If the audio beam forming works as advertised, then Apple's competitors for speakers in that price range are going to be the ones that are behind.
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HomePod Should Launch 'Soon' as Inventec Begins Shipments to Apple
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Hope Siri on all other i-devices in the room shut up when calling HomePod. Totally annoying when you shout 'He Siri' and all iPhone/iPad in the room go 'ding ding ding'...
Have gone back and forth on this one so many times - i think i've finally landed on getting one. I'm integrated with Sonos and thought I'd just get a Play One, but i'm so engrained in Apple's Eco system that it doesn't make sense not to get one. So all in all, I think I'm excited for it? 
Perhaps, but two problems.
1. Comparing devices across price points makes perfect sense if you are considering at least one of their intended uses. As a ubiquitous smart speaker, most homes need more than one listening device. You might argue that phones count in that mix. Still, $350 is a steep buy in. That’s seven Dots, enough to blanket a moderately sized home.
2. The more installed devices, the more data that is collected, the faster the AI can improve. Siri may have a lot of installed devices via iOS, but I would suspect it is not as widely used as, say, Alexa.
HomePod supplier Inventec has begun shipping the smart speaker to Apple, with an initial shipment "of about 1 million units," according to industry sources speaking with the Taipei Times. Apple is said to have sent out a shipment notice to companies in the HomePod supply chain in early January, and now that the first supplier has answered the notice one source stated that HomePod should be launching "soon."
As the first batch of HomePods makes its way to Apple, a release date for the delayed smart speaker has yet to be confirmed by the company
When it does launch, HomePod will be Apple's first entry into the smart speaker market, currently dominated by Amazon Echo and Google Home. During its unveiling of the product, Apple said that HomePod is more music-focused than its rivals with high-quality sound and microphone technology, spatial awareness, touch controls, and more, all powered by an A8 chip.
Article Link: HomePod Should Launch 'Soon' as Inventec Begins Shipments to Apple
What is this speaker has a mesh network? Apple did not release all of the details yet. Would be very interesting and an Apple ‘thing’ to add extra functionality like a great WiFi network to a product. Does not make sense for them to just build another speaker
I bought an Echo in November but returned it. It was such a hassle to set up for home automation. Loved the hardware design though. I did the math and asked myself if it was worth the price difference to hold out for the HomePod and it overwhelemingly was. Being so far down the Apple rabbit hole, there were just too many things I couldn’t get to work the way I wanted with the Echo and I do have major privacy concerns with how they handle the voice recordings. My plan is to buy one HomePod for our main floor living space, and the rest of the time I have Siri strapped to my wrist. I do hope eventually they come out with a smaller version of the HomePod though.
Lol home automation is still in it's infancy.
I noticed the same until I rethought how I calibrated Siri. I disabled Siri and enabled it to recalibrate, and went through the setup process with my phone about 10-15 feet away. It’s been a night and day difference.
too late, already went with a Sonos system throughout my house with alexa.
My house is already full of Echos, dots and shows.. All combined still only slightly more than this speaker.
I was eagerly awaiting them but when it got pushed back I said whatever and took advantage of the great sale on the Echo Dot at holiday times. I have several lights hooked up via 2 Alexa & the Ikea TRÅDFRI app and i’m very satisfied with what I can do with Alexa. I won’t be switching to the Apple version anytime soon.
Very much so. Unless the speakers are running on some kind of magic, even then the price man...
I’ve noticed since the last update, Siri doesn’t pick up Hey Siri half as much for me either. It’s disappointing because I adored Siri before they made her voice sound weird and made her less responsive.
It's not that Echo or Google Home are amazing. It's that they are priced so that they are affordable to set up in the entire home. You can put a top-of-the-line Echo in the living room, a less expensive Tap in the kitchen, and Dots throughout the house where only voice control is needed, or in the kids rooms, for the same price as ONE HomePod.
The HomePod may sound better than the Echo or Google Home, but the point of these devices is to incorporate voice control in the home. You can't do that with just one speaker in one room unless you live in a studio apt. And if you want great sound there is already a zillion small speaker systems. Apple wouldn't be the first company to make a great sounding wireless small speaker.
The other problem with HomePod is Apple is clearly trying to make it an AppleMusic accessory. Last I heard many of the voice commands only work with AM, not your owned music in the iTunes app. So given all this, what really is the incentive for the masses to ditch their Echo or Google Home or even for Homekit users to buy-in? I'll keep using my iDevices as voice control speakers until Apple can come up with a better, more affordable system, rather than just a lone speaker.
