Hi Everyone
Well Apple started shipping the new generation Apple TV (ATV) last week and mine has finally arrived.
I loved the original ATV so the new ATV had a lot to live up to. Currently it doesn’t excite me however heres my initial review of the next generation ATV.
Like
It was easy to set up – it was fully functional in under 10 minutes; and
Interface is easy to use.
Dislike
No storage, all owned content streams from another iTunes shared library;
No localised streaming TV shows such as Bigpond TV; and
Only rental options, if you could buy watch and download to your other device later it would be better.
Currently I would give it 3 out of 5 stars.
I do believe however this might just be the start of something much bigger and that Apple may no longer treat the ATV as a hobby product.
The new ATV is built on the iOS platform which could see ATV specific applications become available and for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and ATV to become an integrated gaming centre. Although many don’t see the ATV moving into the gaming market I think it’s an option that Apple will consider (if they haven’t already).
Beyond the somewhat obvious suggestion of Apps I also see the new ATV as a move by Apple to start to build demand for a future release of an Apple Cloud Solution. In late 2009 Apple bough LALA a cloud based music streaming service, now with a streaming only ATV it seems the logical step for Apple to take. That is to release an Apple branded cloud media storage solution, an extension of MobileMe or a standalone product.
If I can buy content and have it hosted in the cloud and stream it to any of my iOS devices, including the ATV, then it takes the ATV from a 3 to 4.5 star product.
So at $129AUD it’s not bad, certainly a lot cheaper than the previous model if you have the spare cash and don’t currently have the original ATV, I am sure you will enjoy it. If you’re an existing ATV owner there is no benefit, that I have discovered, to rush out and buy the new one just yet.
I would love to hear about your experience with the new ATV, leave me a comment.
Thanks
JB
PS – in Australia the TV Shows menu item is not enabled from what I have seen – is this correct?
The list of dislikes grow by the hour…
So at home I use Telstra’s BigPond Elite Liberty ADSL service I use the latest generation Apple Time Capsule for my wireless network. So with what is meant to be a premium grade ADSL service and Apple MacBook Pro and other Apple products using Apple wireless networks I expect for their to be no issues. However I have noticed that even watching owned content streaming to my new ATV when I am busy on the network the ATV pauses, not a lot, but even once is enough but it was more than once. I am a bit shocked by this because other reviews talk of how they are impressed with the streaming. I am going to try renting (meh I want to buy and stream) a movie and see if I have any problems with that service.
Also if iTunes crashes the content you are watching on the ATV obviously stops as well – another painful “feature”.
