Windows 10 Xbox One User Interface Is The Fastest Among Next-generation Consoles

Reddit user dieklobrille recently posted the results of a series of tests that they performed to compare and contrast the UI speeds of the public Xbox One OS, the “New Xbox One experience” OS (v290915), and the current Playstation 4 OS (v3.00).

[crazychris4124]

Cant come fast enough, I hate the current dashboard

[just_looken]

Should do a test before 3.0 i find everything in the new ps4 firmware is slower.

The entire ui on ps4 now is bloated with small text and stuff i dont want.

[psforward]

Interesting, my PS4 is actually running faster since 3.0

I wonder if Internet connection speed has anything to do with it.

[just_looken]

Well my friends list is cave man style now with 0 organization i half to load up 162 id's at once that's a pain.

The events crap locks up my system.

The psplus section loads up but why use it? for what to see more indie crap years old?.

When i go to view a pm there is small text i cant read and images/stickers take long to load

sending a png image is like loading porn on dailup.

I just tried mgsv total glitch mess:
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Oh forgot to mention I love seeing my 42inch tv now displaying everything like a 4:3 display with huge blue borders of junk on the left and or right fucking joke.
I just find the update added 60 pounds of crap but never swapped out the 4 liter v6.

[THC CELL]

Accessibility is your friend

[thekhurg]

I have exactly the opposite experience. The PS4 UI to me is streamlined, simple, and fast.

[PSN_ZeroOnyx]

3.0 is missing the PS+ section altogether on my system update, I figured they removed it for the time being. And it shouldn't be 4:3 aspect ratio at all. Mine is Still 16:9 with nothing new to the left or right. Makes me wonder if you have PS4 at all becuase you are describing the 3.0 update accurately at all.

[PSN_ZeroOnyx]

Lol, I rebooted my PS4 and router and PS+ section appeared for the first time.

[nosferatuzodd]

I tested all those time that they got on the ps4 and my ps4 has so much shit on it and the time is almost half what they claimed the ps4 was in their test if you're going to test something do it right are don't do it at all..

[christian hour]

He says he did multiple tests with varied load times, but went with his initial results. Shouldn't he have found the medium between the tests and gone with that, I mean why go to all that trouble and then phone it in at the last second?

Regardless of that, this is still an exceptional improvement over the current GUI speed, fair play xbone team for all your hard work! Personally I havent had a problem with UI responsiveness on my experience with either console, compared to what I grew up on over the last 3 decades they're above and beyond in their current state.

[TheCommentator]

It's becoming clear that Win10 was part of the XB1 design plan all along because it brings better connectivity and DX12, as well as a faster GUI.

[llMurcielagoll]

"Can't come fast enough" But this is a good thing!!!!

Sorry did not roll for enough willpower points to stop myself.

I am excited for the new Experience myself, Didn't get my turn in the preview program still.

LOL!

[Perjoss]

If they improve the dashboard I will definitely be using my XB1 a lot more.

[Christopher]

The games just weren't enough for you?

[Perjoss]

Chris, I'm a lot less likely to buy a multiplat game for a console that has a horrible UI...

[PudgeyBurrito]

I just tested 4 of these on my PS4 from cold boot and can tell you test are very incorrect and also bias considering the site. I have a connection that is 30/10 and am using PS4 3.00. My results were very different in terms of speed.

Open Game card Profile - 3 seconds.

Open Store with full first page load - 4 seconds

Start party and invite 3 friends - 12 seconds from party creation to invite. With party already created 4 seconds which is normal if you have users leaving and re inviting others.

Join party - 4th in friends list - 8 seconds (Note: This is not the proper way to join a party on PS4. Typically you would just got to the party icon and click on the party you see your friends name in which takes a whole 4 seconds.

Other questions I have is. What are the boot times speeds?

Did this improve installation times?

Game booting times.

In game loading times.

I urge everyone who owns a PS4 to test these as the times are incredibly flawed.

[ritchi45]

Checked times myself for comparison. The result the site posted are quite inaccurate. Probably modified the results to poke the fanboys into fits of "zomg xbox is super dooper awesome!". Shame they took the bait and didn't do proper research first

[XabiDaChosenOne]

@FunkMacNasty
So fact checking information makes you insecure?
If he didnt fact check the information and took the information as is would that be more acceptable for you?

