Sony PS4 versus the Xbox One: How do they compare?

On Tuesday, Microsoft revealed to the world its latest gaming system, the Xbox One. While we currently only know a limited amount of information about the PS4 and X-One, that doesn’t stop instant comparisons between the two consoles that will compete for your living room later this year.
It is too early to have a true “Versus” article, as too much is unknown. We can however take a deeper look at the currently known hardware and features to help you better decide which system you believe is right for you.
So let’s jump right in:

The Hardware specs

Honestly, the hardware between the Xbox One and Sony PS4 seem rather comparable, at least based on what we currently know. Both run on 8-core x86 processors, with Sony’s PS4 confirmed to have an AMD Jaguar chip. Both systems also have Blu-ray optical drives.
The PS4 does one-up the Xbox One when it comes to RAM, though. Both have 8GB, but the Playstation 4 equips GDDR5 RAM, as opposed to the X-One’s DDR3. Will this make a noticeable “real world” difference? Maybe, maybe not.
As far as the HDD is concerned, we only know the Xbox One will have 500GB of storage space. No word on the PS4 yet. It’s also worth noting that Xbox One will REQUIRE all your discs to be copied over to the drive. This is nice because you can simply store away the game disc. It’s also annoying because it makes lending and selling games harder (though there will still be a way..).

Motion Control

Both the PS4 and Xbox One make next-gen motion technology a major part of the console experience, they just go about it in very different ways.
For the Xbox One, you get the next-gen Kinect that can recognize heartbeats, tons of different joints and has extremely accurate voice control technology (or so the demo leads us to believe).
As for the PS4? It ships with a new Playstation Eye that will work with the DualShock 4 controller to allow special tracking and motion features.
Which method is better? Honestly, that depends on your own tastes.

The Cloud and Multiplayer

Next-gen game consoles are going to rely on net connectivity more than ever. In fact, Microsoft’s Xbox One REQUIRES a connection to the net. That said, it does have an offline mode for those times when your net is down for whatever reason.
Both systems will also promote features like cloud saving and syncing. This should also mean that it will be easy to pull up your profile and saves on your friend’s game systems.
As for the online experience, Xbox will continue evolving its Xbox Live and plans to boost its servers from 15,000 to 300,000 by the time its next system launches!
Sony also wishes to continue adding abilities to its own online network, though it will likely continue down the “free to use” model, as opposed to Xbox Live’s charge model.

Second Screen Experience

Almost everyone has a smartphone or tablet these days, at least that is the case for the folks willing to drop big money on a game console from day one. That’s why both consoles will work nicely with mobile devices for controlling some aspects of the menu – or even some games. This is particularly true when it comes to using the PS Vita as a controller on the PS4.

Connectivity

Both consoles have USB 3.0 technology.
The Xbox One, however, seems to ditch RCA components and goes with just an HDMI input and output. The PS4 will still have RCA and optical, though.
Additionally, both consoles will fully support 4K TV signals.

The Big Differences

While we likely don’t have the “full picture” of features for the PS4 or Xbox One – we can tell you that there are a few areas of direction where each system seems to be focused.

PS4 – Social Aspects

For the PS4, there is a dedicated share button on the controller. You can send snippets of recorded video straight to a friend and even invite them to watch your game, or even perhaps participate in it in some minor way (that includes singleplayer games from the sounds of it).
There are likely other big features that we will learn about at E3.

Xbox One – TV Integration

The Xbox One is clearly aimed at bringing TV and the Xbox One together. In their demo, Microsoft showed off how its next-gen system could quickly bring up TV and even change channels, all from the Xbox interface (using HDMI tech).
Even more exciting, the system could change channels through voice. Saying “Switch to MTV” would switch to MTV, for example.
Additionally, the Xbox One has “snap mode”. This makes it easy to multi-task by running more than one app at the same time. Sony’s PS4 also has some of these abilities, but the big difference is that the X-One will also bring this experience to the TV – allowing you to watch a show all while browsing the net in a snapped box on the side of your TV screen.

Backwards Compatibility

Unfortunately backwards compatibility is all-but dead with both consoles. The Xbox One won’t work with Xbox Live arcade titles or Xbox 360 content. The same pretty much goes for the PS4 in regards to the PS3.

Gaming

I don’t want to compare gaming announcements too much right now. Why? Because we really won’t see the whole picture until E3. Sony’s reveal event showed tons of exclusives and special titles.
For the Xbox One event, we were mostly shown off the console and its TV integration features. We do know games like Forza 5 will be a launch title, and the company has promised 15 Xbox One exclusives will be shown at E3.
Really, expect much of the same kinds of games as seen in the last-gen for the two consoles. So if you currently prefer PS3 exclusives – you’ll probably feel the same about the PS4. And same goes for Xbox 360 to Xbox One.

And the winner is….

Again, I’m not talking winners or losers here. Partially because Microsoft or Sony could give us extra “OMG that’s freaking awesome” features at E3 that could change everything. Second, because console preferences play a HUGE part here.
So instead of Mobile Magazine giving out a verdict, it’s up to you, the readers. Which console do you think looks better and why?

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