We've seen the Xbox One S, and let's be honest, it looks great in terms of design. It's the best-looking Xbox the team at Microsoft has ever come up with, and that's great.
However, seeing as previous models were lacking, especially the original Xbox One, how did Microsoft go from that monstrosity to this?
There's an answer for that, and no, it has nothing to do with magic. In fact, it has much to do with a designer known as Andrew Kim. He was hired by Microsoft back in 2012 because of several design concepts he uploaded to his blog. Microsoft was definitely impressed by what he did, and the hiring managed to pay off four years later.
According to Kim, his work on the Xbox One S is the first big project the company placed him on. The design team was asked to create "a more friendly and universal product that doesn't evoke traditional 'gaming' cues," so they came up with the idea of designing something that's closely aligned with Windows 10.
No doubt he did the right thing because the Xbox One S is a masterpiece. The design is minimal, and the updated model is sleek and smaller than the previous. While we would have preferred it in black, the white color does set it apart from the original Xbox One, making it come off more like an entirely new console than anything else.
The placements of the buttons and the USB ports also impressed us because the original design had some huge problems in these areas. For example, the USB ports on the Xbox One are situated behind the console, and at the side. It means if folks have their controller attached via a USB cord, they would have to plug it into the side, and that's not ideal.
In the end, the design paid off because the Xbox One is the top-selling console for the month of July. Most critics appear to have favorable views toward the device, while others believe it would be best suited for first-time Xbox One owners and as a 4K Blu-ray player.
It should be noted that due to the smaller components, the Xbox One S is capable of delivering higher performances in some games. We're not talking about significant improvements here, but an improvement nonetheless.
Digital Foundry has released a video showing what gamers should expect from the Xbox One S, and it's more superficial than anything else. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
