Nobody paid them but with Apple there is always an implied threat of not getting the next device for early review. Notice how all these reviewers never reviewed real speakers before. These are hi-tech sites not HiFi sites. If HomePod was a SMART speaker this would even make sense but when Apple markets it as a music first speaker I prefer to read the reviews from someone who knows a thing or too about HiFi. They will even measure and tell us the frequency response. Speaker reviews have been a fixture for many decades. It is customary for them to provide frequency response measurements. Exceptions are made only for cheap speakers where this would be a waste of efforts.
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HomePod Reviews: Outstanding Sound Quality, but Siri 'Struggles at Smart'
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So.... what I'm reading is that if I want some sort of voice activated speaker, I better be the only one in a house using it. I don't understand why any iOS device can't be shared by multiple users, only showing music, apps or programs used by the individual using the device. Lack of multi user use might be passable on an iPad, less so on a family room speaker.
I can guarantee you that when my HomePod arrives it will sound better than any Amazon or Google product I have.
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All their stuff is in boxes right now
I have found that neither Homekit nor Siri matches the functionality and ease of use I need for my home automation and AI assistant needs. Siri still struggles to understand me up close even. Alexa gets me nearly 100% of the time correctly even from a different room. And this is on a cheap $20-ish piece of hardware. Come on Apple, Step up already!
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You kids stay off my lawn!
Siri is only in devices that have one small mic right now. It isn't a very good comparison to devices that have an array of mics like the Dot or the HomePod.
I am happy you have so much success with Alexa. I have to scream at the device to stop even when playing a podcast...much less music. I am hoping the HomePod solves this issue.
Sounds like bad routing to the Apple servers. I get this when I have marginal or on/off cell service. Works quite responsively otherwise.
It's interesting, I got comped a Sonos play 5, from apple, when someone stole my Apple Watch Series 3 in transit and have been trying to decide whether to pick up a Sonos One Bundle or pick up a Homepod to complete my audio collection. I basically have all Apple products, but haven't used HomeKit or any amazon voice command devices. I'm enticed by the Sonos One bundle since I'd be able to get a taste of the Amazon ecosystem (I have prime) plus from what I've read their AI far exceeds Siri. Not to mention, after listening to the Sonos CEO on last weeks Recode podcast, I really like his strategy. Apple is really creating a silo'd closed door specifically for it's customers. I'm not entirely sure that's the right play in the long run, especially for consumers. Outside of it's superior sound, I don't really see much of a competitive advantage for Apple over Sonos at all. You can get 2 Sonos One that yes is slightly inferior, but open to all platforms. I'm loving the design and "sound" from the homepod; but I think this is one of those product categories for Apple that you'll have to wait for more software updates to truly reap the benefits. I think Sonos One is a overall better play right now, but ultimately once Apple adds additional features, AirPlay, Dual Homepod use, and user voice recognition, I think Apple will be able to get people to justify buying one, even if it Siri is inferior. Now if they also add support for more platforms then it would definitely be the speaker to buy, but ultimately it doesn't seem like that's their strategy. As consumer we really have to appreciate companies like Sonos, for giving the us the ability to choose; especially in a world that stripping us of choice with every technological advance.
True. But how many people are going to buy hardware with the promise of software improving over time? Especially when that software is Siri which hasn’t improved nearly as much as it should have over the last 5 years?
HomeKit is awesome with Siri personally. Got my lounge, bedroom and hall way set up and works flawlessly every time as do all the main tasks I use it for. Should it be better than it is? For sure but for tasks people will use HomePod for I fail to see the issue.
I let them in for a very short time, then boot them out. Apple, on the other hand, is a permanent house guest.
Thank goodness for that too. Can’t imagine the connectivity nightmare of adding BT to the mix.
It's sad that Siri has made so little progress in the ~6.5 years of its public existence. Yes, it's better than it was then, but it's not significantly better, it's far from good enough, and it seems all Apple's competitors for voice assistance are now lapping it and advancing at a far faster rate. Most of those competitors didn't even exist for years afterwards, Apple had a huge head start (good), but then totally dropped the ball (bad).
I wish I could use Siri more, but outside of setting timers and asking for the weather, I've mostly given up on it. Too often, doing whatever it is manually ends up being faster and less frustrating. And that's even with no strong accent, explicitly enunciating words, and sometimes structuring commands less naturally than you would normally speak them to try to help her out.
I wish I could use Siri more, but outside of setting timers and asking for the weather, I've mostly given up on it. Too often, doing whatever it is manually ends up being faster and less frustrating. And that's even with no strong accent, explicitly enunciating words, and sometimes structuring commands less naturally than you would normally speak them to try to help her out.
I think most will buy this to use with Siri control of Apple Music, Airplay 2, and HomeKit. The other assistant stuff is icing on the cake. As of now, Siri on the phone does an awful lot of what people will want...alarms, turning on and off lights, sports scores, etc.
The area that Alexa is better is with third party skills. I don't know how much of the market really wants to learn the phrases that need to be said on Alexa, so that does limit their usefulness. I have a J River skill that requires me to say "Alexa tell House Band" in front of every command (not to mention opening up ports on my router). Nice to have, but it is tedious.
The great news is that you are not required to just have one assistant in the home. If you paid $30 for an Amazon Dot, you can still use it alongside the much better sounding HomePod. Unfortunately, they all have unique skills right now, so it just depends on the skills you are willing to live without or the number of assistants you are willing to keep around. For some, the answer is none and for others it will be every assistant available because they want access to Amazon's Skills, Google's Chromecasts, and Apple's Airplay 2/Apple Music.
i have zero interest in siri but i'm very excited by the potential of the actual speaker
apparently it's modelled on the beolab 90 by bang & olufsen
apparently it's modelled on the beolab 90 by bang & olufsen
Seriously, it's both funny and sad that I've had basically that same conversation (or lack thereof) too many times to count. Get your @*$# together, Apple. I know this stuff is hard, but you have more money than any company on earth, supposedly top engineers, you had a years-long head start on your competitors, and you're way behind.
You must be hesitating way too long between saying "Hey Siri" and asking it something. I never have that issue.
That Siri functionality is consistent unless there are some other issues with the phone.
Easy. Multiple iPhones.
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Describes most product launch’s I think.
That is all perfectly reasonable. It's hard to get away from the fact that this is a "smart" speaker however, and I think it will be too limited for the 95% of people not solely in Apple's ecosystem.
I can certainly understand the appeal of just a great sounding speaker - my Sonos Play:5 is fabulous, without any so-called smartness. But I don't think this is the impression consumers will get: from every review of it I've seen so far, it's squarely positioned as an Echo/Home competitor.