Showing posts with label tablet reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tablet reviews. Show all posts

Saturday, 23 March 2013

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Hey Guys, Checkout this cool Subscribe box widget with hover effect  for blogger .




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Friday, 22 March 2013


If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it; a piece of conventional wisdom that applies to everything but technology. Anything within the gadgetsphere must be constantly changed, tinkered with and improved upon. You can’t just make a smartphone as excellent as the Samsung Galaxy S III and then continue to sell it for five years.



                         You need to update it with 4G, a 1080p screen, an eightcore CPU, touch-free control  and add in the  ability to tell you when you’re coming down with the flu. But  you’ve got to make sure it still feels like the hugely successful   S III, only newer, better. 

                          So, perhaps a more apt piece of  wisdom would be ‘if it ain’t broke, keep it aesthetically the  same but significantly upgrade its hardware and functionality’.   Just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?  As hot as… a piri piri tritium milkshake.


EIGHT CORES? REALLY?



 Yes and no. While the S4’s Exynos 5 Octa processor does have eight cores, they don’t all fire at once. It’s more like having two quad-core chips: one uses lowerpower A7 cores to accomplish basic tasks, while  the other, composed of four 1.6GHz A15 cores,  rumbles into life when you want to play a  demanding game or render an effect on to some  video. The idea isn’t to provide more power than  you could possibly use, it’s to save battery.


YOU CAN NOT TOUCH THIS



 The S4 is a touch phone you don't need to touch. It works like this… 

  AIR GESTURE



 If you’re a butcher, you’ll know  the frustration of missing an important call because you can’t touch your phone with meatcovered hands. No more! Thanks  to the S4’s ingenious fingertracking, you can answer calls   by wafting your bloodstained  paw above the screen, change  music tracks with a sideways  flourish or scroll websites with  a downward wave. Hygienic.

SMART SCROLL &  SMART PAUSE 



The S4 doesn’t just track your fingers. Like its predecessor, it can also track your eyes, but in a more sophisticated fashion: it will now scroll through webpages automatically by looking at which bit of the screen you’re reading. And when you’re watching a video, the footage will pause if you look away. Sounds great, but what if you’re looking away to  avoid seeing a football score,  film  spoiler or an advert for Pledge Lemon with zesty nanoparticles?  


 SPECIAL SKILLS




S TRANSLATE 

The S4’s extra goodies include a compelling translator app that does text-to-speech (type your phrase in English, it’ll say it in Korean) and speech-to-text (a Frenchman speaks to your phone, it shows you the translation). You can also use image recognition to translate printed words such as menus or syndicated editions of Stuff. Worried about roaming charges? The translator has thousands of phrases stored in  10 languages, so you won’t even need an active data connection. 

 

 S HEALTH

 From the distance you’ve walked or run, to how well you slept, to more sophisticated data about you and your surroundings, the S4 is able to constantly collect information about your exercise, diet and general health… and secretly provide that data to the giant pharmaceutical companies that secretly rule our world. Only kidding. Its life-tracking skills can help you lose weight, sleep better or train for a marathon.



 CAMERA SMARTS 


ERASER 

 Like a personal Stalinist airbrusher, it rids backgrounds of those pesky photobombers. 

 DUAL CAMERA  

 Puts the picturetaker in the picture using the 2MP  front camera (stills or video).   DRAMA SHOT   Combines multiple  shots taken in burst mode into  one action-packed image.
 

OTHER AWESOME FEATURES



 IR IMPRESSED 

This season’s must-have accessory is something a little bit retro: an infra-red  ‘blaster’ that allows you to use your smartphone as a universal remote.  The Samsung WatchON app provides you with an EPG for full control of your telly, but you can also use it to control your hi-fi, set-top box, Blu-ray player and even some air-conditioning units. 



WEIGHTY 1080 

There was no way Samsung was going to stick anything other than a 1080p display in its flagship phone, and the S4’s Super AMOLED pentile display takes a seat at the big boys’ table with a pixel density of 440ppi. It’s also coated in Gorilla Glass 3, which manufacturer Corning claims is tougher than aluminium of the same thickness .


ASTUTE SHOOTER 

We haven’t had a chance to crack the S4 open and rummage around its steely intestines, but we’d put money on that being the same 13-megapixel Sony camera module you’ll find in most of this year’s flagship phones. However, software features such as Drama Shot and Eraser (see panel, left) should help it stand out from the camera crowd.

