Zune HD – One Month Later: Device Experience

I’m going to side-step the Zune HD’s audio quality because, like all devices, it depends on what kind of headphones you have. My headphones are nothing to tell your momma about, but having said that, my sound experience has been pretty good while listening to music and watching videos.

Device Experience

The beauty of the Zune HD is its graphical user interface (GUI). It’s all sorts of deliciousness; eat it with a spoon and savor it. I’m not going to touch on every feature because that would make this review a bit too long.

The main interface is pretty simple: Music, Video, Pictures, Social, Apps, Settings, and other items such as Podcasts and Audiobooks if you have any on the device. Then, there’s a sidebar/background list that is visible from the main GUI. This sidebar contains any media that is currently playing or paused, content that you’ve pinned (“pin” is another term for “adding as a favorite”), a history of content that you’ve recently played, and a list of content that you’ve recently added to your device. It’s all about ease of use, and I think the Zune HD really excels here.

When listening to a song, you can click on the center area of the screen and a layer pops up that lets you pause or play and change the volume by pressing the plus or minus button, or sliding your finger vertically between the two. On the same layer, you can change songs by pressing the forward or backward button, or you can press and hold either of those buttons and fast-forward or rewind the song.

From the device, you can delete songs, video, pictures, podcasts, and favorite web sites. This is a pretty big deal for me. I hate having to wait until I sync my Zune HD with my computer to delete songs.

If an artist has a bio and pictures in the All Music Guide on allmusic.com, then that content will be added to the Zune HD. Plus, the Zune Marketplace brings in related artists and, when you’re connected to a wireless network, marketplace discography. From the device, you can read about your favorite artists. This helps me pass the time on road trips or when I get bored of looking up stuff on my cell phone. This might be one of the top three reasons why I bought the device.

The web browser is pretty basic, which really isn’t a bad thing. Connecting to a wireless network is pretty automatic if you have access to a free network or one at your house or a friend’s house. Web sites containing Flash components don’t work, so for now, you won’t be able to watch videos or play games made in Flash. Web pages look great, but when you rotate the device to view them in landscape mode, some images are noticeably grainy. Text looks fine, though, in portrait and landscape mode. The browser lacks advanced features, but I haven’t found myself wishing for them yet. When you close out of the browser and start it again later, you start on the same site that you left off on.

The on-screen keyboard works pretty darn well. Characters bubble up when you press them, giving you better visibility into what you’re pressing on. There’s no predicative text, but I don’t think it’s all that necessary when typing in URLs or updating your status on Facebook or doing a search on Bing.

The apps and games available for the Zune HD are limited, but there’s been  talk of more becoming available in November, most notably for Facebook and Twitter. Looks like we’ll find out what will be available in the next couple weeks. The games and apps available now, like Texas Hold’ Em, Space Battle II, and MSN Weather are fun and useful for downtimes. And just knowing that more good things are in the works tides me over until more app and game releases. However, the one downer when exiting games, apps, and even the web browser, is that the screen turns black for a few seconds. I would’ve hoped that there wouldn’t be such a lag with the superb technology in the device, but maybe there’s a reasoning on the software development side of it.

And finally, multitouch. Multitouch on the Zune HD is super responsive. I’m able to zoom in on pictures and web pages with just by lightly touching the screen; I have yet to experience a frustrating, finger-pressing experience. You can either pinch to zoom in, use your thumbs to do a “spread-in” zoom, or any other creative way you can think of to zoom by using multitouch. I prefer the spread-in zoom because then I can avoid accidentally scraping my fingernails on the screen. It’s a fun experience any way you do it.

Pros

• Ease of use and ability to interact in different ways with the GUI.
• Ability to delete content from the device.
• Artist content, such as bios; pictures; related artists; and, when connected to a wireless network, discography available in the Zune Marketplace.
• Easy-to-use, accurate keyboard.
• Simple, straight-forward web browser that renders web sites and mobile web sites quickly and effectively.
• Great multitouch experience; responds quickly to touches and zooms in on the appropriate areas.

