After 90 min of playing with it today, I have to say it feels like a bit of a v1.0 product. Which is to be expected I suppose, seeing as it is v1.0.
Everything seems to work, but for me it's missing the expected level of Apple polish. Some UI choices are a little strange, e.g.:
1. It can be tricky to figure out what app (etc) you currently have selected in the home screen. Because this isn't a touchscreen device like iPhone and iPad, you can't just touch the selection you want, you need to select and click with the remote. If you look away from the screen then look back, it's not all that obvious what's selected. I don't recall this being an issue on the previous AppleTV.
2. I personally don't like the light-to-mid-grey background Apple have used throughout their apps. Ok, it's neutral, but its very bland looking. I'd have preferred if they'd retained the all-black look of the previous Apple TV. Or maybe they could have used some kind of soft, dark, wallpaper type background image so that there was some texture to it. As it is, it looks rather dull.
2b. The similarity of user interface in each Apple app can also make it quite hard to figure out what app you're currently in. You tend to look over at the TV and think "Where am I?"
3. The remote's trackpad seems to fall between two established user-interface conventions. You swipe down to select the next item down - I get that - but then when you get to the bottom of the screen, everything scrolls upwards. We just spent the last few years getting used to a natural swipe-to-scroll behaviour on both Macs and iPhones etc, and now suddenly a downward swipe causes everything to scroll up. It feels wrong. You can still use the trackpad like the previous all-button AppleTV remote, by tapping on the top, bottom, left, or right side, which is good. Swiping mostly emulates those actions e.g. swipe down is the same as pressing the down arrow. But then at some point, the screen scrolls up as you swipe down. So there are places where, to me, the trackpad is less intuitive than the old physical arrow buttons. I suppose I'll get used to it.
4. Although, on that note, there are places where the trackpad works well, because on long lists of items you have the inertial scroll behaviour where a quick swipe will make the cursor scroll rapidly through a list and gradually come to a stop. This is most obvious when you need to enter text, like a password, because now the entire alphabet is laid out on screen in one long horizontal line which you can swipe the cursor across. That's nice I guess - but I still don't get the impression that entering passwords is any faster with the new remote than it was with the old one. You tend to stop short of, or overshoot the character you want, so you have to swipe or tap backwards until you get there. It takes time.
5. It's a bit short of apps, but obviously today is literally day one, so I expect that will change very quickly. Most if not all of the apps we had on the old Apple TV are available on the new one... Though you have to install them yourself. Apart from games, there's not much thats particularly new. I'm not a big gamer.
6. That said, the new YouTube app doesn't feel as good as the old one. It desperately needs voice-search. I also got it to lock up after using it for five minutes, and although I got back to the home screen ok, I couldn't get it to launch again. I might have to delete the app, re-install it, and re-enter my YouTube account details, which is boring. But as I say, it's day one. I assume there's an app update notification mechanism as per the other i-devices?
7. Finding stuff in the App Store was a little bit of a chore. It didn't seem all that well laid out, and although you could level similar criticisms at the iPhone and iPad app stores as well, navigating through those is much faster thanks to the very hands-on feel of those devices. Surprisingly, I didn't find the YouTube app until I'd installed everything else I wanted. You'd have thought YouTube would have been front-and-centre in the App Store, wouldn't you?
7b. In fact, putting my old graphic design hat on for a second, the spacing of app icons, and the general layout of pages didn't quite sit right with me. It seemed like app icons were a bit too big and the spacing between them too small, which overpowered any menu selections at the top of the screen. Or was it that the lack of contrast due to the grey background made it harder to visually separate the icons from each other? (though of course, the grey background does mean you can have a black app icon... There's no one solution to this that gives everyone total design flexibility)
7c. Apple TV needs to be able to create extra pages for Apps as per iPhone, so you can for instance put all the TV streaming apps on the first page, the less conventional apps on the next page, games on the third page etc. Currently it's a big jumble of apps on one screen (though you can shuffle them about like on other iDevices). Maybe the home screen shouldn't scroll up/down at all? This would solve some of the unintuitive scrolling behaviour. After all, the iPhone home screen doesn't scroll...
