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Apple to Release New Apple TV Remote App for iOS With Full Siri Functionality in First Half of 2016
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I own both a PS3 and PS4, though I am by no means a hardcore gamer. I hardly ever play with them anymore because of the lack of games I actually like and because of the pain in the ass involved in operating those consoles.
Turning on a console takes several minutes, potentially followed by hours if it needs to download one or more software updates. While in use I need to open the sliding door on my media console because of the ridiculous amount of heat the devices generate. Games take way too long to load initially and when transitioning to different levels. The remotes are a pain in the ass to remember to charge, and they take too long to do so. It's also a pain to have to constantly switch the TV input between different sources.
In contrast, with the Apple TV 4 I can download and start playing a game in seconds. The device generates no discernible noise or heat, so no need to keep my media console opened. I can switch between different games, movies, and tv shows as quickly and easily as switching between apps on my iPhone.
So yeah, I definitely see the value of gaming on the new Apple TV.
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I agree! However, if I remember right, you can tap (instead of swipe) on one side of the screen in the Remote.app to get the cursor to just move over one space. I thought that I read somewhere that the same is true for the new Apple TV Siri Remote, simply tap toward the edge of the glass. Correct me if I'm wrong. (I'm still using the ATV 3 as it does everything I need it to.)
The release it to the App store for customers to download. How you ship any software these days more or less.
I'm in the same boat (well, not with 1,000 movies, but still lots), and this limitation just reflects how poorly thought out the AppleTV experience/ecosystem is. The entire purpose of this device is to aggregate entertainment through one channel (and give Apple a cut of the revenue of purchases), but if it doesn't incorporate all my content, it is already failing. Can you imagine if iTunes didn't allow you to add your own CDs? Of course not - it never would have survived, so why make it difficult for me to use my own videos?
Another poorly thought out piece is the unneccesary limitations that were put on the controllers so that all games can use what most people agree is not a good remote control. Can you imagine if iTunes only played genres of music that sounded good with their built in speakers? Of course not, so why place these artificial limitations on AppleTV?
I look at the xbox and see people connecting their cable box to it, and watching Netflix, and playing games from Windows, and it makes me wonder how can Apple be getting this so wrong? We can all agree that the inclusion of apps was a good choice, and I'm not about to jump ship from my Apple ecosystem just yet, but I see other companies innovating and solving the problems I have with living room technology, and it makes me wonder if I shouldn't start hedging my bets a little.
I think it's that Apple has established a precedent of their own on quality. Apple has long made every effort to have everything perfected, or at least within reason. He'll look at their promotional videos on products, hardware and software, look at the precision that went into the iPhone 5 build, the Apple Watch, the Mac Pro. This is a company with resources, both funds and man power. This isn't a garage outfit pulling bob to help thread a screw to fit this motherboard. There are literally independent teams that are coordinating with other teams for each product, both hardware and software. It has been reported that sometimes the software teams will put help out other teams in crunch time to ensure a product is released on time, (OS X help iOS and vice versa).
In the end Apple, Steve Jobs created this reality distortion that really worked because things that were to work together harmoniously were put out together. There weren't lapses in 'it just works'. The new Apple TV didn't have app remote support until yesterday, that's over a month lapse. Really not what we have come to expect from Apple HQ.
Not here to bash or defend; just to clarify that unfortunately Apple is losing its balance. For a more extreme analogy, it's like Apple releasing the Apple Watch in April, but the bands in June. Not very Apple like right?
The Remote app doesn't make use of your phone's display. It just turns it into a blank trackpad.
I'm not disrespecting others' preferences. I'm just trying to understand them.
I dislike the remote (don't use it) and now that the app will have Siri, I'll definitely use that just for Siri inquiries. Pretty simple.
With Apple Music, Siri is referencing an online index of available content. There is no online Siri index of the media you have stored on your computer at home. Additionally, some (most?) people don't do a very good job of managing the meta data for movies and tv shows on their computers. Unless this data is available and formatted in an Apple-friendly format, browsing this content would look like crap on the Apple TV's interface. Finally, when you watch your own content locally, Apple can't charge you for it. So they put all their efforts into features that will nudge you towards buying or renting content from iTunes or their business partners.
Been thinking a lot lately about all the complaints I see here... some valid, some very narrow and self serving. But also been thinking about the competition these days... MS seems to be getting their act together... Google of course continues to speed along in service development and Amazon seems to be leveraging Prime accounts like crazy to make them the media and purchasing hub.
