Latest news with #AppleTV4K
Tom's Guide
a day ago
- Business
- Tom's Guide
Apple TV 4K is still the best streaming box when it comes to privacy
New evidence suggests the Apple TV 4K might be home to the most privacy-protected display interface in the market. In a recent breakdown by Ars Technica, the website revealed that certain ad-related settings are turned off by default or are totally non-existent on the platform. One of those key missing features is ACR, which stands for Automatic Content Recognition. It's a new feature cropping up on several new smart TVs, allowing TV makers increased access into your daily viewing habits. It's not on the Apple TV 4K, though. Like on iPhone, tvOS applications must ask you before they collect data, and all the data that is collected is totally anonymized. It's not the perfect system, but if you're concerned about your privacy, Apple TV 4K continues to prove itself as one of the best streaming devices. As ACR crops up on many of its rivals, Apple has stayed clear from the feature entirely. Most TV manufacturers use vastly different names for it, but the concept remains the same: collecting viewing habits to target specific ads that meet your interests. But it's not just ACR the Apple TV 4K excludes. Have you ever noticed the messages that crop up whenever you first boot up a new app on an Apple device? iPhone and iPad users might be most accustomed to it, but it essentially makes third-party app providers ask if you're OK with them collecting analytics data and using location services before they start up. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. These opt-out measures are a huge game changer and puts privacy concerns to bed for the wary. Apple TV 4K also allows you to turn off other data collecting services like Siri on tvOS. Apple can keep Siri transcripts on its servers for a set period of around six months, however there's nothing stopping you from disabling Siri outright . Although Apple TV 4K might be the most privacy-protected of all the streaming devices, it's not a full-proof experience. You will still have some privacy concerns to deal with, largely stemming from Apple accounts and the TV application. Search terms are a big one, as is your general history, but you can even disable personalized recommendations if you wanted to. These sort of make sense, though, as they're not necessarily targeting you nefariously to sell you ads but gain a better understanding of your viewing history to better improve Apple's own recommendations. Meanwhile, you have companies like Roku and LG devising some of the most dystopian methods of gaining a better understanding of your viewing habits: LG TVs are about to show you ads based on your emotions, which is terrifying to think about. Roku's no better, patenting all kinds of ways to ensure its platform remains ad-rich. That's what makes Apple stand out. Despite several flaws and a rather high price, the Apple TV 4K is one of the best ways to bypass ad-heavy platforms and keep your viewing habits as private as possible. Hopefully, the rumored Apple TV 4K refresh takes a similar approach to this success.
Tom's Guide
3 days ago
- Tom's Guide
I test streaming devices for a living and I can't wait to see a new Apple TV 4K — here's why
It's been three long years since Apple launched a new set-top box. Although ripe with features and tons of value — in spite of its hefty $129 starting price — the Apple TV 4K still proves that it's one of the best streaming devices. There's still room for improvement, however, especially now that Apple has better processors on the latest iOS and iPadOS devices. With rumors still circulating on a new Apple TV 4K expected in 2025, it's time for this streaming box to get all the love it needs to meet a wide range of standards. Here's all the features and specs an updated Apple TV device needs for greatness. There's one thing I've come to realize that's crucial with these types of products: ultra portability. I've been testing tons of different streaming devices over the past few years, and there's one thing I've come to realize that's crucial with these types of products: ultra portability. While you will, for the most part, be using it at home to bypass a TV's existing interface, it's