And sound like crap. How do you mean "do more"? Both the do more and "better smart assistant" are likely the same thing, and Apple's data privacy policies are why these do less.
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HomePod Mini Reviews: 'Remarkably Big Sound' Despite Compact Design
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Apparently "most people" only these speakers for Digital Assistant control.
I am not most people, as my HomePods are for music listening as much as anything else.
You cannot watch Netflix on Amazon Show devices. YouTube isn’t even a native app. It just sends you to the website. You have to ask Alexa to talk to other skills to get things done, then those skills often have their own voices to talk back. It’s ridiculous. Google devices have better integration, but an awful home app, you have to give Google your location and web history just to ask what the weather is. Why does Google need to know my history just to tell me the weather?
Did u read the entire article?
"while the HomePod mini sounds good, it doesn't sound as good as similarly priced competitors like the Amazon Echo and Google's Nest Audio"
Await the “trash can” home pod 2 portable. Though with all of the small UE, JBL, Bose rechargeable speakers, many of us are still wondering why [home pod Mini], a small and seemingly portable device was manufactured as wired only? ... guess we will have to wait until 2021!
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I've had the original Google Home for years, and I quite like it but looking to upgrade due to a few issues:
- Good-but-not-great sound quality
- It can be a bit slow to respond to voice commands and start streaming. Spotify isn't too bad but if you say something like "OK Google, play BBC radio one" there can be a long delay before the stream actually starts. Sometimes 10 seconds or so, maybe even more. Siri is just soooo much faster at responding to commands.
- Worst of all, once a week or so it loses it's WiFi connection ("I'm sorry, I can't connect to the WiFi network")... and requires a reboot (power cycle) to start working again. It's in the same room as the WiFi router and none of my other devices have this issue. This wouldn't be so bad if you could say "OK google, reboot yourself" but of course it doesn't support that!
I'd buy a HomePod or HomePod mini in a heartbeat if they supported Spotify!
- Good-but-not-great sound quality
- It can be a bit slow to respond to voice commands and start streaming. Spotify isn't too bad but if you say something like "OK Google, play BBC radio one" there can be a long delay before the stream actually starts. Sometimes 10 seconds or so, maybe even more. Siri is just soooo much faster at responding to commands.
- Worst of all, once a week or so it loses it's WiFi connection ("I'm sorry, I can't connect to the WiFi network")... and requires a reboot (power cycle) to start working again. It's in the same room as the WiFi router and none of my other devices have this issue. This wouldn't be so bad if you could say "OK google, reboot yourself" but of course it doesn't support that!
I'd buy a HomePod or HomePod mini in a heartbeat if they supported Spotify!
It sounds better being the key. And most Apple customers don’t want bugs in their house, so the Echo isn’t an option at any price point.
O.K., you are correct with Alexa, those we have at work and I don't like them, and I find the app to be intrusive.
The Google Home app in fairness deserves a redesign too, but the history and location concern you have can be tricked, during setup you give permissions and then disable everything after, it will still work the same, sometimes you get an annoying message telling you you need to give access to X or Y but overall the device is usable without it, including traffic information and local news.
Could you explain your reasoning a little bit more? I seriously interested. I have a couple of homepods and have had echos and very rarely use them for smart aspects. Certain automations for me have been much easier to setup via homekit vs alexa. And I find having multiple brands makes things more difficult. I don't understand your comment of universal connectivity.
...and none of them are as well integrated to work as smoothly with other Apple products as this one, which is why it exists. I can’t send messages from my iPhone with a Google speaker, I can’t instantly hand off music from Apple Music, or use it via Airplay with an Apple TV Etc. It’s an Apple device to use with other Apple devices.
Amazon: have the original because it was free. Use it very occasionally for smart plugs. Works with harmony remote in that turn everything off. Pause tv. Etc. set timers.
Google w/screen: It’s ok. Lots of integration if you have YouTube tv, etc. Most knowledgeable if you ask stupid questions. Still don’t use hardly.
Homepod: Apple Music. Set a timer. Picks up commands very well. Doesn’t execute very well. Takes more time than you think to get what you want. Some songs it’s impossible for Siri to figure out. Very poor integration with Apple devices especially apply tv.
Sonos: by far the winner. Tv system. Music system. Most money by far. Get most out of.
Takeaway? Sonos for main room and the real investment. Have a few Amazon and google in various rooms. Homepods in office.
If Apple ever got serious with a real Apple TV sound system and a decent app or settings then I’m really on board. Homepod sounds fine for some apple music but everything else about it down to settings is a half baked mess.
Google w/screen: It’s ok. Lots of integration if you have YouTube tv, etc. Most knowledgeable if you ask stupid questions. Still don’t use hardly.
Homepod: Apple Music. Set a timer. Picks up commands very well. Doesn’t execute very well. Takes more time than you think to get what you want. Some songs it’s impossible for Siri to figure out. Very poor integration with Apple devices especially apply tv.
Sonos: by far the winner. Tv system. Music system. Most money by far. Get most out of.
Takeaway? Sonos for main room and the real investment. Have a few Amazon and google in various rooms. Homepods in office.
If Apple ever got serious with a real Apple TV sound system and a decent app or settings then I’m really on board. Homepod sounds fine for some apple music but everything else about it down to settings is a half baked mess.
Reminds me of printing when Steve Jobs said PostScript will be printing’s future. The printing purists, just garbage. Still quality printing but the future indeed dominated by PostScript. We can accept many compromises in perceived quality when accessibility, ease of use, costs are in our favor.
Sure. By the way I do not recommend Echos, they are very intrusive, I cannot hold a conversation with anyone without that thing annoying me. I do recommend the Google speakers, specially the ones with screens as I find the audio to be very good and the screens very useful and of good quality.
Both Alexa and Google speakers do more because they are smarter, they understand what you ask them, which is something Siri struggles even with simple requests. If you are not interested on those features you still get a good device that sounds amazing (in my opinion) and costs a lot less. The universal connectivity comment relates to how I am able to connect any service I want to my device without restriction, you choose: Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Netflix, anything really.
If you are concerned about privacy there are a couple of things you can do, one of them is proceed to setup with all permissions and then disable them all, it works, that is how I did. Google is also able to recognize you by your voice, it can detect if it is my mother or me or whoever talking to it and produce results accordingly, I find that to be creepy so I set the option to NOT recognize anyone, so there you go...
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So I was in the same boat. Had a beam, sub and 2 play 1's in 2 seperate rooms. I sold all the sonos, bought 4 open box homepods($154 each), downloaded 14.2 and got dolby atmos virtualization and pult $800 in my pocket. I'm not an audiophile so the sound is great for me. Now I'm going to buy a couple of HP mini's for the kids rooms and one for the kitchen. Full Apple Ecosystem, yes more expensive, but simplicity is great for the wife and kids.
Wired only because there is no room for a sizeable battery and to keep the cost down.
“Unless you’re right next to the HomePod mini, it's hard to tell when Siri has heard your voice command and is responding.“
Dan, are you really telling me that you can’t tell if Siri is responding to you by LISTENING for her? You have to have a glowing light beam at you from across the room?
Dan, are you really telling me that you can’t tell if Siri is responding to you by LISTENING for her? You have to have a glowing light beam at you from across the room?
I'm excited to get mine next week. If it sounds good, I'll likely get another so I can have stereo sound in the kitchen / dining room.
It doesn’t. The verge is a reputable magazine and says clearly that the HomePod mini doesn’t sound as good as alternative products with the same size.
At the same price point you can get bigger speakers that sound better from Google, Amazon and Sonos. From the reviews, it sounds like HomePod mini has good sound for its size, not for its price.
