We had a Community Review on the PlayStation 4 a while back. Maybe it’s time to do the same with the Xbox One. What are your thoughts on the Xbox One at this point? What do you like about it? What are some of your issues?
I find that it’s difficult to fight back against an initial bad first impression. The Xbox One has improved dramatically in terms of its user interface, but at this point it’s going to be difficult to dislodge the PS4 as my goto device for multi-platform games.
That’s a shame because the Xbox One has really evolved into a console that does a lot of great things. My only issue is that so much of that is buried in the UI.
A couple of months back I went to Microsoft for a guided tour of their UI. I was actually blown away by its media integration, how you can search for different types of content across multiple different services. I was taken step-by-step through these changes, evolutions and I was like, ‘I wish I had known about this quicker’.
But then I went home and tried to find these cool features. I genuinely had a hard time re-finding them.
I think the issue is this: all these good ideas are still being hampered by a UI I personally struggle with. Combine this with my pre-existing notion that the Xbox One UI is ‘bad’ and it makes for a trying experience.
That being said, I think the tail end of 2015 is gonna be a big one for Microsoft, and one that is going to see me spending a lot more time with the console. Halo 5 is a huge one for me, and I really love what they’re doing with indie development. There are just so many cool indie games coming out on the Xbox One.
I’m not a fan of the idea of ‘exclusives’ in general. I think they’re a little anti-consumer. That being said, I am currently only using my Xbox One to play exclusives. So maybe they need a little more of that to help swing favour in their direction.
I dunno.
There’s a lot of things I think the Xbox One does right. I love the way cloud saves work. Skype with Kinect is still a neat little glimpse into the future. It still has the best media/app line-up. I think it’s just a little tricky to change a first impression.
Comments
34 responses to “Community Review: The Xbox One”
I’m hoping the new UI overhaul coming in a few months will be great…SPEED in switching and launching the simplest things like friends list, or party chat is really the thing I’d like to see. I feel like currently I’m running an inefficient OS on an under-powered machine.
You’re actually running 3.
3 OS’s? How do you mean?
You’ve got the hypervisor OS that runs the other two. One is fixed (for game compatibility), has the most resources and runs your games. The other one is a pared down version of Win8 or whatever and handles your other apps and stuff. That’s why you can jump out a game and run other stuff.
Yes! Apps need to snap and load faster. Seems they reserved very little resources for this functionality.
I prefer buying games for my xbox one due to preferring the controller and liking the UI more. I’m the opposite of the article, I only use my ps4 for exclusives.
It’s a pretty good Plex/Netflix machine.
Still can’t play a custom soundtrack.
0/10
Standout feature of the 360, criminally neglected since.
I love my Xbox One. It’s my go-to console for multiplats, mainly because I find the controller way more comfortable than the PS4s.
I like the media player as well. Though I still use the PS3 more for that sort of thing.
Also use the Xbox One for Netflix.
The UI really bugged me at first but I’m used to it now.
All in all I think it’s a great system. Shame they made so many stupid mistakes at the beginning which made it unappealing to people. I think if people spent some time with it they wouldn’t hate it so much. Plus… there’s a chance we’ll get to play Red Dead Redemption on it! Wooooo!
Eh, it’s alright, but hopefully it continues to get better. I like that they’re bringing in a decent backwards compatibility option that will hopefully see more than a handful of games be playable. I wish they’d made the hard drives more accessible so I wouldn’t need to run a 3tb external to make it future proof. I’d love it if the os could recognise more than one partition on a harddrive so I could stop having to run 2 externals. But all in all, I’m just moaning about stuff I’d like. I haven’t actually had anything break on me yet, so I think it’s ok.
I don’t find the ui that hard to use, but that could be stockholm syndrome. If I really want any part of it that I can’t see I just say “xbox go to (insert app or setting here)”. Admittedly I’ve had years of xp with voice recog systems in the workplace, so I know how to talk to them, while my gf and friends struggle with getting it to recognize what they are saying.
I like: the controllers still feels more natural to me than my ds4.
Download speeds.
I dislike: how long it takes to snap anything or open msgs or the friends app. I know they are addressing speed in the ui update, but I’ll have to use it to believe it.
The fact that they wasted money on the kinect when the voice recog stuff could have been done with a mic on the controller or console, costing far less and leaving more money to buy a better gpu. An extra $100 per unit of buying power for a gpu is huge when you’re talking the numbers that ms or sony order the parts in.
