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[Banjo-Kazooie]

I think the two word activation helps a ton "Hey Cortana" vs just "Xbox". It seems to have cut down on my false positives and non-activations a ton, even with kids in the room. I used to not even bother trying if anyone was around.

Would be nice if you could change the Cortana to something else, but it's no worse than OK Google or whatever Siri.

Now I just need it to recognize and sign me in via voice!

I think my favorite thing is that now my Xbox will stop freaking out when I'm casually talking to my friends in the room and drop Xbox without a second thought in a sentence. My Xbox would think I wanted something which was annoying

 

[Banjo-Kazooie]

Man this preview needs a lot of work. I hope they take their time releasing it.

That's why it's out now, I don't think full release is until late July for anniversary update


As for me I hate the store. Scrolling through pages sucks because it counts ratings as selectable fields among other elements which slows down the scroll. Not to mention half the pages either don't load, ask me to buy content I already own, or are slow. Hope the store is the big focus for improvements

I also like the new ready to install tab in My Games and Apps, but I wish I could hide stuff without the fear of me forgetting I own it. For example there's a lot of BC games there that I don't want to install right this second but will in future. If I hide them I might forget I have them. But in the meantime o have 35 things crowding that area making it hard to find new things or things I may have got on the web.

 

[Tntnico]

I can't turn my Xbox off using voice anymore.

"Hey Cortana, turn off."
"You can say yes or no" (what the?)
"YES."
"YES."
"YES."
"YES."

<nothing happens>

"Cortana I hate you."

Same problem on the french version of Cortana.
Other features work fine !

 

[Alx]

Yeah it's mentioned in the known issues. I just had to turn off my console by pushing the front button, first time I've done that since... well I can't even remember.

 

[LukasTaves]

Yeah I guess so. Seems like there's "only one Cortana", since it can recognize calendar commands for example, but tells you it can only apply them on phone or PC.

I'm still having issues with the game starting commands, where all games (not only BC ones as I first thought) appear twice.
"- Hey Cortana , start Tekken Tag Tournament
- Do you mean Tekken Tag Tournament 2 or Tekken Tag Tournament 2 ?
- Tekken Tag Tournament 2
- Ok sorry..."

I couldn't start Kinect Sport Rivals by voice, first because she couldn't recognize "Kinect Sports" on its own, and then because she was confused between four instances of "KSR (hub)".
I think disambiguation would be better with "select 2" or "the first one" rather than having to say the name again. Also it would be nice to be able to select a choice manually in such situations.

Can't you do that already? Some apps already did that I though cortana would have too.

 

[LukasTaves]

That's why it's out now, I don't think full release is until late July for anniversary update


As for me I hate the store. Scrolling through pages sucks because it counts ratings as selectable fields among other elements which slows down the scroll. Not to mention half the pages either don't load, ask me to buy content I already own, or are slow. Hope the store is the big focus for improvements

I also like the new ready to install tab in My Games and Apps, but I wish I could hide stuff without the fear of me forgetting I own it. For example there's a lot of BC games there that I don't want to install right this second but will in future. If I hide them I might forget I have them. But in the meantime o have 35 things crowding that area making it hard to find new things or things I may have got on the web.

There's a shortcut to bring hidden stuff.

It used to be LT+RT+X, but now that only makes the app crash (lol). The new shortcut is LB+RB+X

 

[TheKeyPit]

Update is downloading. Yeah.

Tell me about all the cool Cortana stuff I'll be able to do in a couple of minutes.

 

[jond76]

Can I no longer change channels with voice?

"Hey, Cortana, watch Disney junior" snaps IE with a web search. I also tried "change the channel to Disney junior" with the same result.

That's a huge bummer if I can't change channels with voice anymore.

 

[Alx]

Can't you do that already? Some apps already did that I though cortana would have too.

That's how it works with standard commands, but for launching games and apps there's a dedicated menu appearing in the Cortana snap, and you can only say the name of the item you want, no "select x" nor manual cursor.

 

[Alx]

Can I no longer change channels with voice?

"Hey, Cortana, watch Disney junior" snaps IE with a web search. I also tried "change the channel to Disney junior" with the same result.

That's a huge bummer if I can't change channels with voice anymore.

Still works for me, I suppose it's the channel name it can't recognize. I thought it had issues for me when I noticed it could switch to channels "France 2" and "France 4" but started a web search for "France 3", but then I noticed that channel wasn't in the guide to begin with.

