for even the high-end N/G-series models. Nor do the reviews of the MSI gaming notebooks leave much cause for hope.

That leaves, perhaps, the HP zBook 14 (the 15 is about the same size and weight as the W520), and the Dell XPS 12 or 15. But they are all not cheap, and I can't see their Trackpoints being as good as those on the Lenovo models. The HP also looks like shit, and I don't really need the workstation-level graphics. So I may be stuck with a T-series. Obviously not going to get a Mac.

Maybe a Thinkpad Yoga 2? That may give them time to iron out any more irritating crap from the original Thinkpad Yoga. I wish I hadn't bought this Helix, it's a good idea but the execution was crap.

Having said that, the more I read about the SP3, the more I think I can see the point of getting it. That docking station is sweet (http://www.neowin.net/news/surface-p...ocking-station) and I suppose if I want proper Thinkpad keyboard P0W4H on the road I can always pair my Bluetooth Thinkpad keyboard to it, although that seems a somewhat clunky solution. Alas, poor Thinkpad Helix, I hardly knew ye...

[Blerpa]

I don't get really the point of Surface 3. I mean, ok, it's *almost* like an ultrabook. It's *almost* just a tablet. It *almost* has a keyboard. It has got a 0 - yes ZERO - score of fixability on iFixt. Starting at 900$ for entry level + keyboard? Hell, why not a Macbook Air, such a proper working machine? Me, one of your resident Apple critics and Windows aficionados. If someone like me is so certain of that, Microsoft really should think again.

Re: YW's pains - I'd still get a Lenovo. And no, not the Helix which was a total flop.
A Surface 3 is just almost something of anything it wishes to be without being properly. Not good enough. And I bet you will keep missing "proper" laptop functions and forms after a bit using it.
A gimmick machine, that what it is.