Day 2 - Windows 8 a new OS
Day 2 - Windows 8 a new OS
December 6, 2012
At the end of day one I turned the WiFi connection off since I do not currently have a general wireless Internet connection at home. I do this out of habit as I did not want the battery to run down searching for a nonexistent WiFi connection. I do have a 3G USB modem that I could have installed in the provided USB port in a pinch, but I wanted to see how the Samsung Ativ 500T tablet performed with no network connections at all available. Good news – it worked very well with no network connection at all. Since I was using my Outlook.com account to login I wondered if the tablet would let me login without any network connection. It worked by using the cached password and I was up and running without skipping a beat at my networkless household. Of course many of the apps that required Internet did not work without a network connection but since this tablet has the dual personality of Windows 8 I was able to use most Desktop apps as well as many of the “metro-style” Windows 8 apps. Metro-style is the name given to describe the look and feel of Windows 8. Apparently there are some legal concerns of Microsoft using the term but some are still using the metro-style term to describe the new look and feel of Windows 8.
Windows 8 is a bit of an enigma for new users mainly because it is different and a departure from what Microsoft has done in the past. Plenty of users are screaming about the loss of the Start button on the Desktop and much ink has been spilled by tech bloggers lambasting Windows 8 new design. Once you get over the lack of the Start button and wrap your head around the fact that the Start button has basically become the Start screen you can adapt easily to this interface change.
I do believe that the average computer user will adjust easily to the new Windows 8 if they take 30 minutes to watch an introductory video on the basics of the Windows 8 interface. This is particularly true for touchscreen tablets as Windows 8 has been designed as a touch first operating system but can also be used effectively and efficiently using a keyboard and mouse. Below is a link to a YouTube video from a Twitter friend @winobs that provides a good video overview of Windows 8. It was recorded back in June 2012 using the release preview so some things may be a bit different. The overview is about ½ hour long and is packed full of the basics of using the Windows 8 interface.
Windows 8 Release Preview Walkthrough
I have been using beta versions Windows 8 on a conventional PC for well over a year using just a keyboard and mouse. Having access to my new touchscreen tablet has given me a new appreciation for the thought that has gone into the dual nature of the Windows 8 interface. I have not found anything I cannot do using the touchscreen but touch sure is a lot more intuitive for many actions, and dare I say more fun. Swipes, flicks, and pinches add a new dimension to Windows 8. In many ways Windows 8 has been simplified but yet it still has all the power of a traditional operating system shrouded by the layer of “Live Tiles” that decorate the new Start screen. This dual nature of Windows 8 compliments the Samsung Ativ 500T very well and switching back and forth between the Desktop and the Start screen is not as jarring as some have reported in the press.
First glitch?
When I went to wake up the Samsung Ativ tablet first thing the morning of day 2 it did not turn on. I held down the power button for a few seconds to turn it off completely then turned it back on and it booted normally in just a few seconds. Not sure if this had anything with turning on Airplane Mode the night before or not but I will be keeping an eye out to see if it is recurring. The WiFi did not turn on until I did a restart of the system. I still have not updated the Samsung drivers so I may give that a try tomorrow.
First round of Windows 8 apps I installed
Here is a list of Windows 8 apps I installed and used on Day One and Two from the Windows Store:
- Kindle (I have many of ebooks from Amazon and it worked great on this tablet)
- Skype
- OneNote (Windows 8 lite-version of OneNote)
- Khan Academy
- Epicurious
- TechAU
- SlapDash Podcast app (Subscribed to TechTalk4Teachers podcast)
At the end of the evening on day two the battery still had about 40% available, as I went to bed I plugged in the electric adapter to recharge the tablet for day 3.
Keep on Learning,
Dr. Grissom
Dr. Grissom
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