There's literally no one there but me and a couple of friends. So I don't think I'm being that guy.
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Hands-On With the New HomePod Mini
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My two Echos are having trouble listening lately, it’s like a sign to get them replaced almost
edit: just realized I need Spotify so probably not for me!
edit: just realized I need Spotify so probably not for me!
Those are horrible humans. I can't believe the people that bike around with their Bluetooth speakers going. No one wants to hear your crappy music. Put on headphones. It's as inconsiderate as the people that use their speakerphone in public (and generally hold it a couple inches from their mouth while yelling into it). No one else wants to hear your conversation. Take that home or put on headphones.
So I keep hearing people saying that Siri is dumb. I've been using Siri to control my homekit accessories for a while; it can control my lights, start my car, set my thermostat, locks, music, tv, etc. I ask random questions, conversions of temp, currency, send/reply to texts and I always get an answer. I have several automations, I have it to do something when something happens and never had a hiccup.
This reviewer says to look somewhere else if you are looking to create "powerful custom skills".
I wonder what these powerful custom skills are. I wonder what else is what people what Siri to do? What can Alexa or Google do that Siri can't?
This reviewer says to look somewhere else if you are looking to create "powerful custom skills".
I wonder what these powerful custom skills are. I wonder what else is what people what Siri to do? What can Alexa or Google do that Siri can't?
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It supports Spotify and other music services. Apple just won't specifically list them in their material because of their current legal battle. They do list Pandora and Amazon Music though.
When the call comes in just accept the call. Then on the iPhone choose “audio” and then select the HomePod you want to use.
I’m getting a mini as well. Just waiting for it to get delivered today.
Such as? The options, any concrete suggestions?
I am always on the lookout for a good quality, portable, small speaker. So far I have been disappointed with anything less than a Bose Soundlink Revolve, and its twice the price and weight of a mini. In particular NOT a fan of the JBL Flip or Clip, or Sony SRS-XB12, or Anker Soundcore. I carry the Bose Soundlink Micro if weight is an issue and I do not have my MacBook Pro 16 inch (which sounds better than all of the above except Revolve.)
My guess is though, and I will test this out when I get mine, is that you will be disappointed by the volume outdoors that you could achieve? Others have noted it seems to do better with smaller rooms versus even a living room.
Thanx! That's news to me! Can't wait to try that out on the stereo pair in my living room.
I'm curious how I'll sound to the other party, me being 15 feet away from my HomePods. And, if the beam-formed microphones will produce a good listening experience to the person I'm talking to.
Does the HomePod mini have an ethernet jack? Or wireless only?
If it requires AC power, it might as well have a wired port...
If it requires AC power, it might as well have a wired port...
Excited to get the one mini I ordered, which should be delivered either tomorrow or Thursday. It’s not like I’m expecting the sound to be exceptional and like many others Siri can be hit or miss, but we’ll retire the Google speaker we use in the kitchen, which is a good thing and if the mini sounds good enough get a second so we can have stereo sound in the kitchen / dining room.
Thanks! What I'm wondering about is if the expected room hollowness/echo from me speaking 15 feet away in a 17' x 23' room will be essentially processed out due to HomePod's signal-processed six element microphone array beamforming and echo cancellation processing.
That would be a killer neat trick! And very useful for me.
The potential is there and is performed when receiving Siri voice commands. Don't know if that extends to phone calls, not being what HomePod was really designed for.
I'm getting tired of people mindlessly claiming that Alexa and Google are way better than Siri. I don't believe they have actually tested that, just go along with the narrative. For me, Siri is far more useful and accurate the Google. google often takes two or three requests, Siri is first time almost every time. (I will admit, if you are a toddler, Google does fart sounds, Siri does not)
Here are some examples I've recently used. Send a message to my daughter, add to a shopping list, create reminders, set alarms and timers (of course), get directions, add/remove speakers from playing as a group and with AppleTV, Play on Pandora, play radio stations on iheart radio, run scenes from Home app (turn off lights downstairs, turn on lights upstairs, run automations, program functions through scenes and shortcuts...... I really run into trouble thinking of what I am having trouble doing.