[PudgeyBurrito]

@FunkMacNasty

Ahhh yes, The good old ad hominem. Attacking someone's character rather then addressing the subject to curb the facts at hand. I see.. well alright

In my line of work (I.T) if a customer comes to me and says "Hey, I heard product A is faster than product B. Is this true?." I would say lemme get back to you on this and test it. Would the client call me a fanboy for testing.. no, Chances are its in his best interest to have the better of the 2 regardless of preference. My job regardless is only to test the facts.

That said gaming is a hobby for me. I take interest in technology so increases in UI's are something that would peek them. At the start of my test I did it just by counting in my head and noticed the numbers where skewed by around 50 % and though "I'm not even going quick" So I timed it with a stop watch app and presto. my results are above.

As for my insecurities. I own all 3 consoles and 2 gaming PC's. Ill have the best product regardless so i'm not really worried. What I do see though is resulting to insults when someone is trying to urge people to test it out for them selves. To first hand get a look at the skew that is being presented. It would be foolish to always just drink the cool aid before checking whats in it so I don't. I test it.

I think it's beneficial to everyone's knowledge not to take things at face value like you see in this post. The amount of people that believe this as a fact are probably in the 1000's without testing and that is a problem I have regardless of preference. 100% pure misinformation. It's bullshit and it's bad for ya.

Hell if I had the NXBE I would probably make a side by side video testing these.

One last thing. look at how much of a disclaimer this article has. It takes confidence in the fact of the graph. but then needs a big disclaimer to rid itself of responsibility.

Take a read at the disclaimer

“Disclaimer:

Just for testing purposes sometimes I did the same task twice on the consoles - and the results were always a little bit different due to variable loading or delay times. I just wrote down all the times from the very first test. So this is just for fun and nothing that people should take too serious, especially since this is still in Beta. The measurements were done quick and dirty. People may get better or worse times depending on their button click performance, HDD and internet connection. I should add that I'm on a 50 Mbit connection with a 13 ms ping. The main reason why the NXOE is faster on pretty much everything is the new Guide that gets pretty much instantly snapped and performs very smooth after todays update. It scrolls instantly, there is no delay between switching from party to friendlist and the overall menu transition animations are much shorter. The PS4 UI is also super smooth and the differences are pretty minor here. Only the task times with the current public Xbox One UI sometimes are really bad. The overall experience really is not compareable to any of the other two consoles, because sometimes you just need to wait for something to load way too long. That said, the OS team at Xbox has done a pretty good job with the NXOE - especially with the focus on social interactions being accessible in a matter of seconds.

[Crashbandicoot77]

You are so right

[Detox024]

It's sad how much you care.

[christian hour]

Just wondering did you guys have Fifa 16 running while doing it? Because that was part of the guys test and would definitely alter the times by a slight bit. Also ho quick you are with your thumbs can make a big difference.

All in all, this is silly ass crap to be arguing over, the main point to be made here is that the new xb1 UI is head over heels better than the current one.

I don't own an xb1 btw, I have a ps4. I'm just don't feel the need to fact check and defend these times, its ridiculous.

[PudgeyBurrito]

@christian hour

Regardless to your dismissal of our interests in the matter. It's still very wrong to publish inaccurate tests and statistics.

[gangsta_red]

Are you really urging everyone with a PS4 to check their times?

Why?

[CerebralAssassin]

For me, I think hate would be a strong word for the current dashboard. I don't like how it hangs up some things but that's about it. The look doesn't bother me. However, there's nothing like getting an entire new UI for your Xbox. Feels like a new system.

[ChronoJoe]

This is pretty good news but the problem with it is that the beta experience is serviced by different networked resources and servers to what regular users use.

So, while it may be fast in beta, when more users are making the same requests it may slow down. On paper the PS4 UI is very fast, but if the Playstation network is busy it can be very slow, and how that variance may affect the UI speeds as far as most of these tasks are concerned, won't be apparent until the update actually launches.

As an example. In the 3.0 beta for PSN the community features were super smooth, lightening fast even, but now that 3.0 has hit, they can stall on the request for a little while.

[UncleJerry]

lol, I wanted to like it but it just isn't very good. The new UI looks to be very nice.

