Yes, we actually like most things about the Zune HD. Find out how it stacks up against Apple's iPod Touch. The specs don't tell the whole story.
The Zune’s slow march towards portable media player supremacy just got some real traction. The Zune HD may finally give Apple cause for worry-- the device will redraw the battlefield for personal media players. Apple's iPod Touch, however, remains very competitive.
To those who've gone Apple, does the Zune HD sport enough goodies to make the Apple faithful flock to the dark side? We tested the Zune HD and the new Zune software to find out.
Take a quick look at the specs of both the Zune HD and the latest iPod Touch:
| Specification | Zune HD | iPod Touch 3G |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 4"x2.1"x.4" | 4.3"x2.4"x.33" |
| Weight | 2.6 oz. | 4.05 oz. |
| Screen Size | 3.3" | 3.5" |
| Screen Type | OLED (Active, Color) | LCD (Active, Color, Backlit) |
| Touch Screen | Capacitive | Capacitive |
| Resolution | 480x272 | 480x320 |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 Widescreen | 3:2 |
| Storage | 16/32 GB | 32/64 GB |
| Audio Codec Support | MP3, AAC, WMA | AAC MP3 WAV |
| Video Codec Support | h.264/AVC, MPEG-4, WMV | h.264/AVC, MPEG-4, Quicktime |
| Picture Format Support | HD Photo, JPEG | BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF |
| WiFi | 802.11 b, g | 802.11 b, g |
| Wireless Sync | Yes | No |
| Bluetooth | None | 2.1 + EDR |
| Radio Tuner | HD Radio, FM | None |
| Video Output | HDMI, RCA | None |
| Price | $219.99/289.99 | $299/399 |
| Speakers | None | Mono |
Based on the specs, these seem like two very similar devices. But, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, and the inside of the Zune HD is very nice and shiny and gives the iPod Touch a run for the money. A 3.3” OLED display produces brilliant picture quality and colors and is much more enjoyable for watching video than the Touch, even with its smaller size. It’s also wide-screen, albeit at a strange 480x272 resolution, which means HD content won’t be letterboxed.
The main difference between the two devices is the hardware. Running on the new Zune is Nvidia’s Tegra, a chipset with imbedded CPU, GPU, and memory. With it, all graphic-intensive applications work faster than we’ve seen on competing devices. Even the iPhone 3GS feels slow in comparison. The speed of simply turning pictures back and forth between portrait and landscape is remarkable. Instantaneous shifting of pictures and applications, as well as instant touch applications such as pinching to zoom in and out give the Zune HD unmatched speed.
Beyond the bright and rich screen and top-notch processing power, the Zune HD represents a different take on the personal media player. For once, it is Microsoft that wants us to think differently. (Yes, that was Apple’s slogan a few years back). How is Microsoft actually accomplishing this? By giving users a new way to organize media and a never-ending catalog of media to sort through. We’ll take a look at how the company made this possible, but first, let’s see how the Zune HD design stands up to Apple’s best.

Good article! Brought some of the lesser known features out and reviewed them thoroughly!
Ouch. That's kind of a big thing to leave out.
More on topic, can't wait to purchase one of these! Great review!
Do I NEED the dock to plug the zune HD to my hdtv or is it optional?
Slow Question:
Can I browse regular webpages with it?
1) Yes, you do. It's 80$ from what I've heard.
2) Yes, but you have to click on the non-mobile button after the page loads (shouldn't take more than a second) and then it will load the full version. It's like the PSP browser.
You can use the old dock that sells for $20 but it won't play HD.
Thanks for the quick (and slow xD) answers.
The dock thing is kinda a bummer though.
... 320 / 160 = 2...
... 480 / 160 = 3...
...Am I doing my maths right?
It's possible the iPhone doesn't have square pixels, either that or they've made a mistake with the figures.
$80 for the dock, damn.
Just sounds like a really portable video player to me. It would make it easier to play my downloaded films on my TV. All I need is a Zune HD, Zune HD HDMI dock, and a HDMI cable... not sounding all to great any more ($$$)...
manjyomethunder, your math is correct. The Touch has a 3:2 screen ratio. I'd love to say it was a typo, but it was just wrong information. I myself checked the numbers before, but saw what I thought was concrete info about it being 4:3. Obviously, a poor source we won't be using anymore.
fartblossom, we didn't go into wireless sync too much (did more in the update) because it's not a new feature. I like it very much, but I don't like how it only works on one network. In my house, we've got 3 wi-fi networks on the same router, so unless I'm in the vicinity of my home office, I can't sync wirelessly.
One thing we're not sure about, and waiting for more feedback on, is whether the Zune HD supports ad-hoc networking. Our tests show that it does not, but it could be a problem with our device, since realistically it should be identical to making your laptop into a wi-fi hotspot.
What do you guys think of it so far?