I was on the fence this Christmas about waiting for HomePod or opting for one of the other speakers. For my own situation, waiting for HomePod made the most sense.
- I'm an Amazon Prime subscriber, but that doesn't give full access to Amazon's music catalog. I don't want to pay another streaming fee, and I'm really happy with Apple Music, so that was a non-starter.
- I already have Sonos speakers, so the Sonos One seemed like a possible option. But since they're updating their speakers to work with Airport 2, that's less of an issue (really can't wait for Airport 2).
- I really want one for the kitchen, where my biggest hands-free needs are selecting music, doing recipe math, checking the weather, and placing and receiving phone calls/texts. If it can do all of those, my biggest wishes are met.
Since I'm already invested in Apple and HomeKit, HomePod makes the most sense. So for adoption purposes, I'm wondering how typical I am among Apple's customer base. This certainly isn't going to be a product that brings people into the Apple ecosystem, but for "normal" users who just want to plug something in and have it work with their other services, will it be enough?
- I'm an Amazon Prime subscriber, but that doesn't give full access to Amazon's music catalog. I don't want to pay another streaming fee, and I'm really happy with Apple Music, so that was a non-starter.
- I already have Sonos speakers, so the Sonos One seemed like a possible option. But since they're updating their speakers to work with Airport 2, that's less of an issue (really can't wait for Airport 2).
- I really want one for the kitchen, where my biggest hands-free needs are selecting music, doing recipe math, checking the weather, and placing and receiving phone calls/texts. If it can do all of those, my biggest wishes are met.
Since I'm already invested in Apple and HomeKit, HomePod makes the most sense. So for adoption purposes, I'm wondering how typical I am among Apple's customer base. This certainly isn't going to be a product that brings people into the Apple ecosystem, but for "normal" users who just want to plug something in and have it work with their other services, will it be enough?
I'm going to get one but I fear i'll hate the sound. I don't like the sound of any Apple devices (and I hate EarPods) and all these speakers to me have this horrible consumer boxy, veiled, boomy sound. I like transparent, open, natural, detailed and punchy. I like the sound of Adam, Sennheiser and Elac - I hate the sound of Sonos, B&W, JBL and especially Bose.
But we'll see.
I've got Alexa and Google Home (the small ones of both) - Google is much better, Alexa for me is quite the disappointment and to be honest with Homebridge Siri is still better than both for home automation.
The one thing Siri nailed early on is being able to create your own scenes and name them whatever you want. You could say "Hey siri, open the gate" and it would work as you'd programmed the scene. Where as for years you couldn't do that with Alexa as "open" was reserved for skill so I had to say "turn on the gate" or "turn on the blinds" - finally Alexa has added this feature but it's only just catching up with Siri - it still refuses to turn on my TV through harmony most of the time where as Google assistant does it fine - Alexa still 90% of the time asks me which device I mean when I want to turn lights on through Hue.
Google definitely have the best voice recognition and question/answer, but they're behind both Alexa and Siri with smart home stuff, they don't let you create your own scenes (though you can with IFTTT).
They've all got their pro's and cons, but at £30 on offer for Alexa Dot and only £50 for Google Home and Siri built into our all phones, watches and iPads there's no reason not to have all three if you're a geek!
But we'll see.
I've got Alexa and Google Home (the small ones of both) - Google is much better, Alexa for me is quite the disappointment and to be honest with Homebridge Siri is still better than both for home automation.
The one thing Siri nailed early on is being able to create your own scenes and name them whatever you want. You could say "Hey siri, open the gate" and it would work as you'd programmed the scene. Where as for years you couldn't do that with Alexa as "open" was reserved for skill so I had to say "turn on the gate" or "turn on the blinds" - finally Alexa has added this feature but it's only just catching up with Siri - it still refuses to turn on my TV through harmony most of the time where as Google assistant does it fine - Alexa still 90% of the time asks me which device I mean when I want to turn lights on through Hue.
Google definitely have the best voice recognition and question/answer, but they're behind both Alexa and Siri with smart home stuff, they don't let you create your own scenes (though you can with IFTTT).
They've all got their pro's and cons, but at £30 on offer for Alexa Dot and only £50 for Google Home and Siri built into our all phones, watches and iPads there's no reason not to have all three if you're a geek!
Siri is inferior to practically everyone else in the game. The speaker alone is not worth $350.
Enjoy your iPod HiFi, though.
