CR's test (from what you could see in the short video) appeared to be limited to sitting directly in front of the speakers. Wired is saying that the HomePod doesn't require the listener to be in a specific spot to hear the best reproduction. CR never addressed that aspect of the HomePod in their initial rating.
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Professional-Grade Acoustic Tests Support Apple's Claims About HomePod's Superior Sound Distribution
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CR's test (from what you could see in the short video) appeared to be limited to sitting directly in front of the speakers. Wired is saying that the HomePod doesn't require the listener to be in a specific spot to hear the best reproduction. CR never addressed that aspect of the HomePod in their initial rating.
So Apple were telling the truth, what a surprise. It amazes me when Apple make a claim about a product and then people on this forum say things like “I’ll believe it when we get professional reviews” and so on
From a marketing point of view it wouldn’t make sense for Apple to lie, when they were to get found out (and they would) it would result in consumers having less trust in them which they know is not good!
My experience with Apple is that they are often conservative so when they make claims about a product i often believe what they say from past experience.
From a marketing point of view it wouldn’t make sense for Apple to lie, when they were to get found out (and they would) it would result in consumers having less trust in them which they know is not good!
My experience with Apple is that they are often conservative so when they make claims about a product i often believe what they say from past experience.
Because Siri is better than when it was released.
Quick search...
- https://www.macworld.com/article/2048736/get-to-know-ios-7-siri.html
- https://www.macworld.com/article/29...ent-adds-transit-maps-and-a-new-news-app.html
- https://www.cnet.com/how-to/11-new-ways-you-will-be-able-to-use-siri-this-fall/
Nothing to do with whether it's the best, just improvement. It does more, the mics on various hardware are better, always on, supports more of Apple's hardware platforms etc. Compared to when it first launched it's improved.
We all know/hope one day we'll have something like J.A.R.V.I.S. (please be in our lifetimes) but all offerings are a long way off - Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant are at kindergarten level. This area is just getting started. Google Assistant, Siri etc. are the Wright brothers' plane compared to the Falcon Heavy assistant(s) in the future (no idea who will be the company creating them but we'll look back and smile just as I do when thinking about my old Game Boy screen compared the one in iPhone X, or the processor in my first self built PC compared to what runs in my iPad Pro etc.).
Really? A basic understanding of how software evolves over time says that Siri will get better. It's impossible not to.
My bet is that he'll be back...soon.
Certain people enjoy bashing Apple products so much that they won't be able to stay away from a forum that exists primarily to discuss a brand that they love to hate.
Watch and see. He'll be back.
Feedback loops nested knee deep within feedback loops. If I cover a "distributes sound evenly" HP with a coffee can and crank up the volume to max, will it explode? 
I set this up and love it. Great for podcasts to.
One thing I really like is the way it fills the room with sound. You kind of forget that all the sound is coming from a single device.
Oh and being able to have it hear from 30 feet away is great, especially with my HomeKit setup.
I tend to agree with you. By default, if you own a HomePod you own an iPhone and probably an iPad, a Mac and an Apple Watch and an Apple TV, and all of those have Siri.
Where I can see the problem occurring is the HomePod always responding to the "Hey Siri" request and telling you it can't do something, even though your phone is right there. They need to make it work so that if both/multiple devices hear the request the one that can actually complete the request responds.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Feedback loops nested knee deep within feedback loops. If I cover a "distributes sound evenly" HP with a coffee can and crank up the volume to max, will it explode?
No but it will make the finest cup of coffee you have ever tasted. In fact, coffee is not even the right word for it- it will be liquid nectar, arguably suitable for only the Gods. Drinking it will de-age you and cure any ailments. If you ever had your tonsils or appendix removed and/or a cavity, the tonsils or appendix will grow back and those cavities will push out any fillings, replacing them with new impervious tooth material again (brightest whitening as a bonus). Any acne or other scars will fall right off, any wrinkles will disappear, any fat will dissipate away (YOU will become 'thinner & lighter') and you'll get a perfect 6-pack without having to do any work for it. You'll become both immortal and indestructible. You'll become the smartest person alive (tip: stay at a Holiday Inn one night and you can 2X this particular benefit). And supermodels will be banging on your door every night wanting you. Such is the power of HP.
