Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

HomePod Mini

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 446 posts

Re: HomePod Mini

#21

Post by actuator »

iwasakabukiman wrote: post #15
llampx wrote: post #8

Can anyone with a Homepod comment on the usability compared to the Google and Amazon spy systems... err speakers?

The sound quality is way beyond anything Google or Amazon offer. If you have other Apple devices, it works just like Siri on your phone. I've got one in my kitchen and it can hear me anywhere in my 3 bedroom house. It's pretty impressive from an audio recognition standpoint. Amazon and Google both have much better home assistants built in.

There is a new Nest audio device out which apparently has good audio and is at the same price as Homepod Mini.

Re: HomePod Mini

#22

Post by ogre_codes »

mmastrac wrote: post #3

Curious how much market share this homepod line has. My gut feel is that Amazon has the lion's share, followed by Google and everyone else has crumbs at the bottom.

Siri lives in on your wrist, in your pocket, or even in your ears with AirPods. It's a pretty significant difference. When you can access Siri anywhere, you only need to put speakers out where you want music.

Google and Amazon need to work harder to get presence so they push them out using aggressive pricing.

Re: HomePod Mini

#23

Post by jagger27 »

The coolest part to me is that they're using the S5 watch SoC to power it. Pretty cool that Apple's various hardware teams can just grab a part off the shelf to use in a completely different class of device.

I'd love to see them reintroduce AirPort routers powered by an A-series chip.

Re: HomePod Mini

#24

Post by mstade »

If they could make these work in a wireless atmos setup seamlessly with the apple tv I'd buy like 14 of them and place all around my living room. Syncing video and audio in real-time wirelessly is really difficult apparently, there's a standard for it called WiSA but almost no adoption sadly. I'd love to cut down on wiring.

Re: HomePod Mini

#25

Post by AceJohnny2 »

ChrisLTD wrote: post #13
athenot wrote: post #7

HomePod mini works with your iPhone for requests like hearing your messages or notes, so they are completed on device without revealing that information to Apple. This is the big differentiating feature, along with the seamless integration within the rest of Apple's product line. EDIT: HomePod does this too but it was not at a price point nor size that competed with other assistants.

Maybe that’s why my HomePod feels so slow?

The SoC in the Homepod is old. It's the Apple A8, which was used on iPhone 6 (2014).

The HomePod Mini uses Apple S5, which was in the Apple Watch 5 (2019)

Re: HomePod Mini

#26

Post by mmastrac »

ogre_codes wrote: post #22
mmastrac wrote: post #3

Curious how much market share this homepod line has. My gut feel is that Amazon has the lion's share, followed by Google and everyone else has crumbs at the bottom.

Siri lives in on your wrist, in your pocket, or even in your ears with AirPods. It's a pretty significant difference. When you can access Siri anywhere, you only need to put speakers out where you want music. Google and Amazon need to work harder to get presence so they push them out using aggressive pricing.

I have the same options with the Google assistant/Chromecast etc. That doesn't answer the question of what the homepod line's market share is.

Re: HomePod Mini

#28

Post by actuator »

llampx wrote: post #8

Can anyone with a Homepod comment on the usability compared to the Google and Amazon spy systems... err speakers?

> Google and Amazon spy systems

I have only used an Echo in the past but fwiw Google does specify what they store and how they use it. https://store.google.com/magazine/google_nest_privacy

Re: HomePod Mini

#29

Post by selykg »

llampx wrote: post #8

Can anyone with a Homepod comment on the usability compared to the Google and Amazon spy systems... err speakers?

Primarily use mine as a speaker and HomeKit device. I have a couple light switches that I use with HomeKit and Siri works really well with control of that.

I also use it with Apple Music and from time to time as an AirPlay device. It also works really well for those purposes.

I don't typically use Siri for reading emails, text messages, or other things like that. I will ask it what the weather is as I walk out the door to determine whether I need to grab an umbrella or a hoodie or something. It also works well enough for that.

Re: HomePod Mini

#30

Post by mttjj »

mstade wrote: post #24

If they could make these work in a wireless atmos setup seamlessly with the apple tv I'd buy like 14 of them and place all around my living room. Syncing video and audio in real-time wirelessly is really difficult apparently, there's a standard for it called WiSA but almost no adoption sadly. I'd love to cut down on wiring.

The comparison table makes is seem like the mini can't be paired with an AppleTV at all like the regular HomePod can.
Post reply on HN