Up until 2012 the digital media player set-top-boxes had not seen any upgrades, yet last September the new Apple TV was unveiled. This represented a massive leap for the company’s reach and expansion opportunities. After Apple TV was launched, the main complaint from users with the fourth-generation device was text entry.
Although bad reviews were made to the tvOS, as it seemed unfinished, like it was rushed out to meet sales deadlines, Apple seeks to fix the lack of basic features in the OS along with software bugs. Also, in the course of the last month, Apple TV had to endure ESPN president John Skipper revealing the inability for Apple to form programming deals with major content providers for streaming television service.
However, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook didn’t seem worried about the latest problems as he declared the past quarter as the “most profitable one in the history of Apple sales” thanks to the Apple TV.
By introducing a new remote called Siri Remote, they brought Siri to the Apple TV, as well as a faster navigation thanks to the new touchpad introduced as the primary means of moving around the OS. The favorite and newest addition is the inclusion of the voice dictation, allowing users to do much more by talking than ever before.
This feature was introduced in the latest beta version of tvOS, as reported by Macrumors. On the Apple TV, users’ voice can now seek for shows or movies, type in their usernames, passwords and even change their settings. Rather than using the current text input method, which fails to provide efficiency and ease for the user to handle.
Users can now speak into the Siri remote to enter text into any field, instead of a series of slow swipes and clicks across rows of letters. The update also introduces the ability to search in the App Store from the TV interface by holding the Siri button and speaking search commands.
While the new features are available to beta user now, the release of the new update has no official date for now. It’s customary for these products to be released in spring alongside other Apple’s platform updates as the Apple Watch.
Source: Engadget