15 Issues I Have With The Surface RT

Let me say this right out of the gate: I love my Surface. I use it every day and that’s just not something I’ve done with my previous tablets. What Microsoft was able to do with Windows RT and the elegance of the design that the Surface has is incredible. Just holding this thing and using it for a moment will make most people say, “wow.”

At least, that was the overall impression in the Windows Store by me during the Surface launch. I did not see one person check the Surface out and then just leave. They kept playing with it, looking around, and either bought or left. It’s hard to just walk away from a device like this.

I reviewed the Surface RT just a bit ago and I gave it a great score calling it the first tablet worthy of showing off. I’m not going to back down from that statement but given the time I’ve had with the Surface, I’ve compiled a list of 15 issues I have with it. None of them are deal breakers and sure most of them can be fixed with an update but as of right now, these 15 issues are present and make my daily use of the Surface far from perfect.

Part of the reason I am making this list is to hope that someone comments and tells me how to fix one or two of these problems. However, I’ve scoured Surface forums, r/surface, and Google for quite some time and the results stayed the same.

No E-mail Contact Groups

As you might think, I send tons of e-mails out a day to the staff, our trial members, management, and many other contacts. How hard would it be to have a contact group? It would be so much easier if I could just put “Leviathyn Staff”, “Leviathyn Trials”, “PR Contacts”, and whatnot into the e-mail app and just focus on writing the message. As it stands right now, mass e-mails are a pain on the Surface. I can see how it would be a tad easier with a mouse and I could connect one to the Surface but this is such a simple feature that it is baffling how it isn’t there.

Xbox Music Stops Playback

This is not an issue with my own music, only streaming content from Xbox Music. I need music to sleep at night and since I’ve upgraded to Windows 8 on my desktop (and Windows RT on the Surface) I catch silence in my room if I wake up during the night. What happens? Xbox Music stops playing my streaming content after an unknown amount of time. Whether it is a downloaded album thanks to my Music Pass or just a Smart DJ playlist, Xbox Music will not continuously play music throughout the night, even a downloaded album! It’s annoying.

Limited Video Formats

The surface cannot play .mkv files. I have dozens of backups of my movies and most of them are .mkv files. That means most of my movies are unplayable on the Surface without reformatting them using terrible programs or buying a good one. Over the years .mkv files have risen in popularity and while it is easy to think of .mkv when downloading files from the internet, it is the best format for playback if you’re not looking for HD quality. I just want to watch my films.

No Integrated GChat Support

This one irks me the most. My business partner only uses GChat. The Messenger app for Windows 8 is great, I like it even though it doesn’t show me a real time list of who is online and I can chat with. However, it only supports Live Messenger and Facebook. No AIM, no Yahoo, and NO GHAT. So how do you use GChat on Windows 8 and the Surface? You have to either wait for Microsoft to patch it in or download one of a few pretty terrible chat programs like IM+, Chat, or Ribbit Chat. First off, IM+ is pretty awesome for the number of chat protocols it can use but the GChat support is iffy and background running is just about non-existent. Chat is a beautiful looking chat program but GChat is abysmal there. GChat is a very popular method of chatting online. How is this not have native support in Windows 8/RT?

Poor Speaker Volume

Before you get on me, yes I’ve enabled enhancements in the Sound settings. Did it help? Not really. Currently the best way to get good volume on your Surface is to plant it down on a desk or cusp your hands behind the speakers to force the sound to come at you. I just spent a couple weeks with the Galaxy Note II and that phone had double the speaker volume of the Surface with only one small grill and never once did it sound distorted or crackly. It’s almost like they’re forcing you to use headphones on the Surface.

Wi-Fi Limited Issue

I searched online before writing this to make sure it wasn’t an isolated issue with me and turns out it isn’t. Many people are facing an issue with Wi-Fi where at random intervals it will “disconnect” and give you a limited access meaning no internet. You have to disconnect fully from the access point and then reconnect. In a given day at home, it happens to me about 3-10 times. It’s quite annoying and none of my other devices have this issue with any Wi-Fi access point. With the Surface I’ve seen this issue primarily at home but also with my parent’s house, work, and a buddy’s place.

Poor SD Card Support

As it stands right now, your media apps (Music/Photo/Video) will not pick up files on your SD card unless you mess with the formatting and drive paths in Disk Management. This should not be an issue at all since I can plug in my external drive and find files in the media apps with no issue. So what’s the problem between the USB port and Micro SD port? For a casual user going into Disk Management is like opening Pandora’s Box. They’ll have zero clue what to do and even with instructions they’ll be afraid to break something.

