If there was a way to go back to the previous version, I would. I find the 'upgrade' to slow and painful to use I probably will be dropping Sling as soon as I research a replacement. Even though were probably talking about two different versions At a minimum, users should have the ability to make these kinds of menu changes in the settings, rather than being locked into half-baked default options. Give people the power to build their own experience. And bring back the customizable “My channels” or “Favorite channels” view as a mini guide option, allowing users to reorder them however they please there. You could easily borrow back some of the space now taken up by gigantic thumbnails these thumbnails don’t add much, and aren’t really necessary in a mini guide to begin with.įinally, de-alphabetize the “All channels” view and make it the default in the mini guide - setting it back to the old channel order, with local channels first. It should make the channel names more clear, instead of using small, inscrutable icons. Next, Sling needs to redesign the mini guide so it makes sense again (and takes up less space). The process for channel surfing needs to lose all the unnecessary clicking around brought by the update. And swiping down should again take you directly into the program info.

Sling can still salvage this redesign in fact, with a few key modifications it might even be better than ever.įirst off, swiping (or clicking) up once when watching live TV should take you directly into the mini guide, like it’d been before. (Image credit: Sling TV) What Sling needs to do next The overall design has benefitted from cleaner elements and better search functionality. To be fair, there are some good things about Sling’s latest update. It’s turned a simple UX action that I’d previously performed dozens of times a day into an unpleasant and tedious Dance Dance Revolution combo move. Now you have to swipe all over the place to see the same thing: Up, down, right, right again, then down again.

Swiping down on the Apple TV remote used to quickly show the info for what you’re currently watching: season and episode info, recording controls, etc. It’s way harder to get quick info about what you’re watchingĪnother massive downgrade in terms of ease-of-use comes with how you view program information. That’s exactly what I hated about live TV on Hulu, and now Sling has essentially copied it. Sure, you could go over to the full-screen Guide page to surf around instead, but doing so takes you away from what you’re currently watching. Sling's new full-screen guide menu (Image credit: Sling TV)

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