HomePod Launches in Japan and Taiwan [Updated]

[bobob]

Yes, true but New Zealand gets every other Apple product and often they are released here first as we are ahead of most countries on the date/time line.

If only Apple could only get Siri to speak sheep.

 

[truthertech]

That is your experience.
My experience is that Siri is pathetic and have much better luck with my son's Alexa.
If you have a little bit of an accent, Siri is useless.
And I rather own a regular bluetooth speaker that are less than half the cost.

No, it’s not just my experience, it’s the result of comparison studies that measured accuracy. As far as you preferring to save money by sacrificing audio quality and features, that is indeed ones personal choice
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I dont understand what the problem is with Siri. I have a HomePod but it doesn’t understand my language (Dutch) and an Appple TV where Siri is disabled on the Remote if I set my country to Belgium. Still, on iOS my language and country are fully supported.

It’s not like Siri is especially customised to my country or language. Far from it. So why are the struggling so much with an international rollout?

LOL. It is because they are customizing language support for the HomePod for the worlds major languages. Apple could have sold the HomePod everywhere at once, but instead chose to enhance language support on it. That’s why the rollout has followed the worlds major languages, and why dialects, e.g., New Zealand will follow

 

[inplainview]

Is this thing still around? Mine sits in a closet. Waste of case on something that had potential.

 

[truthertech]

Is this thing still around? Mine sits in a closet. Waste of case on something that had potential.

You should put it on eBay or Craigslist as they are a hot item. Millions of people are buying them so they fetch a good price on secondary market for people who want superior audio quality in a smart speaker.

 

[bobob]

Is this thing still around? Mine sits in a closet. Waste of case on something that had potential.

Take it out of the case that you keep it in and use that case for something else. No matter what you think of the HomePod, there's no sense letting a good case go to waste.

 

[Keith!]

I sure wish they'd freakin' launch one with an EQ in the US so I could replace my Sonos...

(Aside from those trash presets nested in Settings.)

You can save your own custom EQ settings through iTunes.
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Siri works great on my HomePod. I love it. I don't really need another digital assistant though, I'm here for the sound quality. HomePod sounds fantastic.
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That's what AirPlay is for.

This. I have my "audiophile" setup in my living room. All other speakers in our house are for casual listening and Airplay is great for that.

 

[Keith!]

Ok. You're right. Tim Cook is a hero. Every product is awesome. We should all put "i"'s in front of our usernames. My god.

Don't you think his point was less "Tim Cook is a genius" and more "Apple has improved products that didn't have strong starts over the years"?

 

[patent10021]

Wonder if this is exactly the same or if could be a slightly better? Surely this isn't the original after almost 2 years. All of a sudden they said "ok, now it's Japan's turn. Release the same HomePod we've had sitting on the shelf". They've had Japanese Siri and Apple Music all this time so what would be the reason for a delayed release in Japan? Or anywhere else for that matter.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Wonder if this is exactly the same or if could be a slightly better? Surely this isn't the original after almost 2 years. All of a sudden they said "ok, now it's Japan's turn. Release the same HomePod we've had sitting on the shelf". They've had Japanese Siri and Apple Music all this time so what would be the reason for a delayed release in Japan? Or anywhere else for that matter.

There is some integration work to be done with Siri on the HomePod, and apparently it’s not a priority for Apple to get that done. I don’t know why, it seems like they’re leaving money on the table.

 

[Alan Wynn]

Are you sure that the HomePod doesn't tune to what Apple thinks is best?

Automated Room characterization/EQ (what HomePod and other systems do), is designed to adjust the playback levels in a room to enable it to match as closely as possible an “ideal” (technical definition, not value judgement).

I'm fairly certain the HomePod is not really playing the final mixed track as is. I have tried the HomePod, and it's similar to BOSE in tuning.

I am pretty sure that HomePod is not adjusting the mix, but just adjusting the EQ to match.