Microsoft Launches Zune HD

[celtikmind]

I did state they where reasons why I, as in just me, talking about myself, would not buy a zune.

And the fact that i used the term 'pmp' and not zune does indicate that i meant them all. The zune fits into the category of "all".

Again, since you've recently bought a pmp, you wouldn't be in the market for any pmp, regardless manufacturer. But that doesn't define the Zune as a bad product in a categorical way. It just makes you severly partial to the product you've just bought and a rather unconvincing argument from your end.

Anyway, I'm glad you're happy with your pmp because either way, I strongly dislike to see any corporation having anything near a monopoly on any market. Whether it be Apple iPod/iPhone or Microsoft Windows, having no free choice at all would only make them the bringers of a true nightmare.

 

[KnightWRX]

Fair, I'm, balanced? why asking me? there are overwhelming hostile attitude towards ZUNE HD here (which is fine and expected), and Im not making anything up. facts are there, just that people choose not to see, while I put it up front. facts has no bias.

And like the other guy I replied to this page, you missed the that fact that amongst all the negative Apple-biased responses there are positive raves far from grounded in fact from people that are obviously anti-Apple-biased.

Aligning yourself with either camp isn't a good idea.

 

[VoR]

And seriously, both are crap. 480x320 is 3 years ago in terms of technology. Devices on the horizon are now pushing 800x480 in the same format as an iPhone.

It's slightly thicker (but has a cf, sd slot, large removable battery, stylus etc) but my pda is over 5 years old, has a 640x480 screen, nice grey magnesium case, wifi, bluetooth, usb host adapter, gps etcetcetc. It doesnt have an app store, but the internet has always done the job fine when I want software - proper applications too
It plays h264 and mpeg2 fine. I can choose between IE/opera/webkit/gecko based browsers, it was cheaper then than an iPT is now, it runs tomtom/garmin/igo/1000 other consumer/pro air/land/sea gps apps that most don't know about.

It doesn't have a cell phone built in (looking at the 'subsidy' companies offer these 'new' products, it's a very good thing) and the UI isn't quite as simplistic and flash as iPT/zunes/etc but it can drain the blood from the face of an iPT/'portable media player X' user at the range of about 10 meters.

Did I mention that its well over 5 years old? What was everyone else on forums like these using before the bbc told us all to by ipods?

 

[jmcguckin]

I have to admit that I actually like the Zune HD's design, though it's still a bit chunky-looking compared to the smooth, contoured design of the iPod touch/iPhone... to its credit, it definitely seems to have an impressive set of features, a couple of which I wish had found their way into the latest iPod revision (OLED screen and out-of-the-package HD video playback capability), and overall it seems to be a very nice device.

and that's about as in-depth an opinion as I'm going to give about it since it's not Mac-compatible and I much prefer the iPod touch's design/UI (though I'd still like to stop by my local electronics retailer and give one of these a spin, just for kicks ).

 

[celtikmind]

It's slightly thicker (but has a cf, sd slot, large removable battery, stylus etc) but my pda is over 5 years old, has a 640x480 screen, nice grey magnesium case, wifi, bluetooth, usb host adapter, gps etcetcetc. It doesnt have an app store, but the internet has always done the job fine when I want software - proper applications too
It plays h264 and mpeg2 fine. I can choose between IE/opera/webkit/gecko based browsers, it was cheaper then than an iPT is now, it runs tomtom/garmin/igo/1000 other consumer/pro air/land/sea gps apps that most don't know about.

It doesn't have a cell phone built in (looking at the 'subsidy' companies offer these 'new' products, it's a very good thing) and the UI isn't quite as simplistic and flash as iPT/zunes/etc but it can drain the blood from the face of an iPT/'portable media player X' user at the range of about 10 meters.

Did I mention that its well over 5 years old? What was everyone else on forums like these using before the bbc told us all to by ipods?

Does this product have a... name?

 

[VoR]

Does this product have a... name?

To check if I'm telling porkies or not?
I've got an hp hx4700 and a cooked rom, dell had the x51v which was also a vga screen and had a vga output etc, fair few others about with vga screens, but I don't have experience with them. The newer pdas can probably handle things like h264 (coreavc was born on these older devices) fine on whatever cpus theyve got, but the old hp and dells both had seperate gpus that made them run higher bitrate media so well.
It's worked so well for so long, I've never really looked at the current tech to see whats about. I'm pretty sure pdas never sold amazingly and have pretty much died out - no idea why...I can and have been doing 'everything', 'better' on them than limited and locked down newer devices like the iphone - certainly could have done with apples marketing team.

excuse the nonsensical speed typed posting

 

[MacMonster1985]

Maybe because instead of being apple fanboys they are just people who think this product sucks?

I am talking about the people who automatically assume it sucks because it's made by MS. But if you dig enough, you will find that most of them have a Xbox 360 which is a Ms product and defend it against PS3 fanboys.

 

[martint84]

My take on the Zune HD...

It is definitely a viable alternative to the iPod for Windows users. iPod competition of any kind is great for us Apple fanboys. Clearly, a major reason Apple kept an 8gb iPod touch in the lineup for $199 is because the Zune HD sells for $219 (I don't buy Apple's $199 price point BS).

