The flip side is that Windows 10’s tablet mode can be as unpredictable and awkward as a desktop PC. At best, it’s a truly usable version of the convertible Windows laptops that existed before the iPad - pull the keyboard off your laptop and get a portable, touch-based version of whatever you were doing before. But since Windows also doesn’t discourage you from using desktop programs in tablet mode, you’ll rarely be completely shut out of something. Microsoft has had some trouble building a decent app catalog for its phones and tablets, and that may not change with Windows 10. It’s the kind of thing that makes you feel like you’re actually using a multipurpose machine, not just shuffling through a series of apps. The new task bar at the bottom of the screen can be set to show app icons, letting you move between them in one tap instead of bringing up a dedicated task switcher. But it subverts this with little touches. Windows 10’s tablet mode does this to some extent while you can split the screen between two apps, you can’t arrange them as windows. (Microsoft, obviously, wants you to shop in its store, too.) It’s that those apps, by and large, grew out of a mobile design language that emphasized uniform minimalism and discouraged multitasking. It’s not just that iOS and Android either require or heavily encourage you to use only apps from Apple or Google’s official ecosystem. Using Windows 10’s tablet mode reminds me how locked-down mobile operating systems can feel. Tablet mode works best when you don't have to think of it as mobile computing at all In fact, tablet mode - at least on a convertible device like the Surface - feels best when you don’t have to think of it as mobile computing at all. It’s more like a rearrangement than a transformation, making the switch between them remarkably natural. In tablet mode, the Start menu becomes a Start screen, the task bar gains an Android-style universal "Back" button, and windowed apps turn into fullscreen ones. Windows 10 handles tablets with a system called, unsurprisingly, "tablet mode." It’s a bigger, slightly simplified, more Windows 8-like interface that can be toggled on and off as needed. In fact, by paying more attention to the desktop side of things, it’s created a more interesting experience - and even helped justify the existence of Windows tablets. But this doesn’t mean Microsoft is giving up on mobile computing. Windows 10 is the culmination of these efforts, bringing back desktop-friendly features like the Start menu. Microsoft’s bet on touch interfaces led to some of Windows 8’s most frustrating design choices, and the company has been doing damage control over it for the past three years.
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