Today for review I’m taking a look at
the Zune HD, specifically the 16gb version. This new Zune HD has many
new features over the original Zune, specifically of course the touch
screen. The other Zunes were navigated with directional pad and
buttons, that’s gone now in favor of full multitouch navigation
through the screen. This new Zune offers HD radio, and Internet
browsing and sync as well over wireless connection. I’ve tossed a few
things on my Zune HD already like many games and apps, along with
videos and music and spent some time with it so read on to learn more
about it…
Product
Name: Zune
HD 16gb
Author: Kristofer
Brozio
Tech
Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
Zune HD 16 gives you room for
up to 4,000 songs, or 5 hours of HD video from Zune Marketplace.
Smart DJ
Smart DJ creates custom
playlists based on your favorite music. Simply choose an artist,
album, or song and Smart DJ will generate a playlist based on your
selection.
Touchscreen
Get quick and instant access to
all your content with innovative multitouch navigation. With a
3.3-inch screen and vivid 16:9 OLED display (480×272 resolution),
truer and brighter premium entertainment is right at your
fingertips.**
HD Radio
Tune into many local HD Radio
stations with crystal-clear digital reception at no extra cost. The
integrated HD Radio receiver gives you access to more of the content
you love. Plus, tag the songs*** you like for later purchase.
HD compatible video
Watch supported 720p HD movies,
TV shows, and videos in high definition on your HDTV through the Zune
HD AV Dock (sold separately).** Or take them with you for premium
entertainment on the go. Additional dock and HDTV are required.**
Zune Marketplace out to TV
Connect your Zune HD to your
HDTV (Zune HD AV Dock required, sold separately) and shop at Zune
Marketplace to buy or stream* songs and play them on your big screen.
Wireless
Buy, stream, and update your
music—and download free games—wirelessly via a wi-fi connection.
Wirelessly sync to your home computer via your home network. You can
also stream millions of songs over wi-fi directly to your Zune HD.*
Web browser
News, email, traffic? It’s all
in your pocket. Surf the web anytime, anywhere you have a wi-fi
connection. Enjoy your favorite sites with a well-featured web
browser, including tap-to-zoom technology, built-in accelerometer,
and touchscreen QWERTY keyboard.
Quickplay
Your content, your way.
Quickplay gives instant access to your stuff with shortcuts to
favorites, recently downloaded or played music, videos, and more.
Zune Marketplace and Zune Pass
available in U.S. and Puerto Rico only.
* Wireless sync feature
requires access to a home wireless network. Full song streaming
feature requires a Zune Pass subscription.
**Zune HD player screen shows
supported 720p HD videos at 480 x 272—not HD resolution. HDTV and
Zune HD AV Dock (all sold separately) are required to view video at
720p HD resolution.
***With available stations. HD
Radio and the HD Radio logo are proprietary trademarks of iBiquity
Digital Corp.
Capacity1: 16 gigabytes (GB)
Up to 4,000 songs, or five
hours of high definition video from Zune Marketplace, or 22 hours of
video optimized for device, or 25,000 pictures
Colors: Onyx Black
Size and weight:
Size: 52.7 mm x 102.1 mm x 8.9
mm (w x h x d)
Weight: 2.6 ounces (74 grams)
Battery:
Music, up to 33 hours (wireless
off); video, up to 8.5 hours2
Charge Time: Approximately
three hours when connected to your PC; approximately two hours with
A/C adapter
Screen:
Size: 3.3-inch OLED color
display, 16:9 aspect ratio
Type: Scratch-resistant glass
with touch input capability
Orientation: Vertical (music)
and horizontal (videos)
Resolution: 480 pixels x 272
pixels
Wireless:
Connectivity: 802.11b/g
compatible
Wireless sync: Yes
Connectivity: 802.11b/g
compatible
Authentication modes: Open,
WEP, WPA, and WPA2
Encryption modes: WEP 64- and
128-bit, TKIP, and AES
Audio support:
Windows Media Audio Standard3
(WMA) (.wma); Up to 384 Kbps; constant bit rate (CBR) and variable
bit rate (VBR) up to 48-kHz sample rate; WMA Pro two channel up to
768 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48-kHz
WMA Lossless: two channel up to
768 kbps and 48-kHz
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC-LC)
(.mp4, .m4a, .m4b); .m4a and .m4b files without FairPlay DRM up to
320 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48-kHz
MP3 (.mp3); Up to 320 Kbps; CBR
and VBR up to 48-kHz
Picture support: JPEG (.jpg)
Video support:
Windows Media Video (WMV)
