First Zune HD hands-on rolling in
Few bloggers had a chance to play briefly with the latest Zune HD, the new mobile media player from Microsoft. The follow-on of the so-so Zune first and second generations yields somewhat expectation that not as high as any new Apple products, and it seems to come out with high-flying color according to the first hands-on reviews.
Few quick notes:
Externally, the Zune HD size is about 2/3 of the iPod Touch. It will cone either in silver or black trims. The body build feels solid in more angular fashion rather than the curvaceous iPod Touch. The 3.3” OLED capacitive screen is great but only outputs Hi-Def video 480 x 272 resolution, but the Zune HD supports 720p when it outputs to your TV via an optional HDMI dock (thanks to its 1GHz Snapdragon NVidia CPU). Kudos to Microsoft for the simplicity, there is only 1 frontal button and few rockers on the side for volume, etc..
The device can get media contents thru the usual Zune Marketplace and it continues to support the great but under-rated ZunePass subscription – $15 mo for unlimited download and subscriber can keep 10 songs – In addition, the Zune HD can play contents purchased or rented from Xbox 360.
As touted as the media player, the new Zune plays with nice quality audio and video and it shows cool informative but not cluttered display when connected, it shows gallery of band photos, biographical info, and similar artist recommendations (link though to the mobile version of Zune Marketplace, where tracks can be streamed and purchased directly to satisfy your impulse buying behavior)
Since the device is Wi-Fi enabled, according to the reviewer, its Web browser is surprisingly good and on par with the Apple Safari on the iPod Touch as far as pinching, zooming, panning, etc.. regretfully, it does not support Flash contents, but I am confident this capability will comes as seen in the latest browser of Windows Mobile. There is no information available if 3rd party apps are installable on the device nor pricing. The device reportedly will be available in Fall time frame. [Via Cnet]
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