Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player (Platinum)

Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player
(Platinum)

Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player (Platinum)

New Features

Like the string of increasingly capable Zunes before it, the Zune HD handles both digital music and video, but to truly bring the Zune platform up to speed with the Touch, Microsoft has stuffed in a grab bag of other features as well. The most immediately impressive must be the 3.3-inch screen, which uses incredibly bright (and efficient) OLED display technology to produce colors as vibrant and life-like as the pages of National Geographic. True to its name, the Zune HD also outputs true 720p HD content via HDMI, turning it into a HD media house smaller than a deck of playing cards. The FM radio tuner that Microsoft has always waved over Apple's head is now joined by an HD radio tuner to tap free, higher-quality terrestrial radio signals alongside your MP3 collection. And though Wi-fi has also been a Zune selling point since day one, the Zune HD is the first to turn that Internet connectivity into a full HTML browsing experience, rather than just a channel for pumping music and video through. The browser isn't the only non-media use for the player, either. A new Apps menu and section in the marketplace will play host from everything from weather apps to games.

Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player (Platinum)
Form Factor

First thing out of the box, it's impossible not to note how lightweight and tiny the Zune HD feels. Although the iPod Touch technically has it beat by a hair on the thin-factor (0.33 inches to the Zune's 0.35 inches), those without calipers in hand will call it equal, and at 74 grams, it feels like a feather beside the 115-gram iPod Touch. It's also a smidge smaller on the other dimensions, measuring 2.1 inches wide and 4.0 inches tall. Microsoft hasn't attempted to dupe Apple's rounded-edge taper for the illusion of thin, but the back case of the the Zune HD does cut in around the edges with a wide, shallow chamfer, making it far less than 8.9mm thick at the edges.

Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player (Platinum)
Controls and Ports

Thanks to the touch-screen interface, operation of the Zune HD has been distilled down to only three buttons: a centered power button up top turns the Zune HD on and turns the screen off with a tap, a "home" button at the bottom works the same as it does on the iPod, sending you back to the main menu, and a dotted left-hand switch brings up music controls (pause, play, stop, forward, etc.) from anywhere in the menu. You'll find both the requisite 3.5mm stereo jack and Microsoft's proprietary Zune connector on the bottom, the latter of which serves as a port for both charging and data transfer.

Accessories

The slim black cardboard box for the Zune HD contains all the essentials: a USB power and data cable, standard-issue Zune headphones with three foam covers (black, orange, pink) and a quick-start guide to get you off and running. Never one to skimp, Microsoft included a Zune HD AV dock for hooking the player up to an HDTV ($90) and no less than three different cases with our review unit.

Display

For those who have seen OLED displays live and in person before, the screen on the Zune HD will undoubtedly be one of its most exciting features. For those who haven't, it will be when you see it. The 3.3-inch OLED display comes to life as soon as you fire it up with some of the darkest blacks and brightest whites you've seen from a portable player, and it only gets better when it explodes into color from the preloaded demo video and pictures. Even relatively dry footage from a Flip HD seemed to come to life on the screen, and though we've never complained about a stutter on the iPod Touch, the lightning-fast refresh on the Zune HD's OLED screen lends it an amazingly fluid look that we never realized we were missing out on.

Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player (Platinum)
Interface

Microsoft's lust for slender sans-serif fonts has not subsided in the months since the last Zune launch, and former Zune owners will recognize the main menu immediately. It offers selections of all the basics (music, video, pictures) as well as extra features like radio, social, and apps, making it relatively easy to cut to the intended function with a minimum of navigation. Of course, rather than selecting with a directional pad, a simple tap on the screen now suffices for just about everything. Microsoft wisely chose a high-quality capacitive touch screen for the Zune HD, and as a result it feels just as precise and fluid and as its similarly equipped Apple cousin.

Although Microsoft includes a hard "home" button front and center right below the screen, navigating backwards through the menus without jumping all the way back to the start can be a little confusing at first. The title of any given selection ("music," for instance) expands and leaps to the tip top of the screen when you click on it, sliding halfway off the screen in the process. It looks like a visual effect, but clicking on the half-obscured, oversized title is actually a key to sliding back a level. It's a quick move to learn, but slightly less than intuitive from the get go.

Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player
(Platinum)

Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player (Platinum)