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Apple Announces New HomePod for $299 With Full-Size Design, S7 Chip, and More
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Why would I buy a new homepod from Apple when my old OG started heating up, popping sounds. and finally a burning smell and Apple didn’t replace it?… all started happening after the 14.6 update I believe.
Apple should do the right thing and replace the OG ones that failed with the second generation! I personally wouldn’t be buying any more first generation products from Apple ever again! Mine even smoked and had burning smell and the genius bar told me I shouldn’t keep using it but wouldn’t replace it.
I am not aware of any other product Apple makes that has had a similar widespread issue. Maybe get Apple Care if you want some peace of mind at least for a while. Maybe try to sell them when Apple Care is up.
I do think Apple should do something about those versions dying, though. I talked to a bunch of people at Apple and they ended up sending me to engineering and we discussed the issue and they said they would call me back and they never did. I didn’t have hours to blow again, so I just moved on.
I have AppleCare on one HomePod still.
The other has expired, but it still has paid support, out of pocket, so I’m confused that Apple turns away burnt HomePods!?
The other has expired, but it still has paid support, out of pocket, so I’m confused that Apple turns away burnt HomePods!?
Interesting information thanks. What exactly were they measuring? How well it heard/responded or function and audio quality?
For me, it’s not just about which device responds it’s a few other issues.
Stereo pairing - unreliable. Most of the time one plays
Single mini sounds bad, stereo pair sounds less bad, but bad.
Networking - unreliable, random outages unrelated to the router (same room 1 ft away on any channel, any band with many features tested)
But more than anything - it doesn’t do anything that I can really use.
It doesn’t work with half my smart devices, and there are a couple of industry leaders like ring.
It doesn’t give me in-depth info via voice on topics of interest it just sends to my phone web pages.
It doesn’t work well with Spotify (until apple
Music allows custom eq it’s a non starter - also Spotify has better features and curation and shared lists)
Automations are lacklustre and even on home devices that are compatible, it’s an absolute pain tj seruo and maintain things like scenes.
I’m just as underwhelmed by the HomePod mini lake as I am happy with the iPhone pro max. I’m a super fan of apple, this product just doesn’t work. I wish it did because yes, privacy is much better. But if Amazon wants to spy on my keywords and recommend a new sex swing because it failed to understand me. That’s fine.
Sadly no, I spent hours working on it, then hours repeating it, with multiple routers/networks / settings.
What it could be is a faulty HomePod, but apple dragged it out so long I’d have to pay to replace it.
Thanks though - it's a good thought, just one that's been really well covered (also I'm a 30 year IT professional so I definitely troubleshoot!)
Edit - you got me curious to check my rarely used HomePods - both showing unavailable in a pair. Walked in the office and asked to play streaming music - no problem. Perfect example of the random weird that happens non stop.
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Given the numerous Privacy concerns involved with Apple incorporating Matter into their proprietary speakers, I will keep our 5 original Home Pods, which still have amazing sound. Any speaker that allows other companies access to our Home automation set up would violate Apple's commitment to privacy within the Apple ecosystem.
the first generation had a(t least one) design flaw, no doubt about it. i’m still surprised it didn’t get a replacement program. probably the relatively few people who bought them made a class action less likely.
i’m not sure which issue you had, but my pair both had the ‘popping’ one. fortunately for me they were within the (extended) warranty from uk retailer john lewis. i still had to battle to get them replaced, though, including taking them to apple for a second opinion. i could tell the genius i mentioned it to had heard about the issue numerous times before as soon as i mentioned it, and the engineers at that particular apple store even detailed in my report that a failed capacitor was the source of the ‘pop’. it’s related to DC offset, if you google homepod repair nic’s fix there’s a wealth of info on the issue.
the replacements have bought me (hopefully) another couple of years, but it seems like almost all of them succumb to the same fate eventually. three years after first getting mine, i’m still consistently blown away by their sound, but when these go, with regret i’ll take my custom elsewhere rather than pay again for the (presumably) more reliable version of the product they should’ve launched first time round.
Sorry your HP died. I know that the OG model had a couple of components that could sometimes fail. I had been worried about losing my HP and this announcement made me feel better that I could get a replacement if needed.
