littleheaven:

dclegg:

littleheaven: I've seen a couple of reviews - mostly positive when comparing it to the competition, Given the plethora of apps for iOS I am hoping that the new Apple TV will quickly eclipse other devices in terms of apps available.

The problems I have with the reviews I've seen is they all assume the device has Siri support. I'd be interested in the overall comparison with the competition with this feature absent, as the reviews generally say the ATV is the pick of the crop. Would that still be the case for our local variant?

The one I read said that Siri was cool but was really only useful with a few of the apps, that it wasn't anywhere near as good as Siri on iOS in terms of general queries, and had missed a few opportunities in terms of what it could have done. However, they still gave the device a 9/10 in terms of everything else.

I just got a text to say mine is delivering today, yay!

So... what apps are you all interested in getting, current and future? I'll be immediately installing Simplex (Plex-compatible client). For future, I am hoping for the NZ on demand services (TVNZ, TV3, Lightbox) and Spotify. My ATV plugs through my home theatre so I can play music from it. I know you can airplay with Spotify but it would be much nicer to have a native app. I have a feeling my US iTunes account might be coming in handy over the next few weeks.

But limitations are everywhere. Only a small handful of apps work with Siri search right now — iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Showtime — so finding something in, say, the ESPN or CBS apps isn’t possible. Siri can’t find you a funny YouTube video, which seems like a shame. Tim Cook says a Siri search API is coming, but I get the feeling Apple wants Siri search to be a differentiator for the more premium services, so we’ll see how wide open that API is when it gets here. And once Siri drops you into a streaming app from that universal search, it’s a free-for-all — they all have different interfaces and recommendation engines, and none of them talk to each other. Shouldn’t Siri pay attention to what you’re watching and suggest content across services? Or at least give you a Most Recently Watched list across all your services, like the Fire TV and Roku? One of the best things about traditional TV is the serendipity of flipping it on and seeing something you like, or finding something new. There’s a big discovery piece that really ties all these services together that’s missing here. TV isn’t all about demanding things from a robot.