I love the Xbox One. When it works, it’s amazing, games flow well and using Kinect is the most useful part of the machine. The Kinect actually does pick up my face on mine and my fiance’s machine so I don’t even need to touch a controller if I want to stream.
I have one major problem that makes me want to throw it out the window. Everytime I try to use the internet, 70% of the time, I have to physically unplug the power box and plug it back in. It’s infuriating. Want to watch Netflix? “Xbox On”, turn on, no internet. Restart, no internet. unplug and plug in, internet. Great, now if only that worked when I wanted to and without me having to crawl on around.
It’s a wired connection and I have tried every port/cable I own, I bought a new cable, we changed internet providers. Same problem. I hate it and it makes me want to throw it out the window
That’s really weird man. I have had very few issues at all with mine , and i’m just running on a 5Ghz Wifi router. I would be checking if there are any firmware updates for your router. If that doesn’t fix it, tell Microsoft that your Xbox one’s LAN port is intermittently faulty and see if they will fix it or swap it with a refurb.
Through a series of issues we actually got a brand new Xbox one. Same problem with that one. I don’t know what it is but it doesn’t seem to be the machine’s fault, it’s just frustrating.
I’ll look into the firmware for the router though
Have you tried wifi? I know you’d expect Ethernet to work better but the wifi on mine is faultless and it get QOS over almost every other device in our house
Wifi isn’t an option for the room it’s in unfortunately. in other rooms wifi encounters the same issue though
I have the same issue with my PS4. Whereas it works fine on my Xbox One.
It’s super annoying though. When I first turn my PS4 on, I can open the PS Store. But if I get out of it then play a game, then try to go back to the store, it wont let me. I have to shut it down, or reset my connection under settings.
One step forwards, two steps back this gen.
I don’t really have any complaints. They seem to be listening, and it seems to be improving each month. Yeah it had its bugs to begin with, but then every new peice of tech seems to these days.
I used to own every console, but these days I just roll the xbox one soley and I’m more then happy with it.
I bought an Xbox soon after launch because I had a 360 and I kind of think that all of that terrible handling of the launch has kinda worked in the consoles favour. Updates are monthly and while not always substantial they are actively trying to improve the system. The differences between the launch UI and now and between now and the next major update are huge
I love kanjo kazooie so much im tempted to pickup an xbox one just for it in the rare replay collection. That being said I would rather not have to buy one.
You can get Banjo Kazooie and Tooie on Xbox 360 if you want to save yourself some money, although we’re pretty much at the end of the 360’s life cycle now.
I’d buy all the consoles if I were single & richer.
I’m jealous or Rare Replay but not much else has caught my eye yet.
I like my bone. I don’t use any of the fancy media stuff – its a games machine and in that it works well. Games install, grab all their updates and DLC and ready to go without having to do anything. I like it. For the most part, it just works and thats exactly what I want coming home from a job in IT.
There are two things that absolutely piss me off though and it still surprises me that they havent been fixed yet.
Party – after the 360’s seamless party system, how could they fail so badly. It takes me 2 or 3 party attempts to talk to just my brother most nights. Sometimes he has to start the party, sometimes I do, either one of us is forcibly removed from the party or one of us can’t hear the other. Both consoles “open”, can find no reason for it. It seems so glitchy and temperamental, and its annoying that it can take 30 mins to get started on a game. I recall one time we gave up, signed into the 360 and used the 360 headset/party system while we played on the bone. Occasionally forgetting to flick the 360 controller to stop it going into power save mode. Was after spending 30 mins trying to get the bone party to work.
Game DVR – I like taking screenshots and I want to be able to record that game clip of that super awesome thing I just did, but I can’t stand every 15 seconds getting a pre-recorded clip in GTA5 of something “awesome” I did, like drive in a straight line or press the A button. I’d leave Game DVR enabled if it wasn’t for this automatic clip creation bullshit.
Thats it. Aside from party and wanting to share screenshots, the console is great. Everything plays smoothly. Installing, updating, save sync all does its own thing without my having to worry and it just works. I even like the UI now that I’ve worked out how to use it. Just fix those other stupid things.
I’m sure confirmation bias is at play but I am very happy with my XBone. It does a lot of fun stuff. If my wife would let me I’d probably buy a PS4 too for Bloodborne but as it is the games on the XB1 have been great, the apps are pretty entertaining (Netflix, media player, browsing), TV tuner is nice (wish bloody Foxtel would let me use the HDMI out). Looking forward to DVR and Win10 integration. Overall I like MSFT’s roadmap and the effort they have put into improve the ecosystem. Look at how awesome the 360 eventually became, I think they can do it again. I’m impressed, a solid 7.5/10.
