“The ‘new’ Apple TV will be two years old this autumn,” Michael Grothaus writes for Know Your Mobile.
“When Apple first launched the device it was a bit groundbreaking. Running a variant of iOS called tvOS, the device turned your TV into something akin to an iPhone, allowing you to download apps and interact with it much like you do an iOS device,” Grothaus writes. “Also, the Siri Remote was quite groundbreaking, not because it offered voice control (lots of devices did before the new Apple TV) but because of its unique touchpad input on the remote.”
“But while Apple has added new software features to the Apple TV (dark mode, improved Siri input) there are still several software and hardware features the Apple TV is lacking that keeps it from being a truly great device,” Grothaus writes. “With WWDC coming up in less than a month, hopefully Apple will announce at least some of these software improvements in the next tvOS–and then, this autumn, the hardware improvements. Here’s what we’d like to see…”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, the Amazon Prime Video app is atop our wishlist, too, but two things Grothaus doesn’t mention are:
• The screaming need for 4K capability, and;
• A Siri Remote designed by someone who’s actually tested it before launch.Of course, it’s not news that Apple is comically confused about television. Apple TV, from its amateurishly-designed Siri Remote to its UI to its more-laughable-every-day lack of 4K is a paragon of half-assery that we’ve covered extensively.
That said, we just bought several more Apple TV devices* as we’ve now all finally cut the cord. These Apple TV devices are on the fabled “Input 1” (the cable boxes are gone) but they are used well over 90% of the time to simply run the PlayStation Vue** app which, along with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video (we used those via the apps in our Sony 4K smart TVs as they stream in 4K which Apple TV cannot handle – plus there is no Amazon app for Apple TV) and a smattering of specialized subscriptions (MLB.TV, for example), have nicely replaced cable/satellite at a greatly reduced monthly cost.
Each of our Siri Remotes have been clad in $7.88 Akwox Remote Cases (we don’t use the supplied wrist straps) which allow us to immediately tell which side is up by touch, correcting one of Apple’s many Siri Remote design flaws***.
Now that Apple’s hired Amazon’s Fire TV head to run their Apple TV business, we hope to finally see things move and improve on the Apple TV front.
*We went with Apple TV units because they work the best with all of our other Apple devices (AirPlay, Remote app on iPad and Apple Watch, etcetera).
**Worst-named, but best-featured streaming TV service currently available
***With the Siri Remote, users can’t tell which end is up in a darkened room due to uniform rectangular shape. The remote is still too small, so it gets lost easily. All buttons are the same size and similarly smooth. Only the Siri button attempts to be different, but the slightness of its concavity is too subtle to matter; a raised dot on the button would have been much easier for users to feel. The tactile difference between the bottom of the remote vs. the upper Glass Touch surface is too subtle as well; this also leads to not being able to tell which end is up. A remote with a simple wedge shape (slightly thicker in depth at the bottom vs. the top), as opposed to a uniform slab, would have instantly communicated the proper orientation to the user.SEE ALSO:
Amazon’s Video app may finally arrive for Apple TV this summer – May 5, 2017
Apple TV trails Roku, Amazon FireTV and Google Chromecast with 5% of all U.S. households with WiFi – April 3, 2017
Apple hires Amazon’s Fire TV head to run Apple TV business – February 8, 2017
‘The Grand Tour’ smashes Amazon streaming record – November 22, 2016
Jeremy Clarkson confirms new post-Top Gear Amazon Prime show will be in 4K – November 20, 2015
Apple TV and the 4K Ultra HD conundrum – October 8, 2015
Amazon unveils $100 Fire TV box 4K video support, Alexa voice control – September 17, 2015
Apple made ‘audacious bid’ for Top Gear trio of Clarkson, Hammond and May, but lost out to Bezos’ Amazon – September 1, 2015
Apple’s move into content creation could devastate Netflix and Amazon
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Why would Apple want to make their own movies and TV shows? – September 1, 2015
Apple exploring entry into original entertainment production – August 31, 2015
Top Gear’s Clarkson, Hammond and May sign with Amazon Prime for new show to debut in 2016 – July 30, 2015
Simple, allow Kodi to be installed.
“Paragon of half-assery!”
Boy, ain’t that the truth!
Siri’s voice is based off of my voice.
I know that you don’t like the Siri remote. I love it. It’s my favourite remote by far. I also have an Nvidia Shield Pro TV(For Kodi and 4k). And I find it’s the quickest most natural way to navigate. I’ve had lots of Android boxes(And all the ATV versions) and yes Siri Remote.
Of course, the ATV4 itself is amazing and none of my internet connected television devices comes close for speed, look and ease of use. Of course, Kodi on ATV4 would make me ditch the Nvidia.
I’m curious though. What don’t you like about the SIri remote?
MDN have already explained what they don’t like about the Siri Remote above. Here:
“With the Siri Remote, users can’t tell which end is up in a darkened room due to uniform rectangular shape. The remote is still too small, so it gets lost easily. All buttons are the same size and similarly smooth. Only the Siri button attempts to be different, but the slightness of its concavity is too subtle to matter; a raised dot on the button would have been much easier for users to feel. The tactile difference between the bottom of the remote vs. the upper Glass Touch surface is too subtle as well; this also leads to not being able to tell which end is up. A remote with a simple wedge shape (slightly thicker in depth at the bottom vs. the top), as opposed to a uniform slab, would have instantly communicated the proper orientation to the user.”
buy a frigging wrist band for it OMG I’m sick of hearing this. Its the best remote I’ve ever used!!!!!!!!!1
It needs a subtle texture on the back and a simple way to tell if it’s pointing forward or backward.
