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Comment by jonknee | Hacker News Reader

For me it would be, I have much more rage with trying to type with a remote control than I do finding a device with battery left (you can use a phone, tablet or computer and I don't foresee a time when all three are out of juice and my power isn't out).

The Apple TV is the worst of both worlds because the remote is required but is smaller than any other remote out there so that it's very easy to lose.

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That's true, but it's definitely more of a hassle to pull out a laptop, or go digging through a box to find that tablet you never use, than it is to grab a remote that only exists to fulfill this one function.

It also works with smartphones, which most people have and use regularly. Not to mention the fact that the kind of person who would buy a Chromecast is probably an above-average user anyway.

I guess it's differing tastes, but I'd much rather have one less remote control and just be able to use one (or more) of the devices that I always have within arms reach. If the Apple TV had a decent app to use instead of the remote I would use it and dump Apple's joke of a remote. It doesn't, the app is literally four arrows so you can navigate around like the very limited remote. Steve Jobs hated buttons and as a result his ideal remote is garbage.

Using WiFi also means line of sight isn't necessary which is a nice perk.

You can use any remote with the AppleTV (it can be trained) and you can use your iOS devices entirely once you initially configure the wireless.

There is an app from Apple on the App Store that allows you to control the Apple TV from your iOS device over wifi. The interface is hilariously bad (mostly just a grid with some arrows), but it is a fallback when you can't find that ridiculously easy to lose micro-remote.

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