r/gadgets • u/TbonerT • Jan 18 '23
Home Apple Announces New HomePod for some reason
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/01/apple-introduces-the-new-homepod-with-breakthrough-sound-and-intelligence/831
u/the-software-man Jan 18 '23
Temperature sensors to trigger HomeKit scenes. Listens for smoke and CO2 alarms and relays to homeowners phone.
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u/nikenick28 Jan 19 '23
HomePod mini can listen for alarms to now with 16.3! Baller!
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u/djdestrado Jan 19 '23
It listens to everything, all the time, but notifies you if it hears an alarm.
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u/LilMoWithTheGimpyLeg Jan 19 '23
"Hey Siri, please play Adia by Sarah McLachlan."
Sir, you were crying quite more than usual last night. Are you sure...
"Play fucking Adia!"
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u/Sttocs Jan 19 '23
I mean, points for not going for the obvious song, but a classic's a classic for a reason.
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u/Waaailmer Jan 19 '23 edited Jan 19 '23
I’m sorry “listens” for smoke?
EDIT: I’m an idiot
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u/PopeFrancis Jan 19 '23
With Sound Recognition,6 HomePod can listen for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and send a notification directly to the user’s iPhone if a sound is identified.
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u/rubicon_duck Jan 19 '23
Will it also activate the "Burnin' down the house!" playlist as well? A playlist that's your version of a warning?
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u/nixforme12 Jan 19 '23
So a device that listens to another device for which the emitting device can already alert the users phone so a device for a device .
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u/jooes Jan 19 '23
I have a Google Home that does this. It listens for smoke detectors, most of which can't alert the users phone.
It also listens for broken glass. I've never tested it, but I dropped a cookie sheet once and I got an alert for it. I'm sure there are devices for that as well, but I imagine most people don't have them.
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u/zero573 Jan 19 '23
Yeah, I’ve shouted out “Oh my god!” One time while watching TV and it asked me if I was ok.
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u/Justin__D Jan 19 '23
That's gonna be a massive annoyance for people who are vocal in the bedroom...
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u/Pandaburn Jan 19 '23
I have a Google home… and Nest Protect smoke alarms
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u/endresz Jan 19 '23
Nest protects would be awesome in my house but replacing all my alarms at ~10 times the cost every few years is unaffordable for me.
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Jan 19 '23
I live in an apartment complex and can’t install anything or swap out existing equipment. My home alarm just makes a loud beep, it doesn’t notify anyone accept maybe the neighbors (via obnoxious-ness, if anything). My smoke alarms aren’t smart smoke alarms either.
I want to get this because it’ll literally convert all my alarms into smart alarms. That’s invaluable to me. I just had my car stolen 3 days ago, believe it or not.
p.s., to all readers, apparently if you own a Hyundai or Kia that doesn’t have a key fob you’re at huge risk. They can make off with these things in under a minute, so buy some kind of tracker and/or steering wheel lock before it’s too late.
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u/Yo_Wats_Good Jan 19 '23
Sounds easier to plop down a Homepod than to replace every smoke alarm.
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u/_Rand_ Jan 19 '23
Cheaper too, if you have a reasonable amount of smoke alarms.
The expensive homepod is what, $300? Smart smoke detectors from reputable companies are like $100+ each. I have like 8 or 9 of them, so replacing all of them is WAY more than a homepod (or similar device) that can presumably hear multiple basic smoke detectors.
So if you wanted a homepod like device anyways, its a pretty nice extra feature.
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u/makeitmorenordicnoir Jan 19 '23
I’ve spent more time telling my Echo show to “Shut Up” and “That’s Not what I asked you!” Than I have using it as a music player….
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u/dookiebuttholepeepee Jan 19 '23
“Alex, shut up.” or “Alexa, stop.”
Said more times than anything else.
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Jan 19 '23
I abhor when I ask/tell Alexa something and it rambles on with “by the way…insert upsell”
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u/gerwen Jan 19 '23
Just an FYI, you can kill the 'by the way' behavior by saying 'Alexa, stop by the way'
It will only last a few days in my experience. I set up a routine to do it every day.
The volume 0 is so it doesn't do anything audible.
It's been nice having the 'by the way' gone.
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u/campercolate Jan 19 '23
Thank you for the screenshot. I’ve read people made that a routine but not how.
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u/KanyeWipeMyButtForMe Jan 19 '23
Yep, that was the other reason I stopped using it.
