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Zune HD Unveiled, Set For Fall Release
Several readers have written to mention that Microsoft has confirmed and unveiled the Zune HD. It has a "3.3-inch, 480 x 272 OLED capacitive touchscreen display, built-in HD Radio receiver, HD output," and it makes use of multi-touch input. More details will be forthcoming at E3, including how the device interacts with Xbox Live. Reader johnjaydk notes a PCWorld article that asks whether the Zune HD will be capable of competing with the iPod Touch. Quoting: "... the real competition between the Zune HD and the iPod Touch will come down to software. The new Zune will be based on a custom version of Windows CE, while the iPod Touch runs on the already popular iPhone platform, for which thousands of applications are available."
Really, in preparation for the coming flame war, I feel it necessary to point out that you can use visual studio to compile and run Zune games without fear of the heavy hand of Microsoft crashing down upon you and your work. I dislike Microsoft, but free update to run homebrew software that doesn't have to have a corporate blessing? I still have Windows on one box for games anyway though (not a WoW/Quake junkie), so I guess things might be different for me. :)
Until that Linux company I keep hearing about comes out with MP3 players, then this is the way to go for me.
Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
If it looks like an iPod Touch and acts like an iPod Touch but comes from Microsoft, it ain't an iPod Touch.
It must suck to be an engineer at Microsoft. Ignoring the phat paycheck, it must really suck to work for a company that has largely given up on any semblance of innovation and is simply following the lead of other companies. I would imagine that many of their best and brightest are begging to explore some very cool ideas but are being held back by Microsoft's corporate culture... I feel for them...
Actually, they get paid magnitudes more than I do so I don't feel too bad for them...
I have an S9, and I am very impressed with it. The AMOLED screen is simply amazing, this coming from a CG graphics industry vet. Colour reproduction is very important to me, and it does not disappoint. Unless the Zune is priced better than the S9, or the Samsung equivalent (was it called the P3?), then it's not going to do that well, especially knowing that by that time, Cowon and Samsung (not to mention everyone else) will have updated models of their products (possibly even second generation level) by the time Microsoft get's in with this. Pass.
Huh... if missing the boat is making something that works really well, and has more features, I guess they did. My zune works flawlessly, has a better screen, wireless sync, and the ability to tune radio stations. Contrast with my wifes 2g ipod nano, which locks up randomly, repeats the same song endlessly, skips the the next song randomly, and lets not forget that abomination of software call iTunes, and the recommended fix from the apple store? "Buy a new 3G ipod!!" Which was the same answer they gave to EVERYONE that came in with a problem with apple hardware. Bleack.
I'd have to say that their target demographic is probably everyone who bought an Xbox 360. The one piece of MS's gaming strategy that's been noticably lacking is the handheld. Now, it appears they're getting serious about it. I had high hopes for Zune integration when the 360 came out, and it just never happened. Then, XNA came out and it looked like things were going to happen in that space again, and then nothing. Maybe the old axiom about MS getting it right on the third shot is going to hold true, yet again?
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
meh ... bad analogy. I would say Sony really earns the props for the 360 coming in second place. The fact that MS is not in third place considering the fact it was cause of the largest consumer electronics fuckup in US history showed just how bad Sony screwed the pooch. Especially coming off the runaway success of the playstation 2. If Sony wasn't so incompetent, i would imagine that Microsoft would be probably be in a distant third right now with plans on escaping the market.
From this never-ending iphon/ipod/zune buzz, one could get the impression that the world has only two cutting edge devices, ipod/iphone and zune. it just so happens that the fantastic features they promise to come have all been around for some time now. I just find it genuinely hard to understand why the free software community drools over the iphones, and fails to notice the availability of platforms that are superior and basically made for developers (not to mention there are a number of better devices out there). FYI, for well over a year I have owned a Windows Mobile device (IPAQ 210) with a fantastic 640x480 touch screen that beats all the ipods, zunes and other such iphones by a large margin in terms of resolution and comfort. it cost me $400, about as much as any of the other toys. It eats 32 GB memory in flash cards (allegedly even more, have not checked). Compact flash and SD, replaceable at anytime, including while the device is on. It has good-quality 802.11 radio (no flakey operation), wiht no restrictions, I can open sockets, send multicast, consume web services. It has bluetooth. It lasts for days without charging. And most importantly, it takes the latest compact editions of the .NET framework, allowing me to deploy any code I feel like to deploy on it at a press of a button in Visual Studio, bypassing the need to unlock it, use app stores or other such bizarre nonsense. I like the idea of being able to program my devices, and I use that feature constantly. And yes, it does play hd mp4 videos from youtube very smoothly. Doesn't come with a phone. And what would I need a phone for?! To pay the $100+ in monthly charges for a data plan? I pass by wifi access points so often, I don't need to think about it much. Most of the time, I get my email while carrying the device in my pocket. It boots in about a second. It does not come with GPS. Frankly, I wouldn't have noticed. Most of the time, I know where I am, and when I travel, I prefer to use a professional device such as tom tom that was made for thus purpose and has been developed and improved for a long time. And no, I don't work for hewlett-packard.