pretty useful having an on-the-go streaming device with all of the best streaming services signed into your accounts. This means at Airbnbs and hotels, you don't have to worry about singing in and out of the apps you want to use on the TV in your room. For a great example of a powerful, portable streaming device, look no further than the new Roku Streaming Stick Plus, which launched last month. It's the slimmest of its kind and still offers heightened performance despite its smaller size. Apple knows design better than most and while I do like the boxy look of the existing Apple TV 4K, it definitely could use a slimmer profile. The best approach, I think, is to have multiple different kinds of Apple TV devices to fit various needs. Amazon's Fire TV does this very well with a Fire TV Cube and Fire TV Stick that are both vastly different in performance and sizes. Not everyone might agree with this take. But the days of needing a streaming set-top box that looks like a mini PC are long gone. Some people just want convenience and using your iPad or even a MacBook Air to watch content on-the-go isn't always ideal. Both Samsung and LG offer Xbox Game Pass on their individual interfaces; it's time for Apple to follow suit. One of the biggest missing pieces on Apple's streaming box is a broader range of gaming support. Apple Arcade does exist on the platform, but it pales in comparison to the wider net cast by some of the best cloud gaming services. Both Samsung and LG offer Xbox Game Pass on their individual interfaces; it's time for Apple to follow suit. The biggest obstacles here are the older processors and wireless components. This not only includes the device's main CPU, but also the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips to boot. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple has a new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip in the works that "is tightly integrated with its other components." This could give the new Apple TV a huge leg up against its competition, especially if it also manages to leverage one of the newer bionic chips like the A17 Pro or A18. These would not only allow the new device broader gaming capabilities, like playing Death Stranding: Director's Cut right on your Apple TV, but also enhance AI features as well. It also lends credence to the rumors of an Apple tvOS makeover requiring a much stronger chipset. It's about time Apple stepped into the gaming sphere a bit more, and a refreshed streaming device could be its big ticket to get there. Although feature-rich and premium-priced, the Apple TV 4K isn't without several missing pieces. It manages to wrangle Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support, but still misses the boat on key passthrough settings. It's a major point of contention for the device, and a refresh definitely needs additional codecs and passthrough options to improve the overall soundscape of the device. Problematically, Apple TV 4K is also without multichannel support via HDMI and, surprisingly, lacks the ability to play 24-bit Hi-res music. It's pretty remarkable, especially given that some tracks on Apple Music even support it, meaning you can't even get the most out of the platform you're paying for on one of its most premium hardware products. Another blunder is hands-free voice controls. That sounds absurd in the year 2025, but the Apple TV 4K doesn't support any, and that's rough in the face of cheaper options like the Roku Ultra, Google TV Streamer, and Fire TV Stick HD all having their own well-rounded voice assistants. Apple needs to step its game up when it comes to wider smart home integration. Finally, Apple needs to step its game up when it comes to wider smart home integration. Streaming sticks are fast becoming the hubs for our smarter products, allowing us to control the ecosystem of devices scattered across the home network. While the Apple TV 4K does have a Thread board router for Matter support, it doesn't have functional AI to assist with more complicated automations and voiced controls like you get on Google. Thus, Apple Intelligence is a key feature needed on a newer device. This could bring voice controls and wider home networking capabilities into the mix in one fell swoop.
