Get the Most from Your New Xbox One

With the Xbox One releasing less than a week ago and already having sold over one million units in the United States, it is definitely one of the hottest pieces of tech on the market at the moment. But if you've come from the 360 you might be in for a bit of a learning curve. While the new dashboard looks the same on the surface, there are some new functions to get used to and different ways to perform some of the tasks that for most were second nature on the 360. Below we will take you on a tour of sorts for this brand new gaming powerhouse so that you can come to grips with the new interface and start enjoying the very first games of this exciting generation.

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   Between manufacturing and release to retail, Microsoft has made some tweaks to the software for the Xbox One and all users will be subject to downloading the day one update

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   After the update, it's a good idea to set up your cable box if you want to run it through your Xbox One

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   You will need some simple details, like your service provider's name, your ZIP code and the model of your set top box, and then just follow the on screen setup wizard.

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   Now you can start exploring the console and start downloading any apps that you might want to use in the future

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   Some will jump right into the games they've purchased with the console, but taking a little time here to install the apps you might want, like the Blu-Ray player app or Netflix, can save you a bit of time later on.

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The new Xbox features Kinect integration throughout the interface, and for supported games as well.

The available voice commands are a quick and hands-free way to navigate the basic functions of the dashboard and subsequent menus. As the software evolved through updates and data collected from user's speech, voice commands will become even more useful for consumers. In the meantime, below are some of the simple commands that you can use from launch.

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   Xbox

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   Saying "Xbox" will bring up the basic commands for navigation and interaction, and it also gets the Kinect ready for any further commands.

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   Xbox Select

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   Saying "Xbox Select" brings up a menu from the dashboard that allows you to speak the name of anything on screen that you want to select or open up.

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   Xbox Turn Off

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   Speaking this command will simply bring up a prompt to shut down your Xbox One, after which you can say "yes" to complete the command.

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   Xbox One

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   Saying this will turn on your Xbox from standby mode.

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   Xbox Start A Party

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   Speaking these words will bring up the party menu to chat and interact with your Xbox Live friends.

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   Xbox Go Home

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   This command takes you straight to the main dashboard.

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   Xbox Go To Settings

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   This command, when spoken, takes you to the settings menu.

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   Xbox Help

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   As you might have guessed, speaking this will take you to the help menu, which is also controllable by voice.

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   Xbox Use A Code

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   This is a useful command that lets the Kinect camera read any redemption cards or codes that you have. The camera can read the QR codes straight from a card or even from a QR code on a device screen such as your smartphone or Tablet.

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    Xbox Watch (CHANNEL NAME)

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    If you have connected your cable box to your Xbox One, saying the name of a channel here will start playing the TV channel.

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You may or may not have heard already that the Xbox One requires data to be installed for any game that you want to play, whether you downloaded it or you are playing it from a disc. This is next gen gaming after all, and some of these games have a ton of data for high resolution graphics and substantial game content. The good news is that your console will manage all of your data for you meaning that:

• When you begin installing a game from a disc, you won't need to wait for the whole installation to complete. At less than 10 percent of the total install, you can start enjoying the game while the Xbox sorts out the rest of the installation in the background.
• If you're running low on space, the Xbox can remove files that you have installed from a disc already, and this means that you won't ever run out of space. On the flip side, if you haven't played a certain game for a while and you were running low on space, you might find that next time you try to play the game you will have to install it again.

If you've used Windows 8, you will be familiar with the snap feature in the metro interface. This allows you to snap a second application to one side of the screen. A good example of this would be chatting on Skype while watching a TV channel from your cable box.

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   You can use voice commands to activate snap

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   1. Saying "Xbox snap Skype" will bring up Skype next to whatever you're currently doing. You can substitute Skype in your command for any other compatible apps.
   2. "Xbox unsnap" will remove any snap window that you currently have open.

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   At this stage, and probably never due to the huge resources it would require, you can't snap two games side by side, but you can snap any of the other compatible apps next to a game.

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Just like on the Xbox 360 (and the rest of the Microsoft product family) you can pin apps to your dashboard screen. This is actually a great feature, and if you haven't tried it before, you should start getting used to it on the Xbox One.

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   To pin an app to your dashboard, locate the app in any of the menus and highlight the icon.

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   Now press the "Menu" button and choose "pin to home" from the on screen options.

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   The app is now on your dashboard home screen, eliminating the need to navigate through the menus for the apps that you use the most.

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Smartglass, a feature that we have [Set Up Smartglass on Your Smartphone or PC]] is a technology that lets you use a smartphone, Tablet or Windows 8 device to interact with your Xbox. The application of Smartglass is always evolving, with users so far being able to use it as an additional controller, further information from games or apps, or even as a second interactive screen for some games.

In addition to the gamer score boosting achievements that we are all used to, Microsoft and game developers have introduced challenges as another system you can use for tracking your performance and progress throughout games. Challenges are limited to a time frame, for example, reaching a certain goal within a number of hours of playtime. You can expect these to change and evolve in the future but even at launch they're a great new way to challenge yourself or compete with your Xbox live friends for bragging rights.

This one might trip up early adopters the first time around. As opposed to the way party chat was handled on the 360, it's a little more complicated here on the Xbox One. Once you have joined a party, you will need to go to a menu item within the party window and select "Turn party chat on". This is kind of an unnecessary extra step which may or may not change with future updates, but once you're used to doing it, it might not seem like such a big deal.

If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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