Zune HD 16GB Black Hands-On Release Night 09/15/09 UPDATED

[saurabhsgupta]

Can we update the zune firmware software for free?

[twiceasfastasyourass]

@saurabhsgupta of course! when u get any hardware device, whether it be an mp3 player, smartphone, laptop, etc., the manufacturer provides free firmware updates online 99% of the time.. in this case, microsoft provides it through the Zune software..

[174859]

can you go on youtube with zune touch in watch videos??? or view ur page and messages ??

[twiceasfastasyourass]

@174859 - you can't view youtube videos as of yet.. flash is not supported by the Zune HD, but hopefully will be in the future.. i have a good feeling Microsoft will eventually post up support for it. You can go to the website, and see a limited scale of the full thing.. btw, yes, the Zune HD has apps for Facebook, Twitter, etc., etc.

[Dadsgirl240]

Hmm pretty cool.

[GothEros]

how do i lock the screen??? i keep accidently changin songs

[twiceasfastasyourass]

you must enable the feature within 'Settings' from the main menu... then, whenever your Zune HD goes idle for a period of time, or you simply suspend the Zune HD by pressing the power button, the screen will lock!

[GothEros]

thanx, i dint know i could turn it off n itd still play :)

[bearwithpaws]

saves alot more battery with the display off or at least sleepingin stead of waiting for a song to change

[ZronZ]

@GothEros press the power button once actually.

[SunsetAir]

seems to be a great thing, I want one ;)

[OriginalDeathpill]

What anime is that on the Pin, Ikki Tousen?

[twiceasfastasyourass]

Interstella 555; a graphical representation of Daft Punk's "Discovery" album...

Enjoy!

[eightbit3055]

I know you may think i'm crazy but all I want is the HD radio from it. If all I want is the HD radio, is it a good buy?

[FregleyTheWise]

just buy an hd radio player

[eightbit3055]

I want it hand held though, either way I got a zune hd now. I like it. If you want something more then a mp3 and hd radio then get the ipod touch.

[twiceasfastasyourass]

actually, id go with the zune HD over the ipod touch, if you want something more, id suggest the iphone...

[sh0td3ad42]

OMG i want this SO BADLY.... i ordered it online off of amazon.... cause i thought it would be sold out at stores and shittt.... but its not LOL, so now i gatta freaking wait like a week to 2 weeks..... OMGGGG fsldknfdsksflksjlskdjldskjflk.­.. nice vid by the way thanks,

[jonracer54yahoo]

I feel bad, im a pc user but my school issues macs to me during my school years. It must suck that u have to install a program just to use ur mac

[twiceasfastasyourass]

uhh, you mean the Zune app? Everyone has to install that to use the Zune device. I'm running a triple boot, three OS flavors; Mac OS X, Windows 7 RC, & ubuntu linux... with Windows 7 on an Intel-based mac, its the same as running a PC, except with the beautifully designed macbook unibody shell ;)

[jonracer54yahoo]

You, my friend, are probably the smartest guy I know. I love the looks of mac's but I need Windows to run softwares. I have a netbook with Mac Osx Tiger, Windows Vista, and Linux Mint. But I wish I had a mac book to make it look cooler

[emmat1988]

love the mac in the background

[twiceasfastasyourass]

thanks man, i kinda go with the whole globalization perspective incorporated into my lifestyle... i dont believe in brands anymore, i believe in quality of product based on features, specifications, and physical design... if i can see all of this in any product regardless of brand name that i see on the market, im a potential buyer... which is why i have a mac and a zune. people bitch and say im being hypocritical, i say im just buying what i feel is amazing quality.

[jnrolf]

Damn what a cool device. Gee its thin and fast... but that HD screen... sweet!

[thewiseyoda]

The oLED screen is not HD resolution. The device is capable of outputting 720p resolution content to HDTvs.. Hence the name Zune HD

[jnrolf]

High definition screen (Quality) nothing about resolution, gee you would need to carry around a 1920×1080, 60hz, 21.5inch screen on my back. OLEDs enable a greater range of colors, gamut, brightness, contrast (both DR and static) and viewing angle.

[qwertisdirty]

you can get a 15.4 inch display with true hd 1920-1080, but I still get your point, plus it's a god damn mp3, this is as big as you want it

[fourzero40]

The only thing that is bad about this thing is that it doesn't have a speaker. Other than that, it is a great device.

[twiceasfastasyourass]

for me i think a speaker wouldnt be used alot for myself, im in a campus where people bustle along and keep to themselves... people dont like hearing what im listening to anyway, they love mainstream music and thats it, kinda sucks. for me it would be flash capability within the browser... if flash was in the internet browser, it would be literally the perfect device before becoming another iphone, which its clearly aimed at not being...

[fourzero40]

Good point. But you know, that is one thing that can be fixed later on with an update. Soon it will be the perfect device.

[jasethevase]

windows 7! fuck yeah!!

