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Microsoft Kinect Unboxing

This is the box the Kinect Sensor comes in. It's a little smaller than I expected, and Microsoft is very careful to call it "Kinect Sensor," rather than just Kinect.
By David Gewirtz, Senior Contributing Editor
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1 of 18 David Gewirtz/ZDNET

This is the box the Kinect Sensor comes in. It's a little smaller than I expected, and Microsoft is very careful to call it "Kinect Sensor," rather than just Kinect.

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2 of 18 David Gewirtz/ZDNET

The back of the box shows some very happy people. My initial testing shows that the sensor won't actually work in a room the size depicted on the box. Instead, you need a much larger space.

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Here's a zoom-in on the "how much space you need" image from the box back. Six feet won't cut it. In reality, you probably need a space at least about 12 feet by 8 feet, if not more.

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4 of 18 David Gewirtz/ZDNET

The anticipation builds. There's the seal. Pretty soon, we'll cut it open and dive inside.

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Here's the first view inside the box. The Kinect device itself is surprisingly elegant looking.

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A closer look inside the box. The area in front with the labels will be removed first (gently). It contains two sets of wires.

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So here we have the Kinect out of the box for the first time. It's a pretty robust unit, heavy enough to stay comfortably on whatever surface you put it on.

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Here you can see the wire bundle, which is a power cord and a USB cable, connected together. The USB cable has a pretty good run, about 8 feet.

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This is a close-up of the cable set. The plug is a thin-line, so it'll fit in most power strips.

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This is the device itself. It's a very well-made unit, at least in terms of feel, fit, and finish. It's not Apple-seamless, but it's definitely got a good feel to it.

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Here are side vents. I'm guessing they're for sound input, but it is interesting that they face the rear of the sensor.
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The back of the sensor is minimal, but elegant. One thing to note: this thing attracts dust instantly.

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Once the sensor and wiring harness has been removed, you're left with the packing materials. You're not done, because there are goodies hiding below

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There's a small cable and a stack of documents, manual, warranty, etc.

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If you take off the document stack, you'll see the Kinect Adventures game, which isn't half-bad. We had some fun with it, but it does involve jumping. Your gallery author does not jump. Ever.

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Here's another view of the supporting materials.

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This is a (slightly out-of-focus) close-up ont he little cable. It's a USB jumper cable. Not sure when this will be used. It wasn't necessary when plugging into the original XBox model.

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Here's everything that comes in the box. Oooh. Aaaaah

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