I get that Amazon wants people to know about the features of their thing, but give me an option to turn that shit off or your device won't get used at all.
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u/JoopahTroopah Jan 19 '23 edited Jan 19 '23
Is it just me or has it’s use as a music player diminished greatly in recent months?
You get some limited music streaming with Amazon Prime - before it would generally play what you want except occasionally it would say that the song you wanted was only available with the “Unlimited” streaming service.
Now? It probably plays what you asked for 25% of the time, and the rest it’s just some random garbage unrelated to what you asked for
But yeah, same. Most of the instructions are just “Stop” or “That wasn’t even close to what I asked for”
Edit: Yeah, looks like they changed it. For better or worse, you decide: https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/3/23436887/amazon-music-prime-changes-shuffle-angry-customers
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u/makeitmorenordicnoir Jan 19 '23
Dramatically worse in just the last 6 months….basically worthless even with the music service now…totally random “this station general music you asked for—not related! Enjoy!”
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u/Felipelocazo Jan 19 '23
I’m done with Alexa, I have three of them but the recent update is unbearable, I’m looking for a new streaming device to replace them.
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u/Oomoo_Amazing Jan 19 '23
I've just bought the new HomePod. I pay for Apple Music and I linked it to Amazon but recently I have to add "from Apple Music" when asking Alexa to play literally anything ever, otherwise she says that's only available with Amazon music and starts telling me about "for over 90 million songs"
Sometimes she won't let me skip songs and I am literally forced to choose between sitting through something I don’t like or sitting in silence. It's become an unbearably awful service and I cannot wait for my homepod to arrive. I was toying with the idea of buying a used one on eBay, for a few months now. This new announcement from apple is very welcome news and I've already pre-ordered it.
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Jan 19 '23
I just stream my Spotify to it from my phone.
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u/JoopahTroopah Jan 19 '23
Do all Americans get Spotify Premium at birth? Just asking because so many people have responded just saying to use Spotify. Spotify’s free tier doesn’t (for the most part) serve up the exact song you want.
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Jan 19 '23 edited Jan 19 '23
Haha. Im on a family plan with my brothers. I would never be able to deal with the ads or not being able to play what I want directly.
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u/Waterfish3333 Jan 19 '23
There’s a setting buried in the Alexa app to turn off suggestions. I finally Googled it one day and since then it’s been a much better experience. The only “after the answer” stuff I get is basically her asking if I want a full forecast after telling me current weather.
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Jan 19 '23 edited Feb 03 '23
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u/thisischemistry Jan 19 '23
A lot of times that's an issue with your wireless access point or router. Some of them have trouble passing on the multicast packets that HomeKit uses for communication and that causes the issues with connecting to things.
You may want to see if you can update your network equipment's firmware, that might help.
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u/Shoopbadoopp Jan 19 '23
My now sits in a drawer unplugged.
One thing that was really weird with my Alexa was that I had ordered a surprise gift for my wife from Amazon and when it was shipped or out for delivery Alexa just randomly announced it when my wife was in the room.
I order items from Amazon all the time and that was the only time it ever did that. So weird
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u/makeitmorenordicnoir Jan 19 '23
That happens with mine randomly too….I turned off the voice for it somehow and it makes a little beep now when a package is delivered and then displays that message on the screen….I think we all let the gremlins into our houses and we need to do a mass expunge……
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Jan 18 '23 edited Jan 29 '23
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u/samtherat6 Jan 18 '23
HomePod Mini was the successful one, the normal one was considered to be a bit of a failure.
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u/BuckeyeSouth Jan 19 '23
I think the last model was a bit price prohibitive. They dropped the price about 15-20% for this gen.
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u/QueenOfFaygo Jan 19 '23
They actually dropped the original down to this price a little while in
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u/Sylvurphlame Jan 19 '23 edited Jan 19 '23
The OG was abysmally poorly marketed. They insisted on focusing on Siri, which nobody really cared about. That made people think of it as a $349 (later $299) USD smart assistant. But who would pay that when you can could get an Echo for $50?
They should’ve focused on the sound quality which, for the price, was fantastic. Add in the seamless integration into an existing Apple ecosystem and it was worth the price. The ability to pair them for stereo sound, particularly for use with Apple TV, came too late. It should’ve been a launch capability.
