If you listened to what he said the mic is only operating after hi Siri command , also it s encrypted and does not give your id. To Apple
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Apple Unveils $349 HomePod Smart Speaker to be Available in December
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This is what Sonos does now without voice. Echo is getting updated to work with Sonos natively. This is two pieces of hardware in one. I have three Sonos, and I get sound through my whole house.
I agree it's not a competitor for the Echo, but I can't believe they wouldn't release a cheaper smaller version as a direct competitor. Those little smart speakers will soon be ubiquitous, but not everyone needs a "hi-fi" speaker.
I am sure someone was already said this but...At $350 they are competing with the Sonos 3 and alike, which is $300. It makes sense that they framed it as a music player with siri instead of a virtual assistant with a better speaker.
For folks who want much better sound and are in the apple ecosystem it may be a good option. This assumes it actually sounds good.
The problem may be that most, like on this forum, are comparing the functionality vs echo/googlehome instead of the sound quality because that is what they want.
For me, if it has $350 sound, siri is a free extra, and I will buy it.
For folks who want much better sound and are in the apple ecosystem it may be a good option. This assumes it actually sounds good.
The problem may be that most, like on this forum, are comparing the functionality vs echo/googlehome instead of the sound quality because that is what they want.
For me, if it has $350 sound, siri is a free extra, and I will buy it.
Meh. I'll stick with my multi room airplay system with airport express and hifi systems. I already have a compact Bose Soundlink Mini II with an airport express for the kitchen so it can't even replace that. No mention of being able to play home files. Streaming Apple Music isn't the same as playing lossless from your Mac mini server.
This will sound much, much better then a BT speaker. This class of speak isn't for everyone.
Uhm.. a single sonos S1 speaker costs 230 $ and I'm pretty sure it does sound worse, plus it lacks the smarts. I'm sold.
Did I imagine where they alluded to two speakers working together in the same room? Hopefully there are some controls to switch a two-speakers-in-room config between "both sending out same audio" and "acting as binaural audio".
That said, this was exactly my reaction to the Amazon Echo as well, so I get the disappointment. Since that came out, though, thinking more about it makes mono audio very sensible for this type of device (honestly, most living room "stereo" setups don't have good stereo separation anyway).
What are all you haters talking about? At 350 $ this speaker is a steal! Look at Sonos: their cheapest speaker starts at 220 € and AFAIK it needs an additional bridge device. The B&W Zeppelin goes for around 700 €.
Comparing this to the Amazon Echo is like comparing the iPad to the Amazon Fire tablet. They are kind of the same... but they are really not.
Comparing this to the Amazon Echo is like comparing the iPad to the Amazon Fire tablet. They are kind of the same... but they are really not.
My guess is because of Quebec (or other Canadian French communities with specific regulations) ... likely something to do with Siri... the initial list is all English speaking.
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Yes, and their claims are probably true, however I tend to trust Apple more as their business model isn't based on selling people to advertisers.
Does less than what an echo does and may or may not have the sound quality of my Bose? Not a great looking product.
Well he did mention two that played in tandem but that £700 mmm don't think so
Exactly, apple's airports are perfect for a mesh network. But they can't make an apple size profit on them, the express esp, so the build mobile products but throw away the connection aspect. I assume this thing need a god wifi signal to work well.
How good can audio streamed over wifi sound? (I'm honestly asking; I still buy CDs, because audio files, and streamed mobile audio, tend to sound crappy to me.)
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the future is home automation. If someone wants homekit/siri in their house, they have to buy one of these things for every room. If this is anything like homekit, it'll be years before anything really happens with this product. Homekit is just sitting idle pretty much.
This is stupid. Harman/Kardon Invoke has 3 woofers and will call people on Skype. And I trust people at H/K more when it comes to audio. Google home can be used as a phone and costs $100 and next gen will supposedly have a build-in router. Hell, Echo will whisper if necessary.
HomePod looks like a recycled trash can. And at $349? It better make me a cappuccino too. They can market it as a premium home audio speaker all they want. But in reality it's still an automated assistant like Echo, GH and Invoke. Apple was unable to beat these three out on assistant because Siri is weak, so they jammed it with speakers and going that route.
HomePod looks like a recycled trash can. And at $349? It better make me a cappuccino too. They can market it as a premium home audio speaker all they want. But in reality it's still an automated assistant like Echo, GH and Invoke. Apple was unable to beat these three out on assistant because Siri is weak, so they jammed it with speakers and going that route.
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you are wrong...Apple is lost right now, and this product shows this to the fullest. The market is calling for smart home automation, who really cares about a speaker...don't get me wrong, there are those that need good sound, but there are more who want true home automation. Apple can't compete with Amazon or Google right now, so they are trying to sell this as a music product and downplay the home automation part. It's basically a siri home automation beta program, and that is what they want us to pay $350 for? PLEASE! I don't know if you use home automation at all, but I do...the Echo can do basically everything, and works (and the speaker really isn't that bad). I am truly confused by this product, but I see right threw Apple's bull*hit right now, they needed to do something, and they threw this worthless toilet paper roll at us...Why on earth do I need to use an Echo to turn on my apple tv, tv and lights, when I have apple music, apple tv and all apple apps, there is something wrong with this, at least to me...I'm not cancelling my Echo show pre-order and looking really forward to them arriving
Obviously nobody here has priced or purchased a Sonos speaker.
Actually, it does much LESS than an Echo does: There is no third party integration, there's no free software development for this thing, it only understands English.
The Echo... Also supports Spotify, TuneIn, multiple "real" radio station (as in actual Radio Stations that also have streams on the web), it has "skills" for a daily growing amount of non-music related other services (I can, for example, plan my train rides with the Deutsche Bahn with it). Yeah, and Alexa is fluent in German. And she can read eBooks to me in German and English as well.
The HomePod, on the other hand, is a 350 bucks, voice enabled speaker for Apple Music.
Apple Music customers will buy this speaker, sure, so it will be a commercial success and will probably serve that specific target audience quite well. Outside the realm of Apple Music, however, there is zero reason to buy HomePod and people are better off with a device with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or even Microsoft Cortana in it.
Actually you are wrong. Echo speaker is not that bad showed you are not the target for this product. If it sounds as good as a Sonos Play 3, works seamlessly with Apple Music, is a HomeKit base, $350 is more than a reasonable price.