They announced some surround and Atmos functionality for the regular HomePods, but I am not sure if it will require an AppleTV or just the AppleTV app.
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Apple Announces HomePod mini With Spherical Design and S5 Chip for $99
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They announced some surround and Atmos functionality for the regular HomePods, but I am not sure if it will require an AppleTV or just the AppleTV app.
They do, but unfortunately even Sonos doesn't offer the kind of system I'd like to upgrade to next. I'm sure if it was technically feasible someone would offer it already (and it'd be in my home).
Apple introduces HomePod mini: A powerful smart speaker with amazing sound
Apple today unveiled HomePod mini, the latest HomePod speaker that delivers amazing sound, an intelligent assistant, and a smart home hub.www.apple.com
No mention of AirPlay2?
No mention of pairing with OG HomePod?
Aaaaand (rip for me): "Customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US are able to order HomePod mini beginning at 5 a.m. PST on Friday, November 6, with availability beginning the week of November 16. HomePod mini will be available in China, Mexico, and Taiwanlater this year." So no mini nor OG HomePod in more locations..
One plus however: "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." Guess this means HomeKit will finally add vacuum cleaners as a category.
There's no reason to believe it won't support Airplay 2.
I guess the reason for limited geographical availability is lack of market penetration.
I'd just get a Sonos - they work better than HomePod for music in any case. Great sound quality, many services supported, easy to set up, many different speakers for different needs - e.g. theatre, sound bars, different sizes, portable etc - and no need to use Airplay even though it is supported. This means you can listen to e.g. Spotify (or Apple Music) and continue using your device without the sound being replaced with whatever now autoplays on that web page, or even go outside or do errands without the music stopping for everyone else.
That's massively inferior to being connected to the TV, as content not coming from the AppleTV (e.g. from your cable box, receiver, console, blu ray player etc) will not have sound.
I don't think AppleTV uses ARC to handle this.
Without having listened to either, the sound will be worse. Size matters - sound is waves moving through the air, and the smaller the speaker, the less capacity to move air.
Oh babies and all.
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I thought it was for the win... but i can't keep up with the slang tbh. That still means "to be honest" right?
Ah, but I don't own one of them... I have an XBox One... nor do I want one...but I'd buy the HomePod / mini, if it could work with my tv/XBox...
Get yourself a Sonos Arc - sounds great, supports Dolby Atmos and works nicely with Apple Music (and many others). Supports Airplay 2 as well-
The playlist interface is actually better than Apple's, as they have a folder for Apple Music playlist so it's far faster to find and browse the playlists you made yourself.
strange how a family of 4 only has 1 bedroom in a house but the car does have a garage lol
a more recent thread states that it’ll receive a Home Theatre sound profile (HomePod) soon enough. It’ll pair I’m sure or the Mini’s will (and should) act like satellites to the agree unit.
Love it, but the dark grey one also reminds me of a Magic 8-Ball. I can picture some people picking it up and shaking it.
I suppose it can be a modern Magic 8-Ball, with Siri answering our questions, perhaps just as accurately?
now THAT is a native or third party App idea!!
To be honest that lady, “VP of Data Sciences and AI” (?) should’ve been super embarrassed to even be speaking in that video especially for saying Siri is more advanced than the competition.
Complete lie!
either scrap Siri And replace or fix it now?!
LMAO your dog hates Alexa, awesome.
since a lot of people use high frequency voice recordings to hack Alexa speakers (in the inaudible range to people) I’m curious if anyone in your hood is trying this n pissing your dog off? Supposedly Siri and HomePod downer exhibit this issue.
Siri is worse than Alexa and far worse than Google Assistant. I know I'm in the minority especially on MR, but I see no point in buying this over a Google/Nest Home or even an Echo device.
Like others, I find Siri and using Siri a less-than-desirable experience. She’s very handy for quick conversions like “convert 163 cm to feet” but for most else I really tire of the lack of an answer and list of websites. At least some of the listed websites actually are relevant to the question, but hey, not why I asked.
I’m guessing that the announcement of Siri being 20X better means we get 20X more websites to look at?
I’m guessing that the announcement of Siri being 20X better means we get 20X more websites to look at?
Personally I find echoes to be useless. Alexa is just dumb. I don’t shop online using a speaker.
I have a few google hubs though as it’ll at least do YouTube tv, YouTube, etc. Plus Google puts em all to shame on general queries.
Homepod was ok only if you have Apple Music. But why bother when you can get a speaker with screen from Google. Siri sucks. It doesn’t do anything but music. Half the time it wouldn’t even work and wouldn’t sign in. Took Apple several updates to get that bug fixed.
If this is nothing more than an Apple version of the Google Home mini or the Amazon Alexa dot, the pricing makes no sense. People buy tons of those things to use them in every room of their homes. There's no way I would spend $100 for each of them.
Wonder how many more they would have sold if it had a battery onboard?
It’s the only thing preventing me from buying.
So why is the original homepod 1.5x the price of this?
Also, since Siri is going to send your voice recordings to Apple Mothership, you might as well just buy an Amazon Alexa or Google Nest since their recognition and results are much more accurate. They are also cheaper.
Also, since Siri is going to send your voice recordings to Apple Mothership, you might as well just buy an Amazon Alexa or Google Nest since their recognition and results are much more accurate. They are also cheaper.
I'm hoping as a smaller device the Bass won't be as intense as the Full Fat HomePad - if not, it might end up on the refurb store for someone!!
With regards to the smart tech - well I couldn't care to be honest, so long as I can use Apple Music or Airplay I'll be fine.
With regards to the smart tech - well I couldn't care to be honest, so long as I can use Apple Music or Airplay I'll be fine.
Sorry if this has already been addressed but are any of these HomePod Mini features coming to the original HomePod via an update?
The was a MR post this morning about an update coming to the regular iPod with most of the new features.
What I want to know is will the mini be only available through Apple or will they be selling them at WalMart, Best Buy etc as well.
