Hello Everyone,
Here is the text of the cNet review of the new Apple TV. The link to the
original article is located at the end of the text.
Enjoy,
Mark
Apple TV (2015) cNet Review
The smoothest streaming TV today, powerful potential tomorrow
The Good The new Apple TV delivers the most polished video experience today,
with speedy reactions and a familiar yet attractive interface. It has the
best remote on the market. Siri's voice search makes finding stuff to watch
even easier, with search results pulled from numerous services beyond
iTunes. The selection of TV-based apps is very good, and AirPlay can be used
for unsupported apps.
The Bad Apple TV costs more than similar devices like the Roku, Amazon Fire
TV and Chromecast for basically the same core functions. There's no
dedicated app for Amazon or any other a la carte video service beyond
iTunes. Non-entertainment apps aren't very compelling yet.
The Bottom Line The new Apple TV's awesome remote and voice control make it
one of the best entertainment devices, especially for anyone who already
owns plenty of Apple gadgets.
Visit manufacturer site for details.
8.4 Overall
Value
7.0
Design
10.0
Ecosystem
9.0
Features
9.0
Performance
10.0
Editors' note: This review refers to the US version. Some details, in
particular available video-streaming apps, will vary in different
territories.
I have a confession to make. I'm an Android guy.
I've always owned Samsung phones and Windows computers, and tell family
members to get Amazon Fire tablets. I bought a Mac in college but ended up
paying a fortune for it as part of a student loan program and never bought
one again. While my work laptop is a MacBook (a recent switch), the only
Apple product I've spent my own money on in the last 15 years is an iPad for
my wife, and now it gets used mostly to entertain the kids during car rides.
But some of the smartest people I know swear by Apple products, and after
playing with the new Apple TV for the last few days, I can see why. I've
tested just about every other box and stick from Roku, Amazon and Google
over the years, not to mention countless Smart TV systems and plenty of game
consoles. All of them can stream videos from services like Netflix, Hulu and
YouTube to your television, but none feels as nice as the new Apple TV.
The remote is simply the best I've ever used. Equipped with a responsive,
thumb-sized touchpad it flies through menus, lists of TV show thumbnails and
videos themselves, putting conventional cursor-based controls to shame. And
voice search -- I guess you Apple people call it "Siri" for some reason --
works very well, and can do a lot more than just find stuff to watch.
The new Apple TV is not perfect. It costs more than comparable devices --
always my main gripe about Apple products. It lets you play plenty of games,
but titles originally designed for phones and tablets aren't necessarily as
appealing on a big screen, and most work best with a third-party game
controller. And it galls me that the Apple TV remote is so good, I'd have to
keep it around in addition to my system-mastering Harmony rather than
consigning it to a drawer like my other clickers.
My main issue though is lack of a real app for Amazon Video, my
second-favorite streaming video service after Netflix. I don't know who to
blame, Amazon or Apple or the streaming gods themselves, but regardless, it
doesn't make any sense, especially since there's an Amazon app for iPhones
and iPads. With Amazon's recent decision to boot Apple TV and Chromecast
devices from its store, I don't expect an Amazon app for Apple TV anytime
soon.
If you're an Apple fan who owns a lot of TV shows, movies and games on Apple
devices already, the new Apple TV is absolutely worth the money. For people
like me, however, it's a tougher sell. I like Roku better overall for its
price-savvy search and wider app selection including Amazon, Sling TV and
Spotify, as well as its more affordable hardware.
To get the most out of Apple TV you need to be invested already in the Apple
universe, with games, TV shows and movies you've purchased from iTunes and
the App Store. That's a shame since it offers the best streaming experience
today, and more potential tomorrow once app developers go to town finding
ways to exploit the big screen and that slick remote. But if the previous
Apple TV was any indication, this one's only going to grow more appealing.
Pricing information: The new Apple TV comes in in two versions: $149 for the
32GB model, and $199 for the 64GB model. The previous Apple TV, first
released in 2012, remains on sale at $69, £59 and AU$109. In the UK, the new
model costs £129 for the 32GB and £169 for 64GB, while in Australia they
cost AU$269 and AU$349. For most people I recommend the 32GB version. See "A
choice of sizes:
32GB vs. 64GB" below for details.
It's been more than three and a half years since the first Apple TV went on
sale, but Apple didn't break the physical mold. Glossy edges, rounded
corners, a matte top with the requisite logo -- the two black boxes look
basically identical. The new one is 0.4 inch taller, weighs 5.4 ounces more
and felt like a solid brick when I pulled it out of the box.
In every important way, the new Apple TV feels better than the old one to
use. It starts with the new remote. It has a touchpad, a few more buttons
and a familiar mic icon to evoke Siri, the name for Apple's disembodied
female voice assistant (DFVA). Unlike Siri on a phone (or Alexa, the DFVA on
Amazon's Echo and Fire TV) Siri has no actual voice on Apple TV. Her replies
are limited to words and visuals that appear on the screen, but she usually
responds accurately and can perform some useful tricks.
The remote's touchpad is sensitive and fast, with just the right amount of
friction, and the perfect size for one-thumb operation. It took a second to
realize I had to click it to select anything, rather than just tap, but
immediately afterward I was blowing through menus, zooming across thumbnails
and navigating quicker than with any plodding click-based control. The menus
let you choose a tracking speed. As someone who loves living dangerously, I
chose "fast."
