Working prototype explores new Apple TV interface with touchscreen gestures via remote

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNuUCoHH9Bc]

Product designer Radu Dutzan posted the video above showing off a working prototype that explores touchscreen style gestures via a conceptual remote for Apple TV alongside an updated interface.

Wouldn’t it be great if instead of trying to imitate clicks, Remote allowed you to scroll lists on the screen, directly responding to the position of your finger on the tracking surface? Wouldn’t selection in a complex button layout — such as the keyboard — be much more usable if you could make the cursor move in any direction instantly? Wouldn’t it be awesome if the Apple TV remote control was a smooth clickable trackpad, like the one on the MacBook, that allowed for these behaviors without having to look at a second screen?

The prototype utilizes an iPhone and AirPlay, and would essentially be a next-generation version of Apple’s Remote app for Apple TV, but the designer also designed it with a new remote in mind, as pictured below on the right next to the current Apple TV remote:

The video above shows an interaction demo giving a feel for how an interface on Apple TV might work with the touchscreen style gestures, but the designer imagines a finished interface could look something closer to this:

While Dutzan warns it’s “just an interaction demo” at this point, you can get it up and running yourself: “If you want to try it out for yourself, you need to be a registered Apple developer in order to compile apps to your devices, an iPhone to run the app, and an Apple TV to AirPlay to. You can grab the code on Github. (Don’t judge it, it’s just a prototype.) Before you run it, make sure you enable AirPlay Mirroring from your device to your Apple TV.”