Man, I didn't realise that OLED screens sucked so much!
Just as well I read this article, I was going to buy a Macbook Pro for the OLED screen, now I think I'll just buy a Dell for half the price. Phew, that was a close one.
Just to talk about software developers. They like to sell product. The reason why the iPhone/Touch has been so successful with developers is because whether because of necessity or design, by the time Apple came out with its apps store and SDK several months before, they had already sold millions of phones and Touches, showing developers that they had a hot product and would be selling a lot of them.
I have to disagree with this totally. Developers where presuring Apple for a real SDK before the first Touches even where of the boat. Developers saw this brilliant platform and instantly want on board.
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So they had an amazing 553 apps from day one.
But in two years, MS has only managed to sell 2 million Zunes, most of which won't be able to use this software, whatever it turns out to be.
That's a problem when attracting developers. They are going to ask where the market is. What can MS tell them other than to be patient.
Similar to Apple all MS needs to do is to debut a product that grabs developer attention. If the SDK is truely innovative and provides for a good user experience developers will be on board with the first device.
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So you are developing for a platform that is just starting out, with to all intents, no sales yet. No product in consumers hands. What if they don't like it? Where will sales go? Should you wait until there's a number of these in the field? If so, how many? How long should you give them to get to that number? The longer it takes, the fewer they will sell.
Actually they will do what most business do. That is evaluate the opportunity and determine if it is worth the gamble. In a nut shell every new app is a gamble even on iPhone/Touch.
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This is a problem. We're seeing it with the Pre. Despite all of those saying that they are so much more developer friendly, they still have only 58 apps (at last look a few days ago) in their store, though they do have a few hundred mostly amateur apps available, most of which aren't very good.
I think it is more of a case of developers recognizing Pre as a piece of junk with a crap development platform.
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If the HD takes a year to sell another million, will developers care? How many does it have to sell before there are hundreds of developers, thousands?
It doesn't have to sell any. This is an important reality, developers will flock to a platform that inspires them. For confirmation look at all of the Linux platforms that hardly sell at all but yet have developers.
Hey OP, thanks for letting me ghostwrite that article for you. Consumers need to see the Zune HD for what it really is, with a well-referenced article that is entirely grounded in truths.
"Despite the hype, the Zune HD appears to have failed before even hitting the market"
is that why zune 32 is outselling itouch 32 on amazon?
A moving target. I checked Amazon bestsellers and found yes, Zunes looking a bit healthier than a while back (one at position 3, another at 8, but 20 of the top 25 MP3 players are iPods.
If Amazon's rankings are anything to go by, Apple is winning by a huge margin.
... to the Zune release. Since the iPod is more mature, updates are seemingly more incremental (resulting in disappointment i.e. last week). It's kinda to Apple's detriment, as they do have the iconic design and features that people love about iPods, yet it seems they can't push the envelope too much. Mindshare is important but what's to stop "iPod" from becoming the future "walkman"?
This new Zune is impressive and it will be interesting to see how Microsoft manages to integrate it across their platforms. They still have plenty of work to do, and to be honest I don't get why they just don't ditch Windows Mobile in favour of some Zune-esque software (for consumers).
Apple doesn't have much to worry about though - limited availability internationally, only one model make it pretty niche. In addition Apple have the upper hand, they're practically dictating the direction of the market.
Man, I didn't realise that OLED screens sucked so much!
Just as well I read this article, I was going to buy a Macbook Pro for the OLED screen, now I think I'll just buy a Dell for half the price. Phew, that was a close one.
Ehm really do your homework again.
They have LED-backlit LCD screens, HUGE difference.
Anyway I am pro OLED, in the best form possible, so fingers crossed here for the future!
I think it's a great technology with great potential.
For HD (1080P) movie playback I connect my Computer (Macbook) to my 42" Full HD Television, with a DVI->HDMI cable for video and (fiber) Optic Digital cable for audio.
I personally wouldn't use a mobile device for it on my television.
