Cable companies offered brandable Apple TV remote alternative
Universal Electronics is offering its own version of an easy-to-use "button-style" remote control for the Apple TV, one it hopes to sell to cable companies to be included as part of a streaming video package.
The Apple TV has been offered as a bonus from some cable companies for a few years, with Apple's set-top box used as an alternative to the usual cable box or DVR. Now, one company is attempting to take advantage of the concept by enabling cable providers to further brand their Apple TV-based package, one that also does away with the Siri Remote.
Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI) announced on Friday it was producing its own Apple TV remote, one that is intended to be acquired and distributed by cable providers, reports The Verge. Following a similar path to the Button Remote for Apple TV, its own version offers more buttons for users to press, rather than relying on a trackpad.
Instead, the remote uses a directional control pad, along with media navigation keys, menu and Home buttons, power button, and channel and volume up and down buttons. The remote also includes a button for making Siri requests.
Billed as enhancing "the live TV experience," the remote also has a dedicated button marked "Guide," which will automatically open up the cable provider's electronic program guide within their tvOS app.
Using Bluetooth LE to communicate with the Apple TV itself, with support for Apple's MFi authentication, the remote also uses infrared to provide a universal control function for the television. Lastly, cable providers can add their own branding to the remote.
UEI advises orders for the remote control can be placed from December, but only by "Multichannel Video Program Distributors," not consumers. The intention is for it to be acquired and then supplied together with an Apple TV or Apple TV 4K to consumers.
Consumers still have a number of other options available to them if they do not want to use the Siri Remote, such as Function's Button Remote.
The Apple TV has been offered as a bonus from some cable companies for a few years, with Apple's set-top box used as an alternative to the usual cable box or DVR. Now, one company is attempting to take advantage of the concept by enabling cable providers to further brand their Apple TV-based package, one that also does away with the Siri Remote.
Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI) announced on Friday it was producing its own Apple TV remote, one that is intended to be acquired and distributed by cable providers, reports The Verge. Following a similar path to the Button Remote for Apple TV, its own version offers more buttons for users to press, rather than relying on a trackpad.
Instead, the remote uses a directional control pad, along with media navigation keys, menu and Home buttons, power button, and channel and volume up and down buttons. The remote also includes a button for making Siri requests.
Billed as enhancing "the live TV experience," the remote also has a dedicated button marked "Guide," which will automatically open up the cable provider's electronic program guide within their tvOS app.
Using Bluetooth LE to communicate with the Apple TV itself, with support for Apple's MFi authentication, the remote also uses infrared to provide a universal control function for the television. Lastly, cable providers can add their own branding to the remote.
UEI advises orders for the remote control can be placed from December, but only by "Multichannel Video Program Distributors," not consumers. The intention is for it to be acquired and then supplied together with an Apple TV or Apple TV 4K to consumers.
Consumers still have a number of other options available to them if they do not want to use the Siri Remote, such as Function's Button Remote.
Comments
”Using Bluetooth LE to communicate with the Apple TV itself, with support for Apple's MFi authentication, the remote also uses infrared to provide a universal control function for the television.”
So no line of sight needed to the Apple TV.
More correctly stated: How do you hold this remote - orientation wise? Does the power button go at the top or the bottom? I wish it was as clear and obvious as the Apple remote...
Would love improvements like Find MY and a speaker. Backlight would be awesome and better motion sensing. Too bad Apple is abandoning 3D touch as it would also be welcome.
The momentum scrolling on iOS devices is a lot faster, it would be nice if it was tuned differently on Apple TV or have a setting that allows the user to set the scroll speed. Just now it feels like you have to swipe over and over to get down the rows, that should be possible in a single gesture to swipe down to the row and then slide around to select the icon.
It's probably hard to distinguish between a scroll and a selection change, you can only base it on swipe speed. It's a lot easier to just have one gesture so for example have the selection row locked in the middle of the screen (highlighted white bar) and then vertical scroll can be as fast as it needs because it's just swapping the row, the active selection will always be in that row. Like how the Apple TV menu works.
Then it's just a left-right swipe to change selection in the row. It would have to animate the row into place but it should still be faster to get to what the user wants and it can have animation interrupts so if a row is 50% into the selection bar and the user swipes right and taps before the vertical scroll animation stops, it still knows what the closest icon was to open it. At the extreme ends, it might have a blank area beyond the selection bar but it can be filled with something or even wrap around. It can recoil to show it's the top/bottom and the user would have to scroll past it. Or behave like the settings menu and move the selection bar.
For audio level, it could have been handled with a single button, not even plus/minus. Tapping the audio button could show a slider on-screen and swipe/tap to change volume and holding the button could mute, tapping again would unmute.
The home button that is the TV icon also looks like a screen sharing/mirroring button. Safari uses a home icon for homepage, it would be more intuitive when it's called the home button to use a home icon or even the rounded square like the older iPhones.
My comment was targeted more at the absurd design of the Apple remote which is so easily held in the wrong orientation. This is why I added the "as clear and obvious as the Apple remote".
I will attempt to be clearer next time.
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It has earned a place right next to the Apple USB puck mouse for "excellence in human ergonomic design"!
<end sarcasm>
Working on making sarcasm easier to spot. ;-)
<begin sarcasm>
Using this minimalist design philosophy, why have any discrete stand-alone buttons at all? The remote could simply be a touchpad with an integrated button. Clicking the trackpad brings up a hierarchical menu system which the user can move through using the touchpad. This would make the remote even cleaner looking! If you do find a need for a button... perhaps a single button in the very center of the trackpad. You could even make a matching depressing on the opposite side for extra symmetry. This would allow those who feel the need to use the remote as a spinner - relieving them of unwanted stress and anxiety (likely developed from using the remote).
<end sarcasm>
Sorry... It's early and I haven't had any coffee yet. Well, that and I really don't care for the Apple remote.
Once I put a silicone case on my Apple TV remote I found that I like using it a lot more. It’s no longer hard to hold. The most impressive thing on the Apple TV remote for me is using Siri for searches. It seems to work quite well and is far less torturous than using the on-screen keyboard, which is why I always reach for a keyboard or my iPhone if I have to type anything into Apple TV.
I also have a Logitech K600 keyboard that I use with my Apple TV, mostly because I also have a Mac Mini attached to my TV and the K600 works with both devices over Bluetooth. One odd thing with the K600 is that its trackpad doesn’t work with the Apple TV, but it also has a D-Pad that does work with Apple TV - except for the YouTube app, which for some strange reason only navigates with the Apple TV remote. Not sure why a specific app would behave differently, but it does. In any case, I haven’t found a way to use my Apple TV with a single control device, so the diminutive Apple TV remote will be sticking around for a while, love it or not.