Hands On: Apple TV 2015 with tvOS apps, Remote featuring touch, motion & Siri

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited October 2015
Apple has been selling its Apple TV as long as iPhone, but the set top box has neither sold in similar quantities nor earned even a significant fraction as much money for the company. While neither of those facts are likely to change, the new 2015 Apple TV is poised to radically change the TV and game console industries.

Apple TV finally catches up to IOS with tvOS 9

The original Apple TV was actually a stripped down Macintosh, but starting five years ago in 2010, the company released a second generation Apple TV based on iOS. It was much cheaper due to having less internal storage and the same A4 processing power of the original iPad.

While using the same basic software platform of iPhones, iPod touch and the then-new iPad, Apple TV retained a very different user interface, with no real support for apps outside of the app-like channels that Apple included.

The new Apple TV changes all of that: while now branded "tvOS," the software and interface of new product is now much closer aligned to other iOS products, with a Home button that returns the user to a launch screen of apps, including support for an official App Store with third party titles.

In introducing the new software, Craig Federighi noted that tvOS is almost entirely based on iOS, with minor changes to accommodate optimizing the interface for HDTV display.

Users can buy and install apps, switch between them and terminate running apps largely the same way they'd do those tasks on an iPhone or iPad. There are, however, some significant differences between iOS and the new tvOS, necessitated by the fact that TVs are installed across the room rather than being a display users directly manipulate via touch.

Apple TV gets a sophisticated remote

Navigation on the new Apple TV involves a new remote. The existing Apple TV's remote with 4-way directional buttons, Select and Menu is being replaced with an entirely new remote featuring a touchpad area, a button to invoke Siri voice commands, a new Home button, Menu button, and volume buttons to directly control the TV (eliminating the need to go back and forth between the TV remote and the Apple TV remote).



The new remote's trackpad works similar to the iOS (or Apple Watch) Remote app for Apple TV, with swipe and tap gestures to change the selected focus on the screen. Because you're not directly touching icons on the TV, this results in a navigation model similar to VoiceOver, where you navigate by touch before explicitly selecting a target. The difference is that Apple TV users get their navigation feedback on the TV screen rather than audibly.

In addition to swipe and tap gestures similar to the Remote App (both of which are used to navigate through lists and move the focus target around the screen), the new Apple TV remote also incorporates a new "click" gesture used to act on the item in focus, or when clicked and held, may be used to edit the selected element.

The touchpad behavior might sound closer to a PC desktop than an iOS multitouch display, but it's actually closer to being somewhere in the middle. That's because (as with other iOS devices) there's no mouse pointer on Apple TV. Various attempts to turn the TV into a PC or web browser have demonstrated clearly that the mouse user interface simply doesn't work well (or at least efficiently) on TVs positioned across the room. The remote incorporates dual microphones with beam forming for accurate voice capture without needing to hold the device to your face to talk

Instead, Apple TV retains its basic interface layout involving relatively large targets that are selected with swipes and directional taps on the remote touchpad.

In addition, the new Apple TV remote also adds familiar Siri commands, both for general queries and for navigation during video playback and help in finding content within apps. Siri only begins listening when you press the dedicated Siri button, so it won't pick up random commands or constantly listen in the background.

The remote also incorporates dual microphones with beam forming for accurate voice capture without needing to hold the device to your face to talk; you can talk to Siri naturally with the remote in your hand while sitting with your arms relaxed at your sides. It appeared to work well even in the somewhat noisy environment of the demo rooms.





Additionally, the new remote incorporates accelerometer and gyroscope motion controls for use in games, enabling Wii-like interaction similar to the motion-based games on iOS. In addition to using the bundled Apple TV remote in vertical or horizontal orientation for gaming, Apple TV also supports third party MFi Bluetooth game controllers that typically look and work like conventional console controllers.



The new remote, similar to Apple Pencil, uses a Lightning connector for charging its internal battery. The port is also used to connect a wrist strap to avoid inadvertently throwing the motion controller during use.

Additionally, by using wireless Bluetooth rather than the direct beam IR in previous Apple TV remotes, the new model won't require pointing the remote at the set top box to control it. That also means the box can be hidden away in a desk or behind the TV.

The Apple TV box itself is now about a third taller with the same footprint, likely necessitated by its 802.11ac WiFi antennas. However, its use of much faster and more robust wireless networking technology should make it far more responsive in streaming both Internet content and audio and video from other Macs or iOS devices via AirPlay, even when communicating wirelessly over longer distances. The device also still includes a wired Ethernet port.

