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HomePod HomePod vs Alexa devices
- Thread starter WilliamDu
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I'm not familiar with the Echo devices, so I'm not the best one to run the comparison for you. But since you've yet to receive a reply, I'll tell you a few.
First, HomePods run Siri instead of Alexa. If you're tightly in with the Apple Ecosystem I'd guess you can do more with Siri.
Secondly, the HomePod is tightly integrated with Apple Music. You're not streaming music from your phone, the HomePod is accessing your music library on its own. You can still use your phone to direct what the HomePod is playing, and you can still stream from your phone (or computer) to the HomePod, but it's not "just" a "dumb speaker."
Sticking with the music a bit more, HomePods can also be paired to play music in full stereo. This is pretty impressive - I'm not sure if Echo devices can do something similar. They also support Airplay 2 - although again, I'm not sure if the Echo does as well.
Third, the HomePod can act as a hub for "smart home" devices. Alexa can do this as well, but if you're building your "smart home" around HomeKit then the HomePod (or an AppleTV) is a nice centralized command.
What it comes down to is really how tightly integrated with Apple you are. If you don't use Apple Music, or if you're already building a smart home around Alexa, then the HomePod may be less appealing. As for me, I use Apple Music and have two HomePods in a pair. I greatly enjoy controlling all of my music purely by voice commands.
First, HomePods run Siri instead of Alexa. If you're tightly in with the Apple Ecosystem I'd guess you can do more with Siri.
Secondly, the HomePod is tightly integrated with Apple Music. You're not streaming music from your phone, the HomePod is accessing your music library on its own. You can still use your phone to direct what the HomePod is playing, and you can still stream from your phone (or computer) to the HomePod, but it's not "just" a "dumb speaker."
Sticking with the music a bit more, HomePods can also be paired to play music in full stereo. This is pretty impressive - I'm not sure if Echo devices can do something similar. They also support Airplay 2 - although again, I'm not sure if the Echo does as well.
Third, the HomePod can act as a hub for "smart home" devices. Alexa can do this as well, but if you're building your "smart home" around HomeKit then the HomePod (or an AppleTV) is a nice centralized command.
What it comes down to is really how tightly integrated with Apple you are. If you don't use Apple Music, or if you're already building a smart home around Alexa, then the HomePod may be less appealing. As for me, I use Apple Music and have two HomePods in a pair. I greatly enjoy controlling all of my music purely by voice commands.
1. HomePod is completely independent. You do not need an iPhone nearby. Pick a location, plug it into a wallspeak Siri commands, immediate access to 45 million songs, all your playlists, all your boots/rarities, etc.
2. HomePod is the best sounding smart speaker available. Has 7 independent speakers and 1 subwoofer. Runs the same processor as iPhone, senses the objects in the room (curtains, carpet, walls, furniture) and corrects the output to compensate. Major sound quality advantage.
3. HomePod is the best ‘listening’ smart speaker available. Has an array of 6 microphones and does an industry-best job of hearing your Siri commands, error rate in this regard is ridiculously low, you don’t have to repeat yourself endlessly like so many other speakers.
Replaced Echo devices with HomePods late last year. I own nine now (Thanks, Best Buy, for offering them at a sensible price). I'm a Homekit house, so the Echo's weren't a good fit. I also researched and preferred Apple's approach to privacy with their digital assistant. Siri may not be quite as "fantastic" as Alexa, but it's adequate.
Biggest surprise? The audio quality. I'm five months in now, and I totally understand why these things retail for $299. I still wouldn't buy at that price ($800 for stereo sound in a room - with Taxes and AppleCare - is a bit too steep for me) but you can tell Apple put a lot of thought and engineering into the audio reproduction.
Until you pair them up in stereo and listen to them for a while, it's hard to describe what they do. But I can close my eyes in a room and be unable to tell where the HomePods are. They wrap the whole space in sound in a very good way. They're fantastic background audio devices (If you like to crank your music, I suspect a standard amp+speakers will still deliver more punch though). Bottom line is I bought for Siri+Privacy, but find the music-anywhere aspect is what I ended up loving most about them.
Regrets? None.
Biggest surprise? The audio quality. I'm five months in now, and I totally understand why these things retail for $299. I still wouldn't buy at that price ($800 for stereo sound in a room - with Taxes and AppleCare - is a bit too steep for me) but you can tell Apple put a lot of thought and engineering into the audio reproduction.
Until you pair them up in stereo and listen to them for a while, it's hard to describe what they do. But I can close my eyes in a room and be unable to tell where the HomePods are. They wrap the whole space in sound in a very good way. They're fantastic background audio devices (If you like to crank your music, I suspect a standard amp+speakers will still deliver more punch though). Bottom line is I bought for Siri+Privacy, but find the music-anywhere aspect is what I ended up loving most about them.
