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[etta]

Hi GAF, I wanted to make a discussion thread to compare the features and social aspects of each console (I don't have a Wii U). Now, before I get started, I have been using the PS4 for a lot less, so I may be missing some features from my list. If so, please tell me which ones and I will add them to the OP.

I wanted to see what the multi-console GAF thinks about the social implementation of each console, what they like and dislike about each, what they would like to see get added, and which they prefer. I personally prefer the Xbox One's implementation, as I think it has slightly more features and ones that are better implemented. I like the competitive nature of "Leaderboards (last 30 days)", and I really, really love the live broadcasts on Store game pages. For me personally they are not needed, because I find out about games from GAF and other sources far before they are put up on the Store page, but I think this is really useful for the people that do not browse GAF and other gaming news websites.

Note: the Xbox One captures are lower resolution because I don't have a capture card, and the Screenshot feature on it only allows you to take screenshots from games, not OS. I had to get this via Windows 10 streaming, which is why they look compressed.
Another note: I have just now realized how long this thing is. If it is an issue, I will not complain if moderators lock it.

Update: Forgot to add SharePlay for PS4 social features list. Apologies.

Update: Added sharing capabilities.

Friends page:

The Friends app on the Xbox displays several things. It has an Activity Alerts page, which sends you alerts when friends do certain things, such as add/like comments on the Activity Feed, or follow you (add you as a friend). It has your Messages and Suggested Friends as well. The friends list shows you who is online/offline, and what each friend/follower is doing, or what they were last seen doing. The Activity Feed shows you activities such as screenshots, videos, status and "friends added" updates. You can like and share these activities, and can post status updates for your friends to see. Lastly, the Friends app shows you Popular With Friends, which shows most popular games on your friends list for the past week.

The Friends section on the PS4 is a little more bare bones. It shows you what the online friends are doing, and their trophy levels. It does not show what people were last doing before going offline (it is however shown in the user's profile page), and Messages is found separately. The message app on PS4 allows for group chat, while the Xbox One is one-to-one only.
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Friends at a glance:

Friends at a glance is what you see on the OS before launching the Friends app/section. On the Xbox you can see who is online and what they are doing, it shows Popular with Friends, and it shows you an achievement Leaderboard. The Leaderboard ranks your friends by who unlocked the most gamerscore in the past month.

The PS4 shows who is online and what they are currently doing, as well as their trophy levels.
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What's on + Activity Feed:

The Xbox has an extra section called What's On and it shows you popular Youtube/Twitch/XLEI as well as trending TV channels. The Activity Feed again shows friends' broadcasts/achievements/screenshots/videos/status updates from friends, and you can like, comment and share them.

The PS4 activity feed functions pretty much the same, with a few small differences. It has your friends' broadcasts/trophies/screenshots/videos, and the broadcasts shown are also from strangers. The other difference is that it has Store ads and suggested friends. You can also like activities, but it does not have comments/share options. It is also easier to take screenshots and record videos given the "Share" button on the DualShock 4. The PS4 trophies also show rarity, which the Xbox does not have.
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Game Hubs:

Game Hubs on Xbox shows you who plays that game and some statistics, it shows broadcasts and clips, and popular broadcasters for that game. It lets you launch a game normally, snapping with achievements, play with a party, as well as play and broadcast. It also has a more detailed leaderboard with more statistics for comparison such as time played, progress, ranks...etc.

Game Hubs on PS4 shows you your trophies overview and activities, as well as friends who play the game, and DLC for the game.
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Store game pages:

In addition to game information, DLC, screenshots/trailers, and recommendations, on Xbox you also have live broadcasts and saved game clips.

The PS4 does not integrate live broadcasts and saved game clips into the Store page, but it has all the regular stuff: game information, DLC, screenshots/trailers and recommendations.
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User profile and Twitch profiles:

The profile showcase on the Xbox is well detailed. It shows tenure/badges, gamerscore, reputation, "about" info, followers, activity feed for just that one person, top games with how often they were played and when they were last played as well as game clips and screenshots. The Twitch profile page shows followers, total views and past broadcasts as well as highlights (to the right of the picture).

The PS4 profile showcase is also pretty well detailed, with trophies and trophy level, "about" info, friends and activities. The Twitch page only shows the name of the streamer and current amount of viewers, but does not show past broadcasts or highlights.

Features that exist but were not pictured: Both consoles have "real names" integration. The Xbox has a "follower" system instead of the traditional friend system, which I think is pretty cool. Also, I forgot to take pictures of the status updates that developers can leave on their Game Hubs pages.

