Microsoft’s iPod touch wannabe, the misleadingly-named “Zune HD” not only suffers from a terminal case of “App-Lack,” but it also sticks Zune sufferers with a Web browser that “seems like an afterthought,” Matt Rosoff reports for CNET.
“I’ve used Safari on the iPhone for more than a year, and it’s great–I actually read articles, for work and fun, on my bus commute to work,” Rosoff reports. “It’s so good, I’ve been taking it for granted. Not anymore.”
Rosoff reports, “Microsoft says the Zune HD’s browser is based on the mobile version of Internet Explorer…”
MacDailyNews Take: Well, there’s the root of the problem.
Rosoff continues, “The address bar is hidden–you have to pull up on the gray bar at the bottom of the screen to get to it. The other alternative is to click on a small magnifying glass to conduct a search on the mobile version of Bing, which I found difficult to use.”
“For instance, when I conduct a search on my employer’s name, ‘Directions on Microsoft,’ Bing Mobile assumes I want news stories that cite the company, when in fact I just want our home page. There’s a link on the Bing Mobile site that says “web,” which I assume is supposed bring me general search results from around the Web, but when I clicked it repeatedly, nothing happened,” Rosoff reports, “There’s also no auto-suggest or auto-complete for search queries–each time you want to search for “Chinese restaurants,” you have to type the whole query in.”
MacDailyNews Take: Listen, Mr. Rosoff, Bing is not a search engine, it’s a “decision engine,” and like all Microsoft products, if they work at all, it assumes you’re too stupid to take care of yourself. Bing knows best, and what’s best comes from whomever pays Microsoft the most, and don’t you ever forget it.
Rosoff continues, “Regardless of how you’re trying to navigate, the on-screen keyboard seems to require more finger accuracy than the fault-tolerant keyboard on the iPhone (probably because of the smaller screen). The back button is hard to hit–I kept selecting the favorites menu by mistake. Sites are also considerably slower to load, and the resolution doesn’t seem to be nearly as good as the iPhone or iPod Touch, with a noticeable flicker on pages with white backgrounds… I can’t imagine using this browser for any length of time.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The few people who buy Zunes should be rounded up — a single wide trailer would do the trick, with room to spare (plus they’d feel right at home) — and studied to find out what exactly went wrong during their development.
Direct link via YouTube here.
Palm Pre, Zune HD, BlackBerry. They not only rhyme, they all suffer from terminal cases of App-Lack™.
MDN that is just a little harsh. Let’s say if they buy and keep it (don’t take it back), then they should be studied…
Zune HD: Lowest level of fun
Looks like no Zoom for Zune & no Zing for Bing-bong.
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I think they meant the web browser “zucks”…
I bought a Zune HD! Why? Someday it will be a rare collectors item.
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@ HMCIV
Be sure to save the box!
I got me a Zune HD, cause I want to break my neighbours window and it’s better than throwing a brick; it says way more about my hatred for him than a common brick.
“I’m gonna chuck a Zune through your window you damn idiot!”
Much more insulting.
Just line them up and shoot them with a ball of their own shit. Easy eh!
A bit harsh me thinks.
Was`nt the Zune HD supposed to compete with the iPod Touch? Not long ago people were touting app store, browser, gaming, blah blah blah. Now no app store, browser sucks, games are months away with no quality assurances and MS is back pedalling saying it was never meant to compete with the touch, that its a strict media player, tell that to all the poor folks that bought one, I sincerely feel sorry for you all.
do they morons at M$ even bother reading user blogs? when will they learn.
Zune’s browser is based on IE6 (from 2001!). It’s definitely not going to be able to handle the advanced CSS, PNG and SVG stuff the Webkit browsers can do.
@HMCIV in 2040 talking to great grand child:
HMCIV “here, I want you to have my unopened Zune HD”
“what is a Zune?”
HMCIV “Good question, it was a failed attempt in 2009 by a company called Microsoft to beat Apple in consumer electronics.”
“Beat Apple? Yeah right! They are huge! What kind of idiot thought that would work?”
HMCIV “You’ve heard of ballmerizing something right?”
“Sure, everyone has.”
HMCIV “Well we got that term from Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer.”
“So is this Zune thing a collector’s item now?”
HMCIV “No, not really. When the company folded there were thousands unsold. Some guy even used a bunch to build a house with them. I just kept it to remember how much I hated Microsoft when they were still around.
Now I’m reading that MS can remotely delete the app. Not on just one player, but all of them.
The perfect punishment for buying a Zune is using it.
@Jubel
Windows phones home every two weeks to make sure it is genuine. If it doesn’t think it is, you have to reactivate it. Microsoft can disable Windows remotely. They have a policy that they won’t do it, but for me it’s enough that they can. I don’t want to put my applications and data on a platform that is that shaky.
Windows is spyware.
the bottom line is MS waited like 2 years to come out with this me-too product (not news) and had the model to copy, the iPod touch. That the Zune HD is remotely usable is because they copied the iPod as much as they could.
Now, Steve, about those 200 Patents…. Being awfully patient with all these rip off artists, aren’t we?
I think Apple’s waiting to do the same thing to Zune as they did to Palm Pre. They got those patents in their back pocket, but know that going to court is alot more expensive (both financially and strategically) and they’ll only do it as a last resort. The market, on the other hand, will beat up on Pre/Zune for free.
Wow. Microsoft is up to their old “upside-down and backward” tricks with the Zune browser. They put the address bar at the bottom.
@HMCIV
Make sure you keep it in the box.
M$’s best chance at anything is to write iPhone apps for their existing software products.
Just for fun, Apple should write some generic apps for the Zune HD…they would be the highest grossing Zune-app company and M$ would have to report it. ha
M$…your LATE TO THE BANDWAGON, AGAIN!
BAH! Zune, Bing, whatever. It’s all DUNG!
Of course the Zune HD is a turd (A High Def Turd at that).
After all do Bears Zune in the woods in HD?
Darn right they do! Just go hiking you’ll smell the Bear Zune in HD from hundreds and hundreds of yards away.
My mistake it wasn’t Bear Zune it was Ballmer Zune! we were hiking near Redmond, WA so, the mistake is easy to make. Bear Zune doesn’t smell as bad as Ballmer Zune.
Why would any company release such a bad product? Poor quality screen, crappy browser, slow brittle OS, slow GPU and slow ass processor. Microsoft would have been better off just letting the Zune HD be vaporware, the press would be a lot nicer to them and they may have just let it slide all together. But, now Microsoft is going to get reamed over the Zune HD.
Just one comment…
Point the Zune (rhymes with gooon) to
http://acid3.acidtests.org/
and see what ya get. Microsucks again.
After 2 years of using an iPhone or iPod touch‚ some people lost perspective about how many orders of magnitude better it is than what came before it. The fact that very few devices since have been positioned to compete only reinforces this amnesia.
Sometimes it takes the laughable offerings of devices like the Zune HD to appreciate what you have.
Thank you again‚ Microsoft. Please keep releasing your Bizarro consumer electronics devices.
Isn’t “App Lack” that insurance company with a duck for a spokes person?