HomePod: the best (and worst) features! [9to5Mac] 

"Hey Siri, edit this video to useful information only" "Here you go - now it's a two minute review!"

Amazing video keep up the good work

Thank you for highlighting that it works with iTunes Library. This is what's kept me from getting any smart speaker with a decent speaker

Whenever he says hey siri, my Siri pops up. Never thought my first girl would run away with another guy so easily

Excellente vidéo. Calme, posée et très complète. Bravo.

Hi @9to5Mac, I have a real problem here and I struggled to find an answer. Maybe you can help me. I have a MBP (2012) + HomePod + AppleTV + iPhone. When I watch TV via Apple TV the sound is played by the HP, no biggie. But the problem appears when you do things not directly through the apple tv and its remote. When I play a RU-vid video from my MBP (or iPhone) and I wanna stream it on my apple TV : i got the video played on my TV display, so good so far, but the sound comes out from the TV built-in speakers, which is awful (long press on the Play button of the remote doesn't work or best case scenario it turns off airplay and go back to the main screen of apple tv. When it's on, I can see the Airplay logo (top right hand corner) on my mac turns blue. NOW I repeat the same operation but this time I only stream the sound (of the video im watching) by clicking on "speaker logo" > HomePod. Now I got a nice sound from my HomePod but the video feed is still playing on my mac, not on my tv display. What I want is simple : play a video from my iDevices and have the video on my TV display, and the sound of it, on the HomePod. I bought the HomePod to be my main living room speaker, however I use it : on it's own, voice commands + apple music, airplay + MBP/iPhone, Apple TV sound output, and don't have to reconfigure Apple TV>Homepod everytime I switch my type of use. To fix it I tried different things but fail everytime. Is anyone having the same issue ? have found a solution ? If I'm not clear enough let me know. Thanks by advance internet :D

Thanks for this great overview! And also for showing that it works with iTunes libraries "in the cloud!" I've been wondering this because I don't have or want a monthly subscription, but I do pay for iTunes Match which I use all the time for my existing library and I love it. So knowing this speaker works with that, just made this thing a lot more attractive to me.

Even with a cold, your voice is as calming as ever, Jeff.

Nice video, it really is impressive for it size for sure! I gotta say it feels like having a brand new Siri 2.0 with HomePod now. It’s the microphones and the consistency of a good internet connection that makes it so fast and easy for it to pick up voices with all the mics. It really does basically everything i need right now great start

Any chance you can share a link to the playlist at 5:27 please?

What's the name of the instrumental track at the beginning of this video? It's hot!

Whats the material of the touchpad?

What song was that snippet from at 4:27??? I recognize it but I can grasp what it definitely is!

I am an Apple Music subscriber. Does anyone know if you could use the HomePod independently from your iOS device? I understand you need an iOS device to set it up initially but can you, after setting it up, play music by using Hey Siri on the HomePod without using an iOS device? I was under the impression it could? Thanks.

Holy crap I just got the HomePod and I love it!!! :D

Get well, Jeff! And thanks for the video.

Great video! Just wanted to say one thing - you mentioned that you can’t really notice a difference in sound based on where you put the device in your room, but i think that’s exactly the point of the device: you never leave the sweet spot as long as you’re in the room!

Still undecided 😞 . I like the homepod since I have a lot of apple devices at home. But due to limitations I’m inclined to go with it’s competitors. What should I do? 🤔🤔🤔

My HomePod is doing everything his HomePod is doing because she can hear this video lol damn this HomePod is sensitive!

The power cable is removable ✂️ Lol jk don’t cut it you can actually just pull it out tho 😂

If Apple stays interested in this product I think we see all kinds of interesting Homepod speakers features and applications down the road. I always enjoy your reviews. Good pace, details, informative and helpful. Thank you for another very good review.

Apple should include a dust cover for the homepod, especially for the white one.

Do you think using the Apple HomePod in the bathroom will damage the speaker? I need a good sounding speaker for large bathroom space. Ideally a smart speaker.

Thanks for the control centre tips. Did not know you could click on album art to get to Apple Music. Yes it distance voice recognition is brilliant and Home kit stuff seems mega fast. For me most impressive thing is the sound and bass as it blew me away needs to be heard to appreciate, how loud it gets and quality for something so small. Yes will be nice when they add multi audio and stereo plus a large Siri update would be nice in future.

Nice crisp footage

Thanks for the in-depth review and the examples. The verge review didn’t showcase any of the features and made it sound like the HomePod was a useless brick. As for the short comings, nothing some software updates can’t fix. With that said, I’ll wait later on in the year to buy these.

Okay, I have the HomePod, and I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it. I mean, I'm not a big music listener, but I do rely on Siri and voice dictation quite a bit. As you mentioned, the microphones are impressive and is the most significant selling point for me. Due to my disability, I use Dragon software to write memos, letters and so forth. Before the HomePod, I relied on the 'Airpods' with decent results. However, the HomePod microphones are so much cleaner and accurate, that I end up with fewer mistakes. Based on that alone, it's a keeper! As for multi-room use, I remain confused. Based on your comments I have to conclude that I cannot run two HomePods at the same time. I would like to be able to move from room to room and use them independently. I guess I'll have to call Apple to verify this.

