Apple quietly introduced a new Apple Remote [$19.00 - Apple Online Store link] along with the updated iMac, Mac Mini, Magic Mouse, and Apple TV 3.0 last month. Not to be confused with the Apple-produced Remote app [Free - iTunes link], which allows an iPhone or iPod touch to control an Apple TV or iTunes, the Apple Remote is a hardware accessory that not only controls the aforementioned Apple TV or iTunes (and Front Row!) all on its own, but can also control an iPhone or iPod touch when they’re placed in the — sold-separately — Apple Universal Dock [$49.00 - Apple Online Store link]

So, how new is it, why would an iPhone or iPod touch need a hardware remote anyway, and most importantly, how does it perform? Read on after the break!

New as in Ish

If we define new as revolutionary, like some of the leaks suggested, than this is hardly a “new” remote. Indeed, the Remote app for iPhone and iPod touch already fulfills that revolutionary roll, and does so well. If we define new as in it’s aluminum and black, matching Apple’s new design motif, and has an extra button, then, okay, it’s new-ish.

But that still leaves us with — why would any iPhone or iPod touch user with that free app even want a separate, physical, uni-tasker, hardware remote in the first place?

Think Apple TV on the Go

No, seriously, with the Apple Universal Dock (which really doesn’t still come with the old white remote, does it Apple?!) and its built in IR receiver, combined with an Apple Composite AV Cable [$49.00 - Apple Online Store link] or Apple Component AV Cable [$49.00 - Apple Online Store link], your iPhone or iPod touch becomes an Apple TV. Only portable.

Total Cost of Pwnership

Now it won’t take the Wolfram Alpha app to tell you that each piece of the above equation costs, well, as much as the Wolfram Alpha app. We’re talking fifty bucks for the dock and fifty for one of the cables — so that’s $100 to start. Add in an Apple USB Power Adapter [$29.00 - Apple Online Store link] so you don’t drain your battery while you play, and we’re talking $130. That’s more than half the price of an Apple TV — and that doesn’t count the cost of the iPhone or iPod touch.

But lugging an Apple TV around would, pointedly, suck, and portability and convergence have their price, don’t they? (Even if portability in this case means lugging an extra dock, cable, and remote).

Oh, Yes. The Remote

Back to business. Assuming you want to rent or buy iTunes movies and take it over to your friends’ and/or family’s to watch, and you have the dock and cable, and you don’t like the idea of jumping up and running over every time you want to play, pause, or change media, then how good is the Apple Remote at keeping you on the couch?

Pretty good.

It’s essentially the same as the previous old, white Apple Remote, though it’s longer, sharper edged, made out of sturdier aluminum, and has an easier battery access door on the bottom. It’s major change, cosmetics aside, is that the play/pause button has been separated from the select button and placed down below, off-centering the menu bottom and taking a place to the right of it on the side.

That’s an… odd choice coming from Apple. And for iPhone users it likely adds little functionality, since unlike the Apple TV, there’s no iPhone interface for selecting media on your TV while continuing to watch/listen to something else. (Or selecting it at all, even on the iPhone/iPod touch as you can press the remote arrows on a menu screen to your heart’s content and it just. won’t. scroll!)

Let me explain that better (would that Apple had actually implemented it better so I wouldn’t have to). On the Apple TV, with the old Apple Remote, you could start a song, but if you wanted to look for another song in a another playlist, you had to hit the select button to choose that playlist, and since the select button was the same as the play/pause button, how would it know if you actually wanted to pause the music, or just keep browsing while the music kept playing. With the new Apple Remote, those buttons and hence behaviors are distinct, and you can use menu to drill up and select to drill down, without having to simultaneously end the current track while still browsing for the next. (But it’s actually worse than that, since while browsing the play/pause button can pause the music, but not play it again, so much for better…)

iPhone and iPod touch via the IR dock enjoy none of this functionality (such as it is), so the new button is pretty much the same as the old from a usage point of view. (Exactly the same, play/pause and select both play/pause!). Perhaps that still-in-limbo iPhone 3.2 update can add that to it’s to-do list?

Also, with the sharper angles on the new Apple Remote, that tired old cliche about “feeling great in the hand” reminds me why it’s not so tired. Depending on your hand size, the new version may not feel anywhere as great as the old.

