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The remote app needs to be redesigned so that it, in some way, mirrors what's on your TV... You shouldn't even need to look at the tv at all to brows content and control it.
It should be released immediately specially for entering the password when buying stuff as well as leverage the TouchID functionality.
Siri can't do that yet.
 
Just like the apple watch, all these developers rush to have day 1 apps, 99% of them are garbage
 
This Apple TV is the first Apple product I really want to return. The only thing stopping me from doing that is the 15% restocking fee Apple Online Store charges me if I return anything to them not because it's defective. How can this be legal? But that's the situation I have in Hong Kong.

And no, I didn't want to return the Apple Watch, despite it having so many negative reviews.

The Apple TV is truly useless at this stage.

For anyone who's still thinking about whether you should buy the Apple TV or not, take my advice, don't buy it, unless there's significant change in the software. Don't repeat my mistake of pre-ordering it - the thing just changed to Preparing to Shipment before the mediocre reviews came up.
 
They have had plenty of time to get with developers to put out a more polished product.
My other point is, that they released a product that was buggy. There was no shame in delaying the final product to make sure you have a more polished product to put out. And to allow more time for devs to do their thing also.
I guess my point is that since the same two points you're making have been made following literally every single Apple product/service/OS I've seen launched, why were your expectations that the Apple TV would somehow be different?

WatchKit was the only SDK I can think that was made available to developers well in advance of the public launch of the App Store. IIRC, the first iPhone and iPad SDKs were only given to developers 1-2 months before the App Store for those products launched. So to me, developers getting 1.5 months with the tVOS SDK for the launch is par for the course.

My expectation is that Apple launches will go as Apple launches have always gone. Which, from my history of watching the other devices, is that new App Stores will take months, if not years, before there are a lot of truly good apps.

I guess you're approaching it from a glass-half-full perspective. Maybe one day they'll make the changes to launch something that's not buggy, or wouldn't have been better if held back for another month or two. My hat's off to you for keeping that faith. Personally, I don't think the angst and frustration that comes from it (based on the posts of many in this thread) is worth it.
 
This Apple TV is the first Apple product I really want to return. The only thing stopping me from doing that is the 15% restocking fee Apple Online Store charges me if I return anything to them not because it's defective. How can this be legal? But that's the situation I have in Hong Kong.

And no, I didn't want to return the Apple Watch, despite it having so many negative reviews.

The Apple TV is truly useless at this stage.

For anyone who's still thinking about whether you should buy the Apple TV or not, take my advice, don't buy it, unless there's significant change in the software. Don't repeat my mistake of pre-ordering it - the thing just changed to Preparing to Shipment before the mediocre reviews came up.


Truly useless? Slightly overstating it is it not. What? It doesn't play videos, or music, or games, or anything else Apple said it would?

The reality is some people had expectations based on no real facts. The Apple TV does everything Apple said it would.

And there will be a significant change in the software, this is Apple. Remember them, the people who released a product that couldn't even run its own apps until version 2.0 of the software.
 
tvOS apps are dead in the water until Apple adds a realistic and useable way to browse the App Store. If the app isn't "featured" the only way to browse is to search each letter of the alphabet. Are we serious with this?

Agreed, it's a terrible way to organize (or not organize?) things.
 
Agreed, it's a terrible way to organize (or not organize?) things.


I honestly believe they have deliberately left out the categories and so on until a week or two after launch to mask the comparative lack of apps available at launch compared to the competition.
 
I honestly believe they have deliberately left out the categories and so on until a week or two after launch to mask the comparative lack of apps available at launch compared to the competition.

It will be interesting to see how often Apple updates tvOS. If they go a full year without making major updates, like iOS, that is going to be truly disappointing.
 
It will be interesting to see how often Apple updates tvOS. If they go a full year without making major updates, like iOS, that is going to be truly disappointing.

that's definitely not going to happen. We already know there's a Siri update coming early next year and I'd be surprised if there wasn't an update before then. Or at least some more improvements along with the Siri update.
 
Well I've just spent the afternoon with my daughter playing games. It's no XBox, but then I'm not much of a gamer. But you know what, I am very excited by the possibilities. This Apple TV is everything the old one was, which is great, but the potential for it to deliver social gaming and more shouldn't be underestimated. This thing will sell, and not just for its TV content.
 
Not at all. I'm saying it's not beyond Apple to control the end-user experience right down to the packaging in which they sell other vendor's products within their stores. Packaging is as much a trademark of a product as anything else. Look at Apple -- you see a clean white box and you know it's Apple. Hermes: that trademarked orange box. Must kill Apple to put those boxes on their store shelves. But it stands out, something outside vendors don't have the luxury of anymore.

Why they wouldn't exert similar control over their apps is not unthinkable then, especially when they already dictate what an App can and cannot do, despite the ability to otherwise do it, or not.
 
So you're trying to make the point that they should do the same in their App Stores? Really?
I wonder if most of these media content apps are just a port from TV 3? Aside from HBO and maybe Showtime they all have basically the exact same design. Maybe that was the easiest way to get something out there on day one. Gruber said he liked the app icons. I don't see what the big deal is. It's the CBS logo on a plain light blue background. The ABC logo is a fugly gold and brown with an iOS 6 style logo. I guess they don't need to be anything special but I'm not sure why Gruber thinks they're so great.
 