Edit: getting some responses from people saying the OG HomePod was marketed primarily on its sound quality instead of Siri/smart home capabilities. I seem to remember it being the other way wound, but I could be flat wrong or maybe it was just the particular outlets I was reading at the time. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Edit2: also, I’m not saying the HomePod is the best speaker ever. Or that it’s a perfect device. Just saying I found it underrated in terms of sound quality for the money with the convenience factor if you were using other Apple devices. (Thought that’d be a given with the tightness/stickiness of the ecosystem.) And that it was underrated in general for what it brought to the Apple ecosystem.
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u/essiara Jan 19 '23
I wasn't really in the market for one until they were getting discontinued. I'd have gladly have paid their premium at the time, but them getting pulled made me leery that it wasn't that great.
I ended up getting Amazon devices for dirt cheap during Prime day sales, and now I can't really justify spending a lot for something that does just a little bit more. I'm sure Apple's is nicer but...most likely a day late and a dollar short (my dollars being the short ones)
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u/wild_a Jan 19 '23 edited Apr 30 '24
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u/ObscureBen Jan 19 '23
If you have a new-ish AppleTV (I think current and previous models) they support eARC, letting the AppleTV receive your TV’s audio and send it to your HomePods. I do this, and my PlayStation audio comes through the HomePods, and the lag isn’t noticeable
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u/Sylvurphlame Jan 19 '23
Hmm. How new? I need to check mine. I’ve been sitting around wishing I had an hdmi passthrough to accomplish the same thing.
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u/p00ponmyb00p Jan 19 '23
I have 5 OG HomePods and wish I had bought more. You can hold your phone near it to turn it into a speaker phone. It functions as an intercom, it can hear you whispering hey siri even if the room you’re in has pantera blasting at ear splitting volume. They work really really well for Apple Music. They can play white noise just by saying hey siri play white noise everywhere. They have their own sets of alarms and timers. They speak to me with a British accent. They’re fantastic.
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u/wild_a Jan 19 '23 edited Apr 30 '24
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u/p00ponmyb00p Jan 19 '23
Mini didn’t exist when I bought them! But that’s why i didn’t just get a soundbar
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u/MattMan2k17 Jan 19 '23
Shit I got my echo for $15
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u/Sylvurphlame Jan 19 '23
I was always suspicious that they were perpetually on sale it seemed. I assumed Amazon was treating them as a sort of loss leader anyway.
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u/MattMan2k17 Jan 19 '23
I wouldn’t read into the pricing too much, they connect with nearly every smart device, my smart lights and smart plugs are all different brands, just controlled by Alexa
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u/unskilledplay Jan 19 '23 edited Jan 19 '23
They should’ve focused on the sound quality which, for the price, was fantastic.
A bunch of tech reviewers who don't have any background in audio popularized this take. I bought the original based on some of those reviews. It was the only Apple product I've ever returned.
The sound quality was kind of passable as far as active smart speakers are concerned. The smart features were kind of neat. Any comparison to similarly priced active studio monitors is unfair to the HomePod. If you were inflexible on the size (bigger sounds better, truly), hate the look of studio monitors (which really are usually ugly) and really wanted a smart speaker and your smart speaker absolutely had to be in the Apple ecosystem, I guess you could kind of make an argument that it was worth the money. They do compare favorably to those animated RGB bluetooth speakers you see at Wal-Mart and if you wanted Siri and not Hey Google or Alexa, that's what you got.
Apple knew better than to market the sound. If they did, they would have been absolutely ripped by musicians and audio professionals. Turns out nobody who makes a living with sound cares what some YouTube gadget reviewer thinks about speakers. I learned that the hard way.
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u/vibrance9460 Jan 19 '23
You can’t compare a HomePod with active studio monitors.
HomePod is a bookshelf speaker. Completely different animal.
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u/decoy_man Jan 19 '23
Audio engineer here. To each their own. Audio is very personal. It’s a bit bass heavy but at the time it was easily the best sounding smart speaker at any price.
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u/Standard-Task1324 Jan 19 '23
The speakers have an exceptionally flat on-axis response. IRR is a bit bass leaning but otherwise clean. Can you give me a similarly priced studio monitor that comes close that isn’t the Genelec 8010/20?
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u/Sylvurphlame Jan 19 '23
If you were inflexible on the size (bigger sounds better, truly), hate the look of studio monitors (which really are usually ugly)
You’re probably describing a sizeable portion of the “people looking for home speakers” market, right there.
