I've used smart speakers since getting my first one (a Google Home Mini) in 2018. I'm considering getting a HomePod Mini to have a play with - admittedly something of a leap of faith that Siri or its replacement will be a massive improvement on current Siri because as an iPhone and Apple Watch user I know just how poorly Siri compares with even Amazon Alexa let alone Google Assistant - but Apple does make decent hardware so I'm kind of curious to see how the hardware itself compares with my current Nest and Amazon devices.
One thing that I have learned in my smart speaker journey so far is just how important the basic audio input capabilities are - having the device recognise the wake word even when spoken softly in a noisy environment, not constantly getting false-triggered from TV or other background noises, and correctly transcribing all the words in a sentence before processing the request. Those are the very first steps in having a good user interaction experience with a smart speaker so in my opinion it's absolutely essential to get that stuff as close to perfect as possible. That's why I'm interested to hear specifically about just that aspect of the current HomePods, either Mini or full sized HomePod, in terms of it waking up reliably, not false-triggering too often, and it actually hearing your words correctly. I'm all too aware that after it's done all of that you're all too likely to get a rubbish response from Siri but that's not the bit I'm interested in right now, it's specifically that front-end audio capture (microphone quality) and processing (voice recognition algorithms) that I'm asking about.
P.S. I am aware of the rumours of a refresh to at least the HomePod Mini in the not too distant future. I'm hoping that might get announced at the same time as the next iPhone but I'm not too optimistic about that because if Apple TV and new AirPods are announced then, together with the iPhones and Apple Watches that makes for a pretty crowded event already and I suspect Apple might not want to overload it by also throwing in a new HomePod announcement as well. I also worry that if they don't announce HomePods at the September event then just maybe they might hold off all the way until the full Apple Intelligence update is ready for release which is currently rumoured to be spring next year. Obviously if we do get a new HomePod Mini next month I'll get that but if we don't then I might buy a single used or refurbished HPM in the mean time just to have a bit of a play with it, get it controlling my lights etc, before I potentially go all-in when the new HomePod is finally announced (both mini and full sized versions I hope).
One thing that I have learned in my smart speaker journey so far is just how important the basic audio input capabilities are - having the device recognise the wake word even when spoken softly in a noisy environment, not constantly getting false-triggered from TV or other background noises, and correctly transcribing all the words in a sentence before processing the request. Those are the very first steps in having a good user interaction experience with a smart speaker so in my opinion it's absolutely essential to get that stuff as close to perfect as possible. That's why I'm interested to hear specifically about just that aspect of the current HomePods, either Mini or full sized HomePod, in terms of it waking up reliably, not false-triggering too often, and it actually hearing your words correctly. I'm all too aware that after it's done all of that you're all too likely to get a rubbish response from Siri but that's not the bit I'm interested in right now, it's specifically that front-end audio capture (microphone quality) and processing (voice recognition algorithms) that I'm asking about.
P.S. I am aware of the rumours of a refresh to at least the HomePod Mini in the not too distant future. I'm hoping that might get announced at the same time as the next iPhone but I'm not too optimistic about that because if Apple TV and new AirPods are announced then, together with the iPhones and Apple Watches that makes for a pretty crowded event already and I suspect Apple might not want to overload it by also throwing in a new HomePod announcement as well. I also worry that if they don't announce HomePods at the September event then just maybe they might hold off all the way until the full Apple Intelligence update is ready for release which is currently rumoured to be spring next year. Obviously if we do get a new HomePod Mini next month I'll get that but if we don't then I might buy a single used or refurbished HPM in the mean time just to have a bit of a play with it, get it controlling my lights etc, before I potentially go all-in when the new HomePod is finally announced (both mini and full sized versions I hope).
