The past few days have been busy for news and I missed them with two more Zune HD hands-on with Ben Patterson from Yahoo Tech and Peter Ha from Crunchgear featuring a great video, the Zune HD dissected by the FCC (photos), CNET hands-on with Zune HD’s internet browser and Amazon releasing price (and colour) information. All these recent info leaks are below with any available photos and video.
Peter Ha: Hands-on with Zune HD
I’ll start with the Crunchgear hands-on because it includes such a great video showing off the Zune HD’s UI, some features and its slickness. Although Peter Ha didn’t comment on any of the positives of the upcoming device in his article, he posted up this great video and pointed out a few things which us Zuners and those considering the device really want to know from Microsoft – “what the plans are for the next six months” and “when the damn thing is actually going to launch“.
He did also comment on the onscreen keyboard which involves a “small arch with the center character popping up a bit more than the rest” after tapping a character – though this isn’t a final firmware so anything could change between now and the unannounced release date. Enough natter though, the video can be seen below or view his whole article here.
Ben Patterson: Another hands-on with Zune HD
Ben Patterson from Yahoo Tech is another to be lucky enough to get their hands on the Zune HD while the rest of us squeeze every piece of info we can from every source. Just like almost every other Zune HD hands-on we’ve seen, Ben was thoroughly impressed with the “thin, light, and gorgeous” device which he believes has “killer features that even the mighty iPod Touch can’t match yet“, and his hands-on account is very indepth after just an hour with it.
First of all, let’s just say that the Zune HD makes for the sexiest Zune yet. A little taller and wider than the flash Zunes yet stiff wafer thin (official measurements have yet to be released), the new Zune feels way light to the touch—between three and four ounces, if I had to guess—yet solid enough not to feel chintzy. Indeed, the Zune HD feels as good to hold as the original iPod Nano did; you just don’t want to let it go.
He has some nice photos showing different areas of the device and its UI which I have added below, though I really do suggest you go to his article and read about the Zune HD which he believes is looking “mighty promising“.
Amazon’s listing for Zune HD
Amazon have added Zune HD info to their listings and have made it available for pre-order. This has also cleared up confusion on device capactiy and colour availability as we now know that the Black Zune HD device will be 16gb at $219.99 and the Platinum (silver / chrome) version boasting 32gb of storage capacity at only $289.99.
These prices undercut Apple’s Ipod Touch by a mile with the Zune HD 16gb being the same price as an 8gb Ipod Touch and the 32gb Zune HD being $110 dollars than the same capacity Ipod. Its also nice to see that Microsoft is really sticking to its marketing strategy of showcasing the value and choice of a Microsoft product.
The FCC Dissects Zune HD
The FCC recently dissected the Zune HD and the photos and documents are available. The FCC’s Zune HD photos and documents can be found here.
CNET hands-on with Zune HD’s Web Browser
Donald Bell from CNET had a hands-on with Zune HD and was particularly impressed with it:
Speaking of Wi-Fi, the Zune’s new Web browser smokes. Not since first using the iPhone have I been this impressed with a mobile Web browser. There’s no branding on the browser, but I was told it was cooked up by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team (makes sense). Page load was snappy, and pinching and reorienting pages work just like the iPhone and iPod Touch. You also get a fast onscreen keyboard with a nice little magnifier effect with each keystroke. The only bad news on the browser is that there’s no support for Flash audio and video content. So Pandora and YouTube are out, but I was able to get onto Facebook and Twitter.
He has released four photos from the experience and commented on the fact that the Zune Browser is Bing powered – hitting the search button results in “instant queries using the Bing search engine“. The photos can be seen below, with the first shot with the browser in portrait mode, the second showing bookmarking, the third with Facebook (in landscape) and the fourth demonstrates the onscreen keyboard in landscape. Donald Bell’s full Zune HD hands-on can be found here and the seperate Bing-powered browser one here.
