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Question had been case size - now prob Watch vs HomePod
- Thread starter dmaxdmax
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The home pod is an overpriced Apple speaker. Honestly the phone can do the same thing with just a few more steps
Because I need to fill my place up with music when I'm not home for $350 + sales tax. I have a Sony speaker that does the job fine and I got it for free to review. Even than it only costs around $150. Sorry I'm not an Apple loyalist who's going to pay for it based on name.
I don't understand the thread purpose. Just come in to say anyone who get this speaker this December will be a lucky guy. Could see it's back order for months.
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AW gives you info silently and anywhere in the house.
We received an Amazon Echo as a gift and couldn't figure out how to make it part of our routine. We didn't like any extra noise, and we don't listen to music very often at home, either (never mind that we didn't want to buy into Amazon's music library).
Regarding the HomePod, I'm most interested in its sound quality, as that's the most obvious difference it has compared to other smart speaker assistant thingamabobs. I'm not sure whether to wait for a friend to buy one or to just get it ourselves.
We received an Amazon Echo as a gift and couldn't figure out how to make it part of our routine. We didn't like any extra noise, and we don't listen to music very often at home, either (never mind that we didn't want to buy into Amazon's music library).
Regarding the HomePod, I'm most interested in its sound quality, as that's the most obvious difference it has compared to other smart speaker assistant thingamabobs. I'm not sure whether to wait for a friend to buy one or to just get it ourselves.
I have a Bose speaker that does a fine job at playing music but doesn't sync directly to iTunes. It's also very directional and I could use 300deg. If the HomePod delivers on sound and is idiot-proof then it will be worth a significant premium; if it doesn't then my Bose will do fine.
The Apple Watch has its purposes. But the Home Pod I am looking very forward to and seeing it's capabilties.
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Can you strap the HomePod to your wrist when you leave the house? 
I'm not so sure about the HomePod. I already have a decent sounding speaker dock and I can use my Apple Watch to see what's playing and remotely pause, skip, etc. If I had this thing sitting on a table that allowed you to invoke Siri with a voice command, my kids would never stop teasing Siri with ridiculous requests and silly questions. I would probably have to listen to a lot of songs about butts.
I'm not so sure about the HomePod. I already have a decent sounding speaker dock and I can use my Apple Watch to see what's playing and remotely pause, skip, etc. If I had this thing sitting on a table that allowed you to invoke Siri with a voice command, my kids would never stop teasing Siri with ridiculous requests and silly questions. I would probably have to listen to a lot of songs about butts.
This is the worst comment of the year, do you have an idea of how much a "good" speaker price is?
I have a Harman/Kardon Onix Studio and that was $400 dlls, the new Studio 3 is $450, Bose has the Revolve speaker for $300, Marshall has a $400 one and don't get me started with some high end brands like Bang & Olufsen, they have the Beolit 17 at $500 dlls, all of these are about the same size of the HomePod.
The speaker is not even out, there's no way to tell if it has a good or a bad sound, let me tell you, for $350 it could be the best speaker for that price or a complete garbage, at least wait until it hits the stores to say it's "overprice".
This is not the place to discuss but I'm really curious about how we will adjust volume on HomePod manually. (Yes, Apple said we can do it)
Could have shed some light on how we might do it on AirPods in the future.
You have Revolve then.
Thinks HomePod will be better sonic-wise than that.
Could have shed some light on how we might do it on AirPods in the future.
You have Revolve then.
Thinks HomePod will be better sonic-wise than that.
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Apologies for off-topic. But I have to agree. When you consider premium quality audio and incorporate that into a Bluetooth speaker in your home, $350 isn't unreasonable. What you find out is, is that consumers are conflating two different things between a smart speaker and home audio. Apple combined both. Consumers are seeing price points for the Amazon echo on Google Home, which those are good, but they likely won't have the audio that will be on the level that the Home Pod will be on. That's what Apple is going for is to incorporate a smart speaker that can control functions and provide rich/dynamic sound.
