Before ordering my Apple TV I had read most of its reviews online and hence I was aware of all of its shortcomings. Even so this device turned out to be very elegant and easy to use. This device is the first of the Apple TV’s that can actually support 1080p output. This is a good but not an overwhelming feature. The setup is very simple and takes less than 10 minutes to complete. The interface is pretty good and it’s fairly intuitive to use. The only problem with this device is that it doesn’t serve a great deal of functions. It is kind of restricted in that area as it essentially offers 3 main functions in a single package. These functions include the wireless display, iTunes front end and content/channel provider.

• Apple TV is basically a front end for iTunes and it allows you to rent or buy content that you can view on the box along with previously purchased content. Therefore the content you buy needs to be an iTunes Match as otherwise it won’t work on this device. You can on the other hand access your media from your computer that is currently running iTunes, but here again you can only access the content that is present in iTunes and nothing else. The interface is pretty neat and is fun to use however its dependency on iTunes purchase or iTunes running on a computer reduces its usefulness. You can only enjoy the Apple TV if you use iTunes a lot as it comprises 1/3 of the functionality of this device.

• Apple TV also provides you with channels/apps that you could access to get other content. However this is again very limited as only Netflix is present here. Generally these channels/apps work very smoothly and quickly. The last feature is the AirPlay and this basically allows you stream videos and music from your iOS and MacOS device. This is a very simple feature and is amazing to use as it works pretty well. This feature is very smooth as it provides minimal lag in case of audio. This features makes up for a lot of the limited channels. If you do not have iOS or MacOS devices then there is no point to the AirPlay aspect. Therefore you need to have these devices.

If you are an Apple fan and can spend loads of money on iTunes, then this device is perfect for you. However that doesn’t mean that the device is not fun to use. I really do like it and I enjoy listening to music from my TV. One of the issues that I have with this device is the lack of content because without more channels/apps this device suffers from limited usability unless you are a big time iTunes fan. Apple shouldn’t rely only on this factor alone to support this product. Another problem lies with the AirPlay feature, as there are occasions when the video playback can be a bit choppy and mirroring, especially in case of games, which can have too much lag. I personally think that this device should be improved as so far the only good thing about this device is its AirPlay. The device can be upgraded and further improved by adding support for network storage for content streaming, more channels/apps and a stronger AirPlay performance.