Microsoft Revives Smartphone-less PDA in Zune HD; Would You Buy?,

Check out the rumors on Microsoft Smartpones

If rumors of the Zune HD, which have received confirmation from The Boy Genius Report, are true, then Microsoft may be on its merry way to revive the phone-less PDA. PDAs were deemed obsolete and dead by many technology bloggers when the smartphone revolution began nearly a decade ago, but the Zune HD may be the perfect PDA companion, sans phone feature.

Here are some of the specs reported by The Boy Genius Report:

-~3.6-inch OLED full touchscreen
-NVIDIA Tegra powered
-4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB versions
-HDMI Connection to stream straight to your TV
-HD Radio
-Web browser
-Wi-Fi compatible, with wireless marketplace
-Released, early fall
-International release of the Zune device itself
-Home AV packs, Car packs, Charge packs

If the Zune HD is coming with a full touchscreen, to compete with the likes of the iPod Touch, then Microsoft may in effect be reviving the PDA, a phone-less digital companion that keeps track of personal information, contacts, and calendar appointments. The Zune HD will be the perfect mobile companion for those who may not want or need phone functionality. Those users, like classsic PDA owners, can synchronize personal information, browse the web on WiFi, enjoy multimedia content (music, videos, HD radio content), and make use of applications and games.

Now, if the Zune HD can download applications and games from the newly announced Windows Marketplace (as reported by the specs above), the Windows Mobile app store, and Windows Mobile can play DRM-protected Zune content including music and videos, we'd have a winner on both fronts! However, to fully create value, Microsoft may need to bring the Windows Mobile OS to Zune so that the Zune can make use of all applications developed for its smartphone cousins, much like how the iPhone and iPod Touch run essentially the same operating systems and have access to the same application store.