Make sure you get full W8 not just RT.
aspro said:They sell those down here. How is the browser? (I am already a Kindle reading dude). It's sub $200.
Amazon's Silk browser works well. I've had no problems with it, except that it does not support Flash, which does limit functionality on some websites. Youtube works, though.
gamingeek said:Make sure you get full W8 not just RT.
I am using W8 Desktop on my PC, but would I really need it on a tablet (if it is just for posting on here and watching media?)
aspro said:I am using W8 Desktop on my PC, but would I really need it on a tablet (if it is just for posting on here and watching media?)
If you're not going to do anything productive on it, I honnestly don't think you need a full windows. Look at the millions of Ipad owners. They make do just fine. RT also comes with some form of Office for free, which I would consider a nice extra. From my experience with it (from my winphone) it's only usefull if you're willing to use Onedrive, as it can only save to Onedrive or a Sharepoint server (which no one except large companies have).
Also, the cool thing with having multiple win8 devices is that all your apps and stuff transfer over. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of stuff that was taken care of and installed by the OS itself.
Oh, and I also found this in-depth, purely informative video review of the Moko rotary case (and a leatherman knife) 
SupremeAC said:aspro said:I am using W8 Desktop on my PC, but would I really need it on a tablet (if it is just for posting on here and watching media?)
If you're not going to do anything productive on it, I honnestly don't think you need a full windows. Look at the millions of Ipad owners. They make do just fine. RT also comes with some form of Office for free, which I would consider a nice extra. From my experience with it (from my winphone) it's only usefull if you're willing to use Onedrive, as it can only save to Onedrive or a Sharepoint server (which no one except large companies have).
Also, the cool thing with having multiple win8 devices is that all your apps and stuff transfer over. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of stuff that was taken care of and installed by the OS itself.
I am already using onedrive and a windows phone. So it makes sense. 
aspro said:I am already using onedrive and a windows phone. So it makes sense.
I bought a Synology nas a year ago and want to keep everything there. The length I have had to go to keep everything from just saving to Onedrive... and I'm still struggling to get my outlook working while on the go. 
What windows phone do you have? I have a Lumia 520, the cheapest one I could find 
I got the Nokia 625 (whch was free -- so you are doing better than I.
I love Windows phone over android. I have my outlook.com account working flawlessly and a seperate tile for my work outlook-based mail.
I set up a free .live/ . outlook.com account and forwarded my gmail to it a couple of years ago when it was clear google was getting shady.
Yeah, android can keep their customizability, the Winphone UI is just so much better. I don't receive my mail on my phone. It drove me nuts. Besides, I have my own email domain which I use through outlook. With having just bought the Surface Pro2, I'm trying to get it so that all my devices access one outlook file, so that when I send a mail from one device, it shows up on all my devices. Anyhow, without going into detail, I'm running into all kinds of problems with terms like split DNS being thrown around and going way over my head. Fun times actually.
As for you phone, does city lense work well? I can't use that since my model doesn't have a built in compas.
aspro said:gamingeek said:Make sure you get full W8 not just RT.
I am using W8 Desktop on my PC, but would I really need it on a tablet (if it is just for posting on here and watching media?)
It's so much better freed from the confines of a laptop, it was made for touch. But I like having full w8 as it still works with traditional programs.
SupremeAC said:Yeah, android can keep their customizability, the Winphone UI is just so much better. I don't receive my mail on my phone. It drove me nuts. Besides, I have my own email domain which I use through outlook. With having just bought the Surface Pro2, I'm trying to get it so that all my devices access one outlook file, so that when I send a mail from one device, it shows up on all my devices. Anyhow, without going into detail, I'm running into all kinds of problems with terms like split DNS being thrown around and going way over my head. Fun times actually.
As for you phone, does city lense work well? I can't use that since my model doesn't have a built in compas.
I tried it but it's only useful in built up areas where there's stuff to do.
SupremeAC said:As for you phone, does city lense work well? I can't use that since my model doesn't have a built in compas.
I have not used City Lense. I live in a relatively remote area of the country.
One thing to note, City Lens uses Wi-fi or your data connection i.e 3G/4G. So if you are out it will use the satellite and eat up your credit and your battery will drain quicker too.
With the maps or GPS you can save those to your phone to use offline anytime.
gamingeek said:One thing to note, City Lens uses Wi-fi or your data connection i.e 3G/4G. So if you are out it will use the satellite and eat up your credit and your battery will drain quicker too.
With the maps or GPS you can save those to your phone to use offline anytime.
I have 3gig's of data connection included in my monthly bundle. I could never eat through those. I drove for 3 hours once while streaming music from my NAS to my phone and through my car speakers. It ate up about 100Mb.
But does City lense work as it should, or is it always a bit off? It just seems like such a futuristic feature I can hardly believe it would work as advertised.
I've tested it in the house, but that's not much use because it points to stuff 600 metres to a couple of miles away. I guess I'll try it out on the street at some point just out of curiousity. It's just gyro based, the GPS places your location, gyros position your view I guess. It seems to work like augmented reality, you're just looking a video view of whats already in front of you with some signs overlaying it. Seems to work. If I had a data contract I would probably use it.
Quick month-in impressions:
I'm still loving the Pro2 so far. I don't really use it much as a tablet like one would use an Ipad, but I blame that on the fact that I haven't joined global insanity over Facebook and F2P games.
battery life is good. Like I said, I don't use it intensively as a tablet, but up till now I've never had to run for the charger. I think I could easily squeeze 7 hours out of it while browsing the web and whatnot.
Screen quality is phenomenal. The black levels are amazing, and everything is very sharp and bright.
The Wacom digitizer adds tremendously to the tablet as well. Desktop mode is a delight to browse with the pen. No more icons the size of a poststamp just so you can prod them easily with greasy fingers. I can have everything scaled as I do on my desktop without having to fear pressing the wrong buttons by accident. Being able to just draw on a word file is so very handy, and the digitizer completely transforms OneNote from something I never used to the ideal sketchpad.
Raw power is also abundant. I've been using it 3 days a week to work away from home. Just plug in a USB keyboard, a second screen and a bluetooth mouse and I can use photoshop, autocad, sketchup like I would at home, with the etra benefit of a touchsensitive second screen.
The only downsides so far are that the magnesium case is prone to scratching and I wonder how savoury the type cover will look in 2 years time. That and that my charger broke after having droped it once. Oh, and good luck finding a decent case or folio for it if you don't live in North America.
Even when compared to the new Surface Pro3 it still holds up well. The 3 isn't all that much bigger, and most of it's models will have worce performance due to basically having the same components, but more pixels to push. The only really impressive part about the 3 in my opinion is how light it is when compared to the Pro2, even despite being larger.
All in all I haven't regretted my purchase even once. It's a great device that shows a bright future for how we will work and play in the future. I have worked with it on a train, I have taken it to clients to showcase designs and take notes, I have used it as I would a regular tablet to browse the web, I use it as a desktop pc in concert with a keyboard, mouse, and second screen. Frankly, if Microsoft keeps faith in the Surface Pro concept, I can see myself replacing both my Pro2 and my desktop with only a Pro7 or so in 4 years time.
The Asus IPS display is great and you can get them scratch proof, I saw a review where someone used keys on it in a review and it was fine. If you're willing to get the TF810 and buy the keyboard dock, it has a combined 19 hr battery life.