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UI: Which console (PS4, XBONE, Wii U) does it best?

abstract alien

abstract alien

Member
Now that things are officially underway with the final piece releasing, which of the three would you consider to have the best UI? As far as navigation and ease of use, I've have to go with the Wii U without a doubt. I can get to nearly any game, app, miiverse, web broswer, etc with a single tap. It's not cluttered at all and everything is easily discernible. What's better is that I don't even have to turn on the TV. It also looks pretty nice too, with a neat usage of Miis and Miiverse right there on the screen, should you decide to use it. As much as I love the look and theme of the Xbox One Metro set up(and secondary Kinect usage), the nearly instant way of getting to multiple things on the Wii U with a solitary movement is something I can't get enough of. It's almost overly simplified, and I love it.

Whats your favorite and why?

If there is anything that should be in the op(pics,descriptions, etc) let me know and I'll get it in.
 
I've only gotten to experience the Wii U and PS4 UIs, both which I feel are really effective in doing what they set out to do. The former allows me to instantly access any software with simplistic ease while the latter is slick and pretty with fun features.

Hard to say honestly. I guess since I've had more time with the Wii U I'll go with that one because most of the time all I want to do is have everything on the table and jump right in.
 
PS4! Really fast and minimalistic. How it should be to find everything.

WiiU - Looks ok, does what it should.
Xbone - Horrible! Metro/W8/Boxes-everywhere style! Hate it!
 
Having not used the UI of either of these consoles, I'm just going to chime in and say that I really like the PS Vita UI. HD bubbles are great.
 
TBH they all need work but the PS4 is the least offensive right now IMO

Blue background with white swirls is pretty lame and their browser UI needs work, and I think with the current setup it'll be a bit awkward once we get to 20 or so games installed but all that can and almost certainly will be addressed in the coming months so I'm not terribly concerned.

Overall I find the PS4's visual direction much more appealing than the XB1's.
 
Ive personally only used the WiiU, but from what Ive seen I'd say the PS4. Looks slick, neat and classy, really like the minimalistic look.
 
Bundy said:
PS4! Really fast and minimalistic. How it should be to find everything.

WiiU - Looks ok, does what it should.
Xbone - Horrible! Metro/W8/Boxes-everywhere style! Hate it!
Click to expand...

Have to agree with you on the Xbone UI, I feel the same when I see so many boxes on the screen at once. Clicking one takes you to a seperate unique page, it doesn't seem to flow and I agree it doesn't seem all that useful for controller commands. I'm sure it could work better with voice commands, but it remains to be seen if people will naturally adopt to that method of control yet.

PS4's just seems easier and fast enough. Being easier makes it seem a lot more pleasant to use.
 
Green Slime said:
To be fair, I'd argue that voice commands are a major part of the UI.
Click to expand...

Couple this with the lack of reliability of Kinect voice commands, makes the UI kinda bad from what I have seen so far.

And let's not even mention the poor countries that don't even have their language supported at all. That UI is a clusterfuck to navigate just with the controller.
 
If the Xbone's voice commands worked perfectly, that. There is just too much going on with these consoles to effectively navigate using a controller.

The Wii U's interface is functional and ugly. Feels last gen.

PS4's is decent, wish they had rethought it a bit more from the PS3. Nothing earth shattering. Difficult to find certain things, took me a fair bit to find Downloads under Notifications. Makes no sense.
 
Mind you these are just impressions of looking at them through videos and not from actual use, well, except for WiiU which I got to play around with at a store.

WiiU: gets you to the game without being too self-important. Good job, but a bit too slow at times.
PS4: gets you to the game without being too self-important. Good job. Don't like "what's new" thing for the same reasons I don't like X1 UI in general which is...
X1: hard to read monocolored table of icons spread around with seemingly no rhyme or reason, options of different levels of importance are clustered together.
 
X1 - Most feature complete UI, but seems like a clusterfuck to use with a controller.
PS4 - Simple UI, and all the good and bad that comes with a simple UI.
 
Wii U's is still too slow, plain but it gets the job done.
X1's is a joke right now, awful to navigate with a controller and unreliable voice commands.
Overall PS4's the best based purely on its speed, functionality and reliability.
 
Can't comment without trying them yet, but I've liked what I seen from all 3...

PS4:
I like how selecting a game on PS4 shows details about the game, achievements, friends status, basically the ecosystem around the entire game ( on your friend's side ) without even needing to jump into the game. I also think the Live from Playstation, while still not properly laid-out is excellent, and the fact that you can jump into gameplay from watching if you own it is great. The pieces that are integrated feels really integrated in a coherent way.

Xbox:
I like how the main layout of the thing is divided into 'Pins, Dashboard, Store' making accessing your favourites and Store just clicks away. The UI for Upload Studio looks good, though GameDVR looks to be annoying.

