Microsoft Power Cover doubles the Surface's battery life for $200 on March 19th

With the right accessories, the Surface Pro makes a mean alternative to your average laptop -- but even with the second generation model's improved battery life, it doesn't last long outside of the house. Soon, that might be less of an issue: Microsoft is preparing to ship out the tablet's Power Cover keyboard later this month. The $200 Type Cover variant was originally announced with the Surface 2, but didn't make it to market with the new tablets. Now the company has given it a March 19th ship date, promising buyers 70% more battery life for Surface Pro,Surface Pro 2 and RT-based Surface 2 slates. Pricey? A bit, but can you think of a better way to nurse your Windows 8 slate on an international flight?

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Microsoft moved 3.9 million Xbox Ones, while Surface sales soared

Microsoft moved 3.9 million Xbox Ones, while Surface sales soared

The company's search for a new CEO is still the dominant narrative surrounding Microsoft. But if you're able to get past the quest to replace Ballmer, you'll find a company that's starting to get something of a second wind in its long life. For one, its new Xbox One console is selling quite well. After getting off to a slightly rocky start and trailing the latest PlayStation in initial sales, it outsold its rival in the US for the Month of December. All told during the last quarter Redmond pushed 3.9 million of the next-gen (now-gen?) gaming rigs out to retail channels. That's in addition to 3.5 million Xbox 360s, which are still selling well and are quite a bargain compared to the new systems.

Another unit that struggled early on, Surface, seems to be righting the ship as well. (Though, its rough patch lasted a ways longer than the Xbox One's.) Revenues from Surface sales more than doubled from $400 million last quarter to $893 million. And let's not forget, that $400 million dollars represented a 47 percent increase over the quarter before that.

Obviously, things are not all rosy. Its desktop consumer Office and Windows 8 offerings continue to see revenues fall. But, the growth of its device division and increased income from Bing (which, stunningly, now accounts for 18.2 percent of searches in the US, according to Microsoft) are beginning to compensate for the "softness in the consumer PC market."

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iPad Air vs Microsoft Surface 2

How do the iPad Air and Surface 2 stack up against each other

Now that the iPad Air has been made official, how does it stack up against the recently launched Microsoft Surface 2? Is there even a comparison?

Let's compare the two tablets and see how they really fare against each other.

Before we dive in, let's recall the big picture when it comes to each device. The iPad Air is the next iteration of the iPad, but it's half a pound lighter. It also has the new A7 chipset and a 5MP iSight rear camera. Oh, and Apple promises up to 10 hours of battery life, too.

The Surface 2 is the successor to the Microsoft Surface. It runs Windows RT 8.1 and promises up to 28 days of standby time, though most reviews online show about six to seven hours of real-world use.

iPad Air vs Microsoft Surface 2: Display

These days, when you're buying what is essentially just a big slab of screen, the display really matters. Here, we have a 9.7-inch 2048 x 1536 display on the iPad Air versus a 10.6-inch 1920 x 1080 display on the Surface 2.

The winner in terms of sheer resolution and sharpness is the iPad Air. At normal viewing distances, you really wouldn't be able to tell the difference. But side-by-side, you'd probably be able to tell which one is best. But don't strain your eyes, because we're telling you now it's the iPad.

iPad Air vs Microsoft Surface 2: Processor and performance

There's more to performance than just plain old hardware. You can put a 200 horsepower engine in a motorcycle and it will fly, put that in a 5,000-pound truck and it's a different story. Likewise, chipsets and processors in tablets and smartphones don't tell the whole story.

Here we have Apple's new A7 chipset with 64-bit architecture powering iOS 7. Apple claims that, thanks to the A7, the new iPad Air is going to be eight times faster than the previous model.

The Microsoft Surface 2 has NVIDIA's Tegra 4, which has had performance issues depending on the device and software running.

Given our experience with iOS 7 and Windows RT 8.1, we can safely assume that the overall user experience as a result of performance will be better with iOS, and therefore, the iPad.

iPad Air vs Microsoft Surface 2: Battery life

Apple promises up to 10 hours of real world use with the iPad Air. Microsoft seems to only offer standby times, but most reviews online show six to seven hours of real world use.

Perhaps for many prospective buyers, the battery life isn't as important if the tablet is going to be for home use. But if you plan on taking a tablet with you on your commute, you'll definitely want the iPad for that extra juice.

One interesting thing is that reports on the web are mixed regarding battery life on the Microsoft Surface 2. Some claim that it's great, others are not impressed. The ones who tend to be excited about it are reviewers who are comparing it to its predecessor, so you may want to take that into consideration if you plan to buy it.

iPad Air vs Microsoft Surface 2: Apps

When you buy a tablet, you're really buying it for one main reason: apps. You're running browsers, social networking apps, productivity apps, games and so on. It's really one of the biggest considerations, or at least it should be, when buying a new tablet.

