14 DAY TRIAL // According to a recent rumor Apple could be preparing an all-new TV box for launch as early as this month. A German design studio has now created what it thinks the device will look like, and it’s pretty amazing how plausible their mockups are.
Pictured below is a concept of the next-generation Apple TV featuring an extra something that would completely differentiate it from competing set-top boxes - a touch remote.
“The main attraction is the revamped remote control, completely redesigned as a touch device that might be wirelessly rechargeable via Apple TV,” Curved explains.
“iPhone 5 / 5s / 5c are still functioning as remote controls as well. Additionally, a separate App Store for Apple TV should be available. With 9,8 x 9,8 cm, it comes in the same size as the 2-year-old 3rd generation, but will be even thinner with 1,67 cm.”
The mockups are drop-dead gorgeous, having been inspired by the iPhone 5s Gold and Space Gray finishes. The remote itself has looks to kill, but its potential is far more important.
Completely replacing the old clunky aluminum remote, this miniatured iPod touch would finally put the user interface in the hands of the user. The remote would double as an accelerometer-based game controller and the TV box would, of course, have access to the endless catalog of games on the iTunes App Store, as rumored. AirPlay Mirroring would also be available.
Thanks to the inclusion of an A7 chip (currently found in high-end iPhones and iPads), the box would boast 4K video, HDMI 2.0, DVD Audio, SADC, Dolby Digital Plus, True HD and dts-HD, 32-channel audio. Its wireless standards would be IEEE 802.11ac and Bluetooth.
Curved imagines a wireless charging technology for the new touch-remote – something that isn’t too far fetched – and “an adapted version of iOS 7 [...] that is optimized for large-scale TV.”
Apple may or may not deliver a next-generation Apple TV that looks exactly like this, but the remote thing sounds like a real breakthrough. In fact, Curved seems to have been sifting through Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. A relevant excerpt from the book awaits below.
“He very much wanted to do for television sets what he had done for computers, music players, and phones: make them simple and elegant. ‘I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,’ he told me. ‘It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud.’ No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. ‘It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.’”
