Zune HD
Encyclopedia
The Zune HD is a portable media player
Portable media player
A portable media player or digital audio player, is a consumer electronics device that is capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, video, documents, etc. the data is typically stored on a hard drive, microdrive, or flash memory. In contrast, analog portable audio...

 in the Zune
Zune
Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...

 product family released on September 15, 2009 by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

. It is a direct competitor with the Apple iPod and iPhone series of mobile devices. It was initially released in 16 and 32 GB capacities. A 64 GB version was released on April 9, 2010. It utilizes a touchscreen
Touchscreen
A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus...

 interface for navigation and includes Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...

 for synchronization, access to the Zune Marketplace and Web browsing
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...

.

The Zune HD utilizes the Nvidia Tegra APX 2600 chip, allowing it to play 720p
720p
720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...

 video through the optional HDMI Zune dock on a high-definition television. Otherwise, content will be scaled down to 480x272 pixels on the player's OLED touchscreen
Touchscreen
A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus...

.

History

Soon after Apple released the iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...

, Microsoft R&D department head, Robbie Bach began work on a touch-screen Zune player to combat it. The department started immediately on reworking the Windows CE
Windows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...

-based OS of the older Zune to suit the new multitouch PMP. Astro Studios was contracted to design the Zune HD's aluminum casing. On June 19, 2009, Zune Insider host Matt Akers confirmed that the Zune HD would have an nVidia
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...

 Tegra
Tegra
Tegra developed by Nvidia is a system-on-a-chip series for mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants, and mobile Internet devices. The Tegra integrates the ARM architecture processor central processing unit , graphics processing unit , northbridge, southbridge, and memory...

 APX 2600 chip and OLED touchscreen.

The Zune HD was released on September 15, 2009 to retail markets in black and platinum colors and 16 or 32GB capacities; additionally, red, green, and blue-colored models were available through the online Zune Originals store.

Two months later, on November 6, 2009, firmware update 4.3 was released. The new firmware version improved the performance of the web browser, added support for the apps that were to be released in the days that followed, and fixed several notable bugs. On November 11, 2009, several new apps appeared on the Zune Marketplace. The new apps included PGR: Ferrari Edition, Audiosurf Tilt
Audiosurf
Audiosurf is a puzzle/rhythm hybrid game created by Invisible Handlebar, a personal company created by Dylan Fitterer. Its track-like stages visually mimic the music the player chooses, while the player races across several lanes collecting colored blocks that appear in sync with the music...

, Lucky Lanes Bowling, Vans Sk8: Pool Service, Checkers, and Piano.

The Zune HD's Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

 app was released on December 16, 2009 to the Zune Marketplace; however, it was soon noticed that the app was censoring tweets. This was likely an effort on Microsoft's part to appease parents, because the Zune HD does not have parental controls. Microsoft promptly fixed this following an outcry among Zune HD owners in version 1.1 of the app.

After previously being promised before the end of 2009, the Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 app was made available on the Zune Marketplace on March 1, 2010. Initially, the app had some API issues in which it could not download most information from Facebook, but these issues were corrected 2 days later without a software update.

On April 5, 2010, after being announced at CES 2010, firmware version 4.5 was released, bringing with it several new features, such as on-device Smart DJ (a feature that had been present in the PC software for some time), Xvid
XviD
Xvid is a video codec library following the MPEG-4 standard, specifically MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile . It uses ASP features such as b-frames, global and quarter pixel motion compensation, lumi masking, trellis quantization, and H.263, MPEG and custom quantization matrices.Xvid is a...

 codec support, and Marketplace support through the optional dock.

Less than one week later, on the 9th of April, a 64GB capacity Zune HD went on sale; in addition, the 16GB and 32GB models released in September 2009 both had a price drop of USD$20 on their MSRP
Suggested retail price
The manufacturer's suggested retail price , list price or recommended retail price of a product is the price which the manufacturer recommends that the retailer sell the product. The intention was to help to standardise prices among locations...

s.

On October 3, 2011, Microsoft announced that it has discontinued all Zune hardware, encouraging users to transition to Windows Phone. While that announcement was initially removed as potentially erroneous, it was reposted permanently and confirmed by Microsoft soon thereafter.

Specifications

The specifications as listed by the official web site of the Zune HD, as well as reported by various sources:
  • 3.3-inch glass
    Glass
    Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...

     capacitive multi-touch
    Multi-touch
    In computing, multi-touch refers to a touch sensing surface's ability to recognize the presence of two or more points of contact with the surface...

     OLED display with a 16:9
    16:9
    16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...

     480x272 resolution
    Display resolution
    The display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube , flat panel or projection...

  • Built-in accelerometer
    Accelerometer
    An accelerometer is a device that measures proper acceleration, also called the four-acceleration. This is not necessarily the same as the coordinate acceleration , but is rather the type of acceleration associated with the phenomenon of weight experienced by a test mass that resides in the frame...

