Hi fellow Zuners!
Have you ever bought a device and wished you could tell the designers exactly what you thought about it? Have you ever wanted to tell them about a feature you really liked? Or maybe you've been so frustrated with the way something worked (or didn’t work) you wanted to poke them in the eye? Have you ever had information you thought might be helpful, but don’t know what to do with it? Here’s your chance! Except for the poking in the eye part… you’ll have to settle for imagining that.
I’m part of the Zune dev team responsible for testing the Zunepad. (That would be the area at the bottom you rub with your finger to navigate the menus.) I’d like to know about your experiences with the Zunepad. We want the good, the bad, and the ugly. Anything you want to tell us about is appreciated… as long as it’s about the Zunepad. For other issues see your psychiatrist.
Some things I’d like to hear about:
· What was your initial experience with the Zunepad?
· How did you learn how to use the Zunepad? (Experimentation, friend showed me, website, etc.)
· Did you face any difficulties while learning how to use it?
· How long did it take you to discover the touch navigation features?
· How long did it take you to become comfortable with touch navigation after you discovered it?
I’m also interested in any detailed feedback you have, such as:
· Do you experience any incorrect clicks or dropped clicks?
· Does the touch navigation respond well?
· When using touch navigation, do you ever accidentally get a vertical movement when you meant to do a horizontal movement, or vice versa?
· Does the Zunepad behave consistently?
· Do you use your Zune with one hand or two?
· Which part of your finger do you use on the Zunepad? (Because of the way I hold it I tend to use the side of my thumb right next to my thumbnail.)
· Etc…
As always, too much information is better than too little information. If you're reporting a difficulty, describe the problem in as much detail as you can. Please include which device you have: Zune 4, Zune 8, or Zune 80.
Example of very good detail:
“I have a problem with my Zune 80 I haven’t been able to figure out. When I use my nose to scroll down through the music list my toaster pops up! It only happens when the wireless is on and the device is unlocked. It doesn’t happen if I scroll to the sides or up, only down. It also doesn’t happen when I scroll with anything other than my nose. I’ve tried it with white bread, rye bread, and English muffins—it happens regardless of what I have in the toaster.
“I noticed this problem around Dec 1, about 10 days after I bought my Zune. I think it was shortly after I upgraded the firmware. When I tried it with my friend’s Zune 80 it didn’t affect the toaster. My Zune didn’t affect his toaster either. My toaster is a Toast-O-Matic 4000.
“BTW, I just tried scrolling with my nose while standing on my head. When I do that the toaster pops up when I scroll *up* instead of scroll *down.*”
Example of very bad detail:
“Zune 5uXX0rZ!! It should have a built-in toaster! Then it would r0xx0rZ!!!”
Thanks for helping us make Zune even better!
-Dak Zune Product Team .: This posting is provided "as-is" with no warranties, and confers no rights :.
Cesar (formerly of the) Zune Product Team
Daklu wrote: Example of very bad detail: “Zune 5uXX0rZ!! It should have a built-in toaster! Then it would r0xx0rZ!!!”
Hold your breath someone is about to tell the greatest lie EVER!
I actually own a 30 myself but I have played around with my friend's 8G. The touchpad was different at first. I was not used to it. After toying around for a few minutes I figured out all of the features and such. It seemed pretty easy to use for me. I liked that you could scroll by sweeping your finger up or down or you could press the edge as if you were using the 30. The dual feature is awesome. Completely blows the click pad on iPod away..by far! It was a little hard sometimes to know how fast you were scrolling in relation to how fast you were moving your finger...sometimes I scrolled past what I wanted on accident...but I am certain if I owned one and used it daily I would become used to it pretty fast. Overall I LOVE the touchpad I wish my 30 had one!! It is so much easier to use than anything else I have played with or owned! As far as problems go I cant really comment because I have not used it for more than about an hour but didnt seem to drop and clicks or anything...it seemed to work fine for me...but I also dont own one or opperate one daily.
The only advice I could give Zune about the touchpad is to PLEASE put it on the 30...and FAST!!
“GEAUX TIGERS!!!”
My experience using the zunepad on my zune 8 has been positive and i like it very much. I also have a zune 30 and sometimes when using my zune 8 after having used my zune 30 for a while I tend to click the pad instead of using the touch pad. But after one or two times i get back to scrolling through my library using my thumb on the zunepad. When some friends of mine use my zune 8 they find it a bit difficult using the zunepad. Thay sometimes try to use it as an ipod click wheel but when I explain to them how it is used they get it very easily, amd most of them like it. I also find it very responsive most of the times but sometimes it like freezes or when I press the center to select a song it scrolls up or down and selects another song or item and it can be a little anoying. But for the most part I love it. Keep up the good work.
Hello from Puerto Rico
Remember... just because you were taught one way doesn't necessarily mean it was the best way.
I have a Zune 80. It only took a few minutes to get the hang of the Zunepad. It is similar to the touchpad on my laptop computer so it was intuitive. It's fun to sometimes just give it a swipe in the artist list and see where it stops when I'm not sure what I want to listen to - kind of like the old game where you spin the globe with your eyes closed and randomly point to a spot on the map.
As suggested above, I can see how having levels of sensitivity might be useful.
A simple question kid; Are you with me or not at all? - Sleeping with Giants (The Academy Is...)
Up/down is working great with my 80 Gb zune, but when I try the left/right one it doesn't respond as smoothly as the up/down one, I just need to keep doing it 2-3 times until it work.
I don't know whether this is a software problem or hardware one
mmeshref wrote:Up/down is working great with my 80 Gb zune, but when I try the left/right one it doesn't respond as smoothly as the up/down one, I just need to keep doing it 2-3 times until it work. I don't know whether this is a software problem or hardware one
Thanks for the feedback so far! I may not get in here every day to post but I know there are several people within the Zune team keeping tabs on this thread. Keep it coming!
st0icr4ven:First off I think some basic info on how the zune touchpad actually works would help.I'm somewhat limited in what I can share with the public regarding the zpad detection algorithms. In some cases the IP belongs to Microsoft; in other cases the IP belongs to others. Either way the information doesn't belong to me personally so it would be improper (and illegal) for me to share it.
I can tell you it is not based on heat or pressure. (However, extreme temperatures may reduce the zpad performance.) I've posted in a few different places about various aspects of the zpad. Maybe if I ever get time I'll compile it into a faq.
I don't like the "button" feel of the touchpadCan you explain what you don't like about it? Is it too stiff? Too mushy? Not enough travel? The center click typically has a slightly different feel than the four directional clicks. Do all five buttons feel bad or is it only some of the buttons?
The touchpad is... at times "unreponsive"If you keep your thumb on the zpad does it ever detect the touch or do you have to lift your finger and retouch the zpad? Does this happen in the middle of scrolling. Does it happen only when you first turn the device on?
jamnoir:but sometimes it like freezesDoes it freeze while you're scrolling through your song list or is it sometimes unresponsive on your initial touch?
wetkindling:Maybe someone with a medium sized hand would give you better feedback.We want feedback from all sorts of people. Big hands, small hands, left handers, right handers... no handers. It is slightly more feasible for us to design it in such a way that it will work for your hands than for you to, say... change the size of your hands.
how I learned to use the pad, it HAD to be trial and errorHow long did it take you to learn how to use it? Would you categorize the learning process as more frustrating or more "fun?"
FauxCivility:When browsing the files it doesn't seem to be an issueI don't understand what you mean by "browsing the files."