It’s finally here. The new Xbox One was revealed recently at a live unveiling event, after months of anticipation and excitement. And it’s not even called Xbox 720. The unveiling also confirmed the voice control rumour. Don Mattrick, Microsoft Executive, described it as an ‘all-in-one’ box, most probably referring to the live TV services along with the apps and the gaming system. Along with the new next-generation console, a new Kinect was also announced, with lots of new improvements. It will also be developed for Windows PC, like the previous Kinect.
The console will be released for the public later this year. The New Xbox One supports live TV services, has new unique apps, and it’s built to make your gameplay experience better than ever.
System Specifications and Hardware
The console revealed was black and sleek, and kind of looked like a very cool set-top box, and it’ll need to be kept horizontally, always. It has a blue-ray drive, and it can also be connected to your actual set-top box through HDMI, but the HDMI pass-through will have to be bought separately. The system’s UI is used, which enables features like custom trending and list of favorites, and the system will also have a content guide. You also switch from the Xbox dashboard to live television easily.
Through the partnership between Microsoft and AMD, a custom 40-nanometer chip with an 8-core CPU and GPU that powers the Xbox One was created. The hardware also includes 8GB RAM, a 500GB hard-drive, 802.11n WiFi and USB 3.0. The console has a built-in Kinect sensor. The company has confirmed that the console runs on three OS’: Windows Kernel, Xbox OS and the third is the one that allows the switching between various windows.
Voice Control and New Xbox Kinect
As mentioned previously, the console comes with a new Kinect sensor, which has a new feature: Voice Control. If you say “Xbox On” the console with turn on, and all you have to say is “Go to TV” or “Live Switching”, and it’ll happen.
The built in Kinect-camera has a 1080p sensor, so that you can explore the system with just gestures. It’s capable of detecting your heartbeat, and can be used to access Skype as well- which means video calling in HD, something everyone will love. It can also identify the Xbox One controller to enable simple player syncing, which is another thing to enhance your gameplay experience. Since the Xbox 360, the microphone has gotten many updates and it’s because of them that the console is so efficient that it can detect voices even in a noisy environment.
It’s been confirmed that Kinect will come for Windows PC as well, but that’ll happen months after the public release of the console, as per what happened with the previous-generation console.