For me it would be strainge to put a HD movie from my computer on a Mobile device to play that on my Full HD TV. A MacBook is easily connected to a Full HD TV so why the extra step of putting it on a mobile device next? Movie playback on a Mobile device is great, but we all know that it will not show us HD video on screen. So for my personal use HD playback on a Mobile device has no value.
I want to break my Macbook and burn my iPhone after reading this article. Its reasons why I'm sometimes ashamed to use Apple products and be in any form associated with Apple fanbois.
Haha! Man, this is hilarious and sad at the same time.
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This article is complete lies. This just proves how scared you really are of the Zune.
Prince is known for his bias. I love him because he doesn't hide it behind a wall of "fair and balanced" bullshit like most "pundits" do. He just vents the way he feels, and we are aware of it, and able to put the grain of salts on the things he says.
Mind, though, his vents about MS products have been spot on for almost a decade now. He might get wrong yet, but I still have to see it happening.
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First Internet Explorer 6 Mobile is not the same as Internet Explorer 6. You have no idea what IE6 Mobile is based on and in fact CNET reviewed it quite well.
"no idea"? LOL. IE is bad. Real bad. Only some fans still endure it, but the whole of the internet community people that has a clue installs other browsers, such as firefox, safari, chrome, etc. IE mobile is also laughable, and years behind webkit. MS could bite their pride and enter the webkit bandwagon but they would know the laughter they would get from Apple keynotes if they did it. So they stick to their lower proprietary technologies.
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Second if Windows CE is so horrible and everyone hates it... why is it used everywhere. Why did Apple choose Windows CE over developing in house (until now) or using Linux or Palm for their solutions. They had a much more cozy relationship with Palm (until now).
Wtf are you babbling about? Just because something is horrible doesn't mean there are alternatives. MS took care of "alternatives" in the most atrocious way possible, destroying competition not due to their inherent quality but due to monopolistic advantages. Apple only entered the market when they thought they could make a good case.
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Tegra will be tested in time, but I know with the older Zunes the WiFi is on consistently and as such you would assume it would be on in the Video test which show longer battery.
It would be great if true. But considering the sneer tactics of MS, I don't trust it very much. I think they can only get those numbers with their screens on blackish. I've yet to see their performance tested by blogs and tech sites. Prince makes a good point on OLEDs, and puts an example. Let's see how it fares.
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I'm sure actually that OLED also helps to get to the standard.
I hope so too, I wonder though if it is yet ready to market with good quality.
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But I see that you are the idiots the support LCD over Plasma which I use because in my house I can see a clear difference watching a black and white movie on Plasma against LCDs.
Uncalled for.
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Even if OLED isn't perfect (and people going to BestBuy and CNET confirm otherwise) its still a step in the right direction of technological evolution and Apple WILL evolve to OLED and you will look like the idiots that you are in your OLED accusations.
Sure, but one thing is to venture into a new tech like OLED, with all the risks and cons involved, another one completely different is to market it as if it is already completely superior to the older tech. Marketing is marketing, but we should be aware of the cons and risks, no?
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Regarding HD Content... It will play HD Content on the device in the NATIVE widescreen aspect. Unlike the iPhone or iPod Touch that is not native 16:9 widescreen. That maybe more suited to a phone, but for portal movies I don't want black bars or distortion of the movie. In addition the Zune HD will play 720p content on the device, so I don't need to transcode just sync and play.
That's the part of the article that gives MS the edge. But I wonder if it has any real application. Perhaps going to other people's homes and viewing movies with them via Zune? Doesn't seem like a killer app to me. But if it pleases you, go for it.
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In addition HD Radio is not a brand decision of Microsoft or Zune and its amazing that you deride radio so much when even Apple has eventually added FM radio and MARK MY WORDS that the iPod Touch will have FM Radio eventually.
HD Radio is not FM Radio. Read the article better to get a clue on what the issues involving HD are. If the Zune is to reach my shores, it will have to dump "HD". So, it might be a nice marginal feature in the US, but meaningless in the rest of the world.
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All in all I welcome the competition and the Zune HD does so much right. All this proves is you are scared and the Zune HD will sell very well. If you thought Microsoft would keep the '1 %' of the market, you would not have wasted your time making up lies.
