HomePod for Apple Music | Apple’s new smart speaker
Some people have mixed reviews about the new smart speaker by Apple, but one thing many agree upon is that Siri was unreliable and wasn’t always as responsive or helpful.
The company has already reached the hands of those who had pre-ordered it and on Friday, their product will be starting to ship. They’re competing with established smart speaker companies such as Amazon with their Alexa and Google with Google Home.
“The HomePod sounds noticeably fuller than all of its market peers,” The Verge reports about sound quality comparing the Sonos One, Google Home Max, Amazon Echo as well as the standard Google Home. The HomePod is the only device that can rival it in sound for a similar price
Nevertheless, the new smart speaker’s capabilities seem to diminish when it comes to Siri, according to some reviews. While the speaker should be able to hail a taxi via the main company at the conference, which is Uber or Lyft, they had trouble doing so. It was a phone call that needed to come from an iPhone connected to it and Siri’s quality and capabilities are limited overall.
“Compared to Alexa, Siri sounds horrible,” Pocket-Lint wrote. “Words are jumbled, words aren’t pronounced correctly and everything she says sounds abrupt,” it added. Siri on the HomePod can’t distinguish the voices of those talking to it while it doesn’t even handle calendar pending tasks effectively, according to CNET.
“Siri has been behind its competitors for quite some time now. On the HomePod it didn’t receive an upgrade in any notable way,” the Verge writes.
Although some people believe that Apple’s music app should be available on other devices, this is currently not possible. But you can always catch up on your favorite shows and music by streaming it through AirPlay. You’ll need a device with an external hard drive and the iOS version of iTunes installed on it, or if you want to sideload them. HomePod is a brand new speaker for iPhone users and only works with iPhones.
The HomePod uses Apple Music exclusively, which means it’s not compatible with Spotify or Pandora. Lastly, users can have other music services on their HomePods through their iPhones. They don’t fully control those apps, though, via the HomePod’s voice commands.
Apple released their HomePod speaker this past fall. The company indicated that software updates would take place in the year ahead. It’s worth noting that two key features – bass and new voices – add to the list in the coming months. First, you’ll be able to replicate the stereo sound from a HomePod. Accordingly, you’ll be able to connect them together in different areas of your home.
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Author: PC-GR
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