[TheHaloGuy]

Yup. Using the current one after PS4 is painful, shit even Wii U is better. This update can't come soon enough!!!!!!

[DOMination-]

Who cares about OS speed. PS4 will always be the most powerful console no matter how many times MS need to patch in updates

[magiciandude]

Can't wait to kiss the current UI goodbye. This is looking to be the very best UI I've ever seen on console!

[gangsta_red]

Definitely the better UI. That old UI was atrocious.

[Kribwalker]

It was easy with Kinect though, but it was slow snapping apps while playing destiny or other games

[RiseofScorpio]

Not atrocious just Slow.

[FallenAngel1984]

Microsoft are the only ones who change their UI on their consoles, and I couldn't be any happier

[Angeljuice]

To be fair they were the only ones who needed to change their UI. It must have been pretty embarrassing for a OS software company to have the worst UI available.

[christocolus]

They always do this. Last gen they kept updating the xbox 360 too. This isn't new.

[no_more_heroes]

Bold statement. The ps4 interface is pretty damn snappy (except for the new Events menu which loaded like cold molasses flowing uphill when I went into it earlier).

This update can't come soon enough.

[Bladesfist]

I'm guessing you don't suffer from messages that take forever to send.

[MillyMike]

Yeah, a year ago...

[dumahim]

The part I don't get, it takes 12.3 seconds to open the store on PS4? Isn't it practically instant?

[Bytor]

You are correct this dude is full of shit.

[Deathdeliverer]

Everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that the article itself says it was done in a biased way, roughly and other admissions of why you should ignore it. Is the new UI faster? Yes. Snapping is faster and they took out a lot of the steps to get to things. These comparisons are so far off its crazy though. I advise anyone with a stable DIRECT internet connection to try this out on both systems. Maybe he does not know how to navigate the PS4 UI. It's crazy how people probably scrolled to the "stats" and ignored the huge disclaimer. And yes the store is always instant.

[TKCMuzzer]

Pretty much, in fact i was only just saying to some people on my friends list how quick the PS store seems to be these days. Sometimes people exaggerate things in order to try and back up what they are saying.

Improvements to speed and ease of use are always a welcome addition.

[franwex]

I thought I was the only one who hated the user inter-phase. Goes to show how horrid it is!

[Mikefizzled]

Interface. Inter-phase sounds like a couple of months being a die hard Inter Milan supporter.

[franwex]

Lol! Damn autocorrect!

[Satyre28]

I have no worries, especially since my buddies X1 has the update and I can tell you from experience it is FAST. Everything is just right there, no more digging for anything, its literally instant. You have all your options from the new guide button/snap whatever you specifically call it, its just glorious cannot wait for it. Its crazy to even think it will be even better/faster when it officially launches.

[Tedakin]

Good cause the current xbone UI is a total mess and always has been. Sooo sluggish and laggy.

[Paytaa]

I think the Xbox One is the fastest changing console since launch. After 2 years it's literally not the "Xbox One" Don Mattrick announced.

Can't wait for this baddie to drop just in time for Halo 5 and Fallout 4.

[nix]

They had to change. Adapt. To survive.

[Strikepackage Bravo]

@nix, even if that is true they should still get credit. When PS3 launched and fell on its face Sony quickly changed it as well, but unlike Microsoft they didnt make their console better; instead Sony chose to REMOVE features, both hardware and software. Microsoft didnt do this, and they deserve to be recognized for that.

[BiggerBoss]

@strike

Microsoft removed Kinect, didnt they?

[Kingoftherodeo]

are we surprised i mean we all remember the 360 dashboard and if theres one thing ms knows how to do is software

[TKCMuzzer]

Tell that to my Windows 10 email that still doesn't bloody work properly.

[Voids]

Loving the great speed increase, however I'm confused.

What's happening here is two entirely different operating systems are being benched against one other.

That's like comparing Apple's OSX vs Microsoft's Windows boot times/load times on semi-similar apps/programs and stating one is entirely better than the other.

Is that really fair - both are on two different systems? o.O

[Voids]

Yeah I just learned my lesson about click bait.

You win this time n4g, this time.

[WitWolfy]

I was hoping I'd get the Dash preview invite for the new UI.. sadly I'll have to wait just like the rest of ya.

