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Here's what's coming in the next feature update, version 1705, for Xbox One

Microsoft today announced the next feature update for the Xbox One, which builds on top of this month's version 1704. In fact, some of the new features that are being announced today were originally planned for 1704, but they didn't make it into the final build.

First of all, there's a new Party overlay tool, which "will tell you who's speaking in your Party, without having to open the Guide." You'll be able to choose where on the screen the overlay is placed, and set its transparency. It won't show up at all unless someone is talking, and you'll be able to see the Gamertag of the person speaking.

There are a number of other fan-requested features as well, and as noted above, some of these were originally announced last month:

  • Share your Looking for Group post on the Activity Feed or through a message.

  • Unfollow a Club or Game Hub directly from your Activity Feed.

  • Your profile will display your Arena tournament history and upcoming tournaments.

  • For Beam and Twitch broadcasts, you will now have an option in the Guide for your Kinect to locate you automatically.

  • Captive Portal support for wireless internet is coming to Xbox One, which allows for Wi-Fi authentication through a browser. Great for colleges, hotels, or public Wi-Fi locations.

  • Filter posts on your Activity Feed on the Xbox app for iOS and Android.

  • On the Xbox app for Windows 10, we’re adding the option to select the audio input and output sources for Party chat.

Finally, Microsoft announced that Killer Instinct on Arena will be back later on this month for "select" Xbox Insiders, along with the World of Tanks tournaments that were originally promised. You'll be able to play in official tournaments, as well as user-generated ones in various Clubs. Tournaments will be able to be created through the Xbox (beta) app, and can be joined via Xbox or PC.

The company says that as the Arena feature grows, there will be other tournaments from games such as Halo Wars 2 and Smite.

This update will be version 1705, which means that it's scheduled to be finalized sometime next month. In fact, that makes it the third feature update in as many months. The first 1705 build will be rolling out to the Preview Alpha ring of the Xbox Insider Program tonight at 6pm ET.

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