I just opened this article because of how ridiculous that reviewer sounded. Is this how you sell apple products?
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HomePod Early Hands-On Reviews: 'Seamless' Siri Commands and Audio Quality 'Feels Like You're at a Live Performance'
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As I’ve mentioned numerous times, I feel I am the target market for this speaker. I’m not an audiophile in any sense of the word. But if the HomePod can produce quality sound at $350, I say that’s a win for me. For some, the “smart” aspect of the speaker is the selling point for them. For me it’s the speakers capabilities.
In my opinion it is a bargain at $350. I spent close to $350 on my wireless Bose QC35’s. The HomePod can presumably fill an entire room regardless of its location. That is quite impressive if true.
I for one am very exited for this product.
In my opinion it is a bargain at $350. I spent close to $350 on my wireless Bose QC35’s. The HomePod can presumably fill an entire room regardless of its location. That is quite impressive if true.
I for one am very exited for this product.
Wrong. You can stream content from any of those music services to a HomePad using AirPlay 2. Apple Music is directly integrated into HomePod for slightly more direct control, but is that really that suprising?
The HomePod is solving the problem of Apple not getting any of the smart speaker market share. Same problem the Apple Watch solved for wearables.
You're amusing. "Simpler and frankly more capable devices." Such as? Naysayers such as yourself always seems to speak even when they have no facts with which to back up their claims. I would venture to say that the HomePod will be well received by the "consumer space" even if they don't value the HomePod due to it's "disminishing (sic)" returns. Since you yourself don't seem to be panning to buy one you will have to depend on feedback from the "consumer space". I for one am looking forward to the arrival of two and will provide real world feedback based on performance in my unique space.
No.
The poorly worded sentence means that if you don’t have an Apple Music subscription you can still use the speaker to play music purchased on iTunes.
I tried that but the problem with Homebridge (well homekit in general) is that it doesn't account for async changes outside of homekit. For example, if you use some other tool to change state it doesn't get the change and then Siri/Homekit assume they are the source of truth and won't turn on/off something they think is already in that state. I ended up building little Go servers that listened to changes and then published them back to Homekit. That worked... mostly. But still what a pain?!? How would they expect normal mortals to deal with these kinds of things? If I say turn it on, just turn it on. Also, Siri just doesn't always get simple dictation correct. Overall Siri/homekit needs some serious help to compete.
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Why? You'll just deny anything said and explain why all things Apple are awesome. Pointless. I love the ecosystem overall but I am also a critic where criticism is due. Siri is very short of market and homekit needs real attention. I also posted back to another commenter an actual use case that is broken in depth. Feel free to understand it if you can.
I bought an Echo (2nd Gen) instead of the HomePod. I am not much of an audiophile, but I do love my audiobooks from Audible. The Echo can play them, the HomePod cannot and probably never will. So far I am pleased with the Echo though I wish it had a male voice as I do not care for the female one.
It's definitely not a bargain. Headphones are expensive because they're small. Most speakers that size (including cheaper ones) can fill most rooms. You're falling into the Apple narrative trap (we've all been there)
Knew it would be too good to be true! Looks like my Sonos One is staying. Roll on airplay 2 support for it.
I think the cellular connectivity debacles in the Apple Watch Series 3 reviews spooked Apple into controlling the test environment more thoroughly. They did the same for the iPhone X.
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Now you know how Android users feel when people champion iPhones as a better choice on "user experience" grounds. I use an iPhone and actually agree that it provides a superior UX, but I'm well aware of how that argument strikes Android users as ethereal and pretentious.
Frank Zappa once said that "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." The same could be said of audio in general, forcing writers to grope for words that inevitably fall short of what was actually heard. They're not claiming that audio on the HomePod is a spiritual experience, only that its exceptional for its size and price.
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Already do both of those sir, thanks for the advice though. It might help someone else. Good day.
I’m *this* close to pre-ordering one - I think it will be great, and if not I have 14 days to return it. Also, I wish we could ban the word “audiophile” from this discussion. 
This may have been posted already, and it primarily relates to the launch event so not a full review, but at least it’s an opinion by audio reviewers rather than tech:
https://www.whathifi.com/apple/homepod/review?oq=Homep&src=dropdown&aq=product:apple/homepod/review&type=product&pos=top
https://www.whathifi.com/apple/homepod/review?oq=Homep&src=dropdown&aq=product:apple/homepod/review&type=product&pos=top
I’m *this* close to pre-ordering one - I think it will be great, and if not I have 14 days to return it. Also, I wish we could ban the word “audiophile” from this discussion.
Yeah... Not being sure about being happy with any of them, I purchased my Watch, AirPods, and iPhone X with the 14 day zero-hassle return policy in mind.
Before purchasing my Watch I was almost certain I'd need to return it, but felt a real-world on-my-wrist assessment was necessary. It only took a couple days to come to the conclusion it would not be going back. Now, a couple years later, it's still on my wrist 12 or more hours a day.
My AirPods have delighted with a similar experience over the last year - they're killer when used on phone calls.
Hope HomePod proves to be a similar experience for me.
Agree with you on the word "audiophile" being used in this discussion context.
I am excited to hear real world reviews. So far the only thing that I don’t really like is having to have it tied to one persons account. If I understand that correctly things like messages, notes, reminders, and appointments only work for one person. Idk how they’d implement multiple users like that but having to pick just one is somewhat disappointing.
It depends on the module, most do keep track of state changes via a polling mechanism of some sort.
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You are clearly exaggerating the limitations of Siri. She works wonders in my environment that includes lights, thermostat, ATV4, iPhones, iPads, Macs, etc. Besides I am more than happy that Siri isn't feeding the marketing/advertising machines at Amazon and Google with their always on creepy listening.
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The point is that a single speaker can be room filling in such a way that you may not require true stereo that typically requires a sweet spot to really discern the instrument separation. For a kitchen application, for example, where you are moving around a pair should not be necessary, but if you are placing two of these things separated like a stereo pair in front of a sofa, say, then you might want a pair to work more like conventional stereo speakers. I'm personally after the former and not the latter.
What more do you want, he played "upwards of five songs". There's no pleasing some people.
That phrase made me LOL. It’s easy to lose count after four, isn’t it.
I agree. Siri might not be able to do and understand as much as Alexa or Google Assistant but what it (she?) can do is still a lot. For HomeKit control it works just fine though I do have to sometimes use very unnatural, specific phrases without the shortcuts that IMO Siri should understand. Siri is getting better with picking up context from a previous command but it does need better language handling. it is already miles ahead of where it started though, so there's hope.