What else am I missing, GAF?

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Sharing Capabilities:

On Xbox, screenshots and videos are stored automatically in the cloud as you take them, but you can also share to a Twitter, OneDrive and Activity Feed. The screenshots are saved as .png's, while videos are 720p/60fps/5 minute max and up to 10,000 kbps bitrate. Share to YouTube is also available. Broadcasting to Twitch is available.

PS4 uses the .jpg for photos and can share screenshots and videos (720p/60fps/15 minute max) to Facebook, Twitter and Activity Feed. PS4 also has SharePlay, which is a cool way of doing couch coop over the internet. Share to YouTube is also available. The PS4 also has media export to USB. Broadcasting to Ustream and Twitch is also available.

 

[ItsTheNew]

The mountains of screens / vague searches you have to get through to get to a game hub of an obscure game you don't own on the Xbox one. It kills me how unorganized the Xbox one store is.

 

[Krejlooc]

What else am I missing, GAF?

Steam big picture mode

 

[etta]

The mountains of screens / vague searches you have to get through to get to a game hub of an obscure game you don't own on the Xbox one. It kills me how unorganized the Xbox one store is.

Yea I agree, the Store on the Xbox One is disorganized as hell. I hope they refined that too when they worked on the new dashboard.

 

[SMOK3Y]

Id prefer my PS4 to be even more bare bones as i couldn't give a shit what my friend's are playing if i want to play with mates i call them but i am a person who hates social media crap lol

 

[User 479360]

The Xbox One is way better in this case.

I'm not a fan of the PS4 UI. It's not as user friendly, and is dull.

 

[CalamityPixel]

Has their been given a ETA of when the new Xbox One dash is implemented?

Surely that's gonna change the way social integration is displayed in the OS.

I also didn't realize how much I want a Trophy Leaderboard on my PS4 :O

I need to gloat when I get my plats.

 

[JackEtc]

Glancing over these, XBO just looks like major information overload

 

[TimeEffect]

Really love the stats on Xbox. Wish PS4 would have hours played

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

I'll say the same thing here that I've said in other UI threads, if you could combine the UI of the One with the performance of the PS4, you'd have the perfect OS. Everything about how the Xbox UI functions is so much better it isn't even funny. But lord it performs like shit.

This includes all the social stuff.

 

[Three]

The XB1 UI really needs less clutter.

Info should be reachable but not an overload

The Friends section on the PS4 is a little more bare bones. It shows you what the online friends are doing, and their trophy levels. It does not show what people were last doing before going offline,

you can check recent/past activity by going to their profile. I prefer current activity only on the friends list.

 

[Newtype-001]

Why does the xbox one seem more... cluttered. If thats the right word. It may just be the darker theme though.

 

[etta]

Id prefer my PS4 to be even more bare bones as i couldn't give a shit what my friend's are playing if i want to play with mates i call them but i am a person who hates social media crap lol

Haha yea, I have a friend who is exactly like you. Does not give a single shit for the OS, as long as there is a "Start game" button, he's happy.

Has their been given a ETA of when the new Xbox One dash is implemented?

Surely that's gonna change the way social integration is displayed in the OS.

It will release for the public mid-October, but that is just an educated guesswork. They said the Elite controller will be October, and new dashboard is after the Elite release, but I am assuming they will want to have the Elite controller and new dashboard both before Halo 5 in late October. So hopefully mid-October for public, mid-August for preview members.

 

[ShapeGSX]

The mountains of screens / vague searches you have to get through to get to a game hub of an obscure game you don't own on the Xbox one. It kills me how unorganized the Xbox one store is.

"Xbox bing" (game name)

That's a vague search?

 

[etta]

The XB1 UI really needs less clutter.

Info should be reachable but not an overload

you can check recent/past activity by going to their profile. I prefer current activity only on the friends list.

I'll add that to the OP.

 

[KingBroly]

I don't even know what I'm looking at with the PS4 Friends Activity Page

 

[Blanquito]

I'll say the same thing here that I've said in other UI threads, if you could combine the UI of the One with the performance of the PS4, you'd have the perfect OS. Everything about how the Xbox UI functions is so much better it isn't even funny. But lord it performs like shit.

This includes all the social stuff.

Yeah, I think it is important to note how well each one performs, both with and without games running in the background.

Is there a good comparison of this to add as well?

 

[LogN]

The Xbox one is a hot mess, PS4 is much easier to access, though I do want hours played on PS4.