Prince's specialty is to take the pundits' hype about MS products and tear them apart. This happened before and he was proven right then. It was so with Windows Vista, it was so with the original Zune (which was going to be THE iPod Killer, it's amazing how people forget these things), it was so with big ass table, etc., etc.
A big difference between Apple and MS has been that the former bets on promising little and over-delivering, creating huge hype at its own keynotes, while MS over promises and disappoints in the deliverance. The point in doing this is to devaluate any competing product with the "promise" that MS will just "step in" and blow that market up. Actually, MS excells at this, its vaporware tactics are unmatched in the PC industry history.
It may prove different with the Zune, I don't know. But I wouldn't bet that way.
Other than maybe going a bit far on the criticism of the OLED screen (and we will find out in days if this reviewer did), this is a solid, fact-based review with lots of detailed research that I haven't read anywhere else at all. Yet you are saying this review has "no merit" and waiting for one from Gizmodo? or CNET? You've got to be kidding.
Every article on CNET is just a puff piece about how great technology is in general, and just reads the virtues of each product they "review," right from the copy sent to them by the manufacturer. Gizmodo is just a bunch of kids who wouldn't know research if it hit them in the face and practically live to bash Apple. They also praise anything that falls from Microsoft's fingers and most of the commenters there are young, rabid, anti-Apple types that you can't even have a sensible conversation with.
Sounds to me like you just wanted to like Zune HD so much that the idea that there might be problems with it is putting your nose out of joint.
Personally, from what I've seen of OLED technology I think the reviewer went out on a limb with the heavy handed criticism, but we will see tomorrow won't we? It is true that if anyone can make a crappy OLED screen it's certainly Microsoft. The quality control on every product (software or hardware) they have ever made has always been the worst. However I find the complete lack of apps and games for the thing, and the details of that processor far more worrying.
What more proof of the fact that people are really reviewing the Zune HD on it's "sexy-ness" instead of it's capabilities, than the fact that everyone here is getting all het up about the stupid screen? The other failings and "myths" are far more important, but no one seems to even be arguing about them. People just seem upset that the device they were expecting to see tomorrow is maybe not as sexy looking as they thought.
You're completely missing the point. This article "research" is being based on evidence that is non-existent, meaning the Zune reviews have yet to be posted and users are JUST NOW getting their hands on the devices.
Wait for the reviews to come out, see how the performance stacks up, see how the screen performs in daylight/indoors, see how the UI operates, etc.
You don't just do an article with no hands-on time with a product tearing it apart saying that it will have poor performance and a poor screen if you haven't even laid hands/eyes on it yet.
Man, I didn't realise that OLED screens sucked so much!
Just as well I read this article, I was going to buy a Macbook Pro for the OLED screen, now I think I'll just buy a Dell for half the price. Phew, that was a close one.
Didn't know that Macbooks had OLED screens, Apple's main page talks about Backlit LEDs. Perhaps Dell's main competence is to reach illiterate and confused custumers?
Someone said: "Further, the Zune HD will be more customizable than any iPod - making it have the ability to reflect the owner, than just be another player with a fruit on the back."
It doesn't have to sell any. This is an important reality, developers will flock to a platform that inspires them. For confirmation look at all of the Linux platforms that hardly sell at all but yet have developers.
Sorry but that is not comparable at all. You say, developers will flock. But where should they flock now? Towards a device that has a shaky history of let-downs, or towards a device that has more than 30 million users worldwide, with a frenzy of apps being downloaded, almost 2 billion now? Face it, if there's gonna be an app for a mobile device, it's going to go iPhone first. THEN, it may go to the Zune. Maybe. Perhaps.
I mean, this has been MS point against the Mac for decades now. And now that such point goes back with a vengeance, somehow it's an invalid point? Laughable. One of the main attractions with the iPod is precisely the app market, with their low price points. It's gonna take a good while until the Zune can market good games under 5 bucks.
