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Zune 80 in Action
comment: 45 | Friday, October 05 (2007) 06:53AM | Posted by Michael
The first thing that caught my eye about the new Zunes was the new interface. Perhaps it's because of its fresh new look, or perhaps it's because the font seems to be made for the visually impaired. What else is new about the interface? See for yourself here:




Besides that main menu, the interface remains pretty faithful to the original. I'm really liking those new controls too. Combining touch-sensitivity directly into a d-pad control scheme is pretty intuitive, albeit potentially frustrating. With so few choices remaining in the HD market (Creative, where are you?) the Zune 80 couldn't have come sooner.

LINK
Comments

KFLO

Comments: 2
 		Oct 05 (2007) 07:37AM  

I find the main menu font is a too large for my liking. Zune went from too small to too large (font)
[ edited Oct 05 (2007) 07:47AM ]



iain1237

Comments: 67
 		Oct 05 (2007) 07:54AM  

True, It's like the blind man's iPod. Haha.

I'm not sure whether I like the look of the new UI or not, sure it looks fluid and pretty quick, but why use up so much of the screen real estate by filling it with letters? It could've had much smaller font, and it still would've been readable, but this massive font kinda ruins any plans of having your own wallpaper, cause it's going to be covered up for the most part anyways.

The 'squircle' is kinda cool though. I like the idea of it better than a click wheel, cause (I believe) you're given the choice to use it like a D-pad OR a touch pad. I love a company which accommodates the desires of their consumers.



Roger767

Comments: 206
 		Oct 05 (2007) 07:55AM  

does it support avi? (divx, xvid)



coverjunk

Comments: 7
 		Oct 05 (2007) 08:06AM  

Not out of the box but there seems to be a hack .



LiQuiD_FuSioN

Comments: 111
 		Oct 05 (2007) 08:27AM  

I have some questions about the new Zune and its firmware update for older ones:

For mp4 video (if anyone has tried it yet), can I drag over my mp4 videos that were converted for the iPod over to the Zune? After all, you can watch iPod video/audio podcasts on the Zune 2 now.

If not, why won't it work if the file names and stuff are the same? I would love to get the Zune 2 or maybe Zune 1, but I really love my collection of TV shows from iTunes right now. Even if I can watch iPod videos on the Zune, I wonder if it will look grainy or stretched too. So many questions, so little time!

[ edited Oct 05 (2007) 08:30AM ]



Dominic
Location: Ireland.
Comments: 2396
 		Oct 05 (2007) 09:34AM  

ah! a main menu even I can read without my contacts!

lovin the Zune 80, would love to consider buying it but MS or Apple don't want to play nice together...



HipHopScribe

Comments: 126
 		Oct 05 (2007) 10:44AM  

For mp4 video (if anyone has tried it yet), can I drag over my mp4 videos that were converted for the iPod over to the Zune? After all, you can watch iPod video/audio podcasts on the Zune 2 now.

If not, why won't it work if the file names and stuff are the same? I would love to get the Zune 2 or maybe Zune 1, but I really love my collection of TV shows from iTunes right now. Even if I can watch iPod videos on the Zune, I wonder if it will look grainy or stretched too. So many questions, so little time!


No, at least the Zune didn't get H.264 support (according to anythingbutipod), you'd need the Zune 2 for that, I don't know about non-H.264, Quicktime encoded MPEG-4 video. Anything you bought from iTunes is protected by DRM anyway.




[ edited Oct 05 (2007) 10:46AM ]



srika
Location: Chicago
Comments: 50
 		Oct 05 (2007) 11:25AM  

what is this, "my first DAP"??? LOLZ



undesign

Comments: 786
 		Oct 05 (2007) 01:38PM  

as a graphic designer.....the gui and the font are BADASS!! god damn, its so slick. but the font, omg, they incorporated a similar font to helvetica neue ultralight, one of my favs, and also REALLY easy to look at. This is one area where im surprised microsoft actually has apple SERVED!

anyway, im not going to buy it, its a microsoft product.
[ edited Oct 05 (2007) 01:39PM ]



Ricardo Dawkins

Comments: 380
 		Oct 05 (2007) 02:02PM  

what is this, "my first DAP"??? LOLZ

yeah, for a lot of ppl it will be. Too bad for Apple.



dave95

Comments: 122
 		Oct 05 (2007) 03:14PM  

I would think they've added an option to change to size of the font.......I would think!

The question about screen rotation was asked:
"So that’s happening through the context as apposed to something ahh like using Accelerometer that sense how you’re holding it....."

His answer was “Exactly, Exactly”, like Accelerometer is not the better option here. I understand videos but why should you have to see photos only in landscape mode. The less rotating you have to do the better.


