The new Apple TV features an all-new interface which in combination with the new Apple TV remote, your touch, your voice and Siri allow you to navigate faster. Siri will help you find shows, play music and you can search across multiple apps at once. Initially, it will search iTunes, Hulu, Netflix, HBO and Showtime with more to come.
There is a new App store for Apple TV, too. This will allow you to download and buy content apps such as Netflix, games, other apps for shopping, etc. Apps are stored on the new Apple TV, hence the storage capacity choices of 32GB and 64GB. I can really see how with some new content apps from major networks and content providers that you can really cut the cable.
The new Apple TV runs a new operating system called tvOS which supports Xcode and key iOS technologies and takes advantage of the new Apple TV user interface and touch capabilities.
The new Apple TV has the same A8 64-bit chip as the iPhone 6 and comes with the new Siri Remote with touch surface for intuitive and contextual control. It has a built-in gyroscope and accelerometer for playing games and a Siri button for voice search. It connects by Bluetooth and also finally has the ability to control your TV or receiver via IR or CEC which will give you volume control via IR or volume, on-off, input with CEC.
They have eliminated the digital audio port on the Apple TV which should not impact that many but it could make connecting to headphones somewhat of a challenge. The new Apple TV will be available in late October at $149 for the 32GB model and $199 for the 64GB model. The current Apple TV will remain in the line-up at $69. This should be one of the big holiday gifts this year!