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Hands-On With Salt's Apple TV Remote Replacement
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I love the Siri remote. Yes, it can be improved. But it's better than any other remote I use.
Make it better, please. Change it into something else? Okay, as long as it doesn't ape stupid remotes like my Samsung 4k blu-ray or the Nvidia Shield TV.
Siri remote fan!
Make it better, please. Change it into something else? Okay, as long as it doesn't ape stupid remotes like my Samsung 4k blu-ray or the Nvidia Shield TV.
Siri remote fan!
Well, how ‘bout a new Remote. <s>
how ‘bout a better processor for new Arcade games?
how ‘bout integration with a HomePod?
how ‘bout Siri without the remote?
how ‘bout Siri with the new AirPods pro?
etc.
IOW’s new innovations.
im surprised nobody just uses the iPhone app. it does everything you want and more. full keyboard when you want it. Dont have to look at your phone to scroll or hit the menu button(once you get used to placement). Its a very clean and thoughtfully placed button layout app. Looks very good too not like those half arsed remote control apps or even the harmony app(just a cluttered mess). I never lose my phone and its usually close by or on me.
also quick controls from your lock screen on your phone.
you can also change way scrolling is animated in the accommodations in settings. Turn it on and it won’t bounce from icon to icon it will just skip to it quickly and helps with scrolling.
why bother with the standard remote when you have that...?
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Only thing I would change personally on the Siri Remote is to make the touch pad responsive like the Magic Trackpad you can buy. The clicks on that feel real and its all vibration based buttons. No hard click like the track pad on the aptv remote has. The sensitivity of the Magic Trackpad is much higher. Sure that means putting a vibration motor into the remote but it would make it much better imo. Would have to charge a little more frequently but once ever 2-4 weeks would be nothing. I charge the normal apple remote once every year it seems.
also quick controls from your lock screen on your phone.
you can also change way scrolling is animated in the accommodations in settings. Turn it on and it won’t bounce from icon to icon it will just skip to it quickly and helps with scrolling.
why bother with the standard remote when you have that...?
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Only thing I would change personally on the Siri Remote is to make the touch pad responsive like the Magic Trackpad you can buy. The clicks on that feel real and its all vibration based buttons. No hard click like the track pad on the aptv remote has. The sensitivity of the Magic Trackpad is much higher. Sure that means putting a vibration motor into the remote but it would make it much better imo. Would have to charge a little more frequently but once ever 2-4 weeks would be nothing. I charge the normal apple remote once every year it seems.
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I agree with you Apple’s Siri Remotes are plenty sturdy enough just to watch TV with. But that’s not all a lot of people do with them. The one that was kept by the couch in the living room probably got left on the couch and sat and laid on several times. The one that was kept by the kitchen table probably got food on it more than once. I know Impersonally cleaned it a few times...
Apple’s Siri Remote just is not as durable the vast majority of other remotes out there. Mom has had many different remotes over the years. And she’s never broken a single one. Now she has Siri remotes around her house for the last year and a half or so, and she’s broken two.
And ironically, it’s probably the touchpad that makes them less durable. And the touchpad is what makes Mom not like the remote to begin with.
Do other remotes work with the current Apple TV? From what I can tell, Apple’s older style remote isn’t listed as working.
I don’t like the design Apple uses, and I abhor that it uses a sealed, proprietary battery, meaning it’s just years from being a paperweight, and that, incred, you can only use one of them with an Apple TV. Imo basically everything is wrong with it.
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does the old Apple remote, the one with no touchpad, that uses replaceable batteries (and used to work with macontoshes) work with the current, 4K Apple TV? Because if so, that remote looks okay, and while I’d rather it use AAs, at least it doesn’t use a sealed lithium battery.
I don’t like the design Apple uses, and I abhor that it uses a sealed, proprietary battery, meaning it’s just years from being a paperweight, and that, incred, you can only use one of them with an Apple TV. Imo basically everything is wrong with it.
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does the old Apple remote, the one with no touchpad, that uses replaceable batteries (and used to work with macontoshes) work with the current, 4K Apple TV? Because if so, that remote looks okay, and while I’d rather it use AAs, at least it doesn’t use a sealed lithium battery.
All of which has nothing to do with what I said: “A couple dozen or even a couple hundred complainers isn’t really that much hate. It’s completely normal and to be expected here on MR forums
”OP thought the responses of the Apple-hate crowd here on MR forums had meaning 🤣
Gruber was just repeating the same rumor. Beyond computers = Watch, HomePod, AirPods, iPad, iPhone, XDR display. All of which scream Ive, including the Mac Pro. I think he had plenty of involvement in all those products, including the iPhones which have gotten thicker every year since the iPhone 6 in 2014.
Ive designs around marketing and engineering requirements. That’s how we get things like the notch, the camera bump and thicker iPhones. What happened to Ive’s so-called “thinness fetish”? If Ive had veto power, there’s no way the iPhone gets thicker five years in a row. Some people like to claim he calls the shots but that’s mostly just a back-handed way to criticize Cook—“only Jobs could keep Ive in control”.
