New Apple TV Hacked to Run Native tvOS Web Browser

Low resolution? The 11" Macbook Air has exactly the same resolution as a 720p television. We're not living in the 90s anymore. There isn't much difference between televisions and proper (albeit lower end) computer monitors anymore... in fact modern televisions usually come with hook ups for computers.

 

I was being sarcastic. You know how Apple is

 

Hotel wifi / hotspot login. Why they haven't built in something for this already I don't know. Sucks having to use a personal router or go thru hoops to use it in hotels.

Plus, because. It's possible to do it, so why not allow it for the people who would actually use 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).

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.

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).

 

Apple said nobody want small.tablet, yet there is iPad mini. Apple said nobody wants styuls, yet there is Apple Pencil. Apple said 3.5 inch is tue perfect, yet there is 5.5 inch iPhone. Apple said nobody want watch video on iPod, there is iPod nano with video playback capability.

Let just wait until Apple release broswer in Apple TV, and you guys will say what?

I like choices, i like to determinr what i want, not Apple telling me what i want.... therefore, i have both iPhone and Android, i have both Mac and Windows. I do want iPhone could not with Android.

 

Actually... it's Mac Mini in writing.

 

Makes new Apple TV a web browser too?

 

That Apple has figured a way to provide a better web UI and experience than what developers can be do simply by (mis)using the current private API.

They supported video by waiting and pioneering new HTML5 content types, not by adding Flash. Saved customers a ton of battery life they weren't even thinking about.

 

Not good logic.

Smartphone/tablet browsing enables browsing away from the desktop. I never choose to browse on portable devices when I have access to my PC. While smartphone browsing may be inferior, it has a purpose. Browsing on an Apple TV would be worse than a desktop, tablet, or smartphone. People already browse the internet on their couches, so unless the Apple TV provides a better browsing experience than a mobile device, it has no reason for being.

This was posted on my iPhone 6, while watching TV

 

I also use my desktop for a lot of tasks because it allows me to sit down and use the best interface with the ergonomics of not straining my neck and just get the job done faster.

However, would I prefer to browse a Facebook app on my TV or use the website on my desktop? I think the former, with voice or keyboard support. I'd prefer it to using my Ipad, too.

But I would also like to plug my Apple TV into my desktop Cinema Display and access my work site, spreadsheets, and iWork documents. I would like to avoid the loss of display quality of Airplay or the Lightning to HDMI adaptor and I would prefer to be able to use a trackpad over touching the Ipad. Indeed, if I could use a trackpad with my Iphone then that would be sufficient but with an Apple TV I could leave it there for my kids at home, or my team to use at the office. It would create a secure and simple way to integrate the Apple ecosystem and, without multiple accounts on the Apple TV, there could be individual logins to the company websites and web apps.

This was posted in a cafe on my Ipad Mini 4 while connected to my Apple Wireless keyboard (you know, the old one with the pairing button)!

 

That's not what it's about. You can plug anything into your TV to use it as a monitor these days, you don't need a "settop box" to do that. It's about the human interface, and these devices have limited access. Game controllers, a little tiny remote control, etc. None of those can do what a browser needs. And that's not even the real problem, I'm sure Apple could let you use a keyboard, although they don't seem to want to with the 4. But, the web is a pointer-based interface, with some typing necessary. The pointer concept is not built into these devices well. I haven't seen the ATV4, but since it is based on iOS, not OSX, I imagine that it has the same issue. Unless your TV is a touchscreen that interacts with the ATV, it doesn't have the capability of a good web experience.

It quite simply isn't made for that. Anything I've seen so far has required a massive compromise.

Just use a computer. Bet you have one. You want browsing on your 50 inch "big" screen? Plug it in. And use the ATV to watch TV. Done.

 

Maybe you shouldn't put words in others' mouths. Just respond with your own thoughts. The answer to this implied question is that a smart phone provides an interface that is at least usable for browsing, touch. Direct touch of the direct screen that is being viewed, plus a fairly usable built-in keyboard. Does the webTV, I mean AppleTV provide such an interface? By my reading, its main interface is Siri. When Siri can surf as well as a computer, I'll change my mind.

