I got one. It's awesome.

A. It's stupidly thin and light. Half a deck of cards both in thinness and weight.

B. The screen is possibly the most beautiful screen I've seen. Anywhere. TVs, monitors, doesn't matter. OLED is the future, people.

C. Battery life seems to be crazy good for the hardware. It can easily reach 8 hours of video playback. No clue how much for audio, but going off the video figure, I'd say easily double that, maybe triple if the screen is off. Games and web browsing eat into it a lot faster though.

D. The web browser is based off of the IE6 used on WinMo phones. Don't expect miracles. The Pre and iPhone 3GS will completely outshine it here in loading and rendering performance (as well as some other rendering oddities). But if you're patient it seems to do well enough.

E. That said, the UI, even in the web browser, is smooth. I mean so smooth it makes the iPod Touch/iPhone 3GS look stuttery by comparison. The transitions and scrolling and such that you see in the demo videos is not CG. It really is that fast, that smooth, and no loading times when scrolling. For me, it's one of those instances where the thing looks more beautiful in person, in hand, than it does on the web.

F. Audio quality seemed fine, but Zunes have always had great audio quality.

G. For those who have previous Zunes, some addition UI features will stand out. First, the ability to make playlists on the device is here. Quickplay is amazing and I'm surprised no one else thought of it first (Pin commonly played stuff, or use the history it creates, and also a few new items recently added to your Zune). No stone left unturned on Quickplay either; it keeps track of not just all forms of music (albums, artists, playlists, etc), but also videos, podcasts, websites, apps, etc.
The Zune now makes use of the same "Now Playing" screen found on the PC software. It will download artist information when not actively syncing but connected. I generally have the screen turn off pretty quickly so I don't use it (and it is optional) but it does look nice.

H. The software now includes a "Genius" system of Smart DJ/Mixes. Initial install time can be brutal with a lot of music, but once it's up, you're good to go. I was rather shocked at how well it did at picking music from my collection based on an artist. I have no idea how this thing really works, but I even gave it completely off-kilter artists and it picked up not only on them but other stuff I had that I know isn't in their marketplace (and thus has no idea who they are!).
Jury is still out on if it's better than Genius as I don't use Genius often, but it's nice. The best feature for it though is the ability to use Zune Pass to supplement your collection. You can either choose only your collection, a mix of collection and zune pass, or all zune pass to discover new music.
If you create a playlist, it will actually auto refresh it for you every few days (customizable). Any music not in your collection it will automatically download via Zune Pass, but it will actually not pollute your collection with it. It will be held for just that playlist, and if you decide you like the song, you can tell it you want to keep the song. Of course, you can sync these playlists to your Zune as well, and it will let you mark a song to keep there as well.

I. How could I forget the HD Radio? Sounds great, supports everything including grabbing track names and adding them to your cart for later download/purchase (can be done on the device with a wifi point). It does support multiple HD channels on a station, and will give you a signal indicator to tell you how high the quality is.
Crappy HD sounds worse than average FM though. I wish there was a way to disable HD for a station if the signal was iffy. Sounds much better though in strong signal areas, and reception was very good for a portable device.

Even as an Apple fanboi I can indeed support your claim of its sexiness. It's a fine looking piece of kit. The one thing Ars Technica didn't like on was the black stripe running along the sides and I really like that!

PICS NOW PLZ.

I've been thinking of getting this ever since I heard it had an OLED multi-touch screen. The only thing that puts me off is the browser. Is there third party app support so I can get Opera in the future?

Cool, I really want one, maybe next paycheck

Looks aside, no GPS, maps, camera, bluetooth, tabs on the browser would mean that IF I COULD buy one (I can't, I don't live the US) I wouldn't.

But it does look nice. <_<

If I hadn't gotten an iPhone, the Zune Hd would've been in my hands already. The thing looks ****ing great, and I'm glad it turned out as such. I saw that Audiosurf is coming to it, which will be really awesome

Well, it's a media player first and a PDA second.

Now if they made one with phone functionality and the ability to run native .NET apps along with support for stuff like WPF (or at least a decent subset of WPF like SilverLight), that'd be swank and I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

I played around with my co-workers today. The device is solid, well put together, and much more pocketable than the iPod touch. Having used Zunes before, I've always preferred its UI to the iPod/iPhone OS.

True, but considering my phone plays music (I don't watch video on my iPhone) and has a camera (as do most peoples') why would I want another device in my pocket?

I suppose what I'm saying is this:

"This would have been awesome, had it not been for iPhones"

I just don't see where it slots in today - most people are after convergence. Hopefully I'm wrong, and it finds a successful niche, because bugger me Apple could do with some good competition and that thing looks gorgeous.

Sounds like a nice travel device, but I already own a PSP...

For reference, if you own the original PSP:

The screen of the PSP is almost the same size as the entire Zune HD.

The silver wrap around is the same thickness as the Zune HD.

It weighs the same as 8 UMDs.

Frankly, as far as comparisons to the iPhone are concerned, it's a little unfair as it's not a phone. This means no iPhone data plan, and it's cheaper >.>. Other than that there's not much to say, if you're happy with your converged device stick with it. But if you're looking for an actual PMP, IMO, there is absolutely nothing that beats this.