8. At this stage, using Apple Music on an iPhone or iPad and streaming it over Airplay is a bit more rewarding than digging through the Music app on the Apple TV. But again, it's v1.0. At least using the Apple TV you can leave music playing while you do all manner of other things with your phone.
9. It looks like everything is output at a 60Hz frame rate, including movies on Netflix (I don't buy movies on iTunes - but I assume that's the same?). There's some motion judder on pans etc. I guess this is the same as the old Apple TV. I would like to see a mainstream streaming box that outputs source frame rates e.g. 24p, 25p, etc. If the content is free, well, who's to argue, but when I'm paying for content I would prefer not to have to put up with frame-rate conversions.
10. Crossy Road was amusing! (haven't played it before). I think Apple TV games could be a big deal. There's certainly a fair few in the app store already.
So my initial impression is that Apple TV has tons of potential, and it is bound to improve fast as Apple release updates to tvOS, and more app developers get it together. But it's like the very first iPhone, or the first release of OS X - it shows great promise, but if you're buying one now, don't expect to be blown away by the new Apple TV just yet.
<<< They also confirmed that there is no way to mute the audio with the AR. >>>
Agree that a separate mute button would be good, but hitting the pause button *should* do the trick.
Not sure why Apple thought we need a dedicated "Home" button: on the Apple TV 3 (and likely the ATV 2), pressing the menu button for 3 seconds would return you to the home screen. It would have made more sense to keep the long menu press and make the button directly above the volume rocker a mute button.
You don't program it. It's uses. Power, Source Control, and Volume are controlled via the Apple TV to your TV over CEC, which can go by various branding names depending on your manufacturer.
This sounds iffy, I shall see next week. I currently have a Harmony One that until now could replace all my other remotes functions.
1) Iffy? That's an actual harmonious solution as it uses an industry standard.
2) Apple has made it easy to use other remotes for the Apple TV, and since it still has an IR sensor you can still use an old-fashion remote with your new Apple TV, sans Siri and the gyroscope.
My ATV4 shipped with the default language of Chinese which was fun to set up. I got there the hard way by stumbling through the set-up and then going through menus in turn to find the change language and region options
Initial impressions are good. I do however hate the new linear on screen keyboard. It's much slower to use than the grid format and you have to use it a lot in the initial set-up
I tried pairing an Apple bluetooth keyboard with no success
It was pretty straightforward to set up my receiver volume control. There is an intuitive learn remote option
The lack of a mute button is odd. I guess pausing the content is the only option but not ideal
In the UK one of my most used apps is NowTV and this is not currently in the App Store so I may have to go back to my ATV3 until this lands
I have a question for current users though, can one "broadcast" directly to an Apple TV, from a Mac, if there is currently no internet connection? I realize set up might require it but otherwise does Apple TV always Ned a connection to the Internet?
In case you are wondering the interest here is usage when a connection to the Internet isn't always a given. Think usage in an RV for example where the Internet isn't always available. Being able to broadcast to the Apple TV from ones laptop would be just the nuts. Basically the desire is to have this work no matter where one parks for the night.
I have a question for current users though, can one "broadcast" directly to an Apple TV, from a Mac, if there is currently no internet connection? I realize set up might require it but otherwise does Apple TV always Ned a connection to the Internet?
In case you are wondering the interest here is usage when a connection to the Internet isn't always a given. Think usage in an RV for example where the Internet isn't always available. Being able to broadcast to the Apple TV from ones laptop would be just the nuts. Basically the desire is to have this work no matter where one parks for the night.
Yeah, it should work with AirPlay. No Internet connection is required, just a P2P connection between the two.
You don't program it. It's uses. Power, Source Control, and Volume are controlled via the Apple TV to your TV over CEC, which can go by various branding names depending on your manufacturer.
I have a question for current users though, can one "broadcast" directly to an Apple TV, from a Mac, if there is currently no internet connection? I realize set up might require it but otherwise does Apple TV always Ned a connection to the Internet?
