The Glade 4.0

My launch 360 finally died. I'm not desperate, but I will probably replace it with an Xbox One in the near future.

I'm not entirely sure what value the Kinect provides? Is it something I should pay extra for? I have no interest in the handwavy (or voice) navigation stuff (assuming I can do the same stuff with a remote or controller).

Can the XBox One be controlled by 3rd party remote (i.e. Logitech Harmony, etc...)?

Then you don't need it. The Kinect only provides aural and motion control; if you have zero use then you have zero use. It's neat occasionally though.

No.

Which is one of the reasons I find the Kinect voice control so beneficial. It's not perfect (and it's just barely laggy enough in its responsiveness to nix using voice commands to fast forward commercials on my DVR), but it's well beyond "good enough" to handle app switching, Netflix navigation, very basic DVR control ("Pause/play" when I'm running to the kitchen to grab a drink refill, etc.), and so on. And using voice means I don't have to grab a controller to turn it on/off, which earns it most of a pass on its lack of Harmony compatibility.

My one remaining gripe is the BluRay app, which doesn't have any voice menu navigation and can't be piped through the Harmony, thus requiring an X-Box controller to start the vast majority of discs (namely, all except those rare few that auto-play).

It should be noted that you can have your X-Box use HDMI pass-through control to turn on your cable/satellite box and TV, though, so if you have a very basic home theater setup (no receiver, no other game consoles or set-top boxes, so no input switching and so on), you can do away with a 3rd party universal remote for basic tasks like volume control and power.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Short answer: No.

Long answer:

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"...the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn