Surface

I’m generally no fan of Microsoft, but the new Surface tablets have to be the most promising thing they’ve done in a long time. I still think the Metro UI is a good direction, and this seems like the right product for it (much more than on a traditional desktop PC/laptop, and slightly more than on a phone).

Positive: The design seems well done. Reports suggest good build quality. A device that is primarily a tablet seems to fit well with the Windows 8 concept. They appear to have taken some lessons from Apple, but have clearly taken them in some slightly different directions. 

Negative: No price. No timeline. Seems crazy to have both Intel and ARM versions that appear to be so similar, but have such fundamental differences in capabilities.

Unsure: The cover seems promising, but imagining my iPad Smart Cover with a keyboard makes me realize that I don’t use it in a way where that would really work very often. Does the ARM version answer the ‘why should I get this instead of an iPad’ question? The Intel version might answer that question by running ‘full’ Windows, but years of Windows tablets prior to the iPad suggest that using non-Metro Windows on a tablet isn’t that great. What will the hardware partner fallout look like?

In short, I hope this is a great product and does well, but mostly because I want it to drive my next iPad to be that much better.