"Despite the hype, the Zune HD appears to have failed before even hitting the market"
is that why zune 32 is outselling itouch 32 on amazon?
"LCDs: a typical maximum output of 200cd/m^2 compared to around 4-500 for mid-range"
does itouch output that high? NO
"Tegra is also being hyped as providing "8 processing cores,""
is that why itouch still uses technology that came out almost 7 years ago?
and for your INFO, iphone color is much more brilliant than itouch
"NVIDIA promotes Tegra as being "Ultra Low Power," but its standard ARM11 CPU doesn't deliver anything that isn't available in other ARM designs, nor any special power savings over more powerful and modern processors like the Coretex-A8 in the iPhone 3GS and latest iPod touch. "
is that why zune had 50% more battery life than itouch when it comes to video playback?
cry all you want here are real facts
there is NO significant different between itouch 2g and itouch 3g
itouch's graphic is worse than iphone
battery life is much greater than anything that apple can offer
nano's video quality is worse than the lowest flip $100 video recorder (i might add 10 times worse)
and finally, thanks for a great article, it shows the fear in your eyes
if you had no fear, you wouldn't have written this article
Fear, are U nuts. Microsoft has never made a product that anyone actually wanted unless they were still under their spell of lies. Most people get burned and don't care to jump back into the fire when they realize what happened. I just Checked Amazon and The Zune HD 32 is at #10 The Ipod Touch 32 is at #3 while the 16 gig is at #7.
It takes less power to do poor resolution on 18% fewer pixels. The HD in this HD player only works when in a dock. Guess what, docks supply power. If they allowed it to work out of the dock it would have about 20 minutes of play time.
10 times worse, you are reaching. The purpose for having video on the nano is to have the ability to get a quick video. The quality is better than most phones so if you are out and about and have your music with you can quickly catch some video. And since it has up to 16 gigs, far more than you could on a phone.
I'm not trying to be antagonistic but as a moderator you can't pound someone for calling another an ifanbot and then in the very same response call him an msbot. What gives?
Oh Boo Hoo. Do you know how that pales in comparison to the name calling of people on here as trolls.
Regarding HD Content... It will play HD Content on the device in the NATIVE widescreen aspect. Unlike the iPhone or iPod Touch that is not native 16:9 widescreen. That maybe more suited to a phone, but for portal movies I don't want black bars or distortion of the movie. In addition the Zune HD will play 720p content on the device, so I don't need to transcode just sync and play.
Black bars or distortion, have you ever seen a movie on a iPod Touch or iPhone? It's crisp and clear. When you don't like the black bars, double tap on the movie playing and it wil zoom in so that the black bars disappear, image will not be distorted.
It will take in a lot of space when you don't transcode HD Video...so Sync and play? I don't think so...not when you also have a large library of music, foto's and applications on it and your limit is 32GB.
I doubt it's any more so than Apple's "i" everything camel case naming scheme.
Next, someone will be saying that MBP isn't a legitimate name shortening scheme because it's not Apple's official name for it. I really don't see the problem with name shortening, seeing the name long hand all the time gets old. iPod Touch doesn't have a good abbreviation, I think iTouch is good enough.
Hmm...that works out to be more expensive per song that you actually keep.
How is it more expensive? I have been using napster to go for a few years now and have over 3000 tracks in my library. If I were using that horrible program itunes that would cost me more than $3000.
I don't understand why Apple has so many fanboys for their inferior overpriced products and their lame software Itunes. I mean the program runs like crap on PC and it can't do basic things like monitor a folder for new music. Just the other day they were charging $400 for an itouch lol. Another thing Ipods have limited music format support and they do not include an FM tuner. They don't support other music formats like all the other players like wma, wmv and the sound quality is below average. Yet they have all these fanboys.
If it wasn't for some clever marketing that brainwashed the masses into thinking mp3 player meant ipod and the only way to get music was itunes I don't know where Apple would be today.
The Zune seems like a really good MP3 player if you ask me. HD tuner is really good but the fact that it operates like a gimped ipod troubles me. I like the freedom of connecting my mp3 player to any pc and drag or delete tracks from it without the need of software.