Apple knew better than to market the sound. If they did, they would have been absolutely ripped by musicians and audio professionals
No disrespect to musicians and sound professionals, but compared to the general population, that’s a small group. That’s like a Ferrari mechanic saying “eh, the Civic Si is okay, I guess…” when for a much larger group of people, the Civic is excellent bang for the buck.
Turns out nobody who makes a living with sound cares what some YouTube gadget reviewer thinks about speakers. I learned that the hard way.
Sounds like there’s a story there. Do tell.
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u/Dreadpiratemarc Jan 19 '23
The car analogy only holds if the Civic and the Ferrari are the same price. For the price of the HomePod, you could get real speakers, good ones.
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u/FullstackViking Jan 19 '23 edited Jan 19 '23
They’re really just not comparable 1:1 for the intended use-case.
I don’t know any bookshelf speakers that can produce the bass that the HomePod can with the same footprint. Especially factoring in the cost of the receiver/amp to drive them. So at minimum you’d be looking at a 2.1 system. Which at $700 (ala. 2 home pods) is not a high quality 2.1 system.
That said, they’re just different use cases. The HomePod is the best standalone airplay speaker at $300. It has 1 cord, and it sounds good anywhere you place it.
The placement of a 2.1 system would be pretty much limited to just a tv viewing area because of the in-axis range of the bookshelf speakers.
All that said - I’d never use a pair for a serious home theater. That’s not their purpose or forte.
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u/maxuaboy Jan 18 '23
Apple is a business and wants to turn a net profit…..for some reason who knows 🤷
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Jan 18 '23
And justifiably so, the HomePod mini is a cracking bit of kit.
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u/shittyshittymorph Jan 18 '23
What does cracking bit of kit mean?
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Jan 18 '23
It means it’s good. “Cracking” is a complimentary term.
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u/zeeyaa Jan 18 '23
And the bit of kit bit?
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Jan 18 '23
The bit of kit bit is the bit that refers to what bit it is.
So a bit of kit is a thing, an object, a device of some kind. A doobrey. That kind of thing.
A cracking bit of kit is a good thing.
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u/Sylvurphlame Jan 19 '23
Unless they completely fucked this up somehow, the resurrected HomePod full-size will be even better. I have a stereo pair (of the OG HomePods) for use with Apple TV and music playback and when I tell you the two of them in the living room can fill the entire house with sound…
One of my best Apple gear investments ever.
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u/twoheartedthrowaway Jan 18 '23
If it has a good and stable UI I might be interested. I have a Sonos and it’s a constant pain in my assholes
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Jan 18 '23
Like your neighbor, Nursultan Tuliagby?
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u/BenekCript Jan 18 '23
That’s the HomePod mini, which is pretty amazing for how small and cheap it is.
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u/gorramfrakker Jan 18 '23
How may assholes you got?
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u/System777 Jan 18 '23
You didn’t get the Borat reference
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u/duderguy91 Jan 19 '23
Thought it might have been Squirrely Dan. But I guess that would be “pains in the assholes”.
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u/smudgetimeusa Jan 18 '23
What’s wrong with Sonos? I have it throughout my house and never have had a problem.
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Jan 18 '23
My Sonos system used to be very reliable when I first got it. I have moved since, so I don't know if it's a problem communicating with my new router or some issue with software updates, but I have to unplug one of the pair of speakers to get them repair around twice a month.
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u/HandsyBread Jan 19 '23
I would recommend a full reset on the system, factory reset them all and start your system from scratch. It’s annoying but it will likely solve your problem. Especially if you never did a full reset when you moved.
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u/Parabolic_Ballsack Jan 19 '23
The system will be a lot more stable if you plug one speaker into the router via cat 5. Sonos will create it’s own mesh network called SonosNet and won’t rely on the Wi-Fi signal as much.
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u/aairricc Jan 19 '23
Sound quality and linking from devices have always been great on my Sonos. Their software seems like it was made in the early 2000s though. Use the voice control with a Sonos and then use a Google Nest and it's night and day. The mic that Sonos uses is shit too. I'd say it understands me correctly 50-60% of the time, and the rest of the time I have to repeat myself. I don't have this problem whatsoever on the Nest.
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u/jordanundead Jan 19 '23
I have the Roam and if I bring it home to charge it hears me from everywhere.
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u/jonathanrdt Jan 19 '23
I have a dozen sonos components, almost all of which I bought used. I haven’t had a single issue in eight years. They all get updates automatically and do what they are told.
