Zune HD's web browser is 'iPhone-like'

updated 12:10 pm EDT, Wed August 5, 2009

Zune HD Browser Experience

The web browser for the Zune HD will be one of the highlights of Microsoft's media player when it ships, a hands-on with the devices show. Testing with the player by CNET reveals that the browser, although made by the Internet Explorer team, is directly comparable to Safari for the iPhone and can do nearly everything Apple's software can, including multi-touch commands and the on-screen keyboard. It only lacks recognition of embedded video.

"The Zune's new Web browser smokes," Senior Editor Donald Bell says. "Not since first using the iPhone have I been this impressed with a mobile web browser... page load was snappy, and pinching and reorienting pages work just like the iPhone and iPod touch."

Outside of the web, the Zune HD also promises to make use of its Wi-Fi even during regular music playback. Tracks automatically receive artist info, photos and related artist lists regardless of whether or not they were bought through the Zune Marketplace. As long as the player is online, it can also take users to related artists in the Marketplace to download them.

The player itself is "expensive, solid, and sexy," Bell adds. It's slightly thicker than the iPod touch but considerably narrower due to its smaller and lower resolution 480x272 display.

Microsoft won't yet commit to a price or a ship date for the player, although it's expected in September at or near $249 for a 16GB model. The player is intended to outclass the current iPod touch in features with a high-color OLED display, HD Radio tuning and 720p video playback on a TV. The latter uses a special video dock that will come with HDMI output and a remote control.

By Electronista Staff

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TAGS :

iPod, iPhone, iPod touch, gadgets, Zune, Microsoft, audio, HD Radio, Apple

Comment buried. Show

luckyday

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2008

-34

08/05, 01:50pm | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

Oh Nat

Haha. Now Microsoft making their product as good as Apple's is copying. Amazing.

Multitouch has been around for a while. Apple didn't come up with the idea. They just think they patented it. To be honest, as Apple really come up with anything that nobody thought of? 5 years ago, my friends and I knew that the future of the cell phone was to integrate the phone, camera, and computer into one device with a touch screen. Pretty obvious evolution.

What has Apple done that is so surprising and creative?

nat

Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2002

+17

08/05, 01:55pm | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

oh luck

"What has Apple done that is so surprising and creative?"

we have discussed you doing your homework before coming on here. still, you do not listen. sigh. i just don't know what else to do.

joecab

Joined: Apr 2004

08/05, 02:34pm | report spam | (4 replies) close | reply

not so luckyday

"Multitouch has been around for a while"

An oversimplification. The details of how it's being used is what's innovative and patentable. And "obvious" doesn't count if it just sits in your head gathering dust; it's doing something interesting with it that matters.

macnixer

Joined: Mar 2006

08/05, 02:46pm | report spam | close reply

eternal truth

the sun rises in the east and macnn made news of it. :)

Frankly I do not understand "The Zune's new Web browser smokes," Senior Editor Donald Bell says."
What is he smoking - Ganja (pot)?

MS has been copying and forget that they need to come up with something innovative. Wait this word is not used on MS Campus.

MS Internal Motto - What is Apple Doing Today?
MS Adverts - Where do you want to go today?

slider

Mac Elite

Joined: Oct 1999

08/05, 03:19pm | report spam | close reply

What?

What's this got to do with touch screens? Apple didn't invest the MP3 player, they just made it work. Apple didn't invest the smartphone, they just made the first smart phone.

Apple invents a lot of stuff, they also know how to look at a market and see what's wrong with it, then develop a product that works. In the case of the Zune, what commenters are referring to is not that M$ copied Safari, rather they copied the means by which to implement web browsing on a touch device. I don't understand the confusion (if that's what it is). M$ has had a mobile web browser long before the iPhone, but instead of actually designing a UI appropriate for a mobile device, the just went with what they knew. I'm in awe as to how someone can't see this - Apple has changed the entire smart phone industry - if they'd done it right the first time Apple would never have entered the market as there would not have been a need. Jobs nailed it when he said, "people hate their phones."

testudo

Forum Regular

Joined: Aug 2001

-19

08/05, 04:00pm | report spam | close reply

Re: What?

they just made the first smart phone.