Digital Trends
3 days ago
- Business
- Digital Trends
You Asked: ULED vs QLED explained, plus AI videos with sound are here
On today's episode of You Asked: Is the TCL QM6K too bright? How should you balance upscaling between your Apple TV 4K and 4K TV? And what you need to know about Google Veo 3 and its AI video creation. Apple TV 4K vs Panasonic Smart TV Upscaling @_Jiggle asks: If I were to get a Panasonic Z95A with incredible upscaling, but I don't like the operating system, Fire TV, so instead get the Apple TV 4K, is the upscaling any good or should I stick with the TV's Smart OS Fire TV? Does the upscaling change in any way if I get an Apple TV over Panasonic's incredible upscaling? There are layers to this one, but I'll try to answer the question in parts and keep it simple. As always, I encourage viewers to weigh in on these questions too—especially if these are issues that you've faced and can help with. So, Jiggle, the first thing to know is the Apple TV 4K is going to upscale the content to whatever you have set in the format section of the settings. If you have it set to 4K, it's going to take whatever you're watching, upscale it to 4K, and then send that to your Panasonic TV. The good news is, yes, the Apple TV 4K upscaling is pretty good. And if you're that bothered by Fire TV, it's a solid option. I haven't tested how good the Apple TV upscaling is versus using the apps built into the TV, but if it's well-produced content—which most current movies and shows on the big streaming services are—you probably won't be able to tell the difference. That said, if you go that route, be sure to go into your Apple TV 4K settings and select Match Content Range and Frame Rate. This ensures that the Apple device won't upscale SDR content into HDR and give you a weird, fake HDR-looking image. It keeps things natural to how the content was created. It's not recommended, but if you wanted your TV to do more of the upscaling to 4K, you could set the output on your Apple TV 4K to match the content. So, for example, set the output to 1080p if you're watching 1080p content and then let the TV take it up to 4K. But that feels like too much work for minimal benefit. And there's a chance you may be doing more harm than good by limiting the Apple TV's upscaling. ULED vs QLED: What's the Difference? @phalisatumblin1249 asks: What is the difference between ULED and QLED? Great question—and one that, though we've probably answered before, deserves an explanation every now and then. At its most simple definition, the difference between ULED and QLED is… kind of marketing. QLED—Quantum Dot Light Emitting Diode—is a type of LED panel that uses quantum dots to enhance color and contrast. And here's where marketing and a bit of confusing tech comes in. If you let Hisense define ULED (since it's their proprietary technology), it's described as a panel equipped with Ultra Local Dimming, Ultra Wide Color Gamut, Ultra 4K Resolution, and Ultra Smooth Rate. Given it's '20 picture patents working together to optimize backlight, motion and color data for the best viewing experience,' yes, it's a step up from your average LED-backlit TV. Where things get confusing is that there's not really a clear, super-distinguishable difference like there is between other TV types. There's not a specific piece of hardware—like a unique panel type or backlight—that definitively qualifies a TV as being ULED. It's just Hisense's branding to set themselves apart. If you're in the market for a TV and see QLED and ULED come up, dig into multiple reviews from trusted sources to ensure you're getting accurate information about the technology used. TCL QM6K vs Sony X90L Nikhil Subash asks: Recently, I was interested in the TCL C6K/QM6K series based on your recommendations. However, during a visit to a local store (here in Dubai), the model wasn't yet available. Instead, the salesperson strongly recommended the Sony Bravia X90L, praising its color accuracy and picture quality. While I've owned a Bravia before (which unfortunately developed issues after 3 years, with costly repairs), I'm hesitant due to the high price. The salesperson also raised concerns about TCL and Hisense, particularly regarding high brightness and potential eye strain for children. As a parent of a 3-year-old who enjoys watching YouTube, this gave me pause. Which model would be the better choice for 2025 considering durability, eye comfort, and value? Are there any upcoming releases in the next two months worth waiting for? Thanks, Nikhil. To address the eye comfort issue—first, I am not a doctor. That is clear. However, I have a degree in journalism and spent more than 10 years reporting. I know how to do research with credible sources, which tell me that it's more the amount of time spent in front of the TV than the TV picture itself that can cause eye strain. Though none of us who spend long amounts of time in front of screens for work follow this advice, it's recommended to take 15-minute breaks every two