Following Microsoft’s decision to omit the feature from last month’s console update, Xbox One owners will be pleased to hear that the long-requested voice message feature will be included in the hardware’s May update, which has begun rolling out for all users this week.
Announced via Microsoft’s official YouTube feed, the firmware patch is now available to the general audience following an incubation period in the company’s Preview Program. The ability to send and receive voice messages is undoubtedly the highlight of this month’s patch, though there are also a few new features worth noting.
Voice Messages – You can now send and receive voice messages from the Xbox One messages app.
Power On/Off from Xbox One SmartGlass – The Xbox One SmartGlass app for Windows, Windows Phone, iOS and Android are being updated to let you power your Xbox One on and off when your devices are on the same home network as your console.
User-selectable power mode – We are also altering the initial setup experience on Xbox One worldwide to enable you to select your preferred power mode between Instant-on or Energy-saving mode.
Dedicated servers for party chat – We will start to expand the availability of the party chat relay services beyond preview members to a broader audience as we continue to fine tune the feature and scale out the servers needed to support party chat relay services.
Those more inclined to use the Xbox One solely for gaming can look forward to the new energy saving preferences, allowing console owners to customize the hardware’s output level in order to reduce the levels of power consumption. Power modes to be introduced include the Instant-on mode as well as the aforementioned, more conservative Energy-saving mode.
Major Nelsen provides a detailed breakdown on all of the new Xbox One features in the video embedded about. But which of these are you most anticipating?