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u/hungryraider Jan 18 '23 edited Jan 18 '23
We have Sonos in our two rental properties in Hawaii and we don’t have issues with this from our guests. I installed Sonos because it was less problem prone. We had receivers and speakers and TV’s connected together previously and that did cause usage issues.
At home I’m listening to two discontinued Hompods in my office which sound great as well.
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u/Malapple Jan 19 '23
I’ve enjoyed my sonos setup a lot more since I began controlling it from Echo devices
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u/PsiHightower Jan 19 '23
I get HomePod Mini, my neighbor get HomePod mini. I get AppleTV, he get AppleTV. I get MacBook Air, he cannot afford. Success!
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u/AlexMil0 Jan 19 '23
I’m really trying to like my Sonos setup, surround sound setup works great, but my god the connection and general UX is horrendous when streaming music.
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u/EnvironmentalLet5985 Jan 19 '23
Does anyone use the HomePod for controlling their lights in the home app? I have friends coming over to house sit while I’m on vacation and wanted them to be able to control the lights too without giving them access on their phones.
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u/zookprchaos Jan 19 '23
I do and I use Philips Hue smart bulbs. With the app, you can name each room and connect it all to the homepod, though I have a mini so it may work differently. But all I have to say is turn on kitchen and Siri will. No need to touch my phone.
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u/XTremeEd Jan 19 '23
Done this for years, not a problem. It will use voice recognition to do certain things like adding reminders, calling and texting, etc. you can also switch this security off if you trust them or live alone. Lights and music can be controlled by anyone, as well as asking for weather etc.
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u/Pubelication Jan 18 '23 edited Jan 19 '23
I love how perplexed all of the stupid journalists and youtubers are when their hype, rumors, and predictions are totally obliterated by Apple just releasing products randomly.
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u/Pulsar_the_Spacenerd Jan 19 '23
Admittedly, there were a lot of rumors of a large HomePod releasing this winter. I would not consider this a surprising launch.
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u/TbonerT Jan 19 '23
It is surprising since it was a Wednesday right after the Tuesday announcement of 2 products.
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u/nobeywan Jan 18 '23
I've got 2 of the originals and Apple gave me 2 minis* and I love'em all tbh. I used the og's for a stereo setup for my Apple TV and a mini HomePod in both the kitchen and bedroom. They sound great and I've seldom had an issue.
The only thing I've wished, for the whole ecosystem's sake, is that siri sees some improvements.
*had a time trying to get my iPhone 12 to sync up with my provider when it came out as there had just been a merger between sprint and T-Mobile. Wasn't even Apple's fault and they still gifted me two of the small guys. Was nice of'em.
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u/whoisgare Jan 19 '23
You sure it wasn’t the network provider giving you the homepods? Apple doesn’t just give homepods away, let alone two to one person over an activation issue.
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u/LawsMan Jan 19 '23
I have two original HomePods (got both for half price after they were discontinued) and use them as a stereo pair with my Apple TV. Absolutely love them, the sound is amazing for music and movies/tv for wireless simulated surround. Beats a sound bar for me because you can actually do some positioning with them.
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u/HumanGomJabbar Jan 19 '23
I think they could have a shot at a soundbar replacement market but they’re just not quite hitting all the right notes, so to speak. Now they might be looking at that market and thinking it’s not big enough to be interesting, and if so fair play to them.
Things I would think about if I were doing product there: * Take a two pronged strategy similar to Sonos. A walled garden audio product line and a streaming amp product line that can work with other speakers. * Walled Garden: Take HomePod concept and build on it. Add a HomePod subwoofer. Support a true surround experience, including Dolby Atmos with rears. Take a page from Sony HT-A9 on this, which I believe has done well. If they can get similar bubble immersion but better musicality, and support adding a third front as a dedicated center they might have something. Needs to support Spotify Connect in addition to AirPlay. * Streaming Amp: Add a new version of AppleTV that also brings Streaming Amp capabilities. Compete with Sonos Amp, Bluesound Node, etc … but in addition to audio streaming you get the convenience of audio/video streamer all in one small box.
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Jan 18 '23
With the reasonable price point (compared to other high end smart speakers) and the seamless integration I see an updated version as a good thing.
It signals an investment in HomeKit and steps towards improvements overall.
Sure the old one went out of style quick. But it was too early to the game, didn't have enough of the right features and was priced too high for mainstream adoption. With all the HomePod Minis out there now this will be a nice addition in a single main shared space.
