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Tim Cook Says HomePod Experience Will Blow People Away
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Will have to reserve judgment until I've heard the sound quality and seen how well the Siri integration works. I'm not sure how everyone can be dissing this thing before having even heard it. Maybe it will blow your clothes off.
Would have liked this product to have been a whole home solution. A bunch of less expensive speakers that allow you to listen to music wherever you go in your home, but this could be great too.
Would have liked this product to have been a whole home solution. A bunch of less expensive speakers that allow you to listen to music wherever you go in your home, but this could be great too.
Come on. Steve Jobs claimed that the iPod hifi will replace home stereo set up. We know how that went.
This speaker seems pretty interesting. If I was in the market for a speaker today and didn't already have one, I would probably consider this one, although it probably wouldn't fit in well with my current lifestyle to be honest.
When I was in high school and living with my parents in a spacious newer-built home (compared to my current older and smaller apartment), I originally purchased the Bose SoundDock Portable (5.23 lb), which had the dock to fit the original iPhone's 30-pin connector. That speaker's build quality, sound quality, and size/portability really blew me away at the time. I could have loud enough music to host a small party outdoors.
I purchased the Bose SoundLink Mobile a couple years later. While it was not quite as loud as the Bose SoundDock Portable, it sounded very well and also had a much smaller footprint in comparison and weight (2.9 lb) ....plus it finally had bluetooth connectivity. I now have this speaker semi-permantely connected to my TV through AUX input, since I live in a small apartment, and it offers much better sound than my TV's built-in speakers.
I purchased a Bose SoundLink Mini a couple years ago, and I love that thing! It weighs 1.5 lb, cost me $200, and has great build quality. It is so portable, that I can take it with me on trips when I want to pack light but still wish to play great sounding audio while hanging out with friends at a hotel etc. It simply sounds great for the size. The battery life is great too.
The HomePod is around 5 lbs, which puts it around the weight of the SoundDock Portable. So I can only assume that it would have have a really large sound compared to these other speakers. Plus it has much newer technology while also probably having great industrial design. I wish it had a battery built in, although I understand why it doesn't considering one of its core features is Siri connectivity. It seems like a great product however, and I'm sure it sounds amazing for the size considering the weight and tech. I am however wondering how the speaker 'detects the space' in which it is placed in.
When I was in high school and living with my parents in a spacious newer-built home (compared to my current older and smaller apartment), I originally purchased the Bose SoundDock Portable (5.23 lb), which had the dock to fit the original iPhone's 30-pin connector. That speaker's build quality, sound quality, and size/portability really blew me away at the time. I could have loud enough music to host a small party outdoors.
I purchased the Bose SoundLink Mobile a couple years later. While it was not quite as loud as the Bose SoundDock Portable, it sounded very well and also had a much smaller footprint in comparison and weight (2.9 lb) ....plus it finally had bluetooth connectivity. I now have this speaker semi-permantely connected to my TV through AUX input, since I live in a small apartment, and it offers much better sound than my TV's built-in speakers.
I purchased a Bose SoundLink Mini a couple years ago, and I love that thing! It weighs 1.5 lb, cost me $200, and has great build quality. It is so portable, that I can take it with me on trips when I want to pack light but still wish to play great sounding audio while hanging out with friends at a hotel etc. It simply sounds great for the size. The battery life is great too.
The HomePod is around 5 lbs, which puts it around the weight of the SoundDock Portable. So I can only assume that it would have have a really large sound compared to these other speakers. Plus it has much newer technology while also probably having great industrial design. I wish it had a battery built in, although I understand why it doesn't considering one of its core features is Siri connectivity. It seems like a great product however, and I'm sure it sounds amazing for the size considering the weight and tech. I am however wondering how the speaker 'detects the space' in which it is placed in.
Quote, link? And probably not 7 months before the thing even shipped.
It's a speaker, it's not a cure for cancer. It IS NOT going to blow anyone away.
$249 is Bluetooth crap range, for that price, you can shop somewhere else and get either an okay, not good, music speaker, or a smart speaker.
$350 is reasonable for a WiFi speaker if it sounds as good as they promise, and while Siri might not be the smartest of the smart assistants, she’s dumb enough to turn the lights and all the HomeKit accessories on and off, and play the music I tell her to play on Apple Music.
Huh? It will control smart home devices....so yea, it is a home automation device as well.
Breakthrough speaker would need a breakthrough design, Tim... outstanding design was always the core of Apple DNA as you like to repeat. And where it's now? It's gone.
If this can receive streamed lossless music from whatever I am currently playing on my mac at the time (via JRiver) without adding latency so it meshes well with my main wired speakers then i'm in but somehow I doubt it does this. If it could I would use 2 of these as wireless surround speakers to fill the place with sound outside of the room where my wired speakers are. Guessing though it won't allow mirroring the system audio out and if it did the latency would destroy the experience.
