Zune 2 gets something right that very few have
http://www.youtube.com/v/H2XfxT66n_c&rel=1&border=0
I finally got around to catching Todd Bishop’s intro piece on the new Zune players over at the Seattle P-I and while I’ll likely stick with the audio player I have, I must give credit to Microsoft for getting one thing right that very few have. In fact, the feature I’m thinking of hasn’t been done right on many devices, not just digital audio players. What is it? If you catch the video overview of the new Zune UI, you’ll see the new Zune Pad. I like how you can tap it, tap and hold, or swipe your finger across it to navigate; very nice indeed, but that’s not what I’m talking about. When you watch video on the device, it plays in landscape, just like the original Zune. However, the Zune Pad controls rotate along with the device and you can probably count on one hand how many devices actually do that. A small thing but oh so useful and much too often overlooked by device manufacturers!
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Kevin,
The original Zune already does this, so it is not a new thing for the Zune 2.
I also have a Pioneer Inno, which is a 1GB MP3 player as well as an XM satellite radio receiver. When not in the dock, the control buttons are at the bottom, when in the dock, they are to the right. The buttons are in the same configuration no matter what the orientation of the device. I’d say just like the Zune, but the inno came out first.
Woadan
My Nokia N95 work loaner does that. :)
My Motion Tablet PC’s have all rotated the D pad when I rotated the display.
On my LifeDrive the controls rotate in the Media app when viewing photos.
All good examples. I must have the UMPCs and Tablets that don’t have this feature on my mind. In my opinion, if you make a device capable of rotation the screen resolution it MUST rotate the hardware buttons along with.
I believe the reason you are missing that feature is because our beloved Q1 does not rotate the Dpad.
Very distracting indeed.
The Creative Zen Vision:M, which came out in December 2005 has a touchpad which is easy to use. You use to scroll up and down the menu.
Creative invented the iPod interface and get’s no recognition. Their ZEN’s may not have Wifi, but are better the iPod or Zune