[Fed-Talk] Apple TV "bugs"
[Fed-Talk] Apple TV "bugs"
- Subject: [Fed-Talk] Apple TV "bugs"
- From: Jerry Blackmon <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2010 16:26:49 -0400
I know this isn't strictly Federal/Enterprise (yet) but I know there are Apple people on these lists, so this should be noticed.
Network connectivity is required to use the Apple TV. It's not REQUIRED, but you can't really do anything with it if it's not connected to a network. The "error message" that displays if you don't put it on a network is far too subtle. I didn't even notice it until I reset the device to recreate the "bug" before I wrote this e-mail. I know it's not broken, but I'd bet money a regular user would take it straight back to the store for a refund.
If network connectivity is required, a user should not be able to escape the network setup dialogs without red alert klaxons (not literally) alerting them that they need to be on some sort of network to access most of the device's functionality. I clicked menu a few times when I got to the wireless setup portion of the "setup assistant," and other than the excessively subtle "Your Apple TV isn't connected to a network" error message that's an almost illegible white-outlined black text on a light grey gradient background (my vision is 20/20, 20/10 elderly people will not be able to read this), there is nothing to tell me anything is amiss. Yes it is the first thing I saw when I came out of the assistant, but BECAUSE it's the first thing I saw, I didn't bother to read it -- I thought it was part of the interface. My attention was drawn to the perfectly legible menu options, not the "alert" text. Why? I can _easily_ read the menu text, which further reinforced my notion that the alert was part of the interface.
The very first thing I wanted to do was set it up to use my iPad for text entry because I didn't want to be forced to scroll with the remote to enter IDs and passwords. As a "superuser," that's the reason I escaped out of the network setup screens. You'd think this would be near the top of the menus. Where is it? Settings > General > Remotes > Remote App > Turn On Home Sharing > Home Sharing Setup.
That's a problem. For obvious reasons, I know I can control my Apple TV with any of my iDevices. Does your typical user? There's no mention of this in the book that comes with the device. And WhyTF do I need to read a book that came with an Apple product?
Very non-Apple.
And then we get to home sharing. Why does Home Sharing require an Apple ID? If I want to share content that's ripped from CDs I own, or movies I filmed and edited myself, there shouldn't be any external validation required. External validation is the antithesis of the idea of home sharing, is it not? But this is the only way to activate Home Sharing on the Apple TV. That's REALLY not cool. And mind you, I still have not been alerted that my ATV has not been connected to any network.
So I try to validate my Apple ID. After scrolling through the excessively long process of entering my e-mail address and strong 14-character password it tells me, essentially, "an error occurred." The error, still, says nothing about not being connected to a network. Instead, it tells me there's a problem with my iTunes account. So, again, not remembering I hadn't actually put it on the network yet, I went through the process of retyping my password and e-mail address several times, reset the password to something weak, then half an hour later, it dawned on me.
A lot of this is stupidity on my part, but I'm not a typical user. Your typical user? This doesn't work. Call Apple Care and/or take it back to the store or "this shit sucks, Apple blows."
A good Mac OS X-style Setup Assistant would solve all of these problems. The second question this assistant should ask you -- after you've connected to a wireless network -- "Apple TV can be controlled via your iPod touch, iPhone or iPad. Would you like to set this up?"
Very frustrating. Hopefully this experience will get to someone who can make some changes to the OS before Apple has an Apple TV-gate issue on its hands. I'll fix the problems, but I can guarantee you a solid majority of regular users won't bother.
I _still_ haven't actually used the Apple TV to do anything yet. Feel like I'm installing WIndows.
FWIW,
---
Jerry Blackmon <email@hidden>
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." -- Soren Kirkegaard
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