In fact, I'd get 2 HomePod and put them left and right in my living room.
With 2 HomePods, do they somehow agree on which speaker gets the right vs. left channel so that you hear in stereo, not dual-mono?
My immediate thought was it would be like the partnering arrangement in JBL Bluetooth speakers, which separates the channels, but I suspect with the spatial awareness feature (looks similar to soundbars) it might be a tad more sophisticated. We will have to wait and see. Also, would it also do the spatial awareness feature with four homePods?
In fact, I'd get 2 HomePod and put them left and right in my living room.
With 2 HomePods, do they somehow agree on which speaker gets the right vs. left channel so that you hear in stereo, not dual-mono?
Interesting question. Who will answer if you say Hey Siri?
It wouldn't be any different than having any other 2 iOS devices in the same room. My iPhone SE is always quickest to respond over my iPad Pro. They both start, but the SE must be the first to say, "I got this", and the iPad backs down.
LOL, I like that concept ... 'I got this.'. It unfortunately doesn't extend to alarms ... well maybe that's a good thing. The other day I had to be up at some ridiculous early hour and I'm a bit deaf in one ear and never know if I'll be lying on the good one, so I had set every iDevice in the house as an alarm just in case (that's two iPhones and four iPads) ... you should have heard it! My wife was not amused.
In fact, I'd get 2 HomePod and put them left and right in my living room.
With 2 HomePods, do they somehow agree on which speaker gets the right vs. left channel so that you hear in stereo, not dual-mono?
I am pretty sure they have no problem doing this. It would be child's play to them considering the sophistication of the spacial sensing they have.
I didn't realize anyone outside of Apple knew (yet) how sophisticated the spacial sensing was. You must be an insider? :? I believe Apple will have a very good speaker, perhaps great, in the HomePod but making all these declarations of how amazing, sophisticated and beautiful it is with exceptional stereo separation, accuracy and clarity 7 months before the first retail box is sold is just a tad premature don't 'cha think?
I like how every company that has a product similar to something Apple has just released always says, we don't see this as a threat to our existing product. Translation....were shitting our pants right now because we know we have some serious competition with Apple. It seems like 9/10 times when a company says this, their product start losing its appeal it once had. I suspect HomePod will be no different. Its does basically the same thing as an Echo, but it does so much more. This is what I like about Apple. They almost never first, but in the end your wait is well rewarded.
In fact, I'd get 2 HomePod and put them left and right in my living room.
With 2 HomePods, do they somehow agree on which speaker gets the right vs. left channel so that you hear in stereo, not dual-mono?
Based on the limited info out there right now, I don't know if these will ever be ideal for traditional stereo. The single woofer, multiple tweeter array and serious room optimization algorithms pushes HomePod more to a room-filling single soundpoint loudspeaker, providing a balanced audio presentation regardless of where one is in the room. True stereo would require fewer tweeters and far less processing. However, stereo is really designed for a single listener in a fixed listening location. Clearly not what Apple is going for here. I am very anxious to try one of these out.
The HomePod will sell well. As an audiophile, the sophistication built into the device running an A8 SOC should be quite good. I have an Echo and it has been quite useful. The sound quality, however, doesn't come close to my HK amplifier driving a set of Paradigm speakers. Hence, I rarely use the Echo to actually play music. I use an old G4 based Mac mini with HK soundsticks to play music over the Echo upstairs in my home where I don't have a sophisticated sound system. I may get a pair of HomePods as a result. The A8 SOC should theoretically make full surround possible. It would be nice if Apple builds in this capability as it would be very nice to play my SACD collection in full surround on a set of HomePods without having to fiddle with the settings to optimize the sound for the room's acoustics.
In fact, I'd get 2 HomePod and put them left and right in my living room.
With 2 HomePods, do they somehow agree on which speaker gets the right vs. left channel so that you hear in stereo, not dual-mono?
Based on the limited info out there right now, I don't know if these will ever be ideal for traditional stereo. The single woofer, multiple tweeter array and serious room optimization algorithms pushes HomePod more to a room-filling single soundpoint loudspeaker, providing a balanced audio presentation regardless of where one is in the room. True stereo would require fewer tweeters and far less processing. However, stereo is really designed for a single listener in a fixed listening location. Clearly not what Apple is going for here. I am very anxious to try one of these out.
