“The new Apple TV is here, and there’s no doubt it’s the best set-top box we’ve seen from Cupertino, with powerful new hardware and the tvOS operating system, Siri integration — and most importantly, support for third-party apps and games,” Killian Bell writes for Cult of Mac.
“If you’re into movies and TV shows, or playing the greatest iOS games on your big screen, the new Apple TV is probably at the top of your wish-list if you haven’t already bought one,” Bell writes. “But how does it compare to the other products Apple has launched this year? Is it better than the rest?”
Luke Dormehl (Writer, Cult of Mac): So Apple TV went on preorder this week, and am I totally crazy in thinking that this is the most exciting thing that Apple has announced all year?
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Watch first and foremost (announced in 2014, released this year). Also, we’re more impressed with iPad Pro, but it depends on your perspective, of course. We can easily see how Apple TV might make the top of some people’s lists.
What’s your most exciting Apple product release of the year?
(Alright now, TGIF! Somebody tap that keg, quick!)
New AppleTV hands-down. Bought it at Apple Corte Madera store this morning (I was the first of two in line, ha). Setup slick with iPhone 6. Kids home from school with friends; we watched “Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”, and all having a blast with Siri.
tv4 rocks! What a great improvement..the remote is really hair-trigger.
Isn’t that Bluetooth setup the coolest damn thing? Just stick your iPhone on top of the AppleTV and you’re pretty much done!
——RM
And thank you ABC for the free movie 😊
I’m bummed because even though pre-ordered on Monday, mine hasn’t shipped yet. Still says it is being processed for delivery. 🙁
Chances are if you have an Apple Store nearby it’d be in your hands already. I had to cancel my online order too for an iPhone 6 Plus last year when I walked in and the store I was in unexpectedly had them. Lessee, I coulda waited another week or two for the same phone via delivery or picked it up that moment. Took the path of least resistance and instant gratification. Happy ever since, even though I had to replace the lens on it.
Mine just shipped last night won’t have it till Tuesday.
This is the first time I can remember ordering on line with pre order and not have it shipped to arrive for first sales day.
Also I ordered with Apple Care + and the email I got for that states Apple care 2 year starts on October 31st even though I won’t have it till Nov. 4th and it ends on October 29th 2017. Apples customer focus just keeps on slipping in this new Tim Cook era.
That Apple Care deal was the same thing I noticed when I recently ordered the iPhone. It goes into effect when it ships rather than when you actually take possession. That’s because as soon as it leaves Apple’s hands for transit it officially becomes yours. So it makes sense that they start the protection coverage on ship date.
I can almost live with that but what does it end on the 29th and not the 30th. You know the old if you trim 1 day it only 1 day but 1 day from a Million users and you are stealing 2,739 years of service from your customers.
I guess Apple is just “wetting its beak”. Call the DOJ.
I decided to go to Best Buy on Saturday. Worked out great: They got their shipment late on Friday so they weren’t on the floor yet. Just had to wait for the guy to go fetch one.
——RM
“The new Apple TV is here, and there’s no doubt it’s the best set-top box we’ve seen from Cupertino”
That’s a load of avoidance if I ever saw one.
It’s not much difference than saying it’s the best STB we’ve seen in the last 5 minutes, it only costs 199 in currency.
Latest update, UPS misrouted my shipment, delaying delivery 3 days. Should have arrived today, but now it’s more like Tuesday. I bet these guys are just throwing them around, at the warehouse.
No way! It was the free U2 album! yeay!! $@#$#!$@!$#$@$!!!!
HEEEEEY!!!!! STOP THROWING SHOES AT ME!! I WAS JOKING!!!
Whoops! Wasn’t going to buy one right away but strolled into my Northridge Apple store and there they were so I picked one up. The Mac girl said I was lucky they still had some 64Gb models. That would seem to me it’s the most popular.
Yep – don’t want the watch, the will probably get an iPhone6 through Verizon for nothing. My old iPad mini works fine(hence the drop in iPad sales – they got legs).
Apple TV has been at the top of my list for a long while, and was waiting for this one. Xmas present to family? Done.
I really does make a simple Christmas gift. One for each household, and done!
If you really think you’re getting a phone for free, that explains a bit about why you don’t get how big the watch is.
I prefer to look at it holistically. 2015 did great things for my Apple ecosystem. I love my new iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac accessories, MacBook, and am looking forward to getting my Apple TV and iPad Pro. I can’t quite pick a favorite yet because two big ones aren’t even out yet.
But f I had to choose one, I would say the Watch, simply because this was an entirely new category, and unlike everything else I mentioned, was the first generation product that did not replace something similar I already had from Apple.
