Microsoft Surface - Hit or Miss

Microsoft, The Redmond Giant unveiled a new Surface on 18th of June. 

No misunderstandings here. For those of you who know the Original Surface,  Its not the new version of Gigantic touchscreen device , that was first unveiled in 2007 and then again at CES 2011 with v2.0. That is now renamed to "Samsung SUR40 with Microsoft Pixelsense ". 

This is a whole new world of Microsoft Surface.


First of all, Surface is the first hardware piece that made me say "I want One" during the live keynote.
and the last time I said those words , they were for Nokia N8 , which I proudly own today, even after Nokia abandoned the platform . For the Microsoft Surface, The Redmond Giant has done an incredibly good job with the hardware, though it missed on a few parts other than hardware, will get on to that a bit later on.

Surface will be available in two variants.
   
Surface with Windows RT,  will be powered by Nvidia Tegra-based ARM chip. My wild guess it'll either be a Tegra 3(Cortex-A9) or a Tegra 4(Cortex-A15) .
The tablet will feature a 10.6" Cleartype HD capacitive display. Storage capacity will be either 32GB or 64GB. I/O wise, it'll feature a USB 2.0 and microSD cards slots. This is a huge plus point for users like me, who keep their data on multiple flash drives . And microSD cards can expand the storage by another 32GB.
As, we all know, Windows RT won't be able to run any desktop applications, well Microsoft took an exception and integrated Office Home and Student 2013 RT in the Surface  - Bonus Point.
What it means, is that you'll be able to enjoy Metro Interface of the Windows RT with an additional benefit of full Office suite on the go.
It'll be a direct competitor to Apple's iPad, atleast according to Microsoft. And if Microsoft can do well in getting some Quality apps for the ecosystem, this might be a stellar.


Surface Pro - The more power packed sibling will run Windows 8 Pro and will be powered by Intel's Ivy bridge based processors. The one used during the keynote had a 3rd Gen Core i5.  The display will be a 10.6" Full HD i.e. 1080p Cleartype capacitive one. It also has two storage capacities , like its other sibling, 64GB and 128GB.
It will also feature USB 3.0 and microSDXC for extended capacities and a Mini Display Port (think of it as an HDMI+).

Full Keynote Here :



May be I'm stretching it a little bit but, Surface Pro is the Real Desktop PC Replacement. Its the new form factor of  PCs and this is exactly what tablets were supposed to do. To bring Desktop Environment to the small/handy form factor, unlike most competitors. You can run full fledged desktop applications like Photoshop etc. without breaking a sweat. Transfer content to and from flash drives and microSD cards, and do virtually anything you could do on your Desktop/laptop.

And With Vapor-MG case , built-in side stand and those cool Touch Covers for both. Users are in for a delight. Furthermore, Surface Pro comes with a pen, an accessory for Office users, that can be used to fill forms/documents using the Digital ink.


Microsoft, missed on a few notes though , Pricing for one, hasn't yet been revealed for either models. Furthermore, the availability is still  in a couple of Months. 
And, it does not comes with a stretched windows phone. Its a REAL Desktop Environment on those Tablets.

I'm getting one, The Pro, as soon as I've enough money...!!

What are your thoughts ?  Leave in the comment section below.

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Nokia,Microsoft - The Story So Far

 Ever Since Nokia and Microsoft entered into a strategic alliance with Nokia using Windows Phone 7.5 a.k.a Mango as their Primary Smartphone OS in favour of their own Symbian and Meego (a project with Intel Corp.)  rumours have it that Microsoft will buy Nokia . But it hasn't happened yet and we hope it never does.
The questions is "Has this partnership helped Nokia or Microsoft ?"

The Answer is a Yes and a No .

The partnership has helped Microsoft for sure . Windows Phone, ever since its release in October 2010 has been appreciated for its Minimalistic Design , Buttery Smooth UI and Hardware Optimizations. However it never got the enough 'hype' it needed to be a successful smartphone platform . With The Software Giant teaming up with Nokia , it has now access to those Global Markets where Nokia is still a brand of trust n has large market share (like India and Other Asian Countries).

In china , WindowsPhone market share has passed iOS leading 7% to 6% in just about 3 Months.

The partnership has also helped Microsoft as now Bing Maps will use Nokia's sat-nav services.

With its partnership with Nokia , Microsoft has benefited  for sure. They got the 'hype' WindowsPhone needed and with Nokia's hardware designs n their Global Reach Microsoft knows they have the best opportunity to be the third Ecosytem.

For Nokia, the partnership is a Mixed bag as of now. Nokia may have jumped from the 'burning platform' but tough times are still not over. Since their partnership on 10 Feb,2011 - Nokia was quick to launch 2 windowsphone powered Smartphones viz. Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 . Although Nokia has the rights to alter the UI and other functionalities on any windowsphone device they make , the CEO Stephen Elop said they won't do it , at least for now. Reason - Any alteration would mean delayed updates. Rather they differentiated from other windowsphone users by adding apps like Nokia Maps,Nokia Music and Nokia Drive.
Nokia recently signed a special contract with companies like ESPN,Rovio and a few more to bring their apps to the windowsphone Marketplace , most of them are/will be exclusive to Lumia range for a few time.
They even expanded their portfolio with apps like Nokia Reading and Nokia Transport .

With Lumia 710, Nokia paved their way to North American Market , where Symbian never appealed to customers or carriers. The handset was made available at a contract of $50 for two years with T-Mobile and it did quite well for its competition.

At CES 2012, Nokia launched their flagship device Nokia Lumia 900 which was made available in US with a 2 year exclusive contract with AT&T at $100. The handset managed to outdo many Android phones in similar price range and has been selling like hotcakes. Even AT&T staff were happy to see its sales with their Chairman seen promoting it instead of the iPhone. So, as far as US is concerned , Nokia did quite well.

As for the Emerging Markets like India, Nokia still has a long way to go. Android is getting most of the Symbian shares as Symbian is declared dead by Nokia and windowsphone has many limitations for customers in these markets. Take Bluetooth File Transfer,File Manager,Ability to install apps outside from Marketplace as example. WindowsPhone supports none of these ,as of now at least and Symbian customers are moving to Android because of these limitations.

With WindowsPhone 8 a.k.a. Apollo arriving this Q4, we can expect some multi-core phones and tablets at Nokia World 2012 with some amazing 'Pureview' technology and perhaps 'waterproof' devices.
I hope they do well and regain their lost market share.

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