My me, and perhaps for many, the question I have is if two HomePods would provide a "very good" (not great, not audiophile like) stereo AND TV sound quality with two units. A Sonus sound bar is $700 - will 2xHomePods be equivalent (or better) in delivering sound for TV use case? Will it provide a really good music experience?
Being in Canada, I will have awhile to wait anyways...
I like how every company that has a product similar to something Apple has just released always says, we don't see this as a threat to our existing product. Translation....were shitting our pants right now because we know we have some serious competition with Apple. It seems like 9/10 times when a company says this, their product start losing its appeal it once had. I suspect HomePod will be no different. Its does basically the same thing as an Echo, but it does so much more. This is what I like about Apple. They almost never first, but in the end your wait is well rewarded.
HomePod is not a big threat to Amazon at first, but it will serve to reduce their market potential. The HomePod at $350 is going to sell only into the Apple + music enthusiast community - which simply based on Apple user base now (and its premium nature) should mean a good showing (e.g. a few million units in a year). It is possible that Apple may sell close to the same revenue $$$ as Amazon in 2018, given the price differences (Amazon of course not really caring much about the revenue from Echo, but wants the ever increasing ties to get users into Prime services).
I said many times over last 6 months that Apple would introduce HomePod primarily as related to music, which indeed they did (you can thank me later Phil...:). That is where such a product has the most value for the broader market, and aligns with an Apple strength. While some no doubt find "home assistants" really valuable, for the broader market I think it is mostly a gimmick at the moment. With smartphones and increasingly tablets around many houses, a voice-only UI has its limits, where the visual data from said phone/tablet can convert "a thousand words".
We always need to think about motives. Google and Amazon are not primarily hardware manufacturers like Apple is. So why have Amazon and Google come out with their respective AI assistants? The answer would appear simple. These devices are intended as marketing tools and not as customer experience oriented products. Google wants to collect data while Amazon wants you to by their stuff with their device. Apple has a reputation for protecting customer data and always concentrating on the customer experience of their products. The HomePod, in my opinion, continues this tradition. It is a premium speaker designed for listening to music and it has an AI interface to enhance that experience. Apple also states that Siri will be under continuous improvement. It makes those other devices look like playthings, shiny objects with no real purpose other than to promote the marketing agendas of the companies who make them.
Interesting question. Who will answer if you say Hey Siri?
After reading some reviews on Alexa, people are stating if 2 devices are near each other they both will answer. Some people change the "hot word" to Amazon on one device and leave "Alexa" on the other.
I have multiple Echo and Echo Dot devices in my home. Although it used to be true that you would change the hot word, you no longer need to. The closest device to you responds. In my experience, this works well. Occasionally, the living room device will respond when I intend for the kitchen device to do so, but it is rare enough to be funny, rather than obnoxious.
I can see Google allowing their Assistant on Echo, but hell will freeze over before Apple allows Siri on it
Yes because it would show that the Alexa software understands more people better than Siri because it's running on the same software- at this moment , who knows how Siri will match up in Six months.
I am not surprised. I guess Amazon paid close attention to the WWDC keynote.
1. The SIRI voices use of machine learning to clearly say Sunny, Sunny and Sunny in intelligent human "tones" it's simply an amazing feat of artificial intelligence. It's NOT a recording folks, SIRI appears to know about human tones and emotions. "I love machine learning because I am a Machine.....Learning."
2. SIRI supports the most languages and as Apple works on translations, HomePod can become the ultimate translator. It would take years of work for Amazon to catch up in terms of ML.
Time will tell.
2. I only care about them getting English right.
1. I don't care how good Siri sounds ( I want my machines to sound like . I want Siri to hear and understand me better. I understand "here's a website" fine.
In fact, I'd get 2 HomePod and put them left and right in my living room.
With 2 HomePods, do they somehow agree on which speaker gets the right vs. left channel so that you hear in stereo, not dual-mono?
I am pretty sure they have no problem doing this. It would be child's play to them considering the sophistication of the spacial sensing they have.
