The success of her implementation has been a bit mixed so far. Unlike the legacy voice commands, Cortana processes information via the internet, meaning that she's been a little less responsive than what many of us are used to. Her margin of error is also much larger, as she falls back to a Bing search when she misunderstands a command, which can be frustrating.
Thankfully, Brad Rosetti just announced that Cortana has received some final improvements ahead of the Xbox One Summer Update's public launch, which should improve her functionality when navigating apps and games on the console.
Rosetti posted the following comments on the Xbox One's official preview forums a few moments ago:
"Cortana just finished her final lesson for launching games, apps, and TV channels. Users were reporting issues of "Open Netflix" "Launch YouTube" "Play Halo 5" "Watch NBC" and the like resulting in web search or marketplace search results instead of opening the correct app/game/channel. After this final lesson she is much better at launching the app/game/channel you ask for. Please give it a spin!"
Considering I'm currently writing a review of the Xbox One Summer Update, I'm hopeful that these latest changes solve the problems I have personally been experiencing with Cortana. Either that or she just hates my accent.
When Cortana is fully implemented on the Xbox One, she will (optionally) replace the old voice commands triggered by saying "Xbox." She will be able to tell you whether friends are online, invite them to parties, and perform all the usual tasks you might be used to on Windows 10 Mobile and PC with natural language. Beyond Xbox One functionality, developers will also be able to leverage her vocal recognition engine, allowing you to perform actions in other apps using your voice.
Still, you will be able to turn her off if you prefer the old-school commands, so bookmark the guide linked below. The Xbox One Summer Update should land very soon to coincide with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, so stay tuned.
How to turn off Cortana on Xbox One
If you're currently on the Xbox One Preview, give Cortana a try and let us know what you think in the comments below!