Really.. Apple hasn't updated it's Remote Ap in some time. I don't think they ever thought it was very important.

For me, I never really cared for the remote ap on the ATV3. This new device, though? I think the Ap could be a very useful second remote. Maybe THAT is why they haven't released an AP for the ATV4... Perhaps they want to just sell as many 2nd Siri Remotes as possible, at $70 each, before they offer us a free alternative.
A long time ago I read that the remote app was developed by one or two people within apple as a side project. There was an article on it I believe a few years ago. Having bringing that up I do see it being revamped but my guess is they're testing the following: iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch versions of the remote along with all the different screen sizes. I think they're doing it that way to possibly make the app more than what it was since Apple TV is no longer a "hobby" so most likely making big changes to how it works on each device.
 
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I wonder if most of these media content apps are just a port from TV 3? Aside from HBO and maybe Showtime they all have basically the exact same design. Maybe that was the easiest way to get something out there on day one. Gruber said he liked the app icons. I don't see what the big deal is. It's the CBS logo on a plain light blue background. The ABC logo is a fugly gold and brown with an iOS 6 style logo. I guess they don't need to be anything special but I'm not sure why Gruber thinks they're so great.


I think a lot of them and a lot of devs in general have taken a, get it out the door and improve it later approach, rather than spend time refining the products.

But considering Apple does much the same these days, can we really hold it against them. I suppose it's better to have something than nothing. But it would be nice to get back to the days when a product was properly finished before it was put in the hands of paying customers.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining as such, I love my Apple TV and I'm looking forward to what's coming once it's full potential is used.
 
I think a lot of them and a lot of devs in general have taken a, get it out the door and improve it later approach, rather than spend time refining the products.

But considering Apple does much the same these days, can we really hold it against them. I suppose it's better to have something than nothing. But it would be nice to get back to the days when a product was properly finished before it was put in the hands of paying customers.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining as such, I love my Apple TV and I'm looking forward to what's coming once it's full potential is used.
Two products now from Eddy Cue that went out the door half baked. Cook needs to do something about that. Bring in someone who can do the job or reduce Eddy's areas of responsibility so he can focus on fewer things and get them right.
 
Two products now from Eddy Cue that went out the door half baked. Cook needs to do something about that. Bring in someone who can do the job or reduce Eddy's areas of responsibility so he can focus on fewer things and get them right.
Good point!

It seems that the recent troubles Apple has encountered all came from Eddy Cue's department.
 
Two products now from Eddy Cue that went out the door half baked. Cook needs to do something about that. Bring in someone who can do the job or reduce Eddy's areas of responsibility so he can focus on fewer things and get them right.

Well I don't know the guys workload and I've never worked with him to pass judgment. But something at Apple has definitely slipped a little over the past couple of years.

I still like the Apple TV, I'd still buy it. But just in general, having been an Apple guy for quite some time now, something doesn't seem to be completely right at Apple. Success aside, when it comes to their hardware and software launches, they're just not quite firing on all cylinders like they used to.
 
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Well I don't know the guys workload and I've never worked with him to pass judgment. But something at Apple has definitely slipped a little over the past couple of years.

I still like the Apple TV, I'd still buy it. But just in general, having been an Apple guy for quite some time now, something doesn't seem to be completely right at Apple. Success aside, when it comes to their hardware and software launches, they're just not quite firing on all cylinders like they used to.
I love my iPhone 6s and iPad Air 2 and I haven't had any issues with my Watch. Apple Music on the other hand was not ready for prime time and TV seems half baked as well. Eddy is in control of a lot of things, probably too much on his plate. Cook would be wise to take some of it from him so he can focus on polishing Apple Music and TV.
 
I love my iPhone 6s and iPad Air 2 and I haven't had any issues with my Watch. Apple Music on the other hand was not ready for prime time and TV seems half baked as well. Eddy is in control of a lot of things, probably too much on his plate. Cook would be wise to take some of it from him so he can focus on polishing Apple Music and TV.


Quite possibly that could be true. I love all of my iOS devices, but they are a pretty mature product line now just getting incremental updates. The Apple Watch when it launched (yes, I was a day 1 purchaser) didn't even run its own software, instead relying on an iPhone until version 2.0. And as much as I love the Apple TV, there are some omissions at launch that have surprised me.

I just don't think it was as bad as this several years ago. It wasn't always perfect by any means, but it was better.
 
I love my iPhone 6s and iPad Air 2 and I haven't had any issues with my Watch. Apple Music on the other hand was not ready for prime time and TV seems half baked as well. Eddy is in control of a lot of things, probably too much on his plate. Cook would be wise to take some of it from him so he can focus on polishing Apple Music and TV.
I was a fan of streaming services like Spotify since 2 to 3 years ago, then Apple Music came, I went with the free trial and canceled the Spotify subscription. But Apple Music was so bad I just didn't continue my subscription after the trial expired. Now I just go back to the old way of downloading only the music I like physically to my phone (without DRM!).

I love my Apple Watch, but only because I got the more expensive SS version with Link Bracelet. I don't quite like the look of the Aluminum version personally. I understand why so many people were put off by the price.
 
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I actually like Apple Music, I've had no issues with it since I started using it on launch day. I've tried a lot of them. Spotify, Deezer, Google, Amazon, Sony when it existed, just to name a few. And Apple Music has so far been the only one that's been completely reliable for me and my family. So I'm sticking with it.
 
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