"If there’s going to be a third category of device, it’s going to have to be better at these kinds of tasks than a laptop or a smartphone. Otherwise, it has no reason for being."
- Steve Jobs on the iPad release
If you can't create a great experience for browsing, don't do it.
By your logic, a web browser should have never been created for a smart phone because it's definitely and inferior experience to a desktop web browser in almost every respect (and you can't get yourself killed trying to surf on a desktop like you can in a car or walking in front of a bus).
There's a reason why people don't normally browse the web using their laptops or desktop computers, but sitting 10 feet or more away from a very large monitor. How often do you do that? If it's so fine, why not more often?
I've got a 93" screen in my home theater room. I think browsing at 12 feet away looks just fine, thank you.
You have to keep in mind some of us aren't planning on doing all our web browsing on a television, but there sure as hell are times when I'd like to bring it up briefly to look something up. Right now I try to use my iPod Touch 4G for that (since it's wired by my recliner to act as a Remote for ATV in my living room with the 47" plasma) but the damn thing CHOKES on almost every other web site due to massive advertising and other garbage content that it doesn't have enough RAM to display properly. ALL iOS devices have this problem sooner or later because they're designed to be under-powered and obsolete within a year or two so you'll buy the next model. "Mobile" browsing just keeps piling on the ads and garbage to take advantage of the faster model as well, ensuring it'll be obsolete. That could be true of the new AppleTV as well since it's a glorified iOS device, but it could at least be equipped with more RAM, etc. than a typical iOS device if Apple wanted to bother. Lack of RAM is the primary reason the iPod Touch 4G crashes (ironically my 1G iPod Touch is SLOW AS HELL but it doesn't crash because it doesn't even TRY to load all that newer crap that the 4G chokes on).
Now you can suggest I walk across the house to look it up or I could buy a newer iPod Touch to look something up (I've got a 5G but I don't keep it by the couch; that's something for old worn out ones to use as remotes), but I'm looking at what? At least $200 for a base model iPod Touch? Isn't that the price of the high-end AppleTV? Wouldn't it make 100x more sense to have a web browser on that new Apple TV that I could control FROM the old iPod Touch 4G (acting as a keyboard and trackpad combination or perhaps just the keyboard since the remote can already act as a trackpad) than have to buy TWO devices to do that and spend at LEAST $400???
I'm sorry, but you can try and defend Apple NOT allowing a web browser until the cows come home, but for some of us, we'd LIKE to have one even if it's not as good as browsing on a desktop completely for convenience sake. It's certainly better to browse in terms of readability on a 1080p full size screen than a tiny arse little iPhone screen.
And how often do you browse the web on your laptop or desktop computer using a tiny 1 inch touchpad and no keyboard. What a great UI! Not.
So now you're insulting the entire AppleTV unit remote? Oh yes you are! I agree. It's a stupid design for entering text and the like. Voice control COULD make up for some of those limitations but they seem to have implemented that half-baked at best so far. Of course, they COULD have implemented a pull-out little keyboard like Blackberry devices have for text input and it'd be a whole different ballgame, but the people at Apple are too stupid to think of something like that.
Of course, the BEST remote for an AppleTV is an old iPod Touch that's not good for much else. I keep one wired (so I don't have to worry about it's old battery) right next to my recliner. It operates XBMC for me as well. Airplay could work in reverse if Apple willed it and you could see AppleTV's display on your iPhone/iPod/iPad and control the whole thing from there. That would be pretty sweet and a LOT of Apple users have older iPod Touches and iPhones not being used for much that they could keep for such uses. It would re purpose them very well indeed.
More to the point, what's the harm in letting people have the OPTION to use a web browser? If it sucks for YOU, then don't use it! Spending time arguing against it just to defend Apple for no reason other than pure fanaticism is absurd to some of us (and yes that IS 100% what you're doing because there is no other logical reason to even try and argue against it other than you want to defend their actions to this point).