 

[Purest 78]

The Xbox One is way better in this case.

I'm not a fan of the PS4 UI. It's not as user friendly, and is dull.

Ps4 UI isn't user Friendly? In what way may I ask?

 

[oneida]

lastgen thoughts:
moving from XBL to PSN it was disappointing to be unable to see what people were doing in a game. if someone is idling in training mode it's entirely different than being active in room match. PSN tells you what they're playing, but seemingly nothing else.

 

[nib95]

Crazy how cluttered the Xbox One UI can be sometimes. Some of those screens certainly illustrate that. I guess it's finding that balance between looking slick and aesthetically attractive, whilst at the same time being as functional as possible.

 

[etta]

Yeah, I think it is important to note how well each one performs, both with and without games running in the background.

Is there a good comparison of this to add as well?

Err, that would be a performance related thing rather than social integration related. I do agree, though. Cannot wait for the new dashboard, it looks so fast.

Crazy how cluttered the Xbox One UI can be sometimes. Some of those screens certainly illustrate that. I guess it's finding that balance between looking slick and aesthetically attractive, whilst at the same time being as functional as possible.

I think it's also an issue of getting used to it. I was overwhelmed by all the UI elements when I opened it up, but after a few weeks, everything started to look in its place.

I don't have a kinect, and does the Xbox store have sort by genre or anything like that yet?

Yes.

 

[ItsTheNew]

"Xbox bing" (game name)

That's a vague search?

I don't have a kinect, and does the Xbox store have sort by genre or anything like that yet?

 

[Toki767]

"Xbox bing" (game name)

That's a vague search?

And what about the vast majority of people who don't have Kinect?

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Thread reminds me of why I always take a deep breath before turning on my Xbox One. What a cluster of a system UI. Not in love with the PS4's either, but it takes seconds to get where I want.

Hopefully Microsoft does a lot of fat trimming with their next big system update.

 

[Avatar1]

The Xbox One is way better in this case.

I'm not a fan of the PS4 UI. It's not as user friendly, and is dull.

Actually it's the opposite. There's so much clutter on those xbox screens. The ps4 looks "bare bones" by comparison but it's functional as hell and fast.

Also the activity feed on xbone is worthless compared to ps4. Even with ads and suggestions the ps4 shows you so much more information at a glance and it is endless. On xbone it shows what, 25 or less activity entries and most of those are achievements? Practically worthless.

I do like that you can add a comment on xbone but I have never ever seen it used. Maybe because if you have more than a few friends that specific entry may fall off before most see it anyway.

Also the activity feed is right in front of you on ps4 and is buried in friends app on xbone.

 

[klee123]

Don't like the cluttered nature of the X1 UI.

Whilst I still prefer the PS3's XMB, the PS4's UI is at least simple and snappy.

 

[SMOK3Y]

Haha yea, I have a friend who is exactly like you. Does not give a single shit for the OS, as long as there is a "Start game" button, he's happy.

yes thats me i miss the PS2 days lol chuck it in & go (but i love DD no more discs)

 

[Insane Metal]

The Xbox One is way better in this case.

I'm not a fan of the PS4 UI. It's not as user friendly, and is dull.

Well I think it's the exact opposite.

 

[etta]

Also the activity feed is right in front of you on ps4 and is buried in friends app on xbone.

Yea, they finally fixed it with the Windows 10 dashboard, though.

 

[Frog-fu]

I much prefer the design of the XB1 UI, however it does leave much to be desired in speed, which is in what the PS4 UI prevails.

New XB1 UI looks great though, can't wait to try it out myself.

 

[Majine]

Well, they are doing a complete make-over for XBO later this year that looks less cluttered. We'll see how it fares.

 

[Uraizen]

The Xbox One is better feature-wise, but it doesn't feel like one coherent OS. Opening "friends" feels like opening an application within the OS. While there's nothing inherently wrong with that, it doesn't feel like it's a part of the OS. It feels akin to launching the twitch application. If they could just eliminate that feeling or somehow hide it to make it all feel more integrated, then it would be much better.

Despite the PS4 missing some of the features mentioned, it is very quick to get to where you want. Some of the features on the Xbox One aren't needed and sometimes less is more. That being said, both consoles have their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to their respective OS.

I prefer the PS4 OS as of this post because the OS doesn't feel fragmented. I've heard the Xbox One is getting a revamped OS UI, but I haven't seen it myself. So my opinion may change depending on what they do to it.

 

[HighResTomato]

Lol at social screens being "cluttered", because one lacks information/social features doesn't mean the other is "cluttered".

