I was testing a HomePod as a conference speakerphone in a large open office environment - where we often have all hands - and it did extremely well - clearly picking up individuals that were quite far from the actual device and that were speaking at a normal volume.
I would love Apple to enable some sort of "Office Mode" for the HomePod similar to what they've done with the Apple TV (given the name doubt it will happen anytime soon) - maybe something they could work on with Cisco on? It performed better than the Jabra Speak 810 which is almost twice the cost. Has anyone else experienced this or used it in an office environment?
Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings
11–20 of 73 posts
Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
iPhones are not optimized for far-field use, though (which typically requires a mic array different than what's on iPhone). Echo has seven highly directional mics pointed in all different directions, and software which detects and isolates the source of speech. iPhone has two omnidirectional mics[1], on the bottom of the phone optimized for how you hold it in your hand. [1]I am ignoring the other two mics on iPhone,…
Yes, I am aware of all this, and that's why I bought a couple of Echo Dots. My point is that I wish Apple didn't assume I would be holding my iPhone in my hand. I have Xs, for example. It doesn't need to operate from a different room but unless I'm holding my phone, I just don't bother. Adding an additional microphone, etc would make Siri more useful while it's nearby. I'm really looking forward to yelling into my ki…
Let me get this straight.
You want Apple to put more mics into the iPhone, so that it can better address a use-case that Apple is already addressing with a well-engineered product built expressly for that purpose?
OK.
Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings
#13"Unlike Siri on iPhone, which operates close to the user’s mouth," I wish they wouldn't make this assumption. Siri would be much more useful sitting on my kitchen counter or coffee table. I now use the Echo for timers, music, weather, movie times, random questions, ...
I find that my iPhone is responsive to Siri requests if I'm within 8-10 feet. It's possible that training "Hey Siri" at this distance could help. But at the end of the day, Apple won't optimize too much for this use case, since they want you to buy a HomePod, Apple Watch, or AirPods. Also, there's power consumption to think about. The HomePod is plugged 24/7, whereas you want your iPhone battery to last a long time.
Your iPhone is always listening for “hey Siri” in a power-optimized way. It’s just not doing all the fancy things the HomePod is doing because it’s use case (and hardware) is different.
Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, I am aware of all this, and that's why I bought a couple of Echo Dots. My point is that I wish Apple didn't assume I would be holding my iPhone in my hand. I have Xs, for example. It doesn't need to operate from a different room but unless I'm holding my phone, I just don't bother. Adding an additional microphone, etc would make Siri more useful while it's nearby. I'm really looking forward to yelling into my ki…
Let me get this straight. You want Apple to put more mics into the iPhone, so that it can better address a use-case that Apple is already addressing with a well-engineered product built expressly for that purpose? OK.
Let me clarify for you. I would like my $1300 phone to answer me when it’s sitting 3 feet away from me. I wanna start music, I want to pause music, I want to ask it questions, and I want it to work reliably.
When a timer stops, for example, I want to be able to say "hey Siri stop timer."
It’s perfectly acceptable if Apple doesn’t see this as a use case. I’ll simply take my business somewhere else to solve that problem. I'm simply throwing it out as a nice to have.
Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings
#15[deleted]
Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings
#16"Unlike Siri on iPhone, which operates close to the user’s mouth," I wish they wouldn't make this assumption. Siri would be much more useful sitting on my kitchen counter or coffee table. I now use the Echo for timers, music, weather, movie times, random questions, ...
Siri would be much more useful sitting on my kitchen counter or coffee table.
That's called "a HomePod".
I now use the Echo for timers, music, weather, movie times, random questions, ...
"Because the iPhone does not fill the role of 'smart speaker', instead of buying Apple's smart speaker I will purchase someone else's smart speaker."
To each their own, but to me it's like complaining how the Apple Watch makes for a shitty wireless speaker.
Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings
#17In my experience they over-optimized, with homepod now responding to "hey Sara" instead of Siri. Drives my partner nuts.
Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let me get this straight. You want Apple to put more mics into the iPhone, so that it can better address a use-case that Apple is already addressing with a well-engineered product built expressly for that purpose? OK.
Let me clarify for you. I would like my $1300 phone to answer me when it’s sitting 3 feet away from me. I wanna start music, I want to pause music, I want to ask it questions, and I want it to work reliably. When a timer stops, for example, I want to be able to say "hey Siri stop timer." It’s perfectly acceptable if Apple doesn’t see this as a use case. I’ll simply take my business somewhere else to solve that proble…
> I want my $1300 phone to answer me when it’s sitting 3 feet away from me.
Is this a problem you have? I'm able to reliably use Siri on my phone from up to maybe 2-3 feet away in a moderately noisy environment (casual conversation around a table) with almost no issue, and I can easily use it up to 10+ feet away in a quiet environment. I've had this success since the 7+ at least (when I tested it), but I've continued to see such performance on the X and XS Max.
Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find that my iPhone is responsive to Siri requests if I'm within 8-10 feet. It's possible that training "Hey Siri" at this distance could help. But at the end of the day, Apple won't optimize too much for this use case, since they want you to buy a HomePod, Apple Watch, or AirPods. Also, there's power consumption to think about. The HomePod is plugged 24/7, whereas you want your iPhone battery to last a long time.
Your iPhone is always listening for “hey Siri” in a power-optimized way. It’s just not doing all the fancy things the HomePod is doing because it’s use case (and hardware) is different.
Yep, and it seems that it's also primed to respond if there's been recent motion, versus sitting on the table.
Re: Optimizing Siri on HomePod in Far‑Field Settings
#20In my experience they over-optimized, with homepod now responding to "hey Sara" instead of Siri. Drives my partner nuts.
We've been getting lots of false positives, as well, but it seems to have started happening suddenly. I wonder if it's related to a recent software update.