After Microsoft announced its in-house Surface tablet, the critical response was warm but cautious. It looks good, but we just don't know enough about it. One sign that it's a contender: Microsoft's omnifailing tablet partners are already hating it publicly. At Gizmodo, Mat Honan zeroes in on the most interesting feature: the innovative-looking hardware keyboard.

  • http://twitter.com/ohmz Omar Kooheji

    If they weren’t aiming it at the corporate market they should have named it after their already successful hardware brand the X-Box.

    • http://boingboing.net/ Rob Beschizza

      XBox is all but an independent subsidiary at this point. So it’s free of MS’s internal feudal shit-swamp, but all the remaining points of contact (eg: Live ID) are UX nightmares.

      • http://twitter.com/ohmz Omar Kooheji

        But it’s Microsoft’s only brand that has a positive customer following. Unless you are a developer and fall and the right side of the .Net love/hate split.

        People use windows because they have to, the zeal the Apple has for it’s iOS devices is not something they can get using the Windows brand, they could possibly get it using the X-Box Brand though if the fan-boyish devotion some people have towards the X-Box/PS3 is anything to go by.

  • pupdog

    “Todd! Todd! Get upstairs and take out that garbage”

  • iheijoushin

    Mat at Gizmodo is right to think the flappy keyboard cover is the coolest thing Microsoft has brought to the table with their Surface tablet. 

    But one must wonder why no one was able to try it, and infact no one was shown even using it as a keyboard during the whole demonstration. I hope it’s just because they rushed the presentation not because it’s a designer’s fantasy.

  • http://www.jimdraws.com Thorzdad

    Yeah, that keyboard IS interesting. Too bad no one outside of Microsoft itself has actually had an opportunity to try it. No one at the unveiling was allowed to try it. Danny Sullivan had a post about the whole dog-and-pony show MS put on… http://marketingland.com/hands-off-microsoft-surface-tablet-review-15146

  • http://twitter.com/qazwart David Weintraub

    What gets me are all the hands on reviews that are popping up. These people didn’t type on the keyboard, weren’t allowed to touch one for more than 90 seconds, yet can provide a hands on review of the thing.

  • snakedart

    I use this with my iPad.  Attaches with magnets, full keyboard, wakes and sleeps, doubles as a stand.

    What’s all this fuss over Microsoft’s mythical, magical keyboard cover?

    • http://www.darkphibre.com MrScience

      I think the fuss is due to the track pad, the “turning off when flipped to the back or pressed with a palm” mode, and the fact that it’s much thinner than the one you that linked.

  • pupdog

    I like typing on portable computers (what we used to be able to call laptops), because in a pinch you can use them on your lap. How exactly is a flippy cover and a kickstand supposed to help me out on a train when I don;t have a tray table, or in a cab, or perched on something that calls itself a chair at an airport?

  • Daneel

     To use this thing properly, you need a Surface. Hence the name.

  • Mitchell Glaser

    Zune Pad is gonna Zune.

  • http://jere7my.livejournal.com jere7my

    That Gizmodo article is kinda harsh to iPad keyboards, but I’ve been thrilled with my Zagg Folio keyboard case. Typing on it right now, in fact. It had a stuck key when I got it, but they sent me free bits to fix it, and it works great now. It might be an ounce or two too heavy, but it’s a joy to type on.

  • Cowicide

    Don’t call it the ZunePad

    That’s OK, I’ve been calling it the Zuneberry.