Its official, folks. The Zune HD is real and is slated to drop this fall. All the rumored specs are here – 3.3 inch 480 x 272 OLED capacitive touchscreen display, built-in HD Radio receiver, HD output (requires an optional dock), Wi-Fi, integrated web browser, multitouch support and Xbox LIVE integration. Attendees at E3 will get the first look at the Xbox LIVE integration in what Microsoft calls “a game-changing entertainment experience”. Sounds sweet and may turn out to be the one item that differentiates it from the competition. Hit the jump for the full press release.
Teamxbox has let loose with a slew of details on the rumored Zune HD, some of which they have reportedly been sitting on since last August. According to their sources, the ZuneHD will be a convergent device, incorporating some of the gaming features of the Xbox and the multimedia features of the Zune. Codenamed xYz to highlight its position between the Xbox and the Zune, the new device is rumored to have a large WVGA touchscreen display and “hardware features not found on any handheld on the market.†The Zune HD will most definitely not be a phone and will not directly compete with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile offerings, it has been said. The portable entertainment device will supposedly feature the graphical user interface of the New Xbox Experience and will be a “Live Anywhere” device, integrating the online services offered by Microsoft Live, Xbox, Zune and the recently announced Sky marketplace. Interestingly enough, teamxbox claim that their sources on the ZuneHD hardware coincide with the recently leaked “chassis 1″ specification which include an ARM 6+ processor, Open GL ES 2.0 graphics HW (can we say Nvidia Tegra), 256MB plus of RAM, min of 1GB internal memory, 3.5″+ WVGA or FWVGA touchscreen display with multi-touch, aGPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and more. If this conglomerate of recent rumors hold true, then the ZuneHD may turn the PMP world upside down if and when it launches.
June 2009 is going to be a big month: WWDC (iPhone announcement), the Palm Pre will be in action and rumor has it Microsoft has big news for the Zune. While many would speculate that the latter would mean a Zune phone from Microsoft, we’re thinking more along the lines of a Zune HD. After all, Microsoft explicitly said, “Microsoft is not going into the phone hardware business. Microsoft is not building a Zune-specific phone.” Stranger things have happened though, right? This fire was started by a Twitter account that detailed what would be included in Office 2010, such as Twitter and Facebook integration. It then went on to say “New product launch, that’s all I’m allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre.” That would imply a phone, so we’re not sure where things are headed at this point. Whatever it is, at this point the only real reason to hold off on buying a new iPhone or Pre is to avoid the lines.
