Xbox One Features

The Xbox One, in combination with Kinect 2, is designed to be a centric hub for the living room with integrated gaming, TV, internet and movie services all in one place.

Kinect 2

The Xbox One, unlike the Xbox 360, requires Kinect to function. This makes it likely that the console will ship with Kinect 2 as standard.
Kinect seems to be deeply integrated into the systems of the Xbox One, and allows users to browse using voice and gesture commands through the Xbox One User Interface.
Examples of the Kinect 2 in action include saying 'Xbox: On' to activate the system. The console will then remember what the user was doing previously and return them immediately to that screen.
Harvey Eagle, Microsoft's UK Marketing Director, was quizzed about the Kinect 2 integration by IGN.
"Kinect does require to be connected to Xbox One in all cases, yes," he said. Asked whether the Xbox One will accommodate people who perhaps play in their bedroom rather than their living room, Eagle replied: "Yes, absolutely. We use the living room almost as a moniker - that's where we assume the best screen is in the house. But if you like to play in any other room in the house, the Xbox one will deliver the same quality of experience whatever the environment."
Kinect 2 will feature an integrated 1080p camera, 30FPS colour, Time of Flight (TOF) technology and microphone arrays. It is said to be able to detect even the slightest of movements, such as the rotation of a wrist or shoulder.

Gamerscore Porting

Achievement hunters rejoice! Microsoft has confirmed that users will be able to port across their Gamertag, Gamerscore and your Avatar will port from the Xbox 360 directly to the Xbox One.
Harvey Eagle, head of Microsoft's UK Marketing division, said:
"Your hard-earned Gamerscore will port over, so yes you'll take that with you.
"You'll also take your Gamertag, your identity, with you. Whilst we're making a much bigger bet on natural identity with the camera, Avatars will also feature as well. All of the gaming identity that you have on Xbox 360 will be there on Xbox One as well."

Backward Compatibility

Unfortunately the Xbox One will not be able to play Xbox 360 games, including Xbox Live purchases.
It is rumoured to charge a fee for users to play used games on the system, although clarification on this remains to be given.

Evolving Achievements

Since Xbox One will be cloud-powered, Microsoft has stated that it gives developers the potential to modify both the game experience and the way in which achievements work 'over time.'
They cited the highly popular 'Arrow to the Knee' meme from Skyrim as an example - if this technology was in the Xbox 360, Skyrim's game developers could have went back in and changed the achievements or game to reflect this joke.
More on this feature is available in IGN's article on Evolving Achievements.

Xbox One Controller

The redesigned Xbox One controller features similar layout to the Xbox 360 controller, with the Y, X, B and A buttons, triggers, analogue stick placement and dpad in similar positions
It also includes two buttons in the centre which may or may not be the Start/Back buttons or something different.
The Xbox 'X' logo is also present at the top of the controller and should function in a similar way to how it did on the Xbox 360.

Rumored Features

The features described below were rumoured features in the build-up towards the reveal of Xbox One.

Always On

In the build-up towards the reveal of Xbox One there were rumours circulating around the net that the next generation Microsoft console would require a constant internet connection to switch on, and wouldn't function without it.
These rumours have been debunked by Harvey Eagle, who's head of Microsoft's UK Marketing Division. He said:
"The answer to that question is no, you do not require an always on connection to use Xbox One. It is clearly designed to be connected to the internet, and hopefully from what you've just seen you realise some of the benefits that brings. But if your internet connection drops, you will still be able to play games, still be able to watch Blu-Ray movies and still be able to watch live TV."

Kinect

Based off of rumors from Kotaku, the Xbox One will come shipped with an updated Kinect. This Kinect will be required to be on when using the console.[1]
The Kinect has also been upgraded to now be able to recognize 6 people instead of 2, and can find 25 points on each skeleton unlike the 20 points that the current Kinect can identify.

Multi-Tasking

The new Xbox is also reportedly going to feature the ability to multi-task. Unlike current consoles, you will be able to pause one game, hop over to the dashboard, an app, or another game, and then be able to flip back to the first game without any progress being lost. This is nothing new for PC gamers or handheld gamers, but it is an advancement for consoles.[2]

Game Install

Reports also show that games will be required to be installed on the new console. Each unit will supposedly come with a 500 GB hard drive. While games do require an install, they are rumored to have the ability to install while you play them, so there will be no need for a lengthy wait time after you have bought the game to start playing it.[3]

Anti-Used Games?

Sources told Kotaku on January 25, 2012 that the Xbox One will have a system that will not allow used-games to be played on the console. [4]

While this claim hasn't yet been corroborated, more rumors surfaced on April 2, 2012 that the next Xbox console will need to be fed off a constant internet connection, which might be one way Microsoft plans to combat used and pirated games. [5]

Optical Drive

In March 2012, British trade magazine MCV stated that Microsoft's next Xbox will not use an optical drive. Instead, a solid state drive will be used to store games. [6]