You might checkout this site https://track44.moe/homepods/
That is a guy who does repair work on HomePods and can supply parts to repair them yourself. I guess there are some specific components that can be replaced if they fail.
Matter incorporates of lot of protocols from HomeKit that Apple donated to the Matter spec to improve security and privacy. What kind of concerns do you have about Matter, now?
If you are concerned about interoperability, that is fairly tightly controlled. As it is now on HomeKit, I have Siri on a HomePod sending instructions to various third-party HomeKit devices. I also have Siri on an Ecobee thermostat sending commands to devices. that is what is expected.
I haven't done it this way in a few years, but for a long time there was a Remote app which you could run on iOS to control playback from the iTunes/Music apps on a Mac. I'd use my iPhone (or an iPad, or even an iPod Touch for a while) as a kind of remote to play my music library from my Mac to other speakers in my house via AirPlay.
Of course, if you're talking about music that's stored on your iPhone or iPad, there's no reason you can't just use AirPlay directly to the HomePod.
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I But you can Airplay from the Mac Music app too.No, from my Mac.
Apple Music User Guide for Mac
Learn to use Apple Music on Mac to listen to all the music in your collection, discover new artists, and add more songs to your library.
So 90 mins later. And I just got my HomePod minis reset to connect. 90 mins of resetting and configuring and trying to fix the stereo pair and they’re finally paired. Because they wouldn't connect. Required multiple resets, forgets, and pairings. 90 minutes to set up two smart speakers is insane.
So I did finally get them to reset and then paired, then I played music for over 1 minute and the cracking started with the dropouts and pauses.
These things are absolute pants.
So I did finally get them to reset and then paired, then I played music for over 1 minute and the cracking started with the dropouts and pauses.
These things are absolute pants.
I‘d love to have heard how this HomePod’s new “Advanced computational audio with system sensing for real-time tuning” would have sounded with the original 7 “beamforming tweeters” instead of the new one’s 5 and with the original 6 “far-field Siri” microphones instead of the new one’s 4.
(And IMHO, a price point of $249 would make this a top seller vs. its $299 price. IDK, but it’s usually the case in manufacturing that as production volume increases, costs and bulk component prices go down — fattening selling margins as they do.)
Remarkably they can charge £ for $ on the HomePod but every max gets thrown up 10-25% in the number, before conversion.
Ahh margins.
Edit - oh wait I take it back. They screwed us on the price of the mini too
Tim Cook promised price parity years ago. He lied then. Still lying now.
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I've an interesting Air Play experience during a recent trial of Music streaming subscription. Local library playback to an AVR outputting to ext passive speakers always worked a treat. The receiver having AP1 and streaming lossless+HiRez I encountered constant audio cut outs and after multiple WiFi Mesh Router and Modem restarts, channel searching, I let it go.
Fast forward a few weeks later and a notification appeared on my ISP's App that their (cheap, nasty, very old) Modem detected a problem with Apple Music, specifically that it was fixed and requires another restart. To my surprise that actually worked. I've no idea how and why the ISP even detected such an issue without me reporting it.
So this isn't really a post about HomePods or your issues but about how unexpected a problem and solution can appear.
PS: my OG Home Pod having become a hardly reponsive, drippling mess over the years...that's a different story.
While I don’t know the cause of this, it’s been reported Apple has suffered a significant loss of key talent in recent months. Perhaps their absence is becoming sorely evident in the integrity and reliability of Apple software of late.
The thing that’s always been unique about Apple — and no other company — is that key talent at Apple is often irreplaceable. A unique, talented Apple engineer or designer can’t simply be equally replaced by a new hire with a similar C.V.
Steve Jobs was irreplaceable. Jef Raskin was irreplaceable. Susan Kare was irreplaceable. Bill Atkinson was irreplaceable. Jony Ive is irreplaceable. Avie Tevanian was irreplaceable. Jordan Hubbard was irreplaceable. Scott Forstall was irreplaceable. Bertrand Serlet was irreplaceable. One of a kind, all.
TL;DR AHEAD!
That’s what the FBI “didn’t get” when they demanded Apple take key engineers off the iOS team to code for them a “back door” tool so that the FBI and law enforcement agencies writ large could gain access to the information on anyone‘s iPhone (and other Apple devices).
