First Impressions: Apple TV 4K

The only good thing about turning 46 years old this past weekend was the fact that I didn’t turn 47 years old. I stand by that statement, but the sting of turning an extra year older was tempered by the arrival of an Apple TV 4K. Launched last fall, I’m most definitely late to the party. Rather than embarking on a full scale review of the product, I’ll share my first impressions of the device and what I’ve tested so far.

I’m no stranger to Apple TV. This is my second unit. The first one I owned shared a similar black shape, but only supported 720p resolution. The Apple TV 4k, as its name implies, supports televisions that offer that resolution. At $179 for the 32GB model, it’s nearly double the price of the model I first purchased 5 years ago.

Why the Apple TV 4k? In a word: “Roadkill”.

Last fall I subscribed to Motor Trend OnDemand to watch all my favorite car shows in one place. The downside is, I’ve had to make do with watching my favorite shows (“Fast and Loud”, “Roadkill”, “Iron Resurrection”, to name a few) within my computer’s web browser. To add insult to injury, Motor Trend OnDemand does not have a built-in app for my Samsung 4K TV. But I can most certainly watch MT OD on my new Apple TV. This alone justified the purchase.

But there was another underlying reason for going the Apple TV route – and that harkens to the fact that while the Samsung “Smart TV” app is serviceable, it’s incredibly sluggish to move between Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. Sometimes, my TV will go into “limbo” when launching a streaming service; other times it won’t load at all. By comparison, moving between apps and streaming services on the Apple TV 4K is super fast and responsive. Another win for the Apple TV.

Our family room television is located within a few feet of my daughter’s bedroom – with the AppleTV 4K and my Airpods I can watch the latest episode of “Junkyard Empire” without disturbing her. I wasn’t aware of this feature but it’s a huge bonus. Below are a few photos I took as I unpacked the Apple TV 4k. True to form, Apple’s packaging is excellent. In the box is the Apple TV unit, a remote, a USB / Lightning cable and a power cable. Oh, and an Apple quick start sheet. The only significant thing not included is an HDMI cable, which would have been a bummer if I didn’t already have a spare to work with.

Setting up the Apple TV 4k was easy, but the new remote control took some getting used to. Like the iPhone, the new Apple TV 4K remote can register presses and gestures on the top end of the remote. What wasn’t intuitive was pressing on the surface to launch an app. I literally had to Google “How do I launch an app with the Apple TV 4K?”. Aside from that minor roadblock, the rest of the setup was simple and uneventful.

I’m only a few days in with this unit, so I’m still discovering its unique capabilities. But for the moment, I’m pretty happy with the Apple TV 4k. While it won’t reverse time, it put a big smile on my face. And that’s about the best birthday gift one can ask for, in my books.

-Krishna

Krishna September 5, 2018 Apple TV 4k, first impressions, Motor Trend on Demand, Roadkill, smart TV