I have a house full of Sonos speakers and not too keen on using the home pod for music. I might get one but will wait for Apple to introduce a lower price model for multiple rooms like the Amazon dot. Will be selling my Amazon stuff as soon as Apple gets on in my hands.
Got lots of time to think about it as we will not see these things till the end of the year at the soonest.
Got lots of time to think about it as we will not see these things till the end of the year at the soonest.
A phone and a computer are items that I need. A watch and a speaker are items that I absolutely don't need. The real question is do I want an Apple toy or a smaller Amex bill. Given that I am willing to buy a single unnecessary toy, the question of which one is not obtuse.
I don't know... after two years of wearing an Apple Watch, I would definitely call it a need in terms of my physical and mental health
It would be stretch for me to rationalize a HomePod as a need, but I may have said the same thing about the Apple Watch before I owned one. The two devices are actually kind of similar in how they were launched: Both devices have had people ask the question, "but what does it do?" Compact speakers for smartphones already exist, but the HomePod might be one of the better sounding ones on the market and it will definitely offer the best integration with Apple devices and services. The Apple Watch was not the first fitness tracker or smartwatch on the market, but of course it integrates better than any other smartwatch with other Apple devices and services. Like the Apple Watch, I would expect the capabilities of the HomePod to increase over time. Also like the Apple Watch, the Siri integration will be more about offering lots of little conveniences more than it is about adding killer new features.
In the end stuff like this comes down to a personal decision based on how you would personally use the technology. Sometimes we purchase something for reasons that are more fun than practical, and other times vice versa. I think part of the Apple Watch's appeal has been that it is both fun and practical for many people.
Sean
I'm sure that the home pod will be a very nice speaker and priced appropriately for it I think even if I was disappointed that Apple didn't price their device closer to the Echo or GoogleHome.
I had an Echo and really liked it. It was vaporized in a house fire but I realize now that I miss having it. I was waiting to see what apple would deliver but probably won't get the Home pod and might get the Amazon show instead.
One reason I'm hesitant to get the Home pod is Siri. Siri's okay and she usually understand me but one thing I thought was incredible about the Echo was that you could trigger it with the wake word (Alexa) and not even pause before a request or question. This is actually a huge deal in terms of usability on a daily basis. Hey Siri is pretty slow on my phone and I sometimes have to wait a while before she's ready for me to ask something.
The second reason is that I could play music from several music services on the Echo. It's unclear if you can do that on the home pod.
Lastly, if I could merge the Echo with Google's ability to understand language it think we would have a winner. I guess I could go with google home and check it out. Anyone have one?
If it were me, I'd go with the watch since there's really nothing the home pod can do extra that others can't. Unless of course you want a nice speaker and have homekit stuff in your house.
I had an Echo and really liked it. It was vaporized in a house fire but I realize now that I miss having it. I was waiting to see what apple would deliver but probably won't get the Home pod and might get the Amazon show instead.
One reason I'm hesitant to get the Home pod is Siri. Siri's okay and she usually understand me but one thing I thought was incredible about the Echo was that you could trigger it with the wake word (Alexa) and not even pause before a request or question. This is actually a huge deal in terms of usability on a daily basis. Hey Siri is pretty slow on my phone and I sometimes have to wait a while before she's ready for me to ask something.
The second reason is that I could play music from several music services on the Echo. It's unclear if you can do that on the home pod.
Lastly, if I could merge the Echo with Google's ability to understand language it think we would have a winner. I guess I could go with google home and check it out. Anyone have one?
If it were me, I'd go with the watch since there's really nothing the home pod can do extra that others can't. Unless of course you want a nice speaker and have homekit stuff in your house.
