O HomePod It has not even started its pre-sale phase (which happens tomorrow in the three countries that will first receive the USA, UK and Australia), but a happy columnist has already put her hands on it for an hour and brought it to us. initial impressions.
Madeline Buxton, from website Refinery29, ended the experience impressed by the sound quality of Apple's first smart speaker and even had the courtesy to share with us some more details about its operation.
Firstly, the journalist praises the look of HomePod, citing how small he is in person of what he appears to be in photos (only 17.2 centimeters tall) and praising his ability to simply fade into the surroundings, turning the sound into an experience. almost inaccurate.
Despite this, the sound that the small round drum produces is impressive, the report states. According to Buxton, the experience of listening to music on HomePod surely surpasses its main competitors, such as Google Home Max, the newest Amazon Echo and even Sonos One (which, we must not forget, comes from a manufacturer born with sound on DNA). The columnist says that the vocals are clearer on Apple's speaker and no frequency forgotten the high notes of the guitar stand out, and the bass leaves nothing to be desired.
Here it is interesting to take a brief detour from the report and, for those interested in the technical details of the parade, refer to this discussion on Reddit, where audiences from all over the world discuss HomePod's capabilities and list features brought by the device that are basically listed. in this category. For example, the feature that detects the setting of the environment in which the speaker is located and sets the sound appropriately is found only in products that exceed the $ 85,000 (!) Mark, such as Bang & Olufsen's BeoLab 90.
Getting back to the main subject: the report also praises the ability of HomePod microphones, stating that it is not necessary to shout or speak loudly for the device to understand the "Hey Siri" even on the opposite side of the room, the speaker hears a sentence spoken in a normal tone, as in a quiet conversation. Buxton also claims that Siri has been enhanced for the device, understanding more of music and always pronouncing everything correctly (I want to see when HomePod gets here and she has to say “Katinguel”).
Some criticisms of the product were also reserved, some of them inherent to its own operation. The columnist regrets the fact that only Apple Music subscribers will be able to take full advantage of HomePod's intelligence, while users of other services will have to resort to streaming via AirPlay.
In addition, the Ma speaker is actually designed to have a single “owner”, while other users may only use it “collaterally”. That is, only the user whose account is used to activate HomePod will have his notifications read aloud (which happens only when he is at home, it should be noted) and can perform actions such as sending messages or setting reminders. Other residents will enjoy Apple Music, AirPlay, Siri, and HomeKit, but they won't have that totally personalized experience.
As HomePod becomes available to more analyzers, of course, other opinions will emerge so let's wait and see if this complimentary initial print will hold up or if we will see dissonant voices about it. The next weeks will be interesting to follow!
via MacStories
