Gadgetory

what's up fries five fans i'm brian tongue and tablets are still all the craze so we're facing off to kings of the ring it's a prize five-foot out between the microsoft surface with windows RT and the zeus Transformer Pad Infinity with jellybeans all right guys you can now stop drooling our judges for this fight are senior editor Eric the tank man Franklin senior editor Donald Saved by the Bell and myself can't go wrong Tom now we'll take all three judges blind scores and average them out to the nearest tenth of a point the final prize fight score will be an average of all rounds using the same system let's throw some both round one is design Microsoft Surface is the new kid on the block with its large 10.6 inch screen and a very modern futuristic design with its angular edges and what Microsoft calls a vapor mag body but we call it magnesium its unique form factor also includes a thin and sturdy built-in stand that flips out like a boss now the asou strands former patent infinity is still arguably the best-looking Android tablet to date with its 10.1 inch screen that boasts a higher 1920 by 1200 resolution display made of Gorilla Glass 2 and an all-metal body that stays as classy as San Diego the drawback here is that there hasn't been a major design change to this line as sometimes the judges get a little bored now I'm digging both designs but the surface gets a 4 and the Infinity pad gets a 3.7 next round is user interface and control the surface runs on Windows RT and visually it's a fresh experience with its tiles interface that looks really clean now the biggest challenge here is the learning curve that initially feels steeper than Android because it's an all new OS so hold on tight because I'll show you what I mean now you can swipe through your tiles pinch to see an overhead view of them you can hold the tile and pull it up slowly until it breaks free and then move it around you can also pull up from the bottom bezel to see all your apps now you'll have your standard home button here you'll swipe from the left bezel to the center to move through open apps or if you swipe in then back out you'll see your recently used apps now to close an app swipe from the top bezel to the center until it shrinks and then it closes it swipe in from the right bezel brings up your charms menu where you'll find settings and search but it's not a universal search that incorporates the web just what's on the surface right now now on your Start screen there's a desktop app that takes you back into a standard Windows desktop using office 2013 apps throw you into this desktop interface if you want to change something like more advanced battery settings you'll get thrown into here but you can't install any apps here you'll just have to wait for the full Windows 8 on the surface pro to come out later now like I said it's not the best pick-up-and-play OS and staying in the tile interface is the best experience right now but messing with the desktop to use office or change other system settings shows a disconnect now the Zeus infinity brings the latest available flavor of jelly bean and it reaps the benefits with an improved smoother and snappier experience you'll still have all the Androids customization with resizable widgets the ability to create folders of apps stacked on top of each other and Google now is also part of the experience plus you'll still get some of us oozes customize settings to optimize how much battery juice is being consumed jelly bean is familiar and powerful and arguably easier to use while Windows 8 shows a lot of promise if you're willing to learn a whole new OS this one's tough but we're calling this one a tie at three point seven points a piece so after averaging two rounds Microsoft Surface has the lead next round is features both tablets have keyboard options that really enhance the user experience the surface has its add-on touch cover or type cover for an additional 1:19 the type cover has more prominent physical keys and it snaps right in with a crunch and also becomes the cover to protect the surface you also can't do this with any other tablet now combined with its built-in stand the surface really positions itself as a tablet that could actually replace your laptop it also brings a micro SD card slot that's a little awkwardly placed behind the stand a micro HDMI port and a full USB 2.0 port now the coolest software feature is the split screen mode where you can pull an adapt into the right side of the screen and voila you can also resize which app has more importance to you now they're smart glass app is a new initiative they'll be pushing for with the Xbox but it's just starting up probably its biggest drawback it's the lack of a robust library of apps and games it has the key ones that most of you will be just fine with like Netflix and Hulu but we know apps can make a tablet more than it is and right now the surface is significantly behind both iOS and Android but that will eventually change now the Isuzu infinity pad screens features with a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor a micro HDMI and a micro SD card slot on its body you can also add its own keyboard dock that's really a true keyboard if you're willing to pay $149 for it now it's more naturally used with its ergonomic angle and the keys respondent feel like a laptop keyboard and it closes together just like a laptop on top of that the dock adds even more battery life when it's connected a full size USB port and a full SD card slot you'll also have the benefits of Google now with jellybean that gives you relevant information like local traffic weather and local businesses nearby plus it's improved Google Voice Search is still the most accurate for speech to text and directions the assuit infinity pad gets a 4.3 and the Microsoft Surface gets a 3.7 next round is multimedia and web browsing the surface brings a sixteen by nine screen that's slightly larger even if its resolution is lower at 1366 by 768 pixels Microsoft's Internet Explorer 10 on the surface keeps the address bar at the bottom and you can access other open tabs by swiping from the top bezel it's also flash compatible but here's the catch only sites that are greenlit by Microsoft for flash with IE 10 can use them now pages loaded well it wasn't slow but it wasn't as fast as what we've seen in other mobile browsers its rear and front facing cameras are 720p HD cameras so video looks good but still pictures aren't that great now the Asuza infinity pad brings our favorite mobile browser with chrome that's speedy and clean and it includes little bells and whistles like incognito mode or find in page where you can even jump to the specific instances of a word in that page plus that brings a higher resolution screen and an 8 megapixel rear camera with a flash and 1080p video capture that the surface just can't compete with the Infinity tad takes another round with the 4.3 and the surface gets a 3.7 so after averaging 4 rounds a soos fought back to take the lead but anything could happen the final round that decides it all is performance both of these tablets perform very well but we had moments where the surface might have hiccup launching apps where some games just didn't play as smoothly it was nothing major but still worth mentioning and we expect it to get better the surface held its own in our video playback drain test that squeeze out ten and a half hours of battery juice and that's good now the Infinity pad gets a performance boost thanks to jellybean which really makes this a snappier performing tablet in our battery drain test we were able to squeeze out 8.5 hours of video playback when we had it set on balance power mode which is respectable but if you add in the extra boost from the keyboard duck we were able to get thirteen point nine hours of life in the final round via soos infinity pad gets a four and the surface gets a three point three so let's average out all five rounds and in a battle where the Microsoft Surface jumped on top early the assist Transformer Pad Infinity fought back in the last three rounds taking this battle for 23.7 and is your prize fight winner the tablet wars are far from over and the surface is a solid first entry that will only improve over time but the isuzu infinity pad reigns supreme as one of the best 10-inch tablets i'm brian tom thanks for watching we'll catch you guys next time for another prizefight you