The device continues to use standard HDMI for both audio and video, now eliminating the former optical digital audio port. It now incorporates a USB type C connector for developer testing and supports the enhanced HDMI 1.4 protocol, which defines support for Ethernet networking over HDMI (potentially simplifying wiring in campus installations) and supports 3D signaling. It's not clear if Apple will actually support 3D-TV output from the new Apple TV, but 1.4 does suggest that as a possibility, even if only in a future update.



The new box also packs much more processing and graphics power (via Apple's A8 chip) and provides more storage in order to run more sophisticated apps and games. The new Apple TV is priced at $149 for a 32-gigabyte capacity, while a 64-gigabyte model will run $199. It launches in 80 countries in October, and will be available in over 100 countries by the end of the year.

Apple TV gets into gaming

Apple once had a reputation for being disinterested in gaming and unsupportive of game developers. That changed radically with the introduction of the App Store for iOS, because gaming apps quickly became many of the most popular titles among buyers and often the most lucrative for developers. The killer app for iPod touch quickly shifted from media playback to gaming, and Apple rapidly began improving its support for game development.

More recently, that effort has shifted into high gear with the introduction of development tools specifically targeting games, including Game Center, SceneKit, SpriteKit and Metal, and now in iOS 9, GameplayKit, ReplayKit and Model I/O.

On iOS, the initial scoffing at early iPhone games by fans of the Nintendo DS and Sony's Playstation Portable was quickly reversed as cheap, fun iOS games grew in sophistication in tandem with Apple's annual hardware refreshes that regularly leapt forward in CPU and GPU power. Within just a few years, iOS devices surpassed the processing power of existing dedicated handheld games while eroding away the demand for new generations of devices that only played relatively expensive games.

That same history is likely to repeat as today's Apple TV delivers 1080p HD gameplay similar to the previous generation of consoles, but at a much lower price. Interest in dedicated gaming consoles has already begun to wane as users have grown increasingly distracted with their smartphones and iPads. While initially far less sophisticated than dedicated console games, iOS game titles have rapidly improved into console territory, and continue to gain from the regular jumps in CPU and GPU power of Apple's custom A-series Application Processors.

By leveraging its existing App Store to create a large library of low cost, fun HDTV-oriented games that can integrate with iOS games (and selling both in a universal package), Apple is very likely to have a major impact on console gaming in a way that Amazon, Google and other Android licenses have all failed to have so far.By leveraging its existing App Store to create a large library of low cost, fun HDTV-oriented games that can integrate with iOS games (and selling both in a universal package), Apple is very likely to have a major impact on console gaming

The business model of building relatively expensive game consoles (at $400-600) that are sold for around five years, rarely making a profit but supported by the licensing of quite expensive game titles ($50-80) is likely to implode when exposed to Apple's model of selling a $150-200 device you can replace with a much faster model in two years, while enjoying low cost iOS-style titles from a much wider variety of large and small developers, most of which will likely be sold to work across iOS devices as well as Apple TV, and likely also support gameplay moving from Apple TV to mobile devices.

That's particularly the case when you realize that Apple doesn't have to make significant revenues from Apple TV hardware or tvOS games just to support development of its custom chips and game development tools, because the cost of developing iOS dev tools and A8 processors has already been paid for by mass volume sales of iPhones and iPads. Apple has hundreds of billions of dollars left over.

Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will all have to pay for new chip development in the future, and don't have a massively profitable mobile business to subsidize their gaming operations. When Apple wants to double the processing power of its next Apple TV, it can switch to the A9 paid for by this year's iPhone 6s. That's likely to happen around the time that 4K TV displays begin taking off among consumers, and 4K TV content starts to become available in significant volumes.

That gives Apple a lot of room for growth, which appears likely come directly at the expense of more expensive, monolithic console games like Xbox and Playstation. As consoles get squeezed, higher-end gamers are likely to jump to full PC games (and Apple is also working to make its own Macs more relevant in that market, as well).

Meanwhile, the current crop of games playable on Apple TV are not just basic smartphone titles of the sort that have repeatedly flopped in Android-land (Zeebo, GameStick, Ouya, MOJO, Amazon Fire TV, GamePOP, Nexus Player and other Android TV devices).





The new Apple TV packs more processing power than an iPad Air, but runs at a much lower HDTV resolution (1080p HDTV involves 2M pixels versus a Retina iPad's 3.1M, and Apple TV games can trade off screen resolution to further increase drawing performance). The result is a library of games ranging from console-style first person shooters to iPad-style puzzle games and 2D scrolling adventures.