I shouldn’t have to look at the remote each time I pick it up to use it. Pain in the ass in the dark.
ATV4 is a mess of a product. There is no 4K or Amazon, but what we did get was a controller that is an ergonomic disaster with form not following function. A red headed stepchild of Cook and Ives.
People have left ATV to Roku. It’s not perfect, but it’s light years better than the ATV mess.
I’d still like optical audio output to connect to my oldish hifi – I’ve held off upgrading because of this and still have a V1 going strong and a V2. I know possible with hdmi splitters etc but more complicated than it needs to be. I support much of Apple’s port simplification strategy but they need to realise that many people don’t see why they should throw away perfectly good kit in the home to accommodate it. It’s not the same as eliminating the analogue audio port from an iPhone!
Apple needs to create a high quality, interactive and adaptive remote control. A stripped down version of the iPod Touch with custom software would be a nice accessory.
They also need to adopt some common sense user interface guidelines for Video apps. The UIs for the various streaming services suck as does Apple’s video app on iOS and tvOS. None are even as good as X1 on Comcast’s set top box which is not saying much.
A word to Apple and Hulu, DIRECTTV Now, Sony, You Tube, Sling, etc:
This viewer does not want to favorite networks- I want to favorite programs or maybe even genres. If I favorite Mad Men, for example, I would like all my options for watching to show up on the app- or on Apple’s TV app. I do not want to favorite a channel which may only have one show I am interested in.
Or Apple could get off their lazy butts and actually update the iPod lineup
The Apple remote sucks. It’s too small so it’s hard to hold. It’s too sensitive. My cat NEVER changed the channel before I got Apple TV. It’s too fragile with its glass touch pad. I sat on my tiny remote and bent it. It actually worked slightly better than before because now the click button isn’t as stiff as it was. Swiping on a remote is too finicky. About quarter of the gestures I make on the remote are a mistake. It’s too difficult to use. There aren’t enough buttons. It needs a mute button. You can skip forward and backward, but it’s difficult to do. It would be better with dedicated buttons. There should also be a power button. My TV doesn’t always turn on or off with HDMI-CEC if the state of the Apple TV and the TV get out of sync.
They need to add back the audio out. I used to use my older model Apple TV to play music through my sounder with the TV off. Can’t do that now.
But the biggest problem is that their vaunted TV app sucks. I can’t get content from DirecTV Now or PlayStation Vue. (I assume not Sling either.) Also, since more apps are forcing you to autoplay, the feature that keeps track of your next episode is broken. I had CBS’ app and as soon as I finished the most recent episode of a show, it would start to autoplay the very first episode of the show, thereby ensuring CBS shows stayed at the start of the list. Bad design.
Towards the goal of cutting the cord, I would love to see the ability to input an HD TV broadcast antenna, whose channels can then can simply be flipped through like we are used to. I’m sure it would be easy from there to add a DVR function to it.
For me, Apple TV was the best until I meet Rocku.
We speak two languages at home, and it is annoying that I change the language back to english in Apple TV and the next episode plays in Portuguese again. I have to change it at least for 3 episodes before the Apple TV finally understands I want to watch my TV in english and not Portuguese. That doesn’t happen in Roku, once you change the language, it just changes.
When ever I start watching a TV series, after watching a few episodes, if I interrupt the episode and get out of and try to continue watching, it goes back to the first episode I was watching and not the one I left started. That doesn’t happen in Roku.
If a season ends in apple TV, it simply stops playing, In rook it continues to the next episode of the next season.
When ever you left an episode started, you have to do a lot of clicks in order to start watching it again, in roku it is just 1 or 2 clicks.
I really hate that Roku is better experience for watching TV because it is buggy and to does not have the same picture quality as Apple TV even for 4K (1080 programs from apple tv look better than 4k programs from Roku).
Also, most of the Roku applications don’t work, I have installed like 40 and just 5 of them work.
I would really like to see apple improve the user’s experience like Roku with out roku’s issues.
7. Banish Pipeline Timmy to El Riyadh.
There is nothing Apple can do to improve its current Apple TV model. If Apple had a decisive CEO and actually wanted to make progress in video distribution, it could:
1) Fire Cue and replace with an innovative consumer-focused media expert.
2) Buy Roku for hardware expertise. (Keep Ive far far far away from it!!!) Allow independent Roku team to keep innovating full range of hardware with constant improvements.
3) Partner with media providers to provide mini-bundle promotions, easy season subscriptions, a la carte bundles, and better live sports and live news coverage. Offer local content wherever possible for free.
4) Drop the current model Apple TV, slash the price of it to get rid of old stock.
5) 4K or better in every unit, full hifi audio options in every unit
6) advertise to specifically show how the Apple Roku box is better than the competition.
7) Make the Apple Remote software for iOS devices better and updated and user-customizable