I wrote a preview about this and now can follow up with hands on impressions.
Unboxing: wow – this thing is beautifully packaged, so much so I'm finding it hard to throw away the box.
Setup: Hmm… first thing it needed was a 2GB update which crashed at 97% – I tried again and same thing. Off to Google which led me to the Xbox forums and someone saying that this was happening to AU users as well, the work around is to set your DNS in your router to Google's DNS 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 – once I did that the update worked flawlessly – note since then XBOX one has moved to Win 10 for it's OS so your experience may differ from mine – if you are having trouble updating then follow what I did.
UI: I won't comment on the previous interface as it has been updated to Win 10 – which is ok, if anything it is more similar to the 360 interface I am used to. It is still designed around the Kinect and clearly voice commands would make it easier to navigate to certain areas, for instance finding the free Games for Gold takes far more digging than on the 360. Over all the UI is easy to navigate, games and apps can be pinned below use the right trigger to page down to them. I like how you can set achievement pictures as backgrounds and it was easy to import my own pictures as backgrounds, you can fade the tiles so to see your background better.
Hardware: I like how you don't even need to touch the on button for the One it senses when your finger is close enough, the USB port on the side makes attaching a stick or cable a breeze. It is quiet and boots up fast.
Controller: This is really why I picked this version of the Xbox One the Elite Controller. It fits snuggly into my hands, the base has a very nice gripping texture, not sure if it is rubber but it is much nicer to hold than shiney plastic. The headphone port is great – I purchased a separate 3.5mm Y splitter and now use my super comfy PC headset on this – no need to buy another headset – that's a major savings in itself. Caution if you are going to get a Y splitter (which is a small cable that you plug the headphone and mic plugs into and combines it into a single 4 pole plug to go into the controller) then first read carefully the Xbox Support page here (http://support.xbox.com/…ible-headset) on which one to buy, you need the CTIA standard version – check with your seller which version they have as they look identical but only one works – I purchased one (ahem somewhere else sorry Mighty Apes) for just $15.
The paddles: These are extra controllers you can configure for games, by default they are mapped to the XYBA buttons, you can take them out easily as they are attached magenetically or turn them off by pressing the green button at the front. If you want to configure the controller you have to download the app. I used the paddles extensively for Rise of the Tomb Raider instead of pressing on the left and right thumbsticks, they work very well and are within easy reach to activate, in fact it feels very natural to use them.
Xbox Accessories app: You need this to configure your new controller, there are a limited number of configurations already suggested for other games but it is super easy to set up and save your custom settings.
Downloading: I noticed the downloading was very slow on Xbox for apps and games, there are many threads about this online, I found to speed it up I had to go to Network Settings/Advanced Settings/ Alternate Mac Address and select clear. This restarts your console and gave me 10× faster downloading – why – I have no idea but rebooting is just a Microsoft thing.
Live +: With Microsoft they give away 2 free 360 games and 2 free One games per month, my downloaded and free games from the 360 automatically show up for me to play on my One – how cool is that! Even better I can continue to collect free games for the 360 and play them on my One.
EA: I thought I'd throw this in as something worth considering when buying an Xbox One – for about USD $60 you can get a subscription with EA that gives you free access to about a dozen games in their vault, already I have downloaded Garden Warfare and DA Inquisition which has paid for my sub and there are another 3 I have yet to get – worth considering as extra value.
Graphics: My eyes are rubbish so I can't say too much on this, however as someone who mods on PC a lot to get the best possible graphic look I was very impressed with Rise of the Tomb Raider for graphics, absolutely stunning, I'd need to pay a lot more for a new graphics card to do that than the price of a console. It's been my experience with consoles that about 3–5 years into their lifetime developers start maximizing the potential of each machine – this is due to the time it takes to build a game and get familiar with how to optimize and crank things up, I think that time has been greatly reduced with the latest consoles, the Xbox One is very capable of stunning imagery.
Game Library: You get a console to play games, with backwards capability Xbox has a very big selection to play with, new titles and exclusives seem to be holding up strong, EA access gives you a strong lineup of free games and Gold for games makes it so that you never really need to buy a game. And if you get tired of games well you can just watch Twitch or Netflix or Xbox Movies and TV.
Conclusion: Xbox have worked hard to recover their disastrous launch, Win 10 is easy to navigate, there's a ton of games to choose from, it's backwards compatible, the Elite has the best controller I've ever had. I'm very happy with this purchase.
If you have a 360, this is the console to upgrade to.