Microsoft Surface 2 Proves Improved Upon Surface RT; Microsoft Still Has A Lot to Better
Launched at the New York City on 23rd September 2013, The Surface 2 is available in the market since 22nd October 2013. It is obvious that Microsoft has taken a big step with the Surface 2, offering many advantages over the Surface RT. It is now much more polished and comes with a much improved performance. Microsoft Surface 2 is much superior in performance and smaller in size, compared to the last year’s Surface RT. The device is available in two colors – black and silver. The price tag is cheaper too, starting at US$449 for the 32 GB and $549 for the 64 GB.
The gadget has an extra wide 10.6 inch IPS LCD screen and comes with 1920 X 1080 pixel full HD resolution and pixel density of 208 ppi. The multi-touch display is protected by the Gorilla Glass made light sensor scratch resistant glass. The tablet with dimensions of 275 X 172 X 9 mm and weighs 676 grams, and runs on the Windows RT 8.1. The kickstand too has been improvised. It now comes with two settings – the original upright one, and secondly, the one with tilted screen. The latter is perfect for those who use it either keeping it on the lap or beside/ in front of them on the bed. This way, it is more stable and erect compared to the original upright position. It has a wider viewing angle.
The cameras have been upgraded when compared to the Surface RT. Surface 2 offers you a 5 MP Auto focus rear camera and a 3.5 MP front facing webcam, and also features 1080p HD video capabilities. MS has come with new keyboard/covers for both versions of Surface 2 and Surface 2 Pro, offering the Touch Cover for $120, which is thinner and lighter than the original touch cover. Surface 2 has got more power and more capabilities with the NVIDIA Tegra 4 1.7 GHz ARM quad core processor with 72 graphics cores. It has a 2 GB RAM and 32 GB or 64 GB variants. You would also find a USB 3.0 port, a microSD port. The tablet has a micro HDMI port for connecting to a TV or other devices. Connectivity features also include Wi-Fi and low energy Bluetooth 4.0. The killer battery life is featured in this model too. In fact, it has been improved and instead of 8 hours, it now offers a mammoth 10 hours of video play facility. It also has a standby time of 360 hours – certainly a very impressive feature for a tablet.
Micrsoft Surface 2 runs on Windows RT 8.1; so you do not get the complete Windows experience. The Desktop apps too will not be available; you will get only the limited Modern or Metro apps from the Windows store. The Surface 2 falls a little short when it comes to the apps, comparing it to their competitors that operate on iOS or Android. There is a limited selection of apps in the Windows store. You can find the Facebook and Twitter apps which were not available earlier. However, if you are looking for apps for Pinterest, Instagram, Angry birds, Snapchat and Vine you may be disappointed, since these are not available on Surface 2.
The Surface 2 comes with Microsoft Office RT 2013 that includes not only Word, PowerPoint and Excel but also Outlook and OneNote. This, again, is a plus point with Surface 2 as the normal subscription for the Office Home and Business is about $220 per year. When you buy this gadget , you would be getting 200 GB free storage from the Microsoft’s Skydrive cloud service, free unlimited Skype calling for one year, and free usage of the Skype Wi-Fi hotspots for one year.
Microsoft Surface 2 is definitely a much improved and better tablet, compared to Surface RT. But, it still has many limitations, especially when you compare it with tabs operating on Android or iOS. The cost also is not very competitive, when you consider the missing apps and the comparatively less impressive operating system. Microsoft can still do better.
