Verizon FiOS app replaces Xbox One's clunky cable TV interface
Like its Xbox 360 companion app, the FiOS app for Xbox One allows users with Verizon's cable and Internet service to stream 74 live channels.
One of the Xbox One's most celebrated features is its cable box connectivity, allowing users to switch between television and gaming with a simple Kinect voice command. However, the interface is less than stellar, looking like...well, what most antiquated cable TV interfaces look like.
But the Verizon FiOS app, launching on Xbox One Tuesday and part of massive rollout of entertainment apps announced around launch, brings those cable benefits directly to the console, clean Xbox interface and all, by streaming television over the Internet.
The app, which has been live on the Xbox 360 for some time now, is available for subscribers of both FiOS TV and Internet service. It allows for up to 74 live channels and -- because it acts just like the Netflix app -- does not require one have the FiOS cable box hooked up to the Xbox One to use.
Missing at the moment from the FiOS app is DVR functionality, which still must be accessed by switching from one's Xbox One over to the cable box and using that unfriendly TV remote.
Still, the Xbox One's entertainment offerings are now even stronger than before, and substantially ahead of the PlayStation 4 thanks to longstanding partnerships with HBO, YouTube, and other key streaming players that have existed since the days of the Xbox 360 and new partnerships with the NFL, Fox and FX.