Touch-screen Zune all but certain, based on leaked device images

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Touch-screen Zune all but certain, based on leaked device images

Todd Bishop on Friday, April 10, 2009, 4:27pm PDT

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Digital media | iPod | Microsoft | Zune

Credit: Engadget

Microsoft executives have been cagey about plans for adding a touch interface to the Zune portable media device, but Engadget's publication of what appear to be genuine images of an upcoming "Zune HD" make it pretty clear what's happening. Unless there's some other input mechanism not visible, it looks like the company has dropped the "click-flick" directional pad in favor of a single button at the bottom of what would presumably be a touch screen.

On the Technologizer blog, Ed Oswald quotes anonymous sources "close to the Zune team" confirming the authenticity of the images. "Capacities should be competitive with that of the iPod touch, and like the touch, it would sport a touchscreen interface," Oswald writes.

Of course, this is just one model, and there's nothing to say that other variations of the Zune couldn't still use a more traditional interface. More broadly, the leaked images also make it clear that Microsoft is sticking with the Zune-branded hardware, for now, despite the uphill climb the company continues to face against Apple's dominant iPod line.

About Todd Bishop

Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.

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