Apple TV goes beyond gaming with TV apps

So far, previous generation Apple TV "apps" have all been audio and video content channels (HBO NOW, WatchESPN, Netflix, Hulu, iTunes and similar channels). With tvOS, apps can be as varied and creative as the existing libraries of iPhone and iPad App Store titles.

Apple demonstrated a few of these apps, most of which involved shopping (Airbnb, Gilt and Zillow). It's notable that all three are both websites and iOS apps, and their app is much superior to the web experience. Apple TV is essentially "App TV," the obvious thing needed to bring web-like content to TV without dragging along all of the PC baggage of 1990s web browsing that so many Web TV-like efforts (including Microsoft TV and Google TV) completely failed to deliver in a usable form.

In addition to standard App Store style apps and games, Apple TV was also demonstrated with sophisticated TV apps with Siri-enhanced video playback controls and, in one example, sports broadcasts embellished with interactive stats and multiple stream playback. In person, these new TV apps look poised to revolutionize how we think about TV.

Apple TV takes on existing "smart TVs"

The new Apple TV, much like the new iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, involve technologies that have already been introduced by competitors.

Primary differences are the fact that Apple has embellished and refined the core of many of these earlier attempts (similar to the way Apple introduced Touch ID and Apple Pay years after competitors threw out their own half-finished, poorly thought-out, not really functional and technically inferior versions of fingerprint scanners and NFC payment systems), and that Apple is attaching these technologies to its unique and extremely strong App Store ecosystem, woven together with Continuity, AirPlay, Game Center and development tools that span from the Mac to iPhone to iPad to Apple Watch and now TV.



Apple TV also promises to deliver compelling solutions for education and the enterprise, both of which have already broadly begun adoption of the more primitive, existing Apple TV for use as a AirPlay screen and to deliver basic content. IBM and Cisco will have all sorts of options for bringing enterprise apps to Apple TV in office meetings and campus learning environments.

From our initial interactions with Apple TV, it appears that the company has finally delivered on the initial premise of upgrading HDTV into the iOS era, with a smooth, attractive interface that's effortless to navigate. More testing of its motion control and Siri features, as well as a critical comparison with existing TV boxes from Amazon, Roku, and other vendors, will follow when we can get our hands on a unit for more in-depth testing.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 147
    I have a very large iTunes library. How does the new Apple TV handle a local library? Will Siri search it? What does the interface to the local library look like? Thanks!
  • Reply 2 of 147
    Is it just me or does anyone else find it cumbersome that you have to plug the remote in using a thunderbolt cable? Couldn't hey have created a stand for it to recharge or even better, have it recharge wirelessly somehow just by placing it on a recharging pad?
  • Reply 3 of 147
    I second the question from camarobh ^ about how it handles the iTunes library?

    Also, can it be confirmed that it will finally work with bluetooth headphones?
  • Reply 4 of 147
    I 2nd the question from camarobh about how it handles the local library and whether there is Siri support?

    Can it be confirmed that it will finally work with bluetooth headphones?
  • Reply 5 of 147

    Can it be confirmed that the new Apple TV will work with bluetooth headphones?

  • Reply 6 of 147
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by camarobh View Post



    I have a very large iTunes library. How does the new Apple TV handle a local library? Will Siri search it? What does the interface to the local library look like? Thanks!



    Very interested to hear the answer to this from a hands-on reviewer. I assume AI got a developer set. The tvOS toolkit was released same day, and they said dev could get the HW too.

  • Reply 7 of 147
    This is a hands on review without more than a basic slide across the remote at the demo right?

    Looks like a good analysis summary, but no hands on really.
  • Reply 8 of 147
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by camarobh View Post



    I have a very large iTunes library. How does the new Apple TV handle a local library? Will Siri search it? What does the interface to the local library look like? Thanks!



    I was initially positive about Siri on ATV4 at Apple's event, but after it was over, I had these exact questions. I'm far more interested in searching local content than any of the demoed services (iTunes store, Netflix, etc.)

  • Reply 9 of 147
    Yeah, your console analysis is completely wrong. Particularly because you look at 2005-2012 as if it were the only example to follow.

    The PS4 and One are not the PS3 and 360. They're built on economical hardware and are rather inexpensive to make. Also, games aren't $80 unless its some special edition or has something included. You also fail to recognize that the 3DS continues to sell quite well; over 50 million units in under five years. Is that less than the original DS? Yes, but iPad sales keep dropping every quarter, and the people here don't consider it to be a failure...so why would a handheld console that has increasing sales be one?

