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Microsoft Surface Touch Cover 'Splits Within Days'
An anonymous reader points out a report at the Guardian of a potential problem for early adopters of the Microsoft Surface tablet. The Touch Cover is one of the available protective covers for the device; it acts as a keyboard, and has both a gyroscope and an accelerometer on board. Unfortunately, some users have found that the edges of the Touch Cover have split open after only a few days of use. "The defect is identical in each case: the cover ... begins to split at its seam where the device attaches magnetically to the main computer. [One developer] was told to return his Touch Cover to Microsoft for a replacement, and Microsoft has been swapping faulty covers for users where it has retail stores. It's unclear whether the problems that people have encountered are due to a faulty batch or are a subtle problem that will become more apparent as more people use it for longer — but the fact that users in the US and the UK have reported the problem suggests that it is not isolated to a single manufacturing batch."
I would say that this story might be a bit over-sensationalist.
Well, now that Microsoft wants to compete with Apple, they'll have to deal with over-sensationalist news as well.
Let me be the first to suggest "Covergate". ;)
They're just holding it wrong!
Of course they're defective.
Which part of "Microsoft Product" did you not understand?
and microsoft telling them that they're using it in wrong position that causes wrong stress on the seam.
I call BS. Nowhere in the linked articles is Microsoft cited for any such claim. Citation needed, please.
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I agree. As a busy, young, professional, and I kept finding that my Android and Apple devices were holding back my potential to synergize my cloud potential at work, but it also got in the way of my X-treme lifestyle when I'm not. After a few days of using my new Microsoft® Surface, it magically unleashed my creativity and X-tremeness and earning potential with it's radical Microsoft® Windows® technology, and I was offered the job of CEO. The styling and unique VaporMg (patent pending) casing caught the eye of a few supermodels today, while I was doing some Xtreme mountainbike-hang-gliding-surfing-rock-climbing-base-jumping, which is a new sport made possible only by thoughtful design and precision craftsmanship that make Surface a joy to behold. They were aroused by the split touch cover, and told me they'd be my harem as long as I never to get it changed.
You have to say, good customer service. At least they didn't say the users were just doing it wrong.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
One article claims 2 users have reported this. The linked thread mentions three. I'm sure that they're may be more, but three reports of problems doesn't seem like a reason to declare a universal flaw yet.
The position where the cover has been splitting in these instances does seem to be a position under great stress. It is not inconceivable that it is a widespread problem.
I have been using the Surface extensively with the cover folded back behind the unit (the position putting the most stress on that seam) and mine haven't split (yet). But examining the cover I can definitively see how it could happen, if the cover is not perfectly glued/molded. Not looking forward to confirming this problem :-)
That said, it is a wonderful device. The touch cover really *is* nice. Folded back it offers a good non-slipping grip on the device. Having an (almost) real keyboard just by dropping the cover on a table is so much more convenient than using the screen keyboard.
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it is bs, because the suggestion is made with the mouth of an user
Not with the mouth of a user. The suggestion was made by a user. Or are you suggesting that Microsoft imposes a user to make such a suggestion?
but it's apparently the reason for why it breaks
That a little premature conclusion, don't you think? I have been using the device extensively like that and my cover has not split (yet). Is it now a concern? Yes, definitively. I can even see how the wires in that place *does* put extra stress on the glued/welded surfaces. But to jump to " it's apparently the reason for why it breaks" is just not supported by any data at this point. Pure speculation.
so I'd wager that MS would tell you just to fuck off after you're back to have it changed the third time.
Yeah, you'd wager. Right. Certainly their actions so far indicate that the users affected by this problem have had no problem getting a replacement. So on what basis do you "wager" that?
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No, not every manufacturer. Not Apple, Microsoft's competition.
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/04/19/blogger-victorious-over-apple-in-small-claims-case-on-nvidia-gpu-failures/
It seems that the actual article is down at the moment, but apple actually sent two lawyers to court, and tried to file a counter suit against a man even though Nvidia would be paying the actual cost of the repair.
So no, not every manufacturer. Microsoft is actually pretty great at customer service in that sense.
It was the same thing with the xbox 360s, if you had an xbox 360 that was 3 years old or less and had the most common hardware failure, it got replaced. Microsoft caught a ton of flack though, because their agreement to replace all these xboxes actually brought more attention to the story.
I had three(yes, 3) original playstations that didn't last 3 years without a hardware failure. I also had a PS2 that failed in 3.5 years after receiving maybe 1/10th of the use my xbox 360 received. Original nintendos were notoriously unreliable at reading cartridges. Nobody talks about those screwups though, meanwhile here's Microsoft replacing xbox 360s left and right, replacing all these touch covers, and people treat it as a negative. At least they're showing good faith to make it right.