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HomePod Mini

apple.com

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Re: HomePod Mini

#291

Post by bastawhiz »

jshen wrote: post #174

I'm a big apple fan, got a homepod last christmas, and it's the worst apple product that I've ever owned. Truly disappointing. Siri fails to recognize commands that work great on alexa or google, the features it does have often fail (if I transfer a podcast from playing on my phone to play on the homepod, my phone often fails to sync with the location of my homepod). There's no way I will buy one of these until I hea…

I don't own one, but I visited a friend who had gotten one. He was excited to show it off. It was embarrassing. It played the wrong song. He asked it to increase the volume, which it did on the second attempt, but then it was too loud to hear him give the command to decrease the volume. He tried stopping it with his phone and couldn't. Ended up having to press a button on the thing (I think? Or he unplugged it). Quite literally the worst possible demo.

Re: HomePod Mini

#292

Post by kevinlou »

reikonomusha wrote: post #279
jshen wrote: post #174

I'm a big apple fan, got a homepod last christmas, and it's the worst apple product that I've ever owned. Truly disappointing. Siri fails to recognize commands that work great on alexa or google, the features it does have often fail (if I transfer a podcast from playing on my phone to play on the homepod, my phone often fails to sync with the location of my homepod). There's no way I will buy one of these until I hea…

Mine bricked itself on an update. No way to hard reset it. Apple would repair it only for $1 less than the full cost of the device.

You're kidding? That's such poor product support.

I have a whole army of Google Homes, and not one has bricked or had any problems. However, at their price point (bought the Home for $100, Home Minis were mostly free or $20) I wouldn't mind shelling out for a replacement. Considering the starting price of the HomePod, it's nuts that Apple would charge that much to fix (for something that was their issue no less).

Re: HomePod Mini

#293

Post by mensetmanusman »

bastawhiz wrote: post #291
jshen wrote: post #174

I'm a big apple fan, got a homepod last christmas, and it's the worst apple product that I've ever owned. Truly disappointing. Siri fails to recognize commands that work great on alexa or google, the features it does have often fail (if I transfer a podcast from playing on my phone to play on the homepod, my phone often fails to sync with the location of my homepod). There's no way I will buy one of these until I hea…

I don't own one, but I visited a friend who had gotten one. He was excited to show it off. It was embarrassing. It played the wrong song. He asked it to increase the volume, which it did on the second attempt, but then it was too loud to hear him give the command to decrease the volume. He tried stopping it with his phone and couldn't. Ended up having to press a button on the thing (I think? Or he unplugged it). Quit…

This is an amazing SNL skit. I covid-insanity-laughed maniacally when I imagined this being part of the slick apple demo video from today.

Re: HomePod Mini

#294

Post by ptd »

krrishd wrote: post #188
ValentineC wrote: post #66

It doesn't look like the HomePod Mini would support Bluetooth devices as an audio source [1] (the older HomePod has the same issue), even though it lists Bluetooth 5.0 as a connectivity option. [1] https://www.apple.com/homepod-mini/specs/#specs:~:text=Audio... [2] https://www.apple.com/homepod-mini/specs/#specs:~:text=Wirel...

Am I the only one that finds this astounding? Not to mention the inability to take an aux cord. It's one thing for phones to have these lock-in properties, but not being able to aux in audio into a speaker feels wild to me.

Welcome to the future

Re: HomePod Mini

#295

Post by zwily »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #283
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.

I don't think Apple understands what 'world class' assistant means. I've tried their intercom feature on an iPhone using Hey Siri. The message doesn't get recorded if you don't speak english. It works fine if you press and hold side button tho (my preferred way to use Siri anyway). I would probably consider Homepod or Homepod mini if they've got batteries and bluetooth. Heck they could've even used MagSafe chargers f…

You can use intercom already?

Re: HomePod Mini

#296

Post by Arubis »

covercash wrote: post #218
Arubis wrote: post #201

This doesn't appear discussed in the copy: does anyone know if HomePod/(Mini) has been updated to be friendlier towards households with more than one adult user in them (families, roommates, whatever)? I initially found the HomePod alluring, but that it could pair only with one iPhone (and thus effectively one user) was a real turn-off when I last looked into it.

They've had it for a year or so. From the HomePod site: A personalized experience. For each person in the family. Together with Siri, HomePod can learn and recognize up to six different voices and create a personalized listening experience for everybody at home. So when they say “Hey Siri, play some music” they’ll get a mix of songs customized just for them — picked from Apple Music based on their listening history a…

Oh, that's a significant improvement; thanks for the clarification! I may consider one of these down the road.

Re: HomePod Mini

#297

Post by whalesalad »

kart23 wrote: post #289
noodlesUK wrote: post #281

One feature I wish Apple would build into this would be a 3.5mm jack or optical audio out. I have a lot of very nice speakers already in my house, but no multi-room audio, or voice assistant. I know the echos can do this, but I don’t want them spying on me.

Every single amazon echo device has a 3.5mm jack. And chromecast audios are going for $90 on eBay. I just want a simple solution to stream to my old speakers that isn't bluetooth or Amazon. I would've 100% bought a homepod mini if it had an audio out.

AppleTV does this. I believe you can use it as a headless sound machine. Mine has optical out.

Re: HomePod Mini

#298

Post by rsanheim »

aikinai wrote: post #266
ndaiger wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can make it work with iTunes Match. It will upload all your music (it's not just filename or metadata matching, apparently it uses audio fingerprints). Then you can play your own stuff without needing an Apple Music subscription. It's $25/year. I moved to Apple music a while ago, but iTunes Match worked great for me before that.

I had no idea this was still a thing! Does it work well? And what does it do if it can’t find a match? Will it let you play your unique song?

Still works for me. If it can’t find a match it will just upload your mp3s to apples servers and then I presume they can stream to a HomePod.

I mostly use Roon or my phone to control my music, so I haven’t really tested the match stuff in a long time.

Re: HomePod Mini

#299

Post by conception »

jshen wrote: post #282
austinkhale wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really?? I love mine. I use it every day for Hue bulb activations, playing music, timers, etc. and it does the job perfectly. It doesn’t answer all the same answers as the Google Assistant but I feel like that’s worth the privacy trade off.

A $30 echo will do that. I have a few of those, why spend $200 for a HomePod if that’s all it is.

Sounds much better and privacy

Re: HomePod Mini

#300

Post by eh9 »

whalesalad wrote: post #297
kart23 wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every single amazon echo device has a 3.5mm jack. And chromecast audios are going for $90 on eBay. I just want a simple solution to stream to my old speakers that isn't bluetooth or Amazon. I would've 100% bought a homepod mini if it had an audio out.

AppleTV does this. I believe you can use it as a headless sound machine. Mine has optical out.

That's how I can use my sub-woofer and anything else plugged into the receiver.
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