Comments
Just as well I read this article, I was going to buy a Macbook Pro for the OLED screen, now I think I'll just buy a Dell for half the price. Phew, that was a close one.
Just to talk about software developers. They like to sell product. The reason why the iPhone/Touch has been so successful with developers is because whether because of necessity or design, by the time Apple came out with its apps store and SDK several months before, they had already sold millions of phones and Touches, showing developers that they had a hot product and would be selling a lot of them.
I have to disagree with this totally. Developers where presuring Apple for a real SDK before the first Touches even where of the boat. Developers saw this brilliant platform and instantly want on board.
So they had an amazing 553 apps from day one.
But in two years, MS has only managed to sell 2 million Zunes, most of which won't be able to use this software, whatever it turns out to be.
That's a problem when attracting developers. They are going to ask where the market is. What can MS tell them other than to be patient.
Similar to Apple all MS needs to do is to debut a product that grabs developer attention. If the SDK is truely innovative and provides for a good user experience developers will be on board with the first device.
So you are developing for a platform that is just starting out, with to all intents, no sales yet. No product in consumers hands. What if they don't like it? Where will sales go? Should you wait until there's a number of these in the field? If so, how many? How long should you give them to get to that number? The longer it takes, the fewer they will sell.
Actually they will do what most business do. That is evaluate the opportunity and determine if it is worth the gamble. In a nut shell every new app is a gamble even on iPhone/Touch.
This is a problem. We're seeing it with the Pre. Despite all of those saying that they are so much more developer friendly, they still have only 58 apps (at last look a few days ago) in their store, though they do have a few hundred mostly amateur apps available, most of which aren't very good.
I think it is more of a case of developers recognizing Pre as a piece of junk with a crap development platform.
If the HD takes a year to sell another million, will developers care? How many does it have to sell before there are hundreds of developers, thousands?
It doesn't have to sell any. This is an important reality, developers will flock to a platform that inspires them. For confirmation look at all of the Linux platforms that hardly sell at all but yet have developers.
Dave
Steve Jobs
"Despite the hype, the Zune HD appears to have failed before even hitting the market"
is that why zune 32 is outselling itouch 32 on amazon?
A moving target. I checked Amazon bestsellers and found yes, Zunes looking a bit healthier than a while back (one at position 3, another at 8, but 20 of the top 25 MP3 players are iPods.
If Amazon's rankings are anything to go by, Apple is winning by a huge margin.
and finally, thanks for a great article, it shows the fear in your eyes
if you had no fear, you wouldn't have written this article
LOL. You say this as if Apple marketing wrote this article. You seem confused.
This new Zune is impressive and it will be interesting to see how Microsoft manages to integrate it across their platforms. They still have plenty of work to do, and to be honest I don't get why they just don't ditch Windows Mobile in favour of some Zune-esque software (for consumers).
Apple doesn't have much to worry about though - limited availability internationally, only one model make it pretty niche. In addition Apple have the upper hand, they're practically dictating the direction of the market.
Man, I didn't realise that OLED screens sucked so much!
Just as well I read this article, I was going to buy a Macbook Pro for the OLED screen, now I think I'll just buy a Dell for half the price. Phew, that was a close one.
Ehm
They have LED-backlit LCD screens, HUGE difference.
Anyway I am pro OLED, in the best form possible, so fingers crossed here for the future!
I think it's a great technology with great potential.
For HD (1080P) movie playback I connect my Computer (Macbook) to my 42" Full HD Television, with a DVI->HDMI cable for video and (fiber) Optic Digital cable for audio.
I personally wouldn't use a mobile device for it on my television.
For me it would be strainge to put a HD movie from my computer on a Mobile device to play that on my Full HD TV. A MacBook is easily connected to a Full HD TV so why the extra step of putting it on a mobile device next? Movie playback on a Mobile device is great, but we all know that it will not show us HD video on screen. So for my personal use HD playback on a Mobile device has no value.
