I’ve been an avid iPad user for 30 months and counting. I still love and use my Pad a lot, but I also bought a new Surface RT. Will my Surface ever completely replace my iPad? I don’t know yet, but I’d love to find out. This blog series is aimed at comparing the two devices in all sorts of situations, from work to home, and analyzing the pros and cons of each. You can read other entries in the series using the links below.
- From iPad to Surface:
- Bonus Post: You Want to Buy a Surface, but What is Windows RT?
- Bonus Post: Developing Apps for Microsoft Surface, Windows 8, Windows RT and Windows Phone 8
- Bonus Page: Infragistics NetAdvantage for Windows UI – Developer Controls for Windows 8 & Windows RT
Too Many Apps
I have 350 apps on my iPad 3rd generation 64GB. Three. Hundred. Fifty.
Thank goodness (or in this instance – Steve Jobs) for the introduction of folders in iOS 4.0, a feature that lets you group apps together under a common category of your own choosing. These folders make my home screen much more manageable on the iPad, with quick groups like News, Canadian News, Books, Social, Productivity, Finance and Entertainment.
Sure, the iPad has a nifty search feature allowing you to quickly find your apps (the Surface does too), but I like to “browse” when I’m not exactly sure what I’m looking for. For example, if I’m in the mood to play a game on my iPad, I’ll pick a game based on the type of gameplay I’m looking for, such as role-playing, strategy, puzzles, action, music, card games, etc.
Windows 8 and Windows RT don’t have any folders. If you install a lot of apps on your Surface, thinkg will quickly get out of hand. I have the same problem on my Windows Phone, but it’s easier to configure the Start screen on my phone, and accept that not all apps belong on the Start screen. I can simply use the App List, the long list selector that lets me jump to a specific app letter, or the search feature.
On Surface, I don’t use the full app list. I like to put all my apps on the Start screen. At first glance, my Start screen looks nice. It’s full of live tiles, giving me lots of updates with a quick glance.
The problem is when I start scrolling right, and I see panels and panels of apps. I’ve only had my Surface for 6 days and I already have 72 apps and games on it. If I “zoom out” on my Start screen with a pinch gesture, this is what my full Start screen looks like (see screenshot below). You can create logical “dividers” or groups and name them (swipe down on each group).
Can you imagine this picture once I have over 300 apps like I do on my iPad? How will I ever deal with this? Things will get out of hand fast. I can use the search charm, and I will, but the beauty of the new Windows Start screen is in the live tiles. More and more apps will support them. Developers will find more creative ways to design innovative live tiles you’ll just want on your Start screen. Unpinning 90% of your apps from your Start screen kinda defeats the purpose of the Surface.
The problem persists if I decide to use the “All apps” button which is shown when you swipe from the bottom edge and up. You end up with a huge grid of apps and your group/divider names are gone (see screenshot below). You can get a quick selector to jump to a specific letter with another pinch gesture here, but I wish it acted like a filter since it’s still not easy to figure out where you are after picking a letter.
Microsoft Office 2013 has its own folder, but we are somehow not able to create these folders ourselves. Worse, if you are running a Windows 8 Pro computer or tablet, all those desktop apps will dump their dozens of icons in their own folders, turning it into a mess you’ll NEVER want to look at.
The Start screen is where it’s at, but we’re gonna need a way to group our apps. The current grouping feature only labels a group, but what we really need are real folders you can drill into. It took four versions for iOS to recognize this problem. I sincerely hope I won’t have to wait for Surface 4 or Windows 11 before we get folders.
Day 6 Summary
The lack of app groups on Windows 8 and Windows RT sounds trivial, but it’s one of those “every day quality of life issues” that affects you every single time you use your Surface, tablet, laptop or desktop. With already over 10,000 apps in the Windows Store, it’s not unrealistic to see users with dozens of apps already, barely a week after launch. Microsoft needs to address this problem very soon. They cannot afford to wait for the next major release of Windows.
If you have any questions about Surface, including suggestions for future topics to explore in this series, questions about my experiences with the Surface vs. iPad, or any other tablet, feel free to ask them in the comments section below, or contact me on Twitter at @ActiveNick.
If you’re a developer interested in building apps for Surface, Windows 8 and Windows RT, Infragistics has the right tools for you with the new NetAdvantage for Windows UI. You should also follow @infragistics on Twitter.
Did you buy a Surface or other Windows RT tablet? Are you waiting for the Windows 8 Pro tablets? What are some of the key apps you want to see on Surface? Do you want groups or folders in the Start screen? How do you think Microsoft should address the lack of app groups? Let me know.
See you tomorrow!