Xbox One Gets a Fresh New Look With Feb 2020 Update
Xbox One gets a fresh new look with the February 2020 update.The top navigation bar at the top is no more; as users will now have rows onthe left side that will have dedicated to Xbox Game Pass, Mixer, XboxCommunity, and Microsoft Store. These options are also completely customizable.
Jonathan Hildebrandt, Principal Program Manager Lead, XboxExperience says “The community feedback since we began testing these Homeimprovements last year has proven invaluable to building an experience thatfeels more responsive, keeps your favorite content front and center, and getsyou into your gaming experiences faster than ever.”
The My Games & Apps section also get some attention,with improvements being made in how users can organize all of their software.Grouping of games and apps will now be easier than before, and labels will helpdemos and game trials more manageable. The experience for interacting with allof your games and apps is also more streamlined.
Another User Interface change comes in letting users controlwhere notifications appear on screen. There are six positions to choose from ifthe default position isn’t working for you. However, Xbox is giving game developerssome leeway in this regard so that they can place notifications where they seefit.
After using the new interface earlier today, it’s definitelyfeeling snappier. I’ve been feeling a lot of frustration lately with just howslow the interface was when trying to navigate to separate sections. Consideringthe Xbox One has some decent horsepower under the hood, it always felt wrongfor the interface to feel that glacial.
There’s also a sense of getting a brand-new machine when thechanges are this big. It harkens back to the massive changes the Xbox 360 gotas they rolled out updates throughout its life. It’s nice to see them work toimprove the current console with Xbox Series X on the horizon.
There are also a few other improvements when it comes messaging, Mixer and management of game installs. To get the full rundown of all of these changes check out the full blog post from Xbox here.