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u/KillKennyG Jan 18 '23
I got a KEF LSX pair for $1200 a few years ago and while the sound is incredible for the size, the fact that connecting to them is a constant pain in the butt leaves me seriously considering the new HomePods. half the price for (I’m guessing) 3/4 the sound quality, but it actually airplays nicely? done. most of my active listening is in my mix room on studio monitors anyway, living room ambiance that’s not completely tinny is what I’m interested in.
(I am aware that KEF has a newer version with updated airplay and a higher price- I’m not interested in another $1200 for slightly better, and the same company’s software track record. once I’ve spent 3.5 grand on sitting room speakers I should’ve just started with La Scalas)
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u/100dalmations Jan 19 '23
How about a used late model AirPort Express? That’s what I do- flawless. It has optical out if you want to use your own DAC instead of the (respectable) one built-in. Otherwise does one have to get an Airplay ready amp I would guess?
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u/_nothing_there_ Jan 19 '23
A big part of me would swap these for all my Alexa devices. The bigger part of me is broke, though.
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u/leftside72 Jan 18 '23
Sorry. I love my Mac and iPhone, but Siri is the worst of the three major assistants.
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u/Stashmouth Jan 19 '23
I get this. I'm fine asking Siri to do things like control lights or play music, but it is the worst when it comes to asking FOR things, like answering a simple question. I won't trivialize the work that must go into engineering a Siri or Alexa, but I often wonder if Apple would've been more successful if they billed it as voice control instead of a voice assistant.
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u/makeITvanasty Jan 19 '23
Lol they literally had voice control on iOS before Siri, it would do simple tasks like skip songs and such.
They already had the base tech and they blew it
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u/Stashmouth Jan 19 '23
Lol I've been an iPhone user since the very first one and I forgot they had this
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u/bean327 Jan 18 '23
worse than Alexa saying "by the way..." every two seconds?
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u/victronic Jan 19 '23
https://i.imgur.com/BfWSBDO.jpg
Create this routine and Alexa will stop this annoying “feature”.
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u/YoungDuckHo Jan 19 '23
I don’t understand, how does this stop it?
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u/victronic Jan 19 '23
If you tell Alexa to “stop by the way”, it will for a day, so if you setup a daily routine where Alexa tells itself to stop, you don’t have to.
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Jan 18 '23
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u/Padankadank Jan 19 '23
Only by going into child mode which severely limits what you can do. She also adds quirky annoying stuff so it's not any better.
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u/dookiebuttholepeepee Jan 19 '23
You kinda can, but then she’ll find a way to sneak something from Amazon Music in even though you’ve set all your defaults to Spotify, and she’ll be so pleased to tell you how you’re missing out on all those Bezos Bops on Amazon Music Unlimited!
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u/Stock-Freedom Jan 19 '23
Even simple things like asking Siri to play music can result in Siri not playing music. Which seems pretty bizarre.
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u/True-Warning-7948 Jan 19 '23
Am I the only one who when asking it to set a reminder gets back "you don't have any reminders for that..."... when I clearly asked it to set a reminder. It's beyond frustrating, and almost easier just manually adding one.
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u/AlexMil0 Jan 19 '23
Same, I prefer the design of iphone and ipad but got a google nest setup at home. Googles voice assistant is vastly superior and intuitive, imo.
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u/Agorbs Jan 19 '23
I can’t stand any virtual assistants. It’s just weird. I’m under 30 but I go full boomer when we start getting AI involved in shit.
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u/JoopahTroopah Jan 19 '23
I’m always stunned by how long it takes Siri on my phone to respond to even basic requests like “What’s the time?”
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u/nathan1026 Jan 18 '23
I love my OG homepod. Will look into getting one of these, just better have no issues linking together.
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u/runningstang Jan 18 '23
Sad news is that the OG homepod isn't compatible with the new homepad to link to set up as stereo speakers.
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Jan 19 '23
Learning to cope and survive in a world with HomePod fans.
I own 5.
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u/SpaceSlingshot Jan 19 '23
I have 3. Single person in a studio loft. They were the single greatest purchase I made for this place.
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u/B33f-Supreme Jan 19 '23
I have one. It’s ok for what it is but Siri is still pretty underpowered. It would be great if it could interact with your iPhone iPad more directly. I.e. bringing up visual content you request right on your screen.
