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A comment on Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD. Parent comment

Re:Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD by ShabbyDoo on Tuesday October 16, 2012 @11:57AM (#4660379)
I don't mind this so much presuming it can do Bluetooth tethering with my phone [vs WiFi due to power usage issues]. If I'm the device's user, I'll likely have my phone with me, so having a redundant radio in the device doesn't add value. And, if I let someone else use the device while I'm not around, the likelihood is that there will be an available WiFi source.

I'd like it-just-works connectivity between my phone and any other devices I carry with me. Right now, I have to hit a couple buttons on both devices -- a pain for short-term usage scenarios.

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Re:Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD by davidacoder on Tuesday October 16, 2012 @12:02PM (#4660407)
I can get tethering to work, my mom: never. My parents both got iPads and a device that isn't just online all the time could never ever work for them. iPad really set the bar on that one.
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Re:Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD by ShabbyDoo on Tuesday October 16, 2012 @12:12PM (#4660463)
Yeah. Tethering still is too mysterious. If it's not working, which device is at fault? For awhile (pre-ICS), my Droid RAZR had a bug where it required a reboot before the hotspot would work. Of course, it failed silently and claimed to be making itself available!
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Re:Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD by lukeschlather on Tuesday October 16, 2012 @12:03PM (#4660417)
The thing about it-just-works connectivity is that it will generally halve battery life on a smartphone. You basically have to keep the radios constantly on and scanning for known connections.
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Re:Surface Pricing Announced - $499 USD by ShabbyDoo on Tuesday October 16, 2012 @12:09PM (#4660446)
I know little about Bluetooth 4 except that it's supposed to be low power. Could it be used to "scan" for interested/allowed devices and then "step-up" to a higher power, higher bandwidth connection?
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