Things to do with my Surface RT

[gamowin]

So recently got a Surface RT and it has been very nice for browsing the internet and keeping track of school work. But checking the store, there is a very poor selection of games. Is there any way I can run Windows 8 applications on Windows RT, and if not, are there any interesting, useful, or fun apps you guys would recommend?

[Nibb31]

I'm afraid that buying a Windows RT device was a mistake. Selling them as Windows devices, when they certainly were not, was voluntarily misleading and should have got them charged for fraud. These are so crippled that you really would have been better off with a cheaper Android tablet.

Edited August 21, 2014 by Nibb31

[cantab]

No way that I know of to run PC software on a Windows RT device. They use different types of processor (PC is x86-64, RT devices use ARM), I doubt Microsoft would allow a PC emulator in the Windows store and even if they did performance would be poor.

There's usually an "xbox" app, I don't know if it offers any more games or just the same ones you'll find in the regular Windows store.

Ultimately Windows RT looks set for the old vicious circle of few people buying the device so few developers write apps for it so few people buy the device.

[Firov]

Hmm. Uses for a Surface RT... Tough question.

Well, lets see. If I'm not mistaken, the casing on the Surface RT is plastic, and therefore flammable, yes? If so, I'd suggest keeping it around on the off chance that you ever get stuck in a blizzard. You should be able to puncture it's lithium ion battery which will, hopefully, catch the battery and the casing on fire, providing some small measure of warmth. Possibly keeping you alive until help can arrive.

Unfortunately, there just aren't many apps available for Windows RT, and I seriously doubt that is going to change anytime soon.

[gamowin]

Well thank for the replies, I actually didn't purchase the RT myself, it was handed down from family as they got upgraded tech, so I'm stuck with this thing for a while unfortunately. But hey, at least I found a good Gameboy emulator.

[Camacha]

Fix wheels to the bottom and use it as a skateboard. Use it for a game of extreme frisbee. Put it on a table and ponder life while you stare absent mindedly at it.

[Sean Mirrsen]

You can slightly increase its usefulness if you jailbreak it (a small community of people over on xda-developers recompiles some open-source apps for it), but other than that a Surface RT is really good for almost nothing.

[SpaceXray]

I'll have to agree with the rest of the pack here. The Surface RT is utterly useless. If you want a real tablet/PC get a Surface Pro which actually runs genuine Windows 8. Note it has better hardware and it is a bit bigger and heavier respectfully.

For now use the apps you have, use MS Office and try drawing on it and writing down notes, playing online games etc.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Right now the best way to make a Surface RT useful is to make it accept Android, or at least Linux. The hardware should be compatible enough, the Tegra chip is theoretically able to run Linux, but someone would have to actually try and rewrite and recompile the kernel to work on it.