With that all said... everyone seems to be nipping at Apple's heals and although I think Apple has made some very good decisions over the Tim Cook days, I do think they need to start getting more aggressive in certain areas... even if that means buying their way in with the billions they have in cash. AppleTV needs to have the most kick-butt programing package out there and there has to be games with more substance and stickiness. Apple needs some original programing... Netflix is killing this one right now. Siri needs to get smarter faster. Apple Continuity needs to get easier and promoted more so that iDevices and Macs are 100% seamless in data sharing and function sharing. And lastly, I think Apple should get more aggressive on the specs for Macs... time to notch it up in the spec department and trim back some on the margins in order to add value.
Note... price for me is not the issue. I don't mind paying for products that last, and products that exceed my expectations... but otherwise, it really seems like it's time for some "wow" factor and time for Apple to really get aggressive or they will become the new, Ballmer days Microsoft.
My thoughts and rants are done now.
Yippee for a new AppleTV app coming!
With that all said... everyone seems to be nipping at Apple's heals and although I think Apple has made some very good decisions over the Tim Cook days, I do think they need to start getting more aggressive in certain areas... even if that means buying their way in with the billions they have in cash. AppleTV needs to have the most kick-butt programing package out there and there has to be games with more substance and stickiness. Apple needs some original programing... Netflix is killing this one right now. Siri needs to get smarter faster. Apple Continuity needs to get easier and promoted more so that iDevices and Macs are 100% seamless in data sharing and function sharing. And lastly, I think Apple should get more aggressive on the specs for Macs... time to notch it up in the spec department and trim back some on the margins in order to add value.
Note... price for me is not the issue. I don't mind paying for products that last, and products that exceed my expectations... but otherwise, it really seems like it's time for some "wow" factor and time for Apple to really get aggressive or they will become the new, Ballmer days Microsoft.
My thoughts and rants are done now.
Yippee for a new AppleTV app coming!
I never knew it until recently, but you can tap the trackpad (top, bottom, left, right) to work the same as the old remote. My roommate prefers that while I prefer to swipe.
While I share your frustration, it's important to note that Apple is not organized like other companies. They do not have separate, self-contained product teams, each with its own designers, developers, testers, etc. They have unified teams for those functions, and they prioritize and schedule when those teams will be working on specific products. So when it's all hands on deck for an iOS or iPhone release, nobody is working on anything else.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Because there's no money in that for Apple. And Apple seems more than ever before to be chasing revenue & profits more than anything else. At least we used to have the illusion that ideas like "just works" and "customer experience" were above revenue & profit chasing. Increasingly now (IMO anyway), it feels more and more like the accountants are dominating the decision-making. It's the only way I can rationalize some of the larger decisions.
Nothing wrong with a corporation trying to maximize profits- that's normal. Apple has simply done a good job historically of making us think they are different than normal corporations. Whether they are- or were- I don't know. It simply seems or feels like Apple is becoming more about shareholders than customers than at any time before (IMO).
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Again, appreciate the spin on behalf of Apple. In the 3.5 years between "all hands on deck" iOS or iPhone releases, it seems there should have been enough time for the remote app to get updated for the brand new
TV4. If "all hands on deck" have been continuously "on deck" for all 3.5 years, it seems like Apple needs to loosen up the purse strings and get more talent on hand to deliver on more than any one thing at any one time.
Based on the responses I've seen so far, it seems that the devotion to the Remote app is coming from folks that use their Apple TV primarily to stream locally hosted content from their iOS devices, rather than using the Remote app to control the Apple TV directly. That makes more sense to me now.
BTW, this may not be helpful for you if you dislike the Apple TV UI so much, but there's a way you can access your Home Sharing content on your Apple TV 4 using a slick user interface instead of the crappy list-based one Apple provides.
Get Plex. You install it on your Mac and it can access your iTunes media library as well as any specific folders containing movies, tv shows etc. Their Apple TV app is awesome, plus the service lets you access your home content form your iOS devices even when you're away from home.
If not for the Plex app, I would have returned the new Apple TV.
I was hoping that the new Apple TV would be more of a media server then another Internet streaming device. Not to be. Sounds like your situation needs a good media sever and thus the Apple TV fails. May I suggest a media sever like Plex that just may solve your issues.
You can hide the swipable screen and have a directory of music, tv,and movies and select it from there. As long as it's iTunes media you can operate it without swiping.
Isn't a dedicated keyboard a bit of overkill just to enter passwords occasionally?
That's the only one that makes any sense. Fortunately I couldn't care less about that.