Guess what I am saying is this isn't really for people with nice wired speakers already unless it can play alongside them automagically and without delay.
Guess what I am saying is this isn't really for people with nice wired speakers already unless it can play alongside them automagically and without delay.
So you have heard the Homepod already or are you making assumptions like the other people here?
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Cool story brah.
Add an iWatch with the trippy kaleidoscope and you have an outfit that would make Terence Mckenna proud. No-one caught on to Kevin's trippy-joke though. Incidentally, demo'ing iOS was a news article about Amazonian frogs, lick one of those and the HomePod experience will literally blow you away.
I laughed heartily, thanks.
Actually, thinking about it. With the inbuilt intelligence the HomePod could be used as a security device. Unauthorised movements could trigger Siri to shout "FBI!!! Get down on the floor or we will blow your head off!" The hand cuffing functionality will come with a later software upgrade.
Here is a free advice to
. Buy the company Dirac Research, they are world leading in digital sound optimisation.
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Tim Cook is right. It's not about being the first, it's about being the best. Apple is always late when it comes to other competitors releasing their version of their products. Honestly, HomePod Will likely deliver exceptional results, especially being it will launch around the holiday season. I look forward to testing this.
But, but you could have bought a Echo Dot for 50 bucks. Because you know they are exactly the same thing according to macrumors posters.
Certainly, if you don't care about the inferior sound and the lack of privacy and security. Or if you don't want them to be able to work in an integrated fashion when playing audio. Or if you don't care about the esthetics. Or if like me, you are in a multi-lingual home and need an assistant to speak more than one language. By all means, in these cases, stay with Echo.
The fact that Apple *doesn't* spy on you like the other companies is a big plus. Nothing changes with this device. They've already said your information is stored,on this device instead of servers at Apple for exactly this reason.
At some point I can see them releasing a Home Pod Mini or some such, basically the equivalent to the Dot but for this system. Fewer and smaller speakers, probably still something like $149-$199. I could also see a smaller model being an option for surround sound to augment the mains – the advanced spacial awareness will help adjust delays and frequencies. A small one would also be good for bathroom or other small spaces.
But they'll pick off the suckers like me first who want good quality speakers. Remains to be seen if they meet the hype but I like the concept a lot and would pay $349 for multiple of these if they're up to snuff acoustically. I'm curious how these will perform as cinema speakers.
But they'll pick off the suckers like me first who want good quality speakers. Remains to be seen if they meet the hype but I like the concept a lot and would pay $349 for multiple of these if they're up to snuff acoustically. I'm curious how these will perform as cinema speakers.
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I just don't feel comforted with the facade of end to end encryption, and Apple not listening until after Hey Siri prompts. End to end encryption really doesn't matter if the ends, or endpoints (the device) themselves are cracked, backdoored, or otherwise exposed be it by hackers, govt agencies, foreign govt agencies, etc. end to end just prevents spying in transit... Call it paranoia, I call it being practical in light of the tech climate of 2017. We're being spied on. The more microphones and cameras, the more equipment and means to collect more data.
I think the fact that CIA has its own dedicated department to cracking Apple devices, just makes me thing its cool Apple is PR wise on the side of privacy and security, definitely way more of an effort than Google that doesn't even pretend they don't sell your info off, but still just a comfort blanket facade of sorts.
Plus, of course we don't know how the story behind these requests, but this just doesn't bring comfort from my perspective the magnitude of the requests,
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/23/apple-2016-government-transparency-report/
I don't think spying will be specific to HomePod its just general practice, and parts of the product do seem cool, I'm just not at all interested/the market for it is ultimately what it boils down to. I barely find use for my bluetooth jawbone speaker (don't even know where it is, its a cheap one though), let alone getting a beats speaker, let alone this.
I'd rather put $349 towards the financial ding from next iPhone,
But if you're a Sonos inclined person, its not a bad idea to consider. still, you're relying on Siri and apple's poop software and taking a leap of faith
Having said all that, maybe I'm completely off my rocker,
I ridiculed AirPods but they've proven to be one of my favorite products of modern Apple times. so I've been wrong before..
but this doesn't appear to be that,
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Wow, I don't know how I missed that. I stopped watching the keynote before they announced this, and all the articles I read only talked about the speaker aspect.
I don't think it changes the fact though that most people just don't care about having a high end speaker and want something more competitively priced.
For 350 bucks and only allows you to stream from apple music. It better come with a paid life long subscription to apple music.
Also the design is uninspiring to say the least.
Also the design is uninspiring to say the least.