iPod touch First impressions of Zune HD

[gan6660]

I also got a zune hd today and I have to say its great. The screen is much crisper than the ipod touch but I do like the ipods software a little better. I was suprised to see how thin and light it is. I planned on getting the av dock today also but the new nanos got to me last week and I ordered one so I didnt have enough money but I will get one soon so Ill see how that part works out. Anyway as stated early it doesnt have alot of apps but neither did the ipod touch until a year after its release so give it time. Tomorrow Im going to compare it to my 1st and 2nd gen ipod touch to see how it competes.

 

[Nebrie]

here some more cloudy day - outside shots..... both at medium brighthness
no worse than iphone or touch.....
So you guys should stop listening to FANBOYS!

Well the question deals with performance in sunlight. A picture of a zune on a cloudy day cloaked with a shadow isn't quite the same thing. If someone has sunlight in their area, please post a pic.

 

[cenetti]

Well the question deals with performance in sunlight. A picture of a zune on a cloudy day cloaked with a shadow isn't quite the same thing. If someone has sunlight in their area, please post a pic.

why ? Every device gets washed up under direct bright sunlight... iphone/touch/ipod nano ...even my goddayum watch.... I don't understand what's all this bs going on about the outside - visibilty crap...

Just because some douche wrote an article ( from his behind) come on now...

I have posted the pictures... under daylight/inside/next to the window....
Jeezuz!

 

[blackhawk08]

I really hope the Zune HD is a success because competition is nice

 

[Consultant]

Well the question deals with performance in sunlight. A picture of a zune on a cloudy day cloaked with a shadow isn't quite the same thing. If someone has sunlight in their area, please post a pic.

I can see the Onion: MS spent hundreds of millions of dollars to blanket United States in clouds for the launch of zune hd.

To others. What apps actually come with it? Seems like Zune HD owners like to avoid that question?

 

[-ZX-]

chris975d, that sync time is way too long! Make sure the zune software isn't set to convert your audio when syncing to the device: settings > device > conversion settings. Hope that helps.

 

[cenetti]

And here is my unofficial .... screen test

ipod touch - zune - iphone

Enoy ...
Oh btw... you can come up with any excuse like
they're not playing the same movie/same scene...probably the quality is different..blah blah blah....

Fact of the matter is.... Touch/Iphone both have outdated outdated sucky screens.... end of discussion .....

I have all three of them... and it's clear as day and night..... Anyone who denies that FACT is a damn fanboy fool.... in denial..

 

[jman240]

that screen does look pretty awesome. I dunno if its just me or what but my 3gs screen looks terrible sometimes, esp if it tries to auto brightness itself in a dark room it just ends up looking all washed out.

I didnt notice the screen until i got my 3gs and ive had both the 1st and 2nd gen iphones.

Anyway, here's hoping they have a better lcd panel in the next iphone.

 

[puffnstuff]

Do the headphones act as the antenna for the radio if so does that mean there is no way to use your own headphones to pick up a signal.

 

[Godzilla71]

Do the headphones act as the antenna for the radio if so does that mean there is no way to use your own headphones to pick up a signal.

You can use your favorite headphones of your choice. I have a Zune 80gb model that also has FM radio. I use different headphones then what came with it. I assume the ZuneHD would be the same.

 

[Andrmgic]

You can use your favorite headphones of your choice. I have a Zune 80gb model that also has FM radio. I use different headphones then what came with it. I assume the ZuneHD would be the same.

This is true. Any headphone wire will act as an antenna for the radio

 

[Muncher]

I have all three of them... and it's clear as day and night..... Anyone who denies that FACT is a damn fanboy fool.... in denial..

That's quite a difference. The middle picture looks a bit off (not accusing you of faking any shots btw), what kind of camera are you using?

After seeing all this, I may actually get a Zune. I really wanted to keep my apps though. What to do, what to do...

 

[Unprocessed1]

That's quite a difference. The middle picture looks a bit off (not accusing you of faking any shots btw), what kind of camera are you using?

After seeing all this, I may actually get a Zune. I really wanted to keep my apps though. What to do, what to do...

I think its because it's a high angle shot. OLED have fantastic viewing angle.

I have both devices with me, and the ipod touch has major color degradation when viewing from an angle. The Zune HD doesn't have any color degradation.

 

[fenderbass146]

"HD" Radio doesn't mean much. The "HD" originally stood for "hybrid digital". Now it stands for... nothing. The only difference between the Zune's HD Radio and the Nano's FM is that an HD Radio signal is digital and an FM signal is analog.

Good review though. Glad to have some feedback on the Zune.

I have a hd radio in my car and the best part about it is the secondary channels. I live in chicago and all good stations have a second and possibly third stations to listen too

 

[mexxx]

for me its kinda coming down to 2 things. this will make me decide for an ipod touch or a zune HD
first, which browser is faster the ipod or Zune HD (removing those pesky script setup people been having problem with)
secondly, does the Zune HD ' lag ' like other previous models of the zune when a lot of songs and media were being used? because i have heard of this, that the more the zune had stored, the more it ' lagged ' and was slow.
thanks

 

[Unprocessed1]

for me its kinda coming down to 2 things. this will make me decide for an ipod touch or a zune HD
first, which browser is faster the ipod or Zune HD (removing those pesky script setup people been having problem with)
secondly, does the Zune HD ' lag ' like other previous models of the zune when a lot of songs and media were being used? because i have heard of this, that the more the zune had stored, the more it ' lagged ' and was slow.
thanks

To answer your questions: The zune browser is not anywhere near as good as the ipod touch's,

I have noticed no zune lag. In fact the Zune HD seems more snappy than the ipod touch, the screen feels more responsive. The hardware on the Zune HD is great, as is the UI.