[twiceasfastasyourass]

hell yes dude, cant wait for the launch! windows 7 is what vista should have been... oh well, a good transition if anything...

[95Robert95]

thats awsome the music volume goes past 20 now

does it sound louder??

[twiceasfastasyourass]

yeah man, i love that! its definitely louder. but i think they made it so sound can be adjusted more sensitively, because i used to keep the sound level on the older zune around 5 when im sleeping, and 13 when im walking around campus. now its more like 11 when im sleeping and 25 when im in my car and 21 when im walking around campus...

[ellismarkman]

I just got it i have the iphone but in the summer i go to camp and they do not allow cell phone do you think it was a good buy?

[twiceasfastasyourass]

yeah man i think its definitely the best buy you can get for audio/visual entertainment in your pocket... its state-of-the-art technology aimed at providing everything you could want without it becoming a cellphone. it specializes in audio/video quality to give you the best in the market. this way they dont neglect audio/video by concentrating broadly on it while making cell phone technology as well... in short terms; settle for nothing less than the Zune HD for mobile entertainment...

[TheCombatFetus]

FTW

[144384]

can this play youtube

[twiceasfastasyourass]

no, the player from the get-go doesn't support flash-based content...

[mattycraw]

"roommates were hogging internet connection"?

Find that hard to believe. It took minutes to load a single web page. Looks like MS hasn't fully polished the browser. I'll wait until they offer 64gb and artist backplate art before biting the bullet. Other than that it looks AMAZING!

[twiceasfastasyourass]

Well, given that I have a 1mbps down connection which has been given FREE from my apartment complex communications provider, and that one of my roommates torrents like a bitch, and the other two use youtube and imeem regularly to stream music and videos all night long, and SINCE i was browsing the internet this morning with no issues since my roommates are all out of the apartment, i guess it's hard to believe...

[Jullzzzz]

want one lucky fuck lol

[arzo2000]

Can you please post a video on using the internet browser on the Zune HD? It's one of the features that never got in-depth review yet. Really curious to know how the browser performs.

[twiceasfastasyourass]

yes, sir... i'll post one right after i get back from classes.

[Dnyceboy]

can u watch youtube?

[twiceasfastasyourass]

No, unfortunately. It seems to not have flash capabilities... I'll post a vid of internet browsing more in-depth...

[4tneerg]

man i cant wait to get one

can you post a vid about well.. vids?

[a7xwii]

did you have any problems when installing 4.0? Mine is stuck on the downloading components stage at 100% for like the last hour. I ran the exe 4 time and still know luck.

[twiceasfastasyourass]

no i didn't... however, when the downloaded update installed for the first time, it ended with an error msg... so i closed any running programs (firefox, etc.) and ran the update again and it installed properly... updating the Zune HD firmware was seamless... everything else was a breeze! Not sure why ur's is acting up.. im running Windows 7 RC w/ latest updates installed on Macbook unibody 13" 4GB DDR3 SDRAM & 7200RPM 320GB HDD... makes things faster, u might have to wait a bit... idk

[a7xwii]

I wasn't the only one with the problem the forums were full of people with it. I just had to update windows, or update it through the zune software.

[gatordhs2011]

Update it from within the Zune Software. After that it worked fine for me. Open your Zune Software go to Settings then to Software the General then Update.

[jmontague]

open the zune software on your computer and click settings then general then update it it'll install that way did the same for me hope this helps!

[Cobija13]

why didnt you show the screen lock?? =[

[twiceasfastasyourass]

lol i did, watch the beginning... when u press the power button to turn the unit off (standby mode), it locks the screen... then when you turn it on, it keeps the screen locked (you can't press anything to show the main menu) UNTIL you slide the bottom button to the top of the screen using the touch interface... it shows your picture background when ur device is "locked"...

[ivujic]

We want some apps :D and more web browsing :)

[twiceasfastasyourass]

once the apps are available, ill post a video over Apps specifically, and along with detailed web browsing, since my internet connection was really slow at the time of this video...

[ivujic]

COOL :D looking forward to it ! Because I am listening about Zune HD for quite some time ... and want to see it in ACTION ! ...

Bored by user interface videos ... we all seen it we all know it ... we want to see something FRESH !

[DarkonXBL]

Pins huh? Interesting.

No flash support? Bummer.

Marketplace still down? Bummer.

Getting mine on Wednesday.

Thanks for upload and trying to show those apps/games.

Sorry for the typing but I'm tired and I'm about to go to sleep.

[twiceasfastasyourass]

Yes, i was hoping there would be flash support, but unfortunately it looks like its similar to HTC's slimmed down web browser... at least i can access my gmail and facebook in class straight from the Zune HD instead of lugging around a laptop... :)

[Cobija13]

thanks dude. the first video with the update!

[a7xwii]

can you tell how well tumblr . com works with the browser,

[twiceasfastasyourass]

dont know if my last comment posted, but i was able to log into my tumblr account and post a text blog... the website reports my browser is outdated, but it seemed to work as normal...