Further Apple HomePod firmware spelunking shows 1GB of RAM, 272x340 screen
A deeper dive into the HomePod firmware that was briefly available over the weekend shows the A8-powered device will boast 1GB of RAM available and a 272-by-340 pixel screen, suggesting that rudimentary app support will be possible for the hardware in the future.
Details from the HomePod firmware were gleaned by Avery Magnotti, and revealed to the world in a tweet.
The reported 1GB of RAM appears to be overkill for the functions of the HomePod, even including a future expansion of Siri. It is unclear what Apple intends to do with it in the future, but a prediction of future app support for the device seems obvious.
A graphic that appears to represent the form factor of the as-yet unreleased "iPhone 8" was also gleaned from examination of the firmware, as well as resolution and display size information.
Apple's $349 HomePod was revealed at the 2017 WWDC and will ship in December. The HomePod is powered by an Apple A8 chip featuring realtime acoustic modeling, audio beam-forming, and multi-channel echo cancelation. It also features a subset of Siri, optimized for music consumption.
Details from the HomePod firmware were gleaned by Avery Magnotti, and revealed to the world in a tweet.
The resolution is the same as the 38mm Apple Watch screen. A teardown of the S1 chip on the original Apple Watch showed 512MB of RAM. For comparison, the iPhone 7 Plus has 3GB of RAM, and over 22 times the number of pixels. If the report is accurate, the HomePod will use the same processor specifications as seen in Apple's iPhone 6.HomePod has a "screen" of 272x340 and 1GB RAM cc @stroughtonsmith pic.twitter.com/IviOcwRY9n
-- Avery Magnotti (@citrusui)
The reported 1GB of RAM appears to be overkill for the functions of the HomePod, even including a future expansion of Siri. It is unclear what Apple intends to do with it in the future, but a prediction of future app support for the device seems obvious.
A graphic that appears to represent the form factor of the as-yet unreleased "iPhone 8" was also gleaned from examination of the firmware, as well as resolution and display size information.
Apple's $349 HomePod was revealed at the 2017 WWDC and will ship in December. The HomePod is powered by an Apple A8 chip featuring realtime acoustic modeling, audio beam-forming, and multi-channel echo cancelation. It also features a subset of Siri, optimized for music consumption.
Comments
so a great setup with with proven tech that ensures this will both please customers as well as apples bottom line.
Csnt see this being anything best than the best home/office audio PDA right out of the gate.
But I'm betting this isn't one of those times. Amazon's competing product which is already available is $180. Google's also already available product is $130.
And I don't want any of them. I not only have no need for an always-listening mic in my house, I actively don't want one and wouldn't take one if it were free.
There's not $350 of value in this product. A few rich people will buy them because they're new gadgets. A few absolutely obsessive Apple fans will buy them. Everybody else will look at that price and say nope, I don't need one of those.
What on earth are you even talking about.
A Speaker who self adjusts to the environment its in, or even the position of the listener, in real time... And you say Google and Amazon are offering the same? Say What.
In fact, i'd wager that fully exploited, they'd be nothing even close to this in the marketplace.
PS: Funny how 2 months ago the iPhone and iPad were the exact same as the Echo despite the Echo having a much better speaker and many far-field microphones for being bale to listen across a room for voices and over music, but now that Apple is entering into the home digital personal assistant market there's absolutely no similarilyties between devices clearly vying for the same space.
The part that was the same is that voice assistants are mostly all shitty. That's what I said then I that's what I'm saying now.
That a shitty voice assistant can hear your commands easier from across the room is kind of besides the point, especially because you could actually use the Apple watch that sold more than the Echo on your damn wrist for an even clearer command from everywhere in the house.
As for other comment, another non sequitur.... Yeah, Ferraris are in the same markets as Kias... Sure, no questions. Man, what do I have to hear.
Apple launched the device first as a super-duper room sensing speaker first and digital assistant second, a place were the echo is not competing at all because it doesn't have the processing power to do so and likely never will cause Apple is producing their own specialized SOC. The level of integration beween Apple's own service, the hardware and all other Apple devices will also be unmatched because well Amazon doesn't own Android (just like Samsung doesn't own Android) and can't force people to all have the same version of software like Apple.
Apple launched in that space first because its a space were there is a unmet need. Anyone who has bought an expensive stereo and wound up with crap sound because of bad acoustic, placement or settings for the music they're playing will know what I mean. That's a space were Apple can't both compete mostly alone and charge a good markup.
The mikes on the Homepod are not just used to detect commands but used to map the environment, just from Apple's own Homepod presentation.