 A FAMILIAR FACE 

At 7.9mm, it’s almost a millimetre thinner than the S III, but otherwise pretty much exactly the same size and weight. With a bit of judicious bezel-shaving, though, Samsung  has managed to shoehorn a full 5in screen into the S4 (compared with its predecessor’s 4.8in display). Which is great, because who likes a big bezel?     

OPEN GALAXY

 There are two big reasons to prefer Samsung offerings over rival Android phones: they have removable batteries and microSD slots. These might seem trivial, but anyone with an 8GB Nexus 4 will weep at the thought of being able to add an extra 64GB for £30. And while you shouldn’t really need a spare 2600mAh battery, it’s nice to have the option.      

Wednesday, 20 March 2013



Sony’s Xperia Z is an iconic flagship smar tphone that you can use in the shower, but can this quad-core maestro justify its steep asking price?

The Sony xperia Z is a powerful premium smartphone that boasts a crisp five-inch screen and excellent camera, although the bulky dustmagnet body and iffy  battery life disappoint.

 Price


£529 (SIM-Free)

Specifications


Size   139x71x7.9mm
Weight   146g
Display   5-inch TFT
Resolution   1920x1080 pixels
Camera   13 megapixels
Front camera   2 megapixels
Video   Yes, 1080p
Processor   1.5GHz Qualcomm  Quad-Core
RAM  N/A
Storage  16GB (11.7GB usable)
Internet   Wi-Fi, HSDPA, HSPA,  EDGE, LTE 4G
GPS   Yes
Browser   BB10
Email  Chrome
Music player  Yes
Video player  Yes
Talktime   660 minutes
Standby   550 hours





Awesome Features

Smart and feature-packed 13-megapixel camera  
  Beautifully crisp and vibrant 1080p screen   
 4G LTE compatible   
 Waterproof    
Wireless connectivity 

Things That Sucks

Below average battery life  
Bulky dust-lovin’ design  
Sony bloatware  

KilleR app 

1080p five-inch screen A comfortably spacious and uber-sharp means of enjoying the web, movies, photos and games.

Similar To

 HTC One X+ 
Another generously-sized powerhouse of a phone, with an excellent camera and surprisingly good battery life.



New Features 


WaterTight 

All of the Xperia’s ports are covered with flaps, to keep liquids out.

 Turn Me on 

 The iconic circular power button juts out from the side, making it easy to find.

  Android xperience 

  Sony’s familiar Xperia  interface makes its return on the Xperia Z.

                                       
                                                          Sony’ Xperia Z was launched in Las Vegas at the start of the year,  and we were instantly taken with its glossy design and beautiful five-inch full HD display. It might not have the prestige of being James Bond’s smartphone of choice (that was its predecessor the Sony Xperia T), but with an impressive set of specs and Sony’s broad expertise in crafting highly desirable mini machines, we were hopeful that the Xperia Z could wow over media fans, gamers and anyone who appreciates a phone you can dunk in your pint without fear.

 Design 



Sony’s Xperia Z has a design you’ll either drool over or raise an eyebrow at. It’s a rectangular chunk with  straight edges and only the tiniest hint of curvature in each corner – quite unusual for a smartphone. Factor in the size of it – the Xperia Z is taller even than the Samsung Galaxy S III – and it’s quite a handful. 

                                  We always used two hands when operating it, and could often feel a corner digging into our thighs when we were sat with it in our jeans pocket. That said, we found the Xperia Z had an instant desirable “you’re real purdy” appeal and we personally love the glossy sheen.

                      The entire front panel is made of glass, as is the rear, giving the phone a premium finish. you might think that renders the Xperia Z vulnerable to drops, knocks and bumps, but it’s surprisingly  tough with an anti-shatter coating for added protection. The frame is also made of glass fibre polyamide, which is used as a metal substitute in car parts.

                            The edges feel pleasantly rubbery, and it can take plenty of abuse. our only bugbear was the slight gap between the rear glass panels and the frame, which forms a trench-like haven for dust and annoying white particles. 

                            The Xperia Z has gone through some rigorous military-grade resistance testing, and its watertight nature means it can be submerged in liquid for half an hour with no ill effects. We’ve seen a fair few Xperia Zs dumped in pints of beer over the past month, and even the golden nectar won’t kill this little blighter.

