X1: Runs 4 apps simultaneously
- Thread starter rokkerkory
- Start date
Xbox One interface is clean, uncluttered, and poweful
Microsoft's Albert Penella gave us a demonstration of what they've been working on at Tokyo Game Show this week. He is with the product planning team now, and has been with the company for 13 years, starting even before the first Xbox was released. If there's someone that has seen it all, it's Penella.
Working with full production Xbox One hardware, we saw the UI running on what was essentially a final hardware unit. Content was being populated in real time from Microsoft HQ. They ran full test code in front of us, so no canned demos here.
Penella signed into the dash by just waving his hand. Actually, work went on to do so in the background before he even did that, as the Kinect was already seeing and trying to recognize everyone in the room. Waving was more of a confirmation that he was the one that wanted to sign in. From that confirmation, Xbox One pulls down all of Penella's settings, just as he had set up in Redmond, including all of his saved games, apps, and settings.
Speaking of signing in, Xbox One is friendly to multiple users. The previous systems were not. Now, six users can sign in at one time. Kinect is always watching to know who is in the lead in this case. It sees who is holding the controller and recognizes your voice among others. You could be in a room with five other people logged in and call out to launch a game, and it would do so with your settings and saves intact.
The Xbox One can run four apps at the same time in the background. Switching between them is not unlike how it would work on your mobile phone. It's instant. Hitting the X button on the controller takes you back to your home screen, where you'll see four boxes that represent the apps or games running. Pick from any of them to jump right in.
While you can run multiple apps, only one game can be run at one time. Switching games is really easy, though. A voice command will have your current game shut down in 10 seconds, ready to load another.
Game capture is pretty slick. We saw a marble maze game get instant capture of the last 30 seconds of buffered frames from a simple voice command. Xbox One's Upload Studio had a 720p 30fps clip waiting immediately after. Users can quickly edit, save, or share this clip with further commands. Another voice command can have you back in the game just as quickly.
Penella says that these clips will only be able to be shared on Xbox Live at launch. They'll have social sites like YouTube and Facebook set up for sharing by next year.
The Kinect does neat things for living room connectivity. It acts as a IR blaster on steroids, sending out so many IR beams that it completely fills a room. These beams bounce off walls and other surfaces, reflecting back at any exposed device in the room. This means that your electronics on shelves, even behind glass, will be able to be controlled by the Xbox One.
Microsoft has set up control schemes that work like Logitech's Harmony system. Your television, receiver, set top box, and other devices will work from your voice commands. We saw a television's volume change from voice commands in a demonstration.
A bit more info for you guys
Microsoft's Albert Penella gave us a demonstration of what they've been working on at Tokyo Game Show this week. He is with the product planning team now, and has been with the company for 13 years, starting even before the first Xbox was released. If there's someone that has seen it all, it's Penella.
Working with full production Xbox One hardware, we saw the UI running on what was essentially a final hardware unit. Content was being populated in real time from Microsoft HQ. They ran full test code in front of us, so no canned demos here.
Penella signed into the dash by just waving his hand. Actually, work went on to do so in the background before he even did that, as the Kinect was already seeing and trying to recognize everyone in the room. Waving was more of a confirmation that he was the one that wanted to sign in. From that confirmation, Xbox One pulls down all of Penella's settings, just as he had set up in Redmond, including all of his saved games, apps, and settings.
Speaking of signing in, Xbox One is friendly to multiple users. The previous systems were not. Now, six users can sign in at one time. Kinect is always watching to know who is in the lead in this case. It sees who is holding the controller and recognizes your voice among others. You could be in a room with five other people logged in and call out to launch a game, and it would do so with your settings and saves intact.
The Xbox One can run four apps at the same time in the background. Switching between them is not unlike how it would work on your mobile phone. It's instant. Hitting the X button on the controller takes you back to your home screen, where you'll see four boxes that represent the apps or games running. Pick from any of them to jump right in.
While you can run multiple apps, only one game can be run at one time. Switching games is really easy, though. A voice command will have your current game shut down in 10 seconds, ready to load another.
Game capture is pretty slick. We saw a marble maze game get instant capture of the last 30 seconds of buffered frames from a simple voice command. Xbox One's Upload Studio had a 720p 30fps clip waiting immediately after. Users can quickly edit, save, or share this clip with further commands. Another voice command can have you back in the game just as quickly.
Penella says that these clips will only be able to be shared on Xbox Live at launch. They'll have social sites like YouTube and Facebook set up for sharing by next year.
The Kinect does neat things for living room connectivity. It acts as a IR blaster on steroids, sending out so many IR beams that it completely fills a room. These beams bounce off walls and other surfaces, reflecting back at any exposed device in the room. This means that your electronics on shelves, even behind glass, will be able to be controlled by the Xbox One.
Microsoft has set up control schemes that work like Logitech's Harmony system. Your television, receiver, set top box, and other devices will work from your voice commands. We saw a television's volume change from voice commands in a demonstration.
A bit more info for you guys
You would think they could spell the man's name right since he demonstrated it for them. That stated, Xbox One is shaping up to be a great all around system.
Kinect may change Microsoft's tenuous toe-hold in the Japanese market into a complete foot in the door. They love new tech. Microsoft is intent on selling the complete package. It's not just "all about the games" it's about games and much much more. What an epic fail it would have been, if Sony had went toe to toe against Kinect 2 with the EyeToy.
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Sadly no matter how good all of the recent X1 news has been, people are still hell bent on wanting this thing to fail. There are so many great new things to try out along with a handful of games to keep you busy. The X1 will easily become a device I see myself on constantly.
I can see myself watching a show while there is downtime in a game.
Or playing a game during a commercial break in a live sporting event, for example. Seamlessly swapping between game / TV? That'll be awesome.
Would be even more awesome if they could warn you in game that the commercial is over.
Sounds pretty cool. Now lets put it to use and see for ourselves if snapping is as smooth as the presentations.
Meaning no small hiccups, freezing, or "God is slow compared to the demos", you know sometimes things turn out that way.
Meaning no small hiccups, freezing, or "God is slow compared to the demos", you know sometimes things turn out that way.
now that I can agree with, if they can make it run like that demo then i am very happy.
the dashboard and overall lag free, voice activated functionality of the xbox one dashboard is overlooked it seems. Microsoft has created a speed demon with great functionality that will enhance the overall user experience, something that is as important as the games on the system imo
Great to hear. I like the windows style OS's and am excited to finally use this xbox one OS. It looks great and has that elegant simple feel to it. Don't have a bunch of stuff all over the place and no guide button. 4-5 background apps is plenty and I'm confident in the quickness of switching because it is seamless on my windows phone. I am pumped to be able to watch TV either simultaneously or with instant switching with my games without having to swap inputs (and find the remote).
This is honestly what I'm most excited about.
From what some people have deduced...the 8 gigs of Flash is where the OS resides (hence why the drive isn't replaceable as it sounds like a hybrid drive).
Yeah, pretty sure they are stashing the OS and all system related files there, in addition to anything NON game install or saves...
