Ask Paul: May 24 (Premium)

Happy Friday from Miami! We’re on the cusp of a long weekend here in the U.S.—for Memorial Day—and this is the last Ask Paul for May.

Small Windows tablet

ReformedCtrlZ asks:

I’m looking for a small tablet that I can use for basic browsing and occasional light productivity tasks. As much as I’ve tried to get used to iPad’s, I just can’t stand using them. With that in mind I was considering picking up a Surface Go (8gb WiFi version) as I’ve heard good things from Brad and the community about the device given it’s limitations.

My only concern being it’s starting to get a little longer into the Go’s life cycle so I’m just wondering if you think this is a safe buy or if you’re aware that MSFT might be refreshing or upgrading the Go any time soon? The obvious improvement for the line is battery improvements, possibly switching to new ARM processors like the 8CX, and possibly Microsofts Lite OS which seems to be set for at least next year. Thoughts?

I cannot recommend Surface Go. The performance and battery life are terrible. (And as a computer, the keyboard isn’t full-sized so an ergonomic disaster that’s too small for comfortable typing.)

You’ll hear some dissenting opinions on that one: People who have been pining for a good, small Windows tablet seem to be oblivious to its shortcomings. I’m not sure what your issues with Apple are, but any iPad is absolutely the better choice.

Regarding the future, Microsoft actually intended to use a Snapdragon processor for the Surface Go, but those plans were scuttled by the platform’s compatibility issues and even worse performance. But I do believe that a future Surface Go—and a future Surface Pro, too—will utilize Snapdragon processors. And the 8cx is the obvious starting point for that. Microsoft will have a Surface hardware event in October, not coincidentally. So that’s the time frame, at the earliest. (Not for Lite OS, however. I don’t think Lite OS will be ready then.)

Windows 10 on ARM

brisonharvey asks:

Where does Windows 10 on ARM stand currently? And how do you think Microsoft will position it within the market? My fear is that it will be seen as a premium choice that will compete with Intel at the high end, leaving the middle and low end with few alternatives. The current placement of the SD 850 devices in the $600-900 range is just about right, but I have to think the new SD 8cx processor will bump up the price.

Qualcomm is working to bring the performance of its ARM chipsets up to “Core i5” levels, which I take to mean dual-core (previous-gen) Core i5. But that’s fine, and doing so would erase one of the two major issues with that platform. The other being compatibility.

Right now, I think Windows 10 is in a bit of a holding pattern waiting for the 8cx release. We should learn about the first 8cx PCs at IFA in September. (And as noted above, the first Snapdragon-based Surface could be announced as soon as October.)

But regarding positioning, I agree that $600 to $900 is about right. But I bet the first 8cx PCs are more expensive than that, maybe $1000 to even $1200.

Future of OneNote

jchampeau asks:

Now that we know UWP is essentially dead, do you think Microsoft will do an about-face on OneNote and give us OneNote 2019 and deprecate the UWP version?

Interesting. A PWA version of OneNote would make more sense since it would work across web, Windows, and Mac (and even Linux). But I’ve not heard of anything along those lines.

It’s worth pointing out that the person in charge of OneNote (and To-Do and Sticky Notes) just left the company and that the development of this app now falls under the user experience team that’s part of Windows. Which means that the most likely outcome is that there are no architectural changes at all and that this app will languish with largely meaningless upgrades going forward. I hope not. But I’m worried about it.

Smart displays

JaseCutler asks:

After pulling out a DSLR to document some life events this past week, it got me realizing how I haven’t even been looking back at my history of photos. It made me remember you discussing how much the Lenovo Smart Display brought your old photos back into your life, and I was wondering if your review of the Lenovo Smart Display still reflected how you felt about it, or if you had any more to add six months later.

Our smart display is still a focal point in the kitchen for this very reason. And as Google adds more and more pictures to the album it uses, it just gets better over time. We really do enjoy it.