 

[Voidness]

I remeber when I first got my iphone in 2007... that thing was a brick... with no functionality other than phone calls...and a crappy browser...

I'm sorry, but you lost me there. You considered Mobile Safari on the iPhone to be a crappy browser in 2007? Do you have any idea how ridiculous this sounds, especially when you consider a browser based on Internet Explorer 6 in 2009 to be "working perfectly"?

Sure, the Zune HD seems like a very cool device. But you're coming across as a very biased Zune fanboy, which won't get you any credibility.

Thanks for the review chris975d. A very level headed review

 

[Plutonius]

Sure, the Zune HD seems like a very cool device. But you're coming across as a very biased Zune fanboy, which won't get you any credibility.

+1

 

[bdavis89]

I'm sorry, but you lost me there. You considered Mobile Safari on the iPhone to be a crappy browser in 2007? Do you have any idea how ridiculous this sounds, especially when you consider a browser based on Internet Explorer 6 in 2009 to be "working perfectly"?

I haven't had a chance to play with the zune yet, but my buddy had an original iphone, and the safari did suck...it was nothing like it is today..

ppl fail to realize MS is trying to catch up..you can't necessarily compare the zune hd to the iphones and ipod touches which have had 2 years and 3 generations of tweaking and perfecting..

the potential of the zune hd seems to be as good if not better than the ipod touch...but the issue seems to be whether or not ppl will give it a chance and whether or not MS can catch up fast enough

either way, hopefully this is a nice kick in the pants to get apple rolling again! the competition was needed, and yeah apple will win, but at least now they have motivation to move and not stay stagnate like they are now..apple has been milking it for awhile now, so this should be good for the consumer!

 

[Nebrie]

Fact of the matter is.... Touch/Iphone both have outdated outdated sucky screens.... end of discussion .....

I have all three of them... and it's clear as day and night..... Anyone who denies that FACT is a damn fanboy fool.... in denial..

Oh please, fanboy. This entire thread, the moment anyone brings up an issue or has a question that doesn't praise the Zune to high heaven, you attack them and run around screaming and throwing down !!!!!!!!!!!! and combative statements. You are the very definition of an incredibly annoying 12 year old fanboy.

I merely asked if someone had a sunlight pic so I could see how it looks because I WAS interested in a Zune and wanted to be assured that this was not an issue. I did not attack you, I did not attack your precious Zune, and I did not bring up your arch-rival the iPod. The only person in this entire thread acting like a 12 year old fanboy is YOU. Everyone else has been very polite with their posts. Grow up or go back to 4chan. You aren't convincing anyone to buy a Zune by acting this way.

 

[mexxx]

hearing that the zune has nice sound (i really cant tell though >.< just a casual listener here) but seeing that the zune has a great image is really making me choose MS over Apple.
but i would like to ask, how much ' better ' is the apple web... like is it better slightly? what about load ups... how much faster are they?

 

[mexxx]

Oh please, fanboy. This entire thread, the moment anyone brings up an issue or has a question that doesn't praise the Zune to high heaven, you attack them and run around screaming and throwing down !!!!!!!!!!!! and combative statements. You are the very definition of an incredibly annoying 12 year old fanboy.

I merely asked if someone had a sunlight pic so I could see how it looks because I WAS interested in a Zune. I did not attack you, I did not attack your precious Zune, I did not bring up your arch-rival the iPod. The only person in this entire thread acting like a 12 year old fanboy is YOU. Everyone else has been very polite with their posts. Grow up or go back to 4chan. You aren't convincing anyone to buy a Zune by acting this way.

i think u were being excessive when asking. he had posted various pictures for you. i still believe any device will look bad under the sunlight.. so why even bother...

 

[Nebrie]

i think u were being excessive when asking. he had posted various pictures for you. i still believe any device will look bad under the sunlight.. so why even bother...

So instead of ignoring an "excessive" request which I directed at others, he chose to make *two more* rabid foaming-fanboy attacks in the same vein as all his other attacks. In that case, why do you keep asking about browser speed which has been argued about excessively since the first post; isn't "iphone (has a) crappy browser..." good enough for you? Really now...

 

[mexxx]

So instead of ignoring an "excessive" request which I directed at others, he chose to make *two more* rabid foaming-fanboy attacks in the same vein as all his other attacks. In that case, why do you keep asking about browser speed which has been argued about excessively since the first post; isn't "iphone (has a) crappy browser..." good enough for you? Really now...

theres a difference. if u see i first asked which was better, but im asking how much better. and my question doesnt take a while to answer. not like he needs to go out take a pic, upload it and then post it........

 

[santos79]

Without a useable browser not an ipod touch rival

Without a decent internet browser, the Zune is not a rival to the iPod Touch. I was wondering why the reviews have not mentioned the browser nor shown screen shots of the Zune's browser in action. I use my first-generation Touch mostly for e-mail and internet browsing, so I'm very disappointed that the Zune HD is sub-par in this respect.

It seems the only thing the Zune HD has going for it is the OLED screen. That's a shame as I was hoping that the iPod Touch would get a rival that would make Apple add some more features to it (like a better screen and a camera).