The original touch AppleTV remote was probably ill-considered, but the accelerant of its demise was Apple ceasing to care if third-parties used native UIKit controls on AppleTV in a chase to get all of the channels and services to port their SmartTV applications over.
For example, the original YouTube app on the AppleTV 4th generation was great. Navigating was a breeze with the native scroll momentum and sensitivity, now playing gestures worked as expected, et all.
After a year or so the app started falling behind in features to the LG/Samsung/SmartTV/Console apps, which presumingly use a shared web/javascript base. They (I assume) decided maintaining a separate codebase for AppleTV was a waste and went to work on porting the SmartTV app to the AppleTV.
Now navigating the app using the AppleTV touch remote is complete mayhem, frustrating and unpredictable in every sense. Gestures that work on other platforms such as long press to add to playlist are absent, and the video player doesn't use the native gestures such as drag down for audio options or skip ahead/behind with tap on edge.
The new remote is Apple giving up and saying that HDMI-CEC and 4-way DPad controls have won.
Is this also why the Youtube AppleTV app went from twelve thumbnails on a screen to three full ones, some cut-off ones, and a whole bunch of gray space? I'd say my YouTube usage is down 90% with that change, and will be cancelling Premium this billing cycle as a result. What were they thinking!?
The old remote also has a d-pad but itβs implemented through edge detection on the touch surface (you have to tap/click on the very edges of the surface)... the new remote just makes that easier to accomplish (and adds a mute button, thank god.)
For example, the original YouTube app on the AppleTV 4th generation was great. Navigating was a breeze with the native scroll momentum and sensitivity, now playing gestures worked as expected, et all.
After a year or so the app started falling behind in features to the LG/Samsung/SmartTV/Console apps, which presumingly use a shared web/javascript base. They (I assume) decided maintaining a separate codebase for AppleTV was a waste and went to work on porting the SmartTV app to the AppleTV.
Now navigating the app using the AppleTV touch remote is complete mayhem, frustrating and unpredictable in every sense. Gestures that work on other platforms such as long press to add to playlist are absent, and the video player doesn't use the native gestures such as drag down for audio options or skip ahead/behind with tap on edge.
The new remote is Apple giving up and saying that HDMI-CEC and 4-way DPad controls have won.