The Apple TV has always been the best way to display content from your iPhone or iPad on a television. You can show off pictures and videos that you took on a large HDTV, and you can mirror your screen so that others can see web pages, apps, etc. that you are using on your device. Additionally, the Apple TV has provided a way to stream video from services such as Netflix and HBO. Starting this Friday, Apple will start selling the new (fourth generation) Apple TV, which can run its own apps and works with the new — and very cool — Siri Remote.
Apple gave review units of the Apple TV to select journalists, and their reviews started to go online last night. If you have been wondering whether a new Apple TV is right for you, here are the reviews that I found interesting:
- John Paczkowski of BuzzFeed: "Apple says the future of TV is apps. That may or may not prove true, but after a couple days with the new Apple TV, it’s a compelling argument. Turns out custom-building a TV from a broad palette of apps that includes everything from pay TV channels and games to travel accommodation services and Periscope is a great way to get exactly the TV experience you want — or close to it, anyway. The new Apple TV isn’t just an upgraded set-top box, it’s the first 'true' Apple TV, one that articulates Apple’s vision of what the TV viewing experience should be. It’s an appealing vision."
- Christina Bonnington of Refinery29: "If you are an iPhone user and you own a TV, you're going to want the new Apple TV."
- Christina Warren of Mashable: "The remote is, in a word, fantastic. It's slightly larger than the old Apple TV remote and it includes a few more dedicated buttons for menu, home, play/pause and Siri. ... It feels awesome in the hand. If you've ever used a trackpad on a MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro — you'll be familiar with the experience. Swiping faster on the touchpad moves faster across the interface, slower goes slower. Movements are extremely precise and never felt out of control. The remote is Bluetooth — not IR — so you don't need direct line of sight to navigate — which is nice. On some Bluetooth-based remotes, I've noticed lag between a selection and what happens on screen but the Siri remote always keeps up."
- Nilay Patel of The Verge: "I asked for '‘80s movies with Tom Cruise on Netflix' and Siri found me Top Gun and Risky Business, for example. Delightful. Once you select a movie or show, Siri will open a universal landing page that deep links you right into the various services that offer the content. So if you search for Game of Thrones, you’ll see that you can buy it on iTunes and stream it on HBO Go or HBO Now, and you’re off to the races. In terms of iterative improvements to the Apple TV, this is the most important thing Apple could have done, and the execution here is among the best in the game."
- Geoffrey Fowler of the Wall Street Journal: "I think the Apple TV lays the best foundation for what I want TV to become. The Apple TV’s greatest edge is its remote control. That may sound trivial, but other efforts to make apps work on TVs have been comically complex. ... The Apple TV gets the Internet TV remote right by reaching for the same touch-screen feeling that makes the iPhone intuitive to a 2-year-old. The new remote has a glass touchpad on one end that you swipe and tap around with your thumb as if it’s an iPhone. Without having to look down, you feel connected to what’s happening on the big screen."
- David Pogue of Yahoo Tech: "Apple has taught Apple TV to recognize natural voice commands in four categories: finding videos, navigating playback, opening apps, and asking questions. ... It’s clear that Apple worked its fingers to the bone on this; it works unbelievably well. You have to give a lot of commands before you find a failure."
- Brian Chen of The New York Times: "Even for those more basic elements, the device is better at streaming video content than less expensive products from Amazon, Roku and Google, all of which I tested over the last month. While the new Apple box has flaws, it also has a cleaner interface for finding things to watch and a niftier remote control — not to mention more compelling apps and games."
- Walt Mossberg of The Verge: "Apple TV has become a sort of iPhone or iPad for the TV, a platform for apps usable across a room. By making the box another vessel for its giant assortment of third-party apps and home-grown services, Apple is putting itself in a position to host programming the networks and studios are increasingly streaming, as well as new kinds of TV content."
- Patrick O'Rourke of MobileSyrup: "In true Apple fashion, my initial impression of the Apple TV is that it feels exceedingly refined, similar to most Apple products. It’s clear this revamp of Apple’s set-top box has been in development for a number of years; everything from the device’s new iOS 9-based user interface (UI) – dubbed tvOS – to its sleek Siri Remote is both visually and functionally impressive. But is the Apple TV a better device than the plethora of already released Android set-top boxes, or my current favourite streaming device, the Roku 3? In most respects, yes: The new Apple TV is significantly ahead of the competition in terms of design and hardware, especially when it comes to the device’s UI and Siri Remote."
