This electronics review is for the zune HD. I was surprised after hearing that Microsoft was releasing a new Zune to compete with the Ipod touch and so I pre-ordered it a couple weeks ago and I was able to receive it today.
The Zune HD comes with a 3.3 in OLED screen. Even though the screen is smaller than the touch, the OLED screen gives more crisper colors making images look better. This is perfect for movies and games.
Listening to music is a blast with the Zune HD. Hearing the music is very nice, but an additional point that the Iphone doesn't have is that while listening to music, the Zune HD gives you a small picture and some information about the band you are listening to. It's really interesting, and though some people won't really care, other's like me will be interested to see some information about the band we're listening to.
The internet browser is nice, extremely similar to the touch. You tap to zoom, have a touch screen keyboard to type, and go to the next page by sliding your finger to the right.
An HD radio is something new being offered. While the touch doesn't even support FM radio, the Zune HD offers you to listen to the radio in HD format for crisper sounds. This was a really nice feature of the Zune HD.
The zune software is very nice looking. It is easy to use and looks much better than itunes. Also a really nice and money saving feature is you can get a zune pass, and download unlimited amounts of songs to your zune for just $15 instead of buying seperate songs. I found this a really nice comfort.
The one main area the Zune is weak on is the marketplace. The Zune has closed its doors to any 3rd party developers and Microsoft will be the one's who will be making the apps. This could be good as well, since you won't be getting a ton of lame apps.
The Zune has also announced that it will be releasing many 3d games in the near future like Gotham Racing. If it can pull this off, it could outcompete the touch and psp as a gaming console.
Right now the Zune HD offers many new features not offered in the Ipod touch. The only downsides are that the apps won't be created by any third party developers, and right now the apps store has literally no apps. We'll just have to wait and see if the Zune HD will get momentum as time moves on. It may be able to outcompete the Ipod touch and deliver a great experience.
I rate this a 4/5
