Saturday, May 30, 2009

New Zune HD announced

Now, I have always been an iPod man myself, but i do believe in some healthy competition. So just prior to a new iPhone launch, Microsoft has unveiled it's rival, the Zune HD.

Microsoft is betting on greater integration with XBox Live, and a sexy new OLED (fancy) screen playing (downscaled, not native) 720p high definition.





So what are the specs? The important thing for Microsoft is that people choose this thing over an iPod, it needs to be cheap. Perhaps it'll work as a gaming platform with the XBox integration. Apparently the software is pretty good.

Zune HD is the next iteration of the Zune device family and brings a new level of listening and viewing experiences to the portable media player category.

Zune HD comes with a built-in HD Radio receiver so users can listen to higher-quality sound than traditional radio on the go. Users also will have access to the additional song and artist data broadcast by HD Radio stations as well as additional channels from their favorite stations multicasting in HD. If you don’t like the song playing on your station’s HD channel, switch to its HD2 or HD3 channels for additional programming.
The bright OLED touch screen interface allows users to flip through music, movies and other content with ease, and the 16:9 widescreen format display (480x272 resolution) offers a premium viewing experience on the go.
The HD-compatible output lets Zune HD customers playback supported HD video files from the device through a premium high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) audiovisual docking station (sold separately) direct to an HD TV in 720p.*
Zune HD will include a full-screen Internet browser optimized for multitouch functionality.
Zune HD is Wi-Fi enabled, allowing for instant streaming to the device from the more than 5 million-track Zune music store.