                                        Even better, the beer still tastes fine afterwards. To make the Xperia Z watertight, the ports have all been covered up. Thankfully they’re still easy to access, with tiny grooves for you to stick your fingernails into. One of the iconic features of the phone is its circular power button, which juts clear out of the right edge where your fingers or thumb naturally lie – it looks cool and means you won’t be fumbling to turn the Xperia on, even in the dark.



Android 

The Xperia Z rocks Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and setting it up is relatively painless: just tap your way through the usual time/language/account gubbins and you’re good to go. Annoyingly we had to turn on automatic syncing for our Google account, so we could get emails and calendar updates without manually requesting it in the settings menu. This option is buried away under data usage instead of in the accounts section, so it took us a while to find, but once that was done our mails and other bits updated instantly as expected. As with all Xperia phones, the Xperia Z comes laden with preinstalled apps that take up a fair  chunk of storage space: you get 16GB  of storage space for your files, but only 10GB is usable from the off (thankfully you get a memory card slot to expand it). The five desktops also come filled with Sony widgets, but it’s easy enough to clear them if you wish. Other than that, it’s business as usual, with Android running perfectly smoothly.

Top typist 

Texting and emailing is a quick, painless process thanks to the virtual keyboard’s flexibility. You’ve got three different keyboards to choose from, and you can further customise the layout in the Xperia Z’s settings – for instance, we opted to have a comma and full stop button always visible, but not a smiley button (as we’re all miserablists). 

               Autocorrect and the usual features are all present and can be toggled on or off. It’s also easy to add a photo, doodle or map location to a text message, if you’re still on board the MMS train. Web browsing is also a joy, thanks in part to the brilliant screen which is spacious and sharp, and in part to the 4G LTE support which means websites spring up a second or two after you click the link – providing  you’re in a supported area, of course.

                        Around London we consistently hit download and upload speeds over 10Mbps, often reaching 20Mbps. With more networks leaping on the massive rampaging 4G beast this year, it’s good to see the Xperia Z has  been future-proofed with both LTE support and  also built-in NFC.



Socialite 

Sony’s Timescape widget, which gathered all of your social media content into one place, always felt like a clunky halfbaked idea. That’s  probably why Sony has ditched it entirely and  replaced it with ‘Socialife’, which gives you fast access to your Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts, as well as five different news streams (entertainment, news, tech, woman and ‘mixed bag’ – these weren’t working yet as our review went live). 

                         Your content is presented in a clear chronological manner, with avatars so you can see who’s posted what. You can also post messages to your own feeds. There are still some quirks in this early version of Socialife – for instance, pulling down your timeline  to refresh it only seemed to work sporadically, and some Twitter/ Facebook photos were automatically displayed while others required two taps to view. 

                   The desktop widget also proved completely useless and glitchy, often telling us there were no posts to see here, keep on moving please. We’re hoping these issues get sorted out in an update very soon, then Socialife could be an enticing prospect for socialites.






 

Media 

One of the biggest draws of the Xperia Z is the lusciously vibrant five-inch TFT screen. With its 1920 x 1080 full HD resolution, this is one of the finest ways to enjoy movies, games and the world wide web on the move.

                      Images are razor sharp, something you can only truly appreciate by kicking back with HD films and photos, and the rich colour reproduction is like triple chocolate brownies for your eyeballs. The panel is bright enough to counter even harsh glare providing you crank it right up, and viewing angles are excellent. As a touch-screen it’s also superb, responding instantly to every poke, swipe and prod. 

                          Unfortunately the screen is also a massive dust and grit magnet, so you’ll be constantly wiping it down (or, of course, dunking it in your drink) to get rid of fluff and debris. 

 
Shutterbug Snaps

  Sony’s Xperia Z has a fully featured 13-megapixel camera which takes impressive shots on auto-mode. Here are some examples:





 







                    


Connectivity 

Sony reckons it’s got more NFCenabled gizmos than any other  manufacturer on the planet, and the  good news for Sony fans is that they  will talk to each other using this  short-range wireless technology,  making life that much easier. We saw  a demonstration of the Xperia Z  connecting to a Sony Bravia TV in an  instant, simply by touching the  handset to the TV’s remote control (which also has built-in NFC). You can then throw your movies, photos, apps and whatever you like onto the big screen, to share with others or simply for comfort. 