[ edited Oct 05 (2007) 03:15PM ]



TOMREM!X

Comments: 56
 		Oct 05 (2007) 03:22PM  

The big font is where it's at. If the screen is so big why not use it all.



funky

Comments: 3
 		Oct 05 (2007) 03:28PM  

Does the Zune has preset equalizer or user equalizer?



estat

Comments: 67
 		Oct 05 (2007) 05:05PM  

I'll have to withhold most judgment until I see it, but so far it has me interested. Just looking at the specs, I'm extremely glad that they slimmed it down. 12.9mm is fairly respectable. I'm interested how the headphones compare to Shure E2c, Sennheiser CX300, and Creative EP630.

On the other hand, I'm not sold on the interface, the battery life could be better, and no xvid (MPEG-4 ASP) support out of the box is lame. Wifi is a mixed bag. If they didn't add the ability to do a wifi sync it would still be pointless IMO.



everunman

Comments: 24
 		Oct 05 (2007) 08:36PM  

I really hope the battery lasts as long as they report, I had the Zune1 and 8 hours for audio was about it, compared to 12-14 as stated.



Breakdown

Comments: 228
 		Oct 05 (2007) 09:12PM  

I'm sure for Zune fans this is great improvement, but to me it is the same ugly looking DRM MTP-only device.



kickenchicken

Comments: 59
 		Oct 05 (2007) 10:27PM  

i think they over did it with the Font Size, were not blind MS! they should at least cut it in half (the font size) its a tad too big. but other than that .. nice!



Steve

Comments: 1197
 		Oct 05 (2007) 11:18PM  

I would think they've added an option to change to size of the font.......I would think!

I agree, it's just not big enough.



kickenchicken

Comments: 59
 		Oct 05 (2007) 11:29PM  

though, im amazed at how fluid the interface looks and the transitions. there about as fluid as the iTouch's.



Saijin_Naib
Location: Warren, NJ
Comments: 893
 		Oct 05 (2007) 11:58PM  

Im liking the font size. Definitely a yes for in car application now



jbhitter24

Comments: 351
 		Oct 06 (2007) 11:44AM  

well the font is really thin, so its not too bad imo. i don't have too bad of vision, but it'll be nice to be able to just bring it out of my pocket to switch stuff around, instead of bringing it up to a viewable level.

the gui looks so smooth! that zunepad is excellent.



Saijin_Naib
Location: Warren, NJ
Comments: 893
 		Oct 06 (2007) 03:29PM  

Yeah, its very interesting. I wonder how it works in practice. it seems like it would be pretty awesome to use both manners to navigate.



bloodycape

Comments: 705
 		Oct 06 (2007) 04:44PM  

I wonder if there will be a third party company coming out with a battery upgrade for the Zune2 like the did with the Zune. Granted the Zune extenteded battery like added 30mins extra to video and audio, it is better than nothing.



Saijin_Naib
Location: Warren, NJ
Comments: 893
 		Oct 06 (2007) 04:59PM  

I didnt even know there was one!
Learn something new every day



Dattebayo

Comments: 7
 		Oct 06 (2007) 11:24PM  

While the font may be to large, I do actually like what I am seeing. The GUI looks pretty slick and easy to use, while as the new "squircle" actually looks pretty good. The fact that it gives you a choice of using a touch-pad or a d-pad is pretty cool and looks to work well and I love the screen size. This makes my next dap all so much harder to choose from.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I hope these new Zunes actually show up in Canadian stores, I haven't seen the Zune anywhere around here.
[ edited Oct 07 (2007) 02:06AM ]



musicman

Comments: 336
 		Oct 07 (2007) 07:02AM  

Did you notice that when he was trying to select pictures he twice selected the wrong option? I don't think that says much about the friendliness of the new controls.



iain1237

Comments: 67
 		Oct 07 (2007) 07:09AM  

OR, the dude is an uncoordinated 'tard?



Dominic
Location: Ireland.
Comments: 2396
 		Oct 07 (2007) 07:21AM  

nah MM, it was a teeny tiny mistake, really hard to judge anything or determine the "friendliness" of the controls... you may be jumping the gun with your opinion there MM dude.



Saijin_Naib
Location: Warren, NJ
Comments: 893
 		Oct 07 (2007) 10:04AM  

Yeah, the guy seemed like he was kinda rushing or nervous. Its gotta be hard to do the product speech while trying to demonstrate it for a camera. I think the guy was just kinda beat. The errors were NOT consistent enough to be the "poor" controls you are eluding too; it looked simply like he was having difficulty due t being a little too rushed with it.



undesign

Comments: 786
 		Oct 07 (2007) 11:53AM  

^ive always considered every creative dap with the touch strip to have a tortured control, i always scroll too far up or to far down, its not accurate.



