Review: Apple TV

By

I have had about a month to play around around with Apple TV which gives me more than enough time to write a proper review.

So let us get down to the nitty gritty.

Hardware
The Apple TV design is beautiful and small. The specs sheet looks good:  A4 processor, HDMI output and b/g/n wireless support. The remote is also beautiful and small. If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can use those devices to navigate Apple TV. What did it need? A Blu-ray version or some method to reduce the amount of HDMI cords you need. If you are like me, you have one HDMI cord for the cable box, one for the Blu-ray player and one for the Apple TV. The Sony Google TV would have combined all three (TV, Blu-ray, Google TV) into one HDMI cord going into your TV, although it would have cost an extra $300 bones.

Software
The user interface is gorgeous and easy to use as you would expect from Apple. You have the ability to buy and rent movies/ TV shows from the vast iTunes library. You can sync up your iTunes account which means your photos and music come to life on your TV. You can browse YouTube, which happens to be a good source of karaoke material if that is your thing. MLB and NBA recently put up content through Apple TV; giving you scores, standing and highlights. But most importantly, and the reason I bought an Apple TV, it lets you stream movies from Netflix. What could Apple TV use? Hulu Plus and Amazon Video on Demand support, but we will not get it since they compete against iTunes. Apple TV could also use more applications.

Other Stuff
The price of Apple TV is $99.  Under one hundred dollars for something that can stream Netflix is awesome. Apple TV is definitely worth its price. As you know, I am wary of Apple as a company because they favor a closed system vs an open system. They are a paradox, they innovate so well and yet their grip on certain aspects of technology stifles the competition which stifles innovation. But again for $99 to stream Netflix, I am willing to overlook Apple's closed system.


Overall
Way above average hardware, way above average software and a great price. If you are looking for something to stream Netflix, I would highly recommend you check out Apple TV.

9/10

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Outdated! Charter Cable Box UI

By
Image
When I was living with my old roommates, we used Direct TV and Time Warner Cable to satisfy our TV cravings. While I hated, hate, and will always hate Direct TV for their barbaric two year contracts, I give them credit for having a neat looking user interface (UI). But because of their two year contract and lies, we cancelled. We paid about $400 dollars to get Direct TV's grubby paws out of our living room. At that point, it wasn't about the money, it was about principles. And so a happier relationship was started with Time Warner Cable. Though a lot of things were better with Time Warner Cable, I couldn't help but notice their cable boxes' UI was "fugly". Little did I know... Recently, I've moved away from the parents  old roommates. The new area I'm in is serviced by Charter Cable. I was shocked by the UI of the Charter cable boxes.  See picture below: The UI of the Charter cable box made Time Warner Cable's UI look like it was from the year
Read more

A Quick Reflection on My Change in View of Technology from 2008 to 2024

By
When I started this blog in 2008, I wanted to help others fall in love with technology. I figured the goal would not be difficult to attain, considering that in our human condition we thirst for technology. It is technology that makes our lives easier, more entertaining and live longer. It was very silly to think people needed convincing and that I could make a contribution to that human desire for technology.  That however was not my most important take away for this reflection. I made an assumption that technology was a net good thing. As of today, I am sure that technology is a net negative for our lives and society. This does not mean that I am against technology, only that we should not embrace all of it and we need training on how to use it.  How a person uses technology is what determines if it is good or bad. Unfortunately, we have used our tech to enslave us. I constantly see people walking outside looking at their phones. Or people looking at their phones while they are shari
Read more

The Best Android Keyboard: Swiftkey

By
Image
There are many keyboards out there for Android. To name a few, they are: Android Stock HTC Sense Samsung TouchWiz Swipe Swiftkey None of these keyboards are the perfection that is the iPhone keyboard. Hence, if you have an Android phone like me, you are stuck with the second best keyboard experience. The second best experience is not automatically a bad thing. Insane example, would you not like to be world's second richest person? Swiftkey is the best Android keyboard option for the simple reason that it will give you the fastest and most accurate experience. The auto-correction is the best in the business and it only gets better over time as it learns from your past inputs. Here is a comparison of the the previous version of Swiftkey versus the Ice Cream Sandwich stock keyboard. The newest Swiftkey introduced "flow" which is essentially Swipe. But you are not obligated to "flow", since you will still have the best auto-correcting ex
Read more