This week Engadget announced their Readers Choice awards, no less than three Microsoft products were featured including the Microsoft Surface RT as tablet of the year
Engadget just announced their 2012 readers choice awards. I’d like to take a minute to look at each of the Microsoft products that earned an award. Yesterday I talked about the SmartPhone of the Year: Nokia Lumia 920. Today I’d like to talk a bit about the
Tablet of the year: Microsoft Surface RT
I bought a Surface RT when it first came out, and the number one question I am asked when someone sees it for the first time is what’s the difference between a Surface RT and an iPad. So I thought now would be a good time to point out some of the differences. This is not a complete list, but will give you a sense of how they differ.
You can see the specs for each device yourself by clicking on the headers for each column.
| Microsoft Surface RT | iPad |
| Weighs 1.5 lbs | weighs 1.44 lbs |
| 9.3 mm thickness | 9.4 mm thickness |
| 10.6” screen ClearType HD display | 9.7” screen Retina display |
| Built-in kickstand | No kickstand |
| 8 hours battery life | up to 10 hours of surfing web, watching video with wifi, 9 hours using cellular network |
| USB 2.0 Port | No USB |
| Micro HDMI Connector | Lightning Connector |
| micro SDXC Card slot | No SD Card slot |
| 32 GB or 64 GB storage | 16GB, 32 GB, 64 GB, or 128 GB storage |
| CPU: Quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 | CPU: Dual core A6X with quad core graphics |
| 2 microphones | 1 microphone |
| stereo speakers | 1 speaker |
| Bluetooth 4.0 | Bluetooth 4.0 |
| Accelerometer, GPS | Accelerometer, GPS |
| Can connect to Wi-Fi | Can connect to Wi-Fi and there is a model that supports Cellular data |
| Front & rear camera | Front & rear camera |
| Compatible with existing Printers | wireless printing requires AirPrint |
| Can have multiple users each with their own login | Single user account |
| Supports RDP and remote apps | no built in desktop virtualization |
| Snap (so you can have two apps running side-by-side) | One app at a time |
| comes with Microsoft Office | can use iWork or 3rd party apps |
| supports cloud based storage on SkyDrive which supports folders and can be accessed from any web enabled device | supports iCloud which can be synced to Macs, iPhone, and iPads |
| Windows Store has apps (but not as many apps as iPad) | has more apps than Windows 8 store |