    Most other people saw the gaming aspect of AppleTV for what it was; a small addon that Apple really didn't put too much effort into. They didn't even mention MFI controller support in the keynote. That means it's the same situation as Kinect; devs don't make games targeted for hardware that the majority of the userbase doesn't have, and since there are no included controllers, it's a nonstarter.

    And it's cute you think iOS games are on the same level as the high end console titles. They're not. The App Store has led to an unsustainable race to the bottom on pricing, meaning games either have endless IAP's or they're ad supported, and they're generally made on small budgets.

    So no, the gaming market isn't in danger at all. It's a market that so many don't understand, yet insist on making predictions about it. The stuff here commonly posted on AI makes Michael Pachter seem intelligent...
  • Reply 10 of 147
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by camarobh View Post



    I have a very large iTunes library. How does the new Apple TV handle a local library? Will Siri search it? What does the interface to the local library look like? Thanks!



    The interface is similar to iTunes 12.x (from what could be seen in some slides), meaning there seems to be no more "Computer" button on the home screen, but there are "My Music" etc. sections under the respective content types. I have not read a single word about Siri searching local content anywhere, but since Siri does search local content on every iOS device, I gratefully assumed it is a given...?!

  • Reply 11 of 147
    I need a TV or Movies icon if there isn't a Computer icon.
  • Reply 12 of 147
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dreyfus2 View Post

     



    The interface is similar to iTunes 12.x (from what could be seen in some slides), meaning there seems to be no more "Computer" button on the home screen, but there are "My Music" etc. sections under the respective content types. I have not read a single word about Siri searching local content anywhere, but since Siri does search local content on every iOS device, I gratefully assumed it is a given...?!


    There was an icon with an odd laptop looking label. It might be a "computers" app or similar.

     

    Hopefully someone with the hardware will enlighten us. This "review" by AI could have been written by anyone in the audience last Wednesday.

  • Reply 13 of 147
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post



    Yeah, your console analysis is completely wrong. Particularly because you look at 2005-2012 as if it were the only example to follow.



    The PS4 and One are not the PS3 and 360. They're built on economical hardware and are rather inexpensive to make. Also, games aren't $80 unless its some special edition or has something included. You also fail to recognize that the 3DS continues to sell quite well; over 50 million units in under five years. Is that less than the original DS? Yes, but iPad sales keep dropping every quarter, and the people here don't consider it to be a failure...so why would a handheld console that has increasing sales be one?



    Most other people saw the gaming aspect of AppleTV for what it was; a small addon that Apple really didn't put too much effort into. They didn't even mention MFI controller support in the keynote. That means it's the same situation as Kinect; devs don't make games targeted for hardware that the majority of the userbase doesn't have, and since there are no included controllers, it's a nonstarter.



    And it's cute you think iOS games are on the same level as the high end console titles. They're not. The App Store has led to an unsustainable race to the bottom on pricing, meaning games either have endless IAP's or they're ad supported, and they're generally made on small budgets.



    So no, the gaming market isn't in danger at all. It's a market that so many don't understand, yet insist on making predictions about it. The stuff here makes Michael Pachter seem intelligent...

    I think the reason that Apple didn't spend more time talking about games is because for some silly reason some people consider there exists a hierarchy regarding games and gaming and people who play them. When there is any mention of games that these same people don't play, on platforms they don't possess, they see any implied success with those games or those platforms to be a challenge to their penis size. It's utterly ridiculous, really. Words such as cute are really adorable, except they're incredibly patronising but at the same time hugely revealing where you believe you reside in this strange, very strange, competition that some people insist on fighting. How strange.

     

    Currently, there is already a growing number of games that support the MFi controller, there are a number of MFi controllers, one is highlighted on the site, but I'm pretty sure they'd rather lots of manufacturers compete to deliver a good variety of controllers for consumers to select (with PS layouts for some and XBox layouts for others and more). To believe that gaming on this platform will amount to nothing is, well, ignoring the obvious, but mostly it's just pure and simple tribalism. What's really sad is the prediction of doom and gloom by some is nothing more than a thinly veiled desire for failure rather than any prescient capability.

     

    Games on the ATV is but one aspect of the value of the platform, and that's the way I (a gamer) want it to remain. I don't want the ATV to live or die due to the success or failure of just gaming, I want gaming to remain but one genre of apps that clever developers create and offer on this platform, and that's the way Apple is currently promoting the platform. Apple did it right, games are coming to the platform and you're wrong about it amounting to nothing and I'd say that none of the CEOs that run the companies that sell/build proprietary games and systems would fear nothing, none would be so irresponsible to claim so cavalierly that the ATV is not a threat to their empire. The first one that actually believes that is the first one that should be fired.

