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HomePod Reviews: Outstanding Sound Quality, but Siri 'Struggles at Smart'
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So many legacy accounts around. I really wish they would let us merge.
Yeah, I’m not holding my breath at this stage.It has been so long I don't think it's ever going to happen.
You just gave the same generic response as everyone else. Give specific examples or you’re fake news.
The Google Mini also sounds like crap for music because it’s worthless for sound.
Actually, they can't do that. Without a voice match, a confirmation code is required to make purchases on Alexa. Again, Google and Alexa figured these things out. Apple will too but they should of not rushed this product out without all of these missing features (especially ones that cause privacy issues).
Question. Does this eliminate the need for Airport Express now? Because my Bose SoundTouch and Airport Express do not have the best relationship. I would like to simply stream from MacBook to Home Pod.
For me, Siri seems to have three main problems:
1) In general, you have to learn how Siri wants the questions posed to it phrased. Ask for your appointments in one way, and you're out of luck. Phrase it slightly differently, success. The user should be the trainer, not Siri.
2) Siri has has a woefully underwhelming lack of contextual and content awareness. Someone earlier in thread used an apt example of a failed search for Evel Knievel. I tend to use Siri more for executing tasks, and the low performing contextual and content awareness is frustrating here. It knows I'm trying to add something a list, but it ever so slightly mis-recognizes the list to which I'm referring. I only have four lists on the phone. If I'm trying to add something to a list and the list I specify is really close to one of the existing lists, that's probably the list I want. Siri just falls flat here.
3) The speech recognition has gotten worse. This one seems improbable and prone to bias to me, but I, and others, have noticed it. I spent a few weeks in seclusion not long ago and I became concerned that I had suffered a mild stroke based on the abysmal recognition rate. I'm not joking. The only things that dissuaded me from seeking medical attention were that both Cortana(!) and Alexa were still understanding me, often for the exact same commands that I had issued to Siri.
There is no perfect assistant, smart or otherwise. Siri, Alexa, Google, Cortana, etc. all have their strengths and weaknesses. However, I can't shake the feeling that Siri has stagnated since its launch. Some of the mistakes it makes would have been acceptable and understandable as growing pains in the first few years. 6.5 years in, they're flirting with inexcusable. Let's hope the HomePod gives Apple the kick in the pants in seemingly needs to devote more resources to Siri development.
Specific examples that Siri isn't the brightest star in the sky? Ok. How about a few from my personal "Best of Siri Failures" list:
That's an example of #1 and little #2. It recognizes "Tide..." It recognizes "sundry list." But it can't perform the action when the sentence is ordered as above. "Add Tide with bleach alternative to the sundry list" was successful in this instance. Additionally, I was clearly referencing a list (and a list on the phone). Why in the world did it think I wanted to add something to my music library???
This oldie, but goodie, is an example of #2 and #3. I add paper towels to my sundry list via Siri all of the time. Why couldn't it figure out what I wanted. And Siri clearly stopped paying attention while I said "sundry list." Perhaps it was engrossed by its phone? You know kids these days...
Here's a lovely example of #2. Voice recognition was spot on here. However, instead of playing music in my library by the group named "The Outros," it thinks I want to listen to The Cure. Mmmkay. Siri knows I want to play music. It knows I'm not subscribed to Apple Music. The only place from which it can play music is the local library. So, instead of referencing the list of artists and groups on the phone (which would also have allowed the query to display the correct name), it tosses content-awareness out of the window and plays something seemingly random.
And, finally, this lovely thing was from just this morning. It's a good example of #2 and #3. Kristin Hersh doesn't have a song in my library titled "Carmel bagel." Even Kristin Hersh fans would have trouble guessing what this one was supposed to be. [Answer: Carnival Wig.] Instead of trying to figure out what I said based on the content, Siri just vomits up "Carmel bagel" based on what it thought I heard. What the %#$ is a "Carmel" bagel!? Enquiring minds want to know. I typically only have to travel as far as my favorite UWS kosher deli to find a mean bagel, so I imagine traveling back in time to Carmel will net me the biggest, baddest bagel on the block.
