5 ms·

When you're a Microsoft, an Apple or a Google you have the money to create something truly epic - and none of them have. The Surface has great design, as do al

When you're a Microsoft, an Apple or a Google you have the money to create something truly epic - and none of them have. The Surface has great design, as do all of Apple's products. However the Surface, while having the potential for great software, comes with something not quite finished. So while it's eminently usable as it is, it falls short of greatness. The iPad Mini, similarly, has the quality one expects from Apple, and yet the features, such as the display resolution and lack of GPS, give it a feel of mediocrity. And iOS itself feels a little long in the tooth these days. Not what you'd expect from Apple. Google of course have an OS that outsells any other. And yet that's plagued by patent infringements, operators and manufacturers that aren't incentivised to update the OS, and the subsequent slew of (real or perceived) security holes. Android could be truly open, but isn't. All three companies have the resources to create something earth-shatteringly innovative, usable and beautiful. And yet they don't. Nokia with the 920 is the only one that seems to get close. This really surprises me, given the importance we're placing on the mobile market.

bornhuetter 14y ago
I think they are all epic in their own way. Especially in the case of the Surface - it's the first version of the product! The original iOS and Android devices all had crappy or non-existant app stores when they were launched, and were plagued with problems and limitations. Similarly, for the right use-cases iPad Mini and the Nexus tablets are epic, and many people adore them.
- mtgx 14y ago
  What's so great about Surface besides its design and build material? I don't mean to knock on those. I think they are great, but that doesn't equal that the product overall is great. Windows RT is performing very poorly on an high-end ARM chip (don't want to imagine how it would perform on an older dual core ARM chip, or god forbid a single core one) compared to the true mobile operating systems like Android and iOS, and its app store is virtually non-existent. Office on it is also an exercise in frustration. The price is also too high for what it offers. Even if the build of materials is exactly the same as the iPad 4 (I think it's lower), that doesn't mean it should cost exactly the same as an iPad 4. Because it offers lower value than an iPad (think ecosystem, brand, etc). I also don't think it's acceptable for a $500+ product to have such a low resolution anymore. And don't tell me it has an "extra 16 GB". It doesn't. It only has 17 free GB of storage.
  - bornhuetter 14y ago
    Almost all the complaints I have heard relate to the apps, particularly third party apps. The OS itself everyone seems to agree runs very smoothly. Considering it was only released last Friday, I think we should give them a little more time to mature. Some people like the "big phone" style tablets, but personally I'm much more interested in a tablet that is a true multitasking full-fat device. Surface is imperfect, but it's a great step in the right direction. For some people it's better value than the iPad, for some its worse.
  - lotso 14y ago
    You should go play with one in person. It is a really neat tablet experience. Spec for spec it may not appear that competitive, but the user experience is really slick. Snapping apps side by side (have your music on a small pane, and another app on the larger one), the app switching model, side swipes to pull up menus, and the look and feel of Metro are all really refreshing takes on a touch os.
DanBC 14y ago
> However the Surface, while having the potential for great software, comes with something not quite finished. So while it's eminently usable as it is, it falls short of greatness. It's like "kaizen" never happened. People really need to stop thinking about revolutionary change and remember what happens with good iterative design. When I have a product that I'm supposed to interact with many times each day I really don't want change. I want something calming and familiar that gets better over time.
yohui 14y ago
If we're comparing their latest tablet products, shouldn't Google's be the Nexus 7? (Or, probably within a week, the all-but-inevitable Nexus 10.) The Nexus series represent the only devices that Google directly supports, after all. In which case I think we can strike out all the complaints you list, from the customer's perspective. The focus then turns to Android's perceived handicap in regards to tablet apps.
frogpelt 14y ago
Sure, they have the money to create something epic. But to build something epic and sell it for under $300 is taking a loss just for the epic-ness of it. That is not how Apple, MS or Google got to where they are.

bornhuetter 14y ago

I think they are all epic in their own way. Especially in the case of the Surface - it's the first version of the product! The original iOS and Android devices all had crappy or non-existant app stores when they were launched, and were plagued with problems and limitations. Similarly, for the right use-cases iPad Mini and the Nexus tablets are epic, and many people adore them.

mtgx 14y ago
What's so great about Surface besides its design and build material? I don't mean to knock on those. I think they are great, but that doesn't equal that the product overall is great. Windows RT is performing very poorly on an high-end ARM chip (don't want to imagine how it would perform on an older dual core ARM chip, or god forbid a single core one) compared to the true mobile operating systems like Android and iOS, and its app store is virtually non-existent. Office on it is also an exercise in frustration. The price is also too high for what it offers. Even if the build of materials is exactly the same as the iPad 4 (I think it's lower), that doesn't mean it should cost exactly the same as an iPad 4. Because it offers lower value than an iPad (think ecosystem, brand, etc). I also don't think it's acceptable for a $500+ product to have such a low resolution anymore. And don't tell me it has an "extra 16 GB". It doesn't. It only has 17 free GB of storage.
- bornhuetter 14y ago
  Almost all the complaints I have heard relate to the apps, particularly third party apps. The OS itself everyone seems to agree runs very smoothly. Considering it was only released last Friday, I think we should give them a little more time to mature. Some people like the "big phone" style tablets, but personally I'm much more interested in a tablet that is a true multitasking full-fat device. Surface is imperfect, but it's a great step in the right direction. For some people it's better value than the iPad, for some its worse.
- lotso 14y ago
  You should go play with one in person. It is a really neat tablet experience. Spec for spec it may not appear that competitive, but the user experience is really slick. Snapping apps side by side (have your music on a small pane, and another app on the larger one), the app switching model, side swipes to pull up menus, and the look and feel of Metro are all really refreshing takes on a touch os.

DanBC 14y ago

> However the Surface, while having the potential for great software, comes with something not quite finished. So while it's eminently usable as it is, it falls short of greatness. It's like "kaizen" never happened. People really need to stop thinking about revolutionary change and remember what happens with good iterative design. When I have a product that I'm supposed to interact with many times each day I really don't want change. I want something calming and familiar that gets better over time.

yohui 14y ago

If we're comparing their latest tablet products, shouldn't Google's be the Nexus 7? (Or, probably within a week, the all-but-inevitable Nexus 10.) The Nexus series represent the only devices that Google directly supports, after all. In which case I think we can strike out all the complaints you list, from the customer's perspective. The focus then turns to Android's perceived handicap in regards to tablet apps.

frogpelt 14y ago

Sure, they have the money to create something epic. But to build something epic and sell it for under $300 is taking a loss just for the epic-ness of it. That is not how Apple, MS or Google got to where they are.