Sometime in the past two weeks I decided, with some thought being put into is, to buy a Zune HD. Why, I don’t know; I thought it looked neat, and I was thoroughly unimpressed with the new iPods Apple showed off at that Rock and Roll event. For the most part the Zune HD is, indeed, neat. Its user interface is miles ahead of the iPod’s, and, with a little forethought, can be used rather effectively with a dual-booting Mac. There’s just one small thing: you absolutely cannot read the display in direct sunlight. Don’t try to because you can’t.
Photos probably can’t do this justice, but I can assure you that the Zune HD is fully turned out right here, showing a really colorful photo from the built-in photo library. This isn’t really a problem for me, since, again, I bought the Zune HD to listen to music, and not watch video or look at photos. I’m also not too often shuffling around the device trying to find a new song to play, since it’s either always playing a long playlist, or an album, or a podcast.
Now, why is that? Is it because Microsoft went with an OLED screen, versus the iPhone’s plain ol’ backlit LCD? Maybe, probably. I’m not a scientist.
But in essence, not being able to read the screen in direct sunlight isn’t huge deal for me, but I know it’ll strike a chord with some of you.
Of course, indoors, this isn’t a problem at all (rubbish camera alert!):
Even given all of that, I’d still prefer a Zune HD to a boring ol’ iPod.
That is all.
Yep,It doeast look good in sunlight.Better in dark
It doesn’t look great but not like this photo, this is just a FUD campaign. The device is set to the lowest brightness level as obvious from the second photo. Oh the screen looks absolutely gorgeous when not in direct sunlight so yes don’t use it to watch movies in direct sunlight.
Try that with any other device you’ll see the same results, direct sunlight has always been a problem for displays.
At least it probably won’t explode.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Apple-Responds-To-Media-Reports-That-iPods-Could-Explode-In-Direct-Sunlight/Article/200908315364810
No my other gadget working good in direct sunlight,but ZHD is very bad that way
I bought the zune hd and even though the screen isnt great under direct sunlight, it is still pretty legible. Your photo makes it look as if nothing is visible. I didnt observe the same with my zune hd. I love the screen indoors and feel it is pretty amazing outdoors as well. This doesnt sound like a ‘public service announcement’ but rather a FUD campaign. Just Sayin.
Ballmer, no one wants to hear your lies.
Jaman is right…i have same problem
Jaman, what brightness level did you have the screen on. My understanding is that the device comes default not on the highlest brightness level, and if you turn it up, it makes a difference, especially out side. I keep saying that, the picture this person put up of the device indoors, just looks way to dim then any Zune HD pic or one in real life, so if he had the brightness turned down and then went into the sunlight, they aren’t correctly showing what the Zune HD can do.
They should have used e-ink…
E-ink doesn’t display color, among other issues you’d run into using it with such a device.
Actually there are color e-ink screens already available, but they’re pretty expensive and slow ATM.
I’ll never understand this “can’t see in direct sunlight” deal. 98% of devices are the same way. Just turn around for half a second or shield the screen with your hand.
It’s also not like the Touch is perfectly readable in direct sunlight, it’s not perfect either.
Summarized: People will bitch about anything when there isn’t much else to bitch about.
Thanks for saying it so I didn’t have to waste my time typing it.
I’ve been a little confused by this argument against the Zune HD, my Macbook screen isn’t even remotely legible in full sun either. Can someone throw up a shot of their iPod Touch screen in full sun?
I’ve seen the zune HD and ipod touch in direct sunlight and the difference is HUGE. You literally can’t see anything on the zune. Meanwhile, on full brightness, the iPod touch is clear as, well, daylight haha
Again I’m looking for an actual photo of this as I just don’t find it credible when my laptop with a backlit LCD screen also made by apple is not visible at all in direct sunlight.
Solution=get an ipod touch with camera when it comes out unfortunately Apple blew it on the 8th
How is that a solution? You’d still be tethered to apple.
Not sure this article is news though. Most LCD screens I’ve come across are useless in direct sun.
Most iPods don’t require an Apple. As for the iPod Touch and iPhone you need iTunes for the app store and os updates. But, only the 1st gen iPod required an apple and that was over 8 years ago.
Exactly, people keep hating on the Zune HD becasue you cant read it in DIRECT SUNLIGHT. How often do you look at pictures or watch videos in direct sunlight? Next to never. You are always usually in shade or inside place. ie library, cafeteria, lounge, classroom, house, etc. The points is really points considering most devices that have a screen are almost always looked at indoors.
the player looks fine in other daylight comparisons. this guy basically used the zune like a mirror of the sky/sun light to kill the screens brilliance. this is not how it is used in the real world.
if i angle a cathode tubed screen the same way to reflect the sky/sunlight, the cathode ray tube will look pretty dull too. nothing can compete with direct sunlight…nothing
the device is normally used perpindicular to persons line of sight. making it difficult to achieve a direct reflection of the suns light.
