Tell that to my friend who goes into fits of rage, yelling alternately at his Harmony Remote and Roku Box in frustration trying to rewind/fast-forward.
Apple solves that problem in multiple ways:
- touchpad, which makes "scrubbing" a dream
- enforcing UI standards (different Roku apps implement rewind/forward in different ways, and some are more or less performant at it than others)
- you don't have to awkwardly keep the remote pointed at the box while operating the remote (because it connects via Bluetooth)
I do have to say, I wouldn't mind having directional buttons as well. The remote seems a tad too sensitive navigating icons, etc.
I actually normally use the remote app on my iPad. But getting annoyed at the new iOS 12 "feature" requiring me to constantly choose my one and only Apple TV...
Your friend's situation could be just a poorly designed remote and/or app.
I have a Roku, and I hate the rewind/FFW on it for some apps.
But, this doesn't mean Apple solved any problems with the D-pad, because the D-pad works great with tvOS.
I use an IR remote all the time with the ATV, and I do not have those issues.
An issue with the touch pad and scrubbing is that sometimes it scrubs when it is not supposed to scrub. Sometimes the 10 sec forward or back doesn't work either.
I love the scrubbing feature of the touch pad, but that is the only benefit I see over a D-pad. The scrubbing feature isn't worth all the problems the touch pad causes.
I hate having to manually enter passwords (the UI also makes this even worse), I hate playing platform games with the touch pad, I hate the endless swiping when scrolling through large lists when a dimple button press down should work, and there is plenty of other things.
I will say that I love the battery life of the Siri Remote and love Siri when it works as I intended it to, but overall, I think it is a bad design.
As for forcing UI standards on tvOS, the YouTube app is horrible with the Siri Remote ever since the big redesign, in my experience.
- you don't have to awkwardly keep the remote pointed at the box while operating the remote (because it connects via Bluetooth)
Having a D-pad and/or more physical buttons instead of a touch pad wouldn't prevent the remote from being Bluetooth.