All
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I can't tell if you are laughing with me or not, but that post was a joke. That's why I put the wink emoji at the end.
I'd also argue strongly that it's far from "junk." For the mass beating that CR review took from the cheerleaders (who apparently birthed HPs from their own bodies based upon some of the venom that was shot at the review and reviewer), CR actually rated HP just as good as the other two speakers- all three getting a rating of "very good" which is one tier in how CR rates such stuff. If it was a school report card scale, all 3 of those speakers got a "B".
The other 2 just happened to numerically rank slightly higher than HP, akin to three "B"-graded students having a numerical "B" represented at 89, 88 and 87. All would be a "B" grade. Nobody would see the third B as an F--- while the first B as a A++++, and/or the latter near genius while the former a miserable failure/idiot/dummy who is doomed.
Apparently, if something from Apple is not rated supreme best, the review is interpreted as absolute worst. There is no room for winning a silver or bronze medal. Gold medal or complete and utter bust. Anyone that actually knows how CR does things should know that in the final report, there might be 30 or 50 or 100 speakers ranked in total, which could place HP as third out of 30 or 50 or 100 speakers. Right now, we have athletes competing in the Olympics. Those that win a bronze are not abomination failures, nor are their parents/creators idiot/dummies/doomed for making them.
On the whole, HP appears to be a fine product. Apple makes great stuff. Is it the "one speaker to rule them all?" No it is not. And the iPhone is not the one phone to rule them all. And Macs are not the one computer to rule them all. It has pros & cons- like all things. Those who buy one can get up to everything they could possibly want out of it. And those who buy something else can get up to everything they possibly want out of other things. Contrary to seemingly very popular sentiment, nobody is stupid for loving & buying an HP... or not loving & not buying it or any other product.
I'd also argue strongly that it's far from "junk." For the mass beating that CR review took from the cheerleaders (who apparently birthed HPs from their own bodies based upon some of the venom that was shot at the review and reviewer), CR actually rated HP just as good as the other two speakers- all three getting a rating of "very good" which is one tier in how CR rates such stuff. If it was a school report card scale, all 3 of those speakers got a "B".
The other 2 just happened to numerically rank slightly higher than HP, akin to three "B"-graded students having a numerical "B" represented at 89, 88 and 87. All would be a "B" grade. Nobody would see the third B as an F--- while the first B as a A++++, and/or the latter near genius while the former a miserable failure/idiot/dummy who is doomed.
Apparently, if something from Apple is not rated supreme best, the review is interpreted as absolute worst. There is no room for winning a silver or bronze medal. Gold medal or complete and utter bust. Anyone that actually knows how CR does things should know that in the final report, there might be 30 or 50 or 100 speakers ranked in total, which could place HP as third out of 30 or 50 or 100 speakers. Right now, we have athletes competing in the Olympics. Those that win a bronze are not abomination failures, nor are their parents/creators idiot/dummies/doomed for making them.
On the whole, HP appears to be a fine product. Apple makes great stuff. Is it the "one speaker to rule them all?" No it is not. And the iPhone is not the one phone to rule them all. And Macs are not the one computer to rule them all. It has pros & cons- like all things. Those who buy one can get up to everything they could possibly want out of it. And those who buy something else can get up to everything they possibly want out of other things. Contrary to seemingly very popular sentiment, nobody is stupid for loving & buying an HP... or not loving & not buying it or any other product.
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I agree with other people, this HomePod should play any kind of sound you want...music, TV, videos, phone calls, anything...if someone is talking at your front door it should go through the Pod.
I believe it's only a matter of time. Apple named it HomePod, not MusicPod.
I believe it's only a matter of time. Apple named it HomePod, not MusicPod.
But it’s so easy to lump everyone together when projecting your position on others.
I will wait until sound &vision or Stereophile or similar to publish review.
