Huge dashboard update for Xbox One on its way

It’s been no secret that the Xbox One dashboard has had its fair share of criticism since its launch, but that could be about to change as November will see a complete re-design.

Billed as a complete re-imagining of the dashboard, Xbox One owners can look forward to “the fastest and most social experience ever”. Powered by Windows 10, users can expect to see speed improvements of up to 50 percent faster on popular gaming features such as starting parties and seeing friends’ activity. The update will also roll out Xbox One backward compatibility that has so far only be for Preview Members.

Some of the key features are listed here:

• Play Xbox 360 games on Xbox One – at launch over 100 Xbox 360 games will be available with more promised in future months. All the benefits of Xbox One will be present including screenshots, streaming and the game DVR. One owners will even be able to play multiplayer with friends who are still using their Xbox 360.
• Complete revamp of the Guide button – no more time spent weaving in and out of apps. You’ll be able to access the guide from Home to instantly overlay the Guide. You can access Friends, start a Party, go to Settings, see Notifications, view Messages and more from Home without leaving your game.
• Home is redesigned to be faster and easier to use – at launch users will be able to easily share achievements and game clips with the community, see whether friends are playing the same games and get one-click access to Game Hubs to get news and updates directly from developers and the community
• A new Community section will be introduced – Based on feedback from the community this section will allow users to tap in to what other games are doing on Xbox Live and directly contribute to the conversation. Activity Feed has been re-designed so that friends activity is easier to track, and a new Trending section will allow users to view the most popular posts from players on Xbox Live.
• OneGuide has been revamped – From OneGuide, users can see a list of current trending live TV shows. Listings will now appear instantly and in full-screen and a new picture-in-picture mode of TV has been added so you’ll be able to browse for other things without missing what is happening on the current show.
• Store has been optimised and revamped – Store has been improved with four easy to explore areas – Games, Movies and TV, Apps, and Music.

As with all updates, the new dashboard will be rolled out to Preview Members before the full release. With such a significant change, Preview Members will have the option to opt-in or out of the update.

As of yet there has been no official release date for the roll out to Preview Members, but if you are enrolled in that programme already expect a message to appear in your inbox very soon.