hours. Take your eyes off the screen. Focus on something else in the distance. So do with that what you will in terms of eye comfort for you and your three-year-old. I'll also note that in the tests we did on this channel—results you can see in each of these TVs' reviews—the Sony X90L's peak brightness is around the same and often higher than the TCL QM6K. I wouldn't recommend maxing out the brightness on either if eye comfort is a concern. In SDR, peak brightness in a 10 percent window was just shy of 600 nits on the Sony and around 650 nits on the TCL. In HDR, the Sony hits 1600 nits in smaller windows and 800 nits with full-screen white. The TCL returned 750 nits in a 25 percent window, which would be even lower in full-screen white. So I wouldn't worry about the TCL being too bright. Finally, in terms of color, the X90L was very accurate out of the box—as you'd expect from a Sony TV. But to quote the reviewer, the TCL was one of the most color-accurate TVs tested at its price point, which, by the way, retails for $200 less than the Sony—at least here in the U.S. Bottom line: if the TCL QM6K has your eye, you won't be disappointed, especially considering the performance for the price. Google Veo 3: AI Video with Sound and Speech Moving on from TVs, let's cross the pond to managing editor John McCann to answer your AI-related questions around Google Veo 3. Google announced the latest version of its AI video generator during its I/O keynote in the middle of May. And with Veo 3, we get a major upgrade. It's moving out of the silent age of film and into the audio era. Now it's not only able to generate eerily convincing video, it will also add sound effects, background audio, and even speech to those videos. Yes, your AI-generated moving pictures can now talk—and in a variety of accents. Has it nailed the British one? Not quite, in the view of this particular Brit. There's still a bit more work for Google to do. However, what it is able to do is already impressive, and we've shared some of these examples on our social feeds, which has really got you talking. David wants to know how to access Veo 3, while Tuhin asks if there's a cost involved. Well, David, it's no surprise you want to try it. Veo 3 is a very interesting engine with a lot of possibilities. However, getting to use it is a little trickier. First of all, you have to be in the U.S. Veo 3 isn't available in other countries at the moment. And you'll also need a subscription to Google's AI Ultra Plan. How much is that? $250 per month. That is a lot of money, and means not many of us will be rushing to try it out right away. Eddie asks: Is this attached to Google Gemini? Yes, it is. If you're able to spring for $250 a month, you'll be able to access Veo 3 via the Gemini app. You'll also be able to experience Flow 4, a filmmaking service from Google that uses both Veo 3 and image generation. You'll even be able to pull from your own image and video sources to create a film-style video, with additional controls like camera angles and editing tools.
Tom's Guide
27-05-2025
- Tom's Guide
Apple's tvOS is set to get a major makeover at WWDC — here's how it might look
Apple rumors are running wild with WWDC just weeks away, and one of the most exciting is the debut of tvOS 19, which could herald a whole new look for some of the best streaming devices. These rumors stem from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who claims that Apple wants to give tvOS and a slew of other Apple products the visionOS treatment. That should make alternative devices, like the Apple TV 4K and HomePods, feel a lot like the Apple Vision Pro. WWDC is set to kick off on June 9, so we'll know if these announcements come to fruition during the main event. Codenamed "Solarium," the new redesign for tvOS 19 will have a more translucent look to it, which gives way to the design ethos of the WWDC25 logo itself. Think of it kind of like a glossy glass appearance that mirrors visionOS. Industry insider Mark Gurman noted that the WWDC event will largely focus on this redesign, specifying that "consistency and unification across the operating systems" is a key theme for Apple in 2025. He didn't go into any further specifics on what to expect in terms of features for tvOS 19, but did highlight that the redesign could be quite intensive. That might leave the now decade-old Apple TV HD in the dust if it's too big of a jump, but little else is known about the major changes for this new update. This also lends more credence to the bevy of leaks surrounding a refreshed Apple TV 4K device on the near horizon. It's unclear whether this device will be announced at WWDC itself or later in 2025, but with nearly three years having passed since the last Apple streaming box, the time is ripe for a new one. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Apple's tvOS 19 is slated to launch in the Fall, and we should learn more about the look and feel it will bring to Apple devices during WWDC, which kicks off on June 9.
