A couple of years ago I moved myself and some of the fam from Apple Everything to Windows 10. Yesterday however, I bought an new 2017 iPad. I really love the Surface devices, so why?
LEAVING THE PLATFORM BECAUSE OF WINDOWS MOBILE
First, because Microsoft are no longer supporting the phones that are in our house, we are being forced from that platform. So rather than living and breathing completely and happily inside the Microsoft ecosystem, I am now forced to diversify and go elsewhere. This really is a big deal, and changes my thinking from the unthinkable (leaving the MS ecosystem) to the possible (shifting back towards Apple). That being the case, why should I then buy a Microsoft Surface tablet (I was planning to buying a new Surface Pro M3) when I an now FORCED to be open to Apple and Android?
EASE OF MOVING PLATFORMS
Second, Microsoft have made my leap back to Apple so easy, because they have done what Apple and Google have refused to do, which is to make their software available on the others' platforms. Thus the transition to iPad is easy. For example, Word and PowerPoint are effectively free (via my 365 account that I will not be renewing at full cost next time; I will use the academic version which costs me almost nothing). Outlook on iPad is a great app (better than on PC platform). Lots of other apps that Microsoft that I use are also really nice on iPad (e.g. Wunderlist) and made the transition really simple and clean.
FACEBOOK
Third, the Facebook app on iPad is great and the PC version is terrible. Just read the comments on the Microsoft Store. The tight Facebook integration and simple sharing on iPad is a big thing for me, and not having it on PC was a big part of the final deal breaker.
PRICING, PEN, KEYBOARD, MEMORY
Fourth, the Surface Pro M3 could have had pricing available already, but a couple of stores that I visited did not even know the new Surface Pro was coming in really soon, let alone knowing pricing. I chose an iPad because $630 (New Zealand) is about half the guestimated Surface Pro M3 price. Further, the RAM in the SP M3 is only 4 GB and as the Eve V people know well, the people who want tablets want a minimum of 8 GB. Lastly, no pen and no keyboard just pushes the price up further to around 2.5x the iPad price. And there is no USB-C.
SIZE AND KICKSTAND
Fifth, I wanted a tablet for reading books, researching, highlighting passages, Bible study, and watching videos (I am an academic and the device was not for watching movies or playing games). The 9.7" iPad is slightly too large to be ideal for reading, and lacks a kickstand. And yes, I really do think the kickstand on the surface is a big deal, because it makes reading and watching a lot easier since it props the Surface Pro up so nicely at any angle. At the end of the day however, the surface was really nicely and tempting, but slightly oversized (A4 paper sized). If there was a Surface Mini in the same space that Apple fills (they have 9.7" iPad and the large Surface-sized iPad) then it would have been even more tempting. But no signs of other sized devices have come from Redmond or even from their partners and the selection of tablets on the Windows platform is really quite pathetic.
DOWNSIDES OF THE IPAD
Sixth, the Opera web browser that works so well on PC and Mac is not well supported on iPad. I never expected to ever use Opera, but the speed, stability, and importantly the cross platform syncing is brilliant. This cannot be mimiced using Edge or Safari as they are platform locked, and I will not use Google's Chrome trojan browser.
And finally.....
No kickstand is unfortunate but something I will live with.
iPad battery life is not as good as Microsoft's claimed 13.5 hours.
Availability for the iPad was here and now compared to the slower released Surface Pro.
CONCLUSION / SUMMARY
Don't get me wrong -- I love the Surface concept and the hardware and would have preferred to stay with Windows 10 which I also really love (I am an Insider). What weakened me in the end was the phone problem (I love my Lumia 650) which forced open the door to leaving, and the ease of leaving thanks to Microsoft's cross platform strategy.
I wonder how Microsoft would view these thoughts of mine? If they are simply mine, they they will not care, but if it is a trend then how are they going to gain market share in this space? As for revenue, sure it may go upwards due to Android and Apple apps making $$$ for Microsoft, but at what cost? How are Microsoft planning to take money from my wallet in future since I just gave most of it to Apple? What apps and services am I going to pay for in future? Pages and Keynote are free (compare that to Office 365). pCloud is a great service with 20 GB free space and proper encryption if you want to pay a bit more.
