Improving the Zune

While we wait for the Zune 80's to appear for actual sale, over on CrunchGear they've got a list of things to improve on the Zune.  Often these articles turn into nothing more than "Why I'm Being An iSheep," and offer little in the way of constructive criticism.  However, this time it offers some ideas that I'd love to see on the Zune 3rd gen, especially regarding the first item:

-Needs a replaceable battery. Let’s face it, Apple was one of the first companies to remove this feature in order to reduce a few millimeters from the device’s footprint. I think if the Microsoft added this feature to the Zune, there would be many iPod to Zune converts.

-Bigger screen on the flash version - the screen border on the flash version is too big. The screen needs to be bigger. The screen size is one of the main things that make the hard drive Zune better than the iPod. In order for the flash Zune to be better than the iPod Nano, the flash Zune needs to start off by adding a bigger screen.

-It would be nice if the flash Zune had an iPod shuffle-like clip.

-Ability to register the tilt of the Zune. If the user is holding the Zune horizontally, then the photos should be displayed in landscape mode. If the zune is held vertically, then the Zune should automatically change to portrait mode

-An iPhone/iPod Touch killer version of the Zune. This version needs to either have at minimum 32 GB of flash memory or 80GB of harddrive memory. Currently Microsoft doesn’t make a device that is a direct competitor to Apple’s iPhone or iPod Touch.

Read the rest here.  It really wouldn't take that much redesign to implement some of these ideas, and at least a few of them could likely be done in firmware (like the mass storage issue).  I would just add that Microsoft does have their OS on plenty of phones, just not a Zune phone.

Comments

[JohnCz]

I agree, Flash Zune needs 3 things

- Bigger screen. I have said that from day one and I in fact think that was Microsoft original intention but backed off for some reason.

- 8GB and 16GB. That should have been the standard. 4GB is useless in my book

- Tilt Sensor. I like that suggestion and agree it really needs to be there to make live easier.

Now as far as Zune Phone. I'd rather see improvement to Windows Mobile than a dedicated Zune phone.

[neon]

Everything is very open and very clear explanation of issues. was truly information. Your website is very useful. Thanks for sharing.