Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to excommunicate myself from either the Church of Android or the Loyal Order of iOS. I do, however, like to keep an eye on all of the mobile platforms and device types on the market in order to maintain perspective. You know, the kind of perspective that doesn’t come cheaply: I bought an HP TouchPad, Palm Pre and, about five or six years ago, three different UMPCs. (Those were 7-inch tablets with crappy touch screens and a terrible Windows XP experience.)

What are the choices?

So I started shopping around for a new Windows 8 tablet. I really don’t need the performance of the new Surface Pro or any other similar tablet/laptop combo using an Intel Core i5 chip. There’s little point to spending upwards of $900 or more for one of these, as a result. That leaves me with two main paths: a Windows RT device using an ARM processor or a Windows 8 unit with an Intel Atom chip.

And that brings me back to something I wrote last month, which my experience with the Acer W510 only solidified. The only reason I can think of to purchase a Windows RT device is the price difference. That same thought was alluded to on Twitter by Steve Paine — a long-time friend from my old UMPC days — who runs a great set of sites devoted to tablets and ultrabooks.

@KevinCTofel @MobileHG Where do you see an advantage in having RT instead of Win 8 on Clovertrail Kevin? Price?—
Steve 'Chippy' Paine (@chippy) February 12, 2013

Aside from the slightly lower cost of entry, what other reason is there to pick Windows RT? I wish there more reasons, but I’m not seeing them. And that’s disappointing because when Microsoft announced it would be working with partners for Windows on ARM, I was among those who were thrilled. (Of course, I bought a TouchPad, so what do I know?)

The app store may be more important than the device price

I do know that the application situation for Windows RT isn’t much better now than it was a month or two ago. I also know that I can get roughly the same battery life on an Intel Atom powered Windows 8 device as I can with a Windows RT tablet. I also get my choice of browser and the ability to run full Windows apps with the Intel device. Here’s a summary of the decision process from my post last month; I’ve already ruled out option No. 3 for reasons stated above:

It’s a simple scenario, really. Consumers have three choices when it comes to Windows tablets. They can buy

1. ARM-based: A Windows RT tablet for around $500 that has acceptable performance, a Desktop limited to Microsoft Office use, no support for legacy software and a device that runs for about 10 hours on a charge.
2. Intel Atom-based: A Windows 8 tablet for around $500 that has slightly better performance, no desktop or software installation limitations and runs for 8 to 10 hours on a charge.
3. Intel Core-based: A windows 8 tablet for around $900 that offers the best performance, has no desktop or software installation limitations and runs for 4 to 5 hours on a charge.

See the problem? For roughly the same price, consumers can choose between options 1 and 2. Any benefits of running Windows on an ARM processor — at current device prices — simply isn’t there.

As I was shopping around online to check out what’s available, I did stumble upon one deal that had my finger hovering on the “buy” button: Amazon has the Asus VivoTab RT and docking keyboard –with included secondary battery — for $481.

That’s a steep discount from a few months ago when Asus launched the device. And it’s less than the $709 a 64 GB Acer W510 with similar keyboard goes for on Amazon. But the app situation for Windows RT was a good reality check and I passed on the deal. It’s just too limiting for what I want and price was the only reason I might have gone for it.

Too many limitations for Windows RT for me right now

Ironically, an earlier story from today adds a little more clarity to the issue. Bluestacks launched a Windows 8 optimized solution that runs Android apps. With it, I’d have access to more than 750,000 Android apps.

The only problem? Bluestacks runs on Intel chips, so Windows RT devices can’t benefit from it. That’s almost ironic considering nearly all of the Android ecosystem is designed to run on ARM chips such as those used for Windows RT.

So the dilemma is this: Is it worth saving a few bucks to go with the limitations of Windows RT? After coming to my senses and passing on the VivoTab deal, I don’t think so.

The only benefit to buying the device would be the lower price than competing, fuller-featured Windows 8 devices. Unless the application situation changes soon, I don’t see how Windows RT can ever be a success at any price, save maybe $199 or less. For the moment, at least for me, the excitement I once felt for Windows RT’s potential is eroding faster than the demise of Palm.

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The device’s little cousin, Surface RT, launched in October to generally mixed reviews and many waited to see what the Pro experience was like. Here’s a roundup from some of the reviews, tweets and comments I’ve seen so far. I’m withholding final judgement on the Surface Pro until I spend time with one myself, of course.

Let’s start with the good

Some of the more positive comments have come from AnandTech, Computerworld and TechCrunch.

AnandTech, which I find always provides some of the best technical reviews of products, says this in the lengthy post:

“If you’re shopping for an Ultrabook today and want that tablet experience as well, Surface Pro really is the best and only choice on the market. If however you do a lot of typing in your lap and in weird positions, a conventional notebook is better suited for you. The same goes for if you’re considering a tablet for reasons like all-day battery life or having something that’s super thin and light.”