Actually, they didn't invent the first 'smart phone'. It took them two years to figure out how someone who gets an email could, say, copy information from that email and paste it in another application. Not exactly smart.

-5

08/05, 04:01pm | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

Re: Well, well

That means they stole Safari?

They don't have to 'steal' Safari. Webkit is opensource, so they can feel free and just use it if they wish...

Salty

Professional Poster

Joined: Jul 2005

08/05, 04:23pm | report spam | close reply

Good

Good the more money Microsoft sinks into this loosing venture the better. It'll mean Apple will continually be stressed with how to best innovate and it will help deplete Microsoft's cash reserves. Apple already spends tons on R&D, it'll be great for them to have someone to have to stay ahead of. I just feel sorry for the suckers who buy it.

lamewing

Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Aug 2004

-12

08/05, 04:25pm | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

I cannot believe

...the number of folks who dip into the kool aid around here. Guys, Apple did not invent the smartphone...(where do people come up with this nonsense?).

I am curious if the Zune HD will support flash or will it follow suit with Apple in the lame excuse that flahs won't be supported.

08/05, 05:04pm | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

oh lame and testudo

the guy may have misspoke but he said they didn't invent the smart phone, they just made the first (practical) smart phone.

if you can't see that then please explain the plethora of copy cats.

and of course, the greatest "innovator" of them all is late to the game with nothing new but a boat load of cash to make sure they "compete".

JulesLt

08/06, 08:14am | report spam | close reply

Cheaper. . .

The photo above looks less attractive that the earlier images - which showed what looked to be a much more metallic, rather than two tone, device.

I'm also intrigued as to how the team whose browser engine lags behind all their rivals on the desktop, can beat Webkit in performance (or advanced HTML and CSS support) - if they have, why haven't they ported the improvements back into desktop IE?

Luckyday - yes, I also predicted the iPod Touch on Ars Technica, but you know there's a big difference between coming up with some vague idea, and the actual practical steps taken to make that work.

Testudo - and do you think that 2 years was because it was technically beyond Apple's engineers to implement cut & paste? Or do you think it was spent thinking about how it should work, considering we are at the start of defining how gesture-based interfaces should work.

-11

08/06, 09:34am | report spam | close reply

JulesTt

You are missing my point. I'm simply stating that all of these companies are following the most likely path. A path that most tech-minded people saw. Therefore, I'm willing to give apple some credit for helping to lead the pack, but I'm not going to sit there and call everyone else a copycat.

we now have bunch of devices coming out that are going to be similar based on the fact that the hardware does not leave much room for differences. A candy bar phone with a touch screen will look like all the others. The only room for difference is the thickness, the screen, and minor styling cues such as material and color. With that being said, there are only so many ways to control the image/text on a touchscreen, and apple's method is not unique or creative, but rather intuitive and obvious (which is great for the consumer).

In sum, my point is that nobody is copying anyone in this race, companies are just arriving at different checkpoints first.

08/06, 10:48am | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

spoken like a true ms apologist.

that's right, years and years of cell phones and not a one of them anything at all like the iPhone. ever. now that these others are producing them it's not because they didn't think of it, it's because they were just arriving at it later.

uh huh. that's one dandy argument there. truly inventive.

08/06, 11:25am | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

RE: Jules Tt Part 1

Luckyday: When Apple came out with the iPod, it was laughed at by the industry - Again, Apple did not "invent" the MP3 player, infact the MP3 player had been out for years prior to that. But, digital music was not going anywhere despite several attempts by other companies. Just because the technology exists for a product doesn't mean - what is then later called obvious or "likely" path - that product (and in the case of iTunes, market) will emerge. It took Apple to take what was and actually product a product and market that worked.

