7

On the Samsung Galaxy Note, you can use the S Pen to achieve the equivalent of a mouse hover, even though its on a touch screen device. Does the Surface (or any of the new touch screen windows 8 all-in-ones) have similar capabilities?

Lincoln Bergeson
  • 974
  • 2
  • 12
  • 26

3 Answers3

6

A "long" click seems to work on my Surface - at least on websites.

I place my finger where I want to hover (for example my name at the top of the screen) and hold it there for a couple of seconds. The flyout menu will then appear (along with a another popup as well).

I believe this is really supposed to simulate a "right click", but seems to work for some things - it doesn't let me up vote comments for example.

Zhaph - Ben Duguid
  • 930
  • 8
  • 20
  • 3
    This is a pretty bad solution on Microsoft's part. I experienced this today when testing our web application on both iPad's and Windows 8 tablets. iPad handles this every elegantly, but Windows - not so much. – Matt Rockwell Nov 30 '12 at 18:18
  • I guess they thought most would be sold with the Type/Touch covers which come with a track pad :( But yes, it does seem a bit flaky - I guess the iPad handles it "better" because Mac's traditionally haven't had a "right mouse button" option - and so their users wouldn't miss a feature they don't usually have on their single button track pads and mice? – Zhaph - Ben Duguid Nov 30 '12 at 19:19
2

A hover action is simulated by a long press (tap-and-hold). However, that doesn't seem to work for all of my apps.

Ethan Lee
  • 485
  • 1
  • 3
  • 19
0

Digitizer pen input has long been supported in Windows. These easily support hovering the cursor. Without a pen, though, the best you have is either use a long press or a touchpad or mouse accessory (like the keyboard cover for the Surface).

Ben Richards
  • 12,697
  • 11
  • 55
  • 72