Nexus 10 vs Surface video shootout


Recommended Posts

Armondo does a quick video review of the Nexus 10 vs Surface

http://youtu.be/IwBJ1ilHH6U

Interesting how much more vibrant the surface is and visually appealing considering the Nexus 10 is supposed to out PPI the device exponentially - it looks like they have the hardware resolution but have to scale the graphics down for some reason - that or this unit has to be a bad unit period.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1120908-nexus-10-vs-surface-video-shootout/
Share on other sites

The youtube responses are cringe worthy.. people are telling him he's doing it wrong, that the Surface is a full blown PC and shouldn't be compared against the "tablet" nexus - so on and so forth. I love my surface, but I was hoping the Nexus would be stellar on its specs as people claim it to be. real world use is looking quite different. It even looks like the screen is banding in some of the image scaling but that could be the video itself too

That's an excellent comparison. It points out genuine usability differences which I previously would have thought would be in the Nexus 10's favour. I'm kinda disappointed by the Nexus 10, as on paper it looks like a much better tablet.

  • Like 2

I thought he was too generous about the Nexus in the second review because the colours during Iron Man looked really washed out compared to the Surface and the browsing experience on the Nexus was just second rate. I'm surprised that Google would release a flagship device at such a high price with such obvious flaws.

The problem here is google chrome on a tablet.

It simply sucks. Bring back the Stock browser.

This is just it. While I like Chrome for the sync abilities, I just love the simplicity/speed of the stock browser. This is what I use on my Galaxy Nexus!

The problem here is google chrome on a tablet.

It simply sucks. Bring back the Stock browser.

Maybe but it also seems to me that the inclusion of a display that focuses on resolution at the expense of quality is a problem. Relying on hardware specs rather than optimised software is a constant problem for Android and it's unrealistic to expect websites to include high-res artwork that will look good on a high-res display. It's also sad to see that Android still suffers from the same old lagginess that has always plagued it.

It's pretty clear that, despite the PPI snobbery that you get from reviewers and fanboys, Microsoft made the right choices when they were developing the Surface.

Armondo does a quick video review of the Nexus 10 vs Surface Interesting how much more vibrant the surface is and visually appealing considering the Nexus 10 is supposed to out PPI the device exponentially - it looks like they have the hardware resolution but have to scale the graphics down for some reason - that or this unit has to be a bad unit period.

Of course its fuzzy, the resolution of Google image doesn't not change with a higher resolution screen. You have low res gfx logo being up-scaled.

The surface resolution is 1366x768 or 1920x1080 pixels (RT vs Pro), if you take images and shrink down such as 1600x1200 they look good still but if you take a small google logo or website gfx they need to be scaled and will look like crap. This is a internet problem not a tablet problem.

My retina mac running windows 8 has the same issue, the tablet cant change internet resources nor can my macbook.

**EDIT**

Commenting only on the FUZZY issue, not color reproduction or any other issue in the video.

**EDIT2**

Confirmed he is comparing the Windows 8 RT low res vs high res and then talking about why its scaling. Geezzz

Source YouTube Description: //Nexus 10 is running Android 4.2 JellyBean and Microsoft Surface Tablet is Running the latest version (at the time of filming) of Windows 8 RT//

  • 2 weeks later...

This is just it. While I like Chrome for the sync abilities, I just love the simplicity/speed of the stock browser. This is what I use on my Galaxy Nexus!

I'm confused. Isn't Chrome the "stock browser" on any Android device since Android is Google and Chrome is Google? I think Chrome is wonderful on the desktop and on the tablet/phone. What browser would you use if not Chrome?

I'm confused. Isn't Chrome the "stock browser" on any Android device since Android is Google and Chrome is Google? I think Chrome is wonderful on the desktop and on the tablet/phone. What browser would you use if not Chrome?

No, Android has a built in browser that's just called "Browser". I always replace it immediately with Chrome though. Don't know what issues other people have with Chrome, but I don't have any.

No, Android has a built in browser that's just called "Browser". I always replace it immediately with Chrome though. Don't know what issues other people have with Chrome, but I don't have any.

Yeah, Android is transitioning to Chrome as the only browser. I love the stock browser for its speed, it's much faster than Chrome (leaps and bounds). Chrome is way too laggy for me, from scrolling to opening the new tab page. But, it has so much potential/features over stock browser.

Yeah, Android is transitioning to Chrome as the only browser. I love the stock browser for its speed, it's much faster than Chrome (leaps and bounds). Chrome is way too laggy for me, from scrolling to opening the new tab page. But, it has so much potential/features over stock browser.

I guess the combo of having a top of the line phone with CM10 and LTE make that less of an issue for me. Doesn't really seem laggy to me, but hey, I haven't used the original browser for a while. So maybe I'll give it a try and see.

I have 3 Android devices from Google and all run Chrome beautifully. Maybe you need modern hardware for it to work well? I'm new to Android so I don't know. I love Chrome though..

I have 3 Android devices from Google and all run Chrome beautifully. Maybe you need modern hardware for it to work well? I'm new to Android so I don't know. I love Chrome though..

Galaxy Nexus isn't really outdated. I'll admit it doesn't have the latest and greatest CPU, but dual core A9 OMAP-4460 at 1.3 GHz is not bad at all. The stock browser just is more fluid for me on this phone.

