This sort of size is necessary to support a tablet which isn't hopelessly tethered to a PC. The iPad avoids a big recovery image by requiring you to restore it from your PC. You've offloaded this function onto an (arguably) more capable device. But how much external storage can you buy for the cost of a whole PC. For some users who don't create a lot of content, the Surface realistically could be their only device, and being able to restore it without a PC is a lot of convenience.
All of my 'iDevices' are now untethered from my computer. When I bought my iPhone 5 they actually made me wait for the iCloud restore to complete before I could leave the store.
Backed up my iPhone 4 before jumping the train to the Apple store. Walked in, purchased the new one, iCloud sync, walked out with virtually the same data I walked in with on a faster and prettier device =)
Same here. When my iPhone 5 arrived I basically turned it on, chose 'restore from iCloud backup', waited a few minutes, and presto: all my apps and their data, settings, text messages, address book, call log, etc, all transferred from my old 3GS.
I still had to sync all my music from iTunes though, but I don't see how the Surface would be able to do this without requiring to be 'tethered' (iTunes has WiFi sync) to a PC.
>I still had to sync all my music from iTunes though, but I don't see how the Surface would be able to do this without requiring to be 'tethered' (iTunes has WiFi sync) to a PC.
By storing your music in Skydrive, this removes the need to 'tether' to a PC
But can they restore from a problem state without a PC? I honestly don't know, but I suspect Apple's approach to a recovery partition is still 'Run iTunes' or 'Talk to a Genius'. Which is less good for, say, my grandma than me being able to restore from a hidden partition. User data can still be backed up to the cloud; that's probably a good thing generally.
Restoring the firmware in DFU mode is not possible without a laptop. But, it's uncommon and I think you can let Geniuses at the Apple store do that for you.
"This sort of size is necessary to support a tablet which isn't hopelessly tethered to a PC."
Are you implying that iPad is hopelessly tethered to a PC? Have you used an iPad?
As of iOS 5, there are very few reasons that one would need to be "hopelessly tethered to a PC" in order to use their device. Backups, music and app purchases, and contact and calendar syncing are all completely untethered.
As for restoring firmware, in reality that's something something that an average user does extremely rarely, if at all. iOS has a "Reset All Content and Settings" feature which deletes everything off the device and reboots it into a completely fresh state. If somehow, an average computing user like my grandmother has managed to get her iPad to the point where it truly needs a restore, any Apple Store would be more than happy to assist her. In that scenario, what sense does it make to carry around a copy of the iOS 6 firmware on the tablet?
The only problem is, going to an apple store isn't an option for a lot of people where I live (Canada). When I travel, I bring my tablet, which does support USB host mode, but doesn't run iTunes. I know its a rare case, but its also incredibly frustrating when the answer to a problem is to drive three hours or mail your primary computing device away for a week.
Frankly storage is cheap, and Apple has made a business of overcharging for it. They advertise their lowest capacity at a reasonable price, but the upgrades are extortionate. If apple charged more reasonably, maybe we wouldn't be so afraid of using that storage to handle reasonable edge cases like this.