While I think we would have seen the following new features anyway, there is now a little more pressure on Apple to roll these out ASAP:
1. fm radio
2. better HD playback
3. better way to play iTunes content on your tv
4. wireless syncing
5. better screen

Regardless of whether anyone here wants to buy a Zune HD, you cannot deny the fact that it is a relevant device. We should all be happy that there is yet another competitor to the iPod. While I don't think the Zune HD is going to significantly hurt iPod sales, the fact that it exists will make the iPod a better device.

 

[celtikmind]

To check if I'm telling porkies or not?

No, not all. Pure interest.

I tried iPhone for a while but couldn't shake the locked-in, parental feeling besides making me feel somewhat dumb the way it wouldn't let me configure it or run stuff. Jailbreaking (and breaking warranty just to make it useful) seems so ironical in it's own sense so I never bothered. Never understood how limiting the user's options could ever get so popular.

Thanks!

 

[kdarling]

Oh yes, IE6 has been working just fine all these years. Too bad it's primary function is to hold back web advancement and promote vendor lock-in by not supporting standards.

Grrrr. Don't get me started on standards.

When the iPhone came out, there was a huge opportunity to push websites to provide mobile versions for everyone as an alternative choice.

Instead, Apple came up with a ton of iPhone-specific meta tags, to make websites look okay on their device only. Thanks for nothing.

=> However, and this is IMPORTANT... mobile IE6 is NOT REPEAT NOT the same as desktop IE6. It has none of the usual Microsoft specific extensions, but is far more standards compliant and internally advanced. We cannot compare the two at all. MS should've called it something else to prevent confusion.

I prefer Apple's decision in this regard. More pixels = more resolution = more stuff on screen at one time = better.

Hurray then for the latest WM phones with 800x480. Much less of that messy side-scrolling or need to zoom.

No, again, MOSX the Microsoft shill/troll/astroturfer came here ...

People shouldn't use personal attacks if they can't come up with a good counter-argument.

I feel your pain brother, same here, our main corporate site was written i guess with the expectation that no advances would ever be made in browsers so only really works with IE 6!!

Amen brother. Until recently we were still supporting thousands of users with handhelds running IE 4 (!) on an app dating back to 2001.

Ordinary consumers don't realize that when an app costs a half million dollars to write and deploy, that corporations don't want to change it every six months

 

[LagunaSol]

Zune HD apps now available!

They're free, they take forever to load (30 seconds for chess???), and they're accompanied by ads(!!!). Guess the Zune team is finally being asked to pay a few of their own bills.

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/09/zune-hd-apps-are-here-complete-with-pre-roll-ads.ars

*Waits for Zune fanboys to inevitably rave about the sheer awesomeness of Goo Splat and Weather.*

 

[polaris20]

It's good for MS to come out with the HD, if for no other reason than to continue pushing Apple. Competition is good, and the HD looks to be promising as a PMP.

Since I use the iPT as more of a PDA than just a PMP it's got a while to catch up, and the 16:9 is irritating, but otherwise it looks nice.

 

[KnightWRX]

Hurray then for the latest WM phones with 800x480. Much less of that messy side-scrolling or need to zoom.

Hurray indeed. I'm presently waiting to see what the 800x480 Android offerings are (Rumored Sony Xperia X3) and keeping a close eye on Nokia's N900.

I might not get an iPhone after all.

People shouldn't use personal attacks if they can't come up with a good counter-argument.

I'll keep this in mind. I did counter his argument though and mosx is a very well known Microsoft troll on here. Just search for all his posts and read through them, you'll see it right away. People quoting mosx and then calling others "Apple fanboys" need to look in a mirror.[/QUOTE]

 

[cumanzor]

Windows market share shows that people don't care about "fabulous UI" - they care about ubiquity

I'm not exactly sure about what you mean with ubiquity. Window's market share just means people go for things they are used to. And if they stick to it's because they still like it. Hell, I bet many people switched over after the Vista pre-SP1 fiasco. But I can tell your with a high degree of certainty that many people will love and praise MS with Windows 7, just like every single tech blog has.

Also, I do care a lot about UI. That's why I'm using Linux and Gnome, because I can change it and tweak it in some many ways I end up with something completely new every week. Unlike OS X or Windows for that matter.

 

[unfrozen.jon]

Gizmodo review " The Zune HD is the best touchscreen PMP on the market. enuff said!

Playing with it since yesterday... I must say Oh YEA!... I am making excuses to play with it... it's one cool little gadget...

From the way Gizmodo has been heavily promoting Windows 7 and Zune HD I think they've been bought. I enjoyed reading their news because of their humour but I unsubscribed their RSS feed today after reading their Zune HD review:

"The narrower 3.3-inch widescreen isn't as spacious as that of the iPod Touch and pages definitely load a little slower, but besides that it's a full-featured, fast and responsive browser."

Ars Technica's review:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/09/zune-hd-review.ars/3

The browser is more than a "little slower". I agree there are some definite areas where it shines but they're downplaying its weaknesses.

