This afternoon I went to check out Windows 8 with my boys, Jeremy and Jason (14 and 12 respectively). They are also excited about technology and, much like their dad, given the chance they enjoy getting their hands on new gear.
Windows 8 has been discussed a lot in the news lately and our curiosity finally got the best of us. We went into a local AT&T and approached a wall of tablets. Android to the left, Windows 8 to the right. There were no iPads on display even tho the posters outside the store advertised them.
Windows 8 looks great! We quickly discovered different hidden menus appear from all four sides of the screen when swiped. We found the Start menu and Settings in these hidden places. We launched 'desktop mode' and saw he familiar Windows screen. Then we launched Internet Explorer by tapping the icon.
Visiting my latest website project (I'm a Marketing Manager at a cloud computer company with a focus on graphic design and search engine optimization, SEO) proved to be a disappointment. Some of the features simply did not work properly. Tapping images on screen did not produce the desired effects! Essentially, the website was useless with much of the navigation 'shut down' using the latest version of Internet Explorer on Windows 8.
The boys ran to the neighboring Android devices to test the website functionality and fortunately everything worked as designed.
We tried all of the Windows 8 tablets and found the same disappointing results. Then we noticed on some of them video would suddenly stop and the default home screen would appear. The boys and I began to scratch our heads then laugh at the mess Microsoft is passing onto its customers. Finding that their browser did not display the latest actions on websites (rendering them useless) and quit in the middle of watching videos was enough for us to make our decision. Certainly, we were not going to include a Windows 8 tablet to our growing collection of technology.
A salesman came over to ask if we needed assistance and to let us know all of the Windows 8 tablets were on sale for $100 less than their advertised prices. We mentioned the problems we were having and were told the machines were "glitchy"... a fact indeed!
Having done this bit of research with my boys uncovered (quickly) problems with Windows 8 tablets. For owners of these devices, I dread the issues they will discover and hope none are critical. Surely, what we encountered are not the only glitches.
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