You won't be throwing away your remotes once it's done so, but what genuinely surprised us is how well the Kinect-powered voice controls work. Navigating the user interface is usually easier using voice than it is with traditional joypad inputs, because the quality of the speech recognition is highly accomplished. We were impressed by the accuracy of the PS4 version last week, but its dictionary is significantly more limited than Xbox One's. Virtually every major UI option, game or app is accessible by voice on Xbox One and, by our reckoning, accuracy is probably in the 90 per cent range.
Indeed, it's not knowing exactly what to say that accounts for many of voice control's misfires, rather than issues with recognition itself. Some commands require an "Xbox" prefix, others don't; sometimes Kinect seems to be in listen mode, other times it isn't. There's an inconsistency that doesn't feel quite right. What does work well is the UI's highlighting of specific options in green text - when Kinect is in "listen" mode, it's awaiting those specific commands, but when the text is white, Xbox One needs to be prompted back into voice recognition mode.
