Apple Announces HomePod mini With Spherical Design and S5 Chip for $99

[jazz1]

I returned the original Apple HomePod - because it was overly hyped in the base. It sounded horrible for spoken word material. Perhaps it works well for drum-and-bass

l didn't like the muddy bass on the original one I heard. I think devices should be equalized for what they are capable of reproducing accurately. Signed, a mid-fi snob

 

[insomniac86]

Best feature yet.

Siri also offers users a personal update for a quick snapshot of their day. With a single request, users can ask Siri “What’s my update?” to hear the latest news, weather, traffic, reminders, and calendar appointments.


Additional Features

• Siri Shortcuts created on iPhone and iPad are accessible on HomePod mini, so users can ask Siri on HomePod mini to start a pot of coffee, control a robot vacuum, add milk to the grocery list, and more.

• Ambient sounds, including rain, a fireplace, a stream, and more, offer the perfect background noise to focus, relax, or fall asleep. Siri can set a sleep timer so the sounds automatically stop playing.

• Find My helps locate a misplaced iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or Apple Watch by playing a sound to pinpoint its location.

• Web search results from HomePod mini can be sent directly to the user’s iPhone for easy viewing.

• Music alarms let users wake up to a favorite song, playlist, or radio station from Apple Music.

 

[jazz1]

HomePod will continue to be worthless until Siri is half of what Google assistant and Alexa are today.
For USA it's decent, but in most countries in Europe for example, it's still pure garbage. It knows nothing and keeps "searching the web" when I ask the most basic things.

I think this is a good point. I'm not even impressed with my Echo regarding voice commands. But, I am impressed with today's presentation that claimed it recognized different voices, assuming it works well.

 

[JudeJude]

I spend more time arguing with Alexa than actually using her. She NEVER plays on the right speaker and it’s causing issues throughout the household and the dog hates her So I am definitely in for this. Just wary of putting in three to replace my echo’s straight off the bat given my Alexa experience

 

[appleii.c]

I think this is a good point. I'm not even impressed with my Echo regarding voice commands. But, I am impressed with today's presentation that claimed it recognized different voices, assuming it works well.

It's gotten much better as of late. My wife and kids cannot get "Hey Siri" to activate on my phone or iPad, but works every time with my voice. Same in reverse on their devices. Hopefully this will be just as good.

 

[sjsharksfan12]

I'm wondering if I should get a Homepod. I've never had any of that stuff (Home Pod, Echo, Google's device) before but considering I live in a place that will go through a remodel, getting better and mobile speakers might be a plus. Does the Homepod connect to the Sony TV or does it connect to the Apple TV which provides the Sony TV Volume. Not sure how that all works.

 

[stevet]

I’m never getting a smart speaker, no matter what. Similarly I don’t have Hey Siri activated in my devices. I don’t trust these devices to care so much about privacy, with the leaks about people listening to audio snippets... no, thanks. Granted, I know Apple provides an option to delete Siri & Dictation History... but I’ll pass. I have Bluetooth speakers from Sony and Bose that I rarely use anyways.

Yeah, cause you think turning Siri off stops the phone from listening to you. Good luck with that.

 

[jmgregory1]

I was almost more interested in the HomePod mini announcement than I was the iPhone. I will definitely pick up at least one of them, maybe two if they sound half-decent for kitchen / dining room stereo use. I could see traveling with them when going to our friends cottage, for example. Would be a nice and easy way to add music and podcast listening.

 

[appleii.c]

Umm. No thanks Apple. Improve the homepod. No one asked for this.

Actually, this is exactly what I was looking for. A cheaper Homekit "Hub" alternative. I currently have an older AppleTV that doesn't work as a hub and didn't want to spend $250 on a speaker, or buy an extra Apple TV for $150-$200 to simply have a hub without voice control.

 

[chucker23n1]

Would love to see a comparison with the equally-priced JBL Link Music. Audio quality, setup woes / AirPlay flakyness, etc.

 

[rforno]

If Apple still requires you to enable their 2FA just to use their HomePods, I'm not interested.

 

[Neil Harrison]

I was almost more interested in the HomePod mini announcement than I was the iPhone. I will definitely pick up at least one of them, maybe two if they sound half-decent for kitchen / dining room stereo use. I could see traveling with them when going to our friends cottage, for example. Would be a nice and easy way to add music and podcast listening.

I would agree I would have used them in our motorhome but having a hard cable is a problem. I don’t see why they couldnt have had a battery with the the same charging magnet on the iPhone

 

[TimWillz]

Looks like a great little product. I expect a lot of these will be Christmas presents this year.. I wonder how they will work with the original HomePod.. can you pair them up for stereo sounds etc?..

 

[macdragonfl]

I have high end audio equipment throuout my home that has AirPlay2 capability so not really looking for the audio. At $99 for Siri and Homekit control it is finally an option for me in mutilple rooms.

 

[castor]

Why aren't these sold in every country? Some legal issue?

I'm guessing it's because it's so Siri centered, and Siri afaik sucks outside En/De/Fr/Es? Native of Norway, I still prefer Siri in English on my Phone and Google assistants. Stupidly enough, Apple forces us to use Norwegian Siri on the AppleTV - impossible to select any other language. Yet trying to ask her to play "Game of Thrones" gives no result.

