Lenovo or Apple Smart TV vs. Apple TV

[PConline comparison shopping guide] Lenovo Group at this year's CES exhibited its first smart TV products, equipped with Android 4.0 system ideaTV K91, this is the first time Lenovo entered the smart TV field. Lenovo's move makes it easy to think that Apple has also entered the flat-panel TV market. In fact, the new Apple TV (set-top box) has been very close to smart TV in many areas.

Recently, Lenovo has held new products appreciation conferences in many cities across the country. The author has therefore tried the Lenovo TV K91, and can compare it with the new Apple TV to see what exactly is the smart TV that is suitable for us.

â—† What is the difference between the Lenovo K91 and the new Apple TV?

First of all, the two products are quite different in form. One is a flat-screen television and the other is a set-top box. First of all, Apple TV's set-top box form has a long history. Since the second generation of products, Apple has always emphasized the compactness and richness of set-top box products. In fact, a small box can also achieve many smart TV functions. Lenovo launched the K80 set-top box product not long ago. The name K91 can also be seen as a K-series product, but now the product line has evolved into a fully functional smart flat-panel TV.

By comparing some of the parameters of the two, it can be seen that Apple TV uses a lot less hardware than Lenovo Ideal TV. Even the single-core A5 is suspected of using scrap, but it has upgraded from the 720p video output of the 2nd generation to 1080p output. The Lenovo K91 is equipped with Qualcomm's dual-core CPU, of course, the hardware part can not be used as an absolute reference for the model function, we still have to consider from a practical point of view.

However, more importantly, Apple TV is still unable to directly run any third-party applications on the iOS system. If you want to export games and application screens, you need to use AirPlay mirroring on the iOS device (A5 or higher) to achieve a smoother interaction. Multifunction. It can be seen that the significance of Apple TV is not just a small box for providing video resources. It is more important to push Apple's full line of products to the protagonist of the living room entertainment. As long as the developer wants, this system can Become a game console, smart TV, presentation computer or even more, let's take a look at the appearance of the two models.

Comparison of the appearance of the two products

It's better to say that it's a comparison of appearances. It's better to call it the details because the appearance of the two devices is very different. First take a look at Lenovo ideaTV, this TV is Lenovo's first entry into the TV market, the product uses a black body design, the fuselage workmanship is quite fine, even compared with the mainstream joint venture brand products, but also used by LG provides The IPS panel supports polarized 3D technology.

Lenovo ideaTV K91 picture evaluation forum quote

overall appearance:

The K91 body features a high-reflective black plastic frame with a metal-silver trim at the bottom of the frame. In the lower right corner of the screen there are infrared sensors and other devices to identify the somatosensory operation and remote control signals.

Lenovo K91 border details

Right below the screen is the Lenovo brand logo. There is a camera component below. Currently there is only a video function, but in the future you may be able to add gestures and more. The base is designed with two twisted brackets. It may be a matter of beauty or not. I prefer the simple design of the straight line.

The new Apple TV adopts the same design as the second generation. A black polished plastic box measures 98mm x 98mm x 23mm. Because it uses the same ARM architecture as the iPhone and iPad, the body can be made so compact. .

Comparison of interface details:

Lenovo K91 is no different from the mainstream smart TV in the interface, has 4 HDMI interfaces, 4 USB interfaces, a set of AV, a set of color terminal, a set of optical audio output, 3.5 headphone jack, TV tuner, VGA interface, etc. Wait.

Because Apple TV is just a simple set-top box product, the interface is relatively simple to set, only HDMI output, optical audio output, power interface and special purpose MicroUSB interface, though simple but also meet the general audio-visual needs.

Remote control comparison:

There is a big gap between the two in the remote control. This is mainly because Apple TV does not have the ability to receive TV signals. Therefore, the remote control only needs to meet its own needs. The Lenovo K91 has a standard size remote control. The above functional area, navigation area and digital area are reasonable and beautiful.

It is worth mentioning that this remote control also supports somatosensory, voice input, and touch operations, so the remote control is also specially arranged with a hanging hole to add a hand strap to prevent the remote control from flying out during the game.

K91 Gamepad

Apple's remote control uses an infrared remote control, which is the same as the previous generation. Apple TV can also be remotely controlled via the iOS-based Remote software, but it is only necessary for both to access a wireless network.

More advanced remote control with iOS's "Remote" software

On the remote control, the difference between the two is very large, Apple TV's over-functional need to achieve through AirPlay, so its own remote control is greatly simplified, you can imagine the future of Apple's flat-panel TV is likely to be better than The traditional remote controller is more intuitive and simpler.

Interaction interface and operation method

Lenovo K91's operating system is based on Android4.0 revised, because it is highly customized, it is difficult to see a little ics shadow, compared with other smart TVs I tried, this smart TV interface is more intuitive and concise.

Lenovo officials called this interface a "three-screen interactive interface." As its name implies, it consists of three switchable interfaces: VOD video on demand, TV, and applications. The three can directly use the navigation keys of the remote control. Or the touch area slides to switch, and the switching process is intuitive and rapid.

Lenovo K91 user interface

There are weather information, time, and other information on the operation desktop. In the application interface, you can select local applications and online stores. The operation is quick and easy.

Application store

In addition, the more characteristic features may be the somatosensory badminton game, which is still unsatisfactory in actual trial play. This kind of game is not really attractive. After all, it has been a better experience on the Wii. It can only be said that K91 shows an application that is more suitable for home users. Here I can only hope to have more fun. The game appears.

Lenovo K91 somatosensory game screen

The new generation of Apple TVs is still using a modified version of the iOS system. Compared with the second generation of Apple TV, it has become more iOS features, and there are icon elements. The main interface consists of five main icons, which are composed of movies, TV dramas, music, synchronization and settings. There are more web content provider clients below, such as youtube, flickr, etc., and the new Apple TV is attached below. The actual operation of the video, you can more intuitively see how to operate.