 

[MaulerX]

So just for the fun of it I asked Cortana where was the nearest Friendly's. She gave me a list and told me the nearest one was 8 miles away. I click on the nearest and I get "Directions"-"Call" and "Website" options. Hitting Directions brigs up Bing maps. Hitting Call brings up Skype to actually make the call etc... That's some high level stuff on a console. Yea you can do all this on your cell phone but still.

 

[jmood88]

I still have yet to receive the preview update.

 

[Rembrandt]

I still have yet to receive the preview update.

Ugh, same. Hopefully we get it today.

 

[ekim]

I can't get Cortana to understand me to make my TV sound lower or higher. I also have the problem with turning off the console. :-/

 

[Doffen]

Got the update. Library is nice.

 

[Oynox]

My status still says "pending".

 

[shoreu]

So i just got an Invite from Play Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta what the hell is this?

 

[darkinstinct]

Can I no longer change channels with voice?

"Hey, Cortana, watch Disney junior" snaps IE with a web search. I also tried "change the channel to Disney junior" with the same result.

That's a huge bummer if I can't change channels with voice anymore.

When you say Hey Cortana you can select an invisible text field just below the spinning circle. There you find the exact commands to switch channels and anything else.

 

[shoreu]

First one didn't work gonna try the second.

 

[Darth Giggity]

I don't know about anyone else but cortana does not understand me better than the old dash did.. its worse.

 

[jesu]

Yeah give the UK Jen ffs.

Yeah I just tried the US version out by changing location, she sounds much better.
It' no good if your planning on using the store though.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

I think "Xbox" is just a poor trigger phrase, from a voice recognition POV. Too short and mistakable. I also don't like saying it over and over. Feels bad on the tongue. "Cortana" is probably easier for the algorithm to recognize. As with any voice recognition topic, there are going to be some people whose voices and patterns work better with some services than others. Personally, I've never had much luck with any of them, so I generally don't use Siri or Cortana/Xbox.

 

[EvB]

So i just got an Invite from Play Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta what the hell is this?

Somebody playing on Windows 10

 

[TheKeyPit]

The library is indeed nice. I'm rocking the small tiles; Much better overview. Downloaded MB and current speed in the my games & apps section is nice too. Ready to install on the left is a game changer. No need to scroll yourself to death like before for that one.

But: Cortana understands pretty much nothing besides the standard commands.

Hey Cortana, go to Rocket League ---> this doesn't work, why?

 

[Bsigg12]

The library is indeed nice. I'm rocking the small tiles; Much better overview. Downloaded MB and current speed in the my games & apps section is nice too. Ready to install on the left is a game changer. No need to scroll yourself to death like before for that one.

But: Cortana understands pretty much nothing besides the standard commands.

Hey Cortana, go to Rocket League ---> this doesn't work, why?

"Hey Cortana, I want to play Rocket league" works for me.

 

[TheKeyPit]

"Hey Cortana, I want to play Rocket league" works for me.

I'll try it.

"I want to play la complete" lol

Nope, doesn't work.

"What can I say?" nothing...

 

[malfcn]

Hmm. Hololens.

 

[Noobcraft]

Hmm. Hololens.

Yeah, but it makes sense for movies to launch on Hololens

 

[Bsigg12]

I'll try it.

"I want to play la complete" lol

Nope, doesn't work.

"What can I say?" nothing...

Interesting. Do you have a headset you could try with?

 

[besiktas1]

How do I get to see coming soon games in the store?

 

[jesu]

The library is indeed nice. I'm rocking the small tiles; Much better overview. Downloaded MB and current speed in the my games & apps section is nice too. Ready to install on the left is a game changer. No need to scroll yourself to death like before for that one.

But: Cortana understands pretty much nothing besides the standard commands.

Hey Cortana, go to Rocket League ---> this doesn't work, why?

I have to say 'start'
'play' or 'go to' and she does an internet search.

 

[Captain Zyrain]

Had the big where the little Cortana sound wouldn't go away this morning.

Ended up having to do a hard reset.

Couldn't get Cortana to record "1 minute and 15 seconds" of gameplay. But I am not sure what the correct syntax for that is, I played around but couldn't figure it out (though it was late).

All in all its par for the course of an ACTUAL beta.. hopefully they've weeded out the people who don't like actual betas.

 

[faer0n]

cortana understands that i say "play overwatch" but all she does is bing overwatch an open my games and apps.... the same for all my other games

 

[etta]

They need to fix this scrolling in the Store, holy crap it's awful.

 

[Bsigg12]

They need to fix this scrolling in the Store, holy crap it's awful.