In the case of the iPhone, again, any company "could" have produced a device like the iPhone, the technology was more or less already out there. But they didn't and from what I saw coming out immediately after the iPhone was released, I doubt anyone was even close. You're just wrong, about these companies not copying Apple. You just have to look at the rush of touch devices to market to see it.

When the iPod was released, again, it was mocked. You also need to look at where Apple was when the iPod came out. Apple was in serious trouble in 1997 and had just edged off the brink in 1999-2000 and had a clear way forward with Mac OS X, but was still considered too small to be a big player. Apple continued to make headway and in 2001 released the iPod - this device raised no flags on the industry big board. Then, with the introduce of iTunes, it took off. The new Mac OS was really showing off it's stuff and Apple was launching innovative products. Apple had dominated the digital music player market - the iPod no longer dismissed, and Apple seen as a visionary company. Shoot forward a couple of years, and rumors of an iPhone start to circulate. Apple is not seen as a blip on the radar, it's leader, a company to watch. This time, when Apple launched it's new product everybody tried to get a product out to try and take a grab at the market before Apple dominated that one too (everyone except for Palm, or course, they just laughed at it), and most of these still just couldn't implement a desirable product. ->P2

08/06, 11:28am | report spam | close reply

RE: Jules Tt Part 2

P1-> Now there is a rumor gaining more traction now than it has over the last couple of years of an Apple designed tablet/netbook-ish product that could be released as early as this year. So, iPod, iPhone, and now iSomething. iPod - Laughed at, iPhone - taken seriously, and the iSomething, well, if the recent accompanying rumor is to be believed, other companies developing similar products are actually putting their designs on hold and waiting to see what Apple outs. There are already tablets, there have been for years, and they're a complete failure. Netbooks aren't new, but they are more likely a fad and the cheap costs of these are now seen a barely profitable item and case quality issues are now starting to appear. The question isn't so much about technology; it's about really understanding the users and market. You indicated that all companies would eventually arrive at the same place. Ignoring the fact that a company must get there first and therefore showing the way, the statement just isn't always true. I think the PC tablet is a good example as it's been on the market for years now. Actually, the smart phone is a better example, those have been on the market for a very long time. Not until the iPhone did the market actually start shifting toward smartphones (and btw, yes, in my earlier post I was not saying Apple invented the "smartphone" I was saying Apple invested the first phone that was actually smart ie "smart" "phone"). Even if Apple did not get into the phone market and a company built a touch screen device (likely) it would not have changed the industry b/c it would have been poorly implemented - and I base that on all the phones, both smart and basic, that where on the market at the time of the iPhone.

-2

08/06, 11:41am | report spam | close reply

Firstly, you are forgetting the original LG prada. The real first full touchscreen phone.

In my informed opinion, although the technology existed for a full touch screen phone like the iphone prior to the iphone, it was not cost-efficient to create such a device. Apple either by chance or purposely, came into the market at time where the touchscreen phone became feasible from a cost standpoint. I think you are attributing the effects of a price reduction in LCD screens and touchscreen technology to apple coming out with the iphone. Although the iphone helped speed up the implementation of full touch screen devices across the market generally, it is not the sole reason.

I think proof of this comes when you look at the in car GPS market. It was only in late 2006, just before the iphone was announced that GPS manufacturers like Garmin began releasing touchscreen, full color devices. And they were a fortune back then. There is no reason to believe that the GPS manufacturers were trying to catch up to Apple's new cell phone. Rather, its that the touchscreen technology became cost efficient to put in a phone.

Bam!

-8

08/06, 11:47am | report spam | close reply

Slider part 2

The fact that you can totally discredit RIM in its affect on the smartphone market is laughable. I'd actually be embarrassed if I were you, because it's just so crazy. To think that all these businessmen, politicians, lawyers, etc. are out there sending and receiving emails, syncing calenders since 2002 on this brilliant device, and some guy on a mac forum thinks that apple invented a phone that was "actually smart" in 2007, because you could download a f*** app.

