“Geez this thing is small!,” was our first reaction when the newest Apple TV arrived on September 29, just under the deadline of Apple’s promised shipping date. It’s a 3.9-inch square and under an inch thick. You really notice how tiny it is compared to just about every other box next to your TV.
A full run-through is below, but here are the ‘for’ and ‘against’ highlights: The Good: Tiny is great, especially when it runs cool. Interaction with multiple PCs and iOS devices is flawlessly done. The content combination of Netflix and iTunes covers all the major bases. Rentals of TV shows for 99 cents is great compared to older prices. The non-music Web services are good additions. The ability to make its screen saver use photos saved on a PC was a pleasant surprise.
The Bad: There’s no hard drive so you can’t buy a movie or TV show you really like. The Internet radio stations are tough to navigate, hard to predict and don’t offer a lot of information. No HDMI cable is included. There’s no support for TVs that don’t have an HDMI adapter. Content rented on Apple TV can’t be sent to other iOS devices. Apple TV hides your passwords, which you’ll likely only use when setting up the device but that’s when you’re first learning the remote and its interface. So expect a few retries.
The Maybe: No apps and nothing that lets us know if they’re coming. Some content limits like no NBC TV shows (though some will soon be available via Netflix). It tops out at 720p and doesn’t always deliver that from every content source. The remote is small and slick but its interface takes some effort at first but might get easier as it’s used. AirPlay when it finally hits the iPad, could be a significant helper.
Apple’s new set top isn’t like any other box near your TV, thanks almost entirely to iTunes. iTunes rentals and apps provide a lot of content. Its ability to interact with iTunes on other PCs in the home make it a dramatic improvement.
Setting up the new Apple TV is incredibly easy. The remote is simple and gets easier with use. The device can multi-task somewhat, allowing you to play music while looking at but not using other functions. That provokes speculation that its running a version of iOS 4. The only downside is Apple hiding passwords behind asterisks.
In the box, users will find; an Apple TV that’s 75% smaller than the last version; a 7-button aluminum remote with the familiar click wheel (it presses in four directions, but has no finger scrolling), a select button, a menu button and a play/pause button. It’s the same remote being shipped with the new iMacs; a power cord, but hey, no brick of a power supply; a setup and product guide. You won’t find an HDMI cable, not unexpectedly .
Inside the Apple TV (please don’t try this at home) users will find:
Apple’s A4 chip; 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi support; Support for all the files iTunes 10 and later can handle; Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound; 720p playback; HDMI, microUSB, Ethernet and optical audio-out support.
There is no hard drive.
The operating system is described only as “Software Version 4.0” and “OS Build Version 4.1.”
The menu tabs include;
Movies: Lets users search for and rent films as well as watch trailers for content, even for movies that are still in theaters. For around $4 the rental price and selection are better than the local video store.
TV Shows: They’re mostly 99-cent rentals. The device arrived around 10:30 Wednesday morning and already offered content that aired Tuesday night, so Apple is keeping its promise on quick availability.
– iOS 4.2: It’s not here yet, but this’ll likely be the best part of Apple TV.
When iOS 4.2 arrives for other iProducts, users will be able to rent or buy content on an iPad and then stream it directly to Apple TV. This makes content a user buys or rents available for mobile and at-home consumption with a single purchase. The only downside is that content rented on an Apple TV can’t be sent to other devices to finish later. The suggestion here is to buy and rent from another device and stream it to Apple TV if you plan on watching in more than one sitting.
When Apple TV is the main interaction point, it expects that you’ll be watching your content in one sitting and already have the popcorn going.
The Internet: Apple TV’s Internet section covers Netflix, YouTube, Podcasts, Mobile Me, Flickr and some Internet Radio stations.
Netflix is a good addition that looks pretty and is easy to navigate. Apple built its own Netflix interface, which looks similar to its iTunes interface. It made the whole experience a lot easier and gave it a seamless feel.
The YouTube build is fairly standard. It lets users sign into their accounts and save and watch ‘favorite’ videos.
