Next Gen Xbox Dashboard Discussion

[Calverz]

Things are starting to hot up with the next generation. But one of the things I'm interested in, is the dashboard for the new xbox.

Xbox one from day one has struggled with a reliable and functional dashboard. The first was designed with kinect hand movements in mind and was very buggy. It also had snap mode which i know had its supporters but they got rid of.

The latest dash OS is functional but can still run very slow and buggy. Also, some people do not like the design and layout.

Therefore as the poll suggests, what do you think microsoft will do for the next xbox?

EDIT: added option for something new. You can change your original poll option

 

[Azurik]

Just want a barebones one like the PS4 or switch. Nothing more annoying than going to my games and having to wait for everything to load from game pass, gold and ea access. Just takes to long.
If I want to check out all them categories, then I will click on it. Don't force it on me and don't make the dashboard constantly check for new content online when moving between tabs. Only check if I actually browse stuff like game pass and store and make them separate categories like the PSN store on the PS4. Load it all up when I actually click on it.

So yes, barebones for quickness with options to check out other stuff if I want to

 

[Kyle Cross]

They need to trim their shit way way down. It's just too clustered. The PS4 and Switch's dash are great.

 

[Deleted member 8784]

Are their still ads for Doritos and cars on it, like in the 360 days? If so, whichever options gets rid of those!

 

[Prine]

current but faster, prefer xbox dash to others. The slide in menu is perfection.

 

[Egrimal]

Something simple. That dashboard is so cluttered it feels awful. Given it was originally designed around Kinect and still supports it I hope next time round they opt for simplicity so I can get into my stuff quicker.

 

[clickKunst]

Window 10 tiles. It is an amazing UI and I love the consistency between devices. I still use a Windows Phone as a result. Give Xbox users the option to resize tiles.

 

[Plywood]

There should be a poll option for something new.

 

[jsnepo]

Perfect opportunity to post this. I hope Microsoft listens.

 

[TheRaidenPT]

How about a new basic one like PS4 and Switch would be great.

 

[Eoin]

Where's the option for a full redesign into something good?

Also, "some people do not like the design and layout" is an excessively neutral way of describing the current dashboard. It is a trainwreck of nonsensical design, with varying shapes and sizes of buttons splodged around the place with very little thought put into placement and navigation. The best things you can say about the current design is that at least it is possible to become familiar with it (until they change it again) and that at least it's better than how it was originally.

The Switch and PS4 both have menu systems that work well enough, within limitations. The Switch menu system is overly simple for what a machine like the Xbox One wants to be able to do, the PS4 menu system has grown a bit beyond the original intentions and now struggles to surface relevant options and some portions are weighed down by embedded media. Both would still be improvements over the current Xbox One menu, but a ground-up redesign would still be better.

 

[Chivalry]

Bring back the blades

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

I expect it to literally use the exact same interface as the existing Xbox One.

The next Xbox will literally be just an Xbox One X with more powerful hardware and nothing else.

 

[RestEerie]

Gimme more ads...gimme.

 

[nadbmal]

They really need to make it faster. A lot faster.
I think they might get that for "free" though with the next console if it has SSD.

 

[Shopolic]

This was so beautiful and easy to work:

 

[XDevil666]

I'd prefer a toggle between advanced (current style) and a simple style like switch

 

[clickKunst]

Perfect opportunity to post this. I hope Microsoft listens.

Click to shrink...

The problem with this video is that you don't innovate if you just follow convention for time eternal. The panels simplify a large volume of information that make it easier for casual players to get started while still be accessible for power users to find specific features they're after. Just imagine this guy making the same video about the rise of the hamburger button on mobile websites.

"Whoa, what the hell is this? I used to be able to see all the menu options on the home page - now it's all hidden behind this button! What the hell is this symbol anyway? it doesn't look like a hamburger - it looks like three dicks! ANGRY FACE!!!"

 

[Lashes.541]

Anything less cluttered, plus I would love for it to load faster. But that's partly my fault(beta ring firmware) so question? For the peeps on the normal firmware how laggy is the dashboard normally? My tiles are really slow and some times when exiting apps it just goes to a black screen and I have to hit the dashboard button a couple of times to get it back to normal.

 

[Deleted member 17990]

Get rid of the ads on the homepage

 

[Raide]

Give me the option to choose between what they currently have with some streamlining, or a super quick and basic dash akin to the Switch. Just basic blocks for games in a row etc.

 

[Deleted member 8001]

NXE is the best of all time of any gaming system. I would be so incredibly happy if it came back.

 

[FutureLarking]

Something simple. That dashboard is so cluttered it feels awful. Given it was originally designed around Kinect and still supports it I hope next time round they opt for simplicity so I can get into my stuff quicker.

Click to shrink...

Eh, the first major redesign was ground up on the UI front - they switched from HTML from the launch X1 dashboard with Kinect support to XAML with no Kinect gesture support, so the current design had no inherent Kinect restrictions on it's layout.

I think with an internal SSD launching / dropping into the sub apps will be faster - I imagine everything will just be a reskin of what's already here with extra features. The dashboard is a UWP executable which is super quick for Microsoft it iterate and prototype on (especially compared to the UI systems on Switch and PS4), but has the inherent problem that as a general purpose UI framework it's mostly constrain to a single thread for layout and measuring - which next-gen CPU should happily handle with more grace than what we have right now.


That being said, I've love somthing super simple and up-front like the Switches UI. Straight to the point, no fluff. I know Microsoft has things to sell, but perhaps atleast the default homescreen can be clean.

 

[Deleted member 23475]

This was so beautiful and easy to work:

Click to shrink...

Simple, functional, beautiful.

If they add features, reorganize the content, add themes to it and modernize it a little bit it would be perfect.

