HomePod Mini Is Now 2,000 Days Old

[racerhomie]

It has terrible sound quality compared to the original. We use it, but it really dowgrades essentially every genre of music.

The Stereo Pair is a much much better solution

 

[boswald]

It’s pretty useless so at this point it just acts as a speaker for the appleTV connected to my small office TV.

As an intercom it is far too quiet, has no announcement tone, and timers don’t always fire.

Just wish I could keep it from populating my iPhones speaker list during phone calls. It should be a no brainer to “hide” speakers in the list, especially considering you may not even be in the same room as the speaker.

I agree, that does seem kind of pointless if you're not in the same vicinity.

 

[schlitzz]

Since it records voice commands, when it screws up, tell Siri the Apple engineers they aren’t cutting it. Had that HomeKit issue with bathroom fans, and smart switches. When they’re told they’re dumber than doorknobs in some Midwestern states, it gets better.

Certain states can’t handle the trolling. Also, lemon pound cake sales are up in those areas.

 

[MNJohn]

Apple's HomePod mini today reached a notable milestone, marking 2,000 days since its introduction in October 2020, an unusually long lifespan for an Apple hardware product that has yet to receive a second-generation refresh.

Apple unveiled the HomePod mini at its iPhone 12 event on October 13, 2020, positioning it as a smaller and more affordable alternative to the original HomePod. The device launched at just $99, with pre-orders beginning November 6 and availability following on November 16.

Unlike the original HomePod, which emphasized premium audio at a higher price point, the HomePod mini was designed as a mass-market smart speaker that could be deployed throughout the home at comparatively low cost. Apple described it as delivering "amazing sound" alongside Siri functionality and smart home control, with a compact spherical design that enabled 360-degree audio.

The HomePod mini is powered by the Apple S5 chip, the same processor used in the Apple Watch Series 5, and features a single full-range driver, dual passive radiators, and a four-microphone array. It supports 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, Ultra Wideband for proximity-based features, and Thread networking, allowing it to function as a smart home hub.

Apple expanded the available colors in 2021, adding blue, yellow, and orange options to the original white and space gray finishes, and later replaced space gray with a similar "midnight" variant. Beyond these cosmetic updates, the underlying hardware has remained unchanged, making the HomePod mini one of the longest-running Apple devices without a specification revision.

Apple is widely expected to release a second-generation HomePod mini sometime soon, and the most consistent expectation is a move to a newer chip in place of the current S5, which should improve responsiveness, computational audio performance, and headroom for future Siri features. A second-generation Ultra Wideband chip and Apple's N1 Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chip are also possibilities.

The new HomePod mini was reportedly "ready" to launch since late last year. Now, the device is said to be "on hold" until Apple releases its more personalized version of Siri later this year. The revamped assistant is expected to debut in iOS 27, which will be available in beta starting in June and should be released to all users with a compatible iPhone in September.

Article Link: HomePod Mini Is Now 2,000 Days Old

How is the speech clarity when connected to an Apple TV? I have some hearing impairment and am looking for a speaker with better speech clarity than my Sonos ERA 100.

 

[skitidetdu]

All this push with spatial and dolby atmos audio and they still want us to buy mono speakers.

 

[CarAnalogy]

And I still can’t get it to stop messing up my speakerphone menu even though I’ve tried every possible way I can find to tell it that I never ever ever want to use it for phone calls.

 

[Trusteft]

I’d blame that on today being Easter lol.

Good thinking, but it is not Easter here.

 

[klasma]

Really?! It’s much better than the nearest Google or Amazon device.

I’m comparing to regular speakers, not voice assistant devices.

 

[CarAnalogy]

I have 3 of them.

They were very useful with my daughter as a baby to play rain white noise during naps. The sound for music is pretty average.

I got my wife another for the room (now in the daughter’s room) for the rain sounds as well.

Asking Siri to play a song or the weather or time when you’ve left your phone in another room is handy.

Biggest problem is Siri is a bit of an idiot.

That is entirely the problem. It can’t be trusted for anything beyond turning off and on lights, if that. Asking Siri to play a song is like playing the lottery. You have about the same chances of it doing what you expect.

 

[turbineseaplane]

That is entirely the problem. It can’t be trusted for anything beyond turning off and on lights, if that. Asking Siri to play a song is like playing the lottery. You have about the same chances of it doing what you expect.

If it helps anyone feel better, the Google speakers I tried were not much better (Nest Audio stuff).

 

[klasma]

Still blows my mind that the mini doesn’t have a detachable power cable and rechargeable battery.

That would be trouble for its Home hub function. Apple removed the Home hub function from iPads for the same reason. If they’d want to make a portable speaker, that would be a different product.

 

[DogGone]

I got one and sometimes use it. The sound is not too bad considering its size.
Not super useful though. What's interesting is that if often hears better than my phone or watch, so will start timers that I intended for another Apple product.
I've had the random music starting a few times. The worst was in the middle of the night when it suddenly started making static noises. I ended up having to unplug it.
So probably the least favorite Apple product that I have.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I've had the random music starting a few times. The worst was in the middle of the night when it suddenly started making static noises. I ended up having to unplug it.