New Apple TV interface

The sliding operation of the icons is very fast, but this method of relying on the navigation keys is still somewhat tedious. It is believed that the flat panel television products that Apple will launch in the future will have more efficient remote control methods.

Online video service comparison

On online services, the two are very different. Lenovo chose to cooperate with BesTV and provided online video resources through BesTV. The advantage of this approach is that it is clear that providing local video resources has practical significance for domestic users.

Lenovo K91 also set a separate page for BesTV to illustrate that online video on demand is as important as Lenovo's traditional TV show.

Online video and cooperation with BesTV

In addition, when watching TV and video, you can directly send Weibo to share the viewing experience, and there is a voice-activated input function. The voice input is an inherent function of Android 4.0, so the theoretical performance is in contrast with other devices that run the ics system. Consistent. In the on-site trial, it also has a good recognition of Mandarin, which is a relatively two-point function.

Because Apple TV is limited to sales in the United States, online video is a U.S. native video service, such as movie and TV drama resources on iTunes, which all support video resources of up to 1080p. According to foreign comparisons, full-HD pictures provided on iTunes It is not inferior to the Blu-ray image quality, but may be inferior to the Blu-ray in audio, and still can be regarded as the best high-quality network video resource at present.

In addition, Netflix, a U.S. company with a large number of film and television resources, also provides online streaming of resources up to 1080p and Dolby Digital 5.1, in addition to NBA, NHL and other sports programs, as well as youtube, vimeo and flickr. And so on online video, picture sharing client, but these practical significance for domestic friends is not large, want to watch more local online video and audio resources, can only wait for a new generation of Apple TV jailbreak.

After jailbreaking, you can use third-party software to watch local online video resources such as Youku, Tudou and PPlive.

Comments: Lenovo K91's online resources are more localized, and they are also more practical in practical use. They can replace traditional television programs to become the main content providers of home entertainment centers. Due to the territorial nature of video resources, Apple TV’s key upgrade point—the provision of 1080p video content—has not been used in China at all. In the future, after jailbreaking, third-party applications can be installed to obtain more localized video resources. , but apparently there is no intuitive association K91.

AirPlay, iCloud and "Four Screens and One Cloud"

The most important point of smart TVs is the linkage performance with portable smart devices. At present, most TV companies have announced their respective multi-screen strategies, of which Sony’s four-screen interactive strategy has relatively high exposure. Lenovo also has a similar strategy, but the name is called "four screens and one cloud." Four screens refer to smart phones, tablet computers, desktop computers or laptops, and TV screens. "Cloud" refers to cloud data backup services, including Multimedia resources and personal data, etc., official said this service is "Le Yun", and Apple's iCloud service is similar.

As for the four-screen linkage, Lenovo still considers it to be still not perfect. The interaction is more about content sharing. In the Lenovo K91 has a dedicated four-screen management software, as long as access to the same wireless network of Lenovo devices, can be identified, choose to enter automatically search for audio and video files in the device to play.

This process looks familiar. I also think that it is similar to the DLNA function. The only difference is that Lenovo simplifies the connection process and designs specialized software, but in essence it is still simple multimedia content sharing, which is obviously and truly There is a gap in multi-screen linkage.

Let's take a look at Apple TV. Apple doesn't seem to say too much about the concept of over-screen. However, it has a lot of linkage features in its products. The key to wireless linkage is AirPlay, and AirPlay needs to pass. Apple TV, so Apple TV is an important device that acts as a bridge.

Through the AirPlay function, iPhone4, an iPad, and an iOS device launched before this can realize the sharing of multimedia content, that is, output to a TV with a large screen and a high-quality sound, ie, similar to DLNA, but much simpler in the process, in view of hardware The limitation is that the video output will still be 720p.

And equipped with A5 processor after the device, the new iPad, iPad2 and iPhone4s can achieve "mirror synchronization" this feature, but it is 1080p full HD output (for the new iPad this seems to be a piece of cake), that is, all the pictures of the device All of these are synchronized to the TV and mainly serve as demonstrations. There are many practicalities in home demos, education, and business.

In addition, the most exciting feature of the author is another linkage function - "dual screen", so that the new iPad, iPad2 and iPhone4s can act as an ultimate remote control, television display games, application screens, and the device acts as any Possible remote control function, touch, 6-axis body can not be alone. This function is obviously very advanced, as long as developers want, iOS devices and Apple TV can be turned into a game console, a perfect video editing software, or even more.

Comments: From here we can see that Apple TV is an important part of Apple's product line. It is the cheapest bridge device to turn an Apple device into a home entertainment center. It is also Apple's first step in attacking the home entertainment market. The $99 pricing allows us to think of it as a video and wireless output accessory for iPads and iPhones. For domestic friends, AirPlay's features are obviously more practical than its other features. Lenovo's four-screen strategy is still relatively immature compared to Apple. In fact, it is standing on the same starting line with other smart TV competitors. The advantage is not prominent.

Full text summary: After a number of comparisons above, we can see that Lenovo smart TV and Apple TV have a big positioning difference, Lenovo K91 wants to give television more smart elements and online video resources, so that TV itself continues to be the center of home entertainment equipment. The function of Apple TV itself is very simple, it is still a full HD online video player, but more importantly, it attempts to make Apple's portable devices become the protagonist of home entertainment, and flat-panel TVs have become such a display Supporting role, but currently there are few related applications, while Apple's flat-panel TV seems to be a fact of stagnation, smart TV will continue to go, it seems impossible to make a final conclusion.