India Today
27-05-2025
- India Today
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge review: Welcome to the light side
The Galaxy S25 Edge isn't just a phone. It's a reminder that you should never take Samsung lightly. Like all seasoned heavyweights, it, too, gets hit, sometimes hard, but what's important is that it keeps moving forward. In the golden words of Rocky Balboa, 'That's how winning is done.'For a few years now, it seemed like Samsung had run out of ideas, that perhaps it had become too complacent. But turns out, it was silently working on its next big thing. Now, I have a strong feeling that the Galaxy S25 Edge - despite all its outward appearance - is not it. It is a trailer for what's potentially coming it's a teaser, Samsung is allowed to show a few things now, set the stage up, and let viewers sit and speculate about the rest. Anticipation is key. It's been a while it surprised people. They had become comfortable, a little too much, maybe. It was time to show them what Samsung is and what it can do, despite what they might be thinking. Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge next to Apple TV 4K remote. One of the things it is sharing goes above and beyond any paper spec. It is the acknowledgement that, yes, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a bit much. Given a choice, many people would want to trade it for something slimmer. With the Galaxy S25 Edge, Samsung has given a small glimpse of what that phone might look like. This may not even be its final form, but one of many probable simulations and in some of them - or at least in one of them - I bet that Samsung would have allowed itself to break the rules and gone completely crazy. After all, it's the same company that made us believe it was possible to bend glass at will and do all sorts of unimaginable things with it. But today, it must practice some restraint. Not because it is not thinking about the future, but because it has a past to live choices, calculated risksadvertisementAnd so, I can perfectly understand why the Galaxy S25 Edge has a 3,900 mAh battery, the smallest of any Galaxy S25 series phone. Even the Galaxy Z Flip 6 has a bigger battery. Calls for Samsung to use a silicon-carbon battery are not unfounded. I wish I could have told you better, but the fact is, it is using a conventional Lithium-Ion battery. You can take it or leave it. But again, I have a feeling that it was discussed. It's just one of those things where Samsung chose to let its brand name and recall do the heavy is not to say it has set itself for abject failure. It is a calculated risk. Hardware and software have reached a point where numbers don't tell the full story. While the Galaxy S25 Edge's battery life may not blow your mind, it won't leave you high and dry, either. It is somewhere in the best thing to do is, spend some days with the phone with an open mind, during which the phone will watch and analyse your usage patterns, too. Then, when both of you get used to each other, in time, things will become a little easier. There is always a silver lining. It all depends on whether you are willing to look for it. And for those keeping score, the Galaxy S25 Edge achieved a respectable 13 hours and 38 minutes in PC Mark, which - to be completely honest - was better than what I had expected. It may not be an apt comparison, but a 5,010 mAh battery phone one of my colleagues is reviewing could only pull off 9 hours and 43 minutes. So, things could have been worse. Anyhow, it is best to keep a charger around with the Galaxy S25 Edge just in case you run out of juice when you most need it. The phone supports 25W wired and 15W wireless majority of the juice is going into driving, a) the processor, and b) display. Both are flagship level. This was mostly expected, but it is still worth mentioning that Samsung did not cut any corners in these super-important areas. The Galaxy S25 Edge has extremely thin bezels. The Snapdragon 8 Elite - Qualcomm's latest - offers performance comparable to the rest of the Galaxy S25 series phones day-to-day, though it is more prone to throttling when pushed - like during intense gaming sessions – so that is something to keep in mind. This is a defence mechanism built in to save the internal components – and invariably the phone – from frying up. The Galaxy S25 Edge does this a tad more aggressively given it is not your typical flagship phone. But it doesn't come at the expense of user experience, which holds up well regardless of how you use it. This is thanks to some intricate optimisation from Samsung on the software side. [You're more likely to observe these knee-jerk reactions during benchmarks or when you go specifically looking for them.]advertisementA refined One UI, no cut cornersOne UI 7 deserves every bit of praise it has been widely receiving. The general impression is that Samsung can do no wrong at this point. Everything it has put out, or plans to put out, is adding to what is already one of the most cohesive Android skins available on the market, in ways that are both visually appealing and functionally meaningful – even AI. While Google may be spearheading a lot of these advancements at the base level, Samsung is making them more accessible, so more people can understand and use them – not just the will take time, but Samsung has laid out the groundwork early and is continuing to build on it each day, every day breaking barriers and giving competitors, particularly Apple, something to think about. What's impressive is that the Galaxy S25 Edge gets the same love and commitment as the rest of the Galaxy S25 series phones, and this is across the board. Samsung isn't keeping any Galaxy AI feature exclusive to the Ultra, or intentionally made the Edge any less capable. It is neck-and-neck down to 7-years of all-round support. Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge benchmarks The same is also true about the screen, though here, Samsung had to make some structural changes. So, while on a pure spec-level, it has the same 1440p 120Hz LTPO AMOLED panel as the Galaxy S25 Ultra (the screen size is smaller and matches the Galaxy S25 Plus's) and delivers exceptional quality as a result, the display protection required reengineering to make it as thin as possible. Samsung is calling it 'Ceramic 2.' What you should know is that while it is very durable, it is not as resilient as the Armor 2 protection on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Both glasses are made by Corning, but Ceramic is built to survive drops from 2 metres height while Armor can go as far as 2.2 metres. It is a small difference on paper, but when it comes to accidents, every bit counts much in the same way we can all be more careful with our phones in general. It is a two-way perfectSpeaking of which, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has two rear cameras. The primary uses a 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP2 sensor and a 23mm f/1.7 aperture lens with optical image stabilisation. There is ample evidence that this is the same exact setup as the Galaxy S25 Ultra, in which case, there are two parts to it. 1.) it is remarkable how Samsung was able to put a sensor this big and a lens so powerful in such a small space, and 2.) how it was able to pull such consistently good performance out of main camera of the Galaxy S25 Edge works in ways that challenge conventional wisdom, spewing out photos with lots of detail, rich colours, and wide dynamic range. It's not easy and yet, somehow, it makes all this look simple. Even in low light, this camera leans to giving more-than-ideal shots which are only accentuated and made better when the night mode kicks in. The only caveat is that it doesn't trigger night mode as readily (as some of the other competing phones), maybe because the sensor is so big (and the lens is so bright), the algorithm thinks it can pull off the impossible every time you fire up the system. It is false bravado as low-light photos without it come out soft and noisy – night mode is the way when the light goes away, the absence of a true telephoto, the Galaxy S25 Edge uses a 2x crop from the main sensor, to simulate portraits (as well as regular zoom shots). This workaround works surprisingly well, which is testament to Samsung's years of experience with both the sensor and underlying tech. The secondary 12-megapixel camera uses a 13mm f/2.2 ultrawide lens. It has autofocus which brings enhanced macro shooting capabilities by default. The output is respectable, not great. The front 12-megapixel camera takes good selfies with natural colour tones and exposure mostly on out full camera samples below; Click to access more The Galaxy S25 Edge has top-class video recording credentials, including 8K@30ps and full 4K@60fps as well as support for LOG format, which gives creators the tools to edit in post. Samsung also lets you tweak audio profiles using AI to cut out noise and enhance dialogue depending on what you're shooting Edge isn't the endSamsung is shooting for the moon with this phone, not in terms of how far its cameras can go, but how far it can bend perception and reality to make you think – and believe – you need the Galaxy S25 Edge, that you must have it, even if logic dictates that you go buy the Galaxy S25 Ultra instead, or the Galaxy S25 Plus maybe. The titanium frame and sharp 5.8 mm dimensions give it a very 007 vibe. But despite whatever side you pick, it is important that the Edge exists, because only then will we know for sure that Samsung is not beat but wants to beat the competition, including Apple which is expected to launch its own slim iPhone in the coming months. The wheels are in Galaxy S25 Edge isn't just any phone. The next version could be entirely different. There is an off chance that Samsung might not even launch it. But, it is certain that it will put some of this learning into the next Fold or Flip or maybe something even more ambitious. The Edge is a vision and statement that Samsung is willing to take risks again. Whether it makes sense as a purchase will depend on how much you're willing to trust Samsung. It has made a great phone and a unique phone (with a few obvious downsides those are not necessarily deal-breakers). The ball's in your court now.
