Honest question from someone who never uses Siri: is it really that bad? I mean is it so bad that it won’t understand basic, everyday commands? What so wrong with it?
It's really not for us.
I'm running the following smart devices through our HomePod:
Hue lighting (I think between 20 and 30 bulbs last time I counted)
August smart lock
Chamberlain MyQ garage door opener
A random smart outlet in our front room.
We also use it for Apple Music every day, setting timers, asking for weather and traffic, asking for baseball stats, playing the news in the morning, playing podcasts, etc.
My family has really taken to it. The kids love using it to turn the lights on and off, and it's really great to be able to say "Hey Siri, I'm leaving" and know that all the lights will turn off and the front door will lock without me having to walk all over the house and double check. We also like telling it to set scenes for when we're watching movies or going to bed for the night or whatever else we can think of. Yes--a lot of that function is because of the Hue system, but it wouldn't be nearly as cool without the HomePod being able to take voice commands.
When we have family gatherings or we're just entertaining in general, it has been a big hit. People love being able to tell it what music to play. The only time it really misfires is if the person asks for a song by the wrong name. Yes, there are odd times where it just doesn't hear you right, but that's usually when there are a lot of people talking at once or it's just really loud in the house.
It seems that the media is determined to doom this device. It's unfortunate. We're really enjoying ours and I think my whole family would definitely miss it if it were gone at this point.