I get that folks here are protective of Apple, but you and few others in this thread seem a bit too eager to defend Siri from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Braying "fake news" at the concerns/criticisms/complaints raised about Siri performance as it relates to a product for which Siri is the main interface doesn't instantly and magically invalidate them. Well, at least anywhere but in your mind. Siri shortcomings, which you appear to be forgivingly unbothered by, or thankfully immune to, may be a big nothingburger to you and others. For others, like me (and me, and me), they're an irritating "Carmel bagel."
1) In general, you have to learn how Siri wants the questions posed to it phrased. Ask for your appointments in one way, and you're out of luck. Phrase it slightly differently, success. The user should be the trainer, not Siri.
2) Siri has has a woefully underwhelming lack of contextual and content awareness. Someone earlier in thread used an apt example of a failed search for Evel Knievel. I tend to use Siri more for executing tasks, and the low performing contextual and content awareness is frustrating here. It knows I'm trying to add something a list, but it ever so slightly mis-recognizes the list to which I'm referring. I only have four lists on the phone. If I'm trying to add something to a list and the list I specify is really close to one of the existing lists, that's probably the list I want. Siri just falls flat here.
3) The speech recognition has gotten worse. This one seems improbable and prone to bias to me, but I, and others, have noticed it. I spent a few weeks in seclusion not long ago and I became concerned that I had suffered a mild stroke based on the abysmal recognition rate. I'm not joking. The only things that dissuaded me from seeking medical attention were that both Cortana(!) and Alexa were still understanding me, often for the exact same commands that I had issued to Siri.
There is no perfect assistant, smart or otherwise. Siri, Alexa, Google, Cortana, etc. all have their strengths and weaknesses. However, I can't shake the feeling that Siri has stagnated since its launch. Some of the mistakes it makes would have been acceptable and understandable as growing pains in the first few years. 6.5 years in, they're flirting with inexcusable. Let's hope the HomePod gives Apple the kick in the pants in seemingly needs to devote more resources to Siri development.
Specific examples that Siri isn't the brightest star in the sky? Ok. How about a few from my personal "Best of Siri Failures" list:
That's an example of #1 and little #2. It recognizes "Tide..." It recognizes "sundry list." But it can't perform the action when the sentence is ordered as above. "Add Tide with bleach alternative to the sundry list" was successful in this instance. Additionally, I was clearly referencing a list (and a list on the phone). Why in the world did it think I wanted to add something to my music library???
This oldie, but goodie, is an example of #2 and #3. I add paper towels to my sundry list via Siri all of the time. Why couldn't it figure out what I wanted. And Siri clearly stopped paying attention while I said "sundry list." Perhaps it was engrossed by its phone? You know kids these days...
Here's a lovely example of #2. Voice recognition was spot on here. However, instead of playing music in my library by the group named "The Outros," it thinks I want to listen to The Cure. Mmmkay. Siri knows I want to play music. It knows I'm not subscribed to Apple Music. The only place from which it can play music is the local library. So, instead of referencing the list of artists and groups on the phone (which would also have allowed the query to display the correct name), it tosses content-awareness out of the window and plays something seemingly random.
And, finally, this lovely thing was from just this morning. It's a good example of #2 and #3. Kristin Hersh doesn't have a song in my library titled "Carmel bagel." Even Kristin Hersh fans would have trouble guessing what this one was supposed to be. [Answer: Carnival Wig.] Instead of trying to figure out what I said based on the content, Siri just vomits up "Carmel bagel" based on what it thought I heard. What the %#$ is a "Carmel" bagel!? Enquiring minds want to know. I typically only have to travel as far as my favorite UWS kosher deli to find a mean bagel, so I imagine traveling back in time to Carmel will net me the biggest, baddest bagel on the block.
