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I have a Windows Phone 7 app to develop as a pet project and was going to get a phone just for testing my application. The app doesn't require calling features, so I was wondering if it would make more sense to get a Zune HD instead of the phone (trying to avoid paying monthly service fees). In short, how close are the Zune HD and a windows phone 7 for testing simple "lob" type applications that would ultimately be sold as a windows phone 7 app?

Gus Cavalcanti
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    I heard many times people using the Zune HD to run/test their apps for WP7, but I hadn't realized they were all XNA apps and not Silverlight "l.o.b." apps. I guess XNA should be a good alternative but not for SIlverlight. Thanks for all your answers. – Gus Cavalcanti Nov 29 '10 at 16:56

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This won't work since the apps need to run on the Phone O/S, which does not run on Zune devices. Nice idea though.

Mick N
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  • True Mick. Do you know the differences between their OSs? I heard of many people testing on e zune games for the phone. – Gus Cavalcanti Nov 23 '10 at 04:31
  • The absence of silverlight is the most glaring difference in this context. Perhaps to come though, we see silverlight on xbox talk continuing. – Mick N Nov 23 '10 at 04:58
  • XNA on Zune HD is not exactly the same as on the phone - however some devs have ported games from XNA 3.1 on Zune HD to XNA 4.0 but for apps Silverlight is only on the Phone, the WP7 emulator would be a better fit than Zune HD as it supports XNA and Silverlight correctly of course - and if you have Multi-touch on a Monitor you can even do this too! – RoguePlanetoid Nov 23 '10 at 10:09
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The Zune HD is a much slower processor than the Windows Phone 7 CPUs. The Zune HD runs at 600 mHz whereas the Windows Phone 7 devices all run at a gigahertz.

It's also not running the right operating system.

You might be able to test the games on the Zune HD. It uses XNA as does the Phone. The speeds (as above) would be different, but in theory this would work.

One can hope that perhaps a Zune HD2 might be in the works.

Steve Rowe
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  • XNA on the zune should work, I don't know how much speed would play a role though, as it will still operate at 30fps, the loading screen and such may take longer... – Spooks Nov 24 '10 at 15:40