Developers need time to get familiar with not just the Surface, but other Windows RT devices.
It was a condition that other Windows Phone licensees, such as HTC, would have loved to enjoy.
Like other Windows 8 machines, the Surface starts up in the new, radically different, tile-based Start screen.
It also features several Nokia-only functions designed to make it stand out from other Windows Phone 8 devices.
They have a collection of six of their own applications which have been present on their other Windows Phone handsets.
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If touch-optimizing a desktop app is good enough for Office, why isn't it good enough for other Windows 8 apps?
However, the analysts warned that other Windows-powered tablets were struggling to gain traction, with only 1.8 million units sold across all vendors.
In fact, the very same can be said for its performance versus that other Windows Phone 8 flagship, the Lumia 920.
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The competition is with Android and Apple, not other Windows Phone producers.
That Start button, by the way, delivers some strong, reassuring haptic feedback -- stronger than on some other Windows 8 tablets, that's for sure.
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But Nokia sought constraint, citing a need to preserve UI consistency with other Windows Phone devices and avoid the disruptive variation seen in Android smartphones.
The effect, which was purely cosmetic, allowed the desktop, icons and windows that were hidden beneath other windows to show through the surround of the application.
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Testing conducted by CNET Labs, Beijing in November 2010 using the independent Microsoft VTS tool to measure start-up, shutdown, resume and other Windows 7 performance measurements.
Disclosure: This review HTC 8S was loaned by Phones 4u, who stock the HTC 8S and other Windows Phone devices in both its retail and online stores.
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You'll also get more ports than you would on some other Windows RT devices: not one, but two USB connections, along with a full-sized HDMI socket and a full-sized SD reader to match.
Most famously, if one window was broken in a building and left unrepaired (his italics), soon all the other windows would be broken too, and criminal elements would take over.
Just this fall, Microsoft launched its Surface tablet and other Windows 8 devices while Google beefed up its Nexus line with the Nexus 4 smartphone and Nexus 10 tablet.
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That said, for users running Microsoft Windows and using Outlook as their mail client, Microsoft's MSN desktop search beats its competitors hands down, primarily because of a superior user interface that integrates better with other Windows programs.
There are other windows, high above the main altar, that let in rich white sunlight, and climb to the top of the altar space to a summit that pours a bath of light down onto the proceedings below.
As more of them do, Mr Jobs reckons, the converts will tell other Windows users how safe Macs are (compared to Microsoft's buggy, virus-prone software) and how user-friendly (just try networking several Macs together, compared to several Windows machines).
The company so far has not provided any pricing information on Surface tablets, indicating only that the ARM-based tablets will be priced comparably to other Windows RT-based tablets, and that the Intel version would likewise be priced comparably to similar devices from other manufacturers.
The MX does what other Windows machines can do, but also lets you record and play TV, DVDs, CDs, FM radio, MiniDiscs and Memory Sticks and, with the help of optional wireless networking, send TV over the ether to a computer in another room.
Anyone using the handset for anything more than the built in applications, some light web browsing, and a few pictures while out and about is going to realise the HTC 8S falls far short of the standard of the HTC 8X and many other Windows Phone 8 devices.
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The next episode in this journal will cover personalizing and learning the new OS, which will definitely be the most exciting part of this upgrade process -- not least because much of what happens at this stage will be linked to my Microsoft ID and will therefore carry over to other Windows 8 devices I work with in the future.
ENGADGET: Windows 8 upgrade diary: a defiantly successful installation
In other words, while you can install an app like Photoshop on a full Windows 8 machine, you can't do it here, nor any other Windows application written since the dawn of the OS. Additionally, we have our doubts about whether anyone going forward will bother to write desktop apps versus those more optimized for running in the de facto Live Tile interface.
Now we come to find out some even worse news about CableCARD and Vista: not only will you not be able to re-stream your high def media to other Windows machines (sorry, Vista capable Media Center Extenders only, i.e. the Xbox 360, and not much else), you won't even be able to transcode and sync to your PMC or other devices, as is currently possible.
The closer ties with Dell, though, could poison Microsoft's relationship with HP, the largest PC maker, and other manufacturers that buy Windows and other software.
Windows Embedded 8 Industry, which targets retail point-of-service (POS) solutions and other scenarios across manufacturing and healthcare that require fixed experiences with enhanced lockdown, branding and the other benefits of Windows Embedded 8, will be available the week of April 1.
ENGADGET: Windows Embedded 8 Industry scheduled for release first week of April
There has been significant backlash over the lack of a Start button, and other elements of Windows 8.
PCs, while other versions of Windows power consumer devices and mobile phones.
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