Zune HD's browser previewed, sounds just as sexy as the hardware
By Paul Miller 
posted August 5th 2009 2:38PM
posted August 5th 2009 2:38PM
posted August 5th 2009 2:38PM
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And you know this one is going to be bad because you've used it first hand?
I love it, MS screwing over its own hardware partners. HTC must love reading this. MS thinks, "ah, they're going Google anyway, we already lost them."
people who make comment and not think them through first make me laugh.
Microsoft are not making a phone. This is not running Windows Mobile. Do your research on the recent Mobile World Congress and see how strong the releationship between MS and HTC is.
Windows Mobile will still be HTC main OS of choice instead of Android (apart from emerging markets) for the foreseeable future.
Damn, that's one sexy looking device. I can see myself ditching my pod for this. My pod is going on 5 years, definitely does not even know what the words "battery life" are, and I hate itunes. This could be a good replacement.
any ideas if this new browser-from-IE-team will be ported to existing WinMo6.1 devices?
a Zune HD running on the Zii chip would be awesome though....
sexy (200th post)
hmm, perhaps I am wrong but I'd bet there will be shortages with this thing. All the top level
OLED screens these days are pretty much exclusively made by Samsung and I'd wager this
is one of those screens. No company, Samsung included has an OLED manufacturing capacity
sufficient for a true mass market device. Yeah they're pricey, but this is the real reason
we haven't seen an OLED product in the Apple market. If this thing is reasonably priced
and therefore has mass market appeal, don't be disappointed if you aren't seeing one for a
good while.
So what there is no such thing as increasing output to meet demand. OLED hasn't just popped up. To say that the shortage of OLED is the reason why Apple haven't implemented it yet is stupid. Cost is more likely the reason. Why hit your margins yet when you just don't have to. No body is complaining about the screens on the iPod Touch so why change it. It not that they isn't enough to go round.
It's always much easier to copy something that works. But microsoft is known for imitation. I hope this product is a worthy alternative to the ipod touch. They need to work on their copy of itunes' app store.
I'm pretty sure theres only one way to do a touch screen PMP, and thats with one big screen, a power button, a volume rocker. and a home button. I don't think there's any other way to do it. Last I knew iPod Touches didn't have 720p video output, our Netflix, or recommendations when you're listening to your music, or an OLED screen. Nor do they have the ability to playback 720p videos. I'm also pretty sure they're gonna put good use to that Tegra chip, and last I knew the iPod Touch didn't have that either... So what exactly is MS copying here?
Johnny come lately? :) They only copied zoom/pinch? That's all after all these years? Xerox machine can do more than that!
will be buying one these! I have an iphone and a zune...and for music, I use the zune every time! The reason is that the zune software is SOOOOO much better than itunes. If there were a zune phone, my next step would be to throw my iphone in the trash (or sell it on craigslist).
Archos had touchscreen PMPs long before the iPod Touch or the iPhone- Apple must have ripped off Archos.
"[N]o Flash, but from the pain it's inflicting on the Android browsing experience, perhaps that's a good thing."
Sorry, is this Engadget saying that Adobe Flash on a mobile device is "a bad thing"? Isn't this the web site that complains about the lack of Flash support on the iPhone and iPod Touch at each release? Come on, can you please be consistent in your position?
I love seeing people address an entire writing staff as being representative of an entire site. As in, "isn't this the site that said..." type of arguments. Each writer, like each person reading, has their own opinions. Perhaps (and I know this is a stretch), they have more than one person writing, meaning that while one article displays one opinion on a subject, another says something different.
Or maybe I'm just crazy and there really is only one writer at Engadget, and this one person can't help themselves from changing positions over an issue several times.
But you have to agree with the basic premise here, yes? After whinging that the iPhone doesn't support Flash for the past couple of years the site is now posting that Flash doesn't really work on a mobile device. What this really shows is that the writers who had been writing that the iPhone needed Flash support really didn't know what they were talking about and that Apple were right - Flash simply is does not perform well enough even on the desktop to be a serious proposition for current mobile hardware.
To be honest, if Adobe can make Flash work anywhere then it will be on a device running Microsoft Windows since it seems be the only platform that they can make Flash anywhere close to efficient. Flash has always been a resource hog on the Mac OS and it is for this reason that I don't want to see it on the iPhone until Adobe proves that they can produce something suitable.
"The Site" doesn't post. Individual writers do. Believe me, this is not just an internet phenomenon. I've watched people yell essentially the same thing about newspapers and the like as well. You could argue that the editorial staff is to blame, because if they let an article go up (either in print or online), it must mean they support the view...but in a truly open media environment, it is the story, not the opinions that are most important.
Personally, I welcome the fact that different writers with different opinions can all work for the same company and still be allowed to publish their contradictory viewpoints. It's much better than the alternative of expecting dozens of people all to agree with each other, or at least pretend like they do.
So no, I don't agree at all with your basic premise, which I take to be "if some are saying something, no one should go against the grain." A "free press", in my opinion, includes the freedom of editors to choose people whose opinions differ, as long as their writing and reporting skills are at a caliber that the employers demand. If I want biased news, and to only hear the same opinions over and over, there are dozens of places I can go...but why would I want that?
Ah, no, that's not what I meant. What I meant was that the writers should know about the topic they are discussing and present accurate information rather than, what I suspect is, a simple attempt to generate page hits. That Flash on the iPhone is bad is definitely not a biased opinion. I entirely agree that biased opinion is not what we want to read unless you are the sort of person who holds the same biased opinion and simply likes to hear other people agreeing with you. What I am against is continuous articles that imply that Apple dropped the ball on Flash support when anyone with their head nailed on correctly could tell you that Flash is really bad for the Mac OS. At no point have articles that discussed the lack of Flash properly looked at the issue. In fact, we've had to wait for Flash to appear on the HTC's new Android handset for an Engadget article to effectively admit that it doesn't work.
I fully accept that Engadget is written by many people and that therefore their knowledge and opinions will differ. Diversity, of course, is typically to be welcomed. However, I feel that knowledge of the subject is lacking in some cases and that is not to be welcomed.
looking insane
and forget flash... silverlight ftw
got to wait for WinMo7 for silverlight on mobile devices I think. Should be good but need more sites to adopt it.
I can't stop looking at it!!
This thing looks amazing. I got a iPod Touch around a month ago but honestly I think I'll be selling that when this comes around and make a nice upgrade. I had a Zune 4Gb before my Touch but one of the buttons broke. I love my Touch now but this thing is just so damn sexy!
Finally I can go back to using the Zune software instead of that music-playing spreadsheet.
If only they made this a quad band 3G phone too...
that screen with that wallpaper just made my eyes melt. hope it lives up to expectations, some of the zunes didn't exactly impress me in person. hopefully this one will.
"no Flash, but from the pain it's inflicting on the Android browsing experience, perhaps that's a good thing."
So when Apple doesn't have Flash, that is a serious failing in their iPhone.
But when the Zune doesn't have Flash, that is okay; no, wait, it's a "good thing".
And people think that you guys are biased TOWARDS Apple? Give me a break.
GB2 TUAW
@Peter
There will be flash they just saved it so when it comes out its going be more then you expected!!
Like they didnt put anything in about the 3d xbox games they're going to be able to play!!!
Cant wait imma line up outside bestbuy on the day when it comes out to get this sexy beast
It's 2009 and MS introduces the mp3 player (again)
I'd like my Zii now, please.