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The New Apple TV
So today, finally, thanks and again no thanks to a certain delivery company that shall remain nameless I received my new Apple TV. Now you've probably heard lots about it since its release but I thought I'd give a quick first impression out of the box.
First of all the hardware. It's adorable. Pretty much like its previous hockey puck incarnation but now a little taller but from a distance you really don't notice the difference. Then there's the remote. As far as I'm concerned a thing of beauty. It feels gorgeous in the hand and such and improvement on what came before. Actually when it's laid face down you could be forgiven in thinking that you've left your iPod Nano laying around. The most prominent feature of the remote is the trackpad which has worked seamlessly in my testing and actually takes very little getting used to.
When you get to the interface it won't be at all foreign to you if you've owned older Apple TV's but the thing that sets it apart is the App Store. Now like I said I only received mine today so I've not had to suffer the drought of apps that was reported on launch. I found that there was plenty there to get me going. The other nice thing is that for the apps that you already own that have been adapted for TVOS they appear in your list of purchased apps at no extra cost.
But like I say there's plenty to be getting on with. Top apps for me today have been Plex which looks amazing, TV Player which provides free to air channels (plus some premium with a subscription), Crossy Road, because, well you just have to. Add to this Smule Sing (a simple but lovely karaoke app) and a plethora of quiz games and you're good to go, enough to satisfy even the harshest tech sceptic.
Siri is fun but limited. The first thing we asked was to search for apps which is something it announced it couldn't do so for now it seems to be just for registered film and movie services but I am sure its reach will grow over time.
Setup was pretty much a breeze. For the network settings I simply opted for tap your iPhone which to my surprise actually worked first time. Signing into my other apps such as Netflix opted for the rather laborious type in your details using the scrolling A-Z option but once you're done you can move on with your life. We are still lacking an update to the iOS 'Remote' app which would have been a bonus if it was in place for the new hardware.
All in all I'm pretty have with my purchase and for the price it must be the best TV box out there. Well worth a look.
Author
Paul Wright