I can see ZHD perfectly fine in direct sunlight. Its not like i need to anyways. I don’t plan on receiving a text message or getting a call from someone any time soon on it. So I do not believe that is much of a problem. All screens on devices similar to the ZHD have the same problem. I have an LG Dare and it is so much worse in the sunlight than my ZHD. Another poor excuse to try and downgrade the ZHD
This just in: Vampires un-alive in direct sunlight.
I like to keep the brightness on my iPod low to make the battery last longer. With a brightness of around 25%, the iPod is nearly unreadable, especially if you’re using a cover of sorts (which all of us are). I have the iPod 80GB 5th Generation.
But honestly, I don’t see it as much of a problem. Most of the time, I know a song by the first few notes itself, so I can just press the next button and change it if I want to, without even taking the thing out of my pocket
I have found the simple solution is to try and avoid making adjustments to my Zune HD while in direct sunlight.
I guess those in sunny LA will have more of a problem but in Chicago it is not a big deal really.
Weeelllll, i was just in the park with my Zune HD and while certainly not bright, it was certainly workable. if you hold it just right it is unreadable, but it’s easy enough to turn your hand a quarter of an inch.
I don’t know, I guess it’s something to write about, but the screen IS navigable in full sun. Is it totally pretty at all angles in the sun, probably not. But you can say that with any device. Can you move Zune to find a good angle? Yes. I was concerned (after reading similar) before buying one, but it is a non issue. Playing it in the sun was one of the first things I did.
Aren’t OLED screens WELL KNOWN by now not to display well in direct sunlight??
No offense meant, just saying.
According to the experts OLED screens can save up more energy because they dont have a light working all the time, like the screens of the IPOD TOUCH that do. The Drawback is that for creating whitey colors(like most web pages) they might consume more energy, also they will not look good in bright places.
Its not that other devices will look good in bright places, just that OLED will look even worse.
People have no business walking around in broad daylight, staring into thier iPod/Zune’s little displays anyways. Get back in your car and whip out your gadgets. At least the odds of some punk-ass bitch snatching it from your hands goes way down when you stay indoors. Just kidding. My 16mb iPod Touch was stolen recently and after reading Devin Coldewey’s review, I replaced it with the new Zune HD. I’ve only had it a couple of days so far and I haven’t really found anything about it that I don’t like. To me, the display is no more dificult to view outdoors that my iPod Touch or my cameras are. One thing I’d like to see on future media players would be normal stereo line level audio outputs sent via bluetooth which could be recieved by either those tiny USB bluetooth transmitters or bluetooth enabled home theatre recievers. That would be bitchin.
If the iPhone didn’t work in daylight, it would be a big, big problem. If it’s to be considered a video viewing device (instead of mainly a music player), it’s pretty lame. So if they tried to extend the current system and make it more of a iPod Touch competitor, there’d be problems.
Ook I have both a 16gb ipod touch and the 16 gb zune HD. The ipod bright as it can go…unreadable. Zunehd medium brightness its just fine, not great but just fine. I’m a mac user,macs are great ipods do suck tho. Esp audio quality.
How about a comparable shot? Put the Zune HD next to an iPod Touch so we can see the difference. I doubt the difference is going to be that significant…I often can’t read my phone’s display in direct sunlight either so let’s see how dramatic the difference really is. (P.S. I’m a mac user but have had bad experiences with iPods and my Zune – Gen1 has been a powerhouse).
Um, your picture of the Zune HD indoors is really really dim, what’s up with that? Do you have the screen on the lower brightness setting? Have you tried turning the brightness up in? And then tested it in full sunlight with full screen brightness? I mean, that’s the dimmest picture I’ve ever seen of the Zune HD anywhere…. it actually looks like you turned down the brightness, just to make it worse….. so yeah, what’s the deal?
I keep looking at that indoor pic and I just can’t get over how dim it looks. The color is almost the same shade as the physical device, which is nothing like the experiences I’ve had with the Zune HD. When I saw it, the colors were so bright it was almost too bright to look at directily. Even a crappy camera wouldn’t make this happen, if anything it would make it stick out even worse. Something fishy is going on.
So does anyone else think that the indoor pic’s brightness is way lower then it should be? Or am really the only one?
This pretty much happens for every device…but the Zune HD is worse.
