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So long as it can play/stop/skip music that's the end of the smart technology I would want. I don't care that others answer questions better, I wouldn't use it for that.
I have an Apple TV connected to my hi-fi system with *real* stereo speakers with 12" woofers. It can play/stop/skip music from my music collection, Pandora, I Heart Radio, YouTube, etc. I can also stream Amazon Music and everything from my phone.
 
So HomePod isn't very good at navigation? Maybe that has something to do with the non detachable power cable and lack of batteries? What good would it be to ask a HomePod questions about navigation? You can't take the HomePod with you in your car.
 
Why would anyone want to ask navigation related questions on a HomePod? Anyone taking it on a car trip and/or can remember all the turn directions? Impractical comparison.
 
Then, of course, Apple is marketing HP as a music speaker but it does not even have stereo sound (and when it gets it I suspect it will be inferior to regular stereo systems because HP was not really designed for stereo)
That is really ignorant. HomePod is most definitely better than a traditional mono speaker. If it "wasn't really designed for stereo", all that Apple would need to do is turn all the clever bits off and you get stereo from two speakers. The reasonable assumption is that two HomePods give you something considerably better than two traditional stereo speakers. And since HomePod measures the acoustic properties of your room, it will be much better at handling rooms and speaker positions that are not perfectly designed for audio playback.
 
Nice misinformation there. Google doesn't sell your personal data any more than Apple does.
Of course not. Google rents it out. If you go to website X and then get tons of advertisements related to X, that's because Google takes your information and tells ad servers in realtime what ads to send to you.
 
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Why would anyone want to ask navigation related questions on a HomePod? Anyone taking it on a car trip and/or can remember all the turn directions? Impractical comparison.

“Hey Siri, find me directions to the nearest Apple Store.”
“The nearest Apple Store is in Cupertino, and is a 5-minute drive away. Would you like me to send this to your iPhone?”
“Give me walking directions and send it to my watch instead.”
“Ok. I’m sending the walking directions to Apple Store Infinite Loop over to your Apple Watch. The walk will be 15 minutes. Watch out for cars!”
 
I do think if Siri can answer a question on the phone is should be able to answer that same question on HomePod. I asked Siri who has the most gold medals at the Olympics. On the phone it told me. On HomePod Siri said “I can’t answer that question on HomePod”. Makes no sense. Siri should do the same thing it does in a car when it thinks you’re not looking at a screen.

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Because it's a 1.0 product and current features are playing music, homekit and answering a few random questions you would ask. Half the things she doesn't do is due to privacy concerns. When or if she can distinguish two or more voices things might change.
 
Of course not. Google rents it out. If you go to website X and then get tons of advertisements related to X, that's because Google takes your information and tells ad servers in realtime what ads to send to you.

But that's a good thing is not it? Do you prefer a somewhat relevant (to you) ads to the random ones? It's not like you can get rid of them.
 
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Then, of course, Apple is marketing HP as a music speaker but it does not even have stereo sound (and when it gets it I suspect it will be inferior to regular stereo systems because HP was not really designed for stereo)

But why does it have to be stereo? I know we've all been raised believing listening to quality audio must in stereo but the idea that stereo is necessary for good audio quality is nonsense. If your favourite singer was in your living room singing to you, would they sound terrible because the sound is only coming out of one mouth? Of course not, they'd sound great.

If you're wearing headphones, yes, stereo is important. But if you are listening to speakers, most people do not sit in an optimal position, nor is their room acoustically designed for music listening. The stereo effect and what it's designed to do is lost in these cases. Having a speaker that can read the room and adjust and project different frequencies based on what it reads sure sounds like to me that it will my far superior to a standard stereo system. The need for stereo separation is moot here when you have a speaker than can dynamically project the music into the room.

So far reviews have said the HomePod is actually all that it's cracked up to be. But of course, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I certainly look forward to finding out.
 
“Hey Siri, find me directions to the nearest Apple Store.”
“The nearest Apple Store is in Cupertino, and is a 5-minute drive away. Would you like me to send this to your iPhone?”
“Give me walking directions and send it to my watch instead.”
“Ok. I’m sending the walking directions to Apple Store Infinite Loop over to your Apple Watch. The walk will be 15 minutes. Watch out for cars!”
It's just easier to ask on your phone. Or are we playing a convenience card again so that its a chore to ask it on the phone?
 