I don't know... after two years of wearing an Apple Watch, I would definitely call it a need in terms of my physical and mental health
It would be stretch for me to rationalize a HomePod as a need, but I may have said the same thing about the Apple Watch before I owned one. The two devices are actually kind of similar in how they were launched: Both devices have had people ask the question, "but what does it do?" Compact speakers for smartphones already exist, but the HomePod might be one of the better sounding ones on the market and it will definitely offer the best integration with Apple devices and services. The Apple Watch was not the first fitness tracker or smartwatch on the market, but of course it integrates better than any other smartwatch with other Apple devices and services. Like the Apple Watch, I would expect the capabilities of the HomePod to increase over time. Also like the Apple Watch, the Siri integration will be more about offering lots of little conveniences more than it is about adding killer new features.
In the end stuff like this comes down to a personal decision based on how you would personally use the technology. Sometimes we purchase something for reasons that are more fun than practical, and other times vice versa. I think part of the Apple Watch's appeal has been that it is both fun and practical for many people.
Sean
I think HomePod is an interesting product. There's no originality in it. The design came from various inspirations:
- It's 360° design like Bose Revolve, meaning you can place it anywhere in your room, even at the centre of it.
- You can use just one, or combine two for stereo and it's distortion-free music ala Deviatet.
- Multi-room listening ala Sonos.
For music I don't think anything is better at this price point or even at $100-150 higher (in terms of sound quality AND easy-to-use). No brainer. Only "Assistance" part is questionable IMO but Apple is very serious about AI now so I can see they're closing the gap fast in the next 2-3 years.
I'm using Apple Watch so I'm already using Apple Music. Don't see the point of using other services with the Watch so this product is very interesting to me. As I said in other threads I'll buy 3 sight-unseen (one for bedroom and two for living room). The only obstacle is it's not for sale in my country.
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There is a screen on the top of the homepodThis is not the place to discuss but I'm really curious about how we will adjust volume on HomePod manually. (Yes, Apple said we can do it)
Could have shed some light on how we might do it on AirPods in the future.
You have Revolve then.
Thinks HomePod will be better sonic-wise than that.
The point was that it's a very strange comparison to make, because the products are used for very different things. Going based on "need" is like asking whether you should buy food for the week or fund transportation to get to work - you need both, but they're both pretty different.
You're on the Watch forum, so you should anticipate which way the replies will slant (if anyone can get around remarking on the comparison, itself). The two products are similar, in my mind, in that they both seem pretty neat but don't scream about how they'll revolutionize your life. It took me about a month or two before I really found ways to integrate the Watch into my routine and to feel like it was a good purchase. I'd guess that the HomePod would be similar. Personally, I'm at work a lot more than I'm at home, and when I'm at home I'm generally in front of or near my computer and hear my music that way. The Watch has a lot more utility, both for functionality at work and giving me some control over my computer's iTunes while at home. So for me and people like me, the Watch is the better purchase. But if you're at home more often, or absolutely hate having something on your wrist, then maybe the HomePod would be better. We'll have to wait for it to be released to really know for sure what it can do and the creative things people can use it for, I guess.
This begs the question: is it a true (display) screen (LCD or OLED) that can display images or is it just few colored LEDs below a plastic cover? So far it appears to be just some colored LEDs. Has anyone seen any pictures (or in person) of the "display" displaying an image of any sort?
Seems if it were a display Apple would have touted this (or at least I would have remember it
).
This begs the question: is it a true (display) screen (LCD or OLED) that can display images or is it just few colored LEDs below a plastic cover? So far it appears to be just some colored LEDs. Has anyone seen any pictures (or in person) of the "display" displaying an image of any sort?
Seems if it were a display Apple would have touted this (or at least I would have remember it
Yeah.. I don't remember a screen mentioned anywhere, just a "touch panel". I might remember it wrong though.
I would have said the same thing before I purchased Sonos speakers for our house last year.
'Room filling sound' is very different than putting a radio in a room and turning up the sound to 11. I was blown away by the sound of our Sonos speakers. The speakers are kept at a low volume, and the quietest sounds can be distinctly heard. A poor speaker just makes the sound louder, but it doesn't increase the clarity. It's a night and day thing once you've experienced good speakers. They help you not destroy your hearing, and the costs are well worth it.