Exactly. It’s like reviewing a sports car and giving it a poor review because it doesn’t haul cargo like a pickup truck. If that’s your criteria then you shouldn’t have bought the sports car.
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HomePod Reviews: Outstanding Sound Quality, but Siri 'Struggles at Smart'
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You guys don't think it's a legitimate criticism considering Apple Music exists on Android, yet those users can't use the HomePod without an iOS device?
It's at least a little bit head scratching and certainly worth a slight criticism from a reviewer.
No different than Apple Music not working on google assistant or Alexa
Umm - yeah it is..
Apple Music not working for its Android users on Apple's own HomePod is a different situation.
The analogy you're looking for is if iOS Google Music users couldn't use a Google Speaker/Assistant product without also having an Android phone.
How exactly? So it’s acceptable for google and Alexa to not allow Apple Music but Apple must allow it on theirs?
I think you might not be understanding.
Apple Music, by Apple, the Subscribers to that service on Android...those users can't use Apple's HomePod, a speaker built for Apple Music, without also having an iOS device (apparently...according to reviewers)
Imagine if way back when they released the iPod Hi-Fi but only Apple iTunes users could use the Hi-Fi. The Windows iTunes users could not.
That’s sort of a similar situation here, but substitute in Android for Windows and Apple Music for iTunes.
Perhaps it’s no big deal and everyone is fine with that.
That’s perfectly acceptable.
That said it is a bit odd and a legitimate complaint and clarification that any good reviewer should be mentioning and likely giving a neutral or negative reaction to if simply being fair and unbiased.
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The basic frequency response chart has nothing to do with the directionality. It shows the ability of the speaker to reproduce different frequencies. It is highly unlikely that this small and udnerpowered speaker will e able to do a good job of reproducing the full range of frequencies. And when the speaker can't reproduce, say, low frequency (which 4" woofers generally never do) you are not going to get bass at all (let alone tight bass). There is definitely way more to speaker quality than what a given person thinks about it. The fact that Apple is refusing to disclose frequency response is actually very telling. It's similar to them refusing to disclose the RAM size in the phones. I remember very well how some fans were claiming that this did not matter and it was all about the "experience". Yeah, and then the next release of iOS killed the performance because of the small RAM size.
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It's not a premium quality speaker. There is no such thing a tiny premium quality speaker. It's against the physics.
Yeah Apple constantly pay all the tech mags, no wonder their profits are so low...
Dude you sound butt hurt. Why are you so invested in trashing this speaker? Move on....
What HiFi said “Sure, you can send audio from the likes of TuneIn or BBC iPlayer (or Spotify, Tidal or any other audio app for that matter) using AirPlay on your iPhone or iPad, but doing so runs down your portable’s battery and involves a decrease in sound quality.” Why is there a decrease in quality listening to other sources via an iOS device and AirPlay over Apple Music directly on the HomePod?
So, in essence, it's a speaker. It has only a modicum of "smart." So it's semi-smart speaker. Cutting edge hardware technology and underwhelming AI technology. That is kind of half-@ss IMO. Then again, it's what I begun to expect out of Apple.
I'll pass. I have a Sonos One. I have enough iPhone and iPads in the house to use Siri for HomeKit and other basic AI needs.
Apple is becoming pretty generic in its features. How disappointing.
I'll pass. I have a Sonos One. I have enough iPhone and iPads in the house to use Siri for HomeKit and other basic AI needs.
Apple is becoming pretty generic in its features. How disappointing.
"The HomePod has an iPhone processor and pairs with your iPhone--yet it can't make a phone call? To use it as a speakerphone, you need to start the call on your iPhone then select the HomePod as an audio source. You can, however, send text messages from the HomePod with just your voice."
This is the same way with the Google Home. My sister got it for mom for Christmas, and we still can't figure out how she can load her contacts into it, so she can call someone by saying, "Call Trent." The only way to make a call thru it is by voicing the number for it to dial. That means you have to memorize everyone's phone number, or keep a list of numbers close by. Not good.
The first brand to make phone calls thru their device much easier, as well as integrating it more into home features ( microwave, coffee maker, outlets, lights, tv, garage door opener, heating and a/c, etc.... ) they we most successful selling their product.
Here you go
Not quite the same.
I can use google home using an iPhone. You need an Apple device to use HomePod.
See the difference?
That's incorrect comparison. The correct one would be as follows: It’s like reviewing a Ford sports car and giving it a poor review because can only use Ford's own tires.
That’s an interesting question regarding sound quality via AirPlay... I had a Logitech UE Air that I could dock my iPhone 4S to and sound when docked was better than when streaming the same music via AirPlay. (High freqs had more clarity for sure),
If this is what they said, they are probably wrong. AirPlay has been proven to be bit perfect with CD quality audio (16/44.1)for years. The AppleTV will take the audio stream and covert it to 48khz, but I would be very surprised if it did this with the HomePod.