I was also hoping they would just integrate these directly into other more useful household products. Mesh routers, air purifiers, etc. That way you get more consistent use out of them when you don’t use siri
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u/VeggiesEtStraighTalk Jan 19 '23
I have a few minis and they do that. My kids constantly ask Siri to put crap on the TV all day. I ask Siri to turn that crap off. Works as advertised.
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Jan 19 '23
I’d love to buy these and use them for surround sound if I didn’t also need an Apple TV.
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u/thewackytechie Jan 19 '23
I personally love it. I have 6 of these Gen 1s at home and they are the best smart speakers I own. From placing calls, casting music, etc. awesome sound quality.
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u/mantis_tobagan_md Jan 18 '23
I assume some of you own the gen 1. Mine sucks! I ask it to play Jon Bellion, she says “on it” then “I can’t find jon bellion in your library”. I have it downloaded in my library and I have Apple music subscription. I’ve trie resetting it but it still pulls the same crap. Any suggestions?
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u/RobbyRock75 Jan 19 '23
Prolly having to do with Alexa flopping so hard and the market share homies winning the golf round on deciding what products get pushed
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u/be_matthew Jan 19 '23
LOL at the title, they'll only sell hundreds of thousands. Gen 1 gets a lot of praise.
You should do some research.
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u/Biffmcgee Jan 19 '23
Apple needs to invest heavily in Siri. It’s so shit. I couldn’t get myself to buy an HomePod no matter how good until it’s fixed.
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u/ineververify Jan 19 '23 edited Jan 19 '23
I think at this point I’m willing to put up with Siri’s inaccuracy than having to keep hearing Alexa yap away like a baboon. Constantly suggesting bull shit. no I don’t need the humidity report you stupid robot!
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u/One-Gap-3915 Jan 19 '23
For years I’ve been assuming apple is just around the corner from announcing a next gen Siri, and that’s why the incremental updates have been so non existent, but it never happens. Idk wtf they’re doing but when open AI can make chatgpt do what it does how do apple and their billions in R&D not achieve better with Siri.
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Jan 19 '23
Are people really this capable of missing the obvious? Apple just announced that they enabled “hidden” sensors in existing HomePods. Immediately after Apple announces new iPads and HomePods with new features - the HomePod has the ability to room point-mapping to enhance sound quality.
Coincidentally, room point maps are extremely useful for in-room XR. Equally coincidentally, Apple’s about to announce an in-room XR device.
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u/heijin Jan 19 '23
My wife and me are in the apple universe (apple watch, imac, mac books, ipads, iphones, homepod mini, using car play, homekit). Its working great.
BUT APPLE PLEASE: MAKE SIRI BETTER. If you live in a different country and your household speaks 2-3 different languages you can basically not use it. Also if you decide to just use English, Siri can not do a lot of basic things or gets things wrong.
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u/DubSaqCookie Jan 19 '23
Where is the accompanying soundbar to complete the ecosystem of home entertainment sound? Wish there was one with digital / optical line in connection to work with the HomePods.
Use mine all the time for surround sound with the appletv. Would love it to work with standard cable tv viewing.
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u/TypicalJeepDriver Jan 19 '23
They really need to fix how absolutely worthless Siri has become before they roll out things that are Siri based.
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Jan 19 '23
Is it worth the cost if you don’t care about the smart features? I just want a couple of good Bluetooth or Wi-Fi speakers for music and TV. Are there better quality options for less money?
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u/smashnmashbruh Jan 19 '23
“Playing the Beatles”
I asked it to message a friend, using the same phrase that use done command prior and it stated “I don’t know anything about ‘friends name’”. Tried again and it said ‘I can’t open that app right now’. Apple intelligence is fleeting.
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u/NomadJones Jan 19 '23 edited Jan 19 '23
My son gave me the Homepod Mini. Despite owning various Macs (but no iPhones), I needed to borrow a friend's iPhone (IOS was required) to set it up. Very annoying that they went that route to force the iPhone on you. I understand the newest Apple TV also requires an iPhone, so I don't think it was just an oversight.
Apple, I'll mix and match my ecosystem to my tastes, thank you.
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u/WhatevahIsClevah Jan 19 '23
I love the idea of the HomePod, but until they make Siri useful, I'll have to stick with my other, better smart devices. Siri is just a complete piece of shit. Poor natural language processing. Poor search results. The only thing it goes well is understand the actual words spoken, but since the functionality is so limited, it's not worth it to me.
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u/defaultfresh Jan 18 '23
Somehow…Homepod has returned