Today is the official launch day of the latest version of the Apple TV 4K, the third generation model. A number of folks in the press were sent review units; their reviews were released this past week, and some notable ones are identified below. The consensus seems to be that if you have the second generation Apple TV 4K that was released in 2021, there is no real reason to upgrade; the new model is faster, but not considerably faster than last year's model. The exception is if you are using a Samsung television and you want the support for HDR10+ in the third generation—more on that below. On the other hand, if you have an older Apple TV model, or if you don't have one at all, the reviewers concluded that the new Apple TV is probably the best streaming device on the market. At $149 (or $129 for a version missing some features like Ethernet), it's not the cheapest streaming device on the market, but you get what you pay for, and this model is less expensive than the $179 second generation Apple TV 4K. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- Catherine Reach, the Director of the North Carolina Bar Association, shares some simple but good tips for securing your smartphone.
- Chris Welch of The Verge calls the new Apple TV unmatched power at a much better price.
- Darrel Etherington of TechCrunch notes that because Samsung uses HDR10+ instead of Dolby Vision, the new Apple TV 4K is a great device to get if you have a Samsung television. I haven't tried HDR10+, but I know that it is similar to Dolby Vision (without the need to pay Dolby's licensing fees), and I can attest that Dolby Vision shows look great on an Apple TV, so hopefully the same is true for HDR10+.
- Henry T. Casey of Tom's Guide wrote an extensive review of the new Apple TV 4K. His tests show that it is the fastest streaming device for launching services like Netflix and Disney+, and he says that it has the best interface of any streaming device.
- Jason Cipriani of CNN Underscored is also a fan of the new Apple TV 4K.
- One thing that might not be so good about the Apple TV? The possible new placement of the Up Next list in the Apple TV app. When you open that app, on the first "Watch Now" tab, you traditionally see an Up Next list that often contains exactly what you want to watch next—such as the next episode of a show you are watching or a movie that you started but did not finish. And when I looked at my own Apple TV last night, that's what I saw. But as Joe Rosensteel notes in an article for Six Colors, Apple is starting to push down the Up Next list so that it appears below a Watch Now list, which shows programs that Apple wants to promote. That Watch Now list may have good suggestions, it also includes shows even if you have already watched them. It is unclear to me if this change is rolling out to everyone, and just hasn't made its way to me yet, or if Apple is simply experimenting with different layouts for different folks. I hope that they leave the Up Next list in a prominent location.
- Note that while the new Netflix Basic plan—only $6.99/month but with ads—started this week, it is not yet available for the Netflix app on the Apple TV. However, Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac notes that it is coming soon.
- Sebastiaan de With, one of the people behind the sophisticated Halide camera app, wrote an incredibly detailed review of the camera on the iPhone 14 Pro. He includes some amazing photos that he took.
- Justin Meyers of Gadget Hacks came up with 26 new iPhone features in iOS 16.1.
- We are still getting used to all of the new features in iOS 16.1, but Sami Fathi of MacRumors reports on some of the new features expected to ship in iOS 16.2 such as the Freeform app and Live Activities for sports games via the built-in TV app.
- There is an interesting interview of Jony Ive, who formerly led the design team at Apple, by Elisa Lipsky-Karasz of the Wall Street Journal. (Remember that if you have Apple News+, you have access to Wall Street Journal stories like this one.)
- Heidi Wigdahl of KARE11 in Minnesota shares two stories of people who quickly got help after they fell thanks to an Apple Watch.
- David Price of Macworld wrote an extensive review of the Apple Watch Ultra. He thinks that it is terrific if you are a member of the target audience, but he warns that it might not be the right Apple Watch for others: "What the Ultra is not, however, is simply a premium edition of the Apple Watch for those with a higher budget. The upgrades and modifications mentioned above carry downsides, and if you don’t plan to dive or sail or hike or spelunk with the Ultra, you’re not getting the benefits to make those downsides worthwhile. You’ll find that it gets caught on your jacket sleeve, is uncomfortable in bed, triggers actions by mistake, and above all costs far more than it should."
- Allison Johnson of The Verge recently started using an Apple Watch for the first time and explains why she now cannot believe that she waited so long to get one.
- Victoria Song of The Verge reviewed all three of the watch bands that Apple sells for the Apple Watch Ultra. [There is something messed up with the formatting of that page as I type this, but you can still read the review.]
- Glenn Fleishman of Macworld shares tips for transferring photos from a camera to an iPhone or iPad.
- And finally, here is a new video from Apple that shows that you can now use Apple's Fitness+ service with only an iPhone (or iPad) even if you don't own an Apple Watch: