Zune HD

KefkaticFanatic · **Posted:** September 18th, 2009, 9:31 pm

So this sexy device came out on Tuesday. I received my 32 GB model from Amazon later that day and am loving it. The OLED screen is fantastic and the UI is very smooth and good looking. The battery life on it is also great. I can run it at max brightness and watch a few films at a good volume level without having to give it a charge. HD radio is a nice feature, although I haven't used it too much yet. The little demo apps that are in the store now (just a few games, a calculator, and weather) are nice demos of what it can do. Hopefully Microsoft will eventually roll out their own app store for the Zune HD. I did read that they decided not too so they wouldn't overlap with the Windows Mobile app store that they're working on, but perhaps they'll get around that or combine the two somehow. For now people can just make games and apps with the XNA framework and unofficially release them, and we've already got a game ported from the iPhone as well as a simple drawing app. I'm not real great with reviewing it, so here have some reviews from gadget blogs: [Engadget] [Gizmodo] [CrunchGear]

Anyway, (awful quality) pictures:

Adbot · **Posted:** September 18th, 2009, 9:31 pm

ChrisT · **Posted:** September 19th, 2009, 10:23 am

ahhh im so jealous

i want to upgrade from my second gen zune 8gb but i just bought it around last year christmas time. ill get an hd though if my zune dies.

Regnenth · **Posted:** September 19th, 2009, 10:24 am

its look rly awesome. u done anything with da web browser yet? and same here ChrisT

michel · **Posted:** September 20th, 2009, 8:54 am

it's getting pretyer by the seconds lol, jealouse here

Mushroom Queen · **Posted:** September 20th, 2009, 5:51 pm

*squeal* I'm so jealous! I've been wanting to get a Zune for a long time now (Getting fed up with using iTunes) and you've just made me want it even more. How's it running so far? What's your favourite feature?

KefkaticFanatic · **Posted:** September 22nd, 2009, 11:15 pm

Barghbarghbargh, school noms my time.

SO.

The browser is nice, nothing major like the one on the iPhone as it's only wifi and just has a keyboard and favourites.

So far it's been running great. The UI is crazy smooth and looks incredibly nice. I really like the little screensaver it does when I just play music, a little bonus feature. I can watch multiple films during the day and still have battery life left (playing at max brightness and a high volume level), so the battery is definitely as good as they say it is ( 8.5 hours video, 33 or something audio). Since I always plug it in when I get home, I have yet to see it run out of power

I don't really have a favourite feature, but I do really love the quality of the OLED screen along with the sleek UI. I guess that's my favourite, the overall sleek feel of the device and firmware.

Adbot · **Posted:** September 22nd, 2009, 11:15 pm

l u k e · **Posted:** September 28th, 2009, 4:05 pm

Im thinking about selling my ipod touch and getting one of those...don't know yet, a bit of work switching songs.

CreepyPirate · **Posted:** September 29th, 2009, 12:51 pm

You know I wouldn't mind one of these cause i hate the ipod **** and it's crappy battery but Microsoft doesn't sell them over here. I have no idea why you think to compete with the ipod they'd do it global.

Pfkninenines · Global Moderator 12/4/08

I'm pretty sure they're planning on selling it over seas sometime next year, but I have no idea why they didn't just release them everywhere at the same time.

KefkaticFanatic · **Posted:** September 30th, 2009, 6:03 pm

They probably wanted to see if it would do well in the US market before trying it anywhere else. It would sure suck for Microsoft if they did a worldwide release and it bombed.

Al3X · **Posted:** October 5th, 2009, 2:32 pm

KefkaticFanatic wrote:

They probably wanted to see if it would do well in the US market before trying it anywhere else. It would sure suck for Microsoft if they did a worldwide release and it bombed.

Plus the first few months of a product being sold the company often times loses money. Microsoft may be trying to get to the point where they will profit before they start outsourcing it to other countries.

CreepyPirate · **Posted:** October 6th, 2009, 3:25 am

Al3X wrote:

KefkaticFanatic wrote:

They probably wanted to see if it would do well in the US market before trying it anywhere else. It would sure suck for Microsoft if they did a worldwide release and it bombed.

Plus the first few months of a product being sold the company often times loses money. Microsoft may be trying to get to the point where they will profit before they start outsourcing it to other countries.

Things been out for years. Just seems rather funny to me, i mean the ipod is so popular because of itunes and all the **** on there right? It's only got so much junk on there because it's open to a wide audience. Makes sense for them to do it worldwide imo

If apple can do it they certainly can I'd like to know there reasoning behind not doing so myself.

edit yay for wikipedia:

"Microsoft released the Zune to Canadian consumers on June 13, 2008, marking the first time it will be available outside the U.S.[87] A Microsoft spokesperson said a European launch might not occur until 2009.[88][89] Microsoft has even made efforts to ban visitors outside the U.S. from http://www.zuneoriginals.net. Users wishing to sign up for a Zunetag can easily circumvent most problems by signing up for a US based account.[90]

According to Microsoft France's Francois Ruault, Zune will debut in Europe fall 2009, along with the release of the third generation Zune"

Makes sense..there launching a zune marketplace on the 360 for several countries including the UK, seems to fit together nicely. Guess the pricing is what's going to do it. Ipods are already over priced in my book so I'm hoping there going to undercut them.