Cons

• Web browser doesn’t support Flash and some images look pixelated in landscape view.
• Lack of apps and games on release day.
• Noticeable lag when exiting the web browser, apps, and games.

 

Miss my Zune HD hardware review? Check it out!

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Zune HD – One Month Later: Hardware

I wanted to wait awhile before jumping into a review about the Zune HD because it’s hard to figure out what to like or dislike from a pointless unboxing video or the day after a product is released. I think a month is a fair amount of time to learn about, use, and judge a recently purchased product.

So, here’s what I’ve liked and disliked about the device’s hardware so far.

Hardware

For me, 32GB is more than enough space, of space is dependent on how much you feel you need on the device. In my case, I have a hard to filling just half of that with music, so I have 16GB of TV episodes and movies that I’ll probably only watch when I hook up the device to the TV.

The screen is amazing. Outside in sunny weather and other bright situations, the screen is a little difficult to see. But in typical lighting scenarios, the images are crisp and show great colors. Also, the touchscreen is awesome. I hardly ever feel like I’m touching the screen to change the volume, browse through albums, or type on the on-screen keyboard. It’s really responsive.

The device is really lightweight and feels really durable. I wouldn’t go tossing it around, but it feels like it could withstand some bumps and people-height falls. The casing is a mixture of brushed metal (aluminum?) and hard plastic, and it doesn’t attract fingerprints, which is totally cool with me. Even after using it pretty heavily, I’ve somehow managed to avoid getting smudgy fingerprints on the screen. Also, the screen flushes well with the casing, so there’s less of a chance of dust buildup in the cracks.

From my experience, the accelerometer in the Zune HD responds the quickest out of any device that I’ve messed around with, particularly the iPhone and T-Mobile MyTouch (Android). The lag time on it is pretty much zilch. The tilt sensor is really sensitive, and the game that utilizes it—Space Battle II—has options to reduce or increase sensitivity. On all sensitivity settings, it was super responsive.

I think my biggest complaint about the device is the volume rocker. It really just wakes up the device and forces you to change the volume or move to the previous or next song by touching the screen. It would be nice to change the volume just by pressing up or down on the volume rocker (can it even be called that?). Plus, you have to push it pretty hard for the volume/menu screen to show up, which is nice for reducing accidental presses but a little annoying when you have to press fairly hard when the device is in a case.

There’s a power/sleep button at the top of the device. It’s just your average “on” button. It’s easy enough to press but not too easy that it’ll turn on while in your pocket or in a bag. The “Home” button below the screen is just as advertised; it works and doesn’t require much pressure. It can also be used to flip between the home screen and the sidebar area that contains “Now Playing” content, pinned content, history, and recently added content, which is neat and helps with ease of use.

A minor disappointment was the lack of a lanyard hole. I occasionally like to hang a mobile device from my neck so that I can look like the Flavor Flav of mobile devices. I joke. But it would’ve been nice to have a hole to slip a lanyard through.

To end this part of the review on a high note, I have yet to experience a total battery drain on the Zune HD. I’ve had a few times where the battery has gone down to around 25 percent, but it still keeps kicking. The flight to Japan, including time waiting for takeoff and standing in immigration lines at the airport, was about 10 hours and for 9 of those hours, I watched videos, played games, looked at pictures, did as much as I could with the accelerometer, and had the screen brightness on the highest setting. I was a happy camper.

Pros

• Touchscreen is very responsive and surprisingly doesn’t leave much fingerprint residue. The colors really pop out, too.
• Device is lightweight and built to fit nicely in your hand.
• Accelerometer doesn’t lag, and the tilt is sensitive and accurate.
• Great battery life.

Cons

• Direct lighting on the device makes the screen difficult to see.
• Volume rocker takes a fairly forceful amount of pressing for the volume/track menu to show up.
• No hole for a lanyard.

 

My next post will be about the experience of the Zune HD.

On the Zune Social? Add me as a friend!