Update: Thank you, Function101!
Bless your soul(s) for releasing me from that goddam Apple Remote.
Update: I don’t know the people that made the Function 101 remote, but I hope they didn’t base their whole business on the product! Apple has just introduced a re-designed remote for their new Apple TV, but that can be purchased separately to replace the stinky existing one. And the new remote gets you both “actual” buttons and Siri, in case you actually like that. I’m buying one (or two; don’t need the features of the new AppleTV, but….
I know this is only the second newsletter I’ve published on Substack, but I do hope it’s indicative of the new title I chose for my publication, What Matters.
Joanna Stern says it all in terms of the level of frustration I’ve had with the Apple Remote. I’ve embedded her mini-review below. (I hope Dow Jones won’t come after me; the editors didn’t provide a direct link to the piece, which I can normally get since I subscribe [happily] to the Wall Street Journal. Unlike Bloomberg, linked in Joanna’s review, which forces you to subscribe, who I don’t do also happily.)
But now that I have the Function101 remote for AppleTV, I’m not frustrated anymore.
I hated the Apple Remote, but because Apple has a tendency to ignore its own users in favor of minimalist design and also controls its own eco-system very tightly, so no one else before Function101 dared to compete with the Apple Remote. That meant I was stuck having to use the effing Apple Remote. Read Joanna Stern’s little review to get a sense of what I’m saying. “One of the worst gadgets in the history of gadgets”, she says.
While I was hating it, for the past maybe 5 years(?), I kept wondering how Apple came to decide to base its entire interface on this one device? Why not offer two different remotes? The answer: Apple was intent of making its users use Siri. I personally have turned if off on all my devices (MacBook, iMac, iPhone, iPad, etc.) because Siri sucks and has done so since before Amazon showed up with Alexa on its Echo devices. (Alexa has its own problems, but that’s a different story.)
Understand that I committed entirely to Apple TV once Apple fixed that device’s problems first with the 4th generation HD device in 2015 & then with the 5th generation 4K device in 2017. I threw away my Google Chromecast and the several Amazon FireTVs and other devices I had connected to my TV. What Apple had done (mostly in the software known as tvOS) was to integrate all of the streaming services into one device, including (most amazingly) Amazon’s own Prime Plus as well as HBO, Netflix, and now Disney+ and all the others that have arrived since. (Kudos to whomever persuaded Amazon to port its app to tvOS, at the very same time Apple refused to sell AMazon Kindle edition books on iOS devices.)
I don’t know about you, but I feel an intense loyalty to any company that actually solves my problem and does so with a certain elan. The most amazing moment was when I unboxed my Function101 remote, pulled the battery tape off, and hit the Menu button. It turned on my AppleTV and worked instantly with my Samsung TV! (Function101 guessed, smartly, that I would have a Samsung TV, which I do and so do the majority of other TV owners since Samsung is the #1 TV seller.) No setup, no configuration, and I could choose what I wanted without overshooting the menu or having to look to see if the remote was upside down. As a result I’ve gone through Function101’s web site to see what else I want to buy. Nothing yet, but I do like those cable blocks.
Don’t get me started on how I feel about Apple as my computer company. I have a lot of their products. They don’t work together as well as promised. Apple’s own apps on the Macintosh work worse than third party apps (except Microsoft’s). Endless frustration with a company that has gotten too big for its own britches. And no alternative, for someone who threw his last Windows computer out the window in rage.
As I said, thank you Function101!
Mini Review: Function101 Button Remote Brings Overdue Relief to Apple TV Owners
PHOTO: FUNCTION101
By Joanna Stern
©Dow Jones Inc.
The editors of this newsletter were very clear with me: only three paragraphs about this heavenly remote control that I won’t shut up about. Hmph! Only three paragraphs to talk about the best tech product of the year. Maybe the decade. Maybe ever.
Of course, the Function101 Button Remote for Apple TV (yes, that’s the official name) is great because it fixes one of the worst gadgets in the history of gadgets: Apple’s $59 Siri Remote. Disagree? Then I guess you must enjoy Apple’s razor-thin easy-to-slip-between-couch-cushions shape, the jumpy trackpad and the oh-so-helpful which-end-is-up button layout.
Instead, the granola-bar-sized Function101 remote, which instantly pairs with an Apple TV, has real, bouncy buttons. You can pick it up without looking at it because it looks and feels like an actual remote. Sure, there’s no microphone or Siri but that’s really fine since, you know, you can actually navigate to Netflix with this thing. At $30, it’s a no-brainer. Just be aware that Apple might be planning to release a new Apple TV with redesigned remote before the year end. Hey, 2020 is looking up already!
—Joanna is WSJ’s senior personal technology columnist based in New York. Read her columns here.