WANTED: Zunepad Feedback <stickied>

The "button" just feels rough in all of the axis directions x,y,z, it honestly feels "cheap" (by cheap I mean it feels as if there simply is to much travel).  A more subtle button "feel" would be nice.  So basically for me it's too "mushy" (haha what a funny word).  The center click does have an entirely different feel then the other 4 directions (this being the "z" direction" it doesn't feel as smooth and there is a much louder "click" sound then any of the other x or y directional pushes.  When I leave my thumb on the pad it detects all movements I don't ever have to move it however If i for whatever reason have a second finger on the device while scrolling (which I do accidently while holding the device at times) it goes in the direction of the stationary finger/thumb.  When it comes to the pad being unresponsive at times yes I do have to lift my finger off and place/slide to where I want it to go either when changing volume (+/-) or skipping or going back (<</>>) to a song.

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Hold your breath someone is about to tell the greatest lie EVER!

I recently bought the Zune 8gb, and while I generally really like the zunepad navigation, I find it is unpredictable to the point of being unusable when I am wearing gloves.  I would have expected that with my gloves on I would not be able to use the touchpad features, but that the clicking would work.  This has not been my experience.  Usually I cannot get any clicks to register (center click or directional clicks).  To my disappointment, I can't even get the clicks to work when I turn off the touch feature.  Initially I figured it was just the zune misbehaving in low temperatures (15-20 degrees F), but if I take my gloves off outside it works fine, and indoors with the gloves on doesn't work.

For what it's worth, I use the device one handed in my right hand with my thumb oriented horizontally.  Apart from the glove issue, I found the zunepad easy to use and intuitive to learn. 

It freezes when going through when going up/down on the songlist but when trying to change the song or go from one menu to the other left/right, most of the times it is not responsive on my initial touch. When swift my finger right to go to the next song and it does not respond when I'm moving my finger back to the center it responds as if I'm moving left and instead of going to the next song it starts the one playing again or goes to the previous song. Hope this helps.

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Hello from Puerto Rico

In all honesty, I had to turn the "zpad" off b/c it was becoming a huge nuisance, especially since tapping the center isn't "enter." You actually have to click down & b/c of this the screen might scroll, which is really annoying. The center click button is not very clear (ps, I have an 80gb) an I often accidentally hit up, down, right, or left frequently. I feel that the touch could be a little less responsive. It's very wild in behaviour and needs to slow down just a little bit when scrolling. I wish there was a feature to change the touch sensitivity. That woul make my day.

Finally, I wish that after click the center button, the touch would stall for a second so I don't keep accidentally scrolling through things.

Is that ok?

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If it's too loud, you're too old.

This isn't going to help much...I think it's perfect.  I use the touchpad cause it works, and it works well.  No complaints.  Sorry.  Oh, and my wife agrees.  Thanks.

The Zune Squircle Rocks!!

i think it's perfect. I appreciate the choice for tactile buttons or touch based. I do wish that it and the buttons were backlit though.

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I love my new Zune!!

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 error
How long did it take you to learn how to use it?  Would you categorize the learning process as more frustrating or more "fun?"

Sure Daklu, my pleasure to expound a bit, thanks for your interest. I too use the side of my thumb as you do, but again, it's a large thumb. I really feel that having the Zune 80 for only a few weeks, the learning process and tactile repetition may increase my hitting the "sweet spots." So yeah, maybe a slightly larger squirkle for mitts like mine.

Which brings us to the second part. I am still learning and still finding little nuances in the use of the pad. Sometimes by serendipity I find a new way of using the pad. It is defiinitely NOT frustrating, but I wouldn't call it "fun" either. A good manual would preclude, or shorten a learning curve. Sometimes once one knows the proper movements it is easier to "hardwire" those moves by proper repetition.

Sometimes I find things happen when I don't expect, or I expect things to happen when they don't, such as sweeping horizontally across the pad may do different things depending on the menu you are in. Or vertically may move the list, or affect the volume depending on what mode you are in. This can get confusing and affect the learning curve.

Thanks Daklu, good luck.

I bought my Zune 80 from Zune Originals, and started off with the 2.2 firmware.

 

I am left handed and primarily use my right hand (thumb) to navigate my zune pad.  At first it seemed like the zune pad was biased towards the left.  When I say that I mean that even if my thumb was slightly towards the middle of the pad (but definitely on the left side), a press of the pad would yield a middle-button register.  On the right side of the pad, I could be far to the right, middle/right, and it would always register a right-button register, as I thought it should.

 

Over time though (a couple days to a week), it seemed like either I was getting better at using it, or the device somehow learned my tendencies, but I no longer have this problem.  Pressing left on the zunepad yields a left button press, even when I'm not far left on the pad, just how I like it.

 

Besides that issue in the beginning of my 80's lifespan, I love the zune pad.  I mostly use tactile, but the touch is great for scrolling long lists of songs, and even for scrolling down items one by one.  I'm very impressed with its sensitivity/resolution.

 

One thing I do find as an issue with the pad is its left and right scroll sensitivity.  Scrolling left or right (Swiping my thumb/finger left or right on the zune pad) does not have the same responsiveness as scrolling up or down.  Granted, I mainly use tactile left and right button presses to scroll left and right, but I thought I'd report that "issue" in case others liked to use that method.

 

I also recently learned that the zune pad is comprised of just one button, with the touch sensor determining which "button" is being pressed.  Pretty cool.

Just something I noticed playing around with my Zune 4, it seems as if the touch feature is more responsive now after the new update

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Hold your breath someone is about to tell the greatest lie EVER!

Yes, since the 2.3 update, the left-right axis sensitivity is definately increased to positive effect.

I am a right handed user with the zune 80 and long, skinny fingers :)

I knew of the touch based interface prior to buying the unit and had seen demo videos on various gadget blogs.  I daresay that's what sold me on the device.   The only thing I could ask in terms of improvement would be a central "tap "being equivilent to a "click".  I use the Zune in bed and my spouse could do without the clicking.  Not  a big deal , but a silent interface would be nice.  I do sometimes accidentally scroll when pressing the dpad because the travel can be enough to regster as a movement to the zpad.  If this does not work for users with large fingers pehaps it could be an option for those who would like it. 

 

I'd like to just say that I agree that the left-right seems more responsive.  Thank goodness?

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A simple question kid; Are you with me or not at all? - Sleeping with Giants (The Academy Is...)