Microsoft just put an official stamp on the ongoing Zune HD rumors, clearing up the company’s future plans for the once-thought-to-be-doomed brand. As it turns out, the iPod Touch competitor is slated towards the second half of the year.
As with pretty much every PMP in the market that dares tag an “HD” to its name, the upcoming Zune HD also won’t be capable of displaying 720p videos on its screen. It can’t even plug into an HDTV directly without a separate (non-bundled) HDMI dock. Instead, Microsoft claims, the HD refers to the device’s built-in support for HD radio transmissions and its ability to process 720p encoding (which it can send to the HDMI dock).
Touting multi-touch and browsing support, the device goes on a clear head-to-head with the iPod Touch. Screen is a 3.3-inch capacitive touchscreen OLED display, with a16:9 aspect ratio and 480 x 272 resolution. Features include Wi-Fi, an IE-based web browser and full integration with the Zune Marketplace.
Despite the press attention given to Microsoft’s latest revitalization of the Zune, I can’t help but be pessimistic about the whole thing. For one, there goes the whole rumor about an HD-capable display! The “official announcement”, after all, really left most everything about the device in the dark. In fact, it felt like a clarification of the “HD” naming than anything else.
Microsoft is claiming a vague fall release date for the Zune HD.
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