Category Archives: Windows 8

Want a free Surface Pro? Share Your Windows 8 Story Today !

It’s been 4 months since the launch of the Windows 8/RT operating system and Microsoft wants to celebrate the 4 month anniversary of their newest operating system in style.

Microsoft recently announced the Windows 8 Story contest .If you have been using a licensed Windows 8 operating system and live in the United States ,You can bag a free Surface Pro or can win a trip to March Madness and many other goodies.

All you need to do is to create a video,sharing your experience with Windows 8 and why do you love to use it,then visit the Facebook Contest Page and then click the “Enter Contest” button to upload your entry for the contest.After which you can spread the word and ask your family and friends to vote for your video and grab a chance to win awesome prizes.

The contest ends on 22nd of March and the Judging will end on 31st of March.Checkout the Complete Rules and Regulations of the Contest Here.

Fujitsu Announces Water Resistant Windows 8 Arrow’s Tablet

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Fujitsu has recently announced their new tablet powered by Windows 8 operating system,the Arrows Tab Q582/F.

The Arrows Tab Q582/F has a 10.1″ display,powered by an Intel Atom Z2760 processor,to go with a 2GB of RAM.The tablet sports a 64GB SSD,but one of the most exciting features of this tablet is that it is water resistant and at around 584 grams and 9.9mm thickness,Fujitsu claims that this is the slimmest Water and Dust Resistant Windows 8 tablet.

How water resistant is it?,well just have a look at the excerpts from their press release,

With the terminal cap and slot cap tightly closed, IPX5 and IPX8 water resistance features protect the tablet from water damage. IPX5 designation indicates that the tablet can normally function after being sprayed with water from a nozzle with a diameter of 6.3 mm at a rate of 12.5 liters per minute from a distance of approximately 3 meters for a period of at least 3 minutes. The IPX8 designation indicates that the tablet will function normally after being immersed in room-temperature tap water to a depth of 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. When the terminal cap and slot caps are tightly closed IP5X dust resistance features protect the tablet from dust damage. IP5X indicates that the tablet can be left in an environment with dust particles with a diameter of 75 µm or less for 8 hours and still function and remain safe to use.

Amongst other features the device has an extended battery life of 10.3 hours during video playback,the device also support receiving speeds of upto 75Mbps and transmitting speeds of upto 25 Mbps courtesy the ultra high speed Xi communication network.

The Arrows tablet will go on sale next month with a price tag of around 125,800 Yens which translates to around $1365.

Checkout the Press Release For more details.

[Rumor]Windows 8 Blue to release in August with Better Search and Faster Kernel

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There’s been a lot of rumors floating around lately surrounding the Windows Blue update from Microsoft.

One of the latest reports coming from Win8China,suggests that the Windows Blue update could hit the RTM around June timeframe and the public availability could be around August,while the new devices which will be releasing in the later half near to the update would probably be preloaded with the Windows Blue update.

The update will reportedly bring performance enhancement thanks to a more faster kernel and a better optimized search for Windows 8,low power consumption.,improved scaling for Modern UI apps and better windowing amongst other features.

According to the report the Milestone Preview will be available in coming months.Stay tuned for more Windows Blue Coverage.

Source[Win8China],via[TheVerge]

[Rumor]Microsoft to Launch Surface RT in Japan by March

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We knew that Microsoft will be expanding their Surface RT tablet market to 13 more countries including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland , starting from the 14th of february.But what was missing from the list was the name of some asian countries like Japan and India.

Now According to recent reports from Marketwatch,Microsoft is planning to launch the Surface RT tablet in Japan as early as next month.This will allow the Surface RT to compete against the manufacturers like Fujitsu and Sony who have already launched their Windows 8 based tablets in japan.

The 32 GB version of Surface RT is expected to be priced at 50,000 Yen in the japanese market.Tough there is no confirmation from Microsoft about the pricing and availability of the device in Japan,so we will have to file this under rumor section.

Source[MarketWatch]

Starting Today,Best Buy to Offer $100 Discount on Windows 8 Touch based PC’s and Laptops

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Starting Today,Best Buy will offer a $100 discount on the Touch screen based Desktop and Laptop PC’s powered by Windows 8 Operating System.

image Credits [BestBuy]This promotional offer will run for two weeks(till 9th of march) and will include Touch screen based Desktops and Laptops powered by Windows 8,but the Windows 8 tablets from Microsoft and other manufacturers will not be available under this promotional offer.

For doing this They will absorb the cost of discounts along with the PC makers,Microsoft and Intel and this decision to drop the prices was after their recent survey which showed that the consumers who recently bought a Touch based Windows 8 PC were more satisfied with their experience than those who bought a non touch based Windows 8 PC.

So if you are willing to own a Windows 8 Touch based AiO or a touch screen laptop this is just about the right time to do so.

Source [BestBuy], via[WSJ]

Surface Pro gets 1/10 Repairability Score by iFixit !

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When the Surface RT launched a few months ago,it got a Teardown from iFixit,to see how repairable is the new Surface RT tablet,as a result the new Microsoft tablet got a rating of 4/10 repairability from iFixit.

Image Credits[iFixit]

So now after the release of Surface Pro tablet which was launched quite recently,it was time to get a Teardown from iFixit.As reported earlier by Microsoft-News,iFixit recently tear downed the Surface Pro which is powered by Intel based Core i5 Processor and runs on Windows 8 Pro.The Device got a iFixit repairability rating of 1/10(with 10 being the easiest one to repair).If we compare the Surface Pro with the New iPad it has got 2/10 iFixit repairability rating.

