Earlier this month, I wrote about how Google TV had started advertising content from a first-party YouTube channel that features Super Bowl ads. I’ve been complaining about the ad load in Google TV’s UI for forever — it was my biggest hangup in reviewing the Google TV Streamer last year. But the ads for ads Google TV showed in the run-up to the big game felt like a new low, and I said at the time that it pushed me to replace my Streamer with an Apple TV 4K.
I wasn’t kidding, either. I’ve been using Apple’s streaming box for a few weeks now, and for the most part, I’m really liking it. It’s not quite my ideal streaming box, but I think it’s a lot closer than the Google TV Streamer was.
There aren’t nearly as many ads on Apple TV 4K
The main thing that pushed me to want to try the Apple TV platform was the rampant advertising I was being subjected to on Google TV. Fire TV and Roku devices aren’t much better, and the streaming software built into my Vizio TV isn’t, either. That pretty much left Apple’s tvOS as the only option.
I can’t complain about the advertising situation on my Apple TV 4K. The streamer’s home screen is organized into a grid of app icons. When you highlight an app in the top row, Apple TV will show content from that app — cards for shows or movies you’ve been watching that let you pick up where you left off. Aside from the Apple TV app, which shows previews for content I haven’t watched, I haven’t seen anything on the streaming box’s home screen that resembles an ad. Coming from Google TV, which prominently features paid advertisements for shows, movies, and even non-streaming products like video games, tvOS feels a lot tidier.
The Apple TV 4K does sometimes show static advertisements when you pause a show or movie, but I tend not to look at my TV much when it isn’t actively playing video. You’ll also still get ads during video playback, of course, depending on the specific services and plans you’re subscribed to. That’s not really something I can blame on the streaming box, though.
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The rest of the experience is nice, too
On top of the much lower ad exposure, the Apple TV 4K is generally nice to use. If you’ve got an iPhone or an iPad around, setup is a breeze; you just hook the box up to your TV, bring your phone or tablet near it, and the software guides you through the rest. (If you don’t have other Apple hardware, you’ll need to either sign into or create an Apple account manually.) I didn’t need to fiddle with CEC settings at all to get the remote to control my TV or sound system connected over HDMI ARC, but your mileage may vary depending on your specific hardware and how you have it hooked up.
I’m a fan of that remote control, generally. It’s aluminum rather than plastic, and it’s rechargeable over USB-C. I know that means the remote might die more often, and that it might eventually need replaced once its battery stops holding a charge. But the remotes for my Google TV boxes were the only things I use AAA batteries for anymore, and I’m not upset at the idea of never needing to buy them again. And besides, since charging my remote when I first got the Apple TV 4K weeks ago, I haven’t had to plug it in again yet. So far so good.
Performance has been universally great, too. I never found the Google TV Streamer I’d been using felt slow, but the Apple TV 4K — powered by the A15 Bionic chip Apple used in the iPhone 14 series a couple of years ago — does seem a bit snappier. I haven’t felt any input lag or experienced any crashes, either. It’s all been smooth sailing.
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What I miss about Google TV
There are some Google-specific features I miss when I use the Apple TV 4K. Shows and movies purchased through Google TV aren’t as easy to access, for one. You can still find them through tvOS’s YouTube app or MoviesAnywhere, but both of those ways are a little more annoying than just popping over to Google TV’s Library tab.
I’ve been mildly inconvenienced by the inability to turn my TV on or off using the Google Assistant on my Nest speakers or Gemini on my phone. The Apple TV 4K doesn’t integrate with Google Home in any way (no surprise there), so on the rare occasion I want to flip the TV off without picking up the remote, I’m a little put out.
What I miss most — and this won’t be universal — is that I can’t use Google Photos as a screensaver on the Apple TV 4K. You can set it to show pictures from Apple Photos, but seeing as how I use Android phones, my image library’s on Google Photos. Apple’s got some other nice screensavers on offer, but none of them feel as personal as my own pictures. Sure, I could set up albums on Apple Photos, but I’ll probably just stick it out with Apple’s pre-built options.
It’s only $30 more than the Google TV Streamer
The Google TV Streamer is generally a fine streamer, and I’m not trying to say that you should run out and replace your $100 set-top box from Google with a $130 set-top box from Apple. If you’re about to upgrade from something like a budget Fire Stick or a Chromecast with Google TV, though, I think you’d do well to give the Apple TV 4K some thought. For just $30 more than the Google TV Streamer, Apple’s box offers better performance, a nicer remote control, and a much less advertisement-heavy software experience. It’s worth a look, even if you’re not an Apple user otherwise.
Apple TV 4K
The Apple TV 4K is a high-end streaming box that lives up to the pricetag. It offers a nicer, less ad-heavy experience than the Google TV Streamer does for just $30 extra.
