AUGUST 2021 MACWORLD 133have jog dials,
after all.
But it doesn’t
work all the time.
I had no problem
engaging it in any
content streamed
from the TV app,
Hulu, or Netflix,
but apps with
their own
playback
interfaces such
as Peacock or
YouTube don’t
work with it yet.
The Menu
button is now the
Back button, but it’s just a naming change,
not a change in function. (Menus really
ever popped up when you hit the Menu
button, after all.) However, Apple TV apps
are a little inconsistent about what they do
when you hit the Back button. Some stop
playback and back you up a step, while
others clear away interface elements
without stopping playback, and you can
never quite tell when you’re going to back
out of an app or just back up to a higher-
level interface. This has always been an
issue, and Apple could stand to enforce
some standards a little better now that the
button is specifically labeled, but it’s hardly
the remote’s fault.
NEW BUTTONS
IN NEW LOCATIONS
The new circular direction-pad-and-click-
pad is a huge improvement, but the addition
of a couple new buttons also helps.
There’s now a power button in the
upper right, flush with the face so it’s hard
to accidentally press. Hold it down for a
couple seconds to put everything to sleep
and turn off devices controlled by HDMI-
CEC. You could always hold down the TV
button for a couple seconds to bring up
control center and then choose Sleep, but
this is faster and easier.
The new Mute button is a long-overdue
addition. Apple reasoned that people usedUsing the remote like an iPod click wheel to scrub through video feels
absolutely right.