The final Kinect hardware arrived at my front door this morning. I’ve been playing with preview hardware for the past half year – and working on a book on programming it as various versions of the SDK were dropped on a private list – but this did not dampen my excitement over seeing the final product.
The sensor itself looks pretty much the same as the the preview hardware – and as far as I know the internal components are identical. The cosmetic differences include an embossed metal “Kinect” on the top of the sensor and the absence of the razzmatazz stickers – which I believe were simply meant to cover up Xbox One branding.
Besides allowing you to admire my beige shag carpet, the photo above illustrates the major difference between the preview hardware and the final hardware. It’s all about the adapters. At the top of the picture are the older USB and power adapters, while below them are the new, sleek, lightweight versions of the same. I’ve been carrying around that heavy Xbox power adapter for months, from hotel room to hotel room, in order to spend my evenings away from home working on Kinect code. Naturally, I was often stopped by TSA and am happy that will not be happening any more.