Congrats. What does that have to do with the interface? When you browse on it, what device and interface are you using?

 

If Apple allowed BlueTooth for ATV/tvOS, one could use a keyboard and a track pad. With minimal cost, no less... Like I said, it just seems a restrictive to allow ATV to do much of what iPhones/Pods/Pads can do but not browse the web, which is probably what most people spend most of their time doing.

 

Apple said nobody wanted a 7 inch tablet (android tablets were 7 inches widescreen back then) and they were right. You won't ever see a 7inch widescreen tablet.

 

Which costs about $400 more?

 

I think nepalisherpa does, and that makes it a valid request. Feel free to not use it if it happens.

 

If you think looking at a tiny iPhone screen is BETTER than looking at a 93" screen on the wall, well there's probably not much I can do to convince you that having a browser system available in the media room is a good idea. Do you enjoy watching movies on your iPhone too? Some do that. I cannot fathom it. I'd rather use and old iPod Touch as a keyboard/trackpad for the AppleTV running a browser. Buying a NEW iPad to browse costs 2-3x as much as the AppleTV. That's not a good use of money to get a smaller screen. But I could potentially use an old outdated slow iPod Touch as a remote & keyboard for the new AppleTV for only the cost of the new Apple TV.

A better "logic" question would be why someone like yourself appears to want to actively stop (as in arguing against it) offering a browser OPTION that no one on earth would make you personally use. How would a browser offering harm you? If not, then why are you wasting your time arguing against something others might want or enjoy? Think about it.

 

I do not watch movies on my phone, I have a 60" ISF calibrated plasma for that.

My point is that browsing the web on a TV isn't a good experience for most people, as most people don't have access to a 93" TV. I would much prefer browsing the web on my "tiny phone" to read articles. Who wants to read articles from across the room, even on a 93" TV? I won't. I like reading things close in distance to my face. If you can't see that, there's not much I can do to convince you that browsing on a TV is a secondary experience.

In your example you use a device, the iPod Touch, to help browse the web. If Apple does create a web browser, the only way for it to be useful is with an external device. While I would welcome, with open arms, a web browser on my TV with an iPhone at control, it's understandable why it doesn't exist yet. If Apple requires the need for a device that doesn't come in the Apple TV box, then it shouldn't be at the forefront of what they're doing. There's many problems that need to be addressed on the Apple TV before enabling a web browser.

While it may appear that I'm actively trying to stop the creation of a TV browser, I'm not. I just think that if I'm sitting at my couch...I'm watching TV. If I'm watching TV...I'll use the iPad I already own to browse the web. I'm not saying I wouldn't enjoy a "proper" browser, I would. I simply quoted was Jobs by saying: If you can't make something better than what we already have, what's the point?

It's inevitable that we'll get a TV web browser eventually, and I'll be sure to use it. Will it replace what I'm already doing today at my TV? No, it won't. But at certain moments it could be useful.

 

I am not sure how we know what 'most people' experience using web TV browsers, but as noted above this probably has to do with the engineering of those browsers. My expectation is that Apple would do it better than Sony, Panasonic, LG, etc., provided that is what the company wants. Even if they didn't, third party developers could. But Apple do not want that, because a tvOS web browser would cannibalise sales of MacBooks, desktop Macs and Mac-mini's. I don't buy for a single second that Apple is precluding browsing because it cannot be done well.

 

It's not like AirPlay from my iPhone, iPad, or MacBook isn't a way better experience anyway. I wouldn't want to attempt to surf the web using that remote.

 

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If it had a browser it would make it a viable travel streaming companion. So many hotels wifi require a browser to get signed on.

 

That's a bit different. The Nintendo Switch has a browser which it opens when you connect to a wifi network that requires you to visit a page before you can use the network. There's no other way to launch the browser, and it's really not designed to do anything but display that kind of page.

I wouldn't be too surprised if Apple already did that with the Apple TV.

 

ok guys its time to stop browsing threads on like page 15. ffs

 

Every time Apple Lunch it's new product, I was always amazed on how more advanced they get by day. It's just that apple was so innovative in transforming their products. kudos Apple.