I'm late to the party as is usual with consoles but I finally bought an Xbox One over the weekend. I picked up one of the refurbished units with Kinect for $399 at my local Best Buy. That and the $20 Xbox Live Gold offer they have this week made it a deal I couldn't pass on. My initial thoughts:
1) Kinect is nice but I'm glad I didn't pay the full $499 for it. Voice commands are nice but I'll probably use my controller more than voice control. The gestures are a neat gimmick but I can't see myself using them much. I tried to navigate for a while with them and ended up just grabbing my controller. The integrated Skype makes me wish I had some friends, though, or at least some family out of town who use Skype. I think video chat with the Kinect would be a blast.
2) I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Xbox One works with my Logitech Harmony One remote. It will be nice having a real remote to use during Blu-ray playback instead of fighting with the Xbox controller.
3) Setting up the Xbox to control my TV and AV receiver was quick and easy. I didn't even need to dig out codes; I just entered the manufacturer and it found my receiver (Yamaha) on the second try and my TV (Samsung) on the first.
4) I guess I'll have to do some research to learn how to customize my start screen. I couldn't figure out how to move or delete tiles.
5) I encountered an odd audio issue when playing a TV show through the Vudu app (for Ultraviolet content). The audio for the show is mono, but there was a noticeable echo to it as if I were hearing it in a big hall. It turns out some audio was coming out of my rear speakers. I don't know if the Xbox was actually forcing a surround signal or if my receiver were doing it. I selected the "Straight" audio option on my receiver and restarted the show and that fixed it. I hope I don't have to do that every time.
6) I am pleasantly surprised how quiet the unit is, even during Blu-ray playback. If the room is completely silent (a rarity in my house) I can barely hear it. I couldn't use my PS3 as a BD player because it is too loud, but I can see making the One my primary BD player, and I probably will. The only noise I heard while it was installing the initial updates was a slight ticking sound coming from the power brick. Is that normal?
7) One big disappointment so far is the lack of a way to give my daughter an account on the Xbox. Apparently you must have a valid email account before you can have an account on the Xbox, and I'm not too keen on setting up an email account for my 9 year old. There should be a way to create a child's account with no online access or buying privileges like you can on the Wii U. Xbox loses in the family-friendly category.
8 ) I installed the Smart Glass app on my Windows phone in hopes of having a keyboard to use for entering text on the Xbox One, but so far I haven't figured out how.
TLDR version: Happy with it overall with a few nitpicks.