Great news for couch potatoes.
It all seemed too good to be true.
And after spending some time with it, we can say that our excitement was justified.
Apple
Lets start with whats new.
The Siri remote is as cool as it sounds, with touchpad navigation and a truly impressive voice function.
(Show me dramas.
Apple
Show me Wes Anderson movies.
Skip ahead 15 minutes.)
The universal search is also a welcome change.
Want to watchBreaking Bad?
It functions almost exactly as your iPhone screen does and allows you to seamlessly switch between apps.
(The ESPN app, for example, offers live viewing in addition to existing content.)
(If anyone at Seamless is reading this, hey create an app ASAP.)
But I like that cable presents me with a limited set of options.
Theres an element of choice, but not too much.
Yes, browsing was an option, but it could feel like an overwhelming black hole of content.
This system changes that.
I asked Siri: Find comedies.
Hundreds of choices I needed to narrow it.
And there it was, a tidy selection of films to choose from, includingTrainwreckandSpy.
(I went withTrainwreck.)
For fun, I tried a year.
Show me 1990 comedies.
That was a fantastic year for comedy, so again, time to narrow the search.
Just the ones with Julia Roberts.
(Yes, this was an absurd exercise, but the point is, it worked.)
I can have a totally imprecise idea of what I want to watch, and Apple TV delivers it.
Is there room for improvement?
Typing in your email address and password with the new remote is much less painful, though not pain-free.
And some of the systems coolest tricks ask Siri What did they say?
Time Warner, consider yourself warned.
The new Apple TV retails at $149 for 32GB and $199 for 64GB.