  • Windows Embedded CE 6.0 operating system
  • 16, 32, and 64 GB flash memory options
  • CPU and GPU: Nvidia Tegra APX with one ARM11 and one ARM7 processor cores, plus 6 other dedicated cores
  • RAM
    Ram
    -Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...

    : 128 MB Hynix SDRAM
  • 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
    Wi-Fi
    Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...

     with open, WEP
    Wired Equivalent Privacy
    Wired Equivalent Privacy is a weak security algorithm for IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. Introduced as part of the original 802.11 standard ratified in September 1999, its intention was to provide data confidentiality comparable to that of a traditional wired network...

    , WPA
    Wi-Fi Protected Access
    Wi-Fi Protected Access and Wi-Fi Protected Access II are two security protocols and security certification programs developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance to secure wireless computer networks...

    , and WPA2 authentication modes and WEP 64-bit and 128-bit, TKIP, and AES encryption modes
  • Built-in rechargeable 3.7V 660mAh lithium-ion polymer battery with up to 33 hours of audio playback (wireless off) and 8.5 hours of video
  • Size: 52.7x102.1x8.9mm (2.07x4.08x0.35 in)
  • Weight: 74g (2.6 oz)
  • FM/HD Radio
    HD Radio
    HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...

     tuner
  • Equalizer
    Equalization
    Equalization, is the process of adjusting the balance between frequency components within an electronic signal. The most well known use of equalization is in sound recording and reproduction but there are many other applications in electronics and telecommunications. The circuit or equipment used...

  • Web browser (based on Internet Explorer Mobile 6 for Windows CE
    Windows CE
    Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...

    )
  • Support for apps built with Microsoft's XNA
    XNA
    XNA or xna may refer to:* Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport's IATA code* X-No-Archive, a Usenet newsgroup header* Microsoft XNA, a set of free tools and technologies for game developers from Microsoft...

     platform The Zune restarts however every time XNA apps exit.
  • Audio output: Analog RCA
    RCA connector
    An RCA connector, sometimes called a phono connector or cinch connector, is a type of electrical connector commonly used to carry audio and video signals...

     and Optical Digital
    TOSLINK
    TOSLINK is a standardized optical fiber connection system. Also known generically as an "optical audio cable," its most common use is in consumer audio equipment , where it carries a digital audio stream from components such as MiniDisc, CD and DVD players, DAT recorders, computers, and modern...

     out (additional dock required)
  • Audio support:
    • CBR and VBR audio, up to 48 kHz sample rate, for:
      • WMA Standard up to 384 kbit/s (DRM protected files can be played only if purchased from the Zune Marketplace)
      • WMA Pro stereo up to 768 kbit/s
      • WMA Lossless stereo up to 768 kbit/s
      • Unprotected AAC
        Advanced Audio Coding
        Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....

        -LC (.mp4/.m4b) up to 320 kbit/s
      • MP3
        MP3
        MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

         up to 320 kbit/s
  • Video support:
    • WMV
      • Main and Simple Profile, CBR or VBR
        • 720 x 480 pixels with a bit rate
          Bit rate
          In telecommunications and computing, bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time....

           of up to 10.0 Mbit/s and a framerate of up to 30 frames per second.
        • 720 x 576 pixels with a bit rate
          Bit rate
          In telecommunications and computing, bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time....

           of up to 10.0 Mbit/s and a framerate of up to 25 frames per second.
      • Advanced profile up to L2, CBR or VBR
        • 1280 x 720 pixels with a bit rate
          Bit rate
          In telecommunications and computing, bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time....

           of up to 14.0 Mbit/s, and a framerate of up to 30 frames per second.
    • Up to 720p
      720p
      720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...

       resolution and 14 Mbit/s bit rate
      Bit rate
      In telecommunications and computing, bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time....

      , CBR or VBR for:
      • H.264, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.1 support
      • VC-1
        VC-1
        VC-1 is the informal name of the SMPTE 421M video codec standard, which was initially developed as a proprietary video format by Microsoft before it was released as a formal SMPTE standard video format on April 3, 2006...

         Main and Simple Profile, Advanced profile up to Level 2.
      • MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile up to 4.0 Mbit/s bit rate
    • 720p
      720p
      720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...

       high definition video output using HDMI
      HDMI
      HDMI is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data. It is a digital alternative to consumer analog standards, such as radio frequency coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, or VGA...

       or composite
      Composite video
      Composite video is the format of an analog television signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF carrier. In contrast to component video it contains all required video information, including colors in a single line-level signal...

       connections (additional dock required for both)

