The 3 Things I Want for the Apple TV
09 Nov 2015I just posted a review of the Apple TV. There are a few things that I think would make the Apple TV much more useful to me.
Amazon Prime
There’s enough shows on Amazon that we’ll keep using the app on our TV until there’s an Apple TV version. Amazon should create a tvOS app, even though they won’t be able to sell things through the app. They probably won’t, just to be obstinate. Like not selling Apple TVs and Chromecasts.
But, if they build it, and have it integrated with Siri, the ability to quickly search across a number of services (iTunes, Netflix, Amazon, HBO) would quickly let me find movies I have access to.
Comcast Xfinity X1
We watch enough live TV (particularly sports) that cord cutting isn’t likely to happen any time soon. Losing NESN (the Red Sox), Comcast Sportsnet (the Celtics), and ESPN (for general other sports) just make it unlikely for us. That being said, the Apple TV is a much nicer device (so far) than the Xfinity X1 box (even though X1 is the nicest cable box I’ve ever used).
If Comcast were to make the X1 app for the Apple TV (like they have for the iPhone and iPad), the Apple TV would likely become our cable box. We could stream our DVR recordings via the Apple TV, tune to live programming, all while within the Apple TV interface and it’s ability to overlay Siri searches and flip back and forth between apps.
And, adding the Xfinity On Demand library into Siri search would give a really broad base of movies and TV shows to watch.
Again, Comcast won’t do it for the same reason Amazon won’t do it. But they should, as it’ll ensure that we’ll get value from our cable subscription.
iCloud Keychain
Setting up accounts on the Apple TV is a little painful. Especially when I’ve got those accounts setup on other devices and likely have their passwords sync’d with iCloud Keychain. Why the Apple TV can’t see that and automatically log me in is silly.
And, its still silly that when I turn on an app like ESPN, and it makes me go to an activate link (which is fine), that the Apple TV can’t see that, open and fill out the link itself (it has an internet connection), and then leverage iCloud Keychain to login to my cable provider.
This stuff should be brain dead simple. I assume its the sort of stuff that gets cut to get the device out as a 1.0, but I hope that these sorts of features show up in a future release.