Regrets? None.
Thanks for the answer.
I guess with me it has to do with price and capability.
My Alexa devices access my entire 140GB iTunes library via my iPod Touch as well as Amazon music which comes with my Amazon Prime. I assume that's about the same as Apple music to which I don't subscribe.
I don't use Siri much with less expensive Alexa devices available all over the house, and the Echo devices do the equivalent of Airplay with my IOS devices, and also pair for stereo. So I guess my Apple devices integrate pretty well with my Alexa devices. Both worlds work together in my case pretty well.
So far I prefer Alexa to Siri both in AI smarts and wider access. I own more Apple computers and gadgets than Alexa's, but they both have their place.
I enjoy conference calls with my distant families in MD and GA from here in ME, using Echos on both ends so everybody in my house can talk to everyone on the other ends in HiFi without messing with the telephones. I don't know enough about the HomePod to know whether they can do that.
The difference in sound quality may be a significant factor although the 3rd generation Echo's and particularly the Studio are awfully good.
I haven't had the opportunity to hear a HomePod as yet, and with this virus thing, sticking to my house, may not bother.
It doesn't sound like you have any reason to be looking at a HomePod.
HomePods are great if you a) have an Apple Music subscription and only an Apple Music subscription; b) don't want Alexa devices in your house due to privacy concerns (or for some reason just prefer Siri); c) want to use HomeKit and don't have an iPad or Apple TV already; or d) need a decent sounding, nice looking airplay speaker somewhere in your home.
If A doesn't apply, then don't even think about a HomePod. If B doesn't apply, then you're probably going to have a better experience with an Alexa device. If C is your only concern, then your money is probably better spent on an iPad or AppleTV. If D doesn't apply, then you're better off spending much less for an Echo or waiting to see what Apple's new low-cost speaker is going to be like. And if D does apply, but not B or C, then you're probably better off spending a bit less for a similar quality airplay speaker, or a bit more for a better quality one.
HomePods are great if you a) have an Apple Music subscription and only an Apple Music subscription; b) don't want Alexa devices in your house due to privacy concerns (or for some reason just prefer Siri); c) want to use HomeKit and don't have an iPad or Apple TV already; or d) need a decent sounding, nice looking airplay speaker somewhere in your home.
If A doesn't apply, then don't even think about a HomePod. If B doesn't apply, then you're probably going to have a better experience with an Alexa device. If C is your only concern, then your money is probably better spent on an iPad or AppleTV. If D doesn't apply, then you're better off spending much less for an Echo or waiting to see what Apple's new low-cost speaker is going to be like. And if D does apply, but not B or C, then you're probably better off spending a bit less for a similar quality airplay speaker, or a bit more for a better quality one.
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Apple's definition of hub means that it allows you to access your homekit devices when you're away from home.
if you're on your home network with an iPhone, you experience is exactly the same if you have a "homekit hub" or not.
Any of apple's home hubs (aTV, HomePod, or iPad) work exactly the same
with a homekit hub in your house, If you're at the grocery store, you'll be able to ask siri on your phone to turn off the lights, adjust the thermostat, or check on your compatible cameras.
This is useful to have your outside lights automatically turn on when you're getting close to your house. Or if you have a garage door opener, you can open it as you drive up, before your phone connects to your home wi-fi
One small note, with the HomePod, shouting "hey siri, turn on ...." works better around your house, since the homepod has better mics.
HomePod with Apple Music will let you add music to homekit scenes. Other airplay2 devices (I have several sonos) show up, but don't let you control anything about them.
Sonos makes a good alternative
- lower cost than HPod, but more than some lower end echos
- Sonos from ikea for $99, no voice though
- $179/$199 for sonos brand with/without mic, currently $50 off - $129/$149
- They have airplay2
- if you have older non-airplay speakers, you can sonos sync them to ones that have it.
- great sound, With bass/treble EQ (HomePod has none)
- HomePod does have quite "tight" bass. It gets loud without being to "boomy"
- great music syncing between rooms
- I don't like using voice to choose music. I like the sonos app much better than apple's music app.
- more native music services (HP is only apple, Echos add a few more, sonos adds quite a few more than echo)
- stereo (or 5.1) groups (not sure if HP has gotten better, but stereo has had problems, particularly from Macs)
- Choose Alexa or OK google (stereo pairs must be same, but you could have Alexa in the kitchen and google in the den)
You also need a home hub if you want I use automations like turn the lights on when I get home.
One thing that I find important is phone calls.
