Back when I was working in retail, a lot of people would ask me:
"What's the point in the Apple TV?"
It looks like a useless black box that would sit under your TV gathering dust that you might use occasionally for those 'I'm gonna show off my technology' moments when your friends are over...and yes, even though I'm a complete Apple fan girl, even I thought 'We're not gonna use this much' when my partner was raving about them last year.. but I couldn't have been more wrong.
The Apple TV is a wireless streaming device that plugs into your TV via HDMI cable, which means 1080p, yay! It's just the little box and the remote inside so you'll need to get your hands on a HDMI cable, if you haven't already.
If you have any Apple product, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or Mac, you can mirror everything you do on the device onto your TV, so if you're watching a film or flicking through photos, you can project them onto your widescreen. It doesn't take effort to set up either, just make sure your Apple TV is on the same Wifi network as your iOS device, then double tap the home button, swipe left, click the TV icon with the arrow in it and swipe across to turn mirroring 'on'. And viola! Everything you do on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch is now on your TV. Just make sure you don't mind everyone watching TV read your text messages...
Also, as with most Apple products, the Apple TV has apps. These vary from country to country and of course the USA have a better selection than us, including Hulu and a wider range on Netflix. In the UK we have YouTube, Netflix, Flickr and Vimeo.. so even if the Apple TV is the only Apple product you have, you can still enjoy streaming TV Shows, music and films straight through your TV.
Even if you have PC, you can stream your iTunes library to your TV so all those 'legally' downloaded films can be watched in the comfort of your living room on the big screen! No films or TV shows? No problem! You can even rent them from the iTunes store all from the Apple TV, but unfortunately at a price.. it would probably be cheaper to sign up to Netflix or LoveFilm.
The downside is.. you need a badass internet connection. We have a lousy one right now so watching Ugly Betty on maternity leave has become a bit of a chore since it wants to buffer every 5 minutes. I can imagine when Charlie is here he would become impatient if Go Diego Go's mouth didn't move with the sound, so I think a better internet connection in the new house is a must!
Also, the remote is really small and slim which is a great design BUT we have lost ours, and it's £15 for an official replacement. HOWEVER! You can download the remote app for iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and use that instead, genius!
Apart from that, an amazing piece of kit, and a very un-Apple like price of £99! Trust me, you will use it more than you realise, especially when keeping the kids quiet.. or better yet, your partner!
Tech mum rating: 9/10!
0 comments :
Post a Comment