Enough. Bottom-line This.

More curious than compelling, the new Apple Remote certainly better meshes with the latest Apple aesthetics, even if it’s functionality remains decidedly last gen.

If you already have an old, white plastic Apple Remote, and you’re not a fashionista with $15 in-pocket, determined to have something to match your current iPhone and Mac, there’s no need to get the new Apple Remote.

If you are said fashionista, or you have an Apple TV or use Front Row a lot on your Mac, and think that little button tweak will save you a lot of musical frustration, then go for it. $15 is less than you’d spend at some fast-food joints these days.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Review: Apple Aluminum Remote Control for iPhone and iPod Dock, Apple TV, and iTunes

As part of their massive, yet strangely casual, new product drop this morning, Apple also introduced a new version of the Apple Remote [$19 - Apple Store link], which when combined with an IR-enabled Universal Dock, can control your iPhone or iPod (as well as iTunes on Mac or an Apple TV sans-dock). Add in the A/V out cables, and the remote also lets your iPhone or iPod function as a mini, highly portable Apple TV all its own, showing your content on the big screen, controllable with the touch of a button.

Or three buttons now, as the new aluminum and black Apple Remote, which replaces the ancient white plastic one, not only matches Apple’s new design aesthetic, but takes the play/pause button out from the center of the 4 way, and puts it on its own, on the side next to the menu button.

Not sure how we feel about this new arrangement yet. It’s a little more scattered than Apple’s usual (and older) elegance. However, we’ll reserve judgement until we get our geeky little mits on it!

Apple’s info, after the break!

Apple Remote with iPod and iPhone

If you connect your iPod to a home stereo, powered speakers, or TV set, the Apple Remote lets you experience your songs, slideshows, and more from across the room. Plug your iPod into the Universal Dock and choose a playlist, slideshow, or video. Then sit back, relax, and enjoy. Ready to move on to the next song? No need to get up. Just press the Next button on the Apple Remote. Getting a call on your iPhone? Press Pause, then pick up where you left off.

The Apple Remote requires the iPod Universal Dock and any iPod with a dock connector or any iPhone.

Apple Remote with Mac

The Apple Remote gives you total command of your music, photos, videos, and DVDs from anywhere in the room. It works with Front Row — a menu-based, full-screen interface — to make accessing the digital content on your Mac as simple as navigating your iPod. When you press the Menu button, your desktop fades and the sleek Front Row interface takes its place to give you control over your music in iTunes, your photos in iPhoto, the videos in your Movies folder, and your DVDs. Turn up the volume. Shuffle. Skip to the next chapter on your DVD. Play a slideshow, a home movie you made in iMovie, even a movie trailer.

Compatible with Apple products introduced in 2005 or later that have a built-in infrared (IR) receiver.

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More on Apple’s New iPhone/iPod/iTunes/Apple TV Remote

Is Apple planning a larger, touch-screen enabled remote control to go along with a next generation Apple TV? Boy Genius‘ tipster, the same one who leaked iTunes 9 app organization and social integration, says yes indeed. And if the image above is accurate, one of the updates will be — Safari. (No sign of Apps yet, though…)

Would this really be a lower-cost option to something like the Remote App for iPhone and iPod touch, which could conceivably do anything a dedicated remote could do and more? (Actually, adding Bluetooth to an Apple TV for more persistent, don’t have to wait for WiFi to reconnect, iPhone remote would be even better!)

Along those lines, we don’t see Apple investing this much in a single-purpose remote control, even if it can control Macs, docked iPods, etc. as well, given what they’re doing with the iPhone platforms, but stranger things have happened.

You want?

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Crazy Rumor Tuesday: Touch Screen Remote for New Apple TV?

Went into the App Store and what did I see, why an updated Remote app for iTunes and Apple TV! One of the first apps in the App Store at launch, the latest update for Remote [free - iTunes link] turbo charges the cool factor with support for gesture-based Apple TV control. Very slick:

• Hold down “Menu” to bring up main menu. Swipe to move around.
• Tap to play or pause music or video.
• Drag left or right and hold to rewind or fast-forward music.
• Flick left or right for previous or next music track.
• Flick left or right or drag and hold to rewind or fast-forward video.
• Flick down to show chapter markers, then flick left or right to skip through video.
• Drag two fingers left for 10 second reply.
• Tap “Exit” or “Options” for those actions.