(.wmv); Main and Simple Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 10.0 Mbps peak
video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second
(or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second); Advanced
profile up to L2, 1280 pixels x 720 pixels up to 30 frames per
second, CBR or VBR, up to 14.0 Mbps peak video bitrate;Zune software
will transcode HD WMV files above stated capabilities at device sync
MPEG-4 (MP4/M4V) (.mp4) Part 2
video3; Simple Profile up to 4.0 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels
x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels
up to 25 frames per second); Zune software will transcode HD MPEG-4
files at device sync
H.264 video3; Baseline Profile
+ bframes, up to 10 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels
up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25
frames per second);1280 pixels x 720 pixels up to 30 frames per
second, up to level 3.1 and 14.0 Mbps peak video bitrate; Zune
software will transcode HD WMV files above the stated capabilities at
device sync
DVR-MS4; Zune software will
transcode at time of sync
Audio output:
Analog Audio Out; Optical
Digital Audio Out (requires additional dock, sold separately)
Video output:
HDMI or Composite (requires
additional dock, sold separately)
Radio:Built-in FM/HD Radio
receiver5
Included accessories:
Headphones
Zune Sync Cable
Three pairs of foam earpiece
covers
Ports:
Connector port
3.5mm Headphone jack
Languages: English, French,
Spanish
1Music estimates based on 128
Kbps WMA files with length of four minutes each. Pictures transferred
to Zune will be optimized for Zune screen size. Video estimates based
on 500 Kbps WMV files with 128 Kbps WMA audio tracks.
2Battery life was tested by
Zune in August 2009 using preproduction hardware and device software.
Battery tests are conducted with specific Zune units. Actual results
may vary. Audio content used was WMA 128 Kbps. Video content used was
320 x 240 WMV9 500 Kbps total bit rate. Batteries have a limited
number of charge cycles and may eventually hold less charge. Battery
life and the number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. See
www.zune.net/batteries for more information.
3In MP4/M4V container format,
Quicktime (.mov) files will transcode at time of sync.
4Standard definition TV
recordings from Windows Media Center. HDTV and protected recordings
not supported. Must be running Zune Software 4.0 on Windows Vista
Home Premium, Windows Vista Ultimate, or Windows 7.
5HD Radio and the HD Radio logo
are proprietary trademarks of iBiquity Digital Corp.
Price $199.99 (From Microsoft)
Price:
$166.23 (From Amazon at time of review)
A
Better Look at Things:
The Zune HD comes in a nice
presentation box.
Inside you’ll find the Zune HD,
headphones, cable and a lot of documentation. The Zune HD has a nice
3.3” touch screen 16:9 OLED display with a resolution of 480×272.
Below the screen is a single button for back.
Before I got the Zune HD I was
using my Gears of War 2 Edition Zune 120, so here they are compared
to each other:
The back of the Zune HD is rather
plain, just the logo there and some other info.
On the top you find the power
button.
Here’s the back button I mentioned
earlier, it’s right below the screen and Zune logo.
On the bottom you’ll find the dock
connector and the audio connection.
On the top left side you’ll find
the volume button, it looks like a rocker button but it’s not,
pushing it makes the volume control appear on screen.
{mospagebreak title=The Review}
The
Review:
Let
me start this off with I don’t like the stock Zune headphones, I
don’t find them comfortable and the sound is not that great really. I
have a pair of Future
Sonics Atrio M5 earbuds that I absolutely love and can easily recommend if you want
good loyalty sound. They are a bit on the expensive side at about
$200, but they’re well worth it honestly. The stock Zune headphones
just went back in the box to stay unused.
My Zune HD is not the stock
anymore, I added music and personalized it the way I wanted it so
what you’ll see in these screen shots is not the stock Zune. There’s
a reason I did it that way as because when it’s empty it’s rather
boring so I added some of my stuff to make it more interesting…
So when you first turn your Zune
HD on you’re greeted with a funky Rainbow screen, which had to go so
I grabbed the stuff from my Gears of War 2 Zune 120.
One thing that bugged me about the
Zune 120 is that there was really no off button, you have to hold two
buttons down to actually power it off or it goes into standby mode.