With a home pod it can be tied to your cell phone so if you ever want to make a phone call you can tell your hone pod to call someone and it will. Or even dial a number...
Alexa not as easy... it will dial anyone who also has an Alexa device and you have set up in your contacts. To call anyone you’d need a home phone and an echo connect device connected to your home phone line. And echo connects seem to be discontinued now.
This is imho important simply because if you ever get injured and fall down and can’t get up, or any other emergency of that nature you can call for help if you are home alone even if you can’t reach a phone.
Yes this argument is more for people who would also consider a medical alert or like device, but I honestly think it’s not a bad thing for everyone and if you have something and use it for convenience when you are younger you won’t have to learn something new when you are older and actually need something of that nature.
With a home pod it can be tied to your cell phone so if you ever want to make a phone call you can tell your hone pod to call someone and it will. Or even dial a number...
Alexa not as easy... it will dial anyone who also has an Alexa device and you have set up in your contacts. To call anyone you’d need a home phone and an echo connect device connected to your home phone line. And echo connects seem to be discontinued now.
This is imho important simply because if you ever get injured and fall down and can’t get up, or any other emergency of that nature you can call for help if you are home alone even if you can’t reach a phone.
Yes this argument is more for people who would also consider a medical alert or like device, but I honestly think it’s not a bad thing for everyone and if you have something and use it for convenience when you are younger you won’t have to learn something new when you are older and actually need something of that nature.
Phone calls are one of the best features of my Alexa devices. I save my contact phone numbers in my Alexa cloud account one time, using the Alexa app on my iPad and it dials the number associated with the spoken name, then connects to whichever you direct, the person or persons Echo, Alexa device, or telephone. At 88, I no longer need a medical alert device with Echo's and Dot's spread around. The devices also accept phone numbers for calls you want to make that aren't in your Alexa contact file. Just say Alexa, call xxx sss nnnn, and it does just that. Don't need to use my phones any more unless I want privacy on my end. See above at #5. Amazon offers free user guides for the devices if you are interested in details of what they will do.
The Studio has three 2" midrange 1 1" tweeter, and a 5.25" woofer, which probably accounts for the reviews reporting superb audio several preferring it to the HomePod. At $199, it's still more than I will fork out for an improvement over my Echos until the price comes down next Black Friday.
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Home pod does not have a subwoofer. It has a 4” midwoofer. And 7 tweeters. At least post facts.
Given that you're already in pretty deep with Alexa-based systems, and favor it over Siri, I really don't think the HomePod will offer much to you. I think that the HomePod is an impressive speaker, but it's not "the best sound I've ever heard in my life." The quality from a single HomePod is very similar to my computer speakers (Logitech Z532 - two speakers that also fire backward, and a subwoofer). I'm not trying to say that the Logitech is the best speaker system - it's probably about midrange (although audiophiles would doubtless laugh at that, too). It's impressive that a single HomePod can match it. Adding a second HomePod didn't massively improve the listening experience for me, but that may just be my room setup (HomePods are located centrally and about eight feet apart - stereo setup is probably more meaningful in a smaller room where the HomePods are against something).
Unless the Alexa-based speakers are really quite poor, I don't think you'll find the HomePod to be worth it.
Unless the Alexa-based speakers are really quite poor, I don't think you'll find the HomePod to be worth it.
I said that.
That same function can be had with an iPad or appletv also.
Funny story...
last night was baking and rolling out dough, it said make an 8" square.
only thing close I had was my phone. so was going to use that as a reference and guess the rest.
hands were gooey, so didn't want to touch anything extra.
"hey siri, what's the size of an iPhone 11 Pro" "sorry I can't get that for you here"
"ok google, what's the size of an iPhone 11 Pro" "according to _____ website it's ____inches by ___ inches by ___inches"
"Alexa, what's the size of an iPhone 11 Pro" "the apple iPhone 11 Pro is 5.665 inches tall and 0.037 inches wide, it's depth is 2.8inches and it's screen size is 5.8 inches"
although Alexa got what I would consider width and depth swapped, she had the info. as did google.
siri, not so much.
(Alexa is more exact because I just asked her, the google I'm remembering from last night)
The Studio also functions as a hub, but only with the array of Amazon remote devices, and wanting to avoid the Siri/Alexa battlefield, I hadn't mentioned Alexa's faster, more easily accessible and very good quality AI IMHO.
I agree with you in that regard.
Lots more good stuff in this regard on the Homekit: A mixed Siri + Alexa home thread noted below.
I agree with you in that regard.
Lots more good stuff in this regard on the Homekit: A mixed Siri + Alexa home thread noted below.
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