Just played around with Yahoo Screens app.. It's sort of "meh". I got excited for a moment about Daily Show and Colbert Report, but all they offer are short 2-5 minute snippets, not full episodes.. Same for ABC News, and the rest of it.
I would like to be able to watch the entire 30 minute newscast. Have zero desire clicking around a bunch of couple of minute long news clips. I feel that all these "sampler" apps do is try to frustrate users into signing up for cable subscription.
Another app deleted from my home screen.
Yep. Unfortunately, I have to agree.
If this was an app from the App Store, I'd place the blame on Yahoo. But it's not. We don't have App Store access (and don't bring up AirPlay, because while it helps, it is also not seamless, it requires that we keep another device next to us while watching TV, and it actually loses connection at times (I notice it particularly when Airplaying photos or personal videos).
What we have is apps that Apple places on our screens, and many of those are next to useless.
There are way too many awkward UI issues still plaguing ATV:
- Scrolling within your own library can be painful, if you have a lot of stuff. Plus, who is the idiot who decided that every season of a show should have its own item? To get to Weeds, I have to scroll through every season of every show I have -- imagine if you have The Simpsons (what is it, 25 seasons!) and one of the endless soaps in there!
- Tiles. If the main screen is all tiles, why can't we have the option of viewing content within categories as tiles? For instance, in TV Shows, we can have a tile for The Simpsons show - when selected, we can see the seasons and then the individual episodes.
- iTunes library auto update. Really, the fact that I cannot set the iTunes library folder to auto-update when I add a new movie or a TV show (not purchased from Apple) is either really poor execution by Apple, or just a really obnoxious way of making it difficult to use any content from outside the walled garden.
- Netflix. Why is it that on every other platform, when I finish episode 1, the screen automatically changes to Episode 2. On ATV, it shows you the Play button for the episode you just finished watching. Plus, on ATV you cannot keep track of watched and unwatched Netflix episodes - if you move up or down the list, you lose your place and have to remember the descriptions (fading the watched episodes, like on other platforms, would be a start).
- Even trying to hide unwanted tiles (like the useless Yahoo) is basically a workaround and not an easy, elegant and intuitive operation.
ATV is a decent product, but it feels half-baked. The only reason it sells (and that I keep mine) is that the competition is weak. But trust me, Google will keep pushing until they get it right, just like they did with Android. And then it will be too late for Apple. Again.