The Zune HD has both standby and power off, you just need to hold the
power button down and then swipe down on the screen.
I’m going to take a look at each
section of the Zune HD as it is on the main menu.
The main menu on the Zune HD is
interesting in that it’s actually two pages that you can swipe right
or left. The main part is the text labels while the second page is
things you can pin to it and recently accessed or history. On the
main menu you’ll find Music, Videos, Pictures, Radio, Marketplace,
Social, Internet, Apps and Settings.
First and foremost the Zune HD is
a music player and it offers different methods of sorting or
accessing your music by category or picture/album cover. You can sort
by Albums, Artists, Playlists, Songs, or Genres. You can also find by
letter as well.
When you’re playing the music
there are on-screen controls and graphics to go with the album or
artist.
To change the volume just press
the side button and up pops the controls for not just volume but for
play/pause and forward and back as well.
I’ve been using my Zune 120gb for
quite a while and I have to say it took me a bit to get accustomed to
the controls of the Zune HD, and I’m still not sure which I like
better. I like using my Zune while in my car and with the Zune 120 it
seemed easier, just push the pad to change things, but now I have to
hit the button, then swipe to unlock it then I can change music.
So it works fine for music as it
should, no real complaints here.
The next choice is Videos, you’ll
have to add your own of course. I’ve reviewed many DVD Ripper
programs in my time, so I grabbed a couple DVDs and ripped them over
to DivX format then they had to be imported to Zune which requires
the Zune software to encode/resize for the Zune to play it.
Just like music the controls will
appear on screen for play and pause and volume and there’s a
navigation bar at the bottom of the movie as well. In a few seconds
though they will disappear and you’ll get the full view of your
movie.
To get the best viewing experience
you’ll want full screen movie as it fills the screen, wide screen
format movies will give you the black bars at top and bottom. It all
depends on your preferences though I guess. Viewing videos on the
Zune HD is nice, they’re smooth and they look very good. The colors
are great, but it’s a small screen and I don’t think I’d want to
watch many movies on it truly. I feel the same way about anything
with a small screen though, be it a phone, Zune or iPod, I personally
don’t watch movies on them ever. The way to watch movies with the
Zune HD though is to use the A/V dock, which I’ll be reviewing later,
but, as is, movies look good on the Zune HD but it’s not something I
care for myself.
The next option is pictures, not
much to say here really, toss your pictures on there and you take
them with you.
The next option is the Radio,
rather self-explanatory it’s an FM Tuner really. What makes it
special though is the fact that it’s an HD tuner so you can access
more stations. Another feature is that you can tag songs you like so
you can then purchase them if they are available in the Zune
marketplace. Your headphones act as the antenna for the radio.
{mospagebreak title=The Review Continued}
The
Review Continued:
The next option is Marketplace and
here’s where the Zune HD really falls short, there’s like nothing in
the marketplace when it comes to apps and games. Yes there’s music,
but the lack of apps and games really hurt the Zune HD. You can
either connect to the marketplace via the Zune software or directly
with the Zune HD using the Wireless connection.
The next choice is Social with
only two options for Friends and Inbox. I’ve got too much other stuff
going on in my life, I really don’t care if my MP3 player is socially
connected, I could do without this option truly.
The next option would be the
Internet which connects wirelessly of course. The browser is actually
nice but it’s lack of flash support hurts it truly. Many, many sites
out there are flash based and/or have flash content in them. I don’t
understand why there is no flash support in the browser, you can’t
access YouTube or any other videos really online.
It’s a touch screen so you can
zoom in and out with your fingers and move around pages as well. The
keyboard isn’t bad at all, the letters are spaced nicely apart.
The screen is excellent, it’s
responsive and things just look very good on it. Zooming in of course
very far and things will get a little pixellated but that’s to be
expected. Overall I like the browsing experience, but the lack of
flash really limits what you can view or even do. You won’t be able
to view videos or play any flash based games either. Hopefully
Microsoft will give u flash support soon….
Next
up is Apps on the Zune, I went and downloaded many from the
marketplace and I also used XNA to install others as well.
Gaming is very nice on the Zune
HD, the processor works very well with 3D, like for racing games.
Project Gotham Racing Ferrari Edition is one of the games available
on the marketplace, you use the accelerometer to steer the car and it
works very well, but it take some time to get accustomed to.
