Surface Dial

good

It's a recent purchase so I did limited testing only. Even though currently it cannot be used for many things I still like it a lot and believe it holds a great promise. I'm looking forward to native support especially from Adobe in their Creative Cloud applications.

is slow to respond to use if it's been sitting there unused, so is not a very helpful gadget unless you use it constantly without interruption (if a wireless mouse was this unresponsive you'd never use one)...the battery saving implementation is horribly conceived, and while the fit and finish seem okay (not like plastic junk) the functionality is minimal, even if you are one of the few people who could find a use for it...on top of that it is absurdly overpriced for what it is

I am not able to get it to work with my surface pro at all

Received my Dial ahead of the published schedule from Microsoft. Great surprise! Pairs immediately with my Surface Pro. I am using my Pro with 2 external monitors and it seamlessly transitions between screens / commands for different programs open. I.E. Drawboard open to review submittals ZOOM and web browser on the other screen to SCROLL. Besides, it's fun to use and makes the Fruit Computer fanboy in the office jealous. Well worth the asking price, it's both PRODUCTIVE and FUN!!!

I was hoping I could replace my Powermate with this. The actual Dial is wonderful. It has a nice feel and scrolling is buttery smooth -- when it works. Unfortunately, the way it works seems kind of hinky. I'm basically using the Dial for scrolling around pages using my left hand while my mouse is in my right. The Powermate will scroll any window the mouse hovers over. The Dial doesn't seem to work that way. Frankly, I'm not real sure how the Dial determines what window to scroll. For example, when I open a File Explorer it will sometimes allow me to scroll the active pane. Sometimes it only gives me a volume option and I end up inadvertently turning up/down my speaker volume. Not cool. In Visual Studio 2015, it will only scroll the first open text editor window no matter what window/pane is active. In Chrome/Edge it works very well and as it should. My Surface Dial wish list includes: - Being able to change the default scroll direction when turning the Dial clockwise/anti-clockwise. - Make it more obvious that adjusting the Mouse Roll options also affect the Dial behavior (took me a while to figure that one out) - Have the Dial respect the 'Scroll inactive windows when I hover over them' option If those three things worked, this Dial would be extremely helpful. Right now it's more of a toy that I wished worked then switch back to the Powermate to get any real work done.

I bought one just to see what it can do (I dont own a Surface-anything). It is really nice hardware and feels very nice in the hand. I used in on a couple of Bluetooth-capable PCs, but obviously none of the on-screen stuff is available (that needs a Surface Studio). I added support to my Sonos app ('Phonos Universal') so you can control the volume and track next/prev, as it feels so nice in the hand. So I can use it as a lovely-but-expensive volume control, and that's fine with me. Probably not a common use-case though.

The only thing I would add is the ability to program this to any app that is in focus. So you would link it to the .exe of the program running that you wanted to use it with i.e. Adobe Lightroom, then if I wanted to use it to rate or change the white balance. Lots of potential

I'm already enjoying my Surface Dial but find in-app support for Windows Wheel devices frustratingly limited so far. Since I use quite a few Autodesk products on a daily basis for both business and personal endeavors, and those products tend to focus on design of three-dimensional objects, having those products support the Wheel interface would make orbiting models much easier. There are also many other tasks which are less intuitive using a mouse that would benefit from supporting a Wheel device. However, at the same time, it would be nice to see Microsoft add more ability to customize by providing for application-specific custom tools. For example, I would like to add my own custom tool to the Surface Dial menu for when I'm working in a program which allows me to rotate objects, even though the program may not yet directly support the Surface Dial; if I know how to invoke the command through the keyboard or mouse, I ought to be able to add that command to a custom tool on the Surface Dial which becomes available when the associated program is active. Note that this would be a relatively easy software improvement and does not affect the overall functionality of the hardware. Still, it's a fascinating new way to interact with the computer. I hope to see additional development to support the Surface Dial across the board.

Great devices, very easy to connect and use. Works well with my Dell XPS laptop, no feature limitations noticeable. Definitely an accessory with lots of potential.