     

    Who knows what's going to happen, but to insist that gaming on the ATV will not affect sales of games consoles, you're wrong, it affected mine.

  • Reply 14 of 147
    An Apple TV with a tvOS that's like the iOS that runs on my iPad? Sounds like a good argument not to buy it. I was hoping it'd offer something unique and useful.
  • Reply 15 of 147
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post



    An Apple TV with a tvOS that's like the iOS that runs on my iPad? Sounds like a good argument not to buy it. I was hoping it'd offer something unique and useful.



    I know, I expected the ability to print unicorns and paint rainbows on demand in the sky. :p

  • Reply 16 of 147
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by williamlondon View Post

     



    I know, I expected the ability to print unicorns and paint rainbows on demand in the sky. :p




    And a pony. I wanted a pony. Totally disappointed that I didn't get the pony I expected.

  • Reply 17 of 147
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    I said this in the first article thread about the ATv. Why just obsolete Ethernet standards? 10/100? Please, we haven't used that for years. I have FIOS 150/150, I won't be able to download faster than about 90Mbps with this. There's no excuse for that these days.
  • Reply 18 of 147
    melgross wrote: »
    I said this in the first article thread about the ATv. Why just obsolete Ethernet standards? 10/100? Please, we haven't used that for years. I have FIOS 150/150, I won't be able to download faster than about 90Mbps with this. There's no excuse for that these days.

    1) Your incoming link speed isn't really a big deal if the end-to-end throughput is faster than your streaming content will need. Remember this is technically a stream, not a local download where you might require it to finish completely before you execute an install, edit a file, or need to move the physical data elsewhere. In terms of video, t's only there for local playback so I don't think it's going to affect any play back, but what about with Apple TV App Store app? I think the limiting facto there will still be its source, plus there is only a 200MiB limit on apps at this point. That said, I am surprised and hope this is changed by the time it's updated to support 4K UHD content, even if the file sizes will be no more than 2x their current size.

    2) If you want the fastest connection to the Apple TV you can always use 802.11ac. My router is right next to my Apple TV but I'll still use a wired connection simply because I don't want another device on WiFi and because of point one, above.
  • Reply 19 of 147
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    solipsismy wrote: »
    1) Your incoming link speed isn't really a big deal if the end-to-end throughput is faster than your streaming content will need.

    2) If you want the fastest connection to the Apple TV you can always use 802.11ac. My router is right next to my Apple TV but I'll still use a wired connection simply because I don't want another device on WiFi and because of point one, above.

    Your network speed determines the max speed through that network. 100Mbps, minus network overhead results in a max of 90Mbps through that network.

    There is no speed that your streaming needs when there is more than one person in the house. So it depends on what everyone is doing at the time. And who says that I'm just talking about watching a movie? If I'm downloading a large game, I also want that down as fast as possible. From what you're saying, no one should want a really fast connection.

    Unfortunately, WiFi isn't as reliable as Ethernet. I've described my house before. It's from 1925. It has brick internal walls, with both wood and metal mesh behind mortar and plaster walls and ceilings. It's like a faraday cage. It's difficult to get full WiFi speeds, so I have four routers in different places. It's complex. The best thing is that I wired gigabit ethernet years ago throughout the house.
  • Reply 20 of 147
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post



    I said this in the first article thread about the ATv. Why just obsolete Ethernet standards? 10/100? Please, we haven't used that for years. I have FIOS 150/150, I won't be able to download faster than about 90Mbps with this. There's no excuse for that these days.



    Technically speaking, your experience with Gigabit vs. Megabit Ethernet with this product would not change. You're not downloading files (except Apps, which are limited to 200 MB). For streaming 1080p content, the performance threshold is rather low...you can achieve the best possible performance with far less than what Megabit Ethernet even supports.

     

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post





    There is no speed that your streaming needs when there is more than one person in the house. So it depends on what everyone is doing at the time. And who says that I'm just talking about watching a movie? If I'm downloading a large game, I also want that down as fast as possible. From what you're saying, no one should want a really fast connection.

     

    Again, you're not getting it. Apps are limited to 200 MB. All other content is streamed. This is not a PC. You can't measurably improve your experience from Megabit to Gigabit Ethernet.

     

    Trust me, I understand what you're getting at, but in terms of real world, you're wrong.

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