Surprise: Zune HD Isn’t Really HD

June 9th, 2009 | Category: Opinionation

In case I hadn’t covered all of the bases in my multi-platform ranting of the day, I figured I’d go take a look at the upcoming Zune HD from Microsoft’s “Beating A Dead Horse Dept.” and was not shocked to discover what I… discovered… Hm. It turns out, and I’m sure I’m coming into the rather later, that the Zune HD isn’t actually HD. The unit itself, a rather snazzy un-Microsoft-ian industrial design, can actually only handle a decidedly non-HD 480×272. In order to see HD video from the… ahem… Zune HD you need to get a “Sold Separately” HD dock, and even then it only supports up to 720p.

yay.

So, it has a small screen resolution, but it sports a touch screen, HD radio reception (that’s cool, really), and its very nice looking if you like brushed aluminum. Who doesn’t. Oh, and it has a web browser. It sorta sounds like an iPod Touch. Oh hell. I’m not going there. You know how hard Apple rocks the iPod Touch. It does really look quite nice, though. Maybe that’s the trick up its sleeve. Mesmerization by industrial design.