Surface Go 2 Review: Brilliant hardware ruined by Win32 and Electron apps
Last week, I purchased a Surface Go 2 and I’ve had mixed feelings about the device. On one hand, Panos and the Surface team nailed the hardware. It’s well designed, it’s premium, yet it’s only $399 USD. That’s an enticing combination for anyone, not just for a software developer or a tech enthusiast like me. Yet, the Go 2 is not without problems.
I’ll be sharing my thoughts about the device below. For this tablet-only review, I used the Surface Go 2 base model with S mode enabled. Importantly, I used it in tablet mode only. I didn’t use any keyboards or mice for this review. Lastly, I reviewed this through the consumer lens and not the productivity lens. The tech specs are as follows:
The Good: Hardware
Even with its flaws which I will get to later, the Surface Go 2 is fast becoming one of my favourite devices. It has a 10.5 inch screen making it noticeably smaller than the Surface Pro, and this is why I love it. The small form factor lets me easily lug it around without the tablet feeling too unwieldy. To understand what I mean by unwieldy, try using the Surface Book’s screen as a tablet. It’s just too big.
In combination with the screen size, the Go 2’s reduced bezels make for an immersive experience. My sister owns a Go 1, and while the size is great, one can’t help but notice the big, fat bezels when watching Netflix on the Go 1. So with this improvement in the Go 2, it feels considerably less cramped. I likened the feeling to being able to breathe deeply after holding one’s breath.
Lastly, the piece that makes the Surface Go 2 shine is the integrated kickstand. With this tablet’s small screen, thin bezel, and kickstand, I’m able to place the device anywhere in my kitchen while cooking or cleaning and it takes up a fraction of the footprint that a regular laptop would use. Now, many say that competing devices without kickstands can simply use an accessory. However, there’s something premium about having the kickstand perfectly integrated that makes a difference for me.
Altogether, the hardware is phenomenal. I commend the Surface team for their design and premium quality. Kudos.
The Okay: Windows
Windows 10 is a powerful desktop OS, but unfortunately, its tablet mode experience on the Surface Go 2 leaves me wanting. The default experience after the onboarding steps for the OS is this tiled start menu with several empty placeholders for apps. I remember noticing this on desktop machines, but it was never an issue because the desktop itself is the home base, not the start menu. Seeing this start menu at first boot served as an enormous letdown after admiring the hardware just a few minutes before.
The UX design of the start screen is also unintuitive for touch users. For instance, imagine gripping the Go 2 with your thumbs on the left and right of the device while viewing the start menu, just like in the previous image. Where do you find your list of apps? On Windows Phone, swiping to the right used to open the app list. On Windows 8, swiping down would open the app list. On iOS, you swipe to navigate between home screens, and on Android, some UXs would swipe to get to the app list. So back to Windows 10’s tablet mode, where do you find your list of apps? Naturally, I tried swiping up-down-left-right, none of which worked. It turns out, the app list is opened when clicking on the third icon in the top left corner of the screen. Terrible. I cannot express how frustrating this UX has been so far for me.
That said, I’ve not found any other major problem with Windows 10’s tablet mode. The app switching animation is not great, but the app-multitasking abilities are well-designed. Having two apps side by side in tablet mode has been intuitive to use. Also, the keyboard is a redeeming feature of Windows 10. It appears to be a similar keyboard to the one used in Windows Phone. You can swipe your finger to use Word Flow, and the predictions have been pretty good so far. Lastly, I appreciate that Windows 10 offers a virtual trackpad that you can use for apps or websites that rely on mouse hover interactions. Overall, the Windows 10 experience has problems, but they are things that can be improved.
The Ugly: Win32 and Electron apps
While Windows 10 is not great in tablet mode, it’s not quite a deal breaker since you’ll be spending most of your time inside an app. However, the apps are part of the problem — Win32 and Electron apps to be exact. Win32- or Electron-based apps do not follow the same battery-efficient lifecycle as modern Windows apps (UWP) nor do they follow UWP’s windowing features. This poses a major problem for the Surface Go 2. UWP apps, when minimized, are suspended immediately in order to release valuable memory and CPU cycles back to the machine. This also helps preserve battery life. But Win32 and Electron apps do not do this, or at least they do not do this automatically. So the more apps like Edge, Teams, or Skype are minimized, the slower and slower the device performs. Win32 apps also don’t work smoothly with tablet mode’s multitasking features. It works, but you can tell there’s a difference between a UWP app launching/switching/snapping versus a Win32 app. If I weren’t a software developer, I would not understand why the Go 2 would perform so poorly and I would likely blame it on Microsoft, Surface, or Windows for building a seemingly terrible device.
I’m quite aware there are no modern Windows apps for Discord and Skype, but I assumed I’d be able to use Edge and PWAs to fill in that gap. Unfortunately, this experience was hit or miss. Yes, it’s possible to use Edge to install these sites as apps. And yes, on the surface it appears to solve the need for an app. But using these PWAs has been dreadful. They’re slow, they don’t seem to launch as quick as UWP apps, and the keyboard does not seem to perform well when using them. For instance, if you’re using a UWP app and you press/hold the backspace button, the textbox will continue deleting characters until the textbox is empty. But using the Skype and Discord PWAs, pressing and holding backspace deletes 2 characters only. Additionally, for Discord, changing channels automatically triggers the keyboard to appear. A similar UX appears on Skype. There are numerous other small issues I’ve noticed while using the PWAs that it pains me to use them. It’s death by a thousand little cuts, and it makes me frustrated at this device.
The Solution?
As a software engineer, I want to scream: Native apps. UWP apps, specifically. When using native UWP apps, my Surface Go 2 experience has been pristine. Apps launch quickly, the OS performs smoothly, and the keyboard behaves properly. Using UWP apps have been an oasis in this desert of Win32 and Electron apps. For instance, Twitter built a UWP app that makes use of the legacy EdgeHTML engine. While the app is mostly a WebView, it still operates with a UWP app lifecycle, and it performs better than a Twitter PWA from Edge.
However, I’m well aware that Discord, Skype, Teams, and other companies have little incentive to build a native app. But herein lies the problem: that list I just gave you comprises of two first-party Microsoft products. One would assume that a company would try its best to offer a good experience for its own premium device. I firmly believe that in order for third-parties to even begin to think about building native apps, they’re going to look at what first-party apps are doing. If first-party apps are building native experiences on Windows, then that’s a conversation that third-parties will have for their own Windows apps. But if first-party apps are building non-native, then why should any third-party build a native app?
Obviously, I’ve oversimplified the problem, but I do believe there is truth here. The more first-party native Windows apps there are, then the higher chance others will follow.
TL;DR
Overall, the Surface Go 2 is a premium device. The Go 2’s tablet experience leaves me wanting a more intuitive UX design, but its issues are not deal-breakers and can be improved with some time and attention from the Windows team. But unfortunately, Win32 and Electron apps hold back the Surface Go 2 from being the best tablet experience on the market. Hopefully, more teams at Microsoft consider building modern, native Windows apps to help improve the Surface Go 2 experience. I’d like to see a Go that better represents a cohesive Microsoft identity. Thus, I cannot recommend the Surface Go 2 for tablet only usage to a regular consumer. However, if you’re a developer like me and you have the budget for it, I recommend getting a Go 2 and developing apps for it. The hardware is outstanding, and it inspires me to build more native experiences for Surface and its family of devices.