LEAVING THE PLATFORM BECAUSE OF WINDOWS MOBILE
First, because Microsoft are no longer supporting the phones that are in our house, we are being forced from that platform. So rather than living and breathing completely and happily inside the Microsoft ecosystem, I am now forced to diversify and go elsewhere. This really is a big deal, and changes my thinking from the unthinkable (leaving the MS ecosystem) to the possible (shifting back towards Apple). That being the case, why should I then buy a Microsoft Surface tablet (I was planning to buying a new Surface Pro M3) when I an now FORCED to be open to Apple and Android?
EASE OF MOVING PLATFORMS
Second, Microsoft have made my leap back to Apple so easy, because they have done what Apple and Google have refused to do, which is to make their software available on the others' platforms. Thus the transition to iPad is easy. For example, Word and PowerPoint are effectively free (via my 365 account that I will not be renewing at full cost next time; I will use the academic version which costs me almost nothing). Outlook on iPad is a great app (better than on PC platform). Lots of other apps that Microsoft that I use are also really nice on iPad (e.g. Wunderlist) and made the transition really simple and clean.
Third, the Facebook app on iPad is great and the PC version is terrible. Just read the comments on the Microsoft Store. The tight Facebook integration and simple sharing on iPad is a big thing for me, and not having it on PC was a big part of the final deal breaker.
PRICING, PEN, KEYBOARD, MEMORY
Fourth, the Surface Pro M3 could have had pricing available already, but a couple of stores that I visited did not even know the new Surface Pro was coming in really soon, let alone knowing pricing. I chose an iPad because $630 (New Zealand) is about half the guestimated Surface Pro M3 price. Further, the RAM in the SP M3 is only 4 GB and as the Eve V people know well, the people who want tablets want a minimum of 8 GB. Lastly, no pen and no keyboard just pushes the price up further to around 2.5x the iPad price. And there is no USB-C.
SIZE AND KICKSTAND
Fifth, I wanted a tablet for reading books, researching, highlighting passages, Bible study, and watching videos (I am an academic and the device was not for watching movies or playing games). The 9.7" iPad is slightly too large to be ideal for reading, and lacks a kickstand. And yes, I really do think the kickstand on the surface is a big deal, because it makes reading and watching a lot easier since it props the Surface Pro up so nicely at any angle. At the end of the day however, the surface was really nicely and tempting, but slightly oversized (A4 paper sized). If there was a Surface Mini in the same space that Apple fills (they have 9.7" iPad and the large Surface-sized iPad) then it would have been even more tempting. But no signs of other sized devices have come from Redmond or even from their partners and the selection of tablets on the Windows platform is really quite pathetic.
DOWNSIDES OF THE IPAD
Sixth, the Opera web browser that works so well on PC and Mac is not well supported on iPad. I never expected to ever use Opera, but the speed, stability, and importantly the cross platform syncing is brilliant. This cannot be mimiced using Edge or Safari as they are platform locked, and I will not use Google's Chrome trojan browser.
And finally.....
No kickstand is unfortunate but something I will live with.
iPad battery life is not as good as Microsoft's claimed 13.5 hours.
Availability for the iPad was here and now compared to the slower released Surface Pro.
CONCLUSION / SUMMARY
Don't get me wrong -- I love the Surface concept and the hardware and would have preferred to stay with Windows 10 which I also really love (I am an Insider). What weakened me in the end was the phone problem (I love my Lumia 650) which forced open the door to leaving, and the ease of leaving thanks to Microsoft's cross platform strategy.
I wonder how Microsoft would view these thoughts of mine? If they are simply mine, they they will not care, but if it is a trend then how are they going to gain market share in this space? As for revenue, sure it may go upwards due to Android and Apple apps making $$$ for Microsoft, but at what cost? How are Microsoft planning to take money from my wallet in future since I just gave most of it to Apple? What apps and services am I going to pay for in future? Pages and Keynote are free (compare that to Office 365). pCloud is a great service with 20 GB free space and proper encryption if you want to pay a bit more.
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