New Apple TV 4K finally gets a better remote
Hey guys, Apple just announced something that you're waiting for for a long time.
A brand new Apple TV box.
Let's dive in.
[MUSIC]
The original Apple TV 4K seen here has been around for a long time It debuted in Fall 2017 and the non 4K version was even earlier in 2015.
The whole time it's had this remote that really wasn't the greatest.
The clicker on the old Apple TV had a black finish and a rectangular top And the worst part was this touchpad that made it pretty imprecise to get around the new Apple TV boxes.
biggest improvement is a brand new remote.
The only remote is aluminum with a silverish color a lot easier to see.
And the biggest improvement is to that touchpad at the top.
It's a circular design with another circle around the edge with four directional buttons.
That should be a lot Easier to hold in the hand and figure out how to use and move around on the screen without looking down.
Apple says it's also added a new gesture command that allows you to swing around with your thumb, a little bit like the old iPod to move up and down around the menus.
The new clicker also has a brand new button for TV power on and off.
Now previous Apple TVs could turn the TV on or off but it didn't have that dedicated button.
And so that should be really convenient especially if you don't want to dig around to find your TV remote.
Just like the older modes the new Apple TV one can control your TV's volume as well.
Of course there's Siri built in, Apple moved the button to the side and make it a little bit easier to control.
Of course you can talk into the mic on the remote to summon Siri commands searches move backward and forward and all the old features available.
Another improvement on the new Apple TV 4k is an A 12 bionic processor.
The company says it's faster than before and better suited for gaming and new next generation capabilities.
One of the new capabilities added to that box is high frame rate video.
So 120 frames per second video isn't quite on the market yet.
It's found in games.
The Apple TV can support that new high frame rate content, whether it's a game or video when it comes out that's the capability he won't find on the current Apple TV, 4k.
The last big feature Apple added to its new box is an auto calibration function.
So using your iPhones camera, you can hold it up to your television screen, and the phone will relay information from the phone's camera to calibrate your Apple TV box to better produce color and other aspects of image quality.
That our calibration feature is something we haven't seen on any other device.
It's gonna be really cool to test to see if it works.
So of course the new Apple TV 4k has all the capabilities included with the current box, including Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos capability.
It will support all the standard Apple software, including a new TVOS.
It's probably gonna be announced at WWDC.
So let's talk about price.
One big knock on the original Apple TV 4k was its price, the new one just as expensive at $180 for the 32 gigabyte version, and of course you get the new remote and a few other capabilities.
But if you have an existing Apple TV 4k, there's little reason to upgrade Unless you really want the new remote.
Yes, Apple says it will sell you that new, improved Apple TV 4K remote for another $60.
And I think a lot of people that own an Apple TV 4K now are gonna jump on that rather than upgrade to the whole new box.
Course there's renewed competition today among streamers.
There's the Chromecast with Google TV for $50.
There's a Roku Ultra for $100, So compared to those flagship players from the competition, the Apple TV 4k remains really expensive.
We didn't get that cheaper Apple TV 4k dongle that a lot of people were hoping for at this announcement with the new remote, high frame rate capability, the auto calibration feature and of course all the standard, really solid processing and performance you get out of an apple tv 4k.
The new product is renewed and hopefully a little bit better especially for people who are really in the apple universe and want to, you know, take that to the next level by adding an apple tv 4k to their devices.
On the flip side, Apple TV 4k is less relevant than it was before you see Apple TV's TV app.
Found on a lot of different devices now including televisions and streaming devices.
It's so that means that you don't need to have the Apple TV 4k to get a lot of that Apple functionality.
So Apple's kind of expanding its software will pay a little bit of attention to the hardware with the new device.
So that's a look at the new Apple TV 4k.
I'm David Katzmaier.
For CNET, look for a full review soon.
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