Windows Store Doesn’t Show Every New App

Here’s a tip for you: if you want to see what’s really new in the Windows Store and not just what Microsoft wants you to see, bring up the Store app, open the side charm, click/tap on Search, put in * and hit search. Now, sort by newest and there you have it. As of right now the Store is about to hit 10,000 apps already and doing this method will let you see every single new app. The only issue is that you need to make sure an app you’re looking at is ARM supported. This is really annoying as I am continuously looking for new apps to fix some of these very issues.

Flash Whitelist

Curious as to why some sites won’t work with Flash in your modern Internet Explorer? It’s because Microsoft thought it would be a great idea to institute a Flash whitelist. That means only approved sites can use the Flash plug-in unless you switch to the desktop Internet Explorer. Want to disable it? Get ready for some editing. Check this site out and make sure your internet exploring is smoother and less switching to desktop view. I can’t even come up with a good reason as to why this was enabled as default.

No Touchscreen Shortcut To Win+X

If you own Windows 8 or a Surface with a keyboard, do the keyboard shortcut Win button + X. Pretty nifty huh? This little menu can be customized but even in its default state it offers a shortcut to many important settings. The issue is here that you can’t get to it without a keyboard. I tried moving my finger to the bottom left corner in desktop view and holding it there for a right click but nothing comes up. This menu is so helpful and to be able to get to it without a keyboard would be great. I own a Touch Cover but I don’t use it all of the time. Win+X is one of the most helpful shortcuts in Windows history. It should be accessible by keyboard or touch.

No Dedicated YouTube App

Yes, I’ve used YouTube+ and while that is pretty nice, you would think that Microsoft would have been ready for this by launch. YouTube is huge. Not having it on your system is atrocious. Just look at what iOS users are going through right now. There are dozens and dozens of bad apps and people trying to take advantage of the fact that you don’t have access to a free YouTube anymore. That’s what is going on in Windows 8 and RT right now. YouTube+ may be a nice app but why am I going to say for something that works fine in desktop browsers? The problem is that I don’t want to use IE for YouTube on a tablet. I want to use a dedicated app.

Creating, Replying, or Forwarding an E-Mail Blocks The Rest Of The App

If you go to create a new e-mail, reply to one, or forward one then you better have all the information you need because all you’re going to see is the message. When you bring up the e-mail editor the rest of the app disappears until you’re finished. If you get a new e-mail and need to see it but you’re in the middle of writing one, you have to save draft and close it to reveal your inbox or any other feature of the E-mail app. Having to save draft and reopen the message just to remember a fact from a previous e-mail you need to bring up is annoying.

Poor Multitasking With Metro Apps

Are you publishing a post on WordPress with Metro IE? How about replying to an e-mail? Are you trying to use GChat with IM+? Are you doing all three at once? You’re going to have a bad time. Background running with Metro apps is just abysmal. I could bring up desktop IE, go into publish mode, switch to Metro and do something else and it will work just fine. However, using all Metro apps and switching back and forth, the apps wil wait until they are brought up front and center. Only the media apps seem unaffected by this. In fact, most of Microsoft’s apps (aside from IE) work pretty well with background sync and multitasking. All other 3rd party apps? Not so much.

Notification Errors

Ever have your Surface sitting next you while you’re on your PC and hear a really weird low-key, crackling hum? That’s the Surface’s notifications popping up while the screen is off. That’s right, if your screen is off and you get an e-mail or a contact update, you’re going to hear what reddit user BryanTheCrow put so elegantly “a crackling laser fart”. That’s seriously what it sounds like and it’s weird to hear when no other noise is in the room except your typing on the desktop and you start thinking something is dying around you.

Poor PDF Support

The built-in PDF reader app is terrible. It loads pages slowly, crashes a lot, does not have annotation, and no digital signing. How did this even get approved to be a part of Windows 8/RT? Luckily for Surface owners, you can use Word 2013 for digital signing but is that really a solution? There’s a great PDF app called Soda PDF 3D Reader but it does not support ARM so Surface users are out. I can only hope that either the creators get this out for ARM devices or Microsoft brings out a huge update for the Reader app.

Now, I don’t want this to prevent people from buying a Surface. None of these issues have been a deal breaker or severely impacted my daily use but they have been noticeable and making me constantly checking the Windows Store for app updates and heading into the control panel to check for system updates. When these issues are fixed or functionality is added, my daily Surface use will be near perfect.

What do you want out of your Surface that isn’t there yet? Let us know below in the comments. Also, if I’m dumb and missed out on how to fix any of the above issues, go ahead and tear me a new one below. Just be to sure to explain to me how to fix something. 🙂



0 Shares