And Windows 7 is the best Windows since XP but I don't think its worth the hype. Yes they hype Apple a lot but they're products are excitedly discussed even when their existence is kept under wraps.

 

[dejo]

...and Im not making anything up. facts are there, just that people choose not to see, while I put it up front. facts has no bias.

A large percentage of what you post is not facts, though, it is opinion. Let me know if you need examples.

 

[LagunaSol]

People quoting mosx and then calling others "Apple fanboys" need to look in a mirror.

Word. Funny how on a Mac-centric board like this you're accused of being closed-minded or an Apple cultist if you vocally reject the silly tripe posted by some of these obvious Apple-hating agitators.

From the way Gizmodo has been heavily promoting Windows 7 and Zune HD I think they've been bought. I enjoyed reading their news because of their humour but I unsubscribed their RSS feed today after reading their Zune HD review.

Still, nothing compares to CNET's "tears of joy" headline when they had a Zune HD first look. Tears of joy? Seriously?

The tech journalism world is desperate to say something nice about Microsoft, after years of not being able to justify it (Vista, Xbox 360 self-destruction, Windows Mobile horror, Zune flop) - though they've tried mightily...

 

[Jimmy James]

Does this product have a... name?

Probably a Dell X30/50/etc.

 

[aristobrat]

Not sure if it was already posted here, but Andy Ihnatko's review was a good read (IMO, anyway):
http://bit.ly/kPwb9 17 minutes ago

 

[celtikmind]

Word. Funny how on a Mac-centric board like this you're accused of being closed-minded or an Apple cultist if you vocally reject the silly tripe posted by some of these obvious Apple-hating agitators.



Still, nothing compares to CNET's "tears of joy" headline when they had a Zune HD first look. Tears of joy? Seriously?

The tech journalism world is desperate to say something nice about Microsoft, after years of not being able to justify it (Vista, Xbox 360 self-destruction, Windows Mobile horror, Zune flop) - though they've tried mightily...

Yes, some things they've done are laughable but still i.e. the Xbox 360 is rather popular, even here at MR.

And in all fairness, I don't think Apple is currently doing an inch better in the quality department. The iPhone was a minor disappointment to me and something I already more or less forgotten but I won't consider it again until it changes radically. But after have tried four (4) unibody MBP, all with hardware defects I have given up on Apple until they make something that resembles the quality they used to represent. This is not counting my other Apple computers I've owned, all with one defect or another, however minor.

Today's lineup is just very unsatisfying for someone who've used Apple in the past. And I wish it wasn't so but it is.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

Grrrr. Don't get me started on standards.

When the iPhone came out, there was a huge opportunity to push websites to provide mobile versions for everyone as an alternative choice.

Instead, Apple came up with a ton of iPhone-specific meta tags, to make websites look okay on their device only. Thanks for nothing.

Apple doesn't believe in standards thats why my environment here (50K PC's and around 10K Macs) our Macs are suffering horribly.

 

[Consultant]

Zune HD versus Apple iPod touch 2009 / 3rd gen, 12 page comparison
http://obamapacman.com/2009/09/microsoft-zune-hd-vs-apple-ipod-touch-3g-feature-comparison

Apple doesn't believe in standards thats why my environment here (50K PC's and around 10K Macs) our Macs are suffering horribly.

Yeah right. And you are saying that because Zune HD with mobile IE6 which dates from 2001 is a better choice than something that something with HTML 5, Acid 3 Compliance?

Safari features
http://www.apple.com/safari/features.html

 

[celtikmind]

Zune HD versus Apple iPod touch 2009 / 3rd gen, 12 page comparison
http://obamapacman.com/2009/09/microsoft-zune-hd-vs-apple-ipod-touch-3g-feature-comparison



Yeah right. And you are saying that because Zune HD with mobile IE6 which dates from 2001 is a better choice than something that something with HTML 5, Acid 3 Compliance?

Safari features
http://www.apple.com/safari/features.html

Newer isn't always better. And regardless, Apple have never been big on standards, other than their own. Unfortunately for everyone.

 

[polaris20]

A large percentage of what you post is not facts, though, it is opinion. Let me know if you need examples.

That habit runs rampant among the MS shills here.

 

[cumanzor]

Word. Funny how on a Mac-centric board like this you're accused of being closed-minded or an Apple cultist if you vocally reject the silly tripe posted by some of these obvious Apple-hating agitators.



Still, nothing compares to CNET's "tears of joy" headline when they had a Zune HD first look. Tears of joy? Seriously?

The tech journalism world is desperate to say something nice about Microsoft, after years of not being able to justify it (Vista, Xbox 360 self-destruction, Windows Mobile horror, Zune flop) - though they've tried mightily...

I believe it is hilarious how guys think it is impossible for MS to do anything nice. It think it's hilarious how you think blogs were bought because they give good reviews. (either way, Apple, MS, Sony have done in the past, and it would be childish to think companies don't resort to this kind of ********).

That habit runs rampant among the MS shills here.

And it is also the way Apple marketing team works. (e.g every single "I'm a Mac" ad.)