Microsoft's Q1 2015: Surface growing strongly and Lumia sales up | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft's Q1 2015: Surface growing strongly and Lumia sales up

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49 pointswidowlark25 comments

I own a Surface Pro 3.

Not too shabby. The onscreen keyboard sucks ass (worse than the Windows Phone 8 keyboard in every measurable way), and is a little buggy (e.g. typing a single letter into Chrome's URL bar causes it to close for no reason).

The keyboard cover is wonderful, no criticisms. The weight is acceptable. The pen works well but isn't "required" for a good experience (although I am at 200% DPI).

The thing gets worryingly hot (too hot to touch in places) and the fan doesn't kick on for quite a while. High network activity seems to result in excessive heat in particular which is strange (e.g. a 7 GB download in progress generates more heat than full screen YouTube).

Overall I'd likely get one again/recommend it. I just worry that the heat will eventually damage it internally...

PS - You cannot use it on your lap with the kick-stand. Just doesn't work. You can use it on your lap in "tablet mode" fine and the kick-stand works well for tables and similar. The kick-stand is great, but a laptop's rigid hinge is better on your lap/legs.

>The thing gets worryingly hot

Do you have an i5 or an i7? Did you buy it at the retail store or with someone else?

i5, Best Buy.

you can honestly probably go into the Microsoft Store and see if there is anything they can do. The i5's are not known for overheating

Hrm... I wonder if you're missing a fw update, perhaps?

I've got a SP3, and though it can get warm, it's not worryingly so. The fan kicks on when it should and does its thing.

No missing firmware updates.

I am on the i5/256 GB version if that makes any difference?

I have SP 1. I can zoom in with my hand only in IE and not chrome. Is it still the case?

I wouldn't worry about internal heat damage so much. With the development of thin and passively cooled (i.e. chassis-as-heatsink) devices, human skin is becoming the temperature limiter[0]. Many chips are "...capable of running at up to 100°C without any reliability problems", but your skin is normally only 37°C!

WRT. YouTube vs. downloads, WiFi (all RF, really) produces more heat than you think and GPU's have come a long way in power/heat savings!

[0]: http://techreport.com/review/26377/a-first-look-at-amd-mulli...

Can you use it as a laptop? And I mean, sprawled out on the couch. I can't use the machine that if I have to sit at a desk.

I really like to hook the kickstand over my knees sitting on the couch. I haven't had problems comfortably using it as a laptop, though laying down I generally use it as a tablet.

One difference between using a surface (I have a Pro 2, not 3, but the ergonomics are presumably similar) and a traditional laptop is that, when, like the OP mentioned, it gets hot, it's not the bit lying flat on your lap that gets hot. Possibly that's one reason they allow it to get hotter than laptop/tablet users are used to.

I suspect the Chrome issue (which I've run into) is the slow rendering of Chrome's blank page. You touch to focus, type one character, and Chrome replaces the blank page with the rendered page, so the OSK shuts (or you lose focus)

Work has given me both a Surface Pro 2 and Surface Pro 3. We were always blown away by the performance of the Pro 2 how quiet it was and cool it stayed. The surface Pro3 with a newer processor (I think they have the same RAM) is much louder and gets much hotter. Watching the CPU when streaming multiple video streams, the performance is also much better on the Surface Pro 2 (in our examples we're capturing video from 4 USB cams). However, the screen size of the Surface Pro 2 I found almost unusable as a laptop. The pro 3 screen size is much better.

What they really need to do is sort it out so I can have two resolutions on different monitors, and auto-adjust the resolution on the surface screen depending on when I'm plugged into a monitor or not.

I have got a Surface Pro 3 and I am likely to purchase few more over next year or so for family members. Very likely I will never purchase an iPad.

The amazing part about SP3 is that you connect it to a large monitor it works just like a normal computer without breaking a sweat.

Large companies like MS need to be super innovative to remain competitive in the absence of government protectionism. I am happy to see that Microsoft is back into the game well. I wish them success with the Lumia phones as well.

Some days ago I was talking to a film producer. He said: Want a good (film) camera? Buy a Lumia.

I checked some reviews and indeed it blows the competition away!

One very strong reason to own a Lumia is its camera. There is no competition including iPhone 6 or any Galaxy version.

Only if you buy the high end models though (930, 1020 or 1520). The other ones have good camera's for their price range, but don't blow away the iphone (except in low light conditions). The iphone does have one big advantage and that is the shutter speed. Lumia phones take a while to take a picture, whereas iphone does it instantly. For action shots, the iphone is a better camera.

> I checked some reviews and indeed it blows the competition away!

This comment is only relevant with the high end models.The cheaper ones dont have exceptional cameras,let's not mislead the consumer here.

Lumia 1020 was the best phone and OS(8.1) that i've had in all 3 eco-systems.

The app ecosystem on the other hand is absolute garbage.

920 owner here, and I feel the same, except that i simply haven't found i need a lot of apps beyond the nokia ones. The biggest gap for me is google, who don't want to support windows phone at all. Gmail over imap sort of works, but it is less than ideal.

Sometimes it's just a bit of annoying not be able to find a popular game available on other platforms. Even Android has this problem though. Hopefully the situation will change given Apple's current inability to develop innovative products. Let's just give it a couple of years.

I've recently bought an Experia Z2. Stunning piece of hardware, but I regret not have given WP a try. The usablity of Android is at best "quite Ok". And so much app crap ...

And yet WP's update rate is atrocious. It would seem I'll be dead until WP surpasses Symbian in functionality/features. I guess it's the marketing then...

(For the record, I have 808 PV as my primary phone, 1020 (after 920 was lost) as a SIM-free secondary)

How is it atrocious?

Well, the OS has been missing number of features since the beginning (even if I disregard WP7). It took two years to get as basic things as file explorer (albeit very limited), the ability to install (at least some) applications on SD card, manual check for store updates, screen rotation lock, or action/notification centre. We still can't even manage application's access rights. Or opt out of the insolent uploading of all contacts and calendar entries in the phone to "the cloud". Or change/disable the search button. Installing anything without using the store? (I have a long list of things)

Oh, not to mention they removed the ability to send a message from call history.

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