“Take some engineers off the iOS team and just replace them with other engineers,” the FBI might have thought — as if Apple engineers were “fungible.” Maybe at IBM, maybe at Microsoft, but not at Apple. Apple attracts and employs geniuses and gifted artists.
Alas, the FBI knowingly and falsely smeared Apple PUBLICLY as wanting to protect the privacy of a dead terrorist in the tragic San Bernardino case — when the FBI knew that was untrue. That couldn’t have been more false, and Apple should have sued for defamation (but probably didn’t want the attention such a case would attract). Apple was helping the FBI immensely in that case until some dough head FBI agent changed the password on the phone! And then forgot it! (DUH!)
Apple was clear: there’s no way to write a “back door” and keep it from getting out into the wild. Impossible. (Witness Stuxnet.)
Also, the FBI’s argument, “Sacrifice your privacy in exchange for your safety” is a false choice. Because in many cases, privacy EQUALS safety!
It’s unfortunate that criminals and even terrorists sometimes exploit the privacy afforded by iPhones, etc. for evil purposes. But evil people also use sidewalks, cars, money, guns, zip ties, gloves, masks, bleach, hammers, postal scales, sandwich bags, backpacks, subways, Ubers — and the list goes on.
100% of iPhone owners shouldn’t suffer threats to their privacy and personal safety because of the potential risk of one person using an iPhone in the commission of an evil, criminal act — some time, somewhere — on planet earth.
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I purchased 2 HomePod minis and used them as a stereo pair around two years ago.
I immediately noticed that there was a significant delay when I tried to play videos from my Mac and used the HomePod minis as speakers.
Has this issue since been resolved, or has the delay decreased?
I immediately noticed that there was a significant delay when I tried to play videos from my Mac and used the HomePod minis as speakers.
Has this issue since been resolved, or has the delay decreased?
I just airplayed a hi-rez track and it took less than 1 second to play on my 2 OG HomePods at the same time, but not as a pair, from my iPad. Also played a hi-rez track from my Mac via Colibri music app, again to 2 HomePods simultaneously (not paired) with less than 1-2 second delay….
I believe they mean playing a video and the audio airplayed to HomePods from the Mac is delayed, out of sync with the video, not for music or straight up audio.
I notice a slight delay when watching videos and using my mini as speaker for Mac mini.
Do you know anyone that has used this service? If I could get my broken HomePod working for around $100, I would be happy.
My second HP has until April before Apple+ runs out, so with my luck, it will die in May. 😆
Haha if you look at my history, I don’t think you would call me an Apple fanboy. I criticize Apple’s products too. But I (try to) criticize based on how the product fell short of what it was intended and advertised to be, not how it fell short of my own ideas of what it should have been. Also I don’t call a product crap objectively, because I know just because it holds no value for me doesn’t mean it doesn’t hold value for others.
And that’s not to say one can’t express what they wish a product was. When the HomePod came out, it didn’t have home theater functionality, and I wished that it had and I expressed that. But wishing is different from expecting (something not advertised)—and criticizing/bashing based on not meeting that expectation. It may seem like a subtle difference, but it’s huge because one of those attitudes has an egocentric and entitled view of things.
Also there are tons of amazing computer speakers out there, and hooking them up to a Mac essentially gives them all of HomePod’s functions. So yeah, I don’t understand this particular criticism for multiple reasons.
Also you can label people who disagree with you all you want, but you’re only doing yourself a disservice by closing yourself off.
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I am more than happy to see this product back—I’ll stick with my studio pair of OGs till EOL—but this is an…interesting strat on Apple’s part. seems like the idea was: “very few people bought into the OGs, so let’s lure them in with the mini, then upsell to a very, very slight improvement over the original.” temperature sensing, U1, and what looks like Spotify support (the latter possibly being its killer feature) are cool but not particularly relevant to my life.
it’s certainly been a week for *ahem* premium Apple products 😂
it’s certainly been a week for *ahem* premium Apple products 😂
Sorry, I don’t. I heard about the service on the Accidental Tech Podcast in October when they were discussing the HomePods.