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How about fixing Siri first? HomePod is just a glorified wirelesss bluetooth speaker right now.

Exactly. Just make this one more stable and reliable. The 17 update actually made it noticeably less both of those. Annoying when I have Alexas in other rooms, I tell the lights to come on and they are on almost the same time I'm done speaking. The HomePods have a 5+ second delay that has only gotten longer. Exact same lights, even closer to the AP and hub, no excuse except poorer implementation. And it wants to assume I was asking for an Apple Music song no matter what I say.

I really want to like this thing but every time I try to use it I just wind up disappointed and / or frustrated.
 
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My God it’s so slow.

Hey siri pause

…………………

Literally 6 seconds go by and then it pauses. It’s stupid at this point and way too inconsistent.
She was an idiot again last night:

Hey Siri, open Hulu
On which device, LR or BR
Living Room
Which App do you want to open ?????????????? I told you in the first place!!!!!
Hulu

And then said she said something totally unrelated grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
 
I suspect the rumors Gurman spread a while ago about a display on the HomePod and/or a stand alone display to control HomeKit accessories was a misunderstanding of StandBy on the iPhone. He may have seen or heard about the software without the people who shared it knowing the hardware it was intended for.

Maybe. Not particularly a fan of Gurman but it's also just as likely that StandBy is the beta test for that very device. Apple is well known to develop an idea, give it a Proper Noun, and then spread it to other products.
 
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She was an idiot again last night:

Hey Siri, open Hulu
On which device, LR or BR
Living Room
Which App do you want to open ?????????????? I told you in the first place!!!!!
Hulu

And then said she said something totally unrelated grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

On the phone, for things you'd expect it to do, Siri has gotten better.

Siri on HomePod + Apple TV is just embarrassing. You would think they would work great together, and they do. They work great at making me want to throw them both through the window.

Never, EVER tries to open anything from my Library. You know, the stuff I actually PAID APPLE directly for. Doesn't even seem to be able to pause or anything, can only turn the TV off. Etc etc etc.
 
I never cease to be amazed at the volume and sound quality of this tiny thing

And that's what's so frustrating. Hardware-wise, it's great. But the software is absolutely maddening, and Apple has made sure there's no other way to get it to do anything than fighting with Siri and using Apple services.

I am aware that AirPlay exists but then I might as well just use a Bluetooth speaker.
 
I still cannot see any reason to buy a "smart" speaker.

The speaker portion will almost always out live the "smarts" portion of the device. Once the manufacturer deems the device too old for updates it might become useless.

How about this... just buy great quality speakers and let your phone be the smarts. Most people aren't more than 3 feet from their phones anyway, or wearing a watch.

YMMV
Great, so when I leave the room to take the trash out the music stops. Or when I receive a call. Great suggestions. Have you considered telling this to Apple? LOL!
 
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Maybe. Not particularly a fan of Gurman but it's also just as likely that StandBy is the beta test for that very device. Apple is well known to develop an idea, give it a Proper Noun, and then spread it to other products.
The UI between devices (especially widgets) has become a lot more standardized, even in Apple Watch. It’s a good possibility StandBy could migrate across platforms. It’s just interesting that in 2021 he mentioned new HomePods with displays and cameras, but lately Gurman doesn’t seem as optimistic about new HomePod features.
 
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I have a HomePod Mini in my bedroom, mainly use it for audiobooks to fall asleep to (via iPad) and music to wake up to. Very happy with it and there's not a lot I'd improve. The addition of a screen would do nothing at all for me and I really don't see the point of it. What would be interesting is a battery powered, water proof version for use in the bathroom.
 
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Great, so when I leave the room to take the trash out the music stops. Or when I receive a call. Great suggestions. Have you considered telling this to Apple? LOL!
You are not going to really “listen to music played in your house” if not home aren’t you? Or want music to distract phone call? Besides, why you need uninterrupted speaker music experience when you take the trash out? Just take your phone, throw the trash, return and resume.
 
I’ve been happy with mine. They are great for playing a podcast throughout the home and I like the intercom. But I feel like they work less well than when I first got them three years ago. I have trouble or delays moving audio from or to my minis.
 
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As the current minis are using the old S chips I assume they also have to send every Siri command to the cloud to be processed, wonder if this is also what's causing HomePod mini commands to occasionally be sluggish.

If newer HomePods use the latest S SIP and does the majority of commands on device hopefully that will help them feel a lot more responsive.

Coming from the Ultra 1 watch to the Ultra 2, on device Siri has made a hell of a difference in Siri speed as it feels significantly more snappy.
 
My God it’s so slow.

Hey siri pause

…………………

Literally 6 seconds go by and then it pauses. It’s stupid at this point and way too inconsistent.
It purposely pauses in case you’re still talking. It’s much faster to not pause, but just to continue your query. eg. ”Hey Siri turn off the lights”.
It could definitely do things faster but the pause after Hey Siri is by design.
 
Looking at that completely clear photo, I can tell you what they could do with the HomePod mini: Perfectly Clear edition, like their Harmon Kardon speakers of yore. The time is right, and they would look cool as hell.
 
Hopefully they will add Bluetooth to the devices, completely useless speaker for those of us they don't have home Internet. o_O
I'm not here to try to persuade you to buy a HomePod. However, if you do want one, it actually is possible to use one without having home Internet.

 
Hopefully they made them usable. My HomePod mini is perhaps the worst Apple device I've ever had the displeasure of using.
 
Is it? The simpler a device is, the longer it tends to last, given That the build quality is decent rather than $2 piece of junk. I’m not saying iPhone doesn’t last long, but certainly won’t last 3 decades long, unlike computers from 1980s and 1990s, many of which survived today still function exactly like new ones Out of Factory decades ago.
It’s not an either/or proposition which is why I posted a photo to illustrate.

You can own old things and new things, and they can play well together when they have complimentary functions.
 
I’m convinced mine are lazy versions, whenever I ask something they say sending results to your iPhone

Oh I guess it’s too much bother to actually explain it , go ahead have a snooze see if I care
 
It’s not an either/or proposition which is why I posted a photo to illustrate.

You can own old things and new things, and they can play well together when they have complimentary functions.
No, what I want to emphasise is eventually new things today will become old things tomorrow. Unlike before, new things today have become quite complex, even unnecessarily so. Companies today generally don’t want you to own those new things for too long and want you to buy new and updated ones, even if the old ones function perfectly. Chips everywhere. Firmware update becomes the norm. Everything wants to be linked. As such, just by updating their firmware can easily render those perfectly functional old things useless, whether user likes it or not.

In this sense to me, it’s a rather “either/or” proposition.
 
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Removing the smart assistant aspect from the equation, that’s a silly question. The technology behind automobile tire compounds improves year over year, and they predate speakers. Are you suggesting audio engineering stopped sometime in the 1970s? Just compare the audio on a 10 year old MacBook to one from today for an example.
So you're sure that speakers now are better because tech improved?
Do you know this, or you're making an assumption?
And btw, considering that some tech became stagnant over the years, I don't think it's silly to ask if speakers' tech is facing the same problem.
And btw n.2, with all due respect, you haven't answered the question.
 
EQ. A Subwoofer. A complete reboot of Siri, which is terrible on the HomePod minis.

In terms of sound even the old Beoplay A1 (which as a bonus does not need cable) and the Sonos Roam sound better.
 
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