I just got a Roku TV. With it running the Plex client for my iTunes music and movies, and plenty of streaming apps, I have no reason to buy a new Apple TV (I had planned to go from gen 2 to 4K). I had no idea Roku was this competitive, and it saddens me when I think about how far ahead the Apple TV was when I bought it. It was also the gateway to everything else Apple that I own. If I had seen this first I might still be on different PC, phone, and tablet platforms.
Not sure what you prefer in the Roku over Apple, but you clearly don't use AirPlay, iCloud, iTunes, or any of Apples other services. The ATV 4K is the best of Apple integration in a streaming media server. I wouldn't trade it for a Roku, which I've had, at all.
I've used Roku devices, they have clunky UI/UX if you ask me. But, if you don't use airplay iCloud or iTunes, or don't have a 4K TV, then whatever floats your boat. Maybe a new Roku is better than the ATV2, but, the ATV 4K is a far cry from the ATV2.
One thing, if you have a 4K TV, you won't be able to play iTunes content in 4K. Apple does not allow downloads of 4K content, only streaming via the ATV 4K, and, if you have HD iTunes content already, if it's now (or becomes) available in 4K, you'll get a free upgrade (from most content providers except Disney).
People seem to love or hate the ATV siri remote, but, I'm in the middle, I like it, once I read some tips and tricks online for the ATV(4) and found out how much you can do. One thing I love is when you pause, you can then very quickly scroll through the content, also w/thumbnail of the picture in most cases, by sliding sideways across the remote to find your place, press play/pause again and it'll pick up there pretty quickly (I have ATV 4th gen and slow internet).
The ATV4K, having the A10X processor, from what I've read from people who own it, is very fast.
This is just so wrong.
hard deadlines = more specific focus on targets to be resolved or completed. Dedicate the resources (people, technology, research, and testing) to get 'er done, and done right. Plain and simple. With over 20'000 employees and more to come, I find it VERY strange Apple is not resolving bug fixes faster or more succinctly to correction the first time they're tackled.
Sure there have been a few unseen surprises this last quarter: finding out about throttling set back a few items, along with Spectre and Meltdown.
There was just some sort of better quality between OSX and iOS when they each had their own programmer/Executive management separate from one another. I dislike Federighi and my reasons are sound ... yet I feel with MacOS, iOS, and now head for Siri he's being burned out or spread too thin.
I applaud the great new features iOS has been getting in iOS 11, along with specific features to iPad (even if I'd like to see them in iPhone), and seeing more parity for features across both. I just feel this can be done in tandem without so much a payload on Federighi and his team. Unless of course his team is exponentially expanding yet with great internal insight and input for better features and fixes in design and implementation of features going forward.
Ex:
Let Iovine lead the music business, don't let him lead the design of the iOS Music app or the MacOS Music app. Let him make suggestions of where and how features are accessed ... yet let a diehard music lover that walks and/or takes public transit to Apple, eats and sleeps music with headphones one and even has his morning shower, sex, and bedtime playlists currated every week work on the actual UI design and implementation.
- why is Shuffle, Replay/Replay1 so deeply hidden?
another example:
Sonos .. you make speakers and music that's it! Why the hell when I play my playlist from my phone (I don't subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes Match), is songs being played from my playlist for onther 60 seconds then auto skipped to the next song on iPhone battery power with over 40% battery?!! Grrrr!
I don't drive a car, not until summer this year and that's due to the fear of my heavy right foot and speed demon past. I live and die with music just about every moment of each day of my life for just about 30yrs and one of the MAIN reasons I'm sticking to iPhone over any other phone/platform, yet Music UI app has sucked lately!
I like what I see in AirPlay2 just not looking forward to iOS12.
Fall 2018 iOS 12 will debut. I think we'll see a staggard release of features like what we've been seeing with iOS 11 going forward (ex Apple Pay Cash, iMessages in iCloud, AirPlay 2, etc).
I have to disagree. When you add features and have a hard deadline, every year the same time frame, it's just not going to allow for the quality to be there. I don't think it's a management issue, is a known fact in any business. I'm sure what I wrote didn't come across quite right, as, like I said, I took it out of context, and by doing that, I may be oversimplifying a bit, but, the reality is, you can't rush quality.
It took 16 months to go from iPhone 4 to the 4s. Granted, that was because they were working on the iPhone 5 but couldn't overcome battery drain issue (rumor has it), but, it wasn't out a year after the last iPhone. This did reset the timeframe into the holiday season, which, I think is a bit of a mixed good/bad thing, really.
I think that things are more complicated today then they were when the iPhone first came out, from a security standpoint especially. But, the more technology advances the more complex it gets, you can't just keep it on a set schedule and not expect things to come up like some of the security issues over the last few months. At some point, you need to give it more time or cut a new feature out. Obviously they cut out AirPlay 2, it was in the iOS 11 betas, but pulled after, I think it was beta 3. Whatever issue there was, they had to delay the HomePod because of it. So, yeah, they sometimes change the schedule to maintain quality, but, in this case, it's more about not being able to produce the function in time. I still think they need to get off the yearly schedule for everything, it's just going to get worse.
As far as managing over multiple departments, well, you have overlapping features in iOS, macOS, tvOS, etc., something that didn't exist a few years ago, and, keep in mind, all of them are based on the same core OS.
I listen to music more in my car than anywhere. As far as the Music app goes, I'm with you, it's not the best design, and something is inherently wrong with it, I swear it holds my iPhone captive at times, causing Maps to not update and other things to not work, like it's hogging the data stream or something. I've had issues with other apps that are sometimes solved by closing the Music app. One of my issues is with iTunes, I created playlists and if you need to redo your computer or iTunes for whatever reason, you may lose your playlists, and you can no longer import things from iPhone to iTunes, ...they do need someone managing just the Music department!
