During Apple’s latest product launch extravaganza, the company put most of its emphasis on the new iPad. But in addition to the news of their latest tablet, Apple showcased the latest Apple TV, featuring 1080p programming including iTunes movies and TV shows, Netflix, Vimeo, photos and more in HD.
According to a report from AnandTech, the new Apple TV also includes a second Wi-Fi antenna with better gain, allowing for better reception and network throughput.
Another welcoming change to the new Apple TV is the new user interface, which seems a lot more like iOS, with similar home screen with rectangular icons. Improvements were also made to the on-screen keyboard, now featuring a regular, QWERTY layout.
With iTunes in the Cloud, you can purchase and play your favorite movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store and watch them instantly on your HD TV. The new Apple TV features a simpler, refined user interface making it easier than ever to access your purchased movies, TV shows and music with iTunes Match right from iCloud. And with AirPlay, you can stream or mirror your favorite content from your iPad or iPhone 4S to your HDTV with Apple TV, including AirPlay screen mirroring, which allows you to port your iOS device display onto your large screen TV, allowing you to stream music, home videos, webpages, spreadsheets, games, social media sites, and more. For those who want to be able to play music from their iPad or iPhone and play through their home theater stereo system, Apple TV using AirPlay makes it a piece of cake.
“People are going to love streaming movies and TV shows in 1080p with the new Apple TV, and photos look beautiful displayed at the maximum resolution of your TV,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Apple TV is easier than ever to use with its new icon-based interface and the ability to access your purchased movies, TV shows and music right from iCloud.”
Apple TV users can choose from an incredible selection of programming including over 15,000 movies and over 90,000 TV episodes on the iTunes Store. Apple TV also offers great content from Netflix’s streaming catalog, live sports from MLB, NBA and NHL as well as Internet content from Vimeo, YouTube and Flickr.
With iCloud, you can buy movies and TV shows on Apple TV and watch them on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC. iCloud also stores photos and pushes them wirelessly to all your devices including your HD TV via Apple TV. iCloud provides an incredibly easy way to get instant access to all of your content, no matter which device is being used.
Apple TV makes it easy to enjoy iTunes video, music and photo libraries from your computer right on your HD TV—and with iCloud you can instantly enjoy content that was purchased on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch as well. iTunes Match customers can now play their entire music library from iCloud—even songs they’ve imported from CDs. Users can also control Apple TV with their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch using the Remote app, available as a free download on the App Store.
The new, 2012 version of Apple TV is now for sale for $99 at the Apple online store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
Apple TV requires iTunes 10.5 or later. Apple TV requires an 802.11g/n Wi-Fi network or Ethernet network, a broadband Internet connection and a HD TV capable of 1080p or 720p and an HDMI cable that is sold separately. iTunes movie and TV show availability varies by country. Second generation Apple TV users can install the new Apple TV user interface via a free software update, available today. Third generation Apple TV hardware is required to play 1080p video.
