From its humble beginnings the Xbox 360 dashboard has be upgraded and enhanced many, many times. Now it is time once again for another update, though this one isn’t as earthshattering as some of the updates in the past. However, this update is adding quite a few features, and is setting the groundwork for future updates as well.
The UI has been updated to include more tiles, like a TV & Movie channel and a sports channel. If you had WebTV you’ll be getting a blast from the past as Internet Explorer for Xbox has been added to Xbox Live in this update as well. Searching has also been improved, and now your 360 can give you recommendations on different games and videos, and if you find a new video or app that you really like you can now pin it to your dashboard.
If you’re looking forward to SmartGlass, which will allow you use certain tablets, PCs, and smartphones as a sort of extra controller or screen, you’ll have to wait until October 26th. That’s the date that Windows 8 is being released, which has SmartGlass functionality built right in to the OS. If you haven’t received the update yet, don’t panic: Microsoft has said that they’re rolling it out region-by-region in the coming days, so I would guess that everybody would have it by the end of the week.