I want to break my Macbook and burn my iPhone after reading this article. Its reasons why I'm sometimes ashamed to use Apple products and be in any form associated with Apple fanbois.
Haha! Man, this is hilarious and sad at the same time.
This article is complete lies. This just proves how scared you really are of the Zune.
Prince is known for his bias. I love him because he doesn't hide it behind a wall of "fair and balanced" bullshit like most "pundits" do. He just vents the way he feels, and we are aware of it, and able to put the grain of salts on the things he says.
Mind, though, his vents about MS products have been spot on for almost a decade now. He might get wrong yet, but I still have to see it happening.
First Internet Explorer 6 Mobile is not the same as Internet Explorer 6. You have no idea what IE6 Mobile is based on and in fact CNET reviewed it quite well.
"no idea"? LOL. IE is bad. Real bad. Only some fans still endure it, but the whole of the internet community people that has a clue installs other browsers, such as firefox, safari, chrome, etc. IE mobile is also laughable, and years behind webkit. MS could bite their pride and enter the webkit bandwagon but they would know the laughter they would get from Apple keynotes if they did it. So they stick to their lower proprietary technologies.
Second if Windows CE is so horrible and everyone hates it... why is it used everywhere. Why did Apple choose Windows CE over developing in house (until now) or using Linux or Palm for their solutions. They had a much more cozy relationship with Palm (until now).
Wtf are you babbling about? Just because something is horrible doesn't mean there are alternatives. MS took care of "alternatives" in the most atrocious way possible, destroying competition not due to their inherent quality but due to monopolistic advantages. Apple only entered the market when they thought they could make a good case.
Tegra will be tested in time, but I know with the older Zunes the WiFi is on consistently and as such you would assume it would be on in the Video test which show longer battery.
It would be great if true. But considering the sneer tactics of MS, I don't trust it very much. I think they can only get those numbers with their screens on blackish. I've yet to see their performance tested by blogs and tech sites. Prince makes a good point on OLEDs, and puts an example. Let's see how it fares.
I'm sure actually that OLED also helps to get to the standard.
I hope so too, I wonder though if it is yet ready to market with good quality.
But I see that you are the idiots the support LCD over Plasma which I use because in my house I can see a clear difference watching a black and white movie on Plasma against LCDs.
Uncalled for.
Even if OLED isn't perfect (and people going to BestBuy and CNET confirm otherwise) its still a step in the right direction of technological evolution and Apple WILL evolve to OLED and you will look like the idiots that you are in your OLED accusations.
Sure, but one thing is to venture into a new tech like OLED, with all the risks and cons involved, another one completely different is to market it as if it is already completely superior to the older tech. Marketing is marketing, but we should be aware of the cons and risks, no?
Regarding HD Content... It will play HD Content on the device in the NATIVE widescreen aspect. Unlike the iPhone or iPod Touch that is not native 16:9 widescreen. That maybe more suited to a phone, but for portal movies I don't want black bars or distortion of the movie. In addition the Zune HD will play 720p content on the device, so I don't need to transcode just sync and play.
That's the part of the article that gives MS the edge. But I wonder if it has any real application. Perhaps going to other people's homes and viewing movies with them via Zune? Doesn't seem like a killer app to me. But if it pleases you, go for it.
In addition HD Radio is not a brand decision of Microsoft or Zune and its amazing that you deride radio so much when even Apple has eventually added FM radio and MARK MY WORDS that the iPod Touch will have FM Radio eventually.
HD Radio is not FM Radio. Read the article better to get a clue on what the issues involving HD are. If the Zune is to reach my shores, it will have to dump "HD". So, it might be a nice marginal feature in the US, but meaningless in the rest of the world.
All in all I welcome the competition and the Zune HD does so much right. All this proves is you are scared and the Zune HD will sell very well. If you thought Microsoft would keep the '1 %' of the market, you would not have wasted your time making up lies.
Prince's specialty is to take the pundits' hype about MS products and tear them apart. This happened before and he was proven right then. It was so with Windows Vista, it was so with the original Zune (which was going to be THE iPod Killer, it's amazing how people forget these things), it was so with big ass table, etc., etc.