BS. He does what he’s told, like every employee. If marketing wants a thinner MBP to sell to the mobile crowd, Ive and the design group go to work with those requirements. If the pendulum swings too far and they get pushback (complaints) Apple will switch direction. Decisions are made by consensus, not dictated by Ive.
actually it's my main remote. i use apple tv for all of my tv experience daily. so it does suck to have to use that goofy thing every day. like i said, to me the only redeeming quality of the apple tv remote is that it's rechargeable.
I have disliked (actually HATE) the Apple remote since it was changed from the simple button design. It is imprecise and difficult to use. I wish Apple would return to the simple design of the original remote with Siri and volume controls.
I just came back from a Salt Store, the remote is sold out on every Salt Store in Switzerland, the salesman told me. A new batch of remotes is coming by the end of January 2020.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If you are swiping to navigate the interface(unless you are trying to go very far) then you are doing it wrong. You just treat the touchpad like its a d-pad. Touch the left side, go left. Touch the top, go up, etc. If you want to go back 10 seconds in a video, press the left side. As long as you don't actually swipe(unless doing a password, etc), the remote is great.
Again, strange. We don't have any of those problems in our household. It just works. People are different.
I put a square of bright yellow vinyl tape across the bottom for exactly this reason. But I still find myself handling it like a disgruntled spider for fear of touching the trackpad wrong and making something happen I didn’t want.
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Ah the classic “you’re using it wrong”. Fact remains that it’s incredibly easy to graze that touchpad just in the process of handling the thing.
The RCA Universal Remote at Walmart for $10. It even has a four-digit code that you can enter to program it for the Apple TV.
Agreed, I have no issues for it. I figure it's like all things Apple though, you always have a group out there that's going to hate it.
Hmm... I've never seen this device. Interesting. But the Logitech Harmony also controls other AV equipment, and although it doesn't control 'everything' that the ATV remote does, it does control everything else.
But, the industry needs one remote to rule them all, one remote to bind them, one remote to bring them all, and in the darkness SMASH THEM INTO BITS!!! 😆
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I replaced one that cracked after falling on the floor.
Oh, it has NO INDICATION THAT THE BATTERY NEEDS TO BE CHARGED!
It doesn't have any indication that the battery is charged.
And, unlike EVERY remote I own, it is ALWAYS dead!!!
Hate doesn;t come close, AND I have to save it, and use it occasionally because no other remote does everything that the Apple remote does. GRRR...
you’re right that on the remote itself there’s no indicator as to how full/low the battery is.
But if you go into the Settings app on the Apple TV your Siri remote is connected to, there’s a menu in there that will tell you.
And while I agree the Siri Remote isn’t designed well for mass use because too many people have trouble with it. I don’t know how you’re having trouble keeping yours charged. Just leave it plugged in for a few hours and my battery lasts months. Either you’re not leaving it plugged in long enough or you’ve got a defective battery.
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Me: “Hey Siri, turn off the tv.”
Siri: "Playing AC/DC"
Me: cancels
Me: “Hey Siri, turn off the tv.”
Siri: "Calling Mom."
Mom: "I love that you call me so often lately."
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Where's the keyboard?!
Typing is my only real gripe with the ATV remote, swiping on that on-screen keyboard is just super slow and annoying. If someone made a remote replacement with a keyboard, I'd buy it in a flash! With or without a microphone, Siri on ATV has little usefulness anyway.
Typing is my only real gripe with the ATV remote, swiping on that on-screen keyboard is just super slow and annoying. If someone made a remote replacement with a keyboard, I'd buy it in a flash! With or without a microphone, Siri on ATV has little usefulness anyway.
Looks neat, but I don't have significant problems with the bundled Apple remote.
- I like using Siri voice search (which works well in Netflix and BBC iPlayer apps)
- I use the Remote app on my iPhone if typing is needed, or 1Password for logins
- I like using Siri voice search (which works well in Netflix and BBC iPlayer apps)
- I use the Remote app on my iPhone if typing is needed, or 1Password for logins
The iPhone/iPad cannot do IR commands for other devices, so I would still need an actual remote around anyway.
Also, I've tried iPhone/iPad and it is not a good experience. It is hit and miss whether or not I have it with me. Then I have to unlock, launch app, then can finally hit a button. Remotes are always by the TV and work instantly without launching an app.
Wow, text entry is literally the only thing I like on the ATV remote. Using Siri to dictate the keys or entire words is WAY faster than any other remote I've used.
not true. the quick remote app in control center you can get to from the lock screen. Just swipe the top right corner down and open the app in there and it pops up.
It works without unlocking the phone so anyone can use it on your phone.
Its handy if you don't have the remote close by. I don't really change between devices and an IR blaster isn't needed for me. I can control my receiver and appletv from my phone including volume.