Volume indicator

[TyWahn]

Does anybody else wish there was some sort of volume indicator you could look at and see how loud the HomePod is playing? I know you can ask or tell Siri but it seems she's yelling at you. Maybe an LED ring around the touch display would be nice.
Just random thoughts.

 

[Jesla]

naa... just ask Siri.

 

[Arran]

Siri can be inappropriately loud. It really bugged me late at night and early in the morning when the rest of the family was in bed.

Apple needs to stop Siri being so 'chatty' and just plain LOUD during quiet hours.

 

[maflynn]

Does anybody else wish there was some sort of volume indicator you could look at and see how loud the HomePod is playing?

Yes, I think that's a fantastic idea. I mean they have tha cool looking display at the top, why not show off the volume

 

[tarsins]

I like that idea. I'd go further and want to be able to run my finger around the ring to change the volume.

 

[ZipZap]

You all miss the point of this unit. Ask Siri how loud the pod is...

 

[Buerkletucson]

You all miss the point of this unit. Ask Siri how loud the pod is...

Agree..

People complain about Siri and lack of functionality......but yet the things she does do well they still complain and want something else that is manual.
Whatever.....

 

[Arran]

You all miss the point of this unit. Ask Siri how loud the pod is...

Yes, but the idea is to listen to music, not Siri.

Go to an opera or a classical concert and talk over the performers: You’ll be thrown out the door.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Siri can be inappropriately loud. It really bugged me late at night and early in the morning when the rest of the family was in bed.

Apple needs to stop Siri being so 'chatty' and just plain LOUD during quiet hours.

Thats what Google got right with Home. It just responds with “ok.” Short and lets you know it understood and will make it so.

 

[Arran]

Yes, I think that's a fantastic idea. I mean they have tha cool looking display at the top, why not show off the volume

The problem is that the display on top is extremely limited in what it can do. It’s just a handful of LED’s under a diffuser. It is not a proper display panel like you’d find on an phone, a watch or even my old nest thermostat from six years ago.

I’m amazed Apple went with something so limited and inflexible. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out they intended to have a real touch display on top, but it wasn’t ready in time so they dropped it so they could get an already-late product out the door.

Update: looks like the hardware design was cut-back at the last minute and rushed out the door. Here’s a picture of the underside of the top controller board (from ifixit’s teardown). There are chips missing:

https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/UYNZVyo2AiAL1djs

Link: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/HomePod+Teardown/103133

Looking at this, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see version 2 hardware in a few months with a real display panel on top. That would let Apple fix some of the usability issues and provide a more capable hardware platform for future enhancements. The current hardware platform just feels inadequate for what it costs.

So I’m glad I returned my HomePod now. I’ve been caught out by Apple revising hardware within months of first release.

1. The first white MacBook’s hardware was obsoleted in 6 months. Early buyers were left without 4GB support and ‘N’ WiFi (and no way to add it in)
2. The AirPort Extreme 3rd gen hardware was obsoleted in 6 months.
3. The ipad 3 hardware was also obsoleted in 6 months (luckily, I returned mine in time, but there were a LOT of unhappy people in this forum)

 

[TyWahn]

You all miss the point of this unit. Ask Siri how loud the pod is...

You're missing my point. There are many threads complaining how loud Siri can be when you ask her a question. It just would be nice to just know at a glance what it is without waking the entire house.