Dell Dumps Keyboardless Windows RT Tablets

jfruh writes "On Friday, Dell was selling Windows RT tablets for as low as $300. By this morning, the cheapest one on offer was $479. The difference? The only tablets they're selling now come bundled with keyboards, which may indicate that customers are finding even the Metro-focused RT version of Windows 8 too irritating to navigate by touch alone. (If you really want a 10-inch Dell tablet without a keyboard it looks like you can still get one on Amazon, at least for the time being.)"

Comments

not low enough

[rubycodez]

sell those silly things for $100 and people will be able to put a real OS on them to be useful

Re:not low enough

[roc97007]

sell those silly things for $100 and people will be able to put a real OS on them to be useful

Before I buy one even for $100 I'd need proof that this could be done.

Re:not low enough

[rudy_wayne]

$179 for a keyboard?

WTF?

Re:not low enough

[Delarth799]

It must be ergonomic

Re:not low enough

[slaker]

Windows RT is a real OS. The stock software load isn't as feature complete as I'd like, but I've found it to be less maddening to use than any experience I've had with iOS. The Metro interface definitely takes some adjustment and I'm not terribly fond of Microsoft's on-screen keyboard, but I suspect that if Surface tablets had been priced at $250 WITH THE KEYBOARD, they would not be a huge joke in the market that they have been so far. It might've been predatory pricing to gain market share, but the biggest mistake Microsoft made with the basic model Surface was assuming that it was on-par with the lifestyle brand that is Apple and that its offering would be treated as such.

Hardly surprising

[roc97007]

I suspect that the keyboard was initially not included to (a) make the cost of ownership seem less than it would later prove to be, and (b) give people the impression that Windows 8 could be used in some reasonable fashion entirely via touch. Neither of which is true, of course.

Re:Hardly surprising

[tripleevenfall]

That is all predicated on the faulty assumption that anyone wants to use Windows 8 in the first place.

Re:Hardly surprising

[roc97007]

That is all predicated on the faulty assumption that anyone wants to use Windows 8 in the first place.

At first I passed this off as snarky, but there is some insight into what you've written. Microsoft with the Surface RT seems to be trying to replicate the ipad phenomenon, which appears to be, make an engaging product, and people will buy it despite the fact that it's (a) priced at boutique levels, (b) doesn't play well outside its ecosystem, (c) is a walled ecosystem, and (d) is more for content consumption rather than content creation. So:

a) High price, check.

b) Doesn't play well outside its ecosystem, check.

c) Walled ecosystem, check

d) Consumption, yes, creation, not so much. Check.

e) ???

f) Profit!!!

In this case, the missing (e), the part they forgot, is of course, make it engaging. The device itself must make you want to pick it up. You should want to operate it, and how to operate it should be intuitively obvious. And I don't mean "intuitively obvious" because someone wrote those words in the brochure, but actually, intuitively obvious to regular people.

In summary, you can't duplicate the success of a product merely by duplicating its major features, especially when many of those features are seen by consumers as disadvantages that people put up with in order to own the product. What's missing in this case is a reason to own one.

That Microsoft commercial that tries to compare the ipad to the surface completely misses the point. Siri is engaging. The ability to play chopsticks on a lifelike piano is engaging. Even though neither of those features were of tremendous use, they made you want to pick up the product and play with it. There's nothing about Windows 8 that makes you want to pick up a Surface. It's flat, unattractive, and you can't just start using it, without first learning the eccentricities of the interface. The only reason to own one is that it runs Windows software. And then you find out that's not true either.

My daughter had a great observation about the Microsoft Surface commercials that are deluging the airwaves and shown in theaters before the movie (which pisses me off to no end, but never mind). She said that each commercial should show us how to do a certain thing on the Surface. Stop with the dancing already. Stop showing "attach the keyboard... detach the keyboard... attach the keyboard..." WE GET IT ALREADY! The keyboard is EXTRA. The commercials should show someone really using the interface, not just sweeping tiles from right to left, but using the hot corners, bringing up "charms", making the machine work. Why don't they do that? Perhaps because if people saw how Win8 actually *worked*, they'd go buy something else?

"Press F1 to continue..."

[Mr. Slippery]

A friend of mine is a teacher. Her school got a bunch of these keyboardless RT tablets, one for each student. She brought hers out to our writer's group last night with the intention of getting sued to it.

It wouldn't boot up, so her techie boyfriend started messing with it, He got it to boot to an error message of the "Press F1 to continue" variety...

...on a keyboardless tablet. He and I had a good laugh.

Re:"Press F1 to continue..."

[rudy_wayne]

She brought hers out to our writer's group last night with the intention of getting sued to it.

