“Apple kicked off the week by releasing a major new beta for each one of its platforms including tvOS 9.2 beta for the new Apple TV,” Zac Hall reports for 9to5Mac. “While the software update isn’t available to everyone just yet, the pre-release software brings the 4th-gen Apple TV up to parity with older Apple TVs and even makes it work more like iPhones and iPads.”
“The new Apple TV Podcasts app works very similarly to the iOS 9 version of the same app, which is organized by unplayed episodes, subscriptions, featured podcasts, top charts, and search. Just don’t expect to find or play any video podcasts on this version of the Apple TV Podcasts app,” Hall reports. “In addition to Bluetooth keyboard support and a new Podcasts app, the new Apple TV also features an updated app switcher user interface that looks more like iOS 9 and less like iOS 8. The full screen left to right app previews have been replaced with stacked cards of right to left app previews.”
“You’ll also find folders on tvOS 9.2 beta. Just drag and drop two app icons on top of each other very similar to how iOS works,” Hall reports. “Rearranging apps can be a lot of work on the big screen, however, so tvOS includes a new menu for quickly moving apps to the Home screen and other folders when pressing the play/pause button in jiggle mode.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This is a solid beta (it’s still a beta, though) and is another important step along the way to getting the new Apple TV to the point it should have been at launch.
And for the love of God Amazon, please get off your asses and provide AppleTV users with an Amazon Prime Video app.
I’m not going to buy your stupid Fire Stick. Give it up.
dittoooooooooo….!
It would not be wise to take pride in your ignorance.
Whatever you think of Amazon as a company, you are only hurting yourself if you don’t objectively compare Amazon’s streaming offerings with Apple’s. Since it’s pretty clear you’re already an Amazon customer, I fail to see why a Fire Stick is verboten in your household.
We chose the Roku 4 and are happy we did. Maybe someday Apple will gets its act together, but for us, managing apps is not what we want to do to watch TV.
So you haven’t downloaded any apps on your Roku?
MDN knows thinks adding more developers can produce software faster. WRONG! It damages guality and tends to slow development. The only real option was to delay announcement of Apple TV which comes with many other important considerations. It really tiring to see the pride exposed by pseudo-experts.
did I read correctly, no videos in the podcast app?! #wtf #smh
I echo the above statement … No videos in the podcast app?!?!?!? WTF?????
GREAT… Now i can stop screaming about folders….. 🙂 🙂
Now lets work on organizing favorite shows and notifications of when those shows become available within user created folders . Scifi faves… Comedy Faves Series faves.. Etc
Not within each app.. But Through universal, user definable , inteligent interapp folders at the heart of TVOS .
These faveorits folders can have similiar notification alerts like ios… With a number on the folder indicating the number of notification pertaining that folder ( ie, number of new showes availible, etc )
Thanks Apple… We are getting there.. 🙂 a few more polishes here and there and we are on !
And all this is definitely coming to previous TV’s, right?…
I’ll take that as a ‘No’, then.