Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

September 15^th. Mark it in your diaries. Thats the date some leaked Zune packaging was bearing. It’s the PMP we’re all waiting for(if you’re one of these that don’t like Apple especially). Piece by piece fanboys have tried to source the clues and got Microsoft to spill the proverbial beans.

The OLED toting PMP looks nice. It’s specs sound nice, c’mon you know it cant disappoint can it? Well unfortunately the September 15th date is only for the States and Microsoft are keeping quiet as to when us Brits will get a go of it and we havent even got the first Zune which was realeased nearly 3 years ago and has had several models since then too.

Also there’s still no news on a price but a lot of rumours are flying round the £150 mark. C’mon Microsoft pull your finger out and let us limeys in.

Microsoft have announce its Zune HD will be powered by Nvidia’s Tegra chipset giving the OLED PMP brilliant visuals, great performance and better battery life which we all know is a massice problem when playing video on a PMP. Nvidia’s Tegra can give 1080p output on HDMI. The Zune itself will only do 720p playback but if its powered by the Tegra, this will give the Zune great rendering capabilities and it will be interesting to see how the UI can get the full potential of it.

Microsoft has kept quiet on the full specifications of the Zune HD but on an official Zune Insider Podcast, presenter Matt Akers said the Zune was “like a mini laptop in your hand” after confirming that it would indeed use the Nvidia Tegra. Still waiting for a UK release date and price…….. can’t wait!!

Paul Thurrott, a Microsoft guru, has said the ZuneHD is slated to ship September 5, 2009. Unfortunately in his blog post he has quoted CNET saying that:

The Zune HD, which will be available in the U.S. only starting this fall

 

So it looks like the Zune HD may not be getting an international release after all.

Engadget have been lucky enough to get some hands on time with the Zune HD following the exclusive demo that Steve Ballmer carried out.

The device is only a pre-production model however Engadget didn't notice a single hiccup while jumping through menus or playing back HD video.

They found the OLED screen to be absolutely stunning with colours being bright, edges crisp, and text clear.

The UI is an extension of the existing Zune interface, but way tricked out in this version, with lots of flipping images, scaling text, smooth scrolling, and an extreme emphasis on simple visual navigation.

More images and a video after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a lot of rumours flying around about the Zune HD in the recent weeks, and it has now been officially announced.

So far the specs are a little sketchy but Microsoft have revealed that the Zune HD will include a 3.3-inch, 480 x 272 OLED capacitive touchscreen display, built-in HD Radio receiver, HD output (utilizing a new dock -- not on-board).

However the specs do conform to the leaked specifications a few weeks ago which includes:

• NVIDIA Tegra processor/gpu
• 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB versions
• HDMI Connection to stream straight to your TV
• HD Radio.
• Web Browser.
• WiFi compatible, with wireless marketplace.
• Released, early fall.
• International Release
• Home AV packs, Car packs, Charge packs.

Microsoft are getting rind of the squircle in favour a full multitouch device and they have suggested that some new touch-friendly apps and games would be released.

The device will boast an IE-based, customized browser, but little else was said in the way of software.

Zune integration is coming to the Xbox and Xbox Live, as the Zune marketplace will step in to replace the current Live video resources, expanding the library and offering all kinds of new perks.

It is also believed that the Zune will be released internationally!

Press release after the jump

Read the rest of this entry »

Neo Win are reporting some exclusive details about the new Microsoft Zune HD. They are claiming that these details have been confirmed by sources within Microsoft so in theory they should be true, which would mean we may be in for quite a treat from the new Zune HD.

Zune HD specs:

• Appoximately a 3.6 inch OLED touch screen
• NVIDIA Tegra processor/gpu
• 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB versions
• HDMI Connection to stream straight to your TV
• HD Radio.
• Web Browser.
• WiFi compatible, with wireless marketplace.
• Released, early fall.
• International Release
• Home AV packs, Car packs, Charge packs.

Image from Engadget