Day One HomePod Pre-Orders in U.S. Beat Out Most Other Smart Speaker Pre-Orders

[Uofmtiger]

Aside from the excellent sound (which should be a given on a single $350 speaker) I found Siri on the HomePod very impressive. Not in terms of vocabulary or "skills". I just found it extremely natural to interact with the device via voice and the device was lightning-fast to respond.

That said, the lack of a fall-back analog port and some persistent home-kit bugginess killed it for me. I don't mind relying on Apple's technological "magic", but if the magic doesn't work perfectly then a hermetically sealed device like this leaves you with no options other than hoping and praying that Apple will fix their magic.

Eventually.

The excellent sound is above and beyond what you typically get with a speaker with this small footprint. I am not aware of anything that competes at this size....especially in the smart speaker competition.

I don't have any more issues with HomeKit than I have with my Dots. They both run into issues where they can't see the hub for some reason. The Dot also has issues understanding me more often than the HomePod. It will say I have more than one device by X name and I will have to repeat my query. The big advantage to the HomePod for music, besides better SQ, is the fact it can hear me over loud music. I have my Dots hooked up to decent to great systems, but it can't hear me over the music unless I am right next to it, which is a major downside.

In a perfect world, the HomePod would have analog in so I could connect a Dot to it, but with Airplay, it is still open enough to get most everything else I need from it. YMMV

 

[Heineken]

"For the price", it better give you eargasms.

My $80 (on sale) HK Onyx Studio 2 BT speaker has TONS of bass, is powerful, and sounds fantastic. It's not smart, but when I want to listen to music, I prefer to use my iPhone to browse and control what I listen to. It takes mere seconds and I save $270.
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Was the London Apple Store sold out?

No, but i wasn't sure if i'm going to like it, so i took just one.

 

[imronburgundy]

I also have an opinion on this product...

 

[truthertech]

I love ours... and I had them delivered to the boarder and went and picked them up since they aren’t available in Canada yet.

That was very kind of your boarder to do for you. Where do they live?

 

[tubular]

I actually did say that when they announced the product. Picked it up day one and I'm in love with the sound quality for the price. As soon as AirPlay 2 is up and running, I'm buying a second one with no hesitation.

Same here, once AirPlay 2 drops.

 

[The Game 161]

scary thing is I use my homepod more likely for my shopping list/lights and timers in the kitchen and while thats odd for using it more than music not having it now would seem weird without using those commands.

I do like how I can be in the hall way and use my homepod from downstairs or bedroom. it hears me from a good distance

 

[Shanghaichica]

scary thing is I use my homepod more likely for my shopping list/lights and timers in the kitchen and while thats odd for using it more than music not having it now would seem weird without using those commands.

I do like how I can be in the hall way and use my homepod from downstairs or bedroom. it hears me from a good distance

I only had mine set up for a few hours this afternoon and then I disconnected it so I could pack it away for moving tomorrow. I got so used to it because I shouted out hey Siri just now before I realised I’d disconnected it.

 

[AustinIllini]

"retina for your ears" Rene Ritchie........he must have had apple juice all over his face when he posted that.

Yeah, that is really, really bad.

What’s this obsession with Rene Ritchie? You’ve mentioned his name twice now on HomePod related posts.

Multiple sites overvalue his opinion. He's not a good journalist and he's particularly terrible at reporting accurately about Apple and tech. He's king of the apologists.

 

[Rocko99991]

Full time listening device in your home! Sounds awesome!

Amazon Alexa-full time listening device. Jeff Bezos sits on Pentagon Defense Advisory Board-has $53 billion deal with Pentagon. Seems completely legit...

 

[Boatboy24]

Decided to try one in the house and after 11 days, I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep it. The sound is very good streaming from AirPlay - outstanding with Apple Music. When I got it, I started an Apple Music trial. I'll almost certainly cancel that. I love the enhanced sound I get from the HP with it, but that's about all I like about it. Siri hears me even from another room with music playing at a 'medium' level. I really was impressed with that. And, I don't have to hesitate after saying "Hey Siri". I had the opposite experience using Alexa on my Dad's Sonos speakers. I'd have to say "Alexa", then wait 1-2 seconds before proceeding. That may be a shortfall of the Sonos integration - I don't know. I might still return the HP. I want multi-room, and at $350 a room, that may be more than I want to spend.