Get real. That's just absurd. Apple may have helped expand the smartphone market to include consumers, but don't go overboard.

08/06, 04:01pm | report spam | close reply

Forget it

Guys,
There is no way of even discussing a topic where Apple may not be seen as a "gift from the gods". Very few folks here are anything but Apple fanatics and there they will vote you down and try to cover the truth regarding Apple...that is is just another company that can make mistakes.

Raman

Joined: Mar 2001

08/06, 05:21pm | report spam | close reply

And now for something...

completely different...

A man with 3 buttocks!

Seriously - does anyone except the 3 remaining Zune users care?

08/07, 08:09am | report spam | close reply

""actually smart" in 2007, because you could download a f*** app."

brilliant! that just sums up what the iPhone has brought to the cell phone market! again, a stunning argument. such depth, such clarity of thought!

way over his head indeed.

08/07, 08:11am | report spam | close reply

oh lame

i suggest you follow the link to the article and read the comments if you want to talk about fanatics and gifts from the gods. only difference is that those people are ms fanbois and they actually argue that the zune is revolutionary and, uh, you know, that favorite of all ms words... innovative.

iphonerulez

Joined: Nov 2008

08/07, 07:56pm | report spam | close reply

I don't doubt that MS

can build some decent hardware for this device but it will have to be far superior to the next iPod Touch device since what drives the Touch sales are software.

Everyone I talk to that uses a Touch or iPhone say that everything about it is so easy to use and that their kids love playing the games and that when they get some extra money they want to buy one (usually a Touch) for their children. I mean children younger than teens. It's always the dozens of games or education apps and how the children are not using their Nintendos or PSPs but rather play with the Touch.

The hardware never comes into the conversation. If they have any problems they can just run to the Apple store and get answers or fixes or whatever. The abilities of ease of use and Apple customer support plays a big role in deciding an Apple product over another company.

Only tech-heads are so wrapped up in hardware that they think that's gonna make people buy devices.

macnnamigo

Joined: Sep 2009

09/11, 08:18am | report spam | close reply

Let's just see what happens....

shall we...???
as to what is most important... Interesting how the User Interface is now up there with LooKS!

Time will tell how well it is received and touted... is 3 months enough ? 3 years ?

Whether we use iPod Touch or Zune i'm sure we'll have an enhanced browser experience!
Can't wait to see how the Zune handles WEB2.0 open standards web browsing...

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Zune HD's web browser is 'iPhone-like'

updated 12:10 pm EDT, Wed August 5, 2009

Zune HD Browser Experience

in other news

MS copies Apple again

hey luck

Well, well...

Oh Nat

oh luck

not so luckyday

eternal truth

What?

Re: What?

Re: Well, well

Good

I cannot believe

oh lame and testudo

Cheaper. . .

JulesTt

oh luck

RE: Jules Tt Part 1

RE: Jules Tt Part 2

slider

Slider part 2

slider

Hmm, I See

Forget it

And now for something...

oh luck

oh lame

I don't doubt that MS

Let's just see what happens....

Login Here

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Zune HD's web browser is 'iPhone-like'

updated 12:10 pm EDT, Wed August 5, 2009

Zune HD Browser Experience

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Recent Articles

in other news

MS copies Apple again

hey luck

Well, well...

Oh Nat

oh luck

not so luckyday

eternal truth

What?

Re: What?

Re: Well, well

Good

I cannot believe

oh lame and testudo

Cheaper. . .

JulesTt

oh luck

RE: Jules Tt Part 1

RE: Jules Tt Part 2

slider

Slider part 2

slider

Hmm, I See

Forget it

And now for something...

oh luck

oh lame

I don't doubt that MS

Let's just see what happens....

Login Here

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