Onscreen keyboard changed on atv4

[purpleparrotuk]

Is it my imagination or has the search facility in the AppStore changed? It used to have the letters in 1 big row but has now changed to a block of letters like the atv3.

 

[TrueBlou]

This happened to some of us a few days ago as well. But it disappeared after a while and went back to normal. Maybe there're planning on offering an option to switch them at some point n

 

[rshev]

For those interested, it looked like that a few days ago. Now it shows as a single row for me.

 

[chiwaw]

Mmm I noticed the change, but my first gut feeling was that: if the Siri remote is active, use the long bar keyboard. If the Siri remote is not active (using my Logitech Harmony or my MFi game controller) it turned into the grid layout. Assuming they show you the keyboard that works best depending on your current controller.

But maybe it was a simple coincidence and I'm completely wrong. Definitely going to investigate this out when I get home tonight!

 

[zhenya]

Ars Technica claims that it changes when you are not using the Siri remote. Don't feel like programming my cable remote to find out. I like the single line well enough.

 

[chiwaw]

Ars Technica claims that it changes when you are not using the Siri remote. Don't feel like programming my cable remote to find out. I like the single line well enough.

Ah! My gut feeling might have been right then. And that would kind of make sense: the Siri remote is very good at "flicking" toward a direction, but not as good at going around in many direction. So for the Siri remote it makes sense to flick left and right.

But for a game controller or a non-Siri universal remote, using D-Pads, it's much better to navigate in a grid.

Still gonna test that tonight, just to be sure.

 

[leesweet]

Tried this out, and even waking up an ATV4 with a silver remote doesn't get the alphabet to change, at least in the App Store. Anyone had any luck with this? Sounds like other remotes are the answer to the switching, but what's the pattern?

 

[chiwaw]

Alright I can confirm that the keyboard layout depend on whether the Siri remote is "live" or not. But it's tricky to test as even if you are using another remote or controller, your Siri remote remain live for a good while.

I first tested with the Search page in Netflix, Hulu, etc with the Siri remote, and they all had the bar layout. I rebooted my ATV4 and only using my Logitech Harmony it still displayed the keyboard with the bar layout.

I suspected the remote was still linked with the ATV4 despite the reboot, so I put it in a drawer to make sure I don't move it at all and waited for a few hours. Then only using my MFi controller, I went back to check on Netflix, Hulu, etc and they all had the grid layout this time.

So because it's hard to tell if the Siri remote is live or asleep makes the keyboard layout a bit unpredictable, but there you go.

 

[purpleparrotuk]

Thanks. That right I was using my harmony remote when I had the grid layout.

 

[JoeShades]

You get used to the Single row after awhile

 

[mic j]

I had this happen to me a couple days ago, and I was using the Siri remote. When I would swipe to the top the horizontal text bar would flash on the screen, disappear, then be replaced by the grid style. Only did this for 1 day and hasn't happened since.