                   The Xperia Z will also stream music to compatible headphones and speakers, or back up your files with an NFC ‘Personal Content Station’. This all means you’re tied into decking your home out with Sony gadgets of course, but there’s no denying it’s a slick feature and the way of the future. 

performance and battery life 

A quad-core processor is buried away in that chunky frame and offers strong performance, whatever you end up doing. We tested some of the latest action-packed games, which demand a powerful GPU to keep those high-res visuals running smoothly, and not once did we notice the frame rate drop. 

                               This gave us the edge when playing internet-based shooters like ShadowGun: DeadZone, which pits you against fellow gunwielding maniacs around the world.  The phone gets nice and toasty around the top edge under intense use, but not to a worrying degree. 

               Of course, all that power can sometimes drain the battery far too fast. Our first battery test involved keeping everything except Wi-Fi turned off, and using the phone as normal – checking emails and texts, occasionally browsing the web or playing around with apps. 



                                Even with the enormous power-sucking display, we’d normally hope for over 24 hours of battery life with moderate use, as we got from the likes of the HTC One X+. Sadly the Xperia Z died well before we headed to bed, and under reasonably heavy use it only lasts around five hours. Streaming video over Wi-Fi, we got just over four hours of use. Thankfully there’s a host of power saving options including auto-brightness, Stamina mode (which disables Wi-Fi and mobile data when the screen is turned off – no good if you stream music) and Low Battery mode (which turns your screen brightness right down and disables pre-selected features when the battery drains to a set level). 

                          Unfortunately the Stamina mode is only useful if your phone spends lots of time in your pocket, and as soon as you start using it – even with brightness levels turned down and as many features as possible disabled – the battery still drains far too fast.

Camera 



You can access the 13-megapixel camera either from the lock screen or the Android desktop, and while the camera app loads in under a second from the lock screen, we found it took four to five seconds to load when  “ tapping the shortcut on our home screen. Hopefully this is a temporary glitch that’s either limited to our test handset or will be sorted in a quick  update, as it could mean missing out on some  impromptu action shots. 

                   Sony’s smartphone cameras get better with every iteration, and the Xperia Z’s is once again the best we’ve seen on a Sony device. The  automatic mode is incredibly smart, flipping  between dozens of different pre-set modes depending on the atmospheric conditions to get the best possible shot. 

                             All you need to do is hit the on-screen shutter button, and the camera does the rest. Our daytime pics are powerfully crisp with realistically reproduced colours, while gloomier shots also came out well, dripping with atmosphere. You can tap the screen to focus on a specific point, which lends itself to fantastic close-up macro shots, or just let the intelligent auto-focus do its job. 

                               When you find yourself in dingy pubs or taking night shots, the Xperia Z more than holds its own against other premium smartphones. Keep  the flash off and it does an admirable job of sucking in light to brighten up the shot, and few of our photos suffered from motion blur or other issues that can destroy low-light shots. However, images can look very grainy so you’re best off using the flash. 

                          This keeps your subject sharp without over-exposing them. Switch to manual mode and you can tweak a veritable feast of features, including a smile-spotting auto-shutter, geotagging, ISO levels and white balance, burst mode (takes lots of photos in quick succession with a single shutter push) and plenty of funky filters. You also get the usual panorama mode, plus the ability to record 1080p HD video. Our home movies looked fantastic when played back on a big screen.

 The verdict 



Sony’s Xperia Z may rock a hefty body that proves best friend to dust bunnies, and suffer from sub-par battery life, but it’s still a sleek, desirable and durable superphone that’s loaded with power and killer features. The intelligent 13-megapixel camera and full HD screen complement each other perfectly, while NFC and 4G LTE support keep it future-proof.
 


Wednesday, 6 March 2013

         
          

 The Nexus 10, Surface RT and fourth-gen iPad represent the best of each tablet operating system, but how do they stack up against each other?

“In most cases, people choose and operating system and stick with it”

 “The Surface RT’s display looks low-res in the face of the iPad’s beautiful Retina-quality screen, but the Nexus 10 is  the real star of the show here”

 Smartphone and tablet users tend to fall into two categories: those who are diehard Apple fans and seemingly willing to pay any price for its fashionable hardware, and those who prefer the semi-open approach of Google's Android operating system and the less costly hardware on which it runs. 
                                      Now there's a third category, which champions Windows RT. In most cases, people choose an operating system and stick with it. The OS feels familiar, you already know your media collection is supported, and if you have more than one such device you can expect them to play well together. 
                                     
                             So, if you have an iPhone you'll probably want an iPad; if you have a Galaxy S III or Nexus 4 you'll likely want the Nexus 10; and if you're a Windows Phone user, perhaps the most loyal of the lot, you'll almost certainly be eyeing up the Surface. 

