Really, you could do worse than the Apple TV (like the ridiculously redundant 12.9-inch iPad Pro). It's a bit expensive, but at least it's flexible right?
Of all the announcements at this year’s iPhone launch last night, just one got my attention. The new fourth generation Apple TV. Now let me get one thing out of the way: I’m absolutely not an Apple fan. In fact, I regularly find myself, feet staunchly planted, in the opposite camp. Year after year I look on incredulously as hordes pour into Apple stores to upgrade to the latest iPhone, and smack my head as someone expounds to me the benefits of owning a MacBook instead of a Windows or Linux PC. But this time is different.
The reason is that I wholeheartedly believe Apple has finally taken one of their products in the right direction. No, the Apple TV is not the first of its kind, but it’s moving in a positive direction. Firstly, Apple has optimised the device for living room usage. A deep Siri integration, and Universal Search are both great ideas. Sure, it might feel a little odd to talk to your television, but it’s a hell of a lot better than trying to type with a point and click remote, when you’re searching for a particular movie or show.
And then there’s the gaming focus. Granted it’s still in its infancy, but I believe the Apple TV can go great places with this. As we predicted yesterday, the new Apple TV has an upgraded processor, the A8 from the iPhone 6, as well as a new remote with a touchpad and motion control. Let’s be honest, it’s basically the Wiimote, but that’s not a bad thing. If you own an Apple TV, it’s going to be for binge watching shows and light gaming at best. Using the remote for a motion-based or touch-based game will be what it was meant to be in the Nintendo Wii, a simple party entertainment system.
And to bolster that, the Apple TV also supports multiplayer. No, it won’t be split screen Halo action, but you can use your iPhone or iPod Touch as a second controller. The TV also supports made-for-iPhone/iPad wireless controllers, so you can get that premium console feel when playing app store games. That may seem a little over ambitious, users won’t ditch their Xbox or Playstation for some Apple TV action, but it’s great that they’ve put in support anyway. It’s one of the few times Apple gives their users a choice for how they want to do things.
Another addition is that the Apple TV has its own tvOS now, with its own app store for compatible games. These will, thankfully, be universal across your Apple devices, so you can switch from your iPad to your TV on the fly. No paying for the same app on various platforms which, frankly, would have been enough to kill the Apple TV single handedly.
My only problem with the new edition of the Apple TV is the price. US $149 (About Rs 10,000) for the 32GB and US $199 (about Rs 13,000) for the 64GB. It’s steep. It’s far too steep for a streaming box, especially since Apple is likely to launch its own streaming service soon, which will mean an additional subscription payment. No doubt, there are a ton of new things packed in as compared to the 3rd-gen TV, but the core mechanic here is still to stream your video content to a TV screen.
So who might be most interested in this? Certainly not hardcore gamers, not for that purpose anyway. But perhaps, the most likely buyers will be people in the 25 to 35 age bracket. Singles, or young married couples, who watch a lot of shows on Netflix or Hulu, and want to stream that to a larger screen. But most certainly, a majority of people putting down money for this device will be people already comfortable in the Apple ecosystem. And really, if you’re going to make an Apple purchase, this one certainly isn’t the worst.
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 "DNATechApple, Apple Event September 2015, Apple TV, streaming video, gaming")
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