I got one. I am really amazed by the sound. It's incredible. The area for improvement is software. I'm disabled so I ask on occasion how the battery life is on my phone. Now with the HomePod in the area when I ask about battery life it says there's no battery here but you can ask about battery level on your other devices. So I ask how the battery level is on my iphone but it keeps telling me there is no battery here. They need to update the software so you can actually ask about battery life on your other devices.

This video is making my homepod go crazy. 😜🤪😂

great

music name at begin from the video pls

nice one

What song started when Jeff said, “Play something forrrrr concentration.”

Why is it on sale is a new one coming out?

Oh cool you and I are wearing the same olive green watch band

Your hand motions when you were saying “hey Siri” was making me die! You don’t need to wave your hand when you say hey Siri, it’s voice activated not motion 😂 8:26

Clarification... There IS an option for multi room playback with HomePod. iTunes on the Mac does support it in the airplay drop down. There is currently no multi room support for music playback from iOS.

I listen to TuneIn radio during breakfast every morning. Sonos does this great. Recognizing family members would be great so people can play their own play lists and their own mail / text. On the fence on the HomePod because of these two things.

It would be an insta-buy for me if my household listened to the same kind of music as me or music openly in general. HomePod looks to be a superb product in home parties or gatherings. Jeff, I am confused on the lack of stereo option for the HomePod. What does that mean? If HomePod has multi-directional audio from its 7 tweeters within its cylindrical shape, doesn't that mean the speaker is outputting in surround sound? Why is missing stereo such as big deal if it is powerful enough to cover an entire room? I've seen people put the speaker in the middle of a room and couldn't tell the difference between one corner to the other because it seemed to be all the same. Of course, I see the benefit of stereo for multi-room, but unless you have a very large room, stereo doesn't seem like a big deal to me. Plus, it's pretty easy to research what kind of room size an average buyer of the HomePod has, so based on that I figure stereo was excluded on purpose.

10/10 I love mine

The issue about Siry reading your messages even when it's someone else asking is a real problem. Yet, I wonder if it would do it if your iPhone is not on the Wifi network (wifi, bluetooth disconnected). In fact how does the HomePod behave in general when the "master" iPhone is not there. Also make sure that your computer is not up either, because it might pick-up your messages from it even when the iPhone is not "home". Also, the fact that this is a single account device is very limiting. But that is the same with the AppleTV and even more annoyingly with the iPad.

Power is indeed removable. Takes more force than you'd expect but it can be done by user.

Jeff: Hey Siri play something up beat Siri: *begins to play Pain by the war on drugs* 😂

Siri IS behind other assistants but for what you use a smart speaker for (timers, weather, music, traffic updates) you dont really notice those gaps. Sound quality is surprisingly good.

Hey Siri is going crazy on my iPad 🤣

If you have a smart lock, seeing as the microphone recognition is so good, would a stranger be able to ask Siri to unlock the front door? Especially with no multi user recognition.

Wish it had removable power cord and an Aux in. Also wished Siri was not...Siri. But the sound is quite good.

I’d buy it now since I’ve got Apple everything...but Apple need to resolve the lack of voice recognition since that’s no joke, that’s scary . Plus no stereo or multi-room🤬..I think am gonna wait until the end of the year..hopefully they will have updated the software and security issues by then since it looks and sounds great.

it should be stereo with one home pod, send left to left tweeters and right to right tweeters, bass could be mono and the middle tweeter could be center channel.

the cable is removable, you have to pull it hard, it will come out and has 2 prongs, to put it back just push it in hard aligning the prongs on the speaker with the holes on the cable plug.

Get the iOS 11.3 beta. Stereopairing is on there

Got it this week, game changer. Lots of hate in the comments, but if you have a homepod and apple music there's little to complain about.

Dude, I thought you need hand tracking function more than voice recognition

I have an echo dot and I had a google home mini (returned it). Honestly, Siri is much better at playing back music and controlling my smart home products. Alexa just has a few neat tricks like the ability to order things on amazon and google has a better web search for general information

two units can be paired as stereo.

It's a 1.0 product. And in comparison to Google Assistant, Siri feels underdeveloped. Time to Apple to spend some its cash mountain on the Apple ecosystem's software - Siri, Maps etc. The potential is awesome.

Of course by now we know the power cable is removable!! 😊

4:27 J Dilla shout out by Siri

Hey Siri - Please Kill Me 😂

sick asmr confirmed... what happened after this between u and siri? xD

Its much smaller than I thought!

Why are you using jump cuts after saying "hey Siri...", that's really misleading man. You're making it seem like she's responding faster than she actually is.

I want to like this product but I’m not investing until it gets right multi user support and Siri can do more. 90% if the focus is music which I’m not super interested in. I put Sonos in my home 6 years ago... yes 6 years ago! The fact that I can spend $40 on a echo dot and plug it into a connect amp really shuts down my want for a HomePod. I’m happy for Apple on their sound engineering but what about the rest of the product?

