Mac Observer:
Apple just raised the cap on Apple TV app sizes from 200 MB up to 4 GB, bringing them in line with iPhone and iPad apps. Apple told developers the change lets them give users a better overall experience. For end users, that means more immersive apps and potentially a step towards a 4K Apple TV.
Not “potentially”. Definitely. It’s just a matter of when. I predict at/by WWDC 2017.
Ehhh. If developers go crazy over this, the system as a whole could end up less compelling. The idea of content transparently and quietly being purged and restored (a bit like virtual memory) is pretty appealing.
Really depends on your Internet speeds. I think you’ve written before yours aren’t great.
Note: I don’t actually have an AppleTV, so I can’t speak for how limiting the 32GB actually is in practice. I’m thinking of previous iPhone, a 16GB model, so I’m probably making a bigger deal of this than it really is.
“Not great” is an understatement (just did a Speedtest: 4 down, 1 up 🙁 ). But, like you, this won’t affect me. I have little to no interest in the latest Apple TVs.
I sure hope they make a 4K Apple TV! I’ve been limping by on my 3rd generation for like 2-3 years waiting for a new one worth buying, and I’m not buying a streaming device that doesn’t do 4K & HDR. I think the current one can do wide color gamuts, but obv no 4K. I’ll be buying a 4K & HDR (or equivalent) one as soon as they release it.
That should really make the thousands of users of the 4th generation Apple TV remember that they have a 4th generation Apple TV sitting unused in their living room, and for at least 3 seconds they will consider using it again briefly but then they will forget.
I remember this interview that a high level person at Microsoft gave in 2012 or so about the recent success of the iPad. Their answer to the iPad was to say that Microsoft is going to unify all of its operating systems and invest heavily in touch and it sounded so stupid. But at the time, what I forgot was that Apple-without-Jobs basically just stands completely still and lets Microsoft catch up to it.
Remember when Microsoft relaunched the XBox not as the most successful gaming console in the world but as the biggest, hottest, noisiest, least-fun video player you could get? They tanked the XBox and we laughed, and they are still recovering. Then Apple relaunched Apple TV not as the smallest, best, cheapest, easiest video player but as the world’s shittiest and most underpowered game console.
When I saw the 4th gen Apple TV remote, just that alone was enough to make me start taking extra care of my 3rd gen Apple TV, because same as with the Mac, I have to extend its lifespan until Scott Forestall returns to Apple as CEO and fixes Apple’s broken software and product strategies.
The thing is, Apple TV is not a platform. It is an accessory for iPads and iPhones. You used to buy a thick cable for $99 and hook it into the back of your TV and into your iPad or iPhone. Then we were able to spend that same $99 and get an AppleTV to hook our iPads and iPhones to the TV, and it also could play videos on its own when iPads and iPhones were not hooked up. That is it. You are done. That is all Apple TV is. So the 3rd generation getting a price cut to $69 was the right thing to do. The 4th gen box is ridiculous when you consider that Apple users almost all have iPads and iPhones already. Apple had this huge advantage in that, where the TV was an accessory to iPad and iPhone, and they just ignored that and they went head-to-head with Sony and Microsoft in game consoles as though iPad and iPhone do not exist. That is the kind of bad work that takes a huge can’t-fail company and makes it poop out Newtons and Mac LC’s for years until you have to pay another company $400,000,000 to take your company off your hands and run it right.
Why do I need to buy a $100 touch remote for AppleTV when I have 3 iOS devices? Why would you even try to sell me that? It’s not even the money. It’s just useless shit sitting around in my apartment until somebody sits on it and breaks it. And I don’t even want to learn the Apple TV remote. I have been using iOS devices for 10 straight years. I don’t have the patience anymore to learn what unlabeled hardware button does what and when and why. I don’t fucking care.
Meanwhile, Amazon has take the approach that what people really want from a video player is to say “play Breaking Bad from where I left off” and it does it. No fucking remote at all.
Remember when the person who was running Mobile Me was publicly fired and shamed? That guy is somewhere right now rebooting an Apple product that is failing him.
I don’t think people understand what this means. Apps were not limited to 200MB, just the initial download. From there, the app was free to download more data, up to 20GB.
All this does is allow developers to offer more data initially, which basically means the user does not have to wait for data to download later.
A year ago if it didn’t have 4k is sucked. Now it’s gotta have HDR too or it sucks. Meanwhile, nobody I know has or plans to buy a new 4k set, since our 1080ps work so well (plasma Panasonic here).
Not denying this stuff is cool but it reminds me of NFC in phones or other such specs — Apple doesn’t feel the need to do them immediately for early adopters. And I’d wager most of the time they’re right.
1) the iphone remote app does what the physical remote does, but it requires staring at it.
2) you don’t need to buy the remote separate.
3) the touch pad on it is definitely the way to go. i don’t like the symmetrical design (put a rubber band on one end), but i definitely prefer using it to my Harmony One now.
This is just Apple increasing the initial download size. Apps have always been able to download more than the initial 200MB once the app is installed, and could even specify additional on-demand resources for the system to immediately download once the app is installed.
As Steven Fisher said, the idea is for the system to transparently download and cache/purge data as needed. AppleTVs having “only” 32GB storage capacity for the low-end model isn’t that big of a deal, since apps don’t need to supply resources for multiple screen sizes and resolutions, nor do they need to have huge binaries from needing to support both 32- and 64-bit devices, like iPhone & iPad apps do.
4K is quickly becoming table stakes. Content providers have it, most new TVs support it, and nearly all AppleTV alternatives support it.
Amazing what a difference a few dozen miles (my guess, I’m not stalking you) makes. I’ve got a 150, though it measures between 50 and 150 depending on god only knows what.
And Telus has contractors running fibre optic through my entire building. They’re in my closet right now. Like REALLY noisy mice. 🙂