In case you are wondering the interest here is usage when a connection to the Internet isn't always a given. Think usage in an RV for example where the Internet isn't always available. Being able to broadcast to the Apple TV from ones laptop would be just the nuts. Basically the desire is to have this work no matter where one parks for the night.
Just switch on wifi and you can AirPlay to any recent AppleTV. The option appears in the menu bar and looks like a TV screen
This has been available for a couple of OSX releases at least
I tried without luck as well to pair a BT keyboard. This seems unfortunate as i found with ATV 3 typing on a keyboard was so much easier than using the on screen move the curser select each letter method.
Referring to the editorial, my setup failed first time too. Second time I used the manual which seemed simpler and worked.
There were only a few apps to download but it was the first day. What surprised me was that most of them appeared to be quite expensive compared to the typical iOS app pricing.
I tried without luck as well to pair a BT keyboard. This seems unfortunate as i found with ATV 3 typing on a keyboard was so much easier than using the on screen move the curser select each letter method.
Referring to the editorial, my setup failed first time too. Second time I used the manual which seemed simpler and worked.
There were only a few apps to download but it was the first day. What surprised me was that most of them appeared to be quite expensive compared to the typical iOS app pricing.
According to Rene Ritchie, no Bluetooth keyboard work with ?TV 4 right now,
Just got my Apple TV set up. So far, first impressions are good, but I'm having a ton of issues with Home Sharing. Anyone else having issues? I keep signing in and out, but my Apple TV will not find my iTunes library on my iMac. All my other devices, Home Sharing is working. Not sure what to do at this point.
Walked into my local Best Buy and bought a 64GB ATV off the shelf. They had plenty in stock. Those who pre-ordered thinking they would be the first kid on the block are steaming mad. Not really anything to get mad about but you know some people.
Why do people want this? WebTV was a horrible experience back in the 90s and it's a horrible experience today. If you need a web browser on your TV for some rare group interaction then use AirPlay from a Mac, iPhone or iPad so you can have a proper Input for it when using the TV has a second display.
1) Iffy? That's an actual harmonious solution as it uses an industry standard.
2) Apple has made it easy to use other remotes for the Apple TV, and since it still has an IR sensor you can still use an old-fashion remote with your new Apple TV, sans Siri and the gyroscope.
Comments
After 90 min of playing with it today, I have to say it feels like a bit of a v1.0 product. Which is to be expected I suppose, seeing as it is v1.0.
Everything seems to work, but for me it's missing the expected level of Apple polish. Some UI choices are a little strange, e.g.:
1. It can be tricky to figure out what app (etc) you currently have selected in the home screen. Because this isn't a touchscreen device like iPhone and iPad, you can't just touch the selection you want, you need to select and click with the remote. If you look away from the screen then look back, it's not all that obvious what's selected. I don't recall this being an issue on the previous AppleTV.
2. I personally don't like the light-to-mid-grey background Apple have used throughout their apps. Ok, it's neutral, but its very bland looking. I'd have preferred if they'd retained the all-black look of the previous Apple TV. Or maybe they could have used some kind of soft, dark, wallpaper type background image so that there was some texture to it. As it is, it looks rather dull.
2b. The similarity of user interface in each Apple app can also make it quite hard to figure out what app you're currently in. You tend to look over at the TV and think "Where am I?"
3. The remote's trackpad seems to fall between two established user-interface conventions. You swipe down to select the next item down - I get that - but then when you get to the bottom of the screen, everything scrolls upwards. We just spent the last few years getting used to a natural swipe-to-scroll behaviour on both Macs and iPhones etc, and now suddenly a downward swipe causes everything to scroll up. It feels wrong. You can still use the trackpad like the previous all-button AppleTV remote, by tapping on the top, bottom, left, or right side, which is good. Swiping mostly emulates those actions e.g. swipe down is the same as pressing the down arrow. But then at some point, the screen scrolls up as you swipe down. So there are places where, to me, the trackpad is less intuitive than the old physical arrow buttons. I suppose I'll get used to it.