Battery life seems to be a common theme of concern with run-times in reviews ranging from just under four hours to approaching six, depending on the usage activities. Late this year, Intel’s next-generation chip should help with that aspect, so for now, road warriors may want to bring their Surface Pro power cord along.

Noted analyst Michael Gartenberg, writing for Computerworld, generally likes what he sees, provided you look at the device for its intended purpose and market:

“I’ve been a Surface Pro user for a few weeks now, and what I have found is that it is the best articulation of Microsoft’s vision for Windows 8 and how the PC and tablet experiences can meld on one device.

“While it might not be the device for the masses, it is the device that points the way for Microsoft’s future.”

Really, that’s what Surface Pro — and Surface RT, to a degree — is all about: Microsoft’s effort to move beyond the legacy ideas of a personal computer and towards the idea that a tablet can be a full PC in a new form factor.

John Biggs at TechCrunch may be the most enthusiastic of the bunch, leaving his MacBook behind for a week and not missing it all that much.

“In short, the Surface Pro is so good that it could drive Windows 8 adoption with enough force to make people reconsider Microsoft’s odd new OS. Microsoft bet the farm on a new paradigm and it needs a champion. Surface Pro is the right hardware for the job.”

A common theme: poor battery life and compromises

Not everyone saw the good amongst the bad, however. Laptop Magazine offers the most negative conclusion I’ve read yet, with Surface Pro earning 2.5 out of 5 stars. The Ultrabook-like performance was welcome, but the device appears to be a jack of two trades and master of neither:

“While we like its design and Core i5 performance, there’s no getting around the fact that an $899, two-pound device with 4.5 hours of battery life is impractical for those who need or want to carry a tablet for extended periods of time. And, as a laptop replacement, the Surface Pro falls short, as both keyboard covers — neither of which are included — simply aren’t as good as a genuine notebook keyboard.”

Tech site Engadget follows suit on the compromise aspect of Surface Pro. Based on their thoughts, it seems the market isn’t ready for a full Windows machine that relies heavily on touch, doesn’t like a hybrid type of device that works as both tablet and laptop or thinks the execution is simply a bad one.

“We’re still completely enraptured by the idea of a full-featured device that can properly straddle the disparate domains of lean-forward productivity and lean-back idleness. Sadly, we’re still searching for the perfect device and OS combo that not only manages both tasks, but excels at them. The Surface Pro comes about as close as we’ve yet experienced, but it’s still compromised at both angles of attack.”

Even noted Microsoft-watcher Mary-Jo Foley is riding the compromise bandwagon over at ZDNet. And that’s interesting to me because Foley owns and likes her lower-powered, less expensive Surface RT. Here’s the takeaway on her view of Surface Pro market appeal:

“I keep scratching my head over who Microsoft expects to buy the Surface Pro. It’s not as good of a tablet, in terms of weight/battery life, as the Surface RT is. But it’s also not as good of a Windows 8 PC as other OEM-produced devices, coming in at lower price points with better battery life and other specs.”

Add it up and what do you get?

So some good reviews, some average reviews and some poor reviews. When you total that up, what do you get? According to a few on Twitter, not much at all and perhaps too much compromise:

So many Surface Pro reviews, so many polite ways to say a device fails.—
Tom Reestman (@treestman) February 06, 2013

If you are looking for a tablet that’s crappier than an iPad and a laptop that’s crappier than an MBA, the Microsoft Surface Pro is for you!—
Paul Haddad (@tapbot_paul) February 06, 2013

Again, I’m not sharing thoughts until I actually use the Surface Pro. But I can’t say I’m surprised by the compromise commentary: Microsoft’s progress has long been held back by its success in the past. By having such a large legacy user-base, any innovation going forward has to appease both new users as well as old. Anytime you try to keep both happy, you’ll likely fall in the middle at best.

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In this day and age, I don’t find the situation acceptable. Why? Because a consumer is paying for a device with 64 GB of storage but only getting to use 36 percent of that storage. A more acceptable percentage would be more than double that, in my opinion. Of course, you can always add extra storage through USB or memory cards, but after spending upwards of $899, does that sound like an appealing choice?

While users can create their own recovery drive, it’s an extra step that most won’t do and none should have to do. I hate to point to Apple, since I don’t want to start Windows v. OS X flame wars, but the USB recovery that came with my MacBook Air is a perfect example of such a customer-oriented solution.

This situation is similar on Microsoft’s $499 32 GB Surface RT, which has about half of the storage free and it tells me that Microsoft Windows isn’t really a lightweight operating system for mobile devices.

While I understand that Microsoft has hundreds of millions of legacy Windows users to support, there’s still too much cruft in Windows that isn’t needed for truly mobile devices.