The other implementations are standard. The only complaint is about the Internet radio stations. They’re only sorted by category. Trying to find a certain station in the huge lists can get daunting because of all the scrolling. It was a chore trying to find a certain radio station we knew was available. Information on the radio station and songs being played varies widely across service. It appears dependent upon what the station provides. It really isn’t a strong implementation. And, there’s no Pandora.
Computer: Lets users access content stored on PCs on the same network. Video, photos, podcasts and music can be streamed to Apple TV.
Perhaps the most surprising iTunes ability comes when a user plays music from a networked PC. Users must turn on ‘Home Sharing’ and sign in with the same account on both devices but this should be a one-time login for each device. Apple TV can turn on and create Genius playlists ‘ those made by iTunes but containing content in a user’s library ‘ with just a couple clicks.
This gives users an easy way to switch how they listen to music in the living room or bed room. It’s a vast improvement over the previous Apple TV’s iTunes integration.
Music was a strong point on the original Apple TV and music is still a very big deal for the new Apple TV.
Settings: For basics like parental controls, account settings and device settings, including the screen saver. The nice thing is the ability to use your own photos as the screen saver, as long as there’s a networked PC on and ready to host them.
After taking the new Apple TV apart, there are some major reports on what may be inside and what may be coming.
The big finds so far include:
8 GB of storage. Not bad for killing the hard drive eh? According to iFixit, the new Apple TV has 8 GB of storage, which could be good news if Apps start arriving. The downside will be storage management since the device is currently setup to only store content that will be automatically removed. However, jailbreaking services could soon add some storage management.
Just about every report says that the new Apple TV is running a version of Apple’s iOS so apps are planned for down the road. All of this is coming from an apparent Apple post of Apple TV’s 2.1 firmware to Apple’s own servers (this is what Apple TV will contact when doing a factory reset), with what appears to be a version of iOS 4.1. The firmware isn’t useful to anyone yet, beyond those trying to jailbreak the device, but it does appear to be iOS 4.1, so that means apps down the line for all.
While third-party Apple-approved apps will likely be limited and take a while to hit Apple TV, jailbreaking is going to bring more to the device sooner. According to Wired and the infamous Phone Dev Team, the hacking tool Shatter works on Apple TV. Shatter is what was used to jailbreak the latest iPod touchs. Dev Team member Will Strafach told Wired that “the new Apple TV OS seems to be a mashup of the old Apple TV OS and iOS,” meaning “frappliances,” plug-ins that add functionality to the old Apple TV, should work as well. Some of these apps also include video phone calls, which could be great paired with a micro-USB Web cam.
According to Erica Sadun of The Unofficial Apple Weblog, and a well-known iOS programmer, the new Apple TV runs software called Lowtide, which is basically the STB’s media interface. Code in Lowtide, according to Sadun and other developers, can be extended to other iOS devices. This would allow Apple TV to stream content to other iOS devices ‘ basically the opposite of AirPlay. This might be limited to streaming content to other devices when they’re attached to the same home network, but that would mean users could pause content on an Apple TV and pick it up on an iPad or other device in another room. A video of Lowtide running on an iPod touch can be found at:
The price is right and the cheaper TV rentals will make it a big hit. The only thing Apple has to fear is Hulu Plus heading over to Roku and other boxes. When that happens, it’ll be a much tougher choice.
Apple and Hulu will offer a lot of the same new TV content. Netflix offers the majority of older films and TV shows that Hulu has and Amazon (on the Roku box) covers most of the same films as Apple TV.
So what it’ll come down to is price for new TV shows. Apple and to an extent Amazon will offer new TV shows for 99-cents. Hulu Plus will offer most of the same shows for $9.99 per month with a slightly longer delay in availability after its TV original airing. If users will be renting a lot of episodes (say 11 or more) the Roku box with Hulu Plus might be a cheaper bargain. If the user has the STB as just a catch-up service for TV and mainly wants it for the ability to play Networked content, Apple TV is the way to go.