Apple TV remote worst ever.

Some aspects makes the new apple tv remote extremely awful.

1. It is symmetrical. You can not recognize if it is upside down or not by touching - e.g., in a low light environment, watching a movie. And this is like the basic manual for designing remotes. So that sometimes you will try to pause and instead just press menu.

2. Its sensitiveness. You may spoil your movie on the moment you pick the control. Or if you have it in bed, and you put it just on your side, you will probably touch it unvolutarily and spoil your movie.

3. Very small, nom ergonomic, not easy to handle, easy to loose.

Positive aspect: it is rechargeable.

You've nailed the reasons I hate the remote. Make no mistake, the remote is an industrial design exercise in building a device down to a price, everything about Apple nowadays about margins. While most manufacturers build a chunky remote (see Tivo, Roku, even Amazon's Fire TV is bigger) Apple designs theirs to guarantee to slip between couch pillows. It's most definitely not family-friendly - my kids are totally unable to use it. Apple has so totally lost their way with Apple TV it's not even funny ("the future of TV is apps" - really - because app-hopping is so much easier and faster than channel-surfing with cable/OTA).

Indieshack wrote:

> However, if you don't like it and you have an iPhone, you have the option of using the App.

yes, because a cell phone is everyone's go-to as a TV remote control

Whether or not it is is irrelevant. It's still an option. Sometimes it's an option that people haven't considered. It's okay to consider new ideas.

And yes, my phone is my primary remote form my television and Apple TV. It's the only one I don't mislay five times a day.

I agree that the new remote is frustrating to use. I've switched to using the remote app on my iPad, and have found it MUCH easier to navigate to and select what I want. It has all the features and functionality of the actual remote, but the performance is much more stable-- not finicky. In addition, having the keyboard available is great for searches or for entering other info.

poppy44 wrote:

I agree that the new remote is frustrating to use. I've switched to using the remote app on my iPad, and have found it MUCH easier to navigate to and select what I want. It has all the features and functionality of the actual remote, but the performance is much more stable-- not finicky. In addition, having the keyboard available is great for searches or for entering other info.

Agree completely, my remote is now in a drawer. On my iPad and/or iPhone, I use both the Apple TV Remote app and the Apple TV Remote widget displayed in the iOS Control Center. Both work perfectly.

alessandrobere wrote:

Some aspects makes the new apple tv remote extremely awful.

1. It is symmetrical. You can not recognize if it is upside down or not by touching - e.g., in a low light environment, watching a movie. And this is like the basic manual for designing remotes. So that sometimes you will try to pause and instead just press menu.

The textures are different. The top is less smooth. Also, the button arrangement is not symmetrical.

You can submit your feedback to Apple here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback

However, if you don't like it and you have an iPhone, you have the option of using the App.

Ha ha! Sorry to hear about your frustration!

I can suggest to go into your Apple TV's settings and changing the remote sensitivity to something that suits you more.

How To:

• Be on the home screen of your Apple TV
• Go to the Settings application
• Select Remotes and Devices
• Then change Touch Surface Tracking to something more suiting for you! It sounds like you should set it to slow according to your post.

I hope I was able to help you enjoy your Apple TV experience a little more!! 🙂

There is a learning curve, but otherwise it works just great for me.

You could try adjusting the remote sensitivity to better suite you.

You could also learn how to use Siri for most commands.

If you have an iPad, or iPhone, you can download the free Remote app and use that.

If your TV HDMI-CEC is enabled, you may find that the TV remote can control the ATV. I find that the arrow keys, enter, and exit, control the corresponding ATV functions. Play and pause do not work, but Enter handles both of those. Depending on how they start up, I may have to select the Apple TV input to make this work. The TV says it is "connecting" to the device, then the controls work. As a result, I only use the remote to turn ATV on and off, and for Siri, of course.

There are things we like about the new remotes. Voice search is okay for YouTube and such (I say okay because there are times she doesn't seem to get it and I just fire up the app on the iPhone and type in my search), but IMO hamstrung because it can't search my Homeshare library. The thing we hate most is the scroll. It is far too easy to be scrolling down through the title of movies in your library and your thumb moves just a hair to the side and next thing you know you are in Genres or Unwatched and when you return to the full listing, you are back at the top.

The best solution: Use one of the old remotes if you aren't gaming or using voice search. Best $20 I've spent, but if you had an older version you aren't using anymore or a Mac, it's the same silver remote (we just bought an extra so no need to remember to bring the remote with you when you change roomes). No need to pair, it works right out of the box. As needed we swap over to the ATV 4 remote, but use the old silver remote most of the time.

I Agree it's got a learning curve, but I got used to it. What I can't get used to is the crooked ink screening on the home button!😠

I can't be the only one who's got a crooked printed button out there but I've searched for posts al over the interwebz and can't find anyone griping about it.

I don't understand what you just said. Maybe you could clear it up? Thanks! 🙂