Microsoft Surface with Windows RT - Review

 By Microsoft.

The Microsoft Surface. It was one of the most anticipated Tablet of the Holiday Season 2012. The Surface was unveiled in June this year. It was launched to customers Last week at $499 for the 32GB Tablet Only and an additional $100 for the touch cover.

First Impressions are that it looks 'Stunning' with its kick stand and its 3mm thin keyboard cover. It is as slim as Apple's iPad 4 at 9.4mm or 0.37". It weighs in at 680g, a touch heavy. The Outer Shell of the Surface is encased in Magnesium, which makes it 3x lighter than Aluminium.

 

The Surface runs on Microsoft's new Windows 8 RT. The look is adopted from the Windows Phone 7.5 with its Iconic Live Tiles. The Surface comes preloaded Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 Preview. The Pack has been optimized for Touch. There is a Windows Store for the Surface from where you can download Apps and Games. There is also a new feature called Snap Apps where you can have 2 apps open at any time. Xbox gives you access to Music, Movies and Games.

The Surface has a Full Sized USB 2.0 port, with which you can Transfer Files using Pen Drives, etc.. The Surface comes with a Touch cover which is 3mm thin and also serves as a Keyboard. If you are uncomfortable with the Touch Cover, you can buy a Type Cover with a Mechanical Keyboard which is only 6mm thin.

The Type Cover

The Touch Cover

The Surface has an Integrated Kick Stand which is extremely useful. The Surface  then stands like a Photoframe.

The Kick Stand

The Surface comes Equipped with 2 Cameras. Both 720p Front and Rear. It can be used to take photos and videos as well as Video Calls.

Now for the Insides.

Surface has a 'Quad-Core' NVIDIA Tegra 3 chipset with 12 Graphic Cores. Surface has 2GB of RAM and Storage of 32 or 64GB.

It has a 10.6" HD Ready Display with a Resolution of 1366 x 768, an Aspect Ratio of 16:9 and 5-point Multitouch. The 16:9 aspect ratio is convenient for watching movies. It has 2 Microphones and Stereo Speakers.

Surface has a microSDXC card slot, a headset jack, a HD video out port and a Cover Port. It also has a Gyroscope, an Ambient Light Sensor, a Compass and an Accelerometer. Surface has a 31.5 Watt-hour Battery which is charged by a 24W power supply.

Surface has Wi-Fi 802.11 (a/b/g/n) and Bluetooth 4.0. It comes with 1 year Warranty.

Overall the Surface Tablet is expected to be very productive. It can be used to create content, not only to consume it. Acer, Samsung and Apple in the form of the Transformer Infinity, The Galaxy Tab and the iPad 4, respectively pose stiff competition to the Surface.

Pictures Courtesy Microsoft and Phone Arena 

Review of the iPad Mini Launch event

Apple conducted an Event in San Jose, California on the 23rd of October. Here is a review of all that happened in the California Theater. 

• Apple 1st announced that they had sold over 100 million iPads. 
• Tim also spoke about the success of the iPhone 5 and how people welcomed it. 
• iOS 6 now runs on over 200 million devices.
• 300 Billion iMessages have been sent so far. At the rate of 28000 per second.
• 160 Million Game Center accounts.
• 35 Billion apps Downloaded. $6,500,000,000 paid to Devs.
• iBooks updated. No more page turning.
• MacBook Pro 13" launched with Retina Display starting at $1699.
• New Mac Mini launched at $599.
• New iMac launched with 5mm sides starting at $1299 for the 21.5".
• iPad 4 launched with A6X Processor at the same price.

 

iPad mini is finally out there. It sports a 7.9" Display with a resolution of 1028x768.

iPad mini comes with a dual-core A5 chip.

                             

iPad mini comes with a Facetime HD Camera and a 5MP iSight Camera which shoots 1080p videos. It is LTE enabled and comes with Siri. It sports the Lightning Connector same as the one on the iPhone 5. All the iPad specific apps run on the iPad mini.

It is astonishingly thin, at just 7.2mm thin. As thin as a Pencil and it weighs only 308g.

iPad mini starts at $329 for the 16GB version. It is available in Black and White.

The iPad 2 stays around at $399 and the Ex- new iPad is Discontinued.

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How to use iOS6 Passbook in India

Passbook 

Passbook is a new Feature in iOS 6 for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. It keeps things like airline boarding passes, movie tickets, and gift cards all in one place. Passbook works fine in the USA, UK, Germany and other developed Countries. It does not work that well in India. But it can be used. There are currently 5 apps for Passbook in India. They are :

1. Airbnb
2. Lufthansa
3. iHotel - Hotel Search
4. United Airlines
5. American Airlines

All these apps work quite well. You have to either enter you Ticket or Booking Number in the App and it Creates a Pass or else you can directly book on your iPhone and iPod Touch.

Here are a few screenshot of the apps available.

Lufthansa

Airbnb

United Airlines

American Airlines

iHotel

Over all, all these apps work quite well. But the Functionality of Passbook in India is quite limited.  Over time all Airlines operating in India will also add their apps for Passbook. Also Indian Diners and Cinemas such as PVR, BIG Cinemas should add their app. Passbooks is a really good app. It is worth using.