             But what if you don't have a particular preference in terms of the operating system? Here, we put head-to-head the best each platform has to offer.



Price

Microsoft's Surface RT starts at £399 with 32GB of storage, whereas this amount of cash will net you only a 16GB iPad. Add a Touch Cover, though, and the Surface RT matches Apple's 32GB slate at £479. The Nexus 10 offers great value, with a 16GB model costing £319, and 32GB £389.

Dimensions

Somewhat surprisingly, the iPad is the chunkiest tablet in this trio. The Nexus 10 is the slimmest, at 8.9mm; the Surface RT is also slightly thinner than the iPad at 9.3mm versus 9.4mm. The Nexus is a relative lightweight, at 603g, although the 662g iPad and 678g Surface don't tip the scales much further.


Screen

Every full-size iPad released by Apple has had a 9.7in screen, which is ever so slightly smaller than that of the 10.1in Nexus and 10.6in Surface. Until the Nexus 10 launched, the iPad had by far the best tablet screen resolution on the market. The Surface RT's 1366x768, 148ppi ClearType display looks comparatively low-res in the face of the iPad's beautiful 2048x1536, 264ppi Retina-quality screen, but the Nexus 10 is the real star of the show here, with a 2560x1600, 300ppi display.

Processor and memory

It's difficult to compare the Surface's nVidia Tegra 3 quad-core chip with the dual-core 1.39GHz A6X CPU selected by Apple and 1.7GHz ARM Cortex A-15 preferred by Google, since our usual benchmarks are incompatible with Microsoft's tablet. 
                                  
                            In Geekbench, the iPad scored 1,769 points, and the Nexus 10 recorded a massive 2,505 – the best we've seen yet. In real-world use, the Surface felt like the slower tablet – not that it's by any means slow. Animations are smooth and demanding tasks, such as pinch-zooming in Internet Explorer and Bing Maps, is responsive. This is no doubt helped by the 2GB of RAM. Nexus 10 vs Surface RT vs iPad  REVIEWS On the iPad and Nexus 10 we also ran the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark and GLBenchmark graphics test.
                              
                         The iPad fared better in both, recording 854ms against the Nexus 10's 1,329ms in SunSpider, and 39fps versus 27fps in GLBenchmark. The latter result is perhaps to be expected, given that the  iPad sports quad-core graphics. However, it's equipped with just 1GB of RAM, whereas the  Nexus 10 has 2GB.

Storage

Neither iPad nor Nexus allow you to add to the storage capacity through removable media, so it’s important to carefully calculate what capacity you’re likely to need – the iPad is available from 16- to 64GB, the Nexus is 16- or 32GB. The Surface RT, by comparison, has a microSDXC slot, which lets you add up to 64GB to its 32- or 64GB of internal storage.

Cameras

On the photography side of things the Nexus 10 and iPad 4 have a similar setup, and both are better than that of the Surface RT in our subjective tests. Both iPad and Nexus have a 5Mp rear-facing camera capable of 1080p video, and front-facing webcams – the Nexus' offers a slightly higher megapixel rating, at 1.9Mp versus 1.2Mp. Meanwhile, the Surface supports only 720p video, but when propped up with its kickstand the front-facing cam is cleverly angled such that it's level.

Connectivity

 Apple's latest iPad replaces the 30-pin docking port with a Lightning connector.  This means existing iPad accessories will work only with a £25 adaptor. Both the Nexus 10 and Microsoft Surface RT are more user-friendly in this regard: the Nexus 10 charges via Micro USB and offers a Micro HDMI slot, while the Surface RT has a full-size USB 2.0 port, a microSDXC slot and an HD video-out port. All three tablets support Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11n Wi-Fi, although the Nexus 10 and iPad can cope with both 2.4- and 5GHz frequency bands. The Nexus also caters for NFC, while the iPad supports 3G and 4G LTE in the UK.

 Battery

 The iPad has a 42.5Wh battery, while the Nexus 10 has a lower-capacity 33.3Wh pack and the Surface’s is lower still, at 31.5Wh. The results are as you would expect: the iPad can keep going for around 10 hours, while the Nexus can manage nine and the Surface eight.




