Xbox One with Kinect (Day One Edition)

Xbox One is great.Pros:The voice control is amazing for some things, especially changing TV channels or switching between games/apps. If you're used to having to scroll through 50 pages of TV channels if you haven't remembered the number of the channel you want to watch, those days are over.Switching between the last game I was playing and apps really is fast with voice. The first time I switch to TV it takes a minute. If I open a new game I wasn't already playing it takes a minute. But for stuff that's already "open" it goes faster than it would have been to reach over and pick up the remote (let alone find the right button(s) to press).Internet Explorer works a lot better than I was expecting. I didn't use it on the 360 (too frustrating) so I'm not sure what parts of this are new, but with the combination between voice commands and controller it's easy to use on a big screen. It's great to be able to use the controller as a mouse and voice for navigation - it even makes filling out forms manageable.Forza is incredible from a graphics and gameplay perspective. I remember all the way back to Forza's original version (I only seem to buy about every other one), and I'm impressed by them coming up with innovations to improve gameplay in what already seemed like a great game. The graphics are realistic. The difficulty controls are fine-grained. I love how they reward the same for 1st-3rd place to encourage players to bump up the difficulty. The "press Y to rewind" (but it'll affect your earnings) is a great way to pick up or get back into the flow of playing this game. Even though there were tons of things I wanted to try out on Xbox One, I couldn't stop playing this until I had completed enough races for my driveatar to go out into the world -- that's a fun concept.FIFA 14 is an incremental step above last year's version, but when it's more difficult than before to score a goal I know there's some extra control they've added in that I can pick up and enjoy better, so I'm looking forward to spending more time with this.Xbox Music picked up my collection from my Windows 8 laptop (which matched to the cloud). I don't have a Music Pass. I did get told after 15 songs I needed one, but it is still letting me play my music. I didn't transfer any files over, it just recognized what was on my PC and automagically made it so my Xbox could play it too. I'm assuming it's only making stuff in the Xbox Music library available to play but I haven't noticed any gaps yet. And for my favorite CD I deleted track 3 because it's the one song on the album I don't like, and playing that album resulted in playing tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, ... so I'm impressed it's not just playing the CD I asked for and putting ads in the middle because it included a song I didn't own. It was like Xbox understood that album to be the songs I had off the album not everything it had in the cloud. Cool! It did surface the album in the main UI of the app and if I went into that one rather than through my collection the 3rd song was there, but I was surprised even the first half of that worked.I can't believe how many apps are available on the first day. I was expecting to be able to play a couple games and get to have fun with the TV features. I didn't even setup the OneGuide properly on the first day because I wanted to get Skype, Amazon's video player, the app soon to be formerly known as Skydrive, etc. all up and working. So many activities!Patches are never fun, but it's nice being able to play Forza while it's only partially done downloading. It didn't take too long to download the patch either.I'm going to list some cons, but I gave this 5 stars. As a brief explanation, my expectations for this right at launch were much below what I experienced. I'm not claiming everything is exactly how I'd want it to be 8 years from now, but if I compare this to what the 360 was on day one it's a way bigger jump than between Xbox to 360. I wasn't expecting everything to be perfect, but it's already improved how I change channels on the TV (who even realized that was possible?) in addition to having useful apps and a couple really good games.Cons:Getting voice to work seamlessly requires training me more than the box. I read reviews and saw I would have to be specific (e.g. "Forza Motorsport 5" not just "Forza"). Even being specific isn't quite enough. You also have to know what to say. I tried saying "Xbox open Xbox Music" and it didn't seem to get the first half (need to say "go to" not "open") and then decided the last half was me saying "Xbox mute". Fortunately it shows the command it recognizes so I was able to see what it did and I tried "Xbox unmute" which worked fine. What I've realized is that when it takes me 3-4 times of saying something to get it to work, it means there's a better way to command Xbox One to do what I'm wanting it to do. After a few tries of getting it to open "Xbox Music" it worked and showed the command it recognized as "Xbox play music", and when I say that it works great. Also, apps aren't opened they're gone to. I'm getting the hang of it, but it's not completely natural. The way it says what it recognized is incredibly helpful for learning how to issue commands. Even if it takes 3-4 tries because I'm saying something in a way that's easily confused with another command, when it finally works I can see what it recognized and use that means of expression. After a day I still have room to improve but I've gotten way better at it already.It's nice being able to wake up (Xbox One in bedroom, controller nearby) and say "Xbox On". It's not awesome to have to go up to the box and put the disc for Forza in to play it. I know the world turned to unicorns and rainbows for everyone when the policies were reversed, but I wish there was a way to mail in my disc and get a digital-only version. If I was sure I could have gotten the special edition cars by buying the special edition through the store I would have just bought a digital copy, but it's just stupid that I have to choose between those options. Please fix this or send me a robot that will go put the discs in for me. I suspect the former is easier. This is a huge hole in the experience. I did buy FIFA digitally, and will do so wherever I can going forward. That doesn't seem to work for special editions, though.