That new store is suffering from UWP-itis I think. It seems really heavily placeholder with how slow it is right now.

 

[justsomeguy]

Hmm. Hololens.

UWP. Everything on any device.

Also just wanted to say I used a Hololens today for the first time properly and it's awesome.

 

[Alx]

Had the big where the little Cortana sound wouldn't go away this morning.

Ended up having to do a hard reset.
.

You can do it without a reset, just call Cortana again so that the app appears snapped, then go home, set the focus on Cortana, press menu > quit. It should kill both Cortanas.
They should add the command "hey Cortana, kill yourself" for that situation.

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

UWP. Everything on any device.

Also just wanted to say I used a Hololens today for the first time properly and it's awesome.

Oh come on, you've got to give us more than that.

 

[RoslindaleOne]

Thank fuck

I wish we could have a setting to sub out Hey Cortana for Xbox as a keyword though. I like the extra functionality but I'm just not a fan of the activation phrase.

Totally agree - since when has subbing two words for one ever been acceptable?

Isn't that covered in some sort of user acceptance testing 101?

Just saying "Cortana" works. It may be one more syllable than Xbox, but it rolls off the tongue better. And I imagine I'm Master Chief saying it. Which makes it even better.

 

[TheKeyPit]

How do I pause a movie with Cortana? I don't like this There should be a collection for all Cortana commands.

 

[Ade]

How do I pause a movie with Cortana? I don't like this There should be a collection for all Cortana commands.

Hey Cortana pause

Anything that was prefixed with Xbox still seems to work

 

[TheKeyPit]

Hey Cortana pause

Anything that was prefixed with Xbox still seems to work

Somehow nothing works what you all are suggesting. What the hell?

I said "Hey Cortana, pause". Answer was after at least 10 seconds something like: Not connected to the internet

 

[shingi70]

Anyone know how to get to The coming soon section in the store? Also no sounds in the store is off putting.

 

[etta]

Holy hell the Store experience is awful. Searching, game pages are hideous, there's too many clickables, the scrolling method makes it feel like a page in a browser. Ughh, left a very bad taste.

 

[JaggedSac]

Holy hell the Store experience is awful. Searching, game pages are hideous, there's too many clickables, the scrolling method makes it feel like a page in a browser. Ughh, left a very bad taste.

Yikes. Havent tried it yet. I'm going to fart with it real quick.

Edit: Tried to do a search and the store app closes, lol.

 

[Alx]

Totally agree - since when has subbing two words for one ever been acceptable?

Isn't that covered in some sort of user acceptance testing 101?

I don't think that's true for natural interfaces. Having something realistic and intuitive is more important than brevity. For example I can say both "Hey Cortana, Xbox on" and "Hey Cortana, start my Xbox" (or the French equivalent anyway, which also has more syllables), and I prefer the second one because it feels more natural.
I also already mentioned how I disliked the "hey" that sounds rude in French. An alternative (that is actually how it appears on screen) is "Dis moi Cortana" ("Say, Cortana,), which is also longer, but far better than "hey".

Somehow nothing works what you all are suggesting. What the hell?

I said "Hey Cortana, pause". Answer was after at least 10 seconds something like: Not connected to the internet

I haven't tried to put the console offline yet, but I suppose if your connection isn't stable you may have issues with voice commands, since Cortana is cloud-based, while the previous voice commands were running locally. I wonder if that means no voice commands at all when offline, or if we can still use "Xbox go to..." in a fallback scenario.

 

[Hexer06]

Holy hell the Store experience is awful. Searching, game pages are hideous, there's too many clickables, the scrolling method makes it feel like a page in a browser. Ughh, left a very bad taste.

I agree. I was hoping the new store layout would improve things, but it honestly doesn't seem to do that so far. Hoping they can improve it before public release :/. I LOVE the new Games&Apps layout though. Small Tiles is a life saver with over 200+ games, lol.

 

[Zedox]

Holy hell the Store experience is awful. Searching, game pages are hideous, there's too many clickables, the scrolling method makes it feel like a page in a browser. Ughh, left a very bad taste.

Yep. Store needs a bunch of work. I was at it and was like...jesus. They got a month to fix it.

 

[U2NUMB]

I'll try for you in a little bit. I had a problem with all the games on my external drive when the preview was installed, I had to redownlosf them all again. There are clearly a few bugs

Holy shit I hope I dont have this... I have 4 external drives with about 5TB of games on them.

Still no update

 

[shoreu]

I just got another update did they add more stuff?