I have purchased quite a lot of apple tech, which I use regularly but I fail to see how the $350 price tag justifies this item. Amazon and Google already have similar items released for half the price. Maybe at $150-199 I would consider it, but not at 350.

yeeeeeessss

I am the thousand like

Update: a few other sites are reporting that linking 2 HomePods for stereo output is now available through the latest ios beta software update. ...although £638 is a heck of a lot of money to spend on 2 speakers!!

Most of the features of Stereo and Multiuser are now available. And remember this is an Apple product, I do not see the Echo or the Google supporting iTunes music either.

This video just triggered my Siri many times

FYI. The cable is removable. It’s a little difficult, but it does detach when pulled on. But beware, it’s difficult to re-attach.

I really want one but Siri isn’t smart enough yet making it (to me) not worth the price. 😔 Hopefully version 2 or they release a software that makes her smart as Alexa.

I’m really impressed an will probably buy maybe 2 but what if Apple just doesn’t fix the things they promised like multi room support or pairing 2 for stereo Or they just take their time it’s coming but they don’t say when

No external output jack to play through a stereo sound system is a deal breaker for me. You can't beat the Dot at $50.00.

I was surprised it was able to understand you saying "Own" is actually "On". Am I the only one that noticed that?

Another problem you did not mention is that it does not have basic Bluetooth functionality so forget about using it with any other product that is not from Apple, so this is basically a speaker made for Apple Music with a way overpriced price tag.

Judging by the sound quality you just know Google’s scared right now, as this little HomePod sounds amazing. Hell, come Monday you know it will have already outsold the Google Home Max. 😂💯

if i don't pay for apple music...I guess homepod won't do searches ?

Cable is removable, just need to pull hard. #trust

If Apple would open it up for bluetooth and use with other apps I would have pre-ordered one. For this price, I want to use it for more than Apple Music

the future thing is possible for developer

Hey Siri, transfer ten million dollars to my bank account.

setting the temp to 72 degrees Celsius

The cable actually is removable

subbed for mj

Thanks, is the new spy in the home

I still don’t understand why Apple will release the HomePod with a lack of features. Also I am sure the HomePod sounds great but there are others speakers out that offer great or better sound, and will coast less.

I’m surprised Apple actually changed their wire colour and materials.

Apple does not focus on technology for the sake of technology, they have always focused on solving a problem with technology. AI or voice assistants need domains of knowledge to perform well. So far, Siri's domain of knowledge on the HomePod appears to be focused on (customizing) music requests as opposed to general parlor tricks. Going forward, I believe we will see enhancements to Siri on the HomePod to solve music requests.

What is the First thing you like about the home pod? You jumped straight to the 2nd thing.

The problem with this is really how bad Siri is lacking. Apple needs to add more third party support for Siri and then I'm willing to bet sales of this speaker will skyrocket. There are a number of speakers on the market that let you request to play from Spotify or Pandora. Even though I'm a huge Apple fan (just about everything electronic device I own is from Apple) they really needed to add Bluetooth support to allow this to be played from any bluetooth enabled device. Its ridiculous that you absolutely need an iDevice to make this speaker work. If you switch to Android (differences about it aside), you're screwed and threw $350 USD down the toilet.

the cable is actually remoovable

Lol my homepods are doing it in stereo..naughty naughty naughty

My amazon echo is more deaf than my 94 year old nan 😭

The power cable IS removable. Look it up somebody made a video about it.

Another inflexible product justified under the banner of 'simplicity'. No input, no removable power cable? In the past, the lack of removable cable was the sign of budget stereo equipment.

Hey Jeff. It's hard to watch this video with my HomePod on the shelf when you keep saying Hey Siri. Maybe you should blank out the trigger phrase... please.

Apple needs to really put resources behind Siri and AI. It's embarrassing how dumb that thing is in 2018 when even Cortana is better.

The cable is removable

The best little cylinder you could buy would've been the Mac Pro if they hadn't just let it sit there since 2013

As a HomePod owner, it's becoming clearer to me, Apple appears to have developed the HomePod not to compete with other 'smart speakers, but as an audio accessory tailored to increase the value of Apple Music. This makes sense if Apple is trying to increase revenue for their services. Reviews do not compare other 'smart speakers' to HomePod's 7 unique features that have never been in a speaker before: 1.) Omnidirectional Listening 2.) Automatic re-tuning to custom location. 3.) Distortion free at any sound level 4.) Woofer enhanced travel model 5.) Computer chip sound processing 6.) Lush big sound for size 7.) Accessory to increase the value of a music service. If you compare competitor contributions to speaker technology, none of the competitors are doing this. The HomePod is not for you if you already have a speaker system. Rather the HomePod is targeted to a music (subscriber) lover purchasing their first speaker. One audience is larger than the other. In short, the technology works for you, rather than you working for the technology. Again, Apple demonstrates their ability to 'Think Differently.'.