Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
New HomePod Mini Colors Now Available to Order in Australia, New Zealand, India, and Some European Countries [Updated]
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Now that would be one of the most stylish ways to pick one up! That store looks amazing… and in a beautiful city!
It's my home store. I'm lucky. Too bad it took a couple of years for a HomePod product to arrive in Italy.
I can’t wait to have Music covering the areas that I’m inside and outside of my house plus it blends with the pale blue walls. Adding one to the garage and study. When I wake up in the morning and say, as walking around shaving, “Hey Siri! Play Supertramp Essentials everywhere.” With Siri’s response, “Okay Surfer Pup, now playing Supertramp everywhere.” I will be totally immersed in music at home. ❤️ these HomePod minis - just sprouting up everywhere and blooming in new spring 🌼 time colours. Coupled with full sized HomePods in the kitchen and main bedroom. The bass is amazing on them when playing Sofi Tukker’s ‘Best Friend’.
Last edited:
Not yet mate, still not sure if I want one. 🤔
I use mine in the kitchen to set timers when cooking or check the weather while having my breakfast. Also I just like to listen to Radio Italia while making pasta without having to sign up to Apple Music. Or listen to my own music on my phone by just holding the iPhone close to the mini. Or ask to turn on the Hue lights scene and check the room temperature.
So basically light Siri tasks, light Home tasks and light music listening. I've got a good old music system in the living room but its not smart so I have to use an old AirPort Express to Airplay.
Now I just ordered a second one to test out if connecting two of them in the living room would sound cool, maybe use it as a sound bar alternative, and if I can use it in the bathroom or in the bedroom.
Ciao. Same here in Germany. Bought one in yellow.
Airplay disconnects from my Airport Express 2-3 times a day. The Mini never disconnected once and I had it for almost a year now.
Can also have two of them providing stereo audio when paired with an Apple TV plugged into a TV that has mediocre built in speakers. Benefits are better stereo audio next to you instead of projecting it from afar and the Apple TV remote to control media content playing plus volume.
Unless things have changed that I am unaware of, but maybe make clear that what you are talking about is with the original Homepods and not the mini's.
HomePod minis are currently paired in main bedroom to my Apple TV. A single generation one HomePod has been successfully paired before the existence of the HomePod minis. Never tried pairing two HomePod generation ones as audio is even better than stereo paired minis. If you can get your hands on the Gen 1s, I highly recommend them. I believe there maybe left over stock hiding somewhere. Try Best Buy, Amazon, Target, Walmart, et cetera. Apple.com maybe or Apple support staff might be able to direct you to where there is stock. I have two full sized ones just where I need them and the minis are a fantastic compliment to spreading the musical love around my house plus ideal for a bedroom flat screen TV. I'm hoping Gen3 have an IP68 rating so I can plug in around my pool / BBQ area for parties! Might be able to snag a price close to the Gen 2s with Black Friday coming up.
Last edited:
I have to jump in to make a comment for anyone who is considering a HomePod mini.
If you want reliable Wi-Fi connection or AirPlay streaming, don’t bother
If you want to pair two for stereo sound, don’t bother
If you want a smart speaker that’s even remotely capable, don’t bother
If you want something to play any music other than Apple Music, don’t bother
Please bear in mind I own a new mbp 16. iPad Air 4. iPhone 13. Apple Watch. I have even an apple fan for almost 40 years, including a brief stint working in support when Gil was running the company.
It absolutely pains me to say, The HomePod mini is the most buggy, limited function pile of crap apple has released in the modern era. It’s awful.
If you want reliable Wi-Fi connection or AirPlay streaming, don’t bother
If you want to pair two for stereo sound, don’t bother
If you want a smart speaker that’s even remotely capable, don’t bother
If you want something to play any music other than Apple Music, don’t bother
Please bear in mind I own a new mbp 16. iPad Air 4. iPhone 13. Apple Watch. I have even an apple fan for almost 40 years, including a brief stint working in support when Gil was running the company.
It absolutely pains me to say, The HomePod mini is the most buggy, limited function pile of crap apple has released in the modern era. It’s awful.
Never had any Wifi issues with the HomePod mini. Not one dropped connection. In contrary to the Airport Express which drops the connection sometime two or three times a day.
Also I don't have Apple Music at all and use it all the time to play music. Mostly radio. But sometimes I select a song from my iPhone and just airplay it to the Mini by touching it with the phone. Or sometimes I play Spotify on my HomePod mini if I want something that I don't have in my library.
And finally its a pretty good smart speaker and capable of a lot of automations or simple tasks. Sure, I would like HomeKit to be able to do more once you start exploring it but there is hope.
This morning my HomePod Mini had a delivery date of Dec 23 - 27. Just received SMS that it shipped today.
I have multiple Homepod mini's in the house and they connect fine to WLAN without issues and switches easily between users. But we usually ask Siri to start a playlist, not through airplay.
If you say Airplay disconnects often, that usually indicates a network problem. Either crowded wifi channels or an incompatibility in your routers firewall. Some wifi routers cannot cope with mDNS properly or the local wifi bandwidth is limited. Since our household has a lot of Wifi devices, around 20 (including Homepods/IoT) when everyone is home, I invested in one high performance basestation (WAX650S) which covers the whole house with ease. The old Airport Extreme (n-model) simply was too slow (and limited range) with so many devices active.
The disconnects you described I had with bluetooth speakers: Disconnecting randomly or chopped playback, especially during daytime. And the thing with bluetooth speakers is that they usually keep their fix on the last connected phone or computer, and often can't be changed easy. In this household I heard daily curses by anyone, because the BT speaker would not connect again. As always it was connected to someone elses phone or ipad somewhere in the house. And since it did not indicate which device it was locked on to, I had to look on each and every phone or ipad in the house to break the connection. Usually it was always the last one.
But the biggest annoyance though... a bluetooth speaker always needs a phone or computer for the music. The Homepod (mini) does not - it will play fine on its own.
Last edited:
Already on their way!:
Thanks for that information. That makes sense. I have two AirPort Extremes connected to a third party router with a geographical blocker DNS programmed in. One AirPort is Ethernet via Wi-Fi. 40+ Wi-Fi connected devices - lost count after twenty. I suppose my house is like yours - continuous micro wave oven.
Attachments
New HomePod Mini Colors Now Available to Vomit in Australia, New Zealand, India, and Some European Countries (Upchucked)
