Zune HD
last updated on September 28, 2009
Confirmed by Microsoft on May 26, and made available for preorder on August 26th, the ZuneHD became a device of firsts for Microsoft, including the first Zune to have a touchscreen, the first to have an OLED screen, and the first form factore to come in more than one capacity without having a different name. Due to it’s touchscreen it was not designed with a “Zune Pad”, touchpad, and only has three buttons on it’s surface, one for going back to it’s home screen, one for volume and playback control, and onle for powering the device on and off. This generation also was the first to include a built in web browser, HD Radio, & applications.
Storage & Capacity
4,000 songs Songs (16 GB), & 8,000 Songs (32 GB)
(1 Gigabyte or 1000 Megabytes)
Display Options
3.3 inch Organic Light Emitting (OLED) display with 480 x 272 resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio, it features portrait display for menus & music playback, and landscape display mode for videos and webbrowsing.
Media Formats
Can play WMA, WMA Loseless, MP3, and unprotected AAC audio files as well as video files encoded in WMV, MPEG-4, and H.264 formats. Photos can only be seen on the player if they are in the JPEG(JPG) format. The Zune HD can play video in the MPEG-4 and H.264 formats without the need of a software conversion however it cannot natively play Microsoft’s DVR-MS format from Windows Media Center without it being converted first.
Special Features
FM Tuner with programmable presets, along with the worlds first truly portable built in HD-Radio. 802.11 B and G wireless communication for Zune to Zune sharing of music, pictures, podcasts, and webbrowsing. Also includes the ability to use personal pictures as lockscreen for your device, Purchase songs you discovered while listening to radio stations, with RDS and RDS+ support. You can also purchase songs directly from the deviceas well stream and purchase music directly from the Zune Marketplace via it’s built in wireless. Going forward the ZuneHD’s Tegra processor allows it to output to an HD television via a seprate dock available for purchase, because of this the ZuneHD does not allow for component output via it’s headhone jack.
Computer Connectivity
Using Zune software and the Zune Marketplace designed specially with the Zune in mind the owner can download music from the Zune Marketplace, their own music library, or rip it from their CD collection and use the included USB cable to transfer media to their device. The player can now also sync wirelessly with a home network, or purchase music directly from the Zune Marketplace via wireless networks.
Battery Life
Uses a Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery built into the player. For music playback the battery will last 33 hours with wi-fi unactivated. With video one full charge will last about 8 hours. The same goes for pictures & slide shows as well. One full charge takes 3 when plugged into your PC and 2 hours when plugged into a wall outlet.
Physical Aspects
The ZuneHD is considered to be the smalleste and best looking of all Zune devices, at 52.7 mm x 102.1 mm x 8.9 mm in size, and just 2.6 grams in weight. Although only the black and platinum options are available in store, you can get the device in blue, green, or red from the Zune Orginals site you can customize the back plating of the device with text and different images.
Wireless
The ZuneHD uses 802.11 b/g signals to stream & download music, as well as browse the internet via it’s built in version of Internet Explorer Mobile 6. In addition when connected to power via a USB cable or some other power source the device can also use these same wireless signals to sync content from it’s host computer wirelessly. You can also use the device’s wireless to communicate with, and transmit playback information to Microsoft’s Zune Social
What is Included
Included with your purchase of the ZuneHD is the Zune player itself, a USB Cable used for connecting to your PC, and the generation two “premium” ear buds.. A “Getting Started Guide” is also included. The ZuneHD does not include the “premium” ear buds.
Firmware Updates
To date Microsoft has not provided any substantial firmware updates to this device.
One Response to “Zune HD”
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Lawana Tartaglino
Says:
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:18 pmI always listen to my hd radio. It is sweet compared to regular broadcast.
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