Apple TV: At last, a serious contender for Amazon Fire’s throne

Spoken instructions and universal search make Apple a serious player in the tough smart TV market

It’s taken a long time, but we’re finally here. After unveiling the console at the iPhone 6s event in September, Apple is launching a TV box that we actually want to invest in this week.

Not just for die-hard Apple fanatics or house-proud design nuts who buy their tech specifically to match their minimalist “brushed chrome” scheme, the fourth-generation console finally looks like a serious contender for Amazon Fire’s throne, thanks to revamped hardware, more streaming services and a new, easier-to-navigate touchpad remote.

But much of the noise being made about the overhauled Apple TV is thanks to its newly launched tvOS operating system that’s set to bring apps to your flatscreen. This means viewers will be able to find their favourite shows via a universal search function that will pull up where they can watch a series or film on everything from Netflix and NowTV to HBO Now. Basically, it will eliminate the dead time spent browsing for the latest Walking Dead episode.

But it’s not just the app function that will put hours back into free time. iPhone users will already be familiar with Siri, Apple’s voice-controlled “personal assistant”. Well, it’s just had a promotion to your living room. Using the new Siri Remote, viewers can bypass menus and simply just tell him what to put on the TV. But unlike other competitors, and this is where Apple really trumps the Amazon Fire TV 4K, Siri will also respond to more complicated demands, such as “bring up all action films from the 1970s” or simply “Siri. House. Play” (for those of us who struggle with cohesive thoughts before 9am).

Yes, the first 20 times of exclaiming “Siri, fire up Downton Abbey” to an empty room will feel strange, but perhaps we’ll soon cringe thinking of our predecessors tapping on clunky remotes in the same way we do when watching Richard Gere answer his gigantic Eighties cell phone in Pretty Woman or the naff email system Tom Hanks uses in You’ve Got Mail.

Siri aside, gamers are also in for a treat. As well as the usual gaming suspects, Apple TV features a host of new titles are set to be included such as Manticore Rising, Rayman Adventures, Shadowmatic, Transistor and Guitar Hero Live.

The remote also includes a wrist strap and a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope so that you can use it as a game controller in a similar style to the Wii.

Okay, so there are downsides. The new Apple TV doesn’t offer 4K streaming – this may not mean much to you now, but it will in two or three years when Apple is scrambling to catch up with other big players. The new Fire TV streams in 4K, meaning a future Apple TV undoubtedly will as well. The cost is sizeable too. It’ll set you back £179 for the 64GB model, but comparatively speaking, it comes in at around the same price as Amazon Fire TV which is £80 for the box and also requires a £79 per year Prime subscription.

Our verdict? If you can live without 4K for the foreseeable future, you’ll have a neat little media streamer on your hands.