Microsoft continues to flesh out their Xbox live app for those of us that have iPads. The latest update brings more of the once exclusive features of the Windows Phone Companion App to iOS users. Unlike Windows Phone, which has a combination of apps to take care of Xbox live business, the iPad rolls all the functions into one. Personally, I like it all integrated into one whole and have been a little confused as to why the Windows Phone has essentially stuck with the Xbox Hub plus the two addition apps called Xbox Companion app and Xbox LIVE Extras App.
The iPad app has the following features:-
- Access to Quickplay
- Now Playing
- Menu Bar
- Discovery
Whilst this is not quite SmartGlass just yet, it is certainly designed to bring the core technology closer for when that moment arrives. As an iPad owner myself I certainly appreciate these updates, the Xbox 360 should be accessible to all those in a living room and that means having a good cross platform story.
The only niggling thing for me is, I cannot help but wonder why MS is able to push out updates for iOS devices that in many cases have a better UX than for their operating systems. I will point the finger at Photosynth being available on iOS a long time before Windows Phone and also the excellent Bing app for the iPad having no counterpart application for Windows.
As the Xbox Live Companion app and Xbox Live Extras app are effectively spun out of the core OS in Windows Phone it has allowed them to be updated more effectively than apps such as Maps. Not much is known about Windows Phone 8 yet, one would hope MS have a more reliable way to keep the built in features updated so hopefully Windows Phone users will always have the best experience using Microsoft technologies going forward.
Think MS is doing a good job with cross platform support for Xbox? Do you think they should be showing more love when it comes to their own home-grown app offerings on Windows Phone and Windows? Get in there and let us know!
Source: Apple itunes
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