Pros & Cons
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- Attractive, sturdy design
- Physical navigation pad is easier to use
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- Expensive
- Touch surface can be finicky
Apple recently updated its Apple TV 4K media streamer, changing only two things in the process. First, it upgraded the processor for more fluid performance. Second, it completely overhauled the remote. The new Siri Remote is a step up from the first-gen model in functionality, with a physical navigation pad that's easier to use. If you already have a previous-generation Apple TV or Apple TV 4K, you can breathe new life into your browsing experience by buying the new second-generation remote on its own. It's expensive at $59, but it costs a lot less than buying a new Apple TV, so you might find it to be a worthwhile investment.
A New Aluminum Body and Navigation Pad
The second-generation Siri Remote is a 5.4-by-1.4-inch (HW) shim, measuring less than half an inch thick. The entire body of the remote is aluminum, instead of just the back like the first-generation model. This makes for an attractive matte silver all around, which feels nicely cool and solid in the hand. Most of the buttons are still black plastic, as is the tip of the remote (for the infrared emitter).
The previous Siri Remote has a square, clickable touchpad covering the entire top third of its body. Here's it’s replaced with a circular physical navigation control that doubles as a touchpad. A large black circle functions as a touchpad for swiping around, and clicks to confirm your choice. A ring around the circle is clickable in four directions, functioning as a standard direction pad.
This is a welcome change, though we still wouldn't mind Apple doing away with the touch controls entirely. Since the Apple TV interface doesn’t have a mouse-like cursor that requires the precision of a touchpad, interacting with its menus through careful swipes feels awkard. That said, the simple direction buttons here are much easier to use with the Apple TV’s menus and apps, so having them makes for a notable improvement.
Since the confirmation button doubles as a touch surface, I sometimes found myself accidentally moving the cursor around with small shifts of my thumb when I only wanted to click it. I’ve yet to find a use case on the Apple TV that really takes advantage of the touchpad, except perhaps for some Apple Arcade games (in which case you’ll probably have a better experience using a compatible Bluetooth gamepad). The bottom of the navigation ring is also very close to the Back and Apple TV buttons, and I found myself accidentally pressing them with my big thumb when I meant to press the down direction.
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It’s worth nothing that the new remote is easier to find and handle in the dark; the first-gen Siri remote is almost symmetrical and flat near both ends, which means you can easily pick it up by the touchpad instead of the bare end that works better as a grip. With the circular navigation pad, the new Siri remote doesn’t have that problem.
Mostly the Same Buttons
The new remote has two columns of buttons below the navigation pad, like the previous model, though their functions have changed. The buttons on the left column include Back, Play/Pause, and Mute (as opposed to Menu, Siri, and Play/Pause). The right column remains the same, with a TV button and a volume rocker.
The TV button jumps to the Up Next screen of the Apple TV app by default. The app is already at the top of the Apple TV home screen, and without any changes, the button means you can’t simply jump to the home screen with a single press; you need to hold the Back button for a second. Luckily, you can set the TV button to jump straight to the home screen through the Apple TV’s settings.
The Siri button has been moved to the right edge of the remote, where it’s the same aluminum as the remote’s body. The pinhole microphone for using Siri is still near the tip. A TV power button has been added to the top right corner of the remote, also aluminum.
A Fine Way to Upgrade Your Old Apple TV
The second-generation Siri Remote looks sharp and feels good in the hand. Functionally, it's the same remote as the previous model, with slightly tweaked buttons and a more comfortable physical navigation pad instead of just a touchpad. $59 is a lot ask for a remote, especially when excellent non-Apple 4K media streamers can be found, remote and all, for around the same price. If you’re really committed to your last-generation Apple TV or Apple TV 4K and want to breathe new life into it, however, the second-gen Siri Remote makes for a notably better browsing experience.