As I've mentioned before, this is a issue that deals with privacy. You want some internet device to know everything about and for you, that means you will be sharing everything about and for you. I want it to locate and play music for me, it seems to do that well. We use Alexa once every few months, usually to do something dumb. It has little practical use unless you want to order stuff from Amazon. The A.I arguments are fraudulent. This is about exposing your life to certain companies in exchange for devices reciting your life back to you. I'm not even saying that's 'evil'. Just that is the issue here.
 
What good is "superior" listeng skills if it can't answer many of the questions?

Or looked at from a different perspective, "What good does it do for Amazon or Google assistants to be able to correctly answer questions if they can't actually hear the questions while I'm listening to music?"
 
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Every time Siri just ‘searches the web for that’ it makes me less and less likely to actually bother to interact with it.
 
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It's just easier to ask on your phone. Or are we playing a convenience card again so that its a chore to ask it on the phone?

You’re living in the present. Do you think we will be using phones for the rest of humanity? It’s more convenient to carry a smartphone now than carry a flip phone, a Walkman, and a laptop, which is why carrying a smartphone is the norm and not the latter. If you could ask Siri to do something for you while you’re brushing your teeth or getting dressed without finding your smartphone, why wouldn’t you?
 
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A "navigation" category on a device with no screen sitting statically at home? What kind of practical uses does it have? I could totally understand Apple not investing any effort into that.

That being said, the result is pretty pathetic. Apple was 1st in terms of vocal assistant when Steve Jobs launched Siri on the 4S, but now they're definitely the last on the race.
 
For me personally, I will not be getting a HomePod. It’s not because I don’t appreciate a good quality speaker, but that Siri is a joke when it compared to Alexa and Google. I’ve never used a Windows PC, but I bet that Microsoft girl, umm, Cortana?, is better than Siri. Apple needs to fix Miss Cannotunderstandhalfofwhatyousaid.

I said that back on January 27th...darn it feels good to be vindicated.
 
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But that's a good thing is not it? Do you prefer a somewhat relevant (to you) ads to the random ones? It's not like you can get rid of them.
I'll tell you: Let's ignore the deep creepyness of Google tracking everything I do on the internet and changing what adverts I get due to what I do. But fact is that 99.99% of all targeted adverts that I get are f***ing useless. That's because once I have informed myself about some product class _and purchased something_ I'm not interested in any adverts about that kind of product anymore. I looked for washing machines. I bought one. For the next year I'm followed by adverts about washing machines. You f***ing idiots. I just bought one. I'm the one personin the world who is least interested in adverts about washing machines because I just bought one.
 
So long as it can play/stop/skip music that's the end of the smart technology I would want. I don't care that others answer questions better, I wouldn't use it for that.


If you want a speaker that only tells you the correct answer 50% of the team. First of all then it is not smart and second just get a regular speaker.
 
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"Munster broke this information down further, stating that Siri is good for "local" and "commerce" queries, like asking about nearby coffee shops..."

So an Apple product is good at helping one to locate a Starbucks?

Go figure... ;)

While you're at home. o_O
 
You’re living in the present. Do you think we will be using phones for the rest of humanity? It’s more convenient to carry a smartphone now than carry a flip phone, a Walkman, and a laptop, which is why carrying a smartphone is the norm and not the latter. If you could ask Siri to do something for you while you’re brushing your teeth or getting dressed without finding your smartphone, why wouldn’t you?
Because you would have to take your phone out of your pocket anyway eventually. Sorry, but this is dumb and we live in the present anyway. The future is for the dreams.
 
So long as it can play/stop/skip music that's the end of the smart technology I would want. I don't care that others answer questions better, I wouldn't use it for that.
You say that, but I guarantee that if Siri was better you would be using it for more than the basics.

Not me. Play, Pause, next, back, volume up, and volume down are all I want. Next week, when I get to try the homePod waiting at my apartment, I plan to see if I can avoid using voice commands altogether. I find digital assistants (any of them) to be 95 percent marketing gimmick and 5 percent useful functionality.
 
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