Zune HD Rumours: Possible Price Points and Insanely Awesome Battery Life?

[Jason Dunn]

<p>Another week, another couple of rumours about the forthcoming Zune HD. First up, price points: the 16 GB and 32 GB capacities seem all but confirmed at this point, and now <a href="http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/06/26/zune.hd.price.leak/" target="_blank">Electronista has some information about the price point</a> of the 16 GB Zune HD being between $249 and $279 USD. The price point make it a little less expensive than the 16 GB iPod Touch, which is a good move for Microsoft. No word on the pricing of the 32 GB Zune HD, but I'd guess we'll see it in the $349 to $379 realm. There's also a rumour about a 64 GB Zune coming "down the road", which isn't shocking - this is all about the price point of Flash, nothing more. Microsoft could release a 128 GB Zune HD, but it would probably cost $899. So for all of you who have full Zune 120s, this is not the device for you.</p><p>Moving along to the issue of battery life, we have (supposedly) a Microsoft employee who likes to blab to a fellow named Ryan Rea (Volvoshine), and the result is a <a href="http://t03.us/2009/06/zune-hd-to-get-5-time-the-battery-life-of-current-ipod-touch/" target="_blank">claim of 5x battery life over the current iPod Touch</a>. The iPod Touch 2nd gen unit is rated for 36 hours of audio or six hours of video. If the 5x factor proves to be true, on paper at least we'd be looking at 180 hours of audio or 30 hours of video. That seems virtually impossible - I'm expecting to see some battery life gains by moving to the OLED screen and the Tegra chip, but 5x? I'm calling hoax on this one. I hope I'm wrong, because that kind of battery life is game-changing, but when something seems too good to be true, it usually is...</p>

[Espiox]

Well, when you consider the battery-friendly power of the OLED screen and Tegra chip, that kind of battery life isn't entirely out of the question. I mean, didn't nvidia say something along the lines of 5 days? It's not exactly 180 hours but I'll take it if true.

[Ricardo Dawkins]

Take the rumors and info coming from Volvoshine with a bit of salt...however

Nvidia itselft says that the Tegra can playback audio in a netbook with a netbook battery for 25 days (600 hours) if we turn off the screen.

[djdj]

I don't see audio battery life getting THAT much better over the iPod Touch. The chips that do audio decoding in modern players are pretty power-efficient, and couldn't get a lot better in that department.

Video is another story, though. Especially with the OLED screen. I'd be surprised if the battery life isn't several times longer than the iPod Touch. Especially considering I only get a little over an hour on mine... it can't be too hard to top that.

[SoundMix]

Microsoft could release a 128 GB Zune HD, but it would probably cost $899. So for all of you who have full Zune 120s, this is not the device for you.

Or they could release a 120/320 hard disk version, as in the past, for $249. :D

[Adam Krebs]

Or they could release a 120/320 hard disk version, as in the past, for $249. :D

Hard disk drives don't work on capacitive touch screens. Something with the spinning of the drive throwing off the sensing capabilities. I assume they'll give a bump to the traditional hard drive-based versions too though.

[SoundMix]

Hard disk drives don't work on capacitive touch screens. Something with the spinning of the drive throwing off the sensing capabilities.

I did not know that. Thanks.

I hope MS continues to offer 120GB models of the Zune. I actually prefer buttons over a touch screen anyhow. Anything less than 120GB is too small for my needs. I don't want to wait until a 128gb flash model reaches the $250/$300 price point. :rolleyes: Or they could add a slot for an SD card and I'll add my own storage, as needed.

Paul

[Jason Dunn]

Well, when you consider the battery-friendly power of the OLED screen and Tegra chip, that kind of battery life isn't entirely out of the question.

Indeed, I'm expecting a boost in battery life, but 5x seems a bit too rosy. Would be pretty amazing if true!