I have been using this console since its release day. I always try to thoroughly test something like this for months before writing a review to be sure I have had enough time to play with most if not all of the features. This way I can take into account the changes (system updates) that have happened over time.Day One: The GoodThe graphics of this console are very good, even if some of the games are not running at native 1080p. Most people wouldn't notice the difference between 720p and 1080p unless they were side by side on a large screen. As developers figure out how to use the Xbox Ones infrastructure more effectively(especially the esram), games will look better with higher resolution and more reliable frame rates. Besides, if people really want the best graphics, build or buy a gaming PC. The user interface was clearly designed to work with Kinect. To me, it's a fresh change from the Xbox 360 dashboard once you learn how to navigate the system. The voice commands are very nice to have, allowing you to seamlessly navigate the OS with little effort. It is really nice to be able to snap TV or Netflix while playing a game, or to be able to go to the home screen while waiting for another online match to start. This way you can navigate through apps or check up on friends while waiting for the next match. You can do anything and then jump straight back to the game with no problems and continue playing. A huge thing for me is the elimination of a remote for the TV, the Xbox, surround sound system, etc. You can set your Xbox One to turn on all of these devices when the Xbox turns on which can be done by simply saying "Xbox on". You can also power everything off just as easily by saying "Xbox off", followed by saying "yes" so the system doesn't just shut down in case you change your mind. Another feature that I really like is the Xbox One Smart glass. It's an app you can get on any phone or tablet that allows you to control your Xbox through your mobile device.Day One: The Bad (nearly all issues addressed)On day one, this console had minor issues that were somewhat annoying but nothing I would consider a deal breaker. The most frustrating issue I had was the inability to party chat with friends for the first month that the console was out. The way we got around this was to Skype chat while in a private party. The reason we stayed in our own private parties was because if you didn't, people could still hear you in the game chat lobby and you could still hear them, defeating the purpose of having a private party. So, the only way to truly have a private party chat at first was to start a party with everyone you wanted to talk to knowing you couldn't turn party chat on, then inviting everyone to a Skype chat. Once party chat was finally fixed, there was still the issue of having to physically turn on party chat once you joined the party. Unlike the older Xbox 360 chat system which automatically turned party chat on when you joined or started a party. At first, there was no way to see controller battery life, or see how much space was used on the hard drive. Keep in mind that all of these problems are now fixed with the new updates, aside from Skype chat which still bleeds into game chat if you aren't in a private lobby. I really wish games were backwards compatible, but they aren't for PS4 or Xbox One.The Kinect:The Kinect is a little bit big but works much better than the old one. It can still look good at an entertainment system because it matches the Xbox One and has a modern look to it. The picture quality is improved to 1080p and it can see people better in smaller rooms compared to the Xbox 360's Kinect. This Kinect, unlike the Xbox 360 version, has no moving parts because of the better camera. When using Skype, the Kinect will know who you are versus other people. While walking around, the Kinect will track you as you move staying focused one you. If another person steps into view, it automatically widens the frame so that both people can be seen. The whole Xbox One system is very easy to use, especially while navigating with the Kinect. As for the worries about the NSA and other people spying on you, I personally would't worry. Most people now have some sort of device with a camera and/or a microphone of some kind including tablets, cell phones, laptops, etc. Many of these devices have voice activation integrated in them as well. So, if you think the Kinect is the only way to be spied on, you should probably make sure you don't have any of the items listed above. Either way, there is now an Xbox One sold without Kinect which will eliminate the issue.Voice Commands:The voice commands have worked for the most part since day one. Of course from time to time, things need to be repeated once or twice. I have noticed that as updates come out for the console, the voice commands become more refined and work better. I rarely have to repeat myself anymore. I would recommend looking up the voice commands so that there is no trouble navigating the system. The commands work great if you know how to use them. I would say that a majority of the problems people have are user error. Not stating the command properly, saying "Xbox start party" vs. "Xbox go to party" (Xbox go to party is the right command), can cause problems. I have also found that the commands work better if you pause briefly after saying "Xbox", then state the command. I don't know how the commands work for people with thick accents (non-American), but I have heard the system works well for these individuals too.Controller:I didn't think it was possible to have improved the controller much from the Xbox 360. I was certainly wrong. The new controllers are more responsive and have a much better feel to them. The button layouts have had minor position changes which to me, was for the best. You will really notice the difference between the two controllers if you play your Xbox One for a while, then try to go back to the Xbox 360. I couldn't believe how much heavier, less responsive, and less comfortable the old controllers are compared to the new ones. Another fantastic addition to this controller is the rumble feedback in the triggers themselves. It really pulls you into the game and brings a whole new dynamic to the way games "feel". The battery life is fantastic as well, I wound up buying a Nyko charge station for my controllers because of how convenient they are. They too have respectable battery life.The Box:The Xbox One itself is very esthetically pleasing in my opinion. Even though it is a more simple shape compared to the Xbox 360 or PS4, it looks very nice with the combinations of gloss and matte black finishes. It looks really nice if you have a modern looking entertainment system. I really like the way the Xbox One symbol looks while illuminated both the console the Kinect, and the controllers. Setting up this console is very easy, everything is labeled well and all of the cables fit snug when plugged in. One of the best parts about this console compared to the Xbox 360 and my gaming PC is how quiet it is. I can't hear this console at all while playing it, which is very pleasing. My gaming PC (easily twice the power of the Xbox One and PS4) is louder simply by being on, not to mention when the cards are working hard when playing games.Xbox Live:Xbox Live has always been incredibly reliable for me form the day I started using it 9 years ago (halo2). You pay $60 (often $44.99 on Amazon) for an entire year of multiplayer, updates, and very reliable security. Xbox live no longer requires a gold subscription to use free apps such as Netflix, TED Talks, Hulu Plus, HBO GO, etc.Overall:This is a wonderful system. It is amazing that consoles are capable of pushing the graphics they do while remaining quiet, cool (temperature wise), and affordable. I personally have a better social experience on consoles over PC gaming. I am happy with my Xbox One experience and am very excited for the future exclusive games! If you are trying to decide between and Xbox One and a PS4, I would recommend doing so research on what you would like to get out of the console. All that really matters is that YOU are happy with the your purchase. What lead me to Xbox One were some of the exclusives that I have always liked such as Halo, Gears of War, Forza, etc. Both systems offer a great experience with great games!