[starbuck]

Wondering if to hop in to this preview as playing alot of destiny atm and that was on the list for things not working right as well as elite

[Saranya]

What about install times, better or same?

[welly300]

Can't wait hope download speeds improve seemed really fast on 360 but takes an age on the one..

[NeoGamer232]

I don't know what you mean by that.

I have both 360 and X1. When I bought MGSV, I downloaded it on both consoles at the same time. X1 downloaded the 20 some odd gigabyte game and installed it before the 360 got to 30% on a 6.62 GB download.

Time after time I have compared X1 download speeds to 360 and every time my X1 wins.

[welly300]

Must be the time i download...360 just seem to download faster.

[cfc83]

I've never had any problems with my kinectless xb1. Downloads are fast, and nothing is slugish, apart from the browser. Must really be something if it is the improvement people say it is.

[DrumBeat]

Fastest in terms of what? Shortcuts? Easier to navigate and get to and from?

OR,

Do things actually load faster? Is there less circle watching, and are symbols and icons able to be traversed more quickly?

I like how I can hold the D-pad on PS4 and it just blazes through the icons. There's some circle watching (loading) sure, but it's really, really snappy and fast.

This is what I want the most out of this Xbox One dashboard update. Snappiness and speed.

[Immorals]

I've been using the triggers to go through icons faster since the 360. Works on the existing OS on Xbox, too.

[LexHazard79]

Thats good news. Btw- I see alot of Xbox fans saying its atrocious yet some of you have also said that it wasnt that bad. Not that I care much just funny how it went from not that bad to atrocious..haha.

Anyway cant wait for the update.

[gfk342]

Exactly!

Until now all X1 fans said that the current X1 UI is the best and it is far better than the PS4 (even though they haven't experienced the PS4 UI).

Now that the new UI is coming for X1 (which looks like a PS4 UI, but on a vertical axes), the current UI is atrocious.

Another example is with the resolution, when PS4 has better resolution they say that they don't care, but when X1 is equal to PS4 then they are all interested in the subject.

This is why I don't like X1 fans, they are not consistent and they flip flop everything related with X1.

[hello12]

gfk342.

Most x box fans don't care about resolution 900p games are not all that different to 1080p games. Of course the average x box gamer would like mores games to be 1080p but its not why we buy an xbox one.

xbox live, the user interface, and its first party games are more important. Its up to the devs to enable 1080p on xbox one we have no say.

Realistically the average gamer knows the PS4 can do 1080p and xbox one mostly does 900p, if 1080p is more important to you individually buy the PS4, I have no problem with that. xbox fans don't flip flop 1080p is clearly better than 900p, but its just a clearer image the graphics themselves are identical on each console.

I would take issue with people saying the PS4 UI is better when the UI for PS4 is very basic and barebones and understandable therefore why its easier to navigate with.

[LexHazard79]

Lol...It was just an observation. My avatar says what side of the fence Im on..just alot off hypocrisy.

And if I cared about resolution I would've kept my PS4. It was easy swapping for Xbox and happier than ever!

[Gazondaily]

So some fans said it was atrocious and everyone thought it was bad?

Now you;'re bringing resolution into it?

"This is why I don't like X1 fans, they are not consistent and they flip flop everything related with X1."

No this is why I don;t like Sony fanboys; who are some of the biggest hypocrites around. Pay to play, oh god never! Yup. Third party deals= money hat! No its okay. COD money hat = bad. Now-ooh sales (oh another u-turn- how you guys love sales all of a sudden).

Don't pretend with your duplicate account and atrocious comment history. Stick to your playstation articles.

[tmh3593]

Well lets see, I'm an Xbox fan and ive said from the start that I didn't like how slow the UI was and that I liked the ps4 better just because of the speed. Also I have experienced the ps4 UI and the new Xbox one UI and I think now the one's is . Oh abetter in all honesty, not because I'm a "fan boy".

[tmh3593]

Another thing. I could give 2 shits what the resolution is on a game. Since I play them and I don't just sit there staring at the screen. I didn't give a shit about resolution last gen and I still dont care....like at all.

[tmh3593]

Lmfao @septic I'm going to have to copy your post and paste it everytime someone brings up the flip flopping or Xbox 180 der der.

