I have Windows 8 on a tablet
The full version, not the RT. A week ago I came upon a deal on a Lenovo Lynx K3011 tablet that I could not pass. It has 12", yes the resolution is 1366 x 768, but that is not a problem, I cannot see the pixels at the reading distance, and the screen is really nice (IPS).
The hardware is top notch, I would say. What makes it slower is not the CPU (Atom Z2760 dual core) but the storage drive (MMC).
I already have a couple of years old Asus Transformer and that always is my reference point.
The Metro UI is not that bad, once you get used to it. It is responsive, for sure. It is absolutely suitable for a tablet.
That being said, I have quite a bit of problems with Windows 8. First, the Metro client cannot connect to my Exchange server at work - I suppose because Exchange is 2003. Funny is that my Android phone and the Transformer, both with Ice Cream Sandwich, have no problem connecting. Hello, Microsoft, even Google supports Exchange 2003, why no love for it in W8?
OK, I said, no work emails, no problem, I will use it for browsing at home - SWMBO has already claimed the Transformer. I have started IE 10 and fired my favorite sites. I browse some forums, so I like to open plenty of new tabs, then go back to the main forum page without reloading it, because it's already there in a tab.
First problem here: I cannot configure IE so each click opens in a new tab. Firefox can do that with an add-on, but Metro IE does not allow add-ons, even if it passed my mind that I should write one as an exercise if there's none. Then, I cannot change the order of the tabs, so that when I close the last tab, it goes to the one before last, not the originating tab. Bad. Plus I can only use 10 tabs, but I never hit that limit.
So I said, OK, let's find a browser replacement. Here comes the shock: neither Firefox nor Chrome have a native Metro interface. Using them in the classic desktop is out of the question, because the virtual keyboard is poorly implemented in Windows 8: I have to manually open and close it every time I want to type something. It does not sense that the cursor is in a text field, wtf?
I searched the app store for a browser, but got nothing. Google shows that there is a browser, but made by a company in China. So I am thinking (maybe I am wrong), NSA has all my emails, should I give a chance to the Chinese spooks to read them as well? I decided against it, but it was not easy.
So now, a week later, I am looking into booting Android on the Lynx. It seems that I am out of luck here as well, the couple of Android implementations on x86 need a 64 bit CPU, and the one in this tablet is 32 bit only. I will keep the tablet for another couple of weeks, see if I can live with these problems. If not, watch for a lightly used one on eBay.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