I can’t see the damn Zune screen very good inside my car! Who cares about direct sunlight, the dam thing sucks for just being in a car outside… the screen is dim as hell (on high setting). I can’t compare it to an ipod, since I’ve never used one. I will be using this mostly outside, so the screen is a big disappointment.
If you’re screen is dim all the time, you need to go get it replaced before your warranty runs up. The Zune HD is incredibly bright.
For those who haven’t seen this yet, enjoy!
From the OLED Association:
Response to APPLE INSIDER Post on the Microsoft ZUNE
,
September 16, 2009
The “Apple Insider”: a Display Outsider or an Apple Shill?
On Monday, Prince McLean released a blog post titled “From OLED to Tegra: Five Myths of the Zune HD.” I won’t comment about the other 4 Myths but his comments about OLEDs demonstrate a complete lack of knowledge regarding the performance, specifications and use of flat panel displays. He makes several erroneous statements about OLEDS, including:
First OLED myth: “OLEDs are dimmer that LCDs because the luminance is only 200 cd/m2, while LCDs have luminance of 400-500 cd/m2.” LCDs TVs have luminance of 4-500 cd/m2, but displays on mobile devices is typically 200 to 250 cd/m2. The display on the Zune is spec’d at 250 cd/m2 before the addition of the touch features. Moreover, it has been demonstrated by Samsung, a TFT LCD supplier, that OLEDs at 250 cd/m2 have the same perceived brightness at TFT LCDs at 400 cd/m2.
Second OLED myth: “A good quality LCD actually uses ambient light to make its image brighter and more vibrant; OLED does not.” Mobile devices often use transflective LCDs, which operate in two modes, (1) a reflective mode in which the backlight if off and (2) a transmissive mode, in which the backlight is on. Both modes are compromises but serve the market well. OLEDs, which are emissive devices, use higher luminance to overcome the effect of high ambient conditions. Again, Samsung reports that OLEDs at 300 cd/m2 will outperform any transflective LCD is bright sunlight.
Third OLED myth: “There are other problems with OLED. They don’t last long, because the electroluminescence layer degrades far more rapidly than regular LCDs.” The OLED display in the Zune has a lifetime of 50,000 hours. Typically LCDs for mobile products are rated at ~25,000. However, none of this is very important – These types of products have a useful life of 5-years, which at 8 hours/day and 365 days a year is only 15,000 hours; well within the capability of either technology.
Fourth OLED myth: “And despite the power savings attributed to OLED’s backlight-free design, OLEDs still use more power than LCD displays most of the time because the OLED technology consumes power based on how bright the image it is displaying is. Essentially, OLED is the backlight”. It has been demonstrated and documented by Nokia that when the application is video or imaging, OLEDs use less than ½ the power of a comparable TFT LCD. McLean’s comment that the OLED is a backlight just demonstrates his lack of knowledge about displays. Emissive displays (OLEDs, PDPs) do not require backlights as they emit light without the need for an external source of light. If the image is black, i.e. the UI for the Apple iPod or the iPhone, an OLED uses almost no power, while the LCD uses maximum power under all conditions. The situation is so bad that LCD TVs are being designed with 100s of LEDs at high cost to implement local dimming to reduce power consumption.
Some questions remain:
1. Why would Microsoft choose an OLED for its Zune? Could it be that OLEDs are
· Thinner and Lighter – The display is only 1 mm thick
· Faster – The response time is 5 µsec compared with 5 msec for the best LCDs. There is no blurring or shadowing on the fastest images
· Better in color gamut – OLEDs operate at >100% of the NTSC standard, while LCDs for small displays operate at <100% of NTSC
· 1000x better than the contrast of LCDs – Most films, TV and camera images operate at an average of ~20% of saturated colors, i.e. relatively dark, so contrast ratio as defined by black levels is significant for viewing purposes. In bright sunlight reflective devices only produce <15% contrast ratio.
· More efficient – ~50% of the power for the applications used on the Zune and the iPod.
· Virtually perfect image reproducers at wide viewing angle – while LCDs could lose up to 90% of their contrast ratio
2. Why would Microsoft choose a dark environment to demonstrate the OLED? Because it looks so good!
3. Why would Prince McLean write about something that he obviously has so little knowledge? Could it be that the Apple Insider is trying to curry favor with the Apple management so it can become an even deeper shill? It has become a popular art to predict what Apple is going to do and the company is very careful to keep its information on new products, closely held, so McLean may be hoping to get better access. I did not comment about the “Other Myths” in McLean’s article but if they are anything like his comments about OLEDs, you can draw your own conclusions about their relevance.
Finally, I wonder how McLean would respond to the quote by Steve Jobs, when his display technologists showed him OLED displays for the first time, “that’s the best f—-n display I have ever seen.”