Surface 3: A closer look at the glass

In a few weeks, you will be able to buy the Surface 3, and leading up to that release, we have been highlighting many of the new features with the tablet. One unique area that where the Surface 3 differs from its predecessor, the Surface 2, is its display.

The Surface 3 comes with a 10.8-inch ClearType display that Microsoft calls "Full HD Plus," referring to the fact that its resolution is a bit higher than a standard 1080p panel. The reason for this is because the 3:2 aspect ratio would not support the marketing definition of 1080p, which is 1920x1080. So, Microsoft upped the resolution a bit to be on par with other 1080p displays in this 3:2 arrangement.

I have no issues with the brightness of the display, and its viewing angles are spectacular. Even though this is a lower-end tablet, I still expected viewing angles to be sacrificed a bit with a lower quality display, but that is not the case here. Vertical and horizontal viewing angles far exceed my expectations and even though the colors do drop every so slightly when viewing off center, there is no issue reading text at 45 degrees off center.

There is a bit of backlight bleeding as well, but this has become common across the industry with high-end displays. The bleed is only noticeable on black images, and even then it is not overly annoying.

When it comes to writing on the display, Microsoft has used the same optically bonded technique a the Pro 3 to bring the display right up to the glass. The result is that it feels like you are writing on the screen, which mirrors the experience of the Pro 3.

If you take a close look at the display, there is minimal color bleed and edges appear to be clean and free of any pixel defects. I looked diligently at my display and did not see any frozen or stuck pixels; a good sign for anyone who gets annoyed by such issues.

If you are considering buying a Surface 3, the display will give you no issues at all. I am quite happy with Microsoft's choice here, as it gives good performance, an excellent writing experience and does well enough outdoors that it can handle its own against its rivals.