Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve witnessed a very interesting development cycle with the Zune HD, getting to witness the software at various early stages of development, instead of a completed device all at once. Our latest glimpse of the player is along the lines of what’s been cropping up the last week or so: wild transitions, fun motion graphics and plenty of beautiful media to show it all off with. We did get to touch the new keyboard briefly, and while there’s no telling what sort of predictive text Microsoft has worked in, since we only had a URL bar to work with, it’s a passable (and certainly beautiful) attempt to cram a full QWERTY touchscreen keyboard into such a small device. Reports are conflicting as to whether there will be a landscape keyboard in the final build of the device, but it’s been spotted in some iterations of the device — it didn’t show up when we tried to rotate the player, however.

Unfortunately, while the browser is up and running, the hotel we were at wasn’t able to offer us a working internet connection — hopefully we’ll be able to rectify that soon. For now hold tight, check out the gallery below and the peep the video after the break for a magical exploration of the Zune HD’s truly impressive interface.

Continue reading Zune HD video hands-on: chock-full of media edition

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Zune HD video hands-on: chock-full of media edition originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon has placed the Zune HD upon its Web pages, giving the MP3 player’s prices and capacity points the stamp of authenticity.

The Web page currently lists the Zune HD at $219.99 for a 16-Gbyte option and $289.99 for the 32-Gbyte “platinum” option. Clicking on the individual product pages, unfortunately, returns a “page not found” error message. However, most of the player’s details have already been disclosed.

An official launch date has not been set, although reports have speculated that the date will be somewhere between Sept. 5 and Sept. 8.

It hasn’t been long at all since we saw Zune HD make its FCC debut, and now Gizmodo’s gotten ahold of what looks to be screenshots from Best Buy’s inventory system listing 16GB and 32GB Zune HD models going on sale September 8th for $220 and $290, respectively. Retailers don’t necessarily have the best track record for release dates or pricing, and while Best Buy’s inventory pricing is in fact notoriously wrong prior to release, it’s usually way high. As for the date, it certainly falls within the Fall 2009 window we’ve heard before, but if it’s really less than a month away, rest assured Microsoft will be flexing some advertising muscle in the not-too-distant future.

Update: Looks like Amazon now has its listing up as well, albeit a non-functional one. [Via ZuneSpring]

Continue reading Best Buy lists Zune HD at $220 for 16GB, $290 for 32GB, coming September 8th

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Best Buy lists Zune HD at $220 for 16GB, $290 for 32GB, coming September 8th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Everyone likes to try and predict the future and with the Custom Electronic Design & Installation (CEDIA) show only a month away, the crew at Engadget HD threw all of their crazy ideas out there for your reading pleasure. For the most part all of the predictions are around Windows Media Center and how it will integrate with other products like the Zune HD, Digital Cable and HD satellite services, but there are some other fun things throw in. We really believe that this is going to be the year that Redmond brings everything together, so if you’re the type who doesn’t think it’ll ever happen, then click through to find out why we think you’re wrong. Either way, you can expect we’ll be on the scene in Atlanta to check out what’s new first hand.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Media PCs

Windows Media Center is set to thrill at CEDIA 2009 next month originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The upcoming Zune HD was the talk of the GDGT launch event in San Francisco last night, and we got a look at the device. First impressions: It’s compact, lightweight, good-looking and has a very slick interface.

Microsoft’s newest media player has a bright, crisp OLED display that the dark lighting of the nightclub showed off to very good effect. It’s fast and responsive: Video looked great on it. Its 480 x 272 pixels are a far cry from HD, but they present a 16:9 aspect ration and they’re bright and contrasty, with deep, rich blacks, so you won’t mind much. Also, we could zoom and swipe between photos with great speed; the screen never stuttered or paused no matter how quickly we zipped and zoomed the images around. The source of that visual oomph? The Nvidia Tegra chip inside. (”I know it’s not the Microsoft software,” quipped one bystander.)

The Zune team has given a lot of thought to the multitouch interface. Swiping gestures made it easy and even a bit fun to zip through menus of music or pictures, and there’s the familiar (and possibly patented) pinch gesture for zooming in and out of photos.

There’s also a dock, which includes an HDMI-out port (and a remote) so you can plug it into an HD television and watch HD videos at 720p. It appeared to be working just fine. The dock/remote combo will be sold as a separate accessory.

Why would you want to plug your Zune into a TV? The best the Microsoft rep could offer was this: Suppose you’re in a hotel room and you want to watch your movies or look at your photos on the big screen. Hm: What kind of movies and photos would that be?

Microsoft was not saying anything about what the Zune HD will cost or when it will be available. They also wouldn’t let us photograph the interface, apart from the HD radio screen shown above, stating that it was still a “work in progress.”

Photo: Dylan Tweney / Wired.com