SAN FRANCISCO—The Apple TV just got its first big update since March of 2012, and it's a substantial upgrade for both hardware and software. The fourth-generation box should be much faster, and it will use that extra speed to run apps and games from its all-new app store. It also comes with a redesigned remote control to improve navigation, which has long been one of the Apple TV's weak points.







































A 64GB Apple TV will cost $199, while a 32GB model will go for $149, available in late October. European pricing isn't yet known, but it will most likely start at around £120/€180 for the 32GB model.

The new remote control has a glass touch surface and a button that allows access to Siri. While the touch surface lets users scroll through movies and shows, Siri lets customers use their voice to find content from iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Showtime. The remote has a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope. It charges via Lightning cable and lasts three months per charge, Apple said.

On the outside, the box itself doesn't change much. It's still a small black rounded square, and it's just a bit taller than the third-generation model. It loses the optical audio out, but otherwise has the same ports as before: there's HDMI, wired Ethernet, and a micro-USB Type-C port used to service the device.

On the inside, the new Apple TV includes an Apple A8 SoC like the one included in the iPhone 6 and the sixth-generation iPod Touch. The old Apple TV used a special single-core version of the Apple A5, which also appeared in older Apple products like the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. Our review of the latest iPod Touch shows just how much faster the A8 is than a dual-core A5—suffice it to say it’s a big jump.

The device has Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11ac Wi-Fi with MIMO.

"The TV experience itself hasn't changed much in decades," CEO Tim Cook said. "We believe the future of television is apps."

The new App Store is the most interesting new feature. Up until now, Apple was in control of the channels available on the box, and content providers had to work directly with the company to make their shows and movies available on the Apple TV. Now, any developer can put together an app and put it in the App Store, same as on iOS—things will still be subject to Apple's guidelines, of course, but it ought to make the Apple TV a more flexible and interesting box.

Apple is calling its new Apple TV operating system "TV OS." It is still based on iOS and is available to developers today. Developers will also get access to hardware starting today.

Apple took some time to highlight games specifically, making the Apple TV another set-top-box-turned-game-console in a long line of set-top-boxes-turned-game-consoles. The difference is that Apple has a large and engaged developer community, and it's been creating APIs to help them make games for quite some time—SpriteKit, GameplayKit, ReplayKit, and Model I/O are all tools that help developers put together games and support popular features like screen recording. iOS 7 added a Bluetooth gamepad API that is presumably being used here. The install base is going to start small, but Apple clearly hopes to make the Apple TV as good for games as the iPhone and iPad are now.

Guitar Hero is among the games coming to Apple TV. The developers of a game called Crossy Road went on stage to talk about how they're bringing multiplayer capabilities to their game for Apple TV.

Universal apps will allow single purchases to provide an app on your TV, iPhone, and iPad and sync game saves across your TV and mobile devices.

In a demo, Apple demonstrated a Siri feature that lets users rewind 15 seconds and turn on captions by asking what the character on the screen just said. Siri can also sort movies by actor or actress, or provide recommendations for good movies to watch with kids. Users can also ask Siri about sports scores and weather while they're watching video and swipe up on the remote to get more details.

Third-party apps demonstrated today include an updated version of MLB's baseball streaming service, with full HD video and streaming in 60fps. The new MLB app will make it easier to pull up live stats synced to the TV broadcast.

There's also a new clothes ordering app called Gilt.

Apple TV will soon be getting an all-fashion channel. WME/IMG is creating the network in an exclusive deal with Apple, The New York Times reported earlier today.

Apple's event is still ongoing, and you can check our liveblog for more updates as they come in.

Listing image by Andrew Cunningham