This is it for me. I dont like the UI as it makes me feel old. I have been at times forced to do the old dad thing of getting a 12 year old to show me how to do stuff.
Maybe I need to pass the torch and just start sitting on my porch yelling at the neighbour kids to stay off my lawn.
I love my Xbox One. The dashboard to me feels good and the games play well.
The down sides…
I hoped to use it as a media player replacing my Samsung player by using Plex however Plex only works on Xbox One if you pay a subscription. I use Plex on other devices and paid for it on Android but don’t want to pay a subscription. It was announced that it would become free, but I have no idea when that is going to happen.
I have once had to unplug and reconnect the power cable as I was not able to play any game as the load screens would hang if I had a profile signed in… hopefully just a one off glitch.
FYI if you turn the Plex DLNA server on from your plex media server on your computer you can access your plex library on Xbox one with the Media Player app. It’s not as handy and pretty as the actual app of course, but its a good work around until Plex starts selling the Standalone app. Its what i do
I have both, and to be honest they both offer a very similar experience game wise. One thing that I have to point out though is physical quality. I believe the Xbox one to be far superior, in terms of build quality & accessories as well as the software. For example, the ps4 controller’s batteries only last a couple of hours, the xbones lasts a couple of days. The bundled charging lead is about 3ft for the ps4 and the quality of it is very poor and its not long enough to charge while playing, The xbones is about 8ft and is high quality – I usually end up playing the ps4 while charging the control through the xbox one. Same goes for the bundled mic’s.
I have to say though, that my two favourite games of this generation have both been on ps4 – bloodborne & rocket league. So there is that…
I was tossing up between a Xbox One and PS4 at the beginning of last year, but both were out of stock, so I picked up a Wii U instead. Finally got an Xbox One a couple of months ago, and I’m loving it. I’ve been with Xbox since the original, but Microsoft didn’t really do a great job selling the bloody thing to me in the beginning. Again, I was considering a PS4, but every Sony product I’ve had, I’ve either gotten rid of, or gotten super late for the gems I missed in the last generations; the Sony vibe does nothing for me, and I think I still harbor resentment built during the Saturn/Dreamcast days 😛
But I’m really happy with my Xbox One. I love the controller, and I feel like the games out right now have justified my purchase. The only thing I hate is the UI; It’s crap. The store is a joke too, and it’s way too hard to find the simplest of things. Here’s hoping that Microsoft gives it a big, big overhaul in the future.
But that’s a minor complaint. It plays the games I like, and it plays them well. I’m glad I waited to play The Master Chief Collection, because it works now. I discovered that my love for Forza Horizon 2 is real, and Shadow Warrior and Diablo III (both double/triple dips for me) have kept me entertained for ages too. The backward compatibility, of what there is so far, is fantastic too. I’ve lost my power supply for my 360, so being able to play some of my older titles is a godsend.
The only thing missing is Rocket League. It needs Rocket League. I have it on Steam, but being able to play on my Xbox with friends in split-screen or over XBL would be preferable for me. My frame rate in Rocket League on PC depends on which field I’m playing on, and what weather effects are on show at the time.
But other than that, it’s all golden – really happy with my purchase.
I have a PS4, but was compelled to also buy an Xbox One recently (mostly due to Halo nostalgia). I am completely unbiased – I wan’t both companies to succeed in the gaming space.
Honestly, I really wanted to love it, but one month in and I’m just not all that impressed. Games DO look worse than my PS4 when played on my 65″ TV screen. And the UI is atrocious. It’s quite ridiculous that a company like Sony can make a better UI than Microsoft. Browsing the store is a total nightmare. And little things are missing, like the ability to turn off the swooshing and beeping sounds as you navigate the UI. I mean, really Microsoft?
I prefer the feeling of the Xbox One analog sticks – much better grip, but I prefer almost everything else about the PS4 controller. Most notably, that using it doesn’t keep my partner awake when she’s in the other room (the Xbox One controller clicking sounds are insane). I also prefer the triggers and d-pad.
I’ve been able to upgrade my PS4 to an SSD, so the OS is silky smooth. Unfortunately, I’m stuck using an old fashioned 5400 HDD on my XOne, which doesn’t help the UI woes.
