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Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

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Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#31

Post by mechanicum »

greedo wrote: post #21
yunwal wrote: post #12

The last HomePods sounded great, but it’s hard for me to imagine them taking off without fixing Siri. Siri is still remarkably dumb compared to Alexa and certainly when compared to GPT3.5 tools. If you ask Siri “What is 220°C in F” it will correctly hear the words you’re saying, then convert 220F to C. Because of this, I never use Siri outside of contexts I’m sure Apple has tested thoroughly (e.g. read my last text).

Worked perfectly for me on my iPhone.

Same. I wondered if it was making a locale-based assumption about what you wanted, but it works converting the other way too.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#32

Post by distantsounds »

sneak wrote: post #13

This is extremely exciting, given the audio quality of the HomePod 1. I had been buying new old stock of HomePod 1s off eBay to make sure I have 6 working ones (I use 3 different stereo pairs) for the foreseeable future. The only real downside of HomePods is that they don't function as bluetooth audio receivers (Apple proprietary AirPlay2 only) and that you need an Apple ID (as well as iCloud enabled on that Apple ID…

you're aware Apple _reduced_ the number of internal speakers, right? what makes you think it will be better, aside from flashy marketing materials?

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#33

Post by newmac »

I would love to hear the inside story about why the old one was discontinued and it took so long for the v2.

The HomePod mini is the "first device" we have given to our children. No screen, I am comfortable with apple privacy, access to music and podcasts, etc.

The mini has shockingly good sound for $100 and what it is.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#34

Post by [deleted] »

dustedcodes wrote: post #7

In our house we have Google's home speakers and the original Nest cameras and also some new cameras which only work with the Google home app and over the years I could see a gradual decline in reliability, functionality and just in general a decline in the usefulness of those things. The camera feed is so slow since Google took over Nest, it barely works with the Google home app and keeps cutting out, doesn't load at…

[deleted]

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#35

Post by Hamuko »

yunwal wrote: post #12

The last HomePods sounded great, but it’s hard for me to imagine them taking off without fixing Siri. Siri is still remarkably dumb compared to Alexa and certainly when compared to GPT3.5 tools. If you ask Siri “What is 220°C in F” it will correctly hear the words you’re saying, then convert 220F to C. Because of this, I never use Siri outside of contexts I’m sure Apple has tested thoroughly (e.g. read my last text).

I thought that the main reason between the last generation of HomePod flopping was because they're so locked down. And apparently they still don't support Bluetooth streaming even though it has built-in Bluetooth?

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#36

Post by atonse »

dustedcodes wrote: post #7

In our house we have Google's home speakers and the original Nest cameras and also some new cameras which only work with the Google home app and over the years I could see a gradual decline in reliability, functionality and just in general a decline in the usefulness of those things. The camera feed is so slow since Google took over Nest, it barely works with the Google home app and keeps cutting out, doesn't load at…

We have the original HomePod. The sound quality really has been great and would be even better with stereo pairing. Even HomePod minis with stereo pairing feel very immersive. We got minis for the kids rooms because those were the only ones with privacy controls I was ok with.

We also extensively use HomeKit for all our smart home devices and a huge reason was the privacy, vs Ring and Google.

So the video doorbell we have is entirely local and so sarhad worked really well (logitech). And I like how it’s end to end encrypted so nobody gets access to our video feeds. Plus the chime is the HomePod itself.

As usual though, Siri sucks. Just… sucks. so that’s always the weakest link.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#38

Post by [deleted] »

yunwal wrote: post #12

The last HomePods sounded great, but it’s hard for me to imagine them taking off without fixing Siri. Siri is still remarkably dumb compared to Alexa and certainly when compared to GPT3.5 tools. If you ask Siri “What is 220°C in F” it will correctly hear the words you’re saying, then convert 220F to C. Because of this, I never use Siri outside of contexts I’m sure Apple has tested thoroughly (e.g. read my last text).

[deleted]

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#39

Post by greggsy »

ZeroCool2u wrote: post #14

Seems like Apple executed the way Google should have with their Google Home Max. They've added stereo pairing, so you can have two of them sync up together and then connect them to an Apple TV 4k and you basically get a pretty nice wireless sound bar with Dolby Atmos enabled. Still, at $300 per pod, I really need Siri to do better than the "dumber than a bag of rocks" vibe she currently gives off for this to be at al…

I use Siri for mundane things. Horses for courses.

For music though, I prefer browsing through a playlist or artist discogs. Recalling a track from memory and requesting an assistant to play it isn’t very intuitive.

Siri aside, I’m very much looking forward to this update.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#40

Post by strangescript »

newmac wrote: post #33

I would love to hear the inside story about why the old one was discontinued and it took so long for the v2. The HomePod mini is the "first device" we have given to our children. No screen, I am comfortable with apple privacy, access to music and podcasts, etc. The mini has shockingly good sound for $100 and what it is.

Just a guess, but matter compatibility probably caused some slow down. That spec was still in a minor flux until last year.
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