Ramblings of General Geekery

The nightmare horrorshow that is the Apple TV remote

A rant on Ars Technica:

I wanted to love the Apple TV remote. It was sleek and futuristic. Plus, it
had an accelerometer and its own little trackpad. Besides which, I didn’t
think I’d really need the remote, anyway, since I could simply tell the TV
what I wanted to watch. What wasn’t to love? Turns out, pretty much
everything.

I largely agree. After Apple added 3rd party app support on the Apple TV, I
considered it for a bit (I don’t care about the iTunes eco-system, I’m mostly a
Plex + Netflix kind of guy, but I’m interested in getting AirPlay/mirroring
working between my iPad and the TV). However, after test-driving the new remote
and asking friends about it, I realized I didn’t like it at all. It really felt
like one of those times where Apple designers care more about how it looks that
how it gets used. The Roku remotes are not perfect but immensely better as far
as I’m concerned.