And yet, despite all this, I’d recommend that, if you’ve got an Xbox One, you might as well just stick with it. It’s 90% as good as the PS4 for most tasks, and if you don;t have a PS4 you won’t really miss it. The consoles are very similar, but if you can only get one, Sony if the obvious choice this generation. It’s simply feels better at almost everything.
I’ve been thinking of getting a X1. I have a PS4 and I do enjoy it but Sony are just letting me down. Apart from uncharted 4 I can’t see a reason why I would need the PS4.
I thought the same thing, but honestly, they really are almost identical. If you REALLY want Titanfall/Halo, then it’s worth it. Otherwise, it really isn’t.
If anything, getting the Xbox just showed me that the PS4 is actually a great console. More indies, lots of great free games, better sales (almost Steam-like), easier to navigate/find titles and more powerful.
Likewise, however, I wouldn’t recommend getting a PS4 if you have the Xbox One. They are just so similar.
I got ps4 last year. My buddy bought x1 and i must say it beats Ps4 .
Love my Xbox One. I run my Foxtel through it, so no need to change inputs when we want to switch from Netflix/games to a recorded TV show.
Voice commands are the icing on the cake. The only time I turn on a controller is to play games. My wife really likes the whole “Xbox, on. Xbox, go to Netflix/TV” thing when she has her hands full with our 8 month old during the day.
I’ve got both… but almost all of my stuff is done on my xbox.
In complete honesty, if Journey hadn’t come out I’d have only used the PS4 to update its firmware. Like was mentioned above, the controller battery life is much better too.
I’ve never had an issue with the xbox UI.
I have the Kinect, but the only thing I use it for is turning it on and redeeming codes.
I use it for gaming, Netflix, Media Player (including ‘PlayTo’ from my laptop).
Given how outsold the xbox has been so far this generation, MS is going to need to make more exclusive games (games are why we’re on this site afterall), because multi-plats are going to look better on PS4… so I really look forward to them upping their first party production.
I put serious effort into figuring out which one to get this generation but when they turfed the Kinect the decision was made. The Xbone seems like more of a generational improvement to me with ability to snap videos or apps and its improved controller.
In a lot of respects the PS4 to me felt like it was catching up to the 360.
The one aspect where they desperately needed to catch up with the PS4 (instant game collection) has been addressed and by and large staying in the Xbox ecosystem has had its benefits.
Now with Backwards compatibility on the way I may get to revive some of my favourite XBLA games. (Didn’t care as much about disc based but was upset that I’d amassed such a huge collection of digital games that might have become obsolete)
At some stage my PC will start its Windows 10 download (don’t ask me when!!) and the a whole stack of new features will be available
As for the games honestly the only black eye Sony has delivered on this front was Bloodborne – but then Namco was kind enough to wheel out the Dark Souls 2 remaster a week later.
I buy mostly muliplats but I do have one exclusive that I love: Sunset Overdrive.
Also the indie games have some standouts like Goat Simulator and IDARB and soon Superhot!
Love: It can do everything, I probably have my Xbox on 10 hours or more a day, if my TV is on, my Xbox is on, and with the media capabilities it doesn’t become some useless thing I leave turned off when I’m too busy to play games. Kinect is also like being goddamned tony stark, I pity the person who can’t turn their TV on by voice as they walk in the door.
Dislike: Speed, some things in the OS are slow to open, and some things are just too many damned clicks. Also the new friend system. WTF is this follower crap? Why do I now have 150 followers who I don’t know who they are. What happened to “hey this is bla from bla, lets be friends”. Nope, just follow someone so they have no goddamned idea who you are. Plus if I follow my real friends who are barely computer literate, they never follow you back because the whole system is too damned confusing. Whoever decided Console friend system needed to be more like twitter needs to be smacked in the face with a shovel.
Explaining that they have to follow you back if they want you as a friend is insanely hard to communicate sometimes.
My XBone is great, as is the two that are bookending my games collection. The PS4 that is chocking open the door to the cupboard where my other XBone and Wii is seems a lesser build quality but the five PS4’s that my 4 PC’s sit on (with SLI’d nVidia Quadros) seems to be OK. I’m not happy that the XBone in the toilet can’t stream to my three home entertainment systems through my eight iPads but that’s a small annoyance given I mainly play my nVidia shield there (who plays the One when going twos??!!!). I hope they come out with a UI update so I can ask mum to buy me another three to test with.