WiiU:
Like what OP mentioned, the Gamepad makes a difference in allowing everything to be accessible in a single tap. Nothing more simple and straight-forward than that.
 
Xbone : Pretty confusing at first, will take some time to get used to it
Wii U : Just tap what you want and you're done, fast and easy.
PS4 : About the same as Xbone, showing too much thing you don't really care, take some time to browse it.
 
The one that is closest to my PC desktop - PS4.

On my desktop I dont have any live wallpapers, animated docks, widgets, trash etc. The interface is pretty much minimalistic and unobtrusive.

edit: I have Windows 7 and not the Windows 8 crap Metro UI.
 
I am really impressed with the feature set of the PS4 and have had 0 issues navigating and utilizing the PS4 interface. I have watched various videos and such and the X1 UI looks frustrating to be honest. Those controlled videos looked pretty awesome on the X1, but they actually have to work to get that level of integration with everything.

I am sitting back navigating my PS4 UI via voice commands and switching between Games / Apps with 0 lag and using all the apps with 0 issues. Throwing out streams, videos, uploading photos ( cant wait for 1080p uncompressed screen support )Pretty awesome if you ask me for everything to function this well right at launch. Very impressed by PS4 UI / XMB. There is work to be done of course, as expected, but the groundwork has been laid for a very functional and very fluid UI.
 
I only have the Wii U. But yeah going from Mac OS X and iOS 7 to its OS can be quite painful. Far too slow. I'd never use YouTube or Netflix on the Wii U because to get it on my phone or Macbook is near instant.
 
I've personally only used the Wii U UI, but I'm quite happy with that. It's way, way faster than at launch, and the way all the different apps are easily accessible (be it via touch screen on the Gamepad or point and click with a Wiimote) is really satisfying.

As for the other UIs, from what I've seen, the PS4 seems elegant, although I'm not a big fan of the social stuff (I'll have to look into disabling that when I eventually get one). The XBox One interface, however, I don't like at all. It just seems like you're getting way too much information you don't need, and I'm not into using voice commands, either.
 
I'll go with the PS4 for now. It's simple and everything is easy and quick to get to. I have one caveat though, the bottom bar and library are going to be problematic once a large number of titles accumulate there. Sony really needs to let us sort and customize what games appear on the bottom bar and in the library.
 
I like the WiiU UI, the only problem everything is so slow, if you quit a game/menu/etc. it takes some time until the main menu shows up again.
 
If Xbone is like W8, I can tell it'll suck more than Kirby ever did.
That thing is like the worst UI I've ever had the misfortune of using.
I'm saying it's actually worse than DOS.
It's bad for tablet use and it's bad for desktop use too, the worst of both worlds!
WiiU is a step behind 3DS I'd say, folders are still missing and they're so great t_t!
Miiverse is ok to use but I use it way less now since the last update...
the eshop is great really.
Opera(internet) is what makes WiiU go from Ok...not really feeling it to OMG awesome how did I ever do before that!
Overall once you've launched a game or an app it works great I guess.
Oh and I don't think I've ever used the warawara plaza for anything...
Never seen ps4 so I guess I'll know when I try...
 
I'm in the same boat as only using the Wii U's UI, & I personally think it's brilliant. It's quick and easy, and also feels like a natural evolution from the Wii's UI, so +1 for that.

Apparently the PS4's UI is fast & simple but may be lacking features, which to be honest I'm fine with. If games, party chat, streaming, & your settings are all easily accessible, then that would seem like a fantastic UI for me.

Xbone's is apparently a cluttered mess w/ a controller.If I ever get an Xbone I doubt I'd use the Kinect, so it pretty much sounds like the UI isn't for me. Some of the stuff you can do with it though is cool in theory, such as Snap.
 
PS4 UI does weird shit. What's up with putting in a game disc and it installs so I play the game and it adds the game to the downloads list and then says it is ready to install? Am I then supposed to leave the game and install what it downloaded? Is that how it handles patches?

I like the wiiU UI because it is very simple. Haven't used x1.
 
IAmRandom31 said:
I am really impressed with the feature set of the PS4 and have had 0 issues navigating and utilizing the PS4 interface. I have watched various videos and such and the X1 UI looks frustrating to be honest. Those controlled videos looked pretty awesome on the X1, but they actually have to work to get that level of integration with everything.

I am sitting back navigating my PS4 UI via voice commands and switching between Games / Apps with 0 lag and using all the apps with 0 issues. Throwing out streams, videos, uploading photos ( cant wait for 1080p uncompressed screen support )Pretty awesome if you ask me for everything to function this well right at launch. Very impressed by PS4 UI / XMB. There is work to be done of course, as expected, but the groundwork has been laid for a very functional and very fluid UI.
Click to expand...

sums up my feelings as well.
 
We almost shouldn't judge XB1 and PS4 interfaces for at least 6 months. Right now they are on the "Get it out the door" versions of the software.
 
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