I have a similar feeling to you — that phones and tablets are better for browsing and queuing data that gets sent to the TV. I have been putting this into prac

I have a similar feeling to you — that phones and tablets are better for browsing and queuing data that gets sent to the TV. I have been putting this into practice over the last 4 months with an Apple TV, various iPhones and iPads, and VLC Streamer / Netflix. I find that I still prefer browsing Netflix with the Apple TV remote using the Apple TV Netflix app. I don't know why. I think it's because the remote is tiny, and doesn't require me to look at it to use it. My thumb naturally finds the bumps and grooves and navigates the Apple TV UI. I'm becoming convinced that as cool as using a phone or tablet to control my TV is, it's not actually what I will gravitate towards. And is in the end, harder in most cases than using a simple remote.