Apple TV Review (2012)
With Apple trying to take a share of the market in Televisions and home entertainment, speculation of Apple releasing a 1080P updated version of the Apple TV were basically obvious. And now the 1080P version is officially on the market for the amazing low price of $99!
Video Review
Design
Physically the Apple TV is the same as last years model, very very tiny! It’s a very sleek design, the glossy black sides with matte black on the top and bottom, it can really fit in anyones home entertainment set up. The device is also very easy to set up itself, you just plug it in the wall and HDMI cable to your TV and bravo! You just set it up. With WiFi and Ethernet available, its as flexible as possible.
Hardware
The Apple TV has also updated the hardware inside. Apple developed a low-power single-core A5 chip, the same one we have in the iPhone 4S and iPad 2, in the Apple TV. This allows the Apple TV to have stutter free operation and thats why the Apple TV can handle Full 1080P content. Also the Apple TV still has 8GB of internal memory, now Apple doesn’t allow you to use that, its reserved for the OS and Applications that is loaded on the box set.
User Interface
Apple recently announced a new version of their Apple TV software. This new one features a more iOS feel to it. There are colorful applications instead of the old and boring text-based menus we had before. Apple has also re-worked their applications, the Movies, TV Shows, etc. Again, it is more picture based than anything. Now this isn’t easier to navigate but it is more pleasing to look at so there has to be some compromise.
Picture Quality
When you plug up the new box and start watching some movies or TV shows with 1080P, you will instantly see the difference, less artifacts in the video (thanks to higher quality coding by Apple). So videos will playback clearer and the colors will look slightly better. But in terms of the Operating System, it looks exactly the same.
Wrap Up
The new box set from Apple is definitely worth the upgrade, especially if picture quality is one of your niches. The price is pretty amazing and the quality of the content is very premium. We still wish that Apple can score more deals with studios to have more content available.
