I don't mind the name "Xbox One." It's fine. Plain, but I think that's the point. It's meant to gets out of the way. You're not supposed to think about it. "Want to play Xbox?" It's like back in the day when people said, "Want to play Nintendo?" No one is getting Xbox One confused with the original Xbox because Microsoft dumped it like eight years ago. They're not going from Xbox directly to Xbox One. I know this sounds like a double standard, but this is nothing like Wii U. The problem with the name "Wii U" is that the Blue Ocean people, presumably the entire reason Nintendo stuck to the Wii name, didn't and probably still don't know what a Wii U is because they were conditioned not to. Besides Live, Microsoft generally doesn't call things Xbox-
something like Nintendo did with Wii (e.g. Sports, Play, Fit etc). Really, Nintendo should just call their next console "Nintendo."
The box itself is also plain. It's a rectangle. The end. If I have to nitpick: the glossy finish is lame. It doesn't look like a 360. Not that the 360 looked bad, but Microsoft is doing themselves a favor by avoiding that mess.
Ultimately, I don't see myself getting an Xbox One ever. It looks fancy, but I just don't play video games frequently enough for it to be worth the money. It just made sense to buy a Wii U because it's the only home console that Nintendo makes games for. I'd gladly buy third party games if they were available, but I'm not giving up Nintendo first party games. No matter what Sony and Microsoft release, what deals they make with third parties, Nintendo consoles will always have more exclusive content that I want.
No, it does not have to be always connected, but Xbox One does require a connection to the Internet.