Despite being somewhat up in the air over Windows 8 in general, Andrew dives deeper into the world of Microsoft and purchases a Surface RT in this week’s Life and Tiles of a Windows 8 Convert.

I’m either the world’s biggest hypocrite, a sucker for punishment, or a blind believer because I have actually sunk more money into Microsoft’s not-quite-ready-for-primetime ecosystem. Instead of clicking my heels and wishing for home, I’ve walked right back in to the witch’s castle.

I bought a Surface RT tablet.

Surely from your perspective I look erratic. Buying into Microsoft’s divisive tablet after being ruthlessly burned by Windows 8 and its accompanying hardware doesn’t ooze logic. I even ponied up another hundred bucks for a red Touch Cover, which absolutely should have been included in the box at $500. The Surface RT just doesn’t make sense without one.

The simple answer for why I purchased a Surface RT tablet is that I needed something light with a keyboard  that could last all day without juicing up at an outlet. The four hour (max) I was squeezing out of my Lenovo Yoga just wasn’t cutting it, not when I wanted to work on projects while riding Toronto’s streetcars, take notes during class, and work at cafes on break. For those purposes, the Surface RT is perfect. It is zippy, fun, well-built, and bags me quite a few compliments. Most importantly, the Touch Cover offers a fantastic typing experience. Yes, it takes time to adjust to but I’m almost up to my normal type speed.

Though all of the Surface RT’s features make it a laptop replacement in theory, it doesn’t quite measure up. The more I use my Surface RT, the more I see it as a secondary device. If you don’t use a computer for anything but the odd word doc, web browsing, and other typical tablet stuff, then the Surface RT could take the place of your primary device. I say this because of its removable storage, USB plug-in, and micro-HMDI port that puts it in a different league than the iPad. Of course, a Touch or Type Cover would have to be purchased to make the transition work.

In a typical phone, tablet, laptop relationship, all three devices are separate from one another and don’t overlap in function. For the Surface RT, there is a definite overlap between tablet and laptop, where you can get work done on it but it’s also a great couch companion. If the apps come then it will be an almost-perfect hybrid device. But for more hardcore users, Surface RT cannot replace the screen real estate and physical keyboard of an actual laptop or desktop computer, which makes me very thankful to still have the Yoga for real work.

Microsoft is embracing change and had the guts to launch an experimental device into shark-infested waters. I haven’t been this excited by an operating system since the first iPhone. I saw the appeal of Android, but performance issues made me queasy. There are problems with Windows RT, but nothing so gigantic that it can’t be fixed by some fine tuning. The third-party apps are lacking, both in function and variety, and the bundled apps (Mail, People, Music, etc.) can be impossible at times, like solving a Rubik’s cube that’s had all the stickers torn off. But still, there’s something charming about the it, the way it responds to touch, the beauty within its all-digital aesthetic, and the bold way in which it attempts to reinvent personal computing.

I already have the laptop and the smartphone, so my experience felt incomplete without a tablet to round it out. I missed having a device for casual web browsing and couch cuddling. To my pleasure, I have found the Surface RT is a great vessel for Windows 8, its experimental design complementing the braveness of Microsoft’s new user interface. For me, the Surface RT fills in the missing link between my laptop and smartphone, a void once filled by my iPad. Due to its longer battery life and lighter weight, it also makes the perfect companion for students or freelancers who prefer a café over their home office. It may not be the game changer Microsoft was hoping for, but it is still an admirable competitor to the iPad. And once the apps role in, it just might stand a chance at winning.

A report published in China suggests Apple is to produce three new iPhone models this year, including the iPhone 5S and a device named the iPhone Math, which is said to have a 4.8-inch screen. No, we don’t believe it either.

Everyone loves a good Apple rumor, so here’s a particularly juicy one to enjoy over your morning coffee. According to the China Times, Apple will release not one, not two, but three new iPhone models this year, based on information received from sources working with Apple’s suppliers. The report continues to say the first two new phones will arrive in June, followed by another around October.

So far, not all that juicy. However, here’s the fun part: The already rumored iPhone 5S will arrive in June and will be accompanied by another model named the iPhone Math, and it’ll have a 4.8-inch screen. Yes, despite only just increasing the size of the iPhone’s screen to 4-inches, Apple has apparently seen the light and will join arch-rival Samsung by offering a device with a 4.8-inch display. Except, of course, it almost certainly won’t.

If, in some bizarre twist, Apple does have a phone with a nigh-on 5-inch screen in the works, it makes sense to give it a striking name. But would anyone – let alone Apple, a company which takes an incredibly conservative approach with its nomenclature – call a phone the Math? Quite apart from the word sounding completely wrong to everyone outside of the U.S. and Canada, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Calling it out as either an odd, lost-in-translation error or a weirdly creative ruse seems almost redundant.

Production to begin in April

Towards the end of the year Apple will supposedly launch another iPhone, which hasn’t been named in the report, so in keeping with the theme we’ll call it the iPhone Geography, and its claim to fame is a 12-megapixel camera. A future iPhone being given a higher megapixel camera is quite logical, and the rumor is certainly more credible than the iPhone Math. No mention was made of a cheaper iPhone, which has been rumored by several other sources over the past month, however the similarly mythical Apple iTV was discussed by the China Times’ sources, and it’s said to arrive before the end of the year.

The report goes on to provide some surprisingly precise information on the companies building the components for the three new iPhone models. For example, Foxconn and Coxon will produce the chassis, Hon Hai Precision will take care of the manufacturing, Largan Precision the camera modules (as it does with the iPhone 5) and the circuit boards will come from Flexium, Zhen Ding and Fujikura. Components will start coming together in March and production is rumored to begin in April.

For a rumor, the talk of an iPhone 5S built by these companies for release in June doesn’t sound too crazy, but all the while it’s accompanied by the iPhone Math, we just can’t take any of it seriously.