I agree. The things they mention like calling an Uber, buying things or making a call I find problematic anyway. Anyone in your house can now put stuff on your credit card. Kind of defeats the purpose of Touch ID and Face ID
I would have to assume this thing will get updated all the time, probably a update on release day with support for some Siri stuff that the reviewers don't have.
[doublepost=1517963078][/doublepost]How smart does Siri need to be? I have a echo and I find Alexa pretty dumb tbh. The skills are cool but trying to remember what to say to activate them is terrible, my wife got a horoscope skill and you can't just ask what the horoscope is, you have to say "Alexa ask daily horoscope what is the horoscope?" it sounds simple but when you have 20 skills is damn near impossible to remember the commands.
[doublepost=1517963078][/doublepost]How smart does Siri need to be? I have a echo and I find Alexa pretty dumb tbh. The skills are cool but trying to remember what to say to activate them is terrible, my wife got a horoscope skill and you can't just ask what the horoscope is, you have to say "Alexa ask daily horoscope what is the horoscope?" it sounds simple but when you have 20 skills is damn near impossible to remember the commands.
I don't really mind what you we review, but to say specifically "you are in a walled garden so you care only about sound quality" means your trying to isolate Apple from every one else..
Amazon is the same then. I don't picture myself as Apple is separate in any discussions. IF you have other players in the market doing exactly the same thing, regardless of the actual product.
Amazon is the same then. I don't picture myself as Apple is separate in any discussions. IF you have other players in the market doing exactly the same thing, regardless of the actual product.
You ignored my comment on the fact audiophile reviewers do all sorts of instrumented tests on speakers. And in the end they judge its sound quality based on how it "sounds" to them. It's literally 100% based on their opinion. Which makes you wonder why they even do instrumented tests in the first place, since they have nothing to do with how they judge the speaker.
You also ignored my question on how the frequency response of a speaker indicates how it will sound. Two speakers could have identical frequency response, yet one could sound fantastic and the other like garbage.
Panzarino, not going to trust a revue from someone that cannot read the packaging of a product he’s spending hours to review and then type it correctly to eliminate misambiguity:
Play 1 /= Play One and yet can be misconstrued as Play:1. Two different products.
And now we have another Village idiot leading the Siri team: frederighi.
- Animoji acting the fool on stage. Videos could’ve easily done this. Notice Ive & Cook not do theirs live?
- High Sierra joke was sad.
- in charge of iOS and macOS so let’s burden his management decisions further to slow down all existing software changes and direction.
LMAO - laughing out the door.
Seriously? Siri struggles with natural language instruction, even though dictation she’s capable of.
“Siri, find me the next 91C bus heading south to the station.” 4x and Siri can not get this right.
“Siri, launch Sonos and play”. “Siri, launch Sonos”
- she cannot do either. She doesn’t even understand it’s an app vs an annanogram.
Ask SIRI a multi-step question and she’ll never understand.
Siri utterly fails because you MUST ask questions or give commands in a specific way for her to understand let alone to carry out the command. This is no different than learning Jot to write inn palmOS palm pilot PDAs of yesteryear vs natural writing that Microsoft did to conquer that market years ago.
And yet a 5yr old can scream “Batman” x3 and Echo will purchase Batman LEGO on your account lol. Yeah security there.
Play 1 /= Play One and yet can be misconstrued as Play:1. Two different products.
And now we have another Village idiot leading the Siri team: frederighi.
- Animoji acting the fool on stage. Videos could’ve easily done this. Notice Ive & Cook not do theirs live?
- High Sierra joke was sad.
- in charge of iOS and macOS so let’s burden his management decisions further to slow down all existing software changes and direction.
LMAO - laughing out the door.
Seriously? Siri struggles with natural language instruction, even though dictation she’s capable of.
“Siri, find me the next 91C bus heading south to the station.” 4x and Siri can not get this right.
“Siri, launch Sonos and play”. “Siri, launch Sonos”
- she cannot do either. She doesn’t even understand it’s an app vs an annanogram.
Ask SIRI a multi-step question and she’ll never understand.
Siri utterly fails because you MUST ask questions or give commands in a specific way for her to understand let alone to carry out the command. This is no different than learning Jot to write inn palmOS palm pilot PDAs of yesteryear vs natural writing that Microsoft did to conquer that market years ago.
And yet a 5yr old can scream “Batman” x3 and Echo will purchase Batman LEGO on your account lol. Yeah security there.
Some of the snarky comments I’m seeing elsewhere say things like “that’s reserved for HomePod 2”. I’m curious though, are the limitations with HomePod (outside of no aux jack) mostly if not all software related? What hardware did Apple purposely hold back for the next version of HomePod?
Ok. Not sure why that seems to be some source of pride, but ok.
No Sonos. No Amazon or Google either