Will they replace the HD Radio with DAB radio for Britain and the other parts of Europe that use DAB?
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
Does the custom version of Windows CE allow users to run the apps of their choice? If so, this seems OBVIOUSLY better than any of Apple's products. The 'thousands' of programs in the Apple App Store will be surpassed in six months, if the new Zune is not locked down like an Apple product.
The Zune always had really good hardware. It had some silly restrictions (like on WiFi), and terrible marketing. Compare that to the iPod/iPhone, which is good hardware, silly restrictions, and great marketing...
I've never understood this business strategy. I don't see any intrinsic reason why Microsoft should seek to enter every possible technology market and leverage its enormous financial power and resources to do so.
They know Zune is a failed business venture. As a product, the Zune is unable to compete with the iPod on any meaningful level. And Microsoft management knows this. Yet they persist, not out of some altruistic desire to encourage competition, but because the executives (read: Ballmer) have too much hubris to concede that Apple has done something remarkable. They have succeeded in revolutionizing the portable media device. And with the iPhone, Apple has created nothing less than an integrated portable computing/communications/multimedia solution that is as stylish as it is easy to use. Is it perfect? Hardly. Was it the first to use each of its component technologies? No. But it is indisputable that it broke new ground by combining all these features into a single, easy-to-use device. And the only ones who still refuse to admit this are those who are aligned with Ballmer's distorted view of reality.
I have a healthy appreciation for the competition--Google (Android), RIM (Blackberry), Palm (Pre), Nokia (N9x), and yes, even Microsoft (Zune/Windows Mobile). It's important that these guys are around to keep Apple on its toes. But let's not fool ourselves into believing that these are the good guys for fostering that competition. If they were truly good, they would have recognized the importance of innovating beyond what they see in Apple's offerings, rather than simply trying to make a comparable product. Where was their vision before Apple dominated the field? No, they were too busy being complacent. We saw tiny, incremental changes in the mobile device market for years until the iPhone blew everyone away. The same was true of the pre-iPod MP3 market. Apple lit a fire under their collective asses and now hardware manufacturers are going nuts trying to make the next "iPod/iPhone/iWhatever" killer.
The Zune will never be successful as long as it is deprived of a true vision. It isn't enough to mimic another device or its success. That's what Microsoft does not understand. They never have understood what makes a product work. The ubiquity of their bread-and-butter Windows has brought them enormous financial success and market share, but with that it has brought laziness and sloppy management. They can afford to push out half-assed products. Windows will still be there to keep the money coming in. They don't have to be hungry, visionary, or risk-taking, like Apple has had to be for decades. They've made some real blunders (G4 cube, 20th Anniversary Mac, the Lisa, Mac OS licensing, Centris/Quadra/Performa bloated product line,... I could go on but I think you get the point). But they have had enormous successes as well. Microsoft could make Zune amazing. Any company could, given that much money and talent. But that's not what they really want. They don't want to make something better than an iPhone or an iPod. They want to make something just good enough superficially, with as little attention to detail as possible, just so they can say they have some market penetration.
Microsoft has not wanted to make a better 'something' for DECADES. When a company stops caring about providing the best possible user experience, I stop caring about that company's products.
Once you get it ($99 developer fee - much cheaper than Visual Studio)
Visual Studio Express, which is able to create full applications without limitations, is free. Yes, I can choose to pay for a better IDE. I'd rather that than have to pay a whacking $99 fee just for the privilege of development.
I'm always amazed how ignorant non-Microsoft users are about Microsoft's products and how much disinformation they spew. If you really want to know what you can or cannot do with an Microsoft device or software, you should ask the people who know - experienced Microsoft users. (For the mods who will no doubt interpret this as trolling, but the same statement about Apple as Informative.)