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Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

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Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#181

Post by ezconnect »

wodenokoto wrote: post #160
vineyardmike wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Siri is mediocre at best, we also probably agree. Lots of things to complain about… how Siri works inconsistently across devices, punts most queries to a web search, etc. I appreciate that they aren’t overbuilding Siri though. Alexa (which recent experienced an unfortunate gutting vis layoffs) was amazons attempt to build a consumer ecosystem, which meant a lot of crappy features no one uses (notifications?). Siri…

> I still don’t know why anyone would buy a $300 HomePod. As the owner of two original HomePods, they’re fine. Why did you get yours?

Maybe because he thought it would be good and useful. Now he knows better after experiencing it.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#182

Post by vineyardmike »

wodenokoto wrote: post #160
vineyardmike wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Siri is mediocre at best, we also probably agree. Lots of things to complain about… how Siri works inconsistently across devices, punts most queries to a web search, etc. I appreciate that they aren’t overbuilding Siri though. Alexa (which recent experienced an unfortunate gutting vis layoffs) was amazons attempt to build a consumer ecosystem, which meant a lot of crappy features no one uses (notifications?). Siri…

> I still don’t know why anyone would buy a $300 HomePod. As the owner of two original HomePods, they’re fine. Why did you get yours?

I bought one when it was the only Siri speaker. My partner did the same, we now share a household.

We have since bought Alexa devices, then after the release of the HomePods Mini, prompted threw away Alexa. One too many “by the way” interjections for us.

Oh and now I bought a Google home hub v2. Great device, but we’re an apple household.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#183

Post by benhurmarcel »

yowzadave wrote: post #130

HomePod is the most annoying piece of technology that I still frequently use. I was an early buyer of the first version, but this update doesn't address any of the complaints that I have about it: 1. No audio line-in! It's a $300 speaker, it sounds great...sometimes I'd like to be able to just plug something into it. If you have a record player, you have to have a separate set of speakers for it, because this thing w…

There's also no way to use Ethernet. It could be on the power brick like the iMac or Chromecast Ultra.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#185

Post by Reason077 »

novok wrote: post #167
Hippocrates wrote: post #137

I F'in LOVE the OG HomePods. The sound quality absolutely slaps for the money/size/convenience. I've got one for music in the kitchen and it fills the room like a setup 3x as large. The bass response even at low volumes is remarkable, and clarity through the whole volume range is near perfection. Many of my guests have sourced their own OGs after hearing it. I've got another hooked up to my Apple TV (mono) that repla…

Siri is really bad on many basic things that they could hard code. Like 'turn off lights' become 'turning on the the lights'. There are many weird ass bitflips for basics like that in Siri that is incredibly frustrating that alexa and google are significantly better in understanding reliably. Whats even worse is Siri could hard code these basics and not use ML which tends to work %90 of the time, but bitflips %10 of…

I find Siri is very good at recognising my words accurately. Better than Google, in my experience, but that could be due to differences in mic quality in the various devices. Where Siri sucks is at actually comprehending instructions beyond some fairly basic commands. "Here's something I looked up on the web" is it's default response to most of my outside-of-the-box queries.

It seems weird that we still have such a dumb Siri in a world where ChatGPT exists.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#186

Post by criddell »

BasedInfra wrote: post #5

Siri is the main issue holding me back from buying a homepod. Alexa & Google just bypass it in cleverness while also understanding my accent way better. The only major plus of Siri is tight integration into ios.

There's one thing keeping my Echo plugged in: AnyList integration. I can say "Alexa, add eggs" and it adds eggs to my AnyList shopping list. With a HomePod, I have to say something like "Hey Siri, using AnyList add eggs to my grocery list" or something like that. It's way too clumsy.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#187

Post by benhurmarcel »

perardi wrote: post #46

Is it time to complain about Siri again? Sure is! I am an old-school Apple fanboy. I learned HyperCard on a Macintosh SE/30—I am that old. I still appreciate the Apple ecosystem, and I do like certain aspects of my HomePod mini…but Siri. C’mon. Get it together. It just fails at the absolute basics. https://imgur.com/q0H788Y The basics being: please add stuff to my shopping list when I yell it into the aether while in…

It would also be pretty nice to have Siri works in several languages on a shared device like the Homepod. Not everyone has the same native language in my house.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#188

Post by dkonofalski »

novok wrote: post #167
Hippocrates wrote: post #137

I F'in LOVE the OG HomePods. The sound quality absolutely slaps for the money/size/convenience. I've got one for music in the kitchen and it fills the room like a setup 3x as large. The bass response even at low volumes is remarkable, and clarity through the whole volume range is near perfection. Many of my guests have sourced their own OGs after hearing it. I've got another hooked up to my Apple TV (mono) that repla…

Siri is really bad on many basic things that they could hard code. Like 'turn off lights' become 'turning on the the lights'. There are many weird ass bitflips for basics like that in Siri that is incredibly frustrating that alexa and google are significantly better in understanding reliably. Whats even worse is Siri could hard code these basics and not use ML which tends to work %90 of the time, but bitflips %10 of…

I know we're just exchanging anecdotes but I never have this issue. On top of that, I have scenes and automations dialed in so "Good Night" (and similar scenes) do full-house automations for night, morning, and all kinds of different things. I even have some set up so that, when my car pulls into the garage after work, it kicks off a few automations.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#189

Post by pasc1878 »

dewey wrote: post #113
yalogin wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am curious. How often do you use a voice assistant and what tasks?

I'm not the parent commenter but I'm using Siri on my HomePod minis all the time. Turning on / off lights. Regulating the temperature, setting timers, asking for temperature outside, stopping the music. Unfortunately Siri isn't that great so you'll often run into "Waiting for it", "One moment" and "Working on it" replies.

Also often siri cannot tell the difference between on and off.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#190

Post by dkonofalski »

atdrummond wrote: post #179
ezfe wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>3. Siri tries (and frequently fails) to identify me and my wife by our voice, and then won't do things (like turn off the music, find our iPhone, etc.) because she can't figure out who we are. I've never had this issue in my household. Have you tried re-training it?

Shouldn’t we give him the benefit of the doubt over the HomePod?

Why? One is a human and the other is not. Humans have far more failures than limited tech.
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