[testerg35]

gfk342, so a couple of xbox users not liking the current UI represents "all"? So when I go into the PS4 firmware upgrade and there's some people bitching about how Sony doesn't listen to its customers then I guess we should take that as an opinion shared by all Sony fans.

[gangsta_red]

I was the ONLY person who said it was "atrocious". LMAO! And yet somehow that translated into EVERY Xbox fan!?

I love it!

[Mystogan]

I think the current UI looks great but too slow. That's why it's not bad in general. When they say it's atrocious they're probably talking about the speed.

[Spotie]

^This right here.

Edit: lmao at Septic. You calling Bakpain a Sony fan with multiple accounts, too? Will you all now pretend that NO ONE here has praised the UI yet are now saying it's bad?

[Gazondaily]

Lol what? I was one of the people to say I preferred the PS interface over Xbox too. That's the point. Why would a religiously diehard Sony owner even care or even begin to understand about this?

[gangsta_red]

I called the UI atrocious, but that was my personal opinion. I didn't know I represented the whole Xbox fan community.

@Spotie

What do you think of the UI Spotie, you being an Xbox One owner and user and all. I'm sure you have an opinion from personal experience of constant use right?

"Will you all now pretend that NO ONE here has praised the UI yet are now saying it's bad?"

The only ones here pretending are you! Pretending that there hasn't been mixed feelings regarding the original Xbox's UI all this time.

Some feel it was great, others had no problem with it and some like me thought it was horrendous or bad.

Is it really that hard to grasp or are we going to have to explain this a few more times. Maybe if you were apart of those UI discussions you would know.

[freshslicepizza]

@Spotie,

so tell us, do you think this is fast? does this interest you at all? does it matter if the ui is faster on the xbox one? does this further your interest in getting an xbox one?

give credit where credit is due, they improved the system a lot in a short span.

[gangsta_red]

I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in here that said it was atrocious, which I think it is. Don't know how you grouped everyone saying the same.

Not that you care of course right?

[MRoONEPINCHx]

For me the current UI is a love hate relationship,

what I hate is how slow it can be.. using snap to view achievements or send a message can take ages to load and its like really ? all I wanna do is view my achievement progress.

cannot wait for my preview notification to test it all out. all signed up just waiting for the word go.

[hiawa23]

Microsoft do what they do, software. Very happy with what they have done. I prefer its UI, so can't wait for the new face. Along with the monthly updates they have been working hard to fix what happened when Don M was there, so I could not be happier.

[FoxyGotGame]

It's great MS improved/fixed the X1 UI...

I feel like it's because they had a lot to fix. MS have changed so many things since X1's launch, you wouldn't recognize it if not for the form factor, which could do with a change too IMO. The article compares to PS4, which IMO launched so flawlessly in terms of Dashboard Speed, UI simplicity of use, that PS4 doesn't need all these changes.

X1 needed a lot of post launch work, so this is a good result. I still think for a Game Console, the X1 has too much going on it's screen. Remember, this is just an opinion....so no need to get emotional. Thank You for your time & maturity in advance /

[testerg35]

K.. what you said about PS4 UI speed is true, but then that goes hand in hand with its "simplicity". It doesn't do much compared to the XB1 UI which does a lot more.

Also the XB1 UI hasn't changed a lot. They added new features/functions. Where as Sony still can't give users simple functions. I mean if you look at the PS4 updates, then I guess the PS4 was a messy unstable console cause 90% of the time Sony releases "stability" updates.

[Bytor]

This dude is full of shit I opened my profile in less than a second
while in the Last Of Us title screen I also went to the store and started watching the Uncharted story trailer as fast as I could it the buttons.

[Mystogan]

Because it's most likely already open. This is from a cold boot.

[Bytor]

My PS4 was completely off when I turned it on.

[PudgeyBurrito]

I also did it from cold boot and it turns out very inaccurate. Go up to my original post.

[kenmid]

looking at your comment history, its seems your a Microsoft hater. How can anybody take you seriously on this?

[PudgeyBurrito]

It's complete BS. Read the disclaimer below the article. They are taking a very inaccurate average and calling it truth. Everyone on this site now believes this lol. Its sad.

