Windows 8 Hybrid Review from a Linux User's Perspective Part 1

Category: TechToday

Having enjoyed Windows 8 for months now and learned just how important the shortcut keys are in using the desktop, it was time to get my hands on a Windows 8 hybrid. So, I took it upon myself to try out the ASUS Vivo Tab - a Windows 8 tablet with a keyboard dock. Unencumbered by reviews from Windows haters, I unseated the tablet and tried all the tasks I would normally be doing on my iPad and ran it through a normal day similar to what I what do with my Windows 7/openSUSE/Lubuntu machines

To fully enjoy a Windows 8 tablet, there is one thing every user should keep in mind. And it's an important point that most "experts" missed when they wrote their close-minded articles about the "dual" OS: When you're using Windows 8 as a tablet, think "tablet." When you're using Windows 8 with a keyboard, think "desktop". When you're in the Start screen (with the tiles), don't think about Task Manager, menus, Device manager, and desktop settings. Focus on Windows Apps and touch the same way you would on an Android tablet. When you're on the Windows 8 desktop (accomplished by pressing Windows+D), try not to touch the screen or swipe around. You're in a newly redesigned and smartly revamped Windows 7 desktop. Being aware of what you're doing goes a long way in ensuring you catch the nuances of Windows 8 on a tablet.

Essential lessons

The first lesson I learned with the hybrid is because the bezel is designed differently, you would have to drag your finger from the top edge of the bezel all the way down to close an app. This was initially confusing because I kept dragging down the app the normal way I would drag items on an Android or iPad and the Win8 app wouldn't close. Before I figured out that my finger had to be on the extreme edge of the bezel, I had to close the app using the classic ALT+F4 shortcut - which still works on the desktop.

The second lesson I learned was that you don't need that many apps. Sure, if you'll be spending most of your time using the hybrid as a tablet, it helps to run a utility or application designed for touch but to be honest, I hardly noticed. I ran VLC to watch videos, played music, and worked on vector graphics (using the included Wacom digitizer) and it all worked like usual. I was hoping to do a bit of troubleshooting and try out the new Windows 8 Task Manager but nothing out of the ordinary happened.

I'm not an app junkie but since Windows 7desktop  applications are compatible on Windows 8, I don't get the whole hullabaloo about the lack of Windows 8 apps. The Comic Rack utility I use in Windows 7 installed fine in Windows 8 and using it on the tablet was comfortable and it certainly had more features than the available iOS comic book apps installed on my iPad. On occasion, the menus were hard to "click on" when I used it in tablet form but Comic Rack and even Adobe Reader were still usable considering how large the display was. And if you're suffering from iTunes withdrawal, you can install it on a Windows 8 hybrid and access everything like normal (meaning you can play podcasts and MP3s).

The third lesson I learned that the hybrid experience is great for hobbyists, digital artists, developers, and animators. I docked the tablet, pressed Windows+D, and wrote an XML document in Notepad+++. I undocked it, rotated the tablet 90 degrees for a portrait view, and previewed the code in a browser. Embarrassingly enough, I was vainly adoring my admittedly disorganized code in Google Chrome as I swiped up and down.

For creators and developers who work on applications like Photoshop or Painter, there's definitely something to be said about seeing your work immediately on a tablet. This alone may be a strong argument for digital artists to get a Windows 8 hybrid. Even if you didn't like the included Wacom digitizer and preferred a Cintiq, it's still quite satisfying to pop out the tablet and show your finished work to someone. Writers can publish their EPUB file using open source Sigil or InDesign and hand the tablet to a friend, proofreader, or skeptical publisher.

Reading with the Hybrid

Since I primarily use my iPad for reading, I tried out the Windows 8 Reader and MyLibrary apps. The 11.6 screen of the Vivo Tab felt large even though it was only "slightly" bigger than the iPad. I remember a time when people hated the 10" screen introduced in netbooks for being too small and now not only are 7" tablets like the Google Nexus 7 popular, it's more likely going to be the standard size for tablets.

The Reader and MyLibrary apps handled EPUBs and PDFs very well. The Designer Elements PDF ebook rendered faster on the Win8 tablet than on my iOS though it was equally slow with the Hong Kong Trail Guide which my iPad had trouble with. Take note, however, that the Vivo Tab has an unimpressive Intel Atom Z2760 processor. A Windows 8 tablet with a quad core processor would have fared much better.

One thing I had to get used to while reading an ebook with the Vivo Tab was the Charms Bar. The Charms Bar will pop up when you swipe the right edge of the screen and since I normally read ebooks like I read normal books I kept triggering the Charms bar. Soon, however, I got used to swiping from the middle of the page rather than the edge of the page to avoid the Charms bar.

Windows 8 Hybrid Review from a Linux User's Perspective Part 2: Secure Boot, the Charm Bar and Conclusion