A big difference between Apple and MS has been that the former bets on promising little and over-delivering, creating huge hype at its own keynotes, while MS over promises and disappoints in the deliverance. The point in doing this is to devaluate any competing product with the "promise" that MS will just "step in" and blow that market up. Actually, MS excells at this, its vaporware tactics are unmatched in the PC industry history.
It may prove different with the Zune, I don't know. But I wouldn't bet that way.
This doesn't make any sense though.
Other than maybe going a bit far on the criticism of the OLED screen (and we will find out in days if this reviewer did), this is a solid, fact-based review with lots of detailed research that I haven't read anywhere else at all. Yet you are saying this review has "no merit" and waiting for one from Gizmodo? or CNET? You've got to be kidding.
Every article on CNET is just a puff piece about how great technology is in general, and just reads the virtues of each product they "review," right from the copy sent to them by the manufacturer. Gizmodo is just a bunch of kids who wouldn't know research if it hit them in the face and practically live to bash Apple. They also praise anything that falls from Microsoft's fingers and most of the commenters there are young, rabid, anti-Apple types that you can't even have a sensible conversation with.
Sounds to me like you just wanted to like Zune HD so much that the idea that there might be problems with it is putting your nose out of joint.
Personally, from what I've seen of OLED technology I think the reviewer went out on a limb with the heavy handed criticism, but we will see tomorrow won't we? It is true that if anyone can make a crappy OLED screen it's certainly Microsoft. The quality control on every product (software or hardware) they have ever made has always been the worst. However I find the complete lack of apps and games for the thing, and the details of that processor far more worrying.
What more proof of the fact that people are really reviewing the Zune HD on it's "sexy-ness" instead of it's capabilities, than the fact that everyone here is getting all het up about the stupid screen? The other failings and "myths" are far more important, but no one seems to even be arguing about them. People just seem upset that the device they were expecting to see tomorrow is maybe not as sexy looking as they thought.
You're completely missing the point. This article "research" is being based on evidence that is non-existent, meaning the Zune reviews have yet to be posted and users are JUST NOW getting their hands on the devices.
Wait for the reviews to come out, see how the performance stacks up, see how the screen performs in daylight/indoors, see how the UI operates, etc.
You don't just do an article with no hands-on time with a product tearing it apart saying that it will have poor performance and a poor screen if you haven't even laid hands/eyes on it yet.
Man, I didn't realise that OLED screens sucked so much!
Just as well I read this article, I was going to buy a Macbook Pro for the OLED screen, now I think I'll just buy a Dell for half the price. Phew, that was a close one.
Didn't know that Macbooks had OLED screens, Apple's main page talks about Backlit LEDs. Perhaps Dell's main competence is to reach illiterate and confused custumers?
Yes, the iPod has a fruit in back of it.
The Zune has a fruit in front of it.
It doesn't have to sell any. This is an important reality, developers will flock to a platform that inspires them. For confirmation look at all of the Linux platforms that hardly sell at all but yet have developers.
Sorry but that is not comparable at all. You say, developers will flock. But where should they flock now? Towards a device that has a shaky history of let-downs, or towards a device that has more than 30 million users worldwide, with a frenzy of apps being downloaded, almost 2 billion now? Face it, if there's gonna be an app for a mobile device, it's going to go iPhone first. THEN, it may go to the Zune. Maybe. Perhaps.
I mean, this has been MS point against the Mac for decades now. And now that such point goes back with a vengeance, somehow it's an invalid point? Laughable. One of the main attractions with the iPod is precisely the app market, with their low price points. It's gonna take a good while until the Zune can market good games under 5 bucks.
"Despite the hype, the Zune HD appears to have failed before even hitting the market"
is that why zune 32 is outselling itouch 32 on amazon?
