Why I Really Like Skype on Xbox One?

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While not being a serious gamer, I bought my Xbox One with Kinect quite soon after its release. In fact, gaming takes only less than 5% of my Xbox usage time while Skype accounts for around 40%. Here are the reasons why Skype on Xbox is really cool and I could not find anything close to this rich experience in other apps for communication or gaming.

Immersive Experience and Convenience in Living Room
The first obvious advantage of using Skype with Xbox is possibility to have large screen and convenience in living room as opposed to Skype and other similar apps on desktop PCs or mobile phones. One can enjoy using Xbox Skype with video while relaxing in sofa or even moving around the room. This all enabled with the same familiar user interface and navigation from Skype. For me it gives immersive and close communication with friends and family members abroad, thousands of miles away without feeling the great distances and coping with small screens in PCs, tablets and smartphones. In fact, Skype on Xbox is also comparable to Telepresence - expensive conferencing tool with large screens found in many executive offices around the world.


Auto Zoom
Kinect camera can zoom into speaker automatically and amazingly in the right context during increased activity, such as  speaking or moving around the room. Once your friend or family member joins you nearby on sofa or elsewhere, the Kinect camera can automatically detect the change and broadcast full family of participants on the screen. No desktop PC or mobile based software has this capability and experience in general use.

"Xbox Call" + Name
If user likes to use voice for giving commands to Skype for calling, it is also possible - say "Xbox Call" and name your contact in Skype favorites (works from anywhere in Xbox). This is similar to familiar experience on Cortana for Windows phone and Siri on iPhone, but available now on TV console.

Call Landline and Mobile Phones from Your TV
Sure, technically speaking it is Xbox One console, but the user experience is as calling from TV.

One Service, Many Devices
Skype is probably one of the best cases by Microsoft enabling its service and device strategy where data and user experience is integrated across mobile, PCs and console connected to TV. Furthermore, now Skype can be used to communicate with Microsoft Lync users, but more about that next time.