      Microsoft Surface RT vs Pro

Two versions of Microsoft’s Surface tablet are available, and it’s essential that  you understand the differences before making a purchasing decision

“The Surface RT and Pro look similar, but they vary wildly in specification and run different versions of Windows 8”

“The Surface Pro has the type of hardware  line-up you’d expect to find in an Ultrabook”


Microsoft's Surface is its own-brand tablet, but there are two models,  the Surface RT and Surface Pro. So what are the differences between  the two and which one is right for you? On the, er, surface, both tablets look pretty similar. But while they have an almost identical design, they vary wildly in specification and run different versions of Windows 8. Here, we'll compare the specification of the two Surface tablets and highlight the differences between them.

Dimensions

It's difficult to tell the difference between the Surface Pro and the RT, since they share similar dimensions – both are 275x172mm. However, with beefier components to pack in, the Surface Pro is thicker, at 13.5mm compared to 9.5mm. It's not a surprise that the Pro is also heavier, at 903g, while the RT weighs 686g.

Price

The Surface RT starts at £399 and goes up to £559. Microsoft has announced only US pricing for the Pro, which will launch in January with prices starting at $899.

 Screen

Both tablets have a 10.6in ClearType screen, designed to be used predominantly in landscape mode. Each has an aspect ratio of 16:9, but there are some differences. The main difference is resolution: the Surface RT offers 1366x768 pixels, whereas the Surface Pro has a full-HD resolution of 1920x1080. This means the Pro's pixel density of 208ppi is greater than the 148ppi offered by the RT. Another difference is that the Surface RT supports up to five-point multitouch, while the Surface Pro offers 10-point input.

Processor

Running the tablet-specific version of Windows 8, the Surface RT is fitted with the popular nVidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. The Surface Pro, by comparison, has the type of hardware line-up you'd typically find in an Ultrabook. It boasts a third-generation Intel Ivy Bridge Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM. We don’t know the exact processor model, but it will be a dual-core chip with a clock speed of 1.7GHz and integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics.

Storage

Both Surface tablets are available with two storage capacities. The Surface RT offers 32- or 64GB, while the Surface Pro has 64- or 128GB. They each come with a microSDXC card slot for expanding this capacity,  and a full-size USB port is useful for attaching an external hard drive.

Cameras

There's no difference when it comes to the cameras. Both the Surface Pro and Surface RT have 720p front and rear cameras. The rear camera is angled such that it's level when the tablet is propped up with its kickstand.

Connectivity

Connectivity options are very similar for the Surface Pro and Surface RT.  Both have Bluetooth 4.0, a headphone jack, a microSDXC card slot and  a 2x2 Mimo antennae for 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. However, the Surface RT offers USB 2.0 and Micro HDMI, while the Surface Pro one-ups it with USB 3.0 and Mini DisplayPort connections.

 Software

The software each tablet runs is perhaps the most important distinction. The Pro runs the full version on Windows 8, as seen on laptops and PCs, while the Surface RT runs Windows RT, the version of Windows 8 designed for ARM processors. Operating in the tiled Modern UI, the tablets are no different; apps for this part of the operating system can be downloaded from the Windows Store. It's in desktop mode that you'll notice a real difference. On the Surface RT,  this is merely an environment in which you can run Office and Internet Explorer, and access the Control Panel and File Explorer. On the Pro, which isn’t preinstalled with Office, you can run legacy x86 programs.

Battery

The Surface RT has a 31.5Wh battery, while the Surface Pro has a higher-capacity 42Wh pack. Despite this, the Pro offers half the battery life of the RT – Microsoft claims it runs to around four hours.

Bottom line

The Surface Pro is our preferred choice. The full-HD screen, extra storage, laptop-like spec and ability to install any Windows software gives it the edge. 






