Knowing Apple and the avenue they have taken with the stellar stereo speakers on the iPhone 7 and quad speakers on the Pro iPads, I am most certain they will use a high quality build with the speakers/drivers into their version of this. I have been interested in a smart speaker for while, I'm glad I waited it out to see what they have to offer.
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Rumored Siri Speaker in Production Ahead of Possible WWDC Debut
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Knowing Apple and the avenue they have taken with the stellar stereo speakers on the iPhone 7 and quad speakers on the Pro iPads, I am most certain they will use a high quality build with the speakers/drivers into their version of this. I have been interested in a smart speaker for while, I'm glad I waited it out to see what they have to offer.
Why don’t they just add microphone capabilities to the Apple TV can call it a day. That has a screen, great sound system and is in most parts (I have two Apple TVs in my house) of the house. They already have 90% of it. Chasing after Amazon and Google in this way makes no sense to me.
Secret agent Kuo is always a wealth of useful insight.
I hope for Apples sake they have some snazzy new version of Siri they're planning to run on it, and aren't so detached from reality they release it with Siri as-is. They'll have to hire a hundred thousand new customer service reps.
This is a day-one buy for me, but they need to step up Siri's capabilities if they really want to take on Google Home and Echo (especially comparing HomeKit to Alexa-compatible devices).
I'd love for them to make one with a screen that could double as an alarm clock though. Need a new one of those...
I'd love for them to make one with a screen that could double as an alarm clock though. Need a new one of those...
The killer feature for me would be multi-room audio over Airplay. ("Siri, play KCSM in the kitchen and the living room")
This has been available from itunes on the Mac for ages (or using Airfoil on the mac), but not from iOS or tvOS devices. I can't imagine that the technological overhead is so great, but perhaps it's hard to avoid making the user experience too finicky (multiple volume sliders, etc).
Notably, Echo also doesn't do multi-room audio, even if you have multiple devices.
This has been available from itunes on the Mac for ages (or using Airfoil on the mac), but not from iOS or tvOS devices. I can't imagine that the technological overhead is so great, but perhaps it's hard to avoid making the user experience too finicky (multiple volume sliders, etc).
Notably, Echo also doesn't do multi-room audio, even if you have multiple devices.
Unless Apple changes it's hypocritical privacy policy and allows Siri to become what she SHOULD HAVE been in the first place, this thing is going to be DOA.
I don't get it? What on earth does it do? What problem in my home will it solve?
Even with my Apple Watch, which is AWESOME, it times it will say - "I can't do that - go to your phone."
I can only imagine this device being LESS useful than my watch, particularly without a screen to either provide answers or help interpret what I'm asking when it doesn't get it the first time.
Further, given that even at home most people are within 20 feet of their phone at all times, their phone is likely to be closer to them me than a fixed position device.
So we're talking about a device which is likely to be
- further away from me than my phone
- far less useful than my phone
- unable to give me visual answers or help interpret what I'm going to ask it
So I ask again: what on earth is it for?
Even with my Apple Watch, which is AWESOME, it times it will say - "I can't do that - go to your phone."
I can only imagine this device being LESS useful than my watch, particularly without a screen to either provide answers or help interpret what I'm asking when it doesn't get it the first time.
Further, given that even at home most people are within 20 feet of their phone at all times, their phone is likely to be closer to them me than a fixed position device.
So we're talking about a device which is likely to be
- further away from me than my phone
- far less useful than my phone
- unable to give me visual answers or help interpret what I'm going to ask it
So I ask again: what on earth is it for?
You mean Apple Music that has over 20 million paying customers and is bringing in well over $1 billion US every year? That doesn't seem "murdered" to me.
I do hope there are significant Siri improvements (once it was ahead of the competition, now it falls last place behind pretty much everyone).
AI combined with voice recognition is probably the future.
AI combined with voice recognition is probably the future.
Hope this doesn't ship with the current version of Siri....Because Siri.
And with newer model iphones and let's even say Android phones with google now/assistant you can just say hey siri or ok google without touching the phone. Basically the same thing no extra cost. But hey I'm a guy that also has never bought a tablet because I can do similar things on a phone or use a more powerful laptop/notebook or whatever we are supposed to call them these days. But maybe my intuition was right as the tablet market seems to continue to decline?
I have an Amazon Echo dot and it has been surprsingly useful. It is far more responsive and customizable than Siri.
Siri often makes stupid mistakes and isn't responsive. I could explain why this is, but I bore my students enough with that lecture lol.
However, Siri can be more powerful in a few limited tasks. The Echo never makes a mistake, but it only takes simple tasks like what time is it? Turn all my lights on (I have philips hue lights at my place). With the Echo I'm stuck giving it binary choices like on or off. With Siri, I can say turn the bedroom lights on at 50% in pink and Siri gets that.
Real world use:
I had a lady friend come over and we rushed to the bedroom. We were laying in bed after...talking...lol. And we lost track of time. Siri wasn't responding, but the Echo responded to my query for the time. The Echo also let me turn on the lights and lets just say my lady friend appreciated it. She kept thinking how cool it was lol.
Also, having the ability to requrest a flash briefing in the morning or at night before you go to bed is nice because in the last 4-5 months, every other night has had some major news event. Sometimes it's nice to catch up on what you missed in the last few hours.
"The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely."
Johnny come lately. Hopefully it doesn't sound robotic. Siri def the dumbest kid in the class.
As long as we can stuff Phil in one.
I'm pretty sure smart devices are not a fad. Apple better stay in the game so they are ready when the revolution really picks up steam.
No kidding, plus what's going on on the top? Curved beams of light? A display, even though it's not rumored to have one? It looks like one of those despite the fact that paint or a sticker is the most reasonable explanation based on device rumors. (Even more reasonably, I'd expect nothing of the sort, like an Echo.)
Improved voice recognition is exactly what you get from AC powered beam forming mics always listening. You don't even have to try which was why Echo was so effective.
Apple always waits until the market has matured before they reveal a solution that the market hasn't fixed yet. In fact, the only product they ever released that did not follow that rule was Siri itself so let's hope they can fix Siri's shortcomings in both mobile and fixed speaker versions.
Exactly. This is the most useless new device category I've seen in years. No idea who actually buys this kind of crap, no matter if it's from Apple, Google or Amazon.