Dominic
Location: Ireland.
Comments: 2396
 		Oct 07 (2007) 11:57AM  

even the VM? I found that to have excellent controls.



kickenchicken

Comments: 59
 		Oct 07 (2007) 02:11PM  

the Zen Vision:M's Touch controls and the Zen Touch control's are WAYYYY different. the TOuch is out of control and just wayy to unaccurate. the Zen is ages ahead when it comes down to that. i find it even more accurate than the iPod Click Wheel.



Michael
Location: New York City
Comments: 2786
 		Oct 07 (2007) 05:25PM  

Nearly every touch sensitive player that Creative has made has had a different type of touch pad. The Zen Micro, Touch, Sleek, and ZVM all have different types of touchpads. The ZVM's is by far the best of all of them and much easier to use. They even have a patent on the that specific control. With three levels of sensitivity as well you should be able to navigate without problem in no time...

[ edited Oct 07 (2007) 05:27PM ]



JeffMD

Comments: 19
 		Oct 07 (2007) 05:47PM  

My zen vision M is feeling abit dated, and the zune 80 has piqued my interest. The big letters are abit..big.. but the smoothing scrolling ui makes up for it imo. I like the large album art backdrop, but I am hoping there is some custom background settings, thats what makes my zen looks bad ass.

Also as my taste in formats growup, so do my requirements. Having upgraded my laptop and pc, divx is no longer my format of choice. My ZVM has slowly but surly been unable to play straight from download divx files as bitrates rise, resolutions get bigger, and audio exceeds 2 channels. Now my tv showes are in h264 HD with 5.1 surround sound. Reformatting for a portable player is once again a requirement.

I do wish ogg was supported, but alas if I need something in its highest quality form, wma lossless is fine.


TOMREM!X

Comments: 56
 		Oct 07 (2007) 06:06PM  

Yes the Zune has customizable wallpaper.

I really don't like the dpad for the old zune so I hope the squircle works well.



kickenchicken

Comments: 59
 		Oct 07 (2007) 07:55PM  

the only thing i didnt like about the D Pad was it kinda felt cheap/loose. though this one looks better. and im going to get one to replace my Zen Vision:M so cant wait for november!



boogie_doggie

Comments: 11
 		Oct 07 (2007) 08:35PM  

I'm really liking this, going to pick one up when my Karma dies...

BTW, isn't it time to start work on an alternative OS like RockBox for the Zune? I'm thinking: keep the GUI, add more supported codecs (audio and video), and throw in an RSS reader (don't need a full browser, I'm not greedy)... does not have to be a full overhaul, just added features.

FULL DISCLOSURE: This is all wishful thinking on my part, I don't know the first thing about programming.



cacapis

Comments: 18
 		Oct 07 (2007) 10:46PM  

I think this absolutely KILLS the ipod classic.
But to me it has the same major problem as the ipod, its own music manager. I wish you could just copy music into it and not have to deal with stupid cumbersome software



Steve

Comments: 1197
 		Oct 08 (2007) 07:15AM  

BTW, isn't it time to start work on an alternative OS like RockBox for the Zune? I'm thinking: keep the GUI

But you can't have Rockbox and keep the GUI at the same time. Rockbox is a completely seperate OS with its own GUI. Rockbox can be themed but it isn't likely that all the features of the Zune GUI can be reproduced in Rockbox without some major work.



Ricardo Dawkins

Comments: 380
 		Oct 08 (2007) 09:40AM  

I didnt even know there was one!
Learn something new every day

There are 850mah and 950mah versions.



Saijin_Naib
Location: Warren, NJ
Comments: 893
 		Oct 08 (2007) 12:53PM  

Awesome :0 Hopefully someone can stick a higher rating battery in there soon. Im thinking 1400 mAh or so Like my archoses can get.



boogie_doggie

Comments: 11
 		Oct 08 (2007) 06:55PM  

But you can't have Rockbox and keep the GUI at the same time. Rockbox is a completely seperate OS with its own GUI.


I did'nt mean an entire OS re-write like Rockbox, just some added functions to the existing one... is this possible?



bloodycape

Comments: 705
 		Oct 08 (2007) 07:09PM  

I would think 1400 would be too big to stick in. Maybe 1100 is plausible at most. What Archos you have again Naib? Was it the Gmini 400/2 and the 05 series?



Saijin_Naib
Location: Warren, NJ
Comments: 893
 		Oct 08 (2007) 09:03PM  

400 series :p
Had, they are listed on ebay and moving this week.



mD

Comments: 1
 		Oct 23 (2007) 08:26PM  


Does the Zune has preset equalizer or user equalizer?


I'd really like to know this too



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