This is the same problem that Microsoft has always had: trying to use Windows to be one solution for every type of user. At this point, I’m starting to think the company would have been better off scaling Windows Phone up to tablets instead of trying to scale Windows 8 down to them.

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The $499 model is due out in the coming months, so for now, the only available model is the 64 GB version at $579. The sub-$500 machine will have 32 GB of storage capacity, which won’t leave much room for data and apps. As a point of comparison, Windows Surface Pro models start with 64 GB of storage and Microsoft says “System software uses significant storage space; your storage capacity will be less.” These two Essentials configurations augment the standard 64 GB model which costs $599 and up, depending on options and additions.

Dell is cutting the cost of the Windows 8 slates by changing two major aspects from the standard Latitude 10. Gone is the active digitizer that supports digital inking. And the 2-cell, 30 hr battery — standard for the Latitude — is non-removable, so you won’t be able to swap in a new battery. Businesses likely can’t live with those missing features, but some consumers, educators and students ought to find the compromise acceptable at this price.

At $499, it’s not a bad deal, considering all other specifications are the same as the higher priced model: Intel Atom Z2760 1.8 GHz processor, 2 GB of memory, 10.1-inch IPS screen with 1366 x 768 resolution, 10-finger multitouch and Corning’s Gorilla Glass all with Windows 8 Pro.

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I immediately think of Microsoft’s Surface products when seeing the Asus VivoTab, of course. There are some hardware differences but the similarities outweigh those. Asus is using an Intel Atom Z2760 to power the VivoTab, which is 9.7 millimeters thick and weighs 580 grams. The 1366 x 768 touchscreen supports up to 5 touch points simultaneously. And the battery is expected to last 9.5 hours on a single charge.

That may be a key difference between the VivoTab and $899 Surface Pro. Microsoft expects the Surface Pro to run for about half as long as its $499 Surface RT slate; the latter is powered by an energy-efficient smartphone chip and lasts around 10 hours on a charge. Asus is using an low-energy Intel chip for possibly better performance — and definitely for better app compatibility — than the Surface RT but should get similar battery life.

Asus hasn’t shared details on pricing or availability yet. If the VivoTab is priced right, say around $500, it would give consumers more of a Surface Pro experience at a lower-costing Surface RT price.

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Consumers have become accustomed to tablets that offer more battery life than traditional computers, making for an interesting sales showdown for the Surface Pro, which starts at $899. The run-time information was tweeted by  the official Microsoft Surface Twitter account when asked how long the new Surface with Windows 8 Pro would run on a single charge:

@shahroom Hey Shahroom, #Surface pro will have approximately half the batter life of Surface RT.—
Surface (@surface) November 29, 2012

That works out to roughly 4.5 hours based on my own usage of a Surface RT device, which generally sees 9 hours of usage on a single charge. And this is on a tablet that’s lighter and about half the price. Surface RT has a 31.5 WHr battery while the new Surface Pro bumps the battery capacity to 42 WHr.

What’s the difference then? It’s all in the chip when you look at the detailed specifications (PDF). Surface RT runs on the ARM-based Nvidia Tegra 3 while the full-featured Surface Pro uses an Intel Core i5 Processor with Intel HD Graphics 4000. So even though the Pro battery has nearly 30 percent more battery capacity, it runs for 50 percent as long. You can put a fresh coat of paint on it, but this is essentially the same old WinTel problem that has nagged mobile devices for years.

Then again is the Surface Pro a mobile device? For most it will be mobile at least part of the time. If not, then why buy it over a standard laptop or desktop? For those planning to be mobile mavens with a full-blown instance of Windows 8 Pro on a Surface tablet, however, you’d better plan to be near an outlet at some point during your day.

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When Microsoft first hinted at Surface Pro pricing, it said it would be competitive with Ultrabook pricing. While the $899 starting price is more than some would like to see, I’d say it’s roughly in line with previous expectations, even with additional costs for a keyboard cover. I’ve seen a few Ultrabooks in the $600 to $800 price range, but they’re generally entry-level devices in this class. Most are actually nearer to over just over $1,000.

Microsoft is using Intel’s Core i5 chip to drive Windows 8 on the 10.6 ClearType display. On paper, that screen should be as good, if not better than most Ultrabooks because of the 1920 x 1080 resolution; that works out to a reasonable 208 pixels per inch. And the slate can output 2560 x 1440 resolution to an external display over Mini DisplayPort. Overall the device is built similarly to the Surface RT, with the same materials and integrated stand.

Price and specs aside, I think the most intriguing aspect will be the included Surface pen. Like the Galaxy Note 2 I use daily, Surface Pro has both a capacitive touchscreen and a digitizer for ink. Assuming the slate has good palm rejection technology, digital inking on the two-pound tablet may be the real secret sauce for success here. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the slate can run any Windows 7 application, unlike the Surface RT, which is limited to apps that are new or are re-compiled to run on ARM-based chips.

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