Does it matter if you are just transmitting audio? Should be plenty of bandwidth.
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Apple Announces New HomePod for $299 With Full-Size Design, S7 Chip, and More
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There's was just a fancier way of saying "Shouldn't have discontinued this... so let's start over..."
This one can act as a HomeKit+Matter hub and can communicate with Thread devices. It has a newer processor similar to the one on the HomePod Mini that most review say is faster for Siri responses and does more local processing of common requests. This probably does not have the electronic gremlins that made the OG HP tend to burnout or brick itself for no apparent reason.
It's not just an audio speaker. It's also supposed to be a hub for HomeKit/Matter. While Matter relies more on Thread than WiFi, HomeKit uses WiFi and Matter falls back to WiFi if Thread is not available. Downgrading the original WiFi 5 on the OG to WiFi 4 could be concerning, especially for future HomeKit upgrades where video is considered. Why the downgrade, though? It isn't as if 802.11ac chips are expensive. It makes me wonder if it's a misprint. I didn't think anyone released WiFi 4 gear anymore.
Ah bummer. Oh well at least I can get a new pair then. A few weeks ago one of our cats knocked one of the Homepods onto the floor. We were worried we would not be able to have any others at all. At the time it was just the Mini that was available.
Agreed, except if you and your network is full gear and/or your community has a high density of SSID’s
I live in socal suburbia with dozens of visible networks around me. RIP my beloved AirPort Extreme, but switching to wifi6 (RAX75) router w/ some idevices also on Wi-Fi 5/6 has mitigated the interference.
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Original HomePod did sound pretty good actually.
and both Google & Amazon said they are loosing money on smart speakers.
Amazon laid off 10K employees, most of the from Alexa division.
Remember Thread/Matter support doesn’t do anything if you don’t actually have products that use that. Going forward in the future. I will try to only buy products that have that compatibility because I think it is important.
i think we should be looking if the product is doing what it is intended to do.
Why do people want to look at what is the latest ?
What is the latest processor ?
It is not possible to add new features to some products.
I think they should improve Siri.
I have had two original HomePods and one of them was bricked. Hope they figured out the issue. I am not in the market for one of these new speakers unless they figured out how to improve the SQ dramatically ( which I doubt) or my original dies.
I wonder what Apple learned from the original? I assumed the problem was the price, but with this one costing nearly as much, I am not really sure what they thought the issue was with the original. I guess with the mini selling pretty well ( at least from speculation I have read), maybe they think they have a new market to introduce these to?
I wonder what Apple learned from the original? I assumed the problem was the price, but with this one costing nearly as much, I am not really sure what they thought the issue was with the original. I guess with the mini selling pretty well ( at least from speculation I have read), maybe they think they have a new market to introduce these to?
Amazon just laid off 10K people from Alexa/Echo team because they are loosing money.
they thought they can sell hardware for loss and make up money by collecting user information and apparently it didn't materialize.
Apple is not selling hardware for loss.
What makes you think this is 3 year old product ?
everything is new, design is new, chip is new.
didn't people read the news that Amazon laid off 10K people from Alexa/Echo team ?
because they were selling hardware for loss hoping that they can get more user information, and adds would make money but that didn't materialize.
I like that Apple is not selling hardware for loss hoping to cash in on adds.
I can tell you some features to make it sell better… more support of other services, not needing another Apple device to set it up, less “ check your iPhone for the answer“ responses, Bluetooth, casting, DLNA support, an aux input, HDMI with Arc support, etc.
I still love mine, but I fit the exact niche they were marketing the OG to.
Apple is $2T company, i would expect them to release a new product category every year.
They could add temperature sensor, light sensor, humidity sensor, thermostat, security camera, weather station, add in Apple TV hardware, add 5 cameras and add Face Time capability, watch and iPhone charger to this HomePod then it would be great product.
it is limitless for how much they could have innovated with this speaker.
Have you seriously not seen all the articles here suggesting that the next HomePod type of device, will feature a display, which would could make it a true Home Hub? There's one example for you. Although my comment wasn't specific to the HomePod. I would love the charging port in the Magic Mouse to move to the front, this way you could charge and use it simultaneously! What magic that would be!
I have OG HomePod and it is working ok with latest software.
I have twelve HomePods, I was excited to see what was new. I laughed and said, I have that already. Albeit, they never work and I hardly use them. I do not understand.
For folks in areas of congested wifi, like the apt building I grew up in, wifi 6 provides a lot better radio options than n FWIW
My 2 HomePod minis have noticeable lag compared to every other apple device (multiple macs, iPhones, iPads, 5 Apple TV’s, and more). It’s noticeable and 5Ghz is much snappier