4. Although, on that note, there are places where the trackpad works well, because on long lists of items you have the inertial scroll behaviour where a quick swipe will make the cursor scroll rapidly through a list and gradually come to a stop. This is most obvious when you need to enter text, like a password, because now the entire alphabet is laid out on screen in one long horizontal line which you can swipe the cursor across. That's nice I guess - but I still don't get the impression that entering passwords is any faster with the new remote than it was with the old one. You tend to stop short of, or overshoot the character you want, so you have to swipe or tap backwards until you get there. It takes time.
5. It's a bit short of apps, but obviously today is literally day one, so I expect that will change very quickly. Most if not all of the apps we had on the old Apple TV are available on the new one... Though you have to install them yourself. Apart from games, there's not much thats particularly new. I'm not a big gamer.
6. That said, the new YouTube app doesn't feel as good as the old one. It desperately needs voice-search. I also got it to lock up after using it for five minutes, and although I got back to the home screen ok, I couldn't get it to launch again. I might have to delete the app, re-install it, and re-enter my YouTube account details, which is boring. But as I say, it's day one. I assume there's an app update notification mechanism as per the other i-devices?
7. Finding stuff in the App Store was a little bit of a chore. It didn't seem all that well laid out, and although you could level similar criticisms at the iPhone and iPad app stores as well, navigating through those is much faster thanks to the very hands-on feel of those devices. Surprisingly, I didn't find the YouTube app until I'd installed everything else I wanted. You'd have thought YouTube would have been front-and-centre in the App Store, wouldn't you?
7b. In fact, putting my old graphic design hat on for a second, the spacing of app icons, and the general layout of pages didn't quite sit right with me. It seemed like app icons were a bit too big and the spacing between them too small, which overpowered any menu selections at the top of the screen. Or was it that the lack of contrast due to the grey background made it harder to visually separate the icons from each other? (though of course, the grey background does mean you can have a black app icon... There's no one solution to this that gives everyone total design flexibility)
7c. Apple TV needs to be able to create extra pages for Apps as per iPhone, so you can for instance put all the TV streaming apps on the first page, the less conventional apps on the next page, games on the third page etc. Currently it's a big jumble of apps on one screen (though you can shuffle them about like on other iDevices). Maybe the home screen shouldn't scroll up/down at all? This would solve some of the unintuitive scrolling behaviour. After all, the iPhone home screen doesn't scroll...
8. At this stage, using Apple Music on an iPhone or iPad and streaming it over Airplay is a bit more rewarding than digging through the Music app on the Apple TV. But again, it's v1.0. At least using the Apple TV you can leave music playing while you do all manner of other things with your phone.
9. It looks like everything is output at a 60Hz frame rate, including movies on Netflix (I don't buy movies on iTunes - but I assume that's the same?). There's some motion judder on pans etc. I guess this is the same as the old Apple TV. I would like to see a mainstream streaming box that outputs source frame rates e.g. 24p, 25p, etc. If the content is free, well, who's to argue, but when I'm paying for content I would prefer not to have to put up with frame-rate conversions.
10. Crossy Road was amusing! (haven't played it before). I think Apple TV games could be a big deal. There's certainly a fair few in the app store already.
So my initial impression is that Apple TV has tons of potential, and it is bound to improve fast as Apple release updates to tvOS, and more app developers get it together. But it's like the very first iPhone, or the first release of OS X - it shows great promise, but if you're buying one now, don't expect to be blown away by the new Apple TV just yet.
Quote:
Originally posted by kent909
<<< They also confirmed that there is no way to mute the audio with the AR. >>>
Agree that a separate mute button would be good, but hitting the pause button *should* do the trick.
Not sure why Apple thought we need a dedicated "Home" button: on the Apple TV 3 (and likely the ATV 2), pressing the menu button for 3 seconds would return you to the home screen. It would have made more sense to keep the long menu press and make the button directly above the volume rocker a mute button.
Probably figured it was familiar and apparent.
You don't program it. It's uses. Power, Source Control, and Volume are controlled via the Apple TV to your TV over CEC, which can go by various branding names depending on your manufacturer.