 

[hagar]

Now, will this come in more languages than the original HomePod? Because that limitation is seriously annoying. I have my personal Siri in Dutch but on the HomePod in English. As a result, Personal Requests and recognising family member voices is disabled.

 

[hagar]

I'm guessing it's because it's so Siri centered, and Siri afaik sucks outside En/De/Fr/Es? Native of Norway, I still prefer Siri in English on my Phone and Google assistants. Stupidly enough, Apple forces us to use Norwegian Siri on the AppleTV - impossible to select any other language. Yet trying to ask her to play "Game of Thrones" gives no result.

I have the same issue with Dutch. However, putting Siri in English on my iPhone as well has the disadvantage of not being able to use Siri to send messages in Dutch, navigate to local destinations or even call friends without butchering their names. I imagine you have the same limitations with Norwegian vs English.

 

[warpdrive]

I'm not enough of an audiophile, so can anyone comment on how this compares to the audio components in the original homepod which has "a high-excursion woofer with custom amplifier and an array of seven horn-loaded tweeters, each with its own custom amplifier"?

From a costs point of view, the original is a lot more expensive to make. There are 7 tweeters which provide the high frequencies, aimed all around the device. Each tweeter is an individual electrical speaker driver driven by the amplifier. And then there is a high excursion woofer driver, which provides the low and mid sounds. The high excursion means it can move more air (sound is just waves) so it's going to play louder without sounding distorted. And you need the amplifier capable of pushing all 8 drivers.

The new one has a single driver to produce all the sound that the old one did with 8 separate speakers, so the cost difference is very large. The new one has 2 passive radiators (PR). PRs are used to augment the low frequencies of the main drivers, but mainly acts as a mechanism to boost the bass without the cost of an active driver (passive is the opposite of active)

So I'd say there should be a noticeable difference between the old one and new one that you would easily be able to tell the difference if you played them side by side. I'd expect the Mini to sound good for the price and size but you do lose quite a bit with this mini.

I have the regular one and I think it's a fine device for $199. My problem with the Homepod was never the sound but its capabilties. Siri + closed off system makes it fairly useless in my household

 

[Rugbydman]

I have my iTunes library stored on a wireless network hdd. Can these mini HomePod access it

 

[Bogies4]

Apple today announced the HomePod mini with a new spherical design and the S5 chip at its "Hi, Speed" event.

The device is the first addition to the HomePod product lineup since the launch of the original HomePod, and is much smaller at just 3.3-inches tall, as opposed to the original's 6.8-inches, and looks substantially different with a new spherical design. Following in the footsteps of the original device, the HomePod mini offers Siri, smart home capabilities, and high-quality audio.

The HomePod mini is powered by the S5 processor, which is also used in the Apple Watch Series 5 and Apple Watch SE, to deliver "Computational audio." It sports a full-range dynamic driver, two passive radiators for bass response, and an acoustic waveguide to offer 360-degree sound. HomePod mini uses complex tuning models to optimize loudness and dynamic range. A three-microphone array listens for "Hey Siri," and a fourth inward-facing microphone helps isolate sound coming from the speaker to improve voice detection when music is playing.

The device features a backlit touch surface with controls for volume, play, and pause, and it glows when Siri is invoked. Multiple HomePod mini speakers work together to stream music or podcasts to multiple rooms in sync. By placing two HomePod mini speakers in a single room, a stereo pair can be created for a wider soundstage.

HomePod mini works with Apple Music, podcasts, radio stations from iHeartRadio, radio.com, and TuneIn, and in the coming months, popular music services including Pandora and Amazon Music.

Later this year, HomePod mini will offer a new handoff experience that understands when a user's iPhone is nearby to give visual, audio, and haptic effects. Moreover, a new "Intercom" feature can send messages from one HomePod to another within a home, as well as other devices such as iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and even CarPlay-enabled vehicles.

HomePod mini is priced at $99 and is available in both White and Space Gray. Pre-orders begin on November 6, and deliveries begin on November 16.

This story is part of our live coverage of today's Apple Event.

Article Link: Apple Announces HomePod mini With Spherical Design and S5 Chip for $99

The day Home Pod supports SiriusXM standalone streaming is when I will toss out my Echo Dots

 

[castor]

... navigate to local destinations or even call friends without butchering their names. I imagine you have the same limitations with Norwegian vs English.

When I did make calls, back in the days before Messenger, Siri would mangle foreign-sounding friends names.

 

[cmaier]

I have my iTunes library stored on a wireless network hdd. Can these mini HomePod access it

No

 

[jmgregory1]

I would agree I would have used them in our motorhome but having a hard cable is a problem. I don’t see why they couldnt have had a battery with the the same charging magnet on the iPhone

Agreed. They have become so good at maximizing battery life with their various devices, yet something like speakers requiring a corded connection doesn’t make sense. As it is now, when my wife and I go out into the yard and want to listen to music, we have to go outside the Apple eco system to do that and then suffer with not great sound and connectivity.

 

[Howard2k]

Not shut out. Just not mentioned. Why should Apple give free advertising to a company that is constantly complaining about it. The original has bluetooth just cannot be used. I would love if they turned it on. But we are an entirely Apple household so Airplay is great.

Surely it can be streamed over Airplay?

 

[anson42]

I'm interested. But I also want to know how many of these features will be coming to the homepod as well?

I assume Intercom is with a software upgrade but the U1 proximity chip isn't in the HomePod (right?) so I suspect the handoff features won't be there until HomePod 2 is released.