Over at CNET, they had a look at a recent build of the Zune HD. Apparently the device is getting close to a final product. The hardware received some praise as well as video playback and a the music player, which has been refined. They really liked the Zune HD’s browser and found it to be excellent.

It was built by the IE team, which is good news for prospective Windows Mobile 6.5 users, and it’s comparable to the iPhone in features as well as speed. You get pinch to zoom, accelerometer-based reorientation, and a decent onscreen keyboard. No Flash though. All in all it sounds fairly awesome.

We’ve seen plenty of Microsoft’s Zune HD, but the company just shared some awesome images of the new PMP, which show off black and silver versions of the device, both of which are things of beauty.

Just pictures. Nothing too spectacular, but they give you a good idea of the design and what the UI looks like. If nothing else, they will let you drool and anticipate the device even more than you thought possible.

According to an alleged “software engineer” on the Zune team, the 16GB Zune HD should cost between $249 and $280 this September (a date that lines up with previous rumors.)

There are a lot of interesting rumors in the interview, like the fact that Microsoft is thinking about not only 16/32GB models but a 64GB Zune HD too. We have no idea what the price would be for that one.

The guys over at Gizmodo got a tip about the ZuneHD. “Internal Microsoft docs” point to a September 8 launch of the Zune HD. Their tipster also says that the device will be available in 16GB and 32GB versions.

One thing we don’t have is a price. We do know that the HD has Nvidia’s Tegra inside, so it’s a high powered, high performance device with HD output. How all of that affects the final price remains to be seen.

It’s official. Zune HD will be powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra processor, making it the first PMP in the world that can claim that honor. NVIDIA confirmed it themselves. The all-in-one processor offers hardware acceleration of video and can consume just 150mW of power at full speed, giving it a battery life like a regular media player in spite of the demands of 720p video playback.

The new Zune is likely using an APX 2500 or 2600 processor, which combines an ARM11 processor with a GeForce-based graphics core and controllers for memory and output. It has just enough performance to display 720p at full resolution when using HDMI and also supports 3D rendering performance much faster than most handheld devices.

According to Microsoft “guru” Paul Thurott, the Zune HD launches on September 5. You should keep in mind that this info is coming from the Zune forums, so take it with a huge grain of salt. We think that the launch window sounds about right, but there’s nothing official. That is all.

Microsoft made the official announcement late Tuesday that the Zune HD, the next generation of the Zune media player, would indeed be hitting the market in the near future. The Zune HD packs some new features including built-in HD radio, high-def video out, OLED multi-touch screen, WiFi and an included internet browser.

Yesterday images of the Zune HD were leaked to engadget and since then we’ve learned that it’s the real deal. The images above are promotional shots from Microsoft’s forthcoming marketing campaign.

We don’t know much, but the name is a dead giveaway that the display will be “HD”. Can we expect it to have 1280×720? Or are they just using it as a fancy marketing word?