I get that folks here are protective of Apple, but you and few others in this thread seem a bit too eager to defend Siri from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Braying "fake news" at the concerns/criticisms/complaints raised about Siri performance as it relates to a product for which Siri is the main interface doesn't instantly and magically invalidate them. Well, at least anywhere but in your mind. Siri shortcomings, which you appear to be forgivingly unbothered by, or thankfully immune to, may be a big nothingburger to you and others. For others, like me (and me, and me), they're an irritating "Carmel bagel."
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Sorry it was a Batman statue not LEGO movie. But it happened.
Story: https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/0...-2-year-old-says-white-house-press-secretary/
Original source: https://t.co/7uF0d2fmD8
This was January 18th so no they had NOt figured this out.
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I’ll need to read past your 3rd screenshot in the morning cause I’m up late and super tired (honestly, not insulting).
But what is a “sundry” list? I had to use Lookup in iOS to get a definite toon which is varies/various from my understanding. All this time reading. Until your third screen shot I thought you where trying to say “Laundry” list and then later ‘add paper towels to “Sunday” list’ which the words where mixed up or cut off (Laundry changed to Sundry, Sunday cut off to sun). What the heck is a sundry list??
Perfectly valid usecase. Although you could stream to both if you wanted through the magic of multi room audio (available in AP1 through iTunes)
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In what language?
Nearly everything Apple does starts out closed. If you think they intend to keep it that way then you’re not paying attention.
Do you think the bashing of Siri or defense of Siri is more prevalent here? I think people like me are actually in the minority. Kudos for posting some examples, but adding stuff to a list is something I do constantly and don't have problems. Should it work better for you? Maybe, but "Sundry list" is probably giving it some issues, even though I know what it means.
Siri has issues with words like "Outros". I don't know about Alexa (not at home right now), but I just tried using Google Assistant to do this and it is playing "Altro" by Stephano. Heck, Alexa has issues with turning on different lights in my home because two of them have the word "corner" in the name (though one is preceded by a one syllable word and the other is a two syllable word and they sound nothing alike).
All of these services can be frustrating. I listen to podcasts on an Echo Dot connected to a Tivoli Radio in the morning and one day, I can say "disconnect iPhone" and it will work. The next day, I have to be a foot from it and screaming even though the volume is exactly the same.
At the end of the day, it comes down to a list of things you need a specific device to do and how it handles it. I expect the HomePod to work with most Apple Music (outside of words like Outros..which I doubt any of the services can handle with reliability), sound great, and work with my Hue Bulbs. I don't have a lot of other expectations from it. I have Dots and while there are thousands of skills, most are too cumbersome to memorize, so you end up using one or two that do stuff you use every day. I will keep the Dots around for their use cases, as well. No one says you can't have more than one assistant in the house. I apparently need a staff of assistants to make me happy.
Brilliant marketing. Do you watch Apple ads? They are shot beautifully with great music, popular actors narrate them and they pull on the emotional heartstrings.
Don't think I saw that one. I have to make a slight correction, I did like The Rock's commercial. However, it is balanced out by the fact that I don't like their commercials with faces and unicorns, the kid that doesn't know what a computer is, the commercials where they just play music over some words, the commercial with most other celebs (that I have seen) etc.. The Rock commercial was good. I think it was selling Siri rather than a product, though.
I'm curious if you change the name to something Siri would/should more readily recognize "Shopping List" etc. Have you tried that to see if the results faired any better?
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Man you have no idea how much sensely hate for a child actor there is on the net for this one girl ... it's almost kinda disgusting how we've trended back to neanderthalism.
Google Search: Apple What's a computer commercial girl hate
Results in order:
I HATE This Snarky Ass Bitch In The New Apple "It's Not A Computer" Commercial
Annoying lil dyke in iPad commercial
The ipad commercial with "Whats a computer girl?" Is so annoying
The commentary within is so bad ... let's just say I cannot quote more than 1 sentence in the first link without being considered for a ban just by copy/pasting.