 

[44267547]

It's literally a smart speaker. Apple has specifically designed it to be a HomeKit hub.

At No point did my post did not acknowledge it’s not a smart speaker. But that’s not the point either. Look at Apple’s marketing, watch the keynote from WWDC 2017, look at their website, it’s highly emphasized the HomePod is a music player first in almost every example possible. We already know it’s a smart speaker with Siri controlling HomeKit, etc. But that’s not the primary purpose of what Apple wanted to strive for. Again, it’s more than a smart speaker, which is exactly how Apple intended it to be from its inception.

For reference, again:

But this is not just a smart speaker, it’s more than that, it’s a music player first. That’s what Apple has been emphasizing since the release of the HomePod. If you want a smart speaker, there are other options available. The HomePod is a smart speaker second and A music player first.

 

[Uofmtiger]

Yeah, that is really, really bad.


Multiple sites overvalue his opinion. He's not a good journalist and he's particularly terrible at reporting accurately about Apple and tech. He's king of the apologists.

Don't agree, he is one of the few giving the other side of the coin when Apple is held to a different standard.

I listen to ATP and if I didn't know better, I would think they all hated Apple. I watch MBW and they all (other than Rene)come off as Apple haters (until recently when Leo has warmed up a bit). It is common in the blogosphere to be overly critical ("hypercritical") of Apple and the only thing Rene does is offer up the possible reasoning that never gets mentioned. As an example, there are tons of Youtubers and bloggers that have compared Siri with the competition but have never mentioned the different approaches to privacy and security. This can be a huge issue for many readers/viewers and they are not getting the full story. Rene often fills that gap.

As for the click-bait line, it is commonplace in the industry. What he is probably referring to is how going from retina to non-retina makes you aware of the fact that you are not getting the same quality even if you were happy with non-retina for years. He probably means that he was happy with his old audio setups until he had a HomePod and now his other speakers sound inferior.

There is an interesting article about the double standard by someone other than Rene:

https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2017/10/26/apple-is-facing-a-double-standard

That being said, I appreciate hearing every side of an issue, but a lot of Apple's side of the issue gets left out over and over again. Rene fills that in, so I am sure a lot of Apple haters also hate him. They would rather just bash Apple than hear some of the reasoning.

 

[donster28]

Yeah, that is really, really bad.


Multiple sites overvalue his opinion. He's not a good journalist and he's particularly terrible at reporting accurately about Apple and tech. He's king of the apologists.

Sorry but I wasn’t asking a question in my post.

I didn’t want to know about him, I’m simply pointing out how repetative the reference of his name was by a single poster.
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"For the price", it better give you eargasms.

My $80 (on sale) HK Onyx Studio 2 BT speaker has TONS of bass, is powerful, and sounds fantastic. It's not smart, but when I want to listen to music, I prefer to use my iPhone to browse and control what I listen to. It takes mere seconds and I save $270.
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Was the London Apple Store sold out?

But can your Onyx Studio 2’s produce consistent 360 degree mids, highs and lows or you have to be in front of them to match this?

 

[AustinIllini]

Sorry but I wasn’t asking a question in my post.

I didn’t want to know about him, I’m simply pointing out how repetative the reference of his name was by a single poster.
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But can your Onyx Studio 2’s produce consistent 360 degree bass without pumping them up, if they’re situated in the middle of the room and you listening at a distance?

You're wondering why Rene comes up so often? He makes all Apple fans look like iSheep.

 

[donster28]

You're wondering why Rene comes up so often? He makes all Apple fans look like iSheep.

“Comes up multiple times from this one poster talking about the HomePod”...and annoyingly as such. That’s what I meant.

