Apple Packs Siri Voice Control into New Apple TV

On Wednesday, Apple took the wraps of its new Apple TV set-top box, which has been designed especially for gaming.

The Apple TV media streaming box was last updated in 2012, and has pretty much been relying on software updates ever since to keep things refreshed. Apple TV will rewind around 15 seconds and briefly add subtitles so you can make absolutely sure you heard the right dialogue. The new TV is certainly a big step for Apple’s expansion into the living room as these new features allow the TV to go beyond normal television viewing. Apple is calling the new AppleTV interface “tvOS” and according to the hands-on article from the Verge, the touchpad remote is very responsive.

The new entertainment device is a lot more powerful than its predecessors as it is being powered by an 84-bit A8 processor.

With the Siri support, users will be able to search from multiple sources to find a specific movie or TV show. Those push notifications can also be used to briefly show weather or sports information across the bottom of the screen while other content is playing.

“The future of TV is apps as we are consuming most of our content through apps on a mobile device”.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company was determined the bring apps and games to TV screens, and “over 60% of paid TV consuming is done through an Apple device”. It looks like Apple wants to step into the gaming industry business with the new Apple TV and has most of its focus on game apps. Apple also displayed some new models and accessories for its Apple Watch. Ask Siri to “show me amusing TV shows”, and you’ll purportedly get a list of comedies sorted by popularity.

“The Apple TV Remote comes in two flavors-one with Siri built in and the other with onscreen search capabilities”. Ready at launch are favorites like Guitar Hero, the new Disney Star Wars game, and even Airbnb and Zillow. The Apple TV will be available starting late October, but Indian pricing and availability is not known yet.

The new Apple TV will cost US$149 for the 32GB model, and US$199 for the 64GB version.