Is the Xbox One the smart TV we've all been waiting for?
Several tech critics are skeptical
Microsoft unveiled a new entertainment center called the Xbox One yesterday. As expected, it's crammed with all sorts of Jetsons-age technology.
For example: It can run multiple apps at once on a split screen, allowing you to watch a movie while Skyping with friends. Voice sensors ostensibly allow you to bark commands like, "Xbox, go to ESPN!" Its unrivaled motion-sensing Kinect comes standard, allowing you to navigate through entertainment menus with a Jedi-like wave of your hand. The system is even said to play video games.
It's so amazing, in fact, that the Xbox One "effectively creates what might be called the first genuinely 'smart' television," says Nathaniel Mott at PandoDaily.
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But Microsoft appears to have beaten them to the punch. The Xbox One may just be the all-in-one media center we've all been waiting for. For the first time, TV will be a fully integrated, seamless experience. Gizmodo's Kyle Wagner offers high praise: "This is what we were hoping Microsoft would show us."
Just one tiny problem, says Nilay Patel at The Verge: "The demos weren't real." Rather, the Xbox One's TV integration showcased by Microsoft "is the same familiar nightmare we've known for nearly 20 years now."
Furthermore, the system's features will only work with live television, since there's no way for the One to know what you've recorded on DVR. Unfortunately, that means users will have to navigate through clumsy onscreen menus with their old remote control. In other words, says Peter Smith at IT World, the One will be "mostly of use for channel surfing, if anyone still does that."
"The Xbox One won't free you from your cable box," says The Verge's Patel — "it'll stay firmly chained to it."
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