 

[Izzard]

Something new. The Xbox one UI is god awful.

 

[Kaim Argonar]

Something without ads or suggested content where I can pin anything I want on the main screen. Let the store, video, extra stuff, etc be an app I can shovel at the bottom of the last page. I don't care if I get all that shit on the main page by default, just let me remove it and keep it as I want it to be.

 

[gabdeg]

They'll do something new. I don't have any major issues with the current dash, but would prefer it if it was faster. One area they could improve is the home screen. Theoretically all the options you really need could be on there, but in its current form you do need to navigate outside it to get to certain features.

 

[JustAnotherOne]

Less ads & faster is all I really want.

 

[ody]

Perfect opportunity to post this. I hope Microsoft listens.

Click to shrink...

meeeeeow

 

[TheUnseenTheUnheard]

A combination of everything.

 

[Adookah]

They need something new. This is complicated af

 

[Golvellius]

The current UI is smooth, intuitive and a dream to operate. They should build on these qualities and make it even better.

 

[Deleted member 1656]

There should be less fuckin' ads, especially if you pay for Gold.

 

[SuikerBrood]

I don't own an Xbox myself, but whenever I use one, I just use the guide for 99% of the things I do? I just want it to be snappy and having a consistent design philosophy.

 

[Cliff Steele]

The Xbox OS is a dumpster fire. Scrap everything. Bring something sleek like Switch or PS.

 

[Hesemonni]

I truly expect them to screw the dashboard just like they did with the current one. Truly an atrocious UI.

 

[Anthony Hopkins]

The only issue with the current X1 dash is the slow store and in the my games section it doesn't say which games u own and which are game pass/EA access.

Solve these two issues and I'm good.

Never been to fussed about the OS it's just a portal to my games and apps.

 

[Remo Williams]

I like the current dash, but if they could bring back some elements that were abandoned over time, like the live main tile, that would be great.

 

[MCD]

In terms of features I think Xbox is the best out there but they need to work out on the UI. Need a faster cache enabled UI and looking at least as nice as the Switch one and less like a text only menu with ADs.

 

[Chip Chanceworth]

Im in the minority in that i really like the Xbox One dashboard. Especially the guide. But i totally understand why people get pissed off by how randomly it will behave slowly and damn near lock up. But overall its a super useful setup. I can get to my games quicker than the other two consoles, saving clips is super convenient, managing parties and invites through guide are fast, pins are super useful on the dashboard and within the guide, and the store is kind of just there on the dash and doesn't have to load into a separate app. Hell i like the live tiles for the mixer streams and find myself watching them quite often. It just needs to be quicker and to get rid of all those stupid backgrounds they put on it. They're borderline ads and are super inconsistent. It needs to look cleaner like the ps4's.

I love how each gamer profile has a list of all their captures for you to watch and has achievement breakdowns/comparisons, but it would be nice if we had a little more customizable profiles for people to be able to showcase all the best clips they've recorded. Instead of it being a giant descending list that sometimes doesn't load.

 

[DrDeckard]

Give us the current dash, with tweaks....But ultimately a lot faster. that's all it needs.

I really like the current dash but it needs to be lightning fast. Something an NVME drive would help with massively.

 

[Black Mantis]

I can see it being something similar to what we have now, Xbox are continuously talking about continuity in terms of where and how we play our games, so stands to reason the dashboard will be pretty similar.

 

[MCD]

I can see it being something similar to what we have now, Xbox are continuously talking about continuity in terms of where and how we play our games, so stands to reason the dashboard will be pretty similar.

Click to shrink...

Hopefully it's similar in terms of features because they can't afford a reset like from X360 to X1. We had to wait years for Party chat to be as good as the X360 for example. Other features such as Recent Players is still worse than X360 as another example.

All we want from the software team is to keep the features and make a better and faster UI.

 

[Justsomeguy]

Where's the option for a full redesign into something good?

Also, "some people do not like the design and layout" is an excessively neutral way of describing the current dashboard. It is a trainwreck of nonsensical design, with varying shapes and sizes of buttons splodged around the place with very little thought put into placement and navigation.

Click to shrink...

This. The original Xbox one vision with the tv playing in the preview window made perfect sense and was a pretty epic idea but painfully slow. But then that went away and they've tried to adapt it and add in a shortcut menu but fundamentally it's this weird Frankenstein ui that needs demolishing and starting again.

 

[EvilBoris]

Just faster, that would be all I really want.
I like new and shiny too.

The Xbox OS has shit tonnes of features and functions, so the level of simplicity is going to be a little hamstrung by that a little, but I think they've done a good job of it so far.

 

[Knight in Shining Armani]

I'm a simple man. Something that isn't a maze of apps that's slow af and clearly tangled to an internet connection would be enough.

 

[ethanradd]

Make it simple, minimal and fast. Current UI is too slow, it's pretty bad.

 

[Igorth]

Simple and minimalistic, and please fast and responsive, the one in my One X is slow and clunky, commands dont even register most of the times.

 

[Cyberclops]

I just really like the current guide on the Xbox One. Choosing categories horizontally and option within them vertically is just simple and easy for me. As long as they keep that kind of functionality I'm fine with whatever else they do.

 

[Gorion's Ward]

They need to obviously make it a lot more responsive and minimize the amount of data you pull from the cloud every time you navigate the dash. I'd go for a complete redesign as well. Too many weird stuff going on in this iteration, like being able to scroll down the homepage like 4 times just to see a bunch of pinned games or a placeholder promotion. The guide is great though.

In terms of functionality and apps, the Xbox OS has no competition. They need to build on that.

Also, never go back to blades or NXE, they were good for their times but this is 2020 we're talking about here. Unless they can find a way to really modernize them, which is hard.