actually the Apple TV already includes Wi-Fi 6 support (as of the 4K 2G, introduced in April, 2021), so Apple is decent there. Though hopefully a future ATV will incorporate 6E support (or perhaps by that point we'll already be on Wi-Fi 7, which is projected to launch in ~ 2024).
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Gurman: Apple Not Working on New HomePod Mini
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once they announced that the new HomePod was only getting an S7 chip I figured nothing was going on with this cus the S5 ain't all that different anyways.
The S5 and S7 aren't hugely different -- but the S7 does have some meaningful improvements. The S6-S8 SOCs are manufactured with an improved lithography technique compared to the S5 (N7P vs. N7) and their "Thunder" cores run at 1.8 GHz compared to the S5's "Tempest" cores at 1.59 GHz.
So yes, the S7 compared to the S5 "aint all that different", but nevertheless there are some improvements. These are important when you're dealing with something as small and power-constrained as a watch; of course less so with a larger device like a powered speaker.
At some point (perhaps in the next 1-2 years?) Apple will switch over its Sx SOCs to TSMC's forthcoming 3 nm manufacturing process. That should yield meaningful gains in both processing performance and power efficiency. And perhaps Apple will additionally take that opportunity to incorporate Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 as well.
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the HP Mini is a very small speaker that still manages to sound much better than it’s competition. If you want better sound for music, the The HomePod Pro is a better choice.
Agreed -- but FYI there's no HomePod Pro, just HomePod mini and HomePod (no adjective/qualifier).
(if there were such thing as a HomePod Pro, surely it would not have sacrificed two tweeters and two microphones, would incorporate Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3, and perhaps further might have the ability to do multi-speaker surround sound (i.e. going beyond merely pairing two speakers for stereo sound))
PS maybe one day Apple might even get around to introducing 'Siri Pro' -- a Siri that doesn't suck!
Even though it is a watch chip, the S7 is significantly faster than the old A8 in the OG HomePod.
I expect, once TSMC has 3nm production running fully, Apple would move the Watch SOC to 3nm, if only to get greater efficiency and a longer battery life. I don’t know if that would mean anything for the HomePods but it would mean new processors.
Hmm, that is an amazing idea! you need to submit that feature request.
“HomePod Pro” was just a little joke driven by there being no specific term for the larger HomePod unlike the ”mini”.
Why do you feel like Siri sucks? Provide some examples. It can do damn near everything outside of great follow up question response. Heck, it can even reboot your iPhone.
Urm up until last week Apple had discontinued the OG HomePod and deemed the mini as the replacement. Anyone who like me went from the OG HomePod to a Mini knows exactly what I mean. Its not in the same league.
Several times a week I invoke Siri and say "what is the temperature?" Note, I phrase my query exactly like that, with no variation. About 80% of the time Siri responds quickly and accurately. But ~20% of the time it doesn't respond verbally at all and instead triggers a web browser search for 'temperature'. WTF?
This inconsistency is maddening, and inexplicable as far as I know. This is the kind of thing you'd have expected from Siri in the immediate period after its launch in 2011. It's now almost a dozen years later.
There is variation in product quality at any large institution. More than most, Apple generally strives for excellence and occasionally settles for mediocrity. Not only is Siri nowhere near excellent -- at best, it's a mediocre, largely stagnated service -- it can be downright bad. This is inexplicable, very frustrating when it happens (for me, at least weekly), and utterly disappointing. Steve would not abide.
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Unreasonable
If through optimizing the software they can eliminate the stuttering which, like a pervious commenter, I also get, I really couldn't care less what level of WiFi it was. I mean, ANY of them are enough to stream audio. It isn't exactly a "high bandwidth" use case.
The OG, OG2 and mini will be far better served by attention to and fine tuning of their software. A push for more modern (more expensive) WiFi just for the sake of being the latest doesn't really serve anyone. Any WiFi, probably all the way back to B and G could stream audio without skipping and stuttering. The N in WiFi 4 provides more "wiggle room" and cushion, and WiFi 6E does have some improvements in latency, etc. But those aren't NECESSARY. Well polished software would could easily provide an excellent user experience even at the older specifications.
I have a bunch of mini's, and am thinking of getting an OG 2 now. I think they're great, but they do have some warts. Would love to see Apple do a deep dive on making tight, clean, polished firmware for them.
When I buy speakers, I want them to last a while. So I’m ok with this. Just give it more or better features via software updates over time. My one hope is that Apple will find software ways to go beyond stereo pairing. Would love to add minis as a “surround back” speaker to that soundbar/appletv/facetime camera thing they are rumored to be working on.
I get what both of you are saying really. I think a few of the big missteps in the homepod setup are lack of options to use them with other inputs. If they sold one with a Line In, Bluetooth, and maybe even an ethernet port, to allow the product to be used outside of the apple ecosystem I think they would have a much better time selling more (I'd buy one then at least). But for me the strict need to be in the apple ecosystem to even use it at all is a huge detractor to it selling a lot. I have friends with androids and not having the ability to just bluetooth to the speaker is probably the biggest miss in my opinion. I think those things would drastically improve the quantity they could sell and not cost that much more to add.
I wholly agree that Apple's HomePod software needs more work, especially in the basic reliability department. This might help mitigate stuttering. But I believe you're mistaken that software alone can transcend hardware limitations. As I wrote earlier, yes even older Wi-Fi technologies have sufficient bandwidth for audio stremaing in most cases, but Wi-Fi 6 is superior to Wi-Fi 4/5 in terms of latency (also power efficiency). A future HomePod featuring Wi-Fi 6 will be more responsive and power-efficient than Apple's existing HomePods (HP-1G, HP-2G, HP-mini). Since Wi-Fi 6 has been around since 2019, it's a shame that Apple is making its customers wait much longer than necessary.
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I agree with most of your comments. In particular a USB or an Ethernet port (or both) would allowed wired connections for those who care a lot about latency.
Bluetooth connectivity would also be very simple to implement (the hardware is already there) for the minority of customers for whom that's important.
The Wi-Fi chipset is tied to the SOC and the HomePods are not important enough to merit their own SOC, so we will need to wait until Apple is ready to bring a newer Wi-fi spec to the Watches to get one on the HomePods. Perhaps That will happen when Apple moves the Watch SOCs to 3nm?
Yes, I agree with you. This is possible if not likely.
Nevertheless, while the S7 SoC incorporates Wi-Fi 4, it would be a small matter for Apple to incorporate a separate Wi-Fi 6 chip in HomePods until a future Sx SoC includes this directly. From an engineering perspective it would add a small bit of complexity and a modest bit of cost, but both should be manageable. Apple has certainly dealt with much greater complexity and compromises before (e.g. shoehorning desktop-class RAM into MacBook Pros during the late Intel years in order to compensate for the shortcomings of Intel's processor designs).
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Indeed. You know, reflect the price they demand. The price would be OK if they truly were the sound quality their price demands.
Combine that lack with other performance issues, and HomePods are a shockingly poor value proposition.
