(NEW) Xbox Series X (Open Box)

So, I bought an Xbox Series X. I already owned a PS5 before this, but I was curious to see what was available on Xbox and wanted to check out Game Pass, so I was also able to get a Game Pass trial with my purchase. The first thing I noticed was that the Xbox controller looked pretty nice, but that feeling only lasted until I actually used it. I don’t think I’ve ever used another controller that was so loud in my life. That dpad is criminally loud, it sounds like an old typewriter, which poses a major problem if you play fighting games at all or mostly play at night. The noise is distractingly loud even during the day, but at night you can hear every button being pressed, especially the awful dpad. In comparison, the PS5 controller makes no sound, while also having buttons that are more responsive and sensitive to the touch. I need to press the Xbox controller buttons harder for the Xbox to read the input. Another thing I noticed is that the Xbox doesn’t even come with a USB cable for the controller, and instead brings batteries, which means that the Xbox controller does not have a rechargeable battery built into the controller the way PS5 does. Do they really expect everyone to be changing batteries over and over? The only other option is to buy a USB cable and play with the controller wired, which feels extremely outdated in the case of Xbox because anything that involves using a cable in 2024 should have a rechargeable battery like the PS5 does. Additionally, I noticed is that the Xbox Series X fans keep running if you turn off the console the “wrong” way. I kept wondering why these fans were still spinning long after I turned off the console, and I literally had to Google this problem and find that you actually need to go into system settings and select “shut off completely” to actually shut the Xbox off. Holding the Xbox button on the controller and selecting shut off from there actually just puts it into rest mode, so why isn’t that option called rest mode then? Really stupid of them, honestly. On PS5, shut off means shut off, and rest mode means rest mode, period. Also, I don’t like how exposed the top of the Xbox Series X is. All those holes spells disaster for the console unless you place some kind of cover on it when it’s not in use, otherwise anything can just fall in there by accident, whether it be dust buildup or any small object really such as a screw, and if the latter happens I feel sorry for you because that’s where the fan is, and now you have to open the console just because something fell in there. That’s a huge design flaw, in my opinion. Additionally, is it not possible to take screenshots on the OS? Pressing the share button to take a screenshot prompts a notice to pop up saying, “For this, start a game, then you can capture game clips and screenshots.” So, if I wanted to take a screenshot of something on the OS, such as something in the Microsoft Store, or literally anything other than a video game, I can’t do that? On PS5, you can take screenshots of anything on the OS, except for when you’re streaming a movie of course due to piracy concerns. You are far more limited on Xbox in this regard. Another big problem regarding screenshots on Xbox is that they automatically disappear from your capture gallery, which Microsoft doesn’t tell you this and you find out the hard way when you see that they randomly disappeared from your library. In settings, they give you the option to automatically share your screenshots to the Xbox Live Network, for others to see and engage with. If you shut this off, what’s left is that the screenshots are only saved to your internal storage, which knowing this, you would think they have no way of disappearing, right? They’re YOUR screenshots, so why would they, right? WRONG. They disappear because you are limited to store only a certain amount before the “older” ones begin to be replaced with the newer ones. This is unbelievably pathetic when you consider that on PS5 and even PS4, your capture gallery is infinite as long as you have the space for it, and they will never disappear until you CHOOSE to delete them. I have screenshots saved to my PS5 that I took years ago, meanwhile on Xbox they just disappear without warning. What the kind of garbage OS is this? Another really odd thing on Xbox Series X is that you can’t disable HDR from screenshots? It is automatically applied to them even if you literally shut off HDR from video settings. I don’t play any games in HDR because I honestly think most games look worse with it on, and it’s rare to see a game that actually implements it well. I also don’t really see the appeal when it just looks like you auto enhanced a picture with contrast to make the black colors look blacker, which makes the other colors “pop” and that’s it. I shut it off just like I do on PS5, and yet for some reason on Xbox, the screenshots look much darker and it’s because HDR is being applied to them. Why? To trick people into thinking Xbox games look better based on screenshots? That is hilariously pathetic on Microsoft’s part because I see no other reason why they did this and never fixed it and it doesn’t actually make them look good at all. I also noticed that even with the extremely limited gallery functionality on Xbox, it also lags like crazy and acts up when you’re viewing your captures. I think Xbox OS tries to do so much that I’m convinced Microsoft thinks an Xbox should function just like Windows, which is also why their games tend to run worse and so many devs find it easier to optimize a PS5 game. The OS on PS5 is far simpler and to the point, which helps devs focus on what actually matters, which is the games, not the endless ads and worthless ecosystem features that are hogging up all the memory, which for Xbox is a very bad thing because the ram on Xbox Series X is split between games and OS. Quick Resume being forced to always be running is a fine example of a feature that cannot be shut off and automatically enables itself the moment you start any game app, and Digital Foundry themselves proved it causes system stutter that affects game performance and often disables 120hz functionality. All in all, some rather perplexing issues on Xbox for me. Bad design choices and oversights that years later were never addressed. This console feels very outdated to me compared to the freedom I get on PS5. I honestly think Xbox Series X is the worst console I’ve ever used, and it barely has any games either, so I’m not sure what Xbox players are even playing these days. I literally have Game Pass and couldn’t find anything worthwhile that I hadn’t already played on PS5 and Switch.