Microsoft is aiming to establish themselves as the next big tablet company with their new Surface.
The Surface tablet launched in time for the holiday shopping season, but can it get enough sales to compete with Apple's iPad series?
From its display, screen, memory, operating system, processor, and more, there are many terms that potential customers might not be familiar with. Latinos Post has helped define such terms a user will encounter.
Networks: Unlike the Apple and Amazon tablets, the Surface does not offer cellular access, such as 2G, 3G, or 4G LTE.
Microsoft's Windows 8's Steven Sinofsky told CNN that he is not concerned about not having a Cellular component, but added, "it could be an option down the road. Maybe, maybe not."
According to Webopedia, Gs are terms from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an intergovernmental organization that develops telecommunications. This organization is even recognized as a United Nations agency back in 1947.
3G is an ITU specification, and it stands for third generation. With 3G, the bandwidth is increased to 384 kilobites (kbps), which measures data transfer speeds.
4G is the fourth generation and enables data and streaming multimedia at higher speeds. The Long Term Evolution, or LTE, was developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) that helps provides an increase of speeds up to 10 times more compared to 3G networks.
Verizon currently has the most 4G coverage in the US, followed by AT&T, and both carriers have been partners with in carrying the first Windows Phone 8 smartphones, the Lumia 822 and the Lumia 920, respectively.
Display/Screen Size: The Microsoft Surface has a height of 10.81-inches and a width of 6.77-inches. Its weight stands at 1.50-pounds (lbs) with a thickness of 0.37-inches.
The tablet utilizes built-in kickstand, which according to Gizmodo is "a material called VaporMG...which is only .65mm thick and gives the folding hinge the look and feel of a car door, except it's seamless."
The screen measures at 10.6-inches and with a TFT capacitive touchscreen. TFT is short for Thin Film Translator, a variation of Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) flat-panel screens. According to Webopedia, TFT provides the best resolution of all flat-panel techniques, but in return, it is expensive.
The device also uses ClearType technology, according to Microsoft it is a software technology developed to improve readability on existing LCDs' text.
Resolution: The resolution of the screen is will be 1,366x768 with 148 ppi (pixels per inch).
The resolution indicates the number of dots per inch (DPI). The higher the DPI, then the higher the resolution. The Surface will be capable of displaying 1,366 distinctive dots, or pixels, on each of the 768 lines.
Memory (GB/RAM): The device will be will have an internal memory storage of 32GB and 64GB and with 2GB of RAM, according to GSM Arena.
A GB is known as a gigabyte, and one-gigabyte holds up to 1,024 megabytes. If it will offer 32GB as its minimum, then it equals to 32,768 megabytes. The term "byte" is actually an abbreviation for "binary term," and is a unit of storage.
A RAM, short for Random Access Memory, is the most common type of computer memory found in devices. According to Indiana University's Information Technology Services, RAM is "volatile," adding data is stored in the RAM as long as the device is on and can disappear when the device is shut off.
Battery: The Surface utilizes 31.5 Wh on its Li-Ion battery.
Li-Ion is short for Lithium-Ion, a light metal. The battery does not pose as a threat to poisonous metals, lead, mercury, or cadmium, therefore has been uses for many portably devices.
Wh is short for watt-hour, a unit of electrical energy. One Wh is the equivalent to 3,600 joules.
According to Microsoft, the Surface can last up to 360 hours on standby, and apparently eight hours for talk time according to GSMArena.
Wireless Connectivity (Bluetooth/Near Field Communication): The Surface features Wi-Fi, Bluetooth version 4.0, and Near Field Communication (NFC).
Bluetooth is a wireless protocol for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks.
NFC, according to GSMArena, "is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology that enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 cm distance."
Chipset: The Surface utilizes the Nvidia Tegra 3 T30 Chipset.
The chipset is a number of integrated circuits designated to perform several functions and is located on the Motherboard. Nvidia touts its Tegra 3 as among the "world's first mobile super processors" aimed to deliver "unprecedented performance in wider range of mobile devices."
Operating System: The operating system, or OS, is the software platform that helps other programs within the device run as smoothly as possible.
The OS for the Surface is the Windows RT. It is a variation of their latest Windows 8 OS but there are some differences. According to a CNN reported, Windows RT will only run Start apps and has a few components exclusively meant for the RT, such as Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office.
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