Best unintentional humor of the day.

Re:"Press F1 to continue..."

[jkrise]

"Press F1 to continue"

You must thank God it didn't ask you to insert the boot disk inside your tablet. Or worse, your Windows Phone!!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/15/windows_phone_boot/

Titsup Windows Phone 8 orders user to cram 'boot disc' in mobe

Re:"Press F1 to continue..."

[SQLGuru]

You can plug in a USB keyboard and hit F1 just fine.

Back in the day, you used to need a PS/2 keyboard to press F1 even if you had a USB keyboard because the BIOS didn't support the USB keyboard. This is no different.

Let's see

[scarboni888]

So first MS inappropriately tries to put a desktop operating system on to smart phones where it's pretty much unusable.

Then they decide inappropriately to put a smart phone operating system on to a desktop where it is pretty much unusable.

Genius. Pure and inappropriate genius.

Re:Be fair since you aren't being fair ...

[LordThyGod]

Windows RT tablets are a collectors item and you'll be able sell them on E-Bay for a tidy sum. And this is a great reason to buy one today.

Probably true in 10-15 years when the current inventory is down.

I'm not a Windows RT expert, but ...

[MacTO]

... it strikes me that the main reason to buy Windows RT over the competition (e.g. Android or iOS) is Office. Realistically, Office needs a keyboard so offering a keyboardless version is just another part for Dell to manage. It likely leads to poor reviews and extra support issues as well, since some ill informed people are going to buy the cheaper keyboardless version and expect Office to work as well as it does with a keyboard.

Why not a proper 10" netbook for $400?

[jkrise]

If a tablet must have a keyboard, due to a lousy operating system interface; why not build a proper 10" netbook with all accesories for $400?

Atleast then, the Windows OS would run all Windows applications, including legacy applications. Now the only 'apps' or applications on a Windows RT would be those on the Windows Store; which are largely useless and unusable.

Microsoft and its partners seem totally confused on what constitutes a tablet, what is a notebook and what is a desktop. Why would anyone want to run a full fledged Office package on a 10" tablet? What else could be the reason for investing more than $400 on a smallish computing device?

Swirl swipe

[BenJeremy]

Well, Swirl-swipe, triple tap, Windows Key+C+4, followed by shoving a charm bar across the screen diagonally probably wasn't as efficient as clicking the start menu after all.

Secure Boot says no... for now

[Camael]

Well the MS design intent is for all WinRT devices to be locked down.

Microsoft mandates that Secure Boot on Windows RT devices isn’t user-configurable, so you won’t be able to remove Windows RT and install Linux or another operating system.

Since MS Secure Boot has already been cracked, it will probably be a matter of time.

I guess the problem was the price.

[dccase]

Making it more expensive should fix it.

It's *kind of* cracked.

[Myria]

I have an exploit to load NT kernel drivers at near-boot time on RT tablets. It's not as good as a true Secure Boot exploit, but in theory it would be good enough to make a Linux/Android build for Surface RT.

Screenshot of my Surface RT running Windows RT with a kernel debugger, which should not be possible under Microsoft's Secure Boot configuration.

You mean the expensive optional Office?

[dutchwhizzman]

You are not allowed to use Office commercially on Windows RT devices. Also, it doesn't come with Outlook. This made the device positively unusable for any "professional" use. You could buy the Surface Pro later, that was supposed to have Outlook and "full legacy application windows compatibility". The fact that they have Office doesn't mean they are licensed, you have to buy a separate license for it. These things made any RT "for amateurs" only at launch. Given the fact that they were more expensive than iPads and at launch time, the iPads had way more apps available and were a proven concept, nobody was very interested in a surface RT at launch.

The keyboard feature on the surface RT is a fallacy. Yes, you can type on it. I haven't tried it myself but it could very well be a nice keyboard too. However, you need a flat surface to place the kick stand on, so it won't really work on your lap, you need a table. The angle at which you can set the screen with the kick stand is "limited" to put it mildly. You can fiddle a bit and maybe use some objects to change it to your liking, but for any semi-serious laptop-like work, you'd want an adjustable angle, so you can sit and type more or less ergonomically. Having to fiddle with this if you can buy a device that is just as expensive that has a proper laptop form factor, will make the RT not very interesting for people that sort of consumer either.

I don't know about the ergonomics of the Dell devices, but evidently, as a "content consumption device" without a keyboard, they weren't very successful, or Dell wouldn't be stopping the sales. If their devices that come with a keyboard are at least ergonomically viable, they may have a chance the surface RT never had. The OS and licensing are still going to be a challenge, but it may economically viable to make and sell these.