Also, less as easy for you to answer as the product isn’t out yet and you couldn’t even compare it, but the Nest Hub Max looks to be identical to Lenovo’s in screen size but Google touts in its press releases this will have all sorts more facial recognition capabilities. Since it looks to come in cheaper by $20 or so, I can’t help but wonder if its a bad idea to buy a Lenovo Display right now.

I never understood why Google’s initial smart display (Home Hub) was so small and so limited. The new Nest Hub Max looks solid and roughly equivalent to the bigger Lenovo Smart Display (which is the one we do use). I haven’t used one, but I would probably choose the Google one today as well.

BTW, stay tuned for some smart clock news this coming week.

Windows 10 version 1903 quality

madthinus asks:

Windows 10 1903 is out for a couple of days and the list of issues with blocks is rather long for a release that has been out in final form for 6 weeks. Is this a sign of the slower release approach is working, or is it more a confirmation that the quality of the Windows 10 feature updates when it come out of the door is rather low?

I take this as a positive sign: It’s better to have blocks on incompatible configurations than to ship an update to PCs that will have issues. Plus, Microsoft seems to have a adopted a much slower and more measured rollout schedule now, and that will help with quality overall as well. None of these Feature Updates are emergencies, after all. There’s no reason to fire hose them at customers.

So far so good. I know it’s early yet, but it looks like this one is happening more sanely and reliably.

Lite OS/Windows Lite/whatever it is

Eric_Rasmussen asks:

I was in Best Buy yesterday picking up an Oculus Quest (which is pretty amazing, btw) but beforehand I was perusing the notebooks section of the store. I played with a couple of the newer Chromebooks from Dell and Acer and I was actually surprised by how far the platform has come in the past year.

I feel the same way, and I have been trying to communicate this on the site both to prepare Windows fans for the battle to come and to prompt Microsoft int moving more quickly. I can’t claim any success with either.

I know Microsoft wants to compete with ChromeOS using Windows Lite, but it seems like Windows Lite is moving in a direction that makes it significantly less-capable than ChromeOS is today. Windows 10 in S Mode is a non-starter (even Mary Jo couldn’t stick with it) so I’m curious if you’ve heard anything about Windows Lite and why someone would choose it over ChromeOS? Is it for the privacy? Given how good the Chromebooks I saw are, I feel like Microsoft needs to move very quickly if they have any hope of competing in this space.

What Windows Lite is, is unclear. I refer to it as Lite OS because I’ve heard that Microsoft almost certainly will not use the Windows branding on it. And I’ve conjected that, given move to Chromium with Microsoft Edge, that this system will be a Chrome OS-type solution and not a Windows 10 S-like solution. I certainly think the former would make more sense, regardless.

As for the why of such a system, it maps closely to the why of the new Edge: I think there is a sizable audience that wants all the capabilities and goodness of the Google thing (Chrome and Chrome OS) but does not want all the badness of that Google thing, like the tracking and other privacy invasions. And Microsoft is uniquely positioned to do that in both cases.

Should Lite OS arrive as more of a Windows-type system, it’s doomed. No one wants something that is Windows but less, as has been proven by Windows RT and Windows 10 S. But there is almost certainly an audience for a Google-less Chrome OS, especially in the enterprise, where simpler and easier to manage is always preferable. I just think it makes sense.

The wildcard here is Windows desktop applications: Can they be made to run on Lite OS if it’s a Chrome OS-like platform? I really don’t know. (I know you can run Linux apps on Chrome OS, but Chrome OS is essentially a very stripped-down version of Linux, so that may not have any bearing on Windows apps at all.)

Motorola phones

Kevin_Costa asks:

Is there some reason that you don’t review Motorola phones? There are pretty good options today, as the latest G7, X4, and Z3 lines (the latter with some interesting snaps). Their cameras may be as not as good as you are used to, but the phones, at least here in Brazil, are really popular, and they have a clean Android image (as you like). I would like to read your opinion.

Not a good reason, no: I have a good relationship with Lenovo, but the Moto folks lost track of me, probably because people came and went. I agree that they make a decent line of devices, and will try to get that going again.