Hands down, the iPad Air wins here. If there was one consistent thing reviewers disliked about the Microsoft Surface 2, it was the lack of apps.

iOS has always had the biggest number of quality, tablet-designed apps when compared to Android or Windows. That hasn't changed, and it becomes more obvious once we start comparing the iPad to other tablets.

If you're not going to use a browser only - and why would you? - you should strongly consider the iPad Air over the Surface 2.

iPad Air vs Microsoft Surface 2: Pricing

Perhaps the one thing that the Surface 2 has going for it is pricing. Starting at $449, it's $50 cheaper than the iPad Air. If money were truly an issue, and $50 wasn't worth getting a better overall tablet experience, the clear winner is the Surface 2.

However, we believe that in most cases you get what you pay for. Not only will you get better battery life with the iPad Air, it's a lighter and more svelte tablet, too.

Then there are the apps. Sure, the iPad Air starts at a hefty $499, and cost up to $929 if you get a 64GB model with Wi-Fi + cellular connectivity, but you're buying into the richest app ecosystems available today.

Verdict

It's clear that in every category that matters, the iPad Air edges out the Surface 2 We do wish that it wasn't such a landslide victory in this comparison, but that's the reality of it.

Where Microsoft is really lacking is in its app selection. There aren't very many good apps for the Surface 2, or on Windows RT 8.1. Perhaps developers are going where the sales and money are, and that makes sense.

When it comes to build quality and weight, battery life, apps, display and performance, we give this one to the iPad Air in every category. Oh, and obviously the Apple tablet takes it in the value category, too. For the money, you just get more bang for your buck with Apple tablets.

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Hands on: Microsoft Surface 2 review

Surface RT is reborn, but is it better?

Move over, Surface RT. You've been replaced.

Of course, the Surface RT isn't actually going anywhere, but today at a press conference in New York Microsoft unveiled its next-gen tablets, the Surface Pro 2 and Surface 2.

Apparently the original RT line was so smeared with failure, Microsoft decided to shuck the moniker for fear it would continue to keep customers away - but that hasn't stopped it keeping Windows RT with the new Windows 8.1 RT retread.

• Get the Surface 2 from Microsoft

The Surface 2 comes with a much lower $449 (£359, about AU$279) launch price tag than the less-equipped Surface RT. That's already a check in the "improvement" box.

Microsoft looks to have learned its lesson and put out an updated device with a beefier 1080p screen, the entire Microsoft Office pre-loaded, as well as a faster - but not fastest - speed 1.7GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 4 processor.

Hardware is one thing, but does the Windows 8.1 RT experience still drag down this upgraded slate? We find out in our hands on with the new Windows Surface 2.

Getting our hands on the Surface 2, the tablet instantly feels sturdier than the last iteration. It might be partially because the tablet is now made of just two magnesium pieces (the shell itself and the kickstand), but it simply feels like a thin, solid slate of silvered metal topped with glass, giving it a very industrial look.

Although the Surface 2 scales towards the larger-end of tablets with a 10.6-inch screen, it's light in the hand. Its weight certainly didn't distract us as we flicked across the screen while holding it one-handed, something we can't say about the device's more power-trained brother.

We also appreciated the new screen that's finally high-definition at 1920 x 1080 resolution. Meanwhile, the Snapdragon processor managed to keep up with all our application switching. We'll still reverse our final judgment on whether the processor is powerful enough after we've run the tablet through a few taxing games of Spartan Assault.

Peripherals

Oddly the most impressive pieces of tech to come out of the new Surface line were actually the new Touch and Type Covers.

The new, thinner Type Cover offers slightly quieter word processing for the tack-tack self-conscious library goers. But the real show stopper was the new Touch Cover. The cover lets you do even more with an array of 1,092 touch sensors, whereas the old Touch Cover only packed 80.

The keyboard is more sensitive to your drumming finger and you can even glide your fingers all over the touch keys as it were Swype for Android.

Microsoft also unveiled a new touch-based music cover that lets you mix Skrillex with beats that react to how much pressure that you put on the sensor sheet. There are plans to release even more sheets, so we could see some very interesting uses of analog touch covers in the future.

Early verdict

It's still too early to say if the Microsoft Surface 2 is a safe Windows 8.1 RT tablet to stick with, especially after getting burned by the first semi-capable Surface RT. There's definitely a decent pairing of hardware compared to all the 10-inch tablets.

It might not have the specs to compete with flagships like the iPad 4 and Nexus 10, but Microsoft certainly have given the Surface 2 a better fighting chance than the RT ever had. Thanks to Microsoft Office built-in and impressive accessories, including potentially more unique covers down the line, the Surface 2 is already off to a far better start than its predecessor.

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