And those menus look different too. A clean white canvas to fill with the
app icons you know from your phone, the new Apple TV home page allows nearly
full customization. One of the first things I did after installing
everything I wanted was to move Netflix, Hulu and HBO to the top row, along
with Disney Junior for the kids, and move iTunes down a few rows since I
don't buy many TV shows and movies from Apple. The top-row app you select
expands above to show content within (as chosen by the app itself).
The old Apple TV came with numerous screen savers which appear after a
period of inactivity. On the new one, for now, you just have a choice of
your own photos or something called Aerial (above). Trust me, you should go
with Aerial. It's a stunning collection of cityscapes, landscapes and
landmarks shot in slow motion, and looks so good you might feel reluctant to
ever turn your TV off.
To fill Apple TV's white canvas you'll head to the app store, which is at
heart the biggest difference between the old and the new Apple TV. And again
it feels a lot like the store on an iPhone or iPad, with fewer choices (for
now) and bigger icons.
The Purchased tab lists all of the apps you've installed on other devices
that are also compatible with Apple TV. You download and install them
individually, picking and choosing which ones you like (although I did wish
for a big "Install all" button). In most cases if you've already paid for
the app or game, it will be available for free on the Apple TV too -- but
the decision to grandfather earlier purchases or charge you again is left up
to each app's publisher. You'll have to sign in individually to each app
that requires it of course, but once that happens your Apple TV will be
fully armed and operational.
During my test period, the store had nearly every TV-centric app available
on the old box, from Netflix to PBS to NFL. It also offers most of the
company's staples like Apple Music, Photos (which draws from your iCloud and
shared photos from friends) and Computers (which can access Macs on your
home network to share iTunes libraries).
That's just the top row of the new app store, however. Others are devoted to
games, apps for kids and something called "Best New Apps," which gathers in
the miscellany like Periscope, QVC, Zillow and Airbnb. I'm sure new
categories will be added very soon as the app store expands, and during my
test period new games and apps appeared every day. Apple says "hundreds" of
apps will be available when the store opens.
The first thing to know about gaming on the Apple TV is that you can always
use the included remote; you don't need to buy a separate controller. The
second thing is that with many games, a controller simply works better.
Most of the titles I played worked fine with the included touchpad remote,
and there's something to be said about gaming with one thumb. I easily could
hold my infant son while I played Crossy Road, for example.
That addictive chicken-smasher, with its simple controls and graphics,
played beautifully and looked great on the big screen. So did JetPack
Joyride and Bandland, both of which mainly consist of timed jumping.
Slightly more complex controls worked well at times, for example steering on
Does Not Commute (tapping either side of the pad) or swinging a bat with
Beat Sports (swiping to move a bit, and swinging the controller like a
Nintendo Wii). Where the touchpad controller failed for me was with quick
movements requiring precise directions, like flying the ship in Geometry
Wars, or directing the character to move across the map or attack something
in Oceanhorn and Transistor.
One of the titles with the most complex controls at launch is Galaxy on
Fire: Manticore Rising (above), exclusive to Apple TV for now. A space-based
arcade shooter, it incorporates the remote's position as well as swipes and
clicks on the touchpad. It played surprisingly well considering all that,
and again only required one hand.
Two of the driving games, Asphalt 8 and Beach Buggy Racing, required me to
put down my kid and hold the controller horizontally, like a steering wheel.
Both were pretty forgiving and fun, but I definitely missed the precision of
the controller.
I tried most of those games with a compatible controller, the Steel Series
Stratus XL, and in most cases I found it more precise and responsive. But
for casual games and quick one-off entertainment jaunts, it's pretty great
to just pick up the remote and click.
Graphics, for what these games are, looked very impressive across the board.
Even simple games like Crossy Road have been tuned up for the big screen,
and higher-end titles like Galaxy on Fire and Transistor looked particularly
good.
In true Apple fashion the box comes in two otherwise identical flavors, one
with 32GB and one with 64GB of onboard storage. Unlike the Amazon Fire TV,
Nvidia Shield and Roku 4 with their SD card slots, there's no way to add
storage yourself if you need it.
If you're really into gaming on Apple TV, then the more expensive version
with twice the storage might be worthwhile. But people used to filling up
their phones and tablets with photos, videos and games should realize that
Apple TV accesses photos and video via the cloud, so they don't need to be
stored on the device itself.
That leaves games, and Apple TV's operating system, TVOS, uses an a
aggressive storage management system. It mandates small initial downloads
(just 200MB per app) augmented by "on-demand resources," little chunks of
data that can be downloaded quickly and deleted at need if the device fills
up. The end result is that only very heavy gamers should expect to need the
64GB version.
For a comprehensive list of Apple TV's current TV and audio apps versus the
competition, check out our comparison chart.
Games and miscellaneous apps are neat, but most of the hours on the new
Apple TV will be logged watching TV. And with the glaring exception of
Amazon, the Apple TV is as good as any TV-based streamer for video app
access. Yes, you can use AirPlay from your iPad, iPhone or computer to watch
Amazon or use other unsupported apps like Sling TV, Pandora and Spotify, but
I'd much rather have a "native" app for those services.
Original Article:
http://www.cnet.com/products/apple-tv-2015/?ftag=CAD1acfa04&bhid=22694667381
686839172315209628767
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