I didn't realize anyone outside of Apple knew (yet) how sophisticated the spacial sensing was. You must be an insider? :? I believe Apple will have a very good speaker, perhaps great, in the HomePod but making all these declarations of how amazing, sophisticated and beautiful it is with exceptional stereo separation, accuracy and clarity 7 months before the first retail box is sold is just a tad premature don't 'cha think?
I would like either Fingas or Campbell do the review. I dont expect a fair and balance review of either the music quality or Siri improvements from DED. Although I do expect the music to sound at least Very, very good and Siri to work better than she has ever worked. Apple will have a hit hear at least as big as the Watch.
"The Video Skill API is available at the same top level that Alexa uses to build video experiences on Fire TV. This means your customers can open their favorite app and then use their Amazon Echo or other Alexa device to issue commands like “Alexa, find comedies,” “Alexa, tune to HBO,” or “Alexa, play episodes of Modern Family.” Customers can see the commands fulfilled instantly on their preferred streaming video devices.
The Video Skill API also includes a mechanism to enable catalog ingestion for improved accuracy and session management for request targeting based on real usage. The API offers simplified logic to handle requests to any one of potentially multiple video skills that a customer has set up, so your customers can make simple requests like ‘Alexa, Play Manchester by the Sea,’ and Alexa will know what to do."
Dish is one of the first companies to put this to use.
Comments
LOL, I like that concept ... 'I got this.'. It unfortunately doesn't extend to alarms ... well maybe that's a good thing. The other day I had to be up at some ridiculous early hour and I'm a bit deaf in one ear and never know if I'll be lying on the good one, so I had set every iDevice in the house as an alarm just in case (that's two iPhones and four iPads) ... you should have heard it! My wife was not amused.
I believe Apple will have a very good speaker, perhaps great, in the HomePod but making all these declarations of how amazing, sophisticated and beautiful it is with exceptional stereo separation, accuracy and clarity 7 months before the first retail box is sold is just a tad premature don't 'cha think?
Apple has a winner here.
Being in Canada, I will have awhile to wait anyways...
HomePod is not a big threat to Amazon at first, but it will serve to reduce their market potential. The HomePod at $350 is going to sell only into the Apple + music enthusiast community - which simply based on Apple user base now (and its premium nature) should mean a good showing (e.g. a few million units in a year). It is possible that Apple may sell close to the same revenue $$$ as Amazon in 2018, given the price differences (Amazon of course not really caring much about the revenue from Echo, but wants the ever increasing ties to get users into Prime services).
I said many times over last 6 months that Apple would introduce HomePod primarily as related to music, which indeed they did (you can thank me later Phil...:). That is where such a product has the most value for the broader market, and aligns with an Apple strength. While some no doubt find "home assistants" really valuable, for the broader market I think it is mostly a gimmick at the moment. With smartphones and increasingly tablets around many houses, a voice-only UI has its limits, where the visual data from said phone/tablet can convert "a thousand words".
can i be your friend?
1. I don't care how good Siri sounds ( I want my machines to sound like . I want Siri to hear and understand me better. I understand "here's a website" fine.
I dont expect a fair and balance review of either the music quality or Siri improvements from DED. Although I do expect the music to sound at least Very, very good and Siri to work better than she has ever worked. Apple will have a hit hear at least as big as the Watch.
https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/858c3303-eb07-4faf-a095-57436b4f8a13/amazon-enables-video-providers-to-control-content-with-the-video-skill-api-a-new-addition-to-the-alexa-skills-kit
"The Video Skill API is available at the same top level that Alexa uses to build video experiences on Fire TV. This means your customers can open their favorite app and then use their Amazon Echo or other Alexa device to issue commands like “Alexa, find comedies,” “Alexa, tune to HBO,” or “Alexa, play episodes of Modern Family.” Customers can see the commands fulfilled instantly on their preferred streaming video devices.
The Video Skill API also includes a mechanism to enable catalog ingestion for improved accuracy and session management for request targeting based on real usage. The API offers simplified logic to handle requests to any one of potentially multiple video skills that a customer has set up, so your customers can make simple requests like ‘Alexa, Play Manchester by the Sea,’ and Alexa will know what to do."
Dish is one of the first companies to put this to use.