Sleek Tablet, but Clumsy Software
Microsoft's First Tablet: David Pogue reviews Microsoft's Surface, which goes on sale on Oct. 26.
How would you like to move into a stunning mansion on a bluff overlooking the sea - in Somalia? Or would you like the chance to own a new Ferrari - that has to be refueled every three miles? Would you take a job that pays $1 million a year - cutting football fields with toenail clippers?
The Surface tablet has a 10.6-inch screen with a Touch Cover, attached by magnets, that contains a full keyboard.
That's the sort of choice Microsoft is asking you to make with the spectacularly designed, wildly controversial Surface tablet.
Now, for the very first tablet it has ever manufactured (in fact, its very first computer), Microsoft could have just made another iPad ripoff. But it aimed much higher. It wanted to build a tablet that's just as good at creating work as it is at organizing it.
On the hardware front, Microsoft has succeeded brilliantly. Read the specs and try not to drool on your keyboard.
The Surface shares some measurements with the full-size iPad (1.5 pounds, 0.4 inches thick). But at 10.8 by 6.7 inches, it's a wider, thinner rectangle, a better fit for movie playback. It has stereo speakers instead of mono. Both front and back video cameras are 720p high definition.
It has ports and jacks that iPad owners can only dream about: a memory-card slot to expand the storage, a video output jack and a USB 2.0 jack. You can connect almost any USB device: keyboard, mouse, flash drive, speakers, hard drive and so on.
Each Surface model has double the storage of the same-price iPad. For example, the $500 Surface offers 32 gigabytes; the 64-gig Surface is $600.
There are some disappointments on the spec sheet. The battery life is advertised as eight to 10 hours, less than the iPad. There's no cellular version; it's Wi-Fi only. The screen is very sharp (1,366 by 768 pixels), but it doesn't approach the iPad's Retina screen clarity (2,048 by 1,536 pixels).
And you can charge the Surface only from its wall adapter - not from a computer's USB jack. Microsoft's reasoning is that you won't have a computer to charge from, since your days of carrying both a tablet and a laptop are over. Besides, a wall outlet recharges far faster than USB can.
The front is all touch screen. The edges of the black magnesium body are angled and crisp, like a prop from a Batman movie.
Then there's the kickstand. The lower half of the back is a hinged panel, held shut magnetically until you pop it out with a fingernail. It snaps to a 22-degree angle, ready to prop the tablet sturdily upright.
A lesser kickstand would add weight, bulk or ugliness. But this one is razor-thin and disappears completely when you're not using it.
You do use it, though - especially when you flip open the optional keyboard.
Yes, keyboard. You know Apple's magnetically hinged iPad cover? Microsoft's Touch Cover is the same idea - same magnet hinge - except that on the inside, there are key shapes, and even a trackpad, formed from slightly raised, fuzzy material. Flip the cover open, flip out the kickstand and boom: you have what amounts to a 1.5-pound PC that sets up anywhere.
This is nothing like those Bluetooth keyboard cases for the iPad. First, the Touch Cover is much, much thinner, 0.13 inches, cardboard thin. Second, it's not Bluetooth; there's no setup and no battery hit. The magnet clicks, and keyboard is ready for typing. Third, when you want just a tablet, the keyboard flips around against the back. The Surface automatically disables its keys and displays the on-screen keyboard when it's time to type.
You can buy this cover, in a choice of colors, with the Surface for $100, or later for $120.
It's an incredibly slick idea, but the keys don't move. You're pounding a flat surface. If you type too fast, the keyboard skips letters. (“If you type 80 words a minute on a keyboard and 20-30 on glass, you should be in the 50s on the Touch Cover,†says a Microsoft representative.)
E-mail: pogue@nytimes.com
A version of this article appeared in print on October 24, 2012, on page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: Sleek Tablet, But Clumsy Software.