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HomePod Features 272 x 340 Display and 1GB RAM
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I primarily will be purchasing one for the spare bedroom, which I converted into My fitness room for workouts. I will stream my music to the HomePod versus using my Airpods. But the sound quality is what I really look forward to testing and using Siri hands free. The advanced Siri features I hope is much improved, as I do like using Siri for for what it's worth.
The real challenge will be actually trying to preorder one of these when they launch in December.
Still feels like they “beefed” up the specs to overcompensate for Siri. Apple needs to take it a step further (the voice upgrade in 11 is a starter). “What’s the weather” or the occasional “order me an Uber” are cool but still so far behind Assistant & Alexa imo
Will be checking out for the sound quality though
Will be checking out for the sound quality though
I honestly don't know what all the Hate is about regarding Apple Music.
Having essentially the entire, humongous iTunes Music Library available at a whim makes me never want to buy another CD again (and I'm a BIG "own it" kind of guy).
There is no one on Planet Earth that has even a significant fraction of the music available on iTunes. That's a fact. Yes, I can go way out on esoterica, or into some recalcitrant artists (I'm looking at you, Robert Fripp!) and find stuff that ain't there; but, by and large, I am absolutely amazed at the stuff that IS there (and I like stuff that isn't exactly "popular", mainstream stuff).
So, I will happily let them suck down $10 per month until the sun goes out. Having that much music at my disposal Without having to rip it, store it, back it up, etc. is just too useful at work, in the car, and at home. And I still have my own music library for the esoterica that will never be on any streaming service.
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Yeah, like you'll be able to tell the difference between 256k AAC and FLAC (or ALAC) coming out of a 4 inch speaker.
You people crack me up!
I suppose you insist on lossless in your car, too, LOL!
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A "number" of LEDs, all right!
272 X 340 of them! Or, in other words, 92,480 LEDs.
Count 'em!
It won’t compete sound wise against my stereo pair of sonos play 5’s with sub. Nor with my SACD hi-fi stereo system. But it will blow away my echo in sound quality although alexa sonos integration is coming soon and I own no HomeKit things but lots of alexa compatible things. I’ll probably try one since I get every gadget but I’m not super hyped.
I thought I heard something about Sonos coming to the party through AirPlay or HomeKit integration. In fact, I thought that Sonos already was AirPlay compatible.
I will not be buying this at launch. Maybe someday when it's on sale and has a better version of Siri. Hopefully this thing won't be flakey—like the Apple TV—when accessing HomeKit devices remotely. If it does HomeKit well I might be tempted to get one once I have more than two HomeKit devices. I'm still waiting for these blinds I want in my living room to be updated with HomeKit support before buying them. I'm also still waiting for that LiftMaster HomeKit adapter for garage doors to launch, as well as a home security system that I can control with HomeKit and Siri to make sure various windows and doors around the house are secure and that I can arm and disarm with my iPhone or HomePod. Once I have those things in place, something like HomePod becomes more useful to me.
It's much more equatable to a 6th generation iPod touch without a screen. HomePod won't have a cellular radio section.
Care to elaborate why the HomePod would raise the bar?
Here are three reasons against your thesis:
Siri is among the worst of her kind.
You can get better speakers for this kind of money.
Google and Amazon beat Apple to the market, so the bar is already set.
Plus this is the most useless new device category in a long time. I won't count this one, since it's my personal opinion, whereas the three reasons above are facts.
I would have thought this would be the type of thing I jumped all over, but I'm just not getting excited about it... I think I have too many issues with an always-on microphone in my home...
What game is being changed?
With what we know right now, that it's a high end speaker, I really can't think of what is really changed. Maybe if you could buy multiple units and create a 5 or 7 channel surround sound system, which would beat the price of buying a Sonos system? But that's not something I've heard anyone mention as a possibility, and even then you could buy a $500 surround sound system at Target or Best Buy. There are too many cheap options, some that have been around for a long while, for a wireless speaker to be a hot item, if that is it's main claim to fame.
If it has similar resolution to the Apple Watch display, is it going to be a traditional display? How will it be white when off on the white HomePod?
Seeing AirPlay already support Apple Lossless you can just convert it easily.
Here are three reasons refuting your opinion(s):
1.) Siri is being improved, which we will know more when iOS 11 debuts and what advancements has taken place. But I'm confident the changes will follow suit once the Home Pod is available for release.
2.) How do you know that you can get better speakers for this kind of money if you haven't even tested the HomePod yet? There is no facts behind your statement here. (Remember, we are comparing home audio smart speakers, i.e. Sonos).
3) Google and Amazon is NOT Apple's competition here. Sonos is. Furthermore, it's not about being first on the market, it's about making a better product. In the meantime, speculation so we can test the HomePod until then.