 

[oneida]

I'd take a cosmetic hit for an upgrade in usefulness personally.

 

[nib95]

lastgen thoughts:
moving from XBL to PSN it was disappointing to be unable to see what people were doing in a game. if someone is idling in training mode it's entirely different than being active in room match. PSN tells you what they're playing, but seemingly nothing else.

It does, but only on a game by game basis. For example, with games like Destiny, DriveClub, Plants vs Zombies etc it does, whereas with other games like Last of Us, Arkham Knight etc it doesn't.

 

[quickwhips]

After having xbox 360 moving to ps4 for a year it is missing a lot of cool things like offline user and is really barebones. I bought an xbox one last week and even though I feel it's a step back from the 360 its way better for me than ps4.

 

[Avatar1]

"Xbox bing" (game name)

That's a vague search?

Lol only us day one suckers have a kinect. Most expensive microphone ever.

I do like the voice commands a lot as an owner of one but don't assume everyone has one. Assume the opposite actually. Sales only picked up when they tossed it out of the box.

 

[shandy706]

"Xbox bing" (game name)

That's a vague search?

Kinect makes the X1 UI awesome. No way I'd go without it.

Many don't have a Kinect though...crazy people I say. Heheh

I can't imagine having to flip through my games in this day and age. Just giving a voice command to go anywhere is how it should be.

 

[oneida]

It does, but only on a game by game basis. For example, with games like Destiny, DriveClub, Plants vs Zombies etc it does, whereas with other games like Last of Us, Arkham Knight etc it doesn't.

I was talking lastgen but I'm VERY disappointed to hear this wasn't fixed on PS4...

 

[Tunavi]

you cant send voice messages on xbox one. bad feature to remove. i used it a lot on 360 and now ps4.
edit: you can

xbone is really easy to see clips from friends on the console.

ps4 is bad about clip sharing but great about live streaming.

I like the ps4 social integration much better.

 

[etta]

It feels akin to launching the twitch application. If they could just eliminate that feeling or somehow hide it to make it all feel more integrated, then it would be much better.

You are in luck, come October.

you cant send voice messages on xbox one. bad feature to remove. i used it a lot on 360 and now ps4.

You can

 

[Caronte]

There's something about the Xbone UI that makes me hate it.

 

[Industrialist]

I prefer the Xbox One's layout, but it's a close run thing. The PS4s implementation tends to respond quicker for me as I don't have a great deal of folks on my PS4 friends list, but I just like the overall look of the XO layout more. With that said, there's pointless guff on both of them.

"Friends who play this" - I've literally never used the functionality ever on any console. "Most popular right now" - again...who cares? Will it affect what I want to play right now? Nope.



I'm still laughing about the fact that there are people out there who clutter up their friends list by following Major Nelson, Phil Spencer, Eric Neustader and all the other Xbox "celebs."

 

[Avatar1]

Yea, they finally fixed it with the Windows 10 dashboard, though.

That isn't a reality until it's on my screen but I have never been so excited for an os refresh. The xbone's current os is a slow, cluttered, confused mess only partially saved if you have the $100 microphone.

 

[PoweredByHentai]

lastgen thoughts:
moving from XBL to PSN it was disappointing to be unable to see what people were doing in a game. if someone is idling in training mode it's entirely different than being active in room match. PSN tells you what they're playing, but seemingly nothing else.

Actually, PSN on the PS4 tells me what part of a game my friends are at.

For example, when Final Fantasy Type-0 HD came out, I could see which chapter each of my friends were at.

 

[etta]

I'm still laughing about the fact that there are people out there who clutter up their friends list by following Major Nelson, Phil Spencer, Eric Neustader and all the other Xbox "celebs."

I follow them because I actually got to play with them a few times (not Spencer), and they are pretty cool people judging by their podcast.

 

[Tunavi]

You can

since when!!

i couldnt back in december when I had the bone

 

[benny_a]

The PS4 activity feed functions pretty much the same, with a few small differences. It does have your friends' broadcasts/trophies, I have yet to see screenshots/videos (correct me if it does indeed have them), and the broadcasts shown are also from strangers. The other difference is that it has Store ads and suggested friends. You can also like activities, but it does not have comments/share options.

It does have screenshots and videos, as well as a separate entry for what friends are currently streaming. It just defaults to strangers only when no friend of yours is streaming.

Overall I think the What's New thing would probably look a bit more lively if you had more friends.

 

[Grazzt]

xbox one is getting a new UI soon