Tech Tuesday - Xbox One S Review

I am a Xbox owner after converting from the PS2 to the original Xbox a long time ago.  I still have PS consoles, but the Xbox has been my favourite for some time. I bought the Xbox One on initial release date in 2013 - the Day One edition. I have had no problems with it at all, other than running out of storage space. Luckily the Xbox allows external hard drives to be connected in a plug and play style to improve the capacity overall. 

I was thinking that with the ‘Project Scorpio’ Xbox due out sometime in late 2017 that I wouldn’t make the jump from Xbox One to the One S for the simple reason that the console itself doesn’t run any other software than the Xbox One does, however having been tempted by a 4K HDR TV recently then the One S seemed to make more sense. 

I actually got a really good deal on the One S, with 1TB of storage and Gears Of War 4 included from Amazon. 

When it arrived I really was surprised how compact it is compared to the Xbox One.  The ugly power pack is gone and the console is around 40% smaller.  It looks the part and the controller has nice feel to it with grips on the reverse which are a good addition. 

Set up was really easy,  I was able to take out the external drives from the Xbox One and Plug into the One S with no messing.  I then signed into my gamertag and was ready to go.  All my saves from the xbox one had been backed up to my drives and it was just like swapping one for the other.  

The settings box informed me that I should change my resolution output to 4K - nice, Thanks Xbox.

Now onto the real difference - for me the HDR. The games look stunning. Forza Horizon 3 has such rich and detailed environments and the colours are amazing. FIFA manages to look more realistic, and Gears Of War 4 is superb. I really love the detail and colour in games and cant wait to see what the 2017 releases are going to look like. I'm really looking forward to 'Sea Of Thieves' and 'Red Dead Redemption 2' that are due at some point in the year. 

To some the improvement in picture quality won’t mean much, and definitely I wouldn’t make the switch without a 4K HDR TV, but if you have one you may as well make the most of it.   You will be amazed at the difference.  The One S  blu ray drive will also play 4K blu rays - which is an interesting addition as the PS4 Pro drive will not.  I don't actually own any of these and not sure I will do so in the future, but the option is there should you fancy it. You can also run Netflix and Amazon 4K streaming services directly through the console.  I have found this to be a better experience than streaming Netflix in 4K directly though the TV. The Xbox One S seems to have a faster connection to Wifi than the TV. 

From a technical perspective the addition of a USB port on the front of the console is something that should have been included on the Xbox One from day one. I often use a wired controller and it has been frustrating having to plug it in at the side of the console.  The fan seems to be much quieter than that of the Xbox One, although some reviewers have reported louder fans than I seem to have. The included HDMI cable is 4K compliant - as you would expect. 

So, if you are thinking of making the switch, if you can get a good deal, then I would say go for it. You'd be hard pushed to find a better console out there right now. 

Guest Post by John