Honestly I think this specific commercial is exacting for a child in the USA society today. Many starting off K12 or from G5 onward have probably never used a computer and if they did they probably only heard & referred to it by brand name: MacBook, MacBook Air, iMac. As we all know the doctrine from Apple is that "PC" = Windows and Personal Computer secondary. Only when talking about computing in general would Apple ever state "personal computer". This has been ongoing since the 80's. So when a next generation after millenials is asked what they're doing on a computer ... their most likely actually really going to reply what is a computer.
For comparison when anyone on this forums talks about any iOS application or mobile applications for a large screen computing device with no keyboard or doesn't ship with one ... are they going to say "tablet" or iPad? Hmm. I'll bet a 65%-80% it's going to be referred to as ipad.
So I think this commercial is done right.
They turned off the PIN code for purchases so they explicitly allowed this functionality.
Yet someone else said voice signature avoids this. Someone somewhere messed up or isn't communicating details in full. Either way it still shouldn't happen. The fact that only voice is being used for querry data and command actions is still a bit senseless to me when it comes to credit card and payments.
Maybe i'm too old-school and getting old, but there is no more 'convenience' to me ordering something for it to be paid then using an actual computing device with a visual browser vs just audible prompts.
PIN is required by default if the voice doesn't match. You can always require the PIN too.
100% agreed. Certain people here don't understand the reach that Apple's marketing has, and they don't understand the power of marketing beyond TV.
Here's one shining example of non video marketing. All Apple stores. You see a store that has a very sleek interior design. You see videos of very colorful lights that showcase a random Apple product. The decor is very intentional and screams out modern to welcome you in. Everything is nicely lit and blends cohesively. When you start profiling the clientele that are looking at the products, you start to understand that their marketing reach is much bigger than simply "people with money".
That’s it for me too and I’m not angry about it. After the newness wears off and I’m not asking about the weather or other random stuff that I can see in my watch face, I’ll use Siri to play music just like I do in the car.
I wanted a great sounding speaker that tied into my music library that is in iCloud with my Music subscription.
That’s exactly what I’m getting. People need to evaluate what they’re really looking for because a purchase.
Playing music for me is about ambience in the house. If I'm playing any it is some jazz and light classical while I'm doing something else. So that makes the HomePod not as attractive for my use case. And until some smaller versions of it appear, and a video version, it probably won't make an appearance in my house.
But I was doing some fiddling the other day with the Google Home, Echo and Siri devices with voice command/control and odds and ends. Here's what I found.
Hearing accuracy:
Google Home seems the best of the 3, followed closely by Siri. Alexa works OK but fairly often does something wonky with a request and I had to be careful about how I named things as others have noted.
Search - Google Home does the very best here, and that's as you would expect since Google made their bones with search. Siri is 2nd in this one too. It should be noted that none of them were horrible.
Breadth of gear available - Echo line is hands down the winner. With the Echo, Plus, Dot, Spot and Show they offer the widest selection of things that work with Alexa. And they also support more 3rd party stuff and not just the most expensive stuff.
And on a humorous aside, Siri seems more forgiving of my requests when I either have my teeth in or not. The others seem to have relatively more issues with that.
But I was doing some fiddling the other day with the Google Home, Echo and Siri devices with voice command/control and odds and ends. Here's what I found.
Hearing accuracy:
Google Home seems the best of the 3, followed closely by Siri. Alexa works OK but fairly often does something wonky with a request and I had to be careful about how I named things as others have noted.
Search - Google Home does the very best here, and that's as you would expect since Google made their bones with search. Siri is 2nd in this one too. It should be noted that none of them were horrible.
Breadth of gear available - Echo line is hands down the winner. With the Echo, Plus, Dot, Spot and Show they offer the widest selection of things that work with Alexa. And they also support more 3rd party stuff and not just the most expensive stuff.
And on a humorous aside, Siri seems more forgiving of my requests when I either have my teeth in or not. The others seem to have relatively more issues with that.