Just for testing purposes sometimes I did the same task twice on the consoles - and the results were always a little bit different due to variable loading or delay times. I just wrote down all the times from the very first test. So this is just for fun and nothing that people should take too serious, especially since this is still in Beta. The measurements were done quick and dirty. People may get better or worse times depending on their button click performance, HDD and internet connection. I should add that I'm on a 50 Mbit connection with a 13 ms ping. The main reason why the NXOE is faster on pretty much everything is the new Guide that gets pretty much instantly snapped and performs very smooth after todays update. It scrolls instantly, there is no delay between switching from party to friendlist and the overall menu transition animations are much shorter. The PS4 UI is also super smooth and the differences are pretty minor here. Only the task times with the current public Xbox One UI sometimes are really bad. The overall experience really is not compareable to any of the other two consoles, because sometimes you just need to wait for something to load way too long. That said, the OS team at Xbox has done a pretty good job with the NXOE - especially with the focus on social interactions being accessible in a matter of seconds.

[Gunstar75]

I'm 41 in February....everything looks fast to me now

[Fro_xoxo]

lol

[peshkavusCA]

Feels ok...

[RedTfox]

This is amazing! I can't believe how incredible this new XOne UI is becoming.
On the other hand, i upgraded to the new PS4 3.0 UI and... meh is just what i have to say, so much "social" and barely no improving on the performance.

[GNCFLYER]

The performance has always been there, it doesn't need improvement. A few features needed like friend notifications need put in.

I didn't buy a ps4 for updates though. I bought it to play games which it does very well..

[XboxInnovation]

Beast Box

[Antwan3k]

If the UI can maintain all the features and functionality of the current version but increase the speed while lowering the learning curve for new users, then it's gonna be a win..

And so far, it looks like this is exactly the case.. Great job, Microsoft!!

[PyroMessiah86]

I'm in the preview....no spoilers from me but it's FAST! (and very awesome!)

[bOObies]

Does anyone know if we get to keep our custom backgrounds with the new X1 UI? That is my most important feature.

[Josuey]

Meh, i wanna see a video first

[Josuey]

"A user from reddit" is the source lol i will wait for a video analysis from digital foundry or someone else not just a graph

[poor_cus_of_games]

They better increase the download and installing speeds. I downloaded and installed the nathan drake collection demo which is 7gb in less than 20 minutes while my xbox took over 8 hours to download and install the fable beta.

[RedTfox]

8 hours to download, from the Live servers, really man... i call that a total lie.

[Sonyfan1]

Very impressive Microsoft wish Sony would do the same but that ain't happening

[mcmilliron]

Can someone please send me a Preview invite!! I'm dying to check out the new Dashboard. My XBL ID is mcmilliron

I would really appreciate it!

[jay2]

It's been a long time coming, the xbox is getting there sony will beat it soon.

[roguedragon1]

Lol I have ps4 and I love it i really do but I just wish they would listen to the "players" about what we really want in our updates like Microsoft do with there new update. Hope my original comment hasn't affended anyone.

[Maxor]

The nextgen of Xboxes will probably be Windows RT machines.

[Kojjikaneshiro]

I am happy that MS is listening to those of us who give constant feedback.It shows me that they are trying to address and fix problems accordingly which is the only thing I ask for.

[modelgod]

@XBOXSKULL. ..Nothing but facts! ! Can't believe the amount of disagrees, unbelievable!

[Zjet]

Hopefully they change it soon, current dashboard is not user friendly, i prefered the Xbox 360 menu setup.

PS4 and Wii U very easy in comparison and the PS4 has significantly better install times.

Now give me that new menu and the option to actually remove my HDD and put a 4TB one in please, running out of room on my Xbox One very quickly ( yes i have a portable connected to it also )

[RedTfox]

Yeah right, cause you can't connect a removable one with that size... pfft...

[Vasto]

Cant wait to get my hands on the new dash.

[PistolsAtDawn]

I'm loving the preview of the NXOE so far...my only issue is that it used to be easier to re-snap a feature after moving to the main screen....that or I just don't know the new shortcut yet. Either way, the most robust console UI ALSO became the fastest....that's a win-win

[poor_cus_of_games]

Most robust and fastest? Where are you getting them made up opinions from? I'm gonna wait and see for myself instead of believing some random person on a forum.

[PistolsAtDawn]

I'm "making it up" because I have all the consoles...and found out through experience. You?