A more refined TV experience
Apple has officially outed the third generation of their set-top box today. The Apple TV is still similarly styled after the 2012 version of the device, but the new iteration uses a new remote design with a touch-sensitive glass surface, and voice recognition capabilities. You can now search for programs using Siri, and you use the glass part of the remote to navigate through whatever your watching. It’s obvious that Apple is banking heavily on Siri’s voice recognition capabilities to give TV users a seamless experience, thus the dedicated Siri button on the remote.
Apple’s new TV promises to be compatible with several content options like Netflix, Hulu, HBO and Showtime with more partnerships promised in the pipeline.
Siri’s voice recognition capabilities isn’t just relegated to searching for movies – users can also ask for recommendations from the virtual assistant (“what’s the best movies for kids”) as well as skipping back a few seconds for you to listen in closely to whatever the actor is saying (“Siri, what did he just say?”).
New OS
Along with the TV, Apple is also introducing a new OS for it dubbed TV OS. The OS allows users to install several apps into the device, which includes games and popular apps likes AirBnB. Users control games via the touchpad on the remote for the TV, and big name devs that made games like Crossy Road and Guitar Hero.  Along with gaming, users will also be able to use the TV to shop at their favorite online stores, navigating through them using – you guessed it – the glass touchpad on the remote.
The new OS also gives more flexibility to content creators and channels to play with content delivery. The Major League Baseball app, for instance allows users to watch live games side-by-side, as well as highlights at 60 frames per second. Picture-in-picture capability allows you to view a game and the current stats for the game quickly and easily.
Pricing for the Apple TV is as follows: 32GB for $149 (Php 6.9K) and 64GB for $199 (Php 9.3K). The current Apple TV will continue on for $69 (Php 3.2K). The new Apple TV starts shipping in October to 80 countries.