This sounds iffy, I shall see next week. I currently have a Harmony One that until now could replace all my other remotes functions.
1) Iffy? That's an actual harmonious solution as it uses an industry standard.
2) Apple has made it easy to use other remotes for the Apple TV, and since it still has an IR sensor you can still use an old-fashion remote with your new Apple TV, sans Siri and the gyroscope.
My ATV4 shipped with the default language of Chinese which was fun to set up. I got there the hard way by stumbling through the set-up and then going through menus in turn to find the change language and region options
Initial impressions are good. I do however hate the new linear on screen keyboard. It's much slower to use than the grid format and you have to use it a lot in the initial set-up
I tried pairing an Apple bluetooth keyboard with no success
It was pretty straightforward to set up my receiver volume control. There is an intuitive learn remote option
The lack of a mute button is odd. I guess pausing the content is the only option but not ideal
In the UK one of my most used apps is NowTV and this is not currently in the App Store so I may have to go back to my ATV3 until this lands
Stuart
I don't know why Eddie cue said this is not for cord cutters, I plan on cutting ties with cable company with this and just keep internet with them.
I have a question for current users though, can one "broadcast" directly to an Apple TV, from a Mac, if there is currently no internet connection? I realize set up might require it but otherwise does Apple TV always Ned a connection to the Internet?
In case you are wondering the interest here is usage when a connection to the Internet isn't always a given. Think usage in an RV for example where the Internet isn't always available. Being able to broadcast to the Apple TV from ones laptop would be just the nuts. Basically the desire is to have this work no matter where one parks for the night.
Interesting new device.
I have a question for current users though, can one "broadcast" directly to an Apple TV, from a Mac, if there is currently no internet connection? I realize set up might require it but otherwise does Apple TV always Ned a connection to the Internet?
In case you are wondering the interest here is usage when a connection to the Internet isn't always a given. Think usage in an RV for example where the Internet isn't always available. Being able to broadcast to the Apple TV from ones laptop would be just the nuts. Basically the desire is to have this work no matter where one parks for the night.
Yeah, it should work with AirPlay. No Internet connection is required, just a P2P connection between the two.
Just switch on wifi and you can AirPlay to any recent AppleTV. The option appears in the menu bar and looks like a TV screen
This has been available for a couple of OSX releases at least
You have to configure the ATV to allow this
I tried without luck as well to pair a BT keyboard. This seems unfortunate as i found with ATV 3 typing on a keyboard was so much easier than using the on screen move the curser select each letter method.
Referring to the editorial, my setup failed first time too. Second time I used the manual which seemed simpler and worked.
There were only a few apps to download but it was the first day. What surprised me was that most of them appeared to be quite expensive compared to the typical iOS app pricing.
According to Rene Ritchie, no Bluetooth keyboard work with ?TV 4 right now,
Just got my Apple TV set up. So far, first impressions are good, but I'm having a ton of issues with Home Sharing. Anyone else having issues? I keep signing in and out, but my Apple TV will not find my iTunes library on my iMac. All my other devices, Home Sharing is working. Not sure what to do at this point.
Any web browser app?
No
Walked into my local Best Buy and bought a 64GB ATV off the shelf. They had plenty in stock. Those who pre-ordered thinking they would be the first kid on the block are steaming mad. Not really anything to get mad about but you know some people.
Why do people want this? WebTV was a horrible experience back in the 90s and it's a horrible experience today. If you need a web browser on your TV for some rare group interaction then use AirPlay from a Mac, iPhone or iPad so you can have a proper Input for it when using the TV has a second display.
1) Iffy? That's an actual harmonious solution as it uses an industry standard.
2) Apple has made it easy to use other remotes for the Apple TV, and since it still has an IR sensor you can still use an old-fashion remote with your new Apple TV, sans Siri and the gyroscope.
Or
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/10/30/how-to-control-your-tv-volume-with-the-new-apple-tv-siri-remote
Or? That's exactly what I described as being new and being a part of tvOS for years.