"LCDs: a typical maximum output of 200cd/m^2 compared to around 4-500 for mid-range"
does itouch output that high? NO
"Tegra is also being hyped as providing "8 processing cores,""
is that why itouch still uses technology that came out almost 7 years ago?
and for your INFO, iphone color is much more brilliant than itouch
"NVIDIA promotes Tegra as being "Ultra Low Power," but its standard ARM11 CPU doesn't deliver anything that isn't available in other ARM designs, nor any special power savings over more powerful and modern processors like the Coretex-A8 in the iPhone 3GS and latest iPod touch. "
is that why zune had 50% more battery life than itouch when it comes to video playback?
cry all you want
there is NO significant different between itouch 2g and itouch 3g
itouch's graphic is worse than iphone
battery life is much greater than anything that apple can offer
nano's video quality is worse than the lowest flip $100 video recorder (i might add 10 times worse)
and finally, thanks for a great article, it shows the fear in your eyes
if you had no fear, you wouldn't have written this article
Fear, are U nuts. Microsoft has never made a product that anyone actually wanted unless they were still under their spell of lies. Most people get burned and don't care to jump back into the fire when they realize what happened. I just Checked Amazon and The Zune HD 32 is at #10 The Ipod Touch 32 is at #3 while the 16 gig is at #7.
It takes less power to do poor resolution on 18% fewer pixels. The HD in this HD player only works when in a dock. Guess what, docks supply power. If they allowed it to work out of the dock it would have about 20 minutes of play time.
10 times worse, you are reaching. The purpose for having video on the nano is to have the ability to get a quick video. The quality is better than most phones so if you are out and about and have your music with you can quickly catch some video. And since it has up to 16 gigs, far more than you could on a phone.
Please quit posting troll bait
On the other hand I have never seen so many "Join Date: Sep 2009" accounts in a single thread before.
MelGross,
I'm not trying to be antagonistic but as a moderator you can't pound someone for calling another an ifanbot and then in the very same response call him an msbot. What gives?
Oh Boo Hoo. Do you know how that pales in comparison to the name calling of people on here as trolls.
Even Mel does it. Shame on him!
Regarding HD Content... It will play HD Content on the device in the NATIVE widescreen aspect. Unlike the iPhone or iPod Touch that is not native 16:9 widescreen. That maybe more suited to a phone, but for portal movies I don't want black bars or distortion of the movie. In addition the Zune HD will play 720p content on the device, so I don't need to transcode just sync and play.
Black bars or distortion, have you ever seen a movie on a iPod Touch or iPhone? It's crisp and clear. When you don't like the black bars, double tap on the movie playing and it wil zoom in so that the black bars disappear, image will not be distorted.
It will take in a lot of space when you don't transcode HD Video...so Sync and play? I don't think so...not when you also have a large library of music, foto's and applications on it and your limit is 32GB.
What's an "itouch"?
It's annoying, that's what.
I doubt it's any more so than Apple's "i" everything camel case naming scheme.
Next, someone will be saying that MBP isn't a legitimate name shortening scheme because it's not Apple's official name for it. I really don't see the problem with name shortening, seeing the name long hand all the time gets old. iPod Touch doesn't have a good abbreviation, I think iTouch is good enough.
Hmm...that works out to be more expensive per song that you actually keep.
How is it more expensive? I have been using napster to go for a few years now and have over 3000 tracks in my library. If I were using that horrible program itunes that would cost me more than $3000.
I don't understand why Apple has so many fanboys for their inferior overpriced products and their lame software Itunes. I mean the program runs like crap on PC and it can't do basic things like monitor a folder for new music. Just the other day they were charging $400 for an itouch lol. Another thing Ipods have limited music format support and they do not include an FM tuner. They don't support other music formats like all the other players like wma, wmv and the sound quality is below average. Yet they have all these fanboys.
If it wasn't for some clever marketing that brainwashed the masses into thinking mp3 player meant ipod and the only way to get music was itunes I don't know where Apple would be today.
The Zune seems like a really good MP3 player if you ask me. HD tuner is really good but the fact that it operates like a gimped ipod troubles me. I like the freedom of connecting my mp3 player to any pc and drag or delete tracks from it without the need of software.
A few corrections:
Probably not important to you, but you left out:
Availablity: |USA Only|Worldwide|