Here’s why the Surface Pro got such a low repairability rating by iFixit,

The battery is not soldered to the motherboard, so at least no soldering is required to replace it.
The SSD is removable — but you risk killing your tablet by trying to open it.
There are over 90 screws inside this device. We’re proponents of mechanical fasteners, but this number is a tad crazy.
The display assembly (comprising of a fused glass and LCD) is extremely difficult to remove/replace.
Tons of adhesive hold everything in place, including the display and battery.
Unless you perform the opening procedure 100% correctly, chances are you’ll shear one of the four cables surrounding the display perimeter.

Source[iFixit],Via[Microsoft-News]

x86 Based Apps Running on Windows RT,Thanks to a Jailbreak

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We all know that one of the major limitations of Windows RT is the limitations with running Legacy x86 apps,since the Operating System is compiled to run on ARM based processors.

But thanks to the Hackers community who are always upto something new and challenging,we have already saw someone running early version of Mac Running on the Surface RT.Now a member from XDA Forum has released a Tool which allows us to run x86 based apps on Windows RT after jailbreaking the device.

The tool basically emulates x86 instructions and passes Windows API calls to WinRT kernel with necessary modifications,which allows x86 based legacy apps to run on Windows RT based tablets.Currently since the program is in the Beta stages,it only runs a few apps like WinRar,3D,Pinball,Heroes of Might and Magic,7Zip etc.but not without some glitches like Sound issues and hanging.

So we can say that this is pretty much of a proof of concept and we should give the developer some more time to make the tool more stable before trying it out.But if you are willing to try and risk it out make sure you follow all the Instructions by the XDA Developer Here,but do it at your own risk as it may damage your device or void the warranty.

Source[XDA],Via[Neowin]

Surface RT’s Patch Tuesday Update Includes Fix for WiFi Limited Connectivity and Driver Updates

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Yesterday Microsoft released the Patch Tuesday update for Surface RT along with the updates for their desktop version of Windows operating system(Windows 8).

While answering a Query at the Microsoft Answers Community Forum the Moderator detailed the Surface RT update.The new Surface RT Updates includes fixes for the “Limited Connectivity” issues that the users have been facing with their WiFi connection over Surface RT.It also contains driver updates which improves the performance with Windows,Volume and Power buttons of the Surface RT Tablet.

So if you are a Surface RT Owner and fed up with the Limited Connectivity issue then,Hover your Mouse cursor to the charm bar,hit the Settings button,Tap on the Change PC Settings option and Select the Windows Update option from the list and Check for Updates,to update your Surface RT Today.

Source[Microsoft Answers Community]

Microsoft Hiring Developers for Unifying Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8/RT Stores?

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We all know that Windows Phone 8 and the latest Windows 8 operating system works on the same kernel(NT Kernel) and it was obvious that it was there for the future scope for seamless porting of apps from one platform to the other.

As reported earlier by WMPowerUser,it seems that Microsoft is already moving forward with the idea of Unifying Windows Phone and Windows 8 Store.A recent Job post on the Microsoft Careers site hinted at a position(which is now been filled) which goes like,

“Do you wish the code you write for Windows Store apps would just work on the Windows Phone and vice versa?”

So if this is what the Software Giant is planing to do,it would be good for the future of Windows Phone 8 Store and the Windows Store due to the two way compatibility(Windows 8 to Windows Phone and vice versa) and would definitely attract more and more developers to the unified ecosystem of Windows.

Source[Microsoft Careers],Via[WMPU]

Surface Pro and Surface RT’s User Available Storage Space Detailed

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There’s been a lot of talks going on about exactly how much free space will be available for the users after the initial Operating System and Default apps in the Surface RT/Pro devices.Thankfully,Microsoft has put up a detailed Page which discusses the User available storage space on both Surface RT as well as the Surface Pro devices.

The Surface RT which comes in 2 variants the 32GB and the 64 GB versions.While the 32GB version of Surface RT features 16GB of User available space the 64GB version has around 45GB User available space.

Here’s the breakdown of the Surface RT’s Storage

Surface with Window RT (decimal system)	32 GB	64 GB
Total storage as reported by Windows (binary system)	29*	58*
Storage space reserved for Windows recovery tools	-5	-5
Available storage reported by File Explorer	24	53
Windows RT, Office Home & Student 2013 RT Preview¹and built-in apps	-8	-8
Available storage reported by File Explorer	16	45

So roughly around 29GB actual space (as per the binary system) is available in the 32GB version,with around 8GB space taken up by the operating system,Office suite and built in apps,while around 5GB of space is reserved for the Windows Recovery Tools,giving users 16GB of storage space.Similarly with the Surface RT 64GB version, around 58 GB actual space(as per the binary system) with same amount of storage space accumulated by the Operating System and the Windows Recovery Tools,giving the user 45GB to play with.

Talking about the newly launched Surface Pro,which runs Windows 8 Pro operating system and sports 64GB and 128GB as storage options.The 64GB variant has around 29GB of user available storage while the 128GB version has around 89GB of user available space.

Here’s the Breakdown of Surface Pro Storage

Total storage as reported by Windows (binary system)	59*	119*
Storage space reserved for Windows recovery tools	-9	-9
Available storage reported by File Explorer	50	110
Windows 8 Pro and built-in apps	-21	-21
Available storage reported by File Explorer	29	89

The 64GB version has around 59GB actual space(as per the binary system)with around 21GB memory utilized by the Operating System and built in apps and around 9GB of space reserved for Windows Recovery Tools,giving users around 29GB to play with.Similarly the 128GB version which has around 119 GB of actual space(as per the binary system) with same amount of storage space accumulated by the Operating System and the Windows Recovery Tools as with the 64GB version ,giving the user 89GB to play with.

If you still feel that much amount of memory is not enough,you will always have the choice to put in a Micro SD Card to bump up the memory or use an external storage device.

Source[Surface]