It wasn’t an expense I had anticipated so soon, but one of those irrefutable offers from Amazon blew me into buy a new tv for my living room. He was among those who still had a 1080p television with an Apple TV that recently entered the product list ancient Apple, so for me the purchase also meant switching to 4K HDR and a large OLED diagonal.
But with this leap there was also another of a similar magnitude: to have a completely “smart” TV in which applications of all services could be downloaded without depending on an Apple TV as happened to me until ‘now. So I considered an experiment: not buying the Apple TV 4K I had planned and just using the TV software for two weeks to see if that Apple TV 4K was worth it. Here are my conclusions.
Saving 200 dollars makes you decide to sacrifice a little more
The TV I chose is the 55-inch LG OLED C1, taking advantage of a drop in price due to the arrival of more modern C2 models. your system is Web OS 6compatible with apps from all the streaming services I subscribe to and also ready to play videos via AirPlay or be a HomeKit device.
With my old TV, I barely touched the system, since it didn’t have streaming service apps. I depended on the Apple TV HD to be able to see all my content. Now was the time to do the exact opposite: try without tvOS. The first thing I had to do was entertain myself by disabling all personalized advertising options, in an effort to maximize the privacy I had on the TV. It took me about 15 minutes.
I then installed the services apps in about 5 minutes, signing up with an account for the WebOS app store. The connection was also fast thanks to adapted web pages to identify me without having to enter passwords. Done, I was ready to start using the TV.
The WebOS 6 user experience falls short of tvOS’ cleanliness, but that doesn’t justify spending an extra $200 on an Apple TV 4K
The experience, after doing an image calibration to optimize the quality of the videos, was good. Not great, but good
What am I missing without Apple TV 4K? Many things:
- I can’t access Apple Arcade
- I can’t manage my HomeKit devices from the TV, its function is that I can turn it on or off from the iPhone.
- If I use the TV to do an Apple Fitness+ workout, the video plays but does not show my vital information or activity status ringing on the screen.
- I don’t have access to the App Store, so I can’t download or use certain apps or games that I had on my Apple TV+.
After two weeks of experimenting, I considered buying the Apple TV 4K so I could add these options and get the full experience. The conclusion I’ve come to is that I don’t need it.
All those Supplements They are appreciated, of course, but in my opinion they are not worth spending the extra 200 dollars that an Apple TV + costs. Plus, my minimalist self appreciates one less device taking up space in my cabinet, one HDMI port, and some power consumption.
This means that tvOS is not essential in my life, and reflects the problem the system currently has. WWDC 2022 didn’t even spend a minute on it, a symptom of this problem and a sign that Apple either doesn’t know what to do or is preparing something to give it more life. When I had a “semi-smart” TV, tvOS made sense in the world, but now webOS 6 has made it less necessary.
And now what? Well, I will continue to use the television system, even if I I will be attentive to what Apple can now do in tvOS. I might buy an Apple TV in the future, but only if tvOS has a shift in focus or a set of new features to justify it.