     
              Microsoft Surface RT

Microsoft’s highly anticipated Surface RT has arrived. Thankfully,  it’s nothing like the dogs previous Windows tablets have been

● Price From £399 ● comPany microSoFT ● WeBSiTe microsoft.com


“The keyboard cover clicks securely into place, and you can even dangle the Surface from its cover without it hitting the ground”

Windows RT, the version for ARM tablets of Microsoft’s flagship OS, is finally available on a range of devices, including its own Surface RT. The 10.6in  screen provides a fraction more room in which to manoeuvre than the iPad, but it’s just as thin as Apple’s tablet at 9.5mm. The Surface is easy to squeeze into a bag, and it isn’t too heavy to carry, at 686g. An optional cover adds around 200g. In contrast to the rounded iPad, the Surface has a far more angular, businesslike yet sleek design. In portrait mode, Windows 8’s tile-based interface looks  odd, but held in its preferred landscape mode the Surface promotes wrist strain.  This tablet is very much designed to be operated from a desk. The kickstand is an important element. A bracket flicks out at the tablet’s rear, in the process revealing a microSDXC slot, which lets you add up to 64GB more storage, but the kickstand’s rake isn’t adjustable. Adding one of two keyboard covers creates what feels like a pint-sized laptop. These keyboards are a genius invention. The Touch Cover, just 3mm-thick with flat keys, initially feels strange in use, although you quickly get used to it. Its pressuresensitive touchpads are fine for casual use, but serious typing demands the Type  Cover. This is double the thickness, but fitted with real keys. Both keyboard covers click securely into place, and you can even dangle the Surface from its cover without it hitting the ground.  The Surface RT feels like a premium product right out the box. We’d have been more impressed in this regard had it not been for an unseemly gap on the rear, through which the internals are on display. The VaporMG chassis, made from injection-moulded magnesium, makes the slab strong and nice to the touch; although, within minutes, we’d tainted its absorbent fi nish with scores of fingerprints.

 Performance

 Windows RT can’t run regular x86 software, making it all but useless when faced with legacy Windows programs. It’s designed to run on ARM processors, and the Surface is fi tted with a 1.3GHz nVidia Tegra 3 quad-core chip and 2GB of memory. There’s precious little software available for Windows RT, which includes our usual benchmarking utility. Through Internet Explorer 10.0 we were able to run SunSpider, in which the Surface recorded 1,024ms in the Desktop mode and 985ms in the Modern UI. Both scores trail the iPad’s 854ms. From the user’s perspective the interface is extremely slick, just like Windows Phone 8. The interface animations are smooth, and tasks such as pinch-zooming in Internet Explorer are responsive.  Apps don’t launch as quickly as we’d like, though, and we were often left staring at Windows 8’s swirly dots for several seconds upon fi rst launch – behaviour we’ve previously noted in Windows Phone 8. At its comparable £399 price point, the 32GB Surface has twice the storage of the 16GB iPad 4. A microSDXC slot lets you add up to 64GB more. There’s also a   64GB Surface RT, which costs £559 (including the Touch keyboard).  The 1366x768 pixel count is common on 15in laptops, but on a 10.6in tablet it gives a higher 148ppi pixel density. The screen looks good at a regular viewing distance, matching the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, but it’s no Retina iPad; look closer and fuzzy edges are noticeable in reading type. More than the usual Wi-Fi, the Surface has two antennae for better wireless performance, plus Bluetooth. There’s also  a headphone jack, micro-HDMI, full-sized USB, and a keyboard dock and charging port. The Surface won’t charge over USB, although this port accepts peripherals. Our experience of battery life bemused us. We started the day with a full charge, and used the tablet for 90 mins while shooting our video review, and 30 minutes browsing the web. The next day the battery was fl at. Microsoft touts a seven- to 15-day idle runtime.

 Softwhere?

 Most interaction is via the touchy Modern UI with its tiled design. Learn all the fi nger gestures and it’s a breeze to navigate. One handy feature is the ability to confi gure multiple user accounts. Logging into the tablet with our Windows Live account instantly populated the tablet with our contacts, email and calendar. The Store lets you buy apps, although many everyday utilities, including Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Google Maps and Dropbox, are missing. The Surface includes a preview of Offi ce 2013, which runs within the Desktop tile. This makes the Surface a great portable productivity PC.

 Bottom line

 The Surface RT is a very well built and a cleverly designed tablet. The hardware is mostly sound and Windows RT runs smoothly, but lacks decent apps.

 SPECIFICATIONS

 1.3GHz nVidia Tegra 3 quad-core ARM; 2GB RAM; 32/64GB fl ash storage; 10.6in (1366x768) LCD; 802.11a/b/g/n, 2x2 Mimo; Bluetooth; microSDXC; USB 2.0; Micro HDMI; Microsoft Offi ce Home & Student 2013 RT  (preview); 31.5Wh  fi xed lithium battery; 275x172x9.5mm; 686g








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