4.) Your claiming this is the most "Useless device category in a long time." So basically, you're stating this is useless to you. You don't speak for the majority and nor can you make any specific claims claiming "Useless" without testing it. That's nothing more than an opinion as you stated.
5.) You set yourself up already for disappointment over something you have not tested and have no experience with. Furthermore, half of your points should probably be assessed after the release of the HomePod, because they don't have any real significant value without experiencing this product.
You are aware Siri is being completely overhauled, right? More specifically, I think Apple is working diligently to have Siri fully prepared and refined by the Home Pod launch, because half of the Home Pod functionality is derived from Siri. It just sounds myopic when someone says "I won't buy the HomePod because of Siri." Granted, it's not about the HomePod with your sentiments as much as it is Siri's shortfalls. It's a difficult judgment to make until you have tested Siri first and then make the decision if you will purchase the HomePod. Seems more logical, am I right.
Sonos is not out of the box airplay compatible but a Play 5 or Connect has line-in which can be used with an airport express which can be set to autoplay therefore it can play any zone. There is almost no need to do this as Sonos supports Apple Music and almost everything else but you have to use their app. I mostly stream using murfie.com as they store 800 of my old cd's that stream lossless to Sonos. Honestly I think someone bigger might just buy Sonos eventually.
The day I get as excited as many of you over a 350.00 single 4 inch speaker to play music and an always on microphone in my home connected to the Internet will be the day I buy one.... Not looking like it's gonna happen anytime soon but I am sure come December everyone will have an opinion again!
They've missed opportunities for years to make Siri great and then they mostly passed over it at WWDC. I am not optimistic about Siri at the moment. Based on hiring and policy changes about publishing papers I feel like they're finally heading in the right direction, but the fruits of those labors are barely seen thus far and I feel like 2018 will be a bigger year.
Apple have the best privacy policy, also it's not listening to you all the while, you have to say the words "hey Siri" in order for the Homepod to take a commend and listen to what your saying, Even then it's all encrypted.
Home speakers, Home smart speakers.
I don't really see the value in the display as I guess it's going to be on the top? So it won't be easily view-able so what is it supposed to show me?
Regards to whether or not I'll find the HomePod interesting at all really depends on how Apple is going to aim the device as a home speaker solution. It will have to be able to replace my current Sonos-system. And judging by how people praise the audio quality it seems like it would be able to replace my Sonos 5 speakers. I have one in the hallway, one in our bedroom and one in the bathroom. All these could easily be replaced with HomePods as the HomePod seems to feature the same multi-room capabilities and whatnot.
The big question is how it will tackle the living room? Currently we have the Sonos Play Bar + Play Sub + 2x Play 3's as surround. This works great, it gives us Dolby Digital for surround when streaming using the Apple TV, and it gives us full Sonos multi-room playback in all rooms, including our living room when listening to music and podcasts.
I suppose there shouldn't be a problem putting 2x HomePod's in the living room giving traditional 2.0 stereo sound. The question is whether Apple is going to provide something that let us pair four HomePod's in order to achieve some kind of Dolby Digital surround. As Apple is featuring Dolby Digital Plus on pretty much all TV-series and movies on iTunes, and pretty much every streaming service on the Apple TV features either Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus one would figure Apple is going to tackle this in some way or the other.
The big question is; what are Apple really aiming for here? Do they want to overtake Sonos or are they looking at the HomePod strictly as a separate, music-only kind of devices that is not meant to integrate into your living room at all? As of today we don't really have any details on what Apple is aiming for with the HomePod.
Regards to whether or not I'll find the HomePod interesting at all really depends on how Apple is going to aim the device as a home speaker solution. It will have to be able to replace my current Sonos-system. And judging by how people praise the audio quality it seems like it would be able to replace my Sonos 5 speakers. I have one in the hallway, one in our bedroom and one in the bathroom. All these could easily be replaced with HomePods as the HomePod seems to feature the same multi-room capabilities and whatnot.
The big question is how it will tackle the living room? Currently we have the Sonos Play Bar + Play Sub + 2x Play 3's as surround. This works great, it gives us Dolby Digital for surround when streaming using the Apple TV, and it gives us full Sonos multi-room playback in all rooms, including our living room when listening to music and podcasts.
I suppose there shouldn't be a problem putting 2x HomePod's in the living room giving traditional 2.0 stereo sound. The question is whether Apple is going to provide something that let us pair four HomePod's in order to achieve some kind of Dolby Digital surround. As Apple is featuring Dolby Digital Plus on pretty much all TV-series and movies on iTunes, and pretty much every streaming service on the Apple TV features either Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus one would figure Apple is going to tackle this in some way or the other.
The big question is; what are Apple really aiming for here? Do they want to overtake Sonos or are they looking at the HomePod strictly as a separate, music-only kind of devices that is not meant to integrate into your living room at all? As of today we don't really have any details on what Apple is aiming for with the HomePod.