Apps

As of August 2011, the Zune Marketplace has 63 apps for Zune HD, of which 41 are games. All of the apps and games are free. Apps available excluding games are Calendar, Fingerpaint, Stopwatch, Alarm Clock, Chord Finder, Facebook, Twitter, MSN Money, MSN Weather, Calculator, Piano, Metronome, Level, Drum Machine, Fan Prediction, Shuffle by Album, Windows Live Messenger, Notes, Email and Zune Reader. An extension to the Microsoft XNA
Microsoft XNA
Microsoft XNA is a set of tools with a managed runtime environment provided by Microsoft that facilitates video game development and management. XNA attempts to free game developers from writing "repetitive boilerplate code" and to bring different aspects of game production into a single system...

 framework providing development support for the Zune HD was released on September 16, 2009. The Zune PC Software can be used for adding apps to the Zune HD. The Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger is an instant messaging client created by Microsoft that is currently designed to work with Windows XP , Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Xbox 360, Blackberry OS, iOS, Java ME, S60 on Symbian OS 9.x and Zune HD...

 app for the Zune HD was released on October 1, 2010, making Messenger available for all major mobile platforms.
The email app was released for the Zune HD in April 2011 allowing users to sync with their email accounts and download folders and emails. The app is similar to the email interface on the Windows Phone
Windows Phone
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...

.

Games

Games for the Zune HD include 3D Picture Puzzle, A Beanstalk Tale, BBQ Battle, Bees!, AnimalGrams, Audiosurf
Audiosurf
Audiosurf is a puzzle/rhythm hybrid game created by Invisible Handlebar, a personal company created by Dylan Fitterer. Its track-like stages visually mimic the music the player chooses, while the player races across several lanes collecting colored blocks that appear in sync with the music...

: Tilt, Castles and Cannons, Checkers, Chess, ColorSpill, Decoder Ring, Dr. Optics Light Lab, Echoes, Finger Physics, Goo Splat, Hairball, Hearts, Hexic, Labyrinth, Lucky Lanes Bowling, Music Quiz, Penalty! Flick Soccer, Project Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition, Reversi, Run and Jump, Shell Game...of the Future!, Slider Puzzle, Snowball, Solitare, Space Battle 2, Spades, Splatter Bug, Sudoku, SuperNova, Texas Hold'em, Tiki Totems, Tiles, Trash Throw, Tug-O-War, Vans Sk8: Pool Service, Vine Climb and Wordmonger. Indie titles written with XNA
XNA
XNA or xna may refer to:* Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport's IATA code* X-No-Archive, a Usenet newsgroup header* Microsoft XNA, a set of free tools and technologies for game developers from Microsoft...

 are also available from multiple sources.

On April 20, 2010, an independent app developer released a port of Doom, one of the first independent 3D games to be developed for the Zune HD, using OpenZDK.

Web browser

The browser features favorites and Bing search. The keyboard can be accessed by touching a text box, swiping up from the bottom bar of the browser and touching the address bar, or touching the magnifying glass (search) icon on the bottom bar of the browser. The keyboard has portrait orientation, with the keys bulging around the user's finger when touched. The web browser has pinch and stretch for zooming and page reorientation due to the built in accelerometer. The Zune HD web browser scores 5/100 in the Acid3
Acid3
Acid3 test is a web test page from the Web Standards Project that checks a web browser's compliance with elements of various web standards, particularly the Document Object Model and JavaScript....

 test. As of the launch, the Zune HD's web browser does not support Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...

 applications, such as video playback on YouTube, and no plans have been made to bring Flash support to the device.

With the 4.3 firmware update, browsing performance was improved, and users can change the Internet settings to display the browser optimized for a Mobile device or for a PC experience. In addition, users can now enable "auto correct" and "auto capitalize" when using the keyboard to enter information, making it easier to type content into the browser.

With the 4.5 firmware update, browsing performance was further improved. In addition, Smart DJ playlists, Picks, expanded video codec support, and the ability to download photos and sort favorites by name and date were included in the update.

Metro

The Zune HD was the first instance of Microsoft's typography-based design language
Design language
A design language or design vocabulary is an overarching scheme or style that guides the design of a complement of products or architectural settings...

 in a portable device whose evolution would ultimately spread to Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...

 and the short-lived Kin phones. It uses a font family called "Zegoe", which is a modified version of Microsoft's font family, Segoe.

Technology news website Gizmodo labeled the Zune HD's UI as "an evolution of the PMP—not a devolution of some smartphone model. Every new feature it has is used to expand the way you absorb media, from the HD video output to the HD radio to the redesigned UI."

OpenZDK

Prior to the release of the OpenZDK development kit, writing applications for the Zune required the use of Microsoft's XNA development environment. Instead of using XNA, developers can now write apps in C++ that run natively on the Zune, without the overhead of the XNA library. Developers can also access APIs previously used only by Microsoft, such as the 3D graphics and Internet APIs.

See also

  • Comparison of portable media players
    Comparison of portable media players
    The following comparison of portable media players compares general and technical information for notable digital playback devices.- General :- Technical specifications :- Syncing and transfer :- Wifi Connectivity :- Audio formats :...

  • List of portable media players with Wi-Fi connectivity
  • Windows Phone 7
    Windows Phone 7
    Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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