Agree 100 percent. It is so important for something that can play audio. I have Echo Dots and a Spot and good luck getting them to hear you with loud music playing without standing next to them and screaming.
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Apple Details How HomePod Can Detect 'Hey Siri' From Across a Room, Even With Loud Music Playing
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Say what you want, but the voice detection on the homepod is top notch!
With all this advanced tech, I just wish the HomePod could use its microphones to automatically sync with other speakers in the house. I’ve tried every setting on my Apple TV and Receiver, and there’s nothing I can do to overcome a delay of 20-30 milliseconds on my Apple TV. The HomePod is slightly ahead at all times which makes grouped audio unusable. Why not use those complex mics to automatically correct this delay? Or at least allow manual sync adjustment in Airplay 2, as in Chromecast audio groups.
So I actually figured out why Siri does this. If you are asking Siri to control something within the same room that the HomePod is located, it won't say anything. It assumes that you see the action occuring (since you are in that room) and doesn't say anything. When you are asking Siri to do something in another room, it'll let you know because you aren't there to see it.
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Yea, I get that. I also get why Apple made the decision as well. I have found Apple Music to have a lot of the music I request though so when people come over - I tell them just to request a song. Always works.
This is definitely one grip I have with Google Home. If I'm streaming music and say "Hey Google" I have to say it at least three times - the last of which I'm basically screaming. Mind you, I'm in the same room as our Google Home.
As much as I'd like a HomePod, I'll wait until they're sub $200 before I pony up.
As much as I'd like a HomePod, I'll wait until they're sub $200 before I pony up.
I noticed this as well. My parents have a Google Home and they have to say "Hey Google" multiple times, every time, to get a response. It doesn't hear well over music either. I have 2 HomePod's (bought them for $249 each), but I would agree that $199 is the likely sweet spot for a lot of people.
In my case, Siri works better for this than Alexa. My girlfriend has a polish accent and Alexa can't understand her, while Siri understands every word.
She claims that Siri is cool with her and Alexa is jealous.
Ask any STEM graduates and they will tell you right away the same thing I told you. Signal analysis II and Calculus IV are fairly common courses. Especially for Applied Math, Physics, Nanotech, and Engineering graduates.
There are two types of people on the plant. The kind who think everything is magical, and the kind who think nothing is magical.
~~~~~~~~~~
Spoil alert!
~~~~~~~~~~
I am the boring kind...
It also records everything you say and potentially reports you. HomePod does not.
https://www.apple.com/shop/question...-record-everything-it-hears/QATF4Y4HX72CTJT7D
It’s sound quality is reflected in the $/£25 price point.
In my case, Siri works better for this than Alexa. My girlfriend has a polish accent and Alexa can't understand her, while Siri understands every word.
She claims that Siri is cool with her and Alexa is jealous.
Having use Spotify and Google Play Music for a couple years on the google Cast platform, I can understand why Apple would be hesitant to build in other music platforms. It just introduces all sorts of playback bugs to be communicating with other services. Spotify is the worst, since spotify connect introduces a whole other layer of handshakes. The result is that you request music, nothing happens, or one track plays and then everything stops. Probably because Spotify connect thinks its running on some other device, who knows.
The main advantage of the HomePod is that it just works really well for playing music. The way you can “move” music throughout the house, from speaker to speaker is something you can’t do with google homes at all (at least i’ve never been able to do it). Now, if i could just get the damn thing to sync up without latency to my stereo, I might not have to return it to best buy.
You know what the hard part is? Going from college textbooks to fully realized products. You know what new college graduates know about that? Nothing.
This happened to me. I was up in the middle of the night and was playing a podcast on my iPhone. My Homepod heard something that turned into it putting together a text message to a friend. Would not have been cool had it sent a text to someone in the middle of the night. I freaked out worry if it sent it or what.
It's more accurate to say that the omnidirectional microphone is not able to distinguish room reverberation from any other sound. Omnidirectional microphones capture sounds equally (you could say blindly), regardless of direction or source. The reverb is real, not "enhanced." Most people's hearing, however, is three-dimensional, thanks to having two ears, the design of our outer ears, visual cues, and our fabulous brains. We can distinguish echoes/reverberations that arrive from the side or behind, and our minds can use that spatial information to focus our attention on "direct" sounds and de-emphasize extraneous noises.
A single microphone or single camera lens captures far less spatial data than is present in the "live" environment - monaural sound, monocular vision. No brain.
Intelligibility is greatly enhanced by having that microphone as close to the primary sound source as possible, so that the intensity/signal strength is proportionally far louder than the extraneous sounds/reverberation. However, if you have a room full of potential sound sources (as you do in a typical conference room), the people speaking may be as far or farther from the mic than the nearest sources of echo/reverberation. That means the signal you want is barely louder than the signals you don't want.
One very successful microphone technique (that doesn't require the kind of signal processing done by HomePod) is called "boundary layer" or "sound stage technique," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_microphone - placing a microphone close to a hard reflecting surface (like a floor, tabletop, or wall) so that the strong echo bouncing off that surface is proportionally louder than the more distant "direct" sound source or other reverberations/echoes. The closer the mic can be to that reflecting surface, the better. Lacking a specialized mic for the purpose, recording engineers might simply position a garden-variety mic an inch off the floor.
Such a great "machine"! Limited usability as deigned by its maker.
This is why the watch on my wrist can’t hear me, but the HomePod across 3 rooms at the back of the house can ...
Seriously. I’m cooking in the kitchen, and the Apple Watch won’t catch “Hey, Siri ...”, but from across the kitchen, across the living room, through the door and at the back of the bedroom, I now have two timers running in stereo ...
Seriously. I’m cooking in the kitchen, and the Apple Watch won’t catch “Hey, Siri ...”, but from across the kitchen, across the living room, through the door and at the back of the bedroom, I now have two timers running in stereo ...
That is because you should never leave with just a college degree, everyone got one now. That's like nothing. Bachelor degree is just the beginning. If you want to do anything intellectually complex in life, you need to have a PhD. We treat undergrads as kids, not as colleagues, unless you are an undergrad working with grad students, and collaborate on research papers. Then you are something, otherwise you are nothing, but you can be something if you just sit through the course of education and enlightenment.
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Well, I wouldn't discount the fact that HomePod is thoughtfully put-together. They went an extra mile and engineered science into a utility generating product, or at least a good concept, surely is somewhat courageous.
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It's always easier to do things yourself, Siri is hopelessly cognitively impaired.
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In my case, Siri works better for this than Alexa. My girlfriend has a polish accent and Alexa can't understand her, while Siri understands every word.
She claims that Siri is cool with her and Alexa is jealous.
Sounds like your GF is quite a pleasantly humorous gal to be with. Now, the problem is, Heyyy Siri, how ya doing? I'm jealous too!!!
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