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Surface Pro weird issues and overall experience

vision33r

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I've always been an early adopter with just about any piece of technology and as IT Manager I got a pretty large stash of the latest gadgets and various enterprise level hardware.

I didn't bother to get the 128GB version so I went to Staples and got the 64GB right away. 1st night, I was blown away by the quality and size. This thing is like having a highend ultrabook without the keyboard. Second day, when I try to do some work on it that's when I started to understand where the limitations are and how do I get around some of the issues.

I am using Windows 8 Enterprise x64 on my work machine for the last 3 months+ and I got Classic Shell installed and rarely get to use Metro all that much. My 1st impression with Metro on Surface Pro is that it's pretty smooth but unexciting. I miss having all the usable widgets that I have on my Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Secondly the included stylus while bigger is a lot harder to use than the Galaxy Note 2 stylus.

There should be an included quick Post-it note taking app like S-Memo on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Which makes Win8 very pointless as a quick note taking device without relying on some 3rd party app. Almost forced to go to Desktop all the time to get usable built-in apps like notepad or wordpad.

The narrator feature has got to be the biggest PITA feature. Somehow my kids turned on narrator and it begin to narrate every thing you touch and do. It prevented clicking on the OK or other action buttons. I couldn't login because the narrator is busy reading the enter login screen and forcing not freeing the cursor or pointer.

My kids played with the Surface Pro for a bit and somehow broke the Home or Windows Button on the bottom border. It would just make a click sound but it would not work at all. I restored the settings 3x and still doesn't fix it. Eventually I created a test account to see what would happen and it turns out to be only happening on my primary account. So I nuked the original account and that was that.

Other issues, the Metro interface as a whole just very tedious to organize. Resizing and moving tiles with the finger is more chore than using the mouse.

I end up buying a BT keyboard and Mouse because the touch interface is just a pain to use especially with the Metro IE 10 browser, countless times you could be tapping a box to enter a password or username and the touch keyboard never pops up for you.

Navigating or scrolling can be tricky. Sometimes a webpage would scroll slowly then suddenly go too fast like it's lagging behind finger gesture inputs.

Surface Pro has a severe case of not going to sleep properly and not waking up too. It ends up restarting half the time because it goes to sleep then never wakes up properly.

Wifi is another case, Wifi speed is pretty good but when the screen dims wifi seems to struggle maintaining connection and you have to manually add or select the SSID.

I have restored the device 3x to see if it fixes these issues but I think what's important is a firmware or patch to address these issues.

The $900 question is why didn't Microsoft saw these issues during QA testing process? They own the OS and the hardware this time. Why is the hardware and software both poorly working together?
 
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Some points to consider.

Live tiles can function as widgets. Not quite the same but sort of. To make a tile live you need to tickle a tile (quickly flick it up or down just a little) to brin up the bottom bar and then make it a live tile in the options.

You can use any stylus you want check here http://www.surfaceforums.net/forum/microsoft-surface-pro/3729-alternative-pens.html.

There are two flavors of One Note for quick note taking. Other apps will probably come along as well.

Narrator is useful for those who need it. If you don't need it don't turn it on (or let you kids play with your toys ;)).

The tiles are tedious to organize but you can do it with a mouse if that is your preference.

You are complaining about the keyboard popping up in Metro IE and others are complaining it doesn't pop up like Metro IE when in desktop. Just use the IE that suits you best. Obviously there is no winning for MS here with a consistent solution since there are tow camps on this one.

Some of performance issue are unclear as to why you are experiencing them. Some are known issues. Try a refresh and if that doesn't work a reset. Then if you are still having unusual performance issue you may want to exchange for a different Surface.

Although MS owns the hardware, this is their first major manufacturing effort. It takes time to develop a manufacturing process and get it right. Even then things go wrong even for the best companies.
 
Yes, I have the complete Office 2013 Pro edition and One Note is one of them. While I've looked at many apps on the marketplace I can't phantom that Microsoft does not possess the resources to get somebody to write a simple Note-taker app for free. The iPad comes with a built in note taking app. Someone who spent $900 should not have to buy a 3rd party Note taking app, OneNote is too bulky for quick note taking. Might as well just grab a real notepad and pen.

On the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, you have a Memopad widget for that quick note scribbling.

They really need to fix the sleep/wake issue, it's pointless to let it go to sleep when it never wakes up and the hibernation file is huge in Windows, if you only have 64GB space it's a huge waste of space.

One time, the Surface Pro had some running app in the background that it doesn't know how to hibernate and it end up making the device really hot and revving up the fans. When I unlocked the device and closed the program I had nearly no battery left.
 
Agree with J515OP... don't let your kids play with your shiny new toys... Not trying to rub it in, just saying ; )

Googling "Windows 8 disable narrator" gets you many quick ways to disable the Narrator.

Also, you may try out Journal, which comes with Windows 8. Much lighter than OneNote, and from my previous experience on XP and Win7 (my Surface Pro arrives tomorrow, so I haven't yet tried it on Win 8), a decent quick and dirty notepad.

-Michael
 
OneNote is a free app from the store, and is perfect for quick notetaking, much more light weight than OneNote 2013. Try it.
 
I got my surface 2 days after release. Have loved it since day 1 and honestly have had very few issues with it. I don't want to bother taking the time to address each issue mentioned, but I either haven't experienced such issues or the issues mentioned or not really founded issues at all. For those who can't seem to enjoy the device, I'd say its not worth the hassle and you should just return it within the 14 day time period.
 
Also, you may try out Journal, which comes with Windows 8. Much lighter than OneNote, and from my previous experience on XP and Win7 (my Surface Pro arrives tomorrow, so I haven't yet tried it on Win 8), a decent quick and dirty notepad.

-Michael
I use journal. I like it a lot and seems like the stylus inking experience is a lot better when using journal. many custom templets, and I use the print to windows journal option thru print screen to send pdfs there for a better markup option. I am sure devs will put out some metro pop up floating sticky app soon. I bought my 5 yr old a nexus 7 to use as I had about 100 games I paid for. This is my toy so they keep their hands off...:LOL:Added: I forgot to mention another app I recently got and really like is Note Anytime- metro app. there is a paid and FREE version- free version has a lot of options including a pad to move around for palm recog. I have only really begun using it but really like it. eventually it will replace my option to click on Journal or One note. and besides you can send notes to one note thru the app. after you download the app has some built in videos to explain options.. worth watching them.
 
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