Zune HD gets official!

[SAWYER]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/0...ng-your-way-this-fall/

That's right folks, the Zune HD is real, and it's coming this Fall. Microsoft officially announced the next iteration in their Zune line today, making it less of a tripped out pipe dream, and more of a totally tubular reality. The specs, which look exactly like that leak we saw, go like this: 3.3-inch, 480 x 272 OLED capacitive touchscreen display, built-in HD Radio receiver, HD output (utilizing a new dock -- not on-board), and... not much more right now. Microsoft is doing away with the famed squircle in favor a full multitouch device, and they seemed to indicate that some new touch-friendly apps and games would be headed our way, though they were fairly mum when it came to details. The device will boast an IE-based, customized browser, but little else was said in the way of software.

Details are also scarce concerning storage capacities, CPU performance, and other crucial numbers, but it seems like they've got more in store come E3... and that's the next big piece of news. Zune integration is coming to the Xbox and Xbox Live, as the Zune marketplace will step in to replace the current Live video resources, expanding the library and offering all kinds of new perks, like Zune's first foray into international waters. According to the company, at E3 "attendees will see first-hand how Zune integrates into Xbox LIVE creating a game-changing entertainment experience" -- we're not entirely sure what the means right now, but it sounds sweet. Try to contain your excitement.

*

 

[dbk]

ew i hate two tone colors

 

[WraithETC]

Want: Lineout dongle included or level line out onboard

 

[Arkaign]

Wow. Zune audio quality was already ahead of Apple, wonder if this will be even better? Yay for a really nice OLED as well.

I have used a few Ipods, nano, shuffle, etc, and I intend to never use one of the damned things again.

 

[mwmorph]

HD radio tuner is impressive. Is there another DAP/PMP that can do that?

I hope this has the option of a HDD though. I have around 50 gigs of music, that's jut not going to fit, even on a $500 flash player and there is no way in hell I'm paying $500 for a media player, my limit has always been under $300.

Here's to hoping it'll be a viable replacement to my Zune 80.

 

[middlehead]

I may be forced to hit that.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Wake me up when they decide people outside of USA are cool enough to buy one.

 

[uhohs]

$5 bucks there's still no asian text support.

 

[xanis]

If the price was right, I would drop my current iPod and abstain from purchasing any other iPods for this.

 

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by: Xanis
If the price was right, I would drop my current iPod and abstain from purchasing any other iPods for this.

What would a right price be?

- Comparable to ipod (which is sorta reasonable).
- Cheaper than the ipod (which would I think be a better move - in terms of trying to build the zune name/marketshare and increasing market saturation).
- More Expensive due to "Better" features? (Which from a business standpoint may make sense, but I think most people wouldn't approve of this)

 

[destrekor]

Official information on storage is needed. I :heart: my Zune 120, and with Zune Pass, I'm really going to always want that storage as an option. Having to drop $300 for 32gb isn't going to entice me one bit. I don't care about expansion through SDHC, I want on-board if I'm paying that kind of price. Flash storage is great and all, but I don't need an MP3 player to be paper thin, I can deal with a little thickness dammit.
Or maybe Microsoft will really surprise us and get 64gb in this for a reasonable price? Say, $300 or less.
Here's to expecting 16, 32gb, and 64gb flavors, price of entry $250, top end $400+.

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: oogabooga

Originally posted by: Xanis
If the price was right, I would drop my current iPod and abstain from purchasing any other iPods for this.

What would a right price be?

- Comparable to ipod (which is sorta reasonable).
- Cheaper than the ipod (which would I think be a better move - in terms of trying to build the zune name/marketshare and increasing market saturation).
- More Expensive due to "Better" features? (Which from a business standpoint may make sense, but I think most people wouldn't approve of this)

I'm going to go with option #1 - comparable to iPod. If this thing is around $300, I consider it a done deal.

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: destrekor
Official information on storage is needed. I :heart: my Zune 120, and with Zune Pass, I'm really going to always want that storage as an option. Having to drop $300 for 32gb isn't going to entice me one bit. I don't care about expansion through SDHC, I want on-board if I'm paying that kind of price. Flash storage is great and all, but I don't need an MP3 player to be paper thin, I can deal with a little thickness dammit.
Or maybe Microsoft will really surprise us and get 64gb in this for a reasonable price? Say, $300 or less.
Here's to expecting 16, 32gb, and 64gb flavors, price of entry $250, top end $400+.

