Oh, Snap!
Essentially, Snap is a picture-in-picture mode. It creates a new window that takes up about one-quarter of the screen. In it, you can put a TV feed, video apps like Netflix and Hulu, or Internet Explorer. You can even have a Skype call going without interrupting your gaming or TV session (though the person on the other end might find you annoyingly distracted). Truly, this is where the Xbox One shows off the advantages of converging multiple lifestyle-oriented functions into one device.
Game DVR
The prevalence of social media makes sharing a common feature for this new generation. On Xbox One, the ability to share game clips, which are recorded automatically, is called Game DVR. As you dunk on your friends, throw unbelievable Hail Mary passes, or shoot a hole-in-one, saying "Xbox, record that" brings up the Game DVR with the last 30 seconds of gameplay. You can then edit the video in Upload Studio before sending it off to SkyDrive in a 720p MP4 video format. Get ready for lots of gaming videos on YouTube.
Internet Explorer and Bing
The Xbox One integrates both of these very-Microsoft software brands. They will likely end up being our least-used features, though they're far from useless.
Internet Explorer naturally puts Web browsing on the big screen, which has largely been replaced by a preference for casual browsing on tablets. With Snap, however, this could turn into a perfect way to get a walkthrough or map on-screen for help in a hard-to-beat level.
Bing's search features works through the voice command "Xbox, Bing." Its main purpose isn't navigating the Internet, though. Rather, it searches content available to the Xbox One. Say "Xbox, Bing, show me movies with Zachary Quinto" or "show me movie comedies from the 80s", and you receive hits from Xbox Video and other sources, such as Netflix and Hulu. Bing searches scan through games, TV shows, movies, and music.
Smartglass
The Xbox One Smartglass app promises to act like a second screen. Game developers can take advantage of it to display game info or even have direct input into the game. For example, in Dead Rising 3, Smartglass turns your mobile device into the in-game phone that's used to interact with characters. Or, it can be used to call in an airstrike.
- Xbox One: The Exterior Design
- Power, Internal Storage, And Game Installations
- The Xbox One CPU: Complements Of AMD's Jaguar µArch
- The Xbox One GPU: GCN-Based
- The Xbox One's Controller: Vastly Improved
- A New Kinect Camera: The Xbox One's Other Controller
- Kinect, Your Privacy, And The Future
- Watching TV Through The Xbox One
- More Software: Snap, IE, Bing, And Smartglass
- Is The Xbox One Convergence Done Right?

At the time being,IMO PS4 is a better gaming machine;whereas,X1 is a better entertainment system.
PS4 has a more powerful GPU so it should perform better in games and is $100 cheaper too;whereas,X1 tries to do more than just gaming and costs more.
For me,PS4 is a better machine because I only tend to play games on a console but X1 is also a great machine
some of the ps4 reviews i read had info on gaming as well as media/entertainment. i mean info like how the games look and feel to a player, resolution and user perception, joystick (and other input devices) performance in gaming etc.
I'm pretty sure MS went over the usage stats of the 360 and found that more and more people were using the media/TV/movie aspects. After all thats where the money is.
MS could sell half as many Xbox Ones as Sony but it will still be making far more per console in subscriptions and services. The money going forward isn't in games.
However, I don't think this generation will be as long lived as the 360/PS4. I see One.5 or PS4.5 models or total replacement within 5 years.
I might be getting both, but to be honest I might not get any, as I've become more of a PC gamer
One day Tom's will move into the 21st century. Apologies folks.
It is not a bad thing when done right, yes, but then you'll have a "jack of all trades" instead of a "gaming machine". I'm not an advocate of putting too many specific functions into one device until the technology is up to par with the individual ones. Smartphone cameras is a fine example for that: today we find "good" picture quality compared to a Point and Shoot and it will get even better down the road thanks to tech advancements. In the case of consoles, I expect SteamBox to trash everything else in the living room gaming wise first and other-stuff second, including the recent-out consoles. There's a world of horsepower of difference between the custom APUs and using an Intel + nVidia/AMD video card with an optimized OS (SteamOS, remember?).
I'll need a first hand experience with the XB1 and the PS4, but as "consoles", they must not disappoint. Kinnect is a feature you should/can put in a PC/HTPC with little effort if you want one (we're in a tech site, so this phrase is valid). Same for the EyeToy. Hell, even speech recognition used in the XB1, I'm sure is a derivative from the one in Windows that anyone can actually tune and use.
Cheers!
At the time being,IMO PS4 is a better gaming machine;whereas,X1 is a better entertainment system.
PS4 has a more powerful GPU so it should perform better in games and is $100 cheaper too;whereas,X1 tries to do more than just gaming and costs more.
For me,PS4 is a better machine because I only tend to play games on a console but X1 is also a great machine
We'll have more stories on both consoles.
some of the ps4 reviews i read had info on gaming as well as media/entertainment. i mean info like how the games look and feel to a player, resolution and user perception, joystick (and other input devices) performance in gaming etc.
The problem is a lot of the functionality is limited until the day one update, which the press samples did not have yet. We will have follow ups in the coming weeks. I'll be out camping for mine Thursday night
*Edit I hope this doesn't double post -_-
The Xbox One may be an astounding piece of technology but it looks fat and ugly.