If you hit exit, you get similar functions, art display, etc. to the previous version of the Remote app. Hitting Options brings up a new overlay menu on the Apple TV. Speaking of which…

The new Apple Remote app’s gesture features require iPhone 3.0 and the latest Apple TV software update, also released today (which seems to have gotten a UI over haul as well). Get that, or you won’t get the nifty new interface.

I’m trying it. I’m liking it. How about you?

More screen shots after the break!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App 3.0: Apple iTunes/Apple TV Remote Adds Gesture Support

One of the new features in Apple’s iTunes 8.1, released just today, is iTunes DJ. Replacing the old Party Shuffle atop the Playlists heap, it also integrates with the Apple Remote app for the iPhone for shiny party goodness.

How does it work? At first look, anyone at your party with the Apple Remote app can request songs from your iTunes library, and everyone with the app can vote for which song gets played when. Genius seems to work with it as well.

Jeremy was kind enough to grab us some screenshots, after the break! If you’ve given it a go already, let us know if you’ve found anything else in there!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iTunes 8.1 DJ + Apple Remote for iPhone = Party 2.0?

I typically choose to keep 10 episodes of any video podcast I subscribe to in iTunes. Back with version 1.0 of the Apple Remote App for the iPhone, when I would choose to play the latest episode of a show, the Apple TV would stubbornly start playing the oldest episode (sometimes oldest unwatched, sometimes just oldest) instead. “New” status seemed to have no effect.

This didn’t happen if I did the same thing via the iTunes library on my computer, only when I used the Apple TV, which streams from that iTunes library. I could work around this, however, by waiting for the oldest episode to start, then tapping my iPhone screen to flip the artwork around and reveal the episode list, then tapping the newest episode again. If I jumped through that hoop, the Apple TV would begrudgingly give me the actual episode I wanted.

With Apple Remote App version 1.1? No dice. I get the oldest episode no matter what. Most perplexingly, the iPhone will initially display the proper episode name in the title bar, then visibly switch to, and begin playing, the wrong one.

(Now, as punishment for testing it and writing this, the little fella has crashed, but offered to let me restart, run diagnostics, or restore… I chose the middle option for now).

Needless to say, this has changed the App from a useful tool to non-starter, and brought the tiny little white Apple TV back out of retirement.

Anyone else experiencing this problem? Anyone have a fix?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone Remote App + Apple TV Plays Wrong Video Podcasts?

Apple’s iTunes and Apple TV Remote App was one of the first — and arguably still one of the best — releases via the App Store back in July. We loved it in our original review, and now that Apple has pushed out a 1.1 update, there’s a tiny bit more to love:

• Create Genius playlists
• Create and edit playlists in iTunes

An obvious update, given how the feature has headlined iTunes 8 and iPhone 2.1 (and iPod Touch 2.1). Hopefully this will also solve some problems for those who experienced them post update.

Still no support for Front Row, however, which is perplexing given how great that service makes the Mac Mini media center. Please get on that, Apple!

Get in now via the iTunes App Store, and check out our pics of the new functionality… after the break!

(And thanks MAB for the tip!)

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Apple Remote 1.1 Now Available in App Store… With Genius!

UPDATED: Reseting everything, including the router, solved the problem.

After Apple unleashed 2.1 today, and I downloaded and installed it with nary a snag or bump, I thought everything was pretty much apps with my Apps. Needless to say, tonight I whipped out my iPhone’s handy Apple Remote App to help out with a little YouTube searching, only to discover that while my libraries (desktop, laptop, Apple TV) were all still set up, none of them would connect. (They’d all worked flawlessly, immediately prior to iTunes 8 and iPhone 2.1).

I removed the libraries and tried to set them up again, but can’t get the iPhone to show up in iTunes in order to type in the verification PIN. I’ll continue to trouble shoot and report back if I come across any fixes.

Anyone else having this problem?

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Updated: iTunes 8 + iPhone 2.1 = Apple Remote Problems?