Yeah, but for that $300 you get an OLED touch screen and an HD tuner. The 32GB iPod Touch has neither of those, yet costst $100 more.

 

[RESmonkey]

If it has a wifi internet browser, I might buy.

EDIT = NVM, it does have one! I might buy if I don't get a phone w/ browser.

 

[Queasy]

I'll wait to see more info on it at E3.

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

The screen resolution is much smaller than rumoured though it makes sense to not be played 900x450~ or whatever people were saying on such a small screen. And I don't see why the device has about an inch worth of non-touch panel at the bottom end, while it doesn't look bad it just doesn't make any sense to me why it's there. Looking at the main screen I'm not too keen on the icons on the lefthand side as it makes the menu look cluttered compared to the current offering.

but... I love my Zune and I'm eagerly looking forward to the HD.



RIP: The squircle... hopefully we can still squirt people though.

Edit:
And it has Internet Explorer! How cool is that!? Internet Explorer!

...what? No one else is excited about what's likely to be an IE4~5 derivate?

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: Xanis

Originally posted by: destrekor
Official information on storage is needed. I :heart: my Zune 120, and with Zune Pass, I'm really going to always want that storage as an option. Having to drop $300 for 32gb isn't going to entice me one bit. I don't care about expansion through SDHC, I want on-board if I'm paying that kind of price. Flash storage is great and all, but I don't need an MP3 player to be paper thin, I can deal with a little thickness dammit.
Or maybe Microsoft will really surprise us and get 64gb in this for a reasonable price? Say, $300 or less.
Here's to expecting 16, 32gb, and 64gb flavors, price of entry $250, top end $400+.

Yeah, but for that $300 you get an OLED touch screen and an HD tuner. The 32GB iPod Touch has neither of those, yet costst $100 more.

and yet the majority could care less cus it has the Apple name on it. Here's to hoping this is going to be very competitive.

 

[Baked]

DO WANT! I can finally upgrade my Zune 30.

 

[James Bond]

Meh... just doesn't seem better than the touch. Not impressed by resolution.

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: James Bond
Meh... just doesn't seem better than the touch. Not impressed by resolution.

Maybe MS made the Zune HD for Zune owners and not smug Apple fanboys. Hmmm...

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Wake me up when they decide people outside of USA are cool enough to buy one.

Umm

Zune's first foray into international waters

 

[Fenixgoon]

i'm not gonna lie - i have almost 0 interest in MP3 players, but that thing looks sexy.

 

[RESmonkey]

Originally posted by: Rhonda the Sly
The screen resolution is much smaller than rumoured though it makes sense to not be played 900x450~ or whatever people were saying on such a small screen. And I don't see why the device has about an inch worth of non-touch panel at the bottom end, while it doesn't look bad it just doesn't make any sense to me why it's there. Looking at the main screen I'm not too keen on the icons on the lefthand side as it makes the menu look cluttered compared to the current offering.

but... I love my Zune and I'm eagerly looking forward to the HD.



RIP: The squircle... hopefully we can still squirt people though.

Edit:
And it has Internet Explorer! How cool is that!? Internet Explorer!

...what? No one else is excited about what's likely to be an IE4~5 derivate?

I am!

 

[EGGO]

I sure hope they'll give it a lot of storage. Not that dinky 32GB, especially considering HD movies aren't going to exactly take a few MB of space.

I'm now still deciding on whether to wait for the "Hi-fi" portable thing people that go to headfi probably already read about or upping my iPod to 240GB.

 

[ViRGE]

The 16x9 screen strikes me as a poor choice. 16x9(1.77) is great for movies, but little else. Which is why LCD monitors are 16x10 (1.6) and the iPhone is even more square at 1.5. This is going to make web browsing harder compared to the iPhone, since either you have to reflow a site to even thinner proportions (which can be hard) or use the landscape mode where it's shorter. Either Microsoft is going to stick with media far more heavily than Apple has (whereas the iPhone platform is a full-fledged PDA), or someone made a poor choice. The use of OLED is an interesting choice, but I'd like to see some actual product comparisons (both in terms of visuals and the power cost) before making a final determination.

Meanwhile HD Radio has been a wash, I don't expect it to do anything more for the Zune HD than FM did for the first Zune.

The ability to play 720p media files is nice, but I'd like to see what the hit to battery life is. Anything you encode yourself would be better off at the native resolution, so the only benefit to this is that MS doesn't need to distribute SD and HD versions of files for the Xbox and Zune respectively. That kind of simplification may not be worth the hit to the batter if there is one.