Yet, you continue being desingenious and doubling down..
Yes, you built a damn straw man about what people actually said; and I'm not talking about 2 persons in a random forum or an imaginary friend.
So, Google straw man and stop the constant lying to make a point.
And, I've used the Echo myself quite a bit so you can put that in your pipe and smoke it.
It ain't a miracle worker at all; it's as best as "dumb" as all other voice assistant including Siri, which is the most accurate position on the whole field of voice assistant.
Its worse at voice recognition than having the watch on your wrist, wearing Airpods or having an Iphone in your hand. That's going to be the case unless your in a quiet space or in the vicinity.
That's the case no matter the number of speakers to listen too. That's why Apple focused on great Music speaker that adjusts to the room, instead of the Assistant part.
Based on the design, I expect the HomePod will sound a lot better than the Echo. The difference in price is covered right there. That's probably gonna have to be its trump card though, because it's hard to imagine the HomePod implementation of Siri being better than Alexa. For those looking for a more capable Sonos rather than a digital assistant, it's a good trade.
I think you're being paranoid. You have a phone, don't you? Why would a HomePod pose any more risk to your privacy than your phone?
That's an incredibly subjective assessment. It may not appeal to you, and there's no reason it necessarily should, but that doesn't make it a niche product. Even without Siri and home automation potential, the price point is competitive in the better-than-a-tin-can-with-a-string wireless speaker segment. If it sounds half decent, and it probably will, I have a feeling it will do quite well.
I want a good speaker that plays my music.
And what do you do with your Echo? I know the talking points — check the weather, check the news (both slower to consume than my iphone or ipad, so useless), order Amazon products (wouldn’t trust it to get it right), and home automation. but for this I’d rather have a secure HK implementation than the more vulnerable alexa devices/skills.
I just dont see a compelling use case for a fixed assistant appliance. Nor has anyone provided anything more than the aforementioned.
I do do absolutely see a compelling use case for a great shelf speaker, that happens to also do assistant-y things.
Thats the difference here. Apple’s perspective seems much more compelling. It’s an excellent speaker, which I have an existing use case for. The Siri stuff is value-add gravy.
Yup. Master bath for sure, and maybe for study. Places where I have an existing need for good speakers.
It's still a home-based digital personal assistance and having a better speaker doesn't change that fact. I know you want to disparage all the devices that came to this market before Apple, especially the device that created the market Apple is now entering, but you're ultimately just lessening the HomePod since the brain of the device is considerably more powerful than the brain inside an Echo or Google Home.
We're talking a considerably more powerful CPU (32-bit ARMv7-A v 64-bit ARMv8-A), 4x the RAM (256MiB v 1024MiB), and a considerably better OS, and all it would take for anyone else to best Apple by your metric is use a better speaker, which is likely to happen now that Apple has raised the ceiling on the unit price for a home-based digital personal assistance.
There's still 4 to 5 months before this is due to be released so there's no need to hobble its primary UI.
2) How is it slower to consume when you never have to stop a task to look at display or speak loudly and enunciate for the microphones to pick up your voice across a room?
3) So you're not going to get a HomePod because it's a fixed personal assistant? I'm pretty sure that's a load of crap.
4) You know that you can use the Echo as a brain and then connect whatever speakers you deem to be "better" to it. I even connect my iPhone to it with a simple "Alexa connect iPhone" to get audio throughout the house without having to raise my voice, repeat myself, or stop what I'm doing. I can also have it play whatever I want with Spotify with a voice command with I can't do with Siri It's all quite convenient.
5) Where is your disconnect. I've explained to you multiple times and you keep stating it has an "excellent speaker." Does it? Does being better than another device mean it's excellent? Not in my book. If you really care about audio quality you'll be connecting other speakers to your HomePod.
6) And quite with the nonsense that the digital personal assistant is somehow just an extra feature thrown into the mix. It's the fucking UI of the device and it has a monster setup to support that service. if you really think putting a bigger, general component into a device isn't an accomplishment then you're probably a fan of overpriced WinPC gaming machines with silly neon lights. I don't think you are so just quit with this nonsense that Siri is an afterthought.
7) Home-based digital personal assistant are great. I've had one for over 2.5 years and now have two, the second one being a basic Echo Dot to replace my alarm clock in my bedroom to reduce artificial light without reducing the information a nightstand clock provides. It also works as a white noise machine, if needed, along with countless other Skills—Amazon's name for their Alexa app store. It's this understanding of this device category that means I'm going to buy a HomePod.