Microsoft's Surface Tablet: What the reviewers are saying

Today is a big day for Microsoft. Not only is the software giant launching the new Windows 8 OS but it will also launch it’s very own tablet, Surface. Surface runs Windows RT which is a version of Windows 8 designed for ARM processors that are used in tablets.

Key features of Surface include: a 10.6-inch display with 1366768 resolution at 148 pixels per inch. It has a Nvidia Tegra 3 processor with 2GB RAM. The tablet is currently available in 32GB and 64GB versions.

It will come pre-loaded with a beta version of Office 2013 Home and Student, which will get an upgrade for the final version that is expected later in the year. Surface has two 720p HD cameras on the front and rear. It also has a USB port and supports Bluetooth 4.0.

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So what are tech critics saying about this new tablet? While the design of the tablet is being hailed as as thing of beauty, it’s the shortage of apps and a slow OS that could turn off many consumers.

Surface goes on sale Friday and hopes to compete with Apple’s iPad and the various Android tablets out there in the market. So what are the reviews like?

[caption id=“attachment_502199” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Microsoft’s Surface tablet. AFP[/caption]

According to Matt Burns of TechCrunch, this one is not a tablet but a PC. He writes,

Even though Windows RT features myriad next-gen features, most of them are half-baked at launch. The application store is missing key apps, the single sign-on fails to sync user profiles across devices, and the social sharing features do not nativity include Twitter or Facebook.

But the lack of apps isn’t the only failing according to him. The design itself is too large and just not like a regular iPad or a Galaxy Tab. He concludes by saying,

The Surface RT is a product of unfortunate timing. The hardware is great. The Type Cover turns it into a small convertible tablet powered by a promising OS in Windows RT. That said, there are simply more mature options available right now.

Similarly, Sam Biddle of Gizmodo, said Surface had fantastic potential but he was sharply critical of the operating system, Windows RT, saying it was underpowered, and lacked functionality.

He writes that it’s not worth the money,

The Surface, with an obligatory Touch Cover, is $600. That’s a lot of money. Especially given that it’s no laptop replacement, no matter how it looks or what Microsoft says. It’s a tablet-plus, priced right alongside the iPad and in most ways inferior.

CNET’s Shara Tibken, writes,

The tablet has sluggish performance, its Windows Store is a ghost town, Metro has a steep learning curve, and the Desktop interface feels clunky and useless.

Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg writes,

Microsoft’s Surface is a tablet with some pluses: The major Office apps and nice optional keyboards. If you can live with its tiny number of third-party apps and somewhat disappointing battery life, it may give you the productivity some miss in other tablets.

Microsoft hopes said it expects to have 100,000 apps in place for the tablet by January, whereas Apple has 275,000 iPad apps available now and its tablet also runs many more iPhone apps.

It’s clear that Surface while it has a new design, won’t change the tablet market not until it gets a lt more apps.

With inputs from Reuters