He wasn't even running Chrome in the 'Desktop Mode' which can be activated from the Chrome drop down menu. Doing so would have changed the user agent to the PC version of Chrome hence? making the experience PC-like just like on the Surface. Else all websites will be rendered in? mobile/tablet format with lower resolution images. Chrome on Android by default uses the mobile/tablet user agent instead of the PC one. IE10 on the surface does things differently, websites won't be 'aware' that the Surface is a Tablet since the UA is that of the PC version of IE.

I don't think any of my Android devices even have a browser called "Broswer". Thinks that's because they are all from Google? lol

Well, yeah. There's no doubt that Google wants to move towards Chrome as it's default browser, and they should. It brings the browser in line with their desktop offerings and adds a lot of features that way. But Chrome is also definitely heavier than the stock Browser. One newer devices, the power can make up for the difference which is why you're starting to seem them push it, but I could see people with slower devices having more trouble.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Simple answer is yes, you will still get the Windows updates and as long as browser is up to date, you will be good. Only thing secure boot does is protect you against boot level threats and make it harder to install other OS's. I've been looking into this pretty thoroughly lately myself as wifes computer has secure boot disabled plus my other, older computers that run Linux, don't have secure boot enabled. Have seen all kinds of questions about this on the Linux Mint and MX Linux forums. Just don't suddenly enable secure boot now.
    • How many other companies will follow Ford's lead? Or, have they already gotten lazy and become enslaved to AI--and now can't figure out how to get out of that mess.
    • Why would any self-respecting intelligent person follow any recommendation by Donald's GOP administration? With almost two years of fabrications, deceit, and blatantly illegal behavior, why believe them now? They had best be gone after the November 2026 election, so we'll wait and see.
    • AltSendme 0.4.1 by Razvan Serea AltSendme is a minimal, cross-platform application designed for fast, secure, and private peer-to-peer file transfers. It allows users to send files or entire directories directly between devices without relying on cloud servers, accounts, or any personal information. Everything is encrypted end-to-end using modern protocols like QUIC and TLS 1.3, ensuring both strong security and low-latency performance. Transfers are verified with BLAKE3 for data integrity, and interrupted downloads automatically resume, making the experience reliable even on unstable connections. You can transfer anything—images, videos, documents, and more. Integrity checks are performed on both ends, so your files are automatically verified for correctness during both sending and receiving. AltSendme works seamlessly across local networks or long-distance links, capable of saturating multi-gigabit connections for extremely fast delivery. With built-in NAT traversal and encrypted relay fallback, it connects devices almost anywhere. The app integrates with the Sendme CLI and will soon support mobile and web platforms. Fully free and open-source, AltSendme offers a lightweight, privacy-first alternative to traditional cloud-based services, removing size limits, upload costs, and unnecessary data exposure. AltSendme 0.4.1 changelog: Release Highlights Self-hosted relays: Run your own iroh relay so transfers don't rely on public infrastructure. Includes a full deployment template in deploy/relay/ with Docker Compose for a VPS and configuration examples for production use. Fly.io support: One-click deploy template for Fly.io, including a quick-start config (fly.dev.toml) for testing without a custom domain, plus production setup with Let's Encrypt and your own hostname. Relay settings UI: New Settings → Network panel to choose how AltSendme connects: automatic public relays, custom self-hosted URLs (with optional auth token), or disabled. Test connections, verify latency, and see live relay status in the footer. Disable relays: Turn off relay servers entirely when you only need same-network transfers (e.g. LAN). Direct connections only. No relay hop required when devices can reach each other. Android graduates from beta: Android is now part of the regular release cycle alongside desktop. APKs ship with each version (universal, arm64, and armv7). Other improvements Private relay access control via shared auth token Relay fallback notifications when a custom relay is unreachable Broadcast mode toggle in sharing settings Android release build fixes (split-per-ABI APKs, universal APK preservation) UI polish: mobile safe-area insets, dropzone layout, transfer progress animation Bug fixes for minification-related serialization issues and system tray icon loading What's Changed feat(relay): add relay status functionality and settings UI (a120cdf) feat(relay): implement custom relay server configuration and verification (51276c7) feat(relay): add configuration for private relay access and enhance observability features (48fbabf) feat(relay): enhance relay URL validation, display connection status (d4fffa0) feat(relay): add RelayChangeGuard component and enhance relay-related translations (16ba514) feat(broadcast): add toggle setting for broadcast mode in sharing UI (ca6d977) fix(relay): correct QUIC discovery port, pin image, templatize fly.dev (52a2ba5) fix: More broken serialization due to minification (67491a9) fix(android): preserve true universal APK across per-ABI builds (e9f256f) fix(ui): conditional safe-area insets padding on mobile (1182f0e) refactor(transfer): CircularRing component animation fix (944572b) chore(android): drop x86 and x86_64 release APKs, keep universal+arm64+armv7 (34ada0b) Download: AltSendme 0.4.1 | ARM64 | ~9.0 MB (Open Source) Download: AltSendme for MacOS | Android Links: AltSendme Home Page | GitHub | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • You are mostly right about the ephemeral nature of it. As I mention in the article, if you dont add a second device or take a backup of your account before uninstalling it, then yes you will lose access to your account. That said, in terms of actual user experience when you sync multiple devices your message history carries across and there's also a Saved Messages chat like there is on Telegram to send messages and attachments between your installs. But yh, what you point out are correct and its not trying to emulate Messenger or Telegram.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Woland13 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Woland13 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      bernmeister earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      495
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      225
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      149
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      75
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      71
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!