Crappy pics on my twitter: http://twitter.com/matt_merkle

Nice pics Matty

Is that a proprietary wired connection at the bottom? I know it does Wi-Fi sync, but just curious.

It's the same "dock" connector as the old zunes. Comes with a USB cord for it, as does just about any other peripheral you buy, like the AC adapter.

If it is out by December, I'll even switch carriers to get a Zune HD Phone. Else I'm iPhone.

wtf is up with the wood screws holding the case together?

Anyway, the zune HD is great, but ARCHOS just announced their fancy new device, which seems like the winner in the category.

If my zune80 conks out, I'll probably grab one of these to replace it. Until then zune80 gets the job done, love the Zune software and can't wait to see what the new update is like.

Not unless the ARCHOS started making decent software.

Cowon (iAudio) has very good offerings, but nothing like 720p output. Their audio capabilities are absolutely unmatched, however. More codec support than anyone else, and a terrific equalizer and very powerful output.

Zune30 still running great after like three years of almost everyday use in terrible conditions.

*Starts Zune30 Elitist Club*

Is it BROWN?

(jk)

I LOVE ZUNE GO MICROSOFT APPLE SUCKS

So how does the OLED screen look? Sorry I don't have any OLED products I own. Are blacks really black? Refresh rate as good as they say? I heard some say it's a bit hard to see on a sunny day, is it true?

Uses Google Android.

With no apps. It doesn't get to use anything in the G1's app store. And even if it did, there's nothing like Zune Pass or Smart DJ, discographies, etc etc on it.



Yes, the blacks are really black. As black as the screen is when it's off is as black as it is when it is on.

I can't imagine it being harder to see in the sun than any other screen, as on high brightness it's already ridiculously bright. The refresh rate looks to be amazingly good, and the animations show it off great.

It is, hands down, the most beautiful screen I've seen on anything anywhere.

It does have apps. It also has wifi connectivity, the ability to tether to 3g phones, 160gb HD, the ability to handle nearly every video, audio, and picture file that exists, full web functionality with the ability to use a bluetooth keyboard. It's got a 4.8" 800x600 screen instead of the 3.3" 480x272 zune screen, Oh, for an extra $80 it turns it into a fully functioning DVR with HDMI out.

Oh, and it's $320.

I think the Zune HD is a neat device, for the layperson. But for a nerd, the Archos is one of the coolest devices to come out in the last 5 years.

Everything I've read says they plan to introduce apps, not that it had apps.

Also, the Zune has Wifi connectivity.

And I highly doubt it'll play every video file out there. There's very few set top boxes that even manage that. I'll eat my hat (not) if it plays MKV with subtitles.


I'm not saying it's not impressive sounding. I'm simply saying this is not ARCHOS's first foray into "tablet" systems like this, and I doubt this one will change anything. There's a lot to worry about with something that packed, like bugs, speed, usability, battery life, portability (5" screen doesn't scream pocketable to me), etc. We'll see.

Plus, still no Zune Pass.

Zune pass is for laypeople. Nerds have a library of 12,000 songs they've downloaded.

The Archos 5 comes will have access to 300 apps at launch, with over a 1,000 by the end of the year.

And it plays MKVs with subtitle support for nearly all subtitle standards.

BAMPH.

My old iAudio 6 has a small OLED display, it's fantastic. Except in sunlight, where it sucks, like all OLEDs. LCDs can be built to reflect light as well as be backlit, so a proper LCD will just get brigher in the sun. Unfortunately all LCDs like this (say iPhone, Palm Pre from ones I've used) are so glossy that all the benefits are lost...

We'll see. Zune Pass is for people who want to be legal when they download 12,000 songs.




Be careful. It says subtitle files, not subtitle support in MKVs. There's a big difference there (namely the fact that the subtitles are in the MKVs not in a separate file).

The only time I listen to music (other than the score of a movie of TV show) is during the 3 minute, 1 mile drive to work and back (and maybe while I hit up the drive-thru for lunch).

Would a Zune be a good buy for me?

You drive to work when it's a mile away?

I don't see how I could have made that fact any clearer...

Until the deal runs out, or the DRM shuts off, or microsoft decides to change it's mind. DRM leaves you at the mercy of a third party. NOT VERY NERD.



Ah, I didn't know that. I assume if there's MKV support, it would support subtitles?

Well no hurf, sherlock. It's a very small price for a significant advantage. I'd spend thousands of dollars a year buying the music I have in Zune Pass.




You'd think so, but the usual answer is no.

mplayer/mencoder can probably dump those.

That's not really the point. Not only would it mean I'd have to redo about 500 different episodes of shows and keep a separate annoying library of subtitles for them, but it would kill any ability to stream since it wouldn't have the subtitles included in the stream.

Except for the 10 drm-free tracks you get every month.

Also ZP would be less :effort: than "the internet".


Also nobody really cares about subtitles except weeaboo neckbeards. *Hides*

And people who want to know what they're saying in Chinese in Firefly.