 

[Mark Booth]

Good news is Best Buy has tons of them as Open Box returns so you can save $30 or so. :|

I was in my local Best Buy today to pick up some 4K Blu-rays. I was anxious to find these heavily discounted open box HomePods so I could save money on one for the master bedroom. The store had two, one white and one space gray. They were marked down to $338.99. A whopping $11 in savings. Uh, no thanks.

When I got home I checked Best Buy's website. It allows me to search stores for 3 different condition levels of open box returns on HomePods: Excellent ($338.99), Satisfactory ($331.99) or Fair ($321.99). No store in the country has any in Satisfactory or Fair condition. At least, not according to the BB website.

My search for "tons of them" continues.

Mark

 

[Mackie924]

Rene Ritchie is awful.

 

[Mark Booth]

If the HomePod was $99 about 99% of the negative comments in the HomePod threads would be glowing reviews. Those naysayers would instead be raving about the sound quality.

I've learned that "for the price" is a VERY big—but usually unspoken—part of most people's evaluation process. And that's fair and reasonable *if* their comments mention "it's not worth the money". But most don't. They just dis Siri or the sound quality or whatever when, in reality, it's too expensive for their budget.

Mark
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Rene Ritchie is awful.

I just sent the link for your comment to Rene. Perhaps he'll respond?

Mark

 

[cknibbs]

That was very kind of your boarder to do for you. Where do they live?

I live just north of Montana. There are warehouse companies just south of the US/Canada border that you pay a small fee to and they receive packages for you. $4 a HomePod is what the handling fee was.

*Edit* spelling was never my strong suit lol

 

[Uofmtiger]

If the HomePod was $99 about 99% of the negative comments in the HomePod threads would be glowing reviews. Those naysayers would instead be raving about the sound quality.

I've learned that "for the price" is a VERY big—but usually unspoken—part of most people's evaluation process. And that's fair and reasonable *if* their comments mention "it's not worth the money". But most don't. They just dis Siri or the sound quality or whatever when, in reality, it's too expensive for their budget.

Mark

There would still be those that hate everything Apple regardless of price.

 

[The Game 161]

I only had mine set up for a few hours this afternoon and then I disconnected it so I could pack it away for moving tomorrow. I got so used to it because I shouted out hey Siri just now before I realised I’d disconnected it.

Yeah it’s amazing how used to ism saying this now.

Good luck with the move moving days are stressful lol

 

[Abazigal]

You cant discount the Echo Dot because it's cheap; if people want cheap then that's where they will go. This decreases Apple's market share because they don't have an answer for the Echo Dot.

it's like saying "Home Pod is the best selling speaker that costs $349.99, didn't include any above or below that price point though"

Apple has no answer for cheap android phones and tablet either. I for one don’t see their profitability being affected because of it.

The target market for the HomePod is not the target market for the amazon echo. Each appeals to a different demographic of users and there is really very little overlap between the two.

Apple will do just fine. To the consternation of its harshest critics no doubt.

 

[Rico-Suave]

With the criticisms of Siri being totally valid, for me it's worth it for the sound quality alone. I was stunned, and I've owned high-end stereo equipment for 40 years. My primary motivation for getting one was to have decent sound for the flat screen TV/AppleTV setup in my bedroom, which means the Bose Solo is going back to Costco.

 

[johngordon]

How difficult is it to press play on your music player?? I don't see the appeal of these smart speakers.

Its not difficult, and of course its all a bit 'first world problems'. We had a little Sony on some shelves in our kitchen / dining room. It had a little iPod dock, so we could go over and select music from the iPod to play through it. Was that difficult? No, not really.

Is using the HomePod easier, by using Siri or the phone / airplay from the kitchen instead better? Absolutely.

Does the fact that the sound quality is better make it no brainer? Absolutely.

 

[krause734]

Does the fact that the sound quality is better make it no brainer? Absolutely.

The sound quality is not even close to better for most people with a home stereo and speakers. I like the idea of smart speakers but I'm hesitant to invest in it right now. It is far from perfection. Good enough for some people for now until Homepods 2.0 come out next year I suppose. I'll keep my dumb speakers until then.