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While I applaud your optimism, the experience with the upgrade of ios 11 doesn't feel that way. We have fone from ios1 to ios11.. we don't think it has been that satisafctory..
Maybe Siri will get smarter, maybe it won't. My bet is it will - Apple needs it to as much as we want it to.
However, the HomePod getting smarter is a different thing. How about software upgrades to allow, for example:
EQ profiles
Home Automations (play track x when motion detected in living room &etc)
AirPlay2 (coming soon...)
ATV control
Bluetooth speaker (dunno if that's on Apple's roadmap, but if I were them...)
SiriKit extensions (ok, that is Siri getting smarter)
Home Automations (play track x when motion detected in living room &etc)
AirPlay2 (coming soon...)
ATV control
Bluetooth speaker (dunno if that's on Apple's roadmap, but if I were them...)
SiriKit extensions (ok, that is Siri getting smarter)
There's loads that could be done without Siri itself getting "smarter"
Do you believe every ad that you see on TV? Because that's marketing and why would those companies lie? Won't they get caught?
It’s mind-blowing that Siri still can’t control the Apple TV. The Apple TV can be used as a HomeKit hub, but, can’t be controlled with HomeKit.
This makes it sound like a listener gets the same experience anywhere they are in a room, which is false. Not even Apple makes such an impossible claim.
What the Fast Company article was about, was that in the two locations they tested, they got the same white noise output per each location at both two feet and seven feet from the floor. So yes, a person can stand or sit in those locations and not perceive a difference.
An odd test. Was it stereo white sound? What about other locations, did they have more variance in height levels?
The article said no such thing, because that's impossible. It also had nothing to do with "best reproduction".
All it said was that at two different heights, the HP delivered "a consistent representation of a piece of music". (Although they were testing white sound, and who knows how the HP processes that.)
People should not try to read more into a test than what it does.
Are you looking in my windows at night?!
I’m fairly pleased with my HomePod. Enough that I’ll probably pick up a second one when 11.3 drops for linking them together. Just need a wider tv stand so they can sit on both sides of the tv.
I'll be interested in HomePod (or whatever successor) if and when it becomes a platform accessible to other developers. Yes, that means there should be a HomePod App Store. I'd love to see an interactive storytelling app, or a voice coach, or an email dictation device... honestly my imagination is limited but I'm sure developers big and small could come up with all kinds of amazing stuff that goes way past what it's capable of now. DuoLingo for HomePod, anyone?
What we have now is very much akin to the first iPhone in that what it ships with (or what each uhh, PodOS? update brings) is what it's got. It's also not that different from what Google or Amazon offers: a device that's a portal into the manufacturer's ecosystem and nothing more. Sure, it's got Apple design and build quality, but come on, this is pretty limited thinking for Apple.
As we all know, what really catapulted the iPhone and the whole concept of a "mobile platform" was the App Store opening up all kinds of capabilities that nobody could have foreseen, and generating billions upon billions of dollars for developers and Apple itself.
What we have now is very much akin to the first iPhone in that what it ships with (or what each uhh, PodOS? update brings) is what it's got. It's also not that different from what Google or Amazon offers: a device that's a portal into the manufacturer's ecosystem and nothing more. Sure, it's got Apple design and build quality, but come on, this is pretty limited thinking for Apple.
As we all know, what really catapulted the iPhone and the whole concept of a "mobile platform" was the App Store opening up all kinds of capabilities that nobody could have foreseen, and generating billions upon billions of dollars for developers and Apple itself.
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You need to re-read the article. The testing was done from four different locations in the room, thus my comment about HomePod not needing the listener to sit in a specific position to hear the best sound (unlike a compact system with forward facing speakers). That's specifically what Apple has said in their marketing and that's what this test confirmed. What you're claiming isn't possible turns out to be possible.
You’re correct. Apple may identify the HomePod in one direction being primarily a Music device, but the consumer may not interpret it like that because of all the other competition in the market that has similar functionality. Then again, I would say the average consumer doesn’t really pay attention that closely to Apples marketing. They only see what they want to see, which is the HomePod being a smart speaker and A music device.