I remember when my OG big HomePod would do this.
That was the end of that and I sold it.

A device like this simply can't do stuff like this or it's gone.

 

[poematik13]

Needs detachable power cable, 3.5mm line out, and the top screen should have physical buttons

 

[gothicgeek]

The biggest annoyance I have is that sometimes it responds when I’m trying to do something on my phone and vice versa. If they can get this to work with the new Siri and improve the microphone pickup it would be a better product. It also should have more integration with the Apple TV for controls. Maybe the will update this when they update the Apple TV.

 

[maczaddy]

Mine also started playing randomly in the last weeks. Maybe Siri got sensitive. Or it’s reacting to a nearby iPhone. But it didn’t do that before.

One of mine started doing that constantly apparently it’s a “ghost touch” something wrong with the sensor I ended up turning touch to for Siri off. It would also get this red light unplugging it for a few months did the trick for some reason. Trash when it just sits there and these issues just start popping up. And synching between who has given me problems.

 

[maczaddy]

I have five HomePods, three OGs (two as a stereo pair) and two Mini's. And have zero issues with Siri. They all work great.

Lucky you synching is always a gamble if it will work. Sometimes for weeks it’s 100%. Then randomly only the left one is playing. Or they seem a few seconds off from one another. Frustrating when you have guests over and the speakers do not want to cooperate at all. I could never give these as a gift to anyone unless they love and are good at troubleshooting. The motto it just works does not apply here.

 

[jbachandouris]

I remember when my OG big HomePod would do this.
That was the end of that and I sold it.

A device like this simply can't do stuff like this or it's gone.

I have the second generation of the big HomePod. What not smart engineer decided when you reboot the default volume is loud. So at 3am it’s ridiculous.

 

[63W]

Still a trash product. 🙄

 

[hoorayberet00]

Apple’s John Ternus reportedly limited the capabilities of HomePod, which raises concerns about the company’s priorities. While HomePods have performance issues, it seems that Apple, which claims to prioritize customer experience, is neglecting audio and smart digital assistance. To address this, Apple should focus on improving Siri, enhancing audio performance, and adding features that enhance the user experience. Apple’s inaction and inability to deliver have led to user frustration, and I hope the company will take action to revolutionize how we interact with digital tools in the home and beyond.

 

[Radeon85]

That long already, if they don't release a new version soon the current model will be on the vintage list shortly. It's desperately in need of on updated Wi-Fi standard because even on 5ghz or 2.4ghz there can be some stability issues connecting reliably to a Wi-Fi 6 or 7 network, especially in a WPA3 only network or occasionally a WPA2/WPA3 hybrid one.

I've had one or two just randomly drop of the network requiring a HomePod Mini reboot, damn annoying and being devices that control the rest of my smart home this can cause problems with devices not responding, or not responding quick enough even though I have a few Apple TV's and a few other Minis acting as hubs. If one device goes down, it's a damn nuisance.

No other Apple devices or any other Wi-Fi device just drops off at random even after working fine for weeks or months, whether it's lights, my whether stations, smart locks or wireless printers etc, the HomePod Minis are the only unstable devices on my network.

 

[Wanted797]

I use mine for white noise as well and they’re actually excellent for that. I do wish some of the newer ambient sounds in iOS were available on HomePod, but I find the Ocean sound just excellent for sleeping and masking external noise.

IMO they’re pretty decent AirPlay speakers generally, and the sound is OK for their small size -- but voice recognition is spotty and inconsistent. I have a few things they will usually do right (set HomeKit lighting scenes, add stuff to the grocery list in Reminders, tell me what temperature it is in the room) but if you get too ambitious they will end up infuriating you.

I’ll ask mine to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Big Bird and it plays the wrong song…

My wife and I have tried that particle son 7 different ways and had it work twice… both after we said something we had already tried a second time.

 

[Wanted797]

That is entirely the problem. It can’t be trusted for anything beyond turning off and on lights, if that. Asking Siri to play a song is like playing the lottery. You have about the same chances of it doing what you expect.

Can’t even do that.

I have two sets of lamps, in the lounge room and the living room. Only the living room lights will be on and I’m standing in that room and I’ll say “Siri turn off the lights”, Siri will ask “which room?”

 

[boswald]

If it helps anyone feel better, the Google speakers I tried were not much better (Nest Audio stuff).

I have those as well and they disconnect ALL THE TIME. It drives me nuts. I basically banished them to the computer room so I can use them as BT speakers. I do have a Google router though, and that thing is amazing.

 

[firewire9000]

My only problem with the HomePod is that Siri is extremely dumb. Like for example when a song is playing on all the HomePods, I would like to say to whatever HomePod stop the music on the other rooms or the kitchen’s HomePod without this idiot telling me that it doesn’t know which speaker I’m referring to. What the heck you don’t understand about “other rooms”? Is it that hard, really?