Were you honestly unable to type faster than 10wpm after using it for a week? I find that....odd to believe (not saying you're lying - I just find it strange). How fast can you type normally? On my regular desktop keyboard I type at an average of 80wpm which I think is ok. On my touchcover I can type at an average of like 65wpm. So sure, slower than my desktop keyboard but not frustrating by any means.
I'd say that I got up to speed and used to the keyboard within a day or two of use.
I'm glad that you acknowledge that the app store problem is short-term. A lot of reviewers disregard that. I am quite confident that the apps will come so you just need to be patient. With that said, I'd like to point out that there is a pandora app (not sure if it is official, but it works fine). Spotify I am still waiting for but Xbox Music does the job until then.
Agreed that the speakers are meh.
I don't know though. I'd still pick this over an iPad any day of the week. The keyboard really does it for me. I'm typing this comment out on my desktop but I could have just as easily typed it from my Surface. Try doing that on an iPad. It would be exhausting. So even for tasks that aren't "work" but just involve creating content (even something as small as a HN comment) - the surface runs laps around iPad.
edit: one final thing. Remote desktop is a great feature on this device. Whenever I want to use an x86 app on Surface RT, I just remote into my desktop at home. Works pretty much flawlessly. I especially like that typing seems to be simulated from the client end, so even if there IS network lag, your typing isn't affected by it.
On a normal keyboard, I hit 120+ WPM. On the Touch keyboard, I spent more time correcting typoos and missed keystrokes than typing for sure. I'd have to have a camera on the keyboard to see where things went wrong, because it _seemed_ like I should be hitting all the keys I expected to hit, but I'm more than happy to acknowledge that what I really wanted was the keyboard cover with tactile feedback. The Touch keyboard was something I didn't get used to at all.
My usage patterns were incredibly light; it mostly sat near desktops or laptops as a mail client. With the app ecosystem and text input as it was, I was at a loss for other things I could do with it. By the end of the week, it was more or less a front end for Trello boards.
One of the compelling points was having a tablet platform in which real work can get done, but in the absence of an SSH client or text editor with syntax highlighting, that didn't really hold true for me (again, short-term problems). I can see where it'd make sense for folks that specifically need Office to get meaningful work done, but that wasn't the case for me.
That said, the ability to sideload Ubuntu and Chromium on the Nexus devices looks incredibly compelling. Really curious to see how that shapes up.
You're not comparing the iPad in a fair manner. If you combine the iPad with a keyboard, it does just as well in typing speed as the Surface with a keyboard, and at a cheaper price.
I'd say that I got up to speed and used to the keyboard within a day or two of use.
I'm glad that you acknowledge that the app store problem is short-term. A lot of reviewers disregard that. I am quite confident that the apps will come so you just need to be patient. With that said, I'd like to point out that there is a pandora app (not sure if it is official, but it works fine). Spotify I am still waiting for but Xbox Music does the job until then.
Agreed that the speakers are meh.
I don't know though. I'd still pick this over an iPad any day of the week. The keyboard really does it for me. I'm typing this comment out on my desktop but I could have just as easily typed it from my Surface. Try doing that on an iPad. It would be exhausting. So even for tasks that aren't "work" but just involve creating content (even something as small as a HN comment) - the surface runs laps around iPad.
edit: one final thing. Remote desktop is a great feature on this device. Whenever I want to use an x86 app on Surface RT, I just remote into my desktop at home. Works pretty much flawlessly. I especially like that typing seems to be simulated from the client end, so even if there IS network lag, your typing isn't affected by it.