Coolest feature I have found!
It can learn whatever audio device you use for sound and let you control the volume from the Apple TV remote. I have a soundbar and it picked it up so easily. That’s one less remote to deal with!!!
Straight-up, the Comcast X1 rules. Got it 2 weeks ago and literally haven’t used ATV in all that time. I’d thought I’d buy this new puck but am holding off now.
Hate to sound troll-y, but y’all the X1 is the real deal.
I’m pretty impressed with the X1 as well. I’ve had mine for a couple of years now and as much as I like it, the Apple TV is still a very welcomed addition. By the way, Comcast is still giving old remotes out with the X1 box, make sure to get the backlit one with voice commands. Also, the iOS apps for it really make it shine.
My Apple TV 4 arrived this afternoon – was so excited.
But sadly some of that excitement has now waned. The Remote App on both my iPhone and Apple Watch now no longer work with the new Apple TV. Instead, we have to use the ‘hunt and peck’ (older) method on the new remote to enter user names, passwords,etc into Apple TV 4. Does anyone else have a problem with this? Are we going backwards? Will Apple address this issue?
Apple have released a new product with slower data entry for those with the Remote App. I can’t see the sense in this.
Hopefully an over site and they’ll push out an update.
Not only that, but AppleTV 4 no longer supports Bluetooth keyboards.
My guess: With the new TV and the new iPad Pro, added like whipped cream and a cherry on top of the ice cream of the Watch, this apparently makes the coke and meth addicts of Wallnut Street happy enough to allow AAPL to creep up to a more sane price. This situation keeps reminding me of how spoiled children behave.
‘Daddy didn’t bring me a nice enough toy, so I’m going to throw a tantrum. But now, oh goody gumdrops, daddy tossed in two more niffy kewl new toys. I like him again.’
Stupid spoiled first world behavior problems.
There’s been a lot out of Apple this year: iPad Pro, new iPad Mini, Apple Pen, iPhone 6s, Apple TV4, and was it really this year that the Apple Watch was released? I didn’t buy the first three I listed but I did the last three. I do believe at this moment I would rate the iPhone 6s as the best product this year because a) it took LEAPS ahead of where phones were just a year before it and b) the Apple Watch still requires the phone though not as much prior to Watch OS2. The Apple Watch runs a close second and, frankly, in the future, I can see myself considering the phone and watch as a single, symbiotic unit as the sum of the two is far greater than simply adding the two together. The TV took a HUGE leap forward with Siri and the App Store but today (release day?) the App Store is still rather bare – not even boasting some of the apps that are available for iOS and some that I believe were available on the previous generation such as SyfyNow, CW and one other that escapes me now. The elusive Apple cable over the Internet is the centerpiece on the Apple TV table that is the missing elephant not in the room. It would bring it all together. I believe the tv has the most potential – both in customer satisfaction and in revenues for Apple, but it’s too early for anyone to say this device fulfills all of my entertainment – gaming and video – desires. Oh, the tv is missing the Apple apps for their events and podcasts even. So there is still a maturation period going on. Lastly, based on my limited experience from the previous 24 hours, there is one thing about the Apple TV that breaks the ecosystem – the remote apps on both the iPhone and Apple Watch do NOT work with the Apple TV4. That is a HUGE disappointment that I hope Apple will quickly rectify. One last step backward is the ability to use the phone or iPad to type when searching or entering text such as user IDs and passwords on the Apple TV. These are all things that I believe Apple will take care of in due time but they, in the meantime at least, stand as evidence that the Apple TV is by no means the most significant product of the year for Apple as it stands. There’s great potential I believe users of previous generations of the Apple TV will be initially disappointed. Having said that, the user interface and its consistency across apps is a great improvement though I see room for improvement in that even as I navigate through the settings menus.
tltr
iPad Pro is the best for this year.
I was disappointed that ATV lost the audio optical out connector.
I repeat the proposal that any journalist who uses the incredibly over-used word “exciting” in a product-related article be banned from publishing for one year.
No, its not even close to the best device. Why? Where I live it is now three times the price of its predecessor. It is also unable to work with Aperture according to Apple sales. The first is naked greed from Apple, the second is a deal breaker for me, all by itself. There are any number of non Apple devices that will do pretty much all the music and movies I need. The ATV killer application for me was its ability to randomly stream all of my photos from Aperture onto a big screen. But hey, first Apple removed the ability to randomly stream photos (without ever announcing it either, it just disappeared), then it dropped support for millions of Aperture user without providing a decent replacement. Go fuck yourself Apple, you greedy corporation without any social conscience or regard to loyal customers.