The accelerometer can be used as
well in maze like games, which I find fun.
One
of the other games I installed was A
Beanstalk Tale and the graphics are just beautiful truly.
The calculator app is rather nice,
in portrait mode it’s just a regular calculator but when you switch
to landscape it becomes a scientific calculator.
The weather app is useful I guess,
but pretty much decent phone these days has a weather app in it…
On the marketplace you’ll also
find Lucky Lanes Bowling which is a great bowling games, the graphics
are excellent really.
There’s a Stopwatch/Timer app as
well, nothing special just basic functionality.
The Zune HD could be an awesome
platform for gaming and apps, it’s truly a shame that Microsoft is
not doing more with it. There are a few other apps on the marketplace
like for Twitter and Facebook, but I didn’t install them yet and
don’t know if I will. I have them on my phone so why do I need them
on my Zune also?!
The last option on the main menu
is Settings, and here they all are and expanded:
One thing nice is that there’s an
Equalizer built-in now, you can only choose from presets but it’s
something.
Not much to say about the
settings, it looks like there’s a lot there but there really isn’t,
just a lot of screens.
I’ve
had a few MP3 players in my time including iPod nano 4th and 5th generations and others like from Sandisk etc. I like the Zune, I love
the Zune actually, the Zune 120 at least, I’m still not too sure
about the Zune HD though. I like it yes, and I think I just need more
time with it to get accustomed to it and how it works. When I first
got the Zune 120 it was the same, it took me a while to get
comfortable with it. So I think I’ll be happy with the Zune HD after
a while. The Zune HD is a totally different creature when compared
to the Zune 120, the interface and features are very different, but
they still remain similar in a lot of aspects.
One small complaint I could have
is the Zune HD does not come with a case or screen protector. Yes the
screen is supposedly scratch resistant, but that doesn’t mean it
doesn’t need protection. The first thing I did was get a case and get
a screen protector for it. I can understand not including a case, but
they could have at least included a screen protector with it.
The headphones included with the
Zune HD are basic and just not that good, if you truly want to enjoy
your music then ditch the stock headphones and get a good set.
Battery life is very good, it’s
more than enough for my uses anyway. 33 hours of music with wireless
off should be enough for anybody I’m sure. You also have to remember
you’ll get good battery life if you actually turn it off and not just
let it go to standby mode, I learned this quickly with my Zune HD.
Another complaint I have is the
marketplace, sadly the Zune Marketplace is really bare, it’s a shame
truly that Microsoft is not supporting it as it should. Yes you can
get games and apps from other sources but you have to ‘side-load’
them using Visual Studio and XNA Game Studio, many of them are well
worth the trouble though.
Summary
and Comments:
The Zune HD is one of the best
media players on the market today truly, but it has some issues that
can’t be ignored. Specifically the lack of flash and the overall
lack of support from Microsoft in the marketplace. These two things
really hurt the Zune HD overall.
We could say that Apple products
don’t support flash either, but at least you can get it to work
through a plug-in or app where with the Zune HD there is no such
thing available, at least that I could find anyway.
The touch screen is excellent in
both the sensitivity and the quality of the graphics displayed on it.
The processor inside is more than powerful enough to handle gaming
and videos with no issues at all. Navigating through the menus and
doing anything else with the touchscreen is a breeze really, it works
great overall.
Coming off the regular Zune though
the interface does take quite a bit of time to get accustomed to, but
I think I like it much better.
The Zune HD itself feels very well
made, it’s small, lightweight and very portable.
So be sure to check back as I’ve
also got the Zune HD A/V kit as well and I even got a nice skin for
it from MusicSkins and they gave me a promo code to share with you so
you can get a discount on their products.
DragonSteelMods
gives the Zune
HD 16 a 4 out of 5 score.
Pros:
+Touchscreen!
+Beautiful graphics
+Many third party apps and games
available and being developed
+Very small and portable
+Easy to use
+Decent battery life
Cons:
-No case or screen protector
included
-Included headphones not that good
-Marketplace is bare
-No flash support in browser
review# 669
Disclosure: This product was given to DragonSteelMods for review by the company
for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for
the review, we do not, never have, and never will, accept payment
from companies to review their products.
To
learn more about our review policy, testing methods and ratings
please see this page.