Is it time to have a professional review again with a list of questions asked by each assistant? And tested by people who actually know how to use each assistant (familiarity is a benefit) Last time Google came barely on top (do to shopping, and who shops on a smart speaker?), followed by Siri and trailed by Alexa.
While somewhat a point that Alexa and Google support more devices, Siri supports many devices in each device class, and lets face it, you will get some lights once every few years, a door lock once in ten maybe, etc. The suppliers going with HomeKit do seem to be better quality than some others. Take a door lock, ours supposedly upgrades, but it won't.
Here are some examples I've recently used. Send a message to my daughter, add to a shopping list, create reminders, set alarms and timers (of course), get directions, add/remove speakers from playing as a group and with AppleTV, Play on Pandora, play radio stations on iheart radio, run scenes from Home app (turn off lights downstairs, turn on lights upstairs, run automations, program functions through scenes and shortcuts...... I really run into trouble thinking of what I am having trouble doing.
Is it time to have a professional review again with a list of questions asked by each assistant? And tested by people who actually know how to use each assistant (familiarity is a benefit) Last time Google came barely on top (do to shopping, and who shops on a smart speaker?), followed by Siri and trailed by Alexa.
While somewhat a point that Alexa and Google support more devices, Siri supports many devices in each device class, and lets face it, you will get some lights once every few years, a door lock once in ten maybe, etc. The suppliers going with HomeKit do seem to be better quality than some others. Take a door lock, ours supposedly upgrades, but it won't.
Not yet it doesn't. At least not through Siri. You can airplay spotify from your iPhone, but you cannot, as yet, ask Siri to play music from Spotify. Spotify has to add the feature, I believe. Pandora already did!
That is correct. The developers must update their apps to for those services to be used as the default service on the HomePod. Apple opened the feature up, now it's up to the developers to make it happen
But what about when then there is no one around? As I said, there is literally no one at the park except me and a couple of friends. What is the harm in that?
the video is slightly misleading on the issue of Spotify. It is not Apple slowing them down, it is Spotify not being very innovative. I have both Pandora and iheart radio set up on my HomePods. Pandora can be set as the default music app (in Home go to home setting, long press your icon, boom, there it is. Brilliant actually that way other people can have their own default music apps set up, and Siri does recognize voices). I can ask Siri to play "xxxx radio" in iHeart radio, because you can set up shortcuts in the app. So come on Spotify, stop complaining and start doing!
And while your at it, Spotify, pay the artists fairly, and fix your Mac app to play to a stereo pair of HomePods (Apple Music can do it, why not you?)
And while your at it, Spotify, pay the artists fairly, and fix your Mac app to play to a stereo pair of HomePods (Apple Music can do it, why not you?)
wow, someone who actually shops on a smart speaker, I didn't even know that was a thing. (someone who wanted to, not that you could, of course I knew you could, but why?) Not sure if Ring is HomeKit, but there are cameras/doorbells/locks that do the same with Siri
I don't have any. The benchmarks to compare this against is a 3rd generation Echo which is $30. At $100, the Harmon Kardon Invoke with Cortana sounded amazing, but... Cortana...
There are plenty of sub $100 computer speakers, they even have subwoofers, but no digital assistant. Likewise, there's a good number of bookshelf speakers for the $100 price point, again without the digital assistant or amp though.
What's killing me is that my wife wants to be able to say "bla bla bla play some song" while cooking, and I'm anti-Amazon and anti-Google, so my choices are a $99 mini or $299 HomePod. I was hoping that the mini would fill a void somewhere between a $30 speaker and a $300 speaker, but it really doesn't.
I couldn't find the option for that in the Apple TV menus. I checked Video & Audio, Devices (or whatever it's called), no option to select my Minis. I was finally able to do it by swiping down on the remote after I started playing a show and selecting it from the menu that appears at the top of the screen.