The HomePod is primarily a device to listen to music on. Therefore Siri on the HomePod is mostly focused on music, not driving or making phone calls, you have a phone for that. I think the people buying the HomePod will be satisfied with the HomePods abilities.
I like to play my music via my TV, using Music Match in AppleTV, listen it on my stereo, and have a screen saver of my photographs while the music is playing.
Tell me if I can use the HomePod to listen to my music in this fashion? Seriously.
Get rid of this embarrassment, Apple; Man up, call it quits, buy IBM’s Watson, and build on it. Siri-ously.
That would probably be a good start. Apple needs a chief AI Officer to be in charge of advancing Siri to the highest level. Unfortunately Apple probably wouldn't hire some one into Tim Cook's "Boy's Club". Along with that they need to have a major AI center employing thousand's more.
I debated buying the HomePod. At $350 I consider it only a little bit expensive. I think that Apple has created some incredibly original hardware with its circle of tweeters and microphones for tuning it. If it had a auxiliary line-in port I would have bought it - you could hook up an Echo to it then and get the best of both worlds.
Home Pod needs two other big things 1. Software Siri improvements. Hopefully Apple will now work at improving HomePodOS and Siri at the same level that they have improved as they improved watchOS since it's initial release. This includes adding Multi-User Support to iOS for the iPad and tvOS.
2. Create a HomePod Family HPF with a HomePodMax (50% bigger with 12 1 inch tweeters and 6 2 inch mid-range Woofers also arranged in a ring around the HPM , one 3 inch woofer and one 6 inch sub-woofer horizontally mounted at top and bottom of the HPM, and 10 far-field microphones) . Basically using similar design to the current HP but designed to sound better at the mid range, go louder and include an auxilary in-port connection. Hopefully they could do this for $699.00 Lastly the HPF should have a top of the line HomePodBar with HDMI and optical in port ($999) .
Since I think that this will probably take 5 to 10 years for Apple to get there, I bought a Sonos Play 5 (it has the auxiliary 3.5 mm port) instead. But if Apple surprises me and improves the HP faster than expected then I would probably pick this up next year. Right now it looks like a very good start acoustically if you have apple Music, but like Niel I don't.
That being said, who really ever uses a voice assistant? I set alarms for cooking and that’s it.
I had to use it a little earlier to find my darn phone. "Hey Google find my phone" will ring only mine at full volume. Not having to run around the house room by room looking for it or asking my wife to call it ( and hoping the ringer is turned up) is almost by itself worth the price of admission.
One of the nice features of Watch, flick up and tap and your phone starts pinging.
This brings up something I’ve had a problem with regarding asking Siri a question, and getting back, “Here’s what I found on the web.” And then I go into an expletive laced tirade. I didn’t ask for you to pull up a google page, nor did I ask you to find me some stupid list. I asked for, and expect, an actual answer! Why bother showing me a website and all when I could have Googled that myself? If I ask a question, I want a verbal answer back. Until that happens every single time, I can’t use Siri because I get too annoyed as BS websites as answers. Fix it!
So you expect these dopey devices to know all human knowledge, and be able to parse out the correct bit of random knowledge for any given query? this ain’t Star Trek, bud. not happening in our lifetimes.
search engines aren’t going away. speaking of which, how often do you use googles “I’m feeling lucky” button instead of getting all the query results back?
That being said, who really ever uses a voice assistant? I set alarms for cooking and that’s it.
I had to use it a little earlier to find my darn phone. "Hey Google find my phone" will ring only mine at full volume. Not having to run around the house room by room looking for it or asking my wife to call it ( and hoping the ringer is turned up) is almost by itself worth the price of admission.
One of the nice features of Watch, flick up and tap and your phone starts pinging.
...and one of the nice smart-speaker features, no flick and tap or additional expense, assuming it was on your wrist to begin with.
That being said, who really ever uses a voice assistant? I set alarms for cooking and that’s it.
I had to use it a little earlier to find my darn phone. "Hey Google find my phone" will ring only mine at full volume. Not having to run around the house room by room looking for it or asking my wife to call it ( and hoping the ringer is turned up) is almost by itself worth the price of admission.
Don't you have an Apple Watch? Find your phone is one of the surprisingly useful features.
Not only does he not have one (nor an iphone), he claims he doesn’t know what they even look like and can’t say that he’s seen more of them in the wild on normals.
The HomePod is primarily a device to listen to music on. Therefore Siri on the HomePod is mostly focused on music, not driving or making phone calls, you have a phone for that. I think the people buying the HomePod will be satisfied with the HomePods abilities.
I like to play my music via my TV, using Music Match in AppleTV, listen it on my stereo, and have a screen saver of my photographs while the music is playing.
Tell me if I can use the HomePod to listen to my music in this fashion? Seriously.
Although I don’t own a HomePod, I believe you can airplay to is from your Apple TV, so I guess the answer is yes.
Serious question: do people really ask their home-centric smart speakers for navigation? If so, how does that work and why is it better than just asking my phone?
Thanks in advance.
You never check for directions before you leave the house?
That being said, who really ever uses a voice assistant? I set alarms for cooking and that’s it.
I had to use it a little earlier to find my darn phone. "Hey Google find my phone" will ring only mine at full volume. Not having to run around the house room by room looking for it or asking my wife to call it ( and hoping the ringer is turned up) is almost by itself worth the price of admission.
One of the nice features of Watch, flick up and tap and your phone starts pinging.
...and one of the nice smart-speaker features, no flick and tap or additional expense, assuming it was on your wrist to begin with.
One can complete the flick and tap before you’ve finished speaking your sentence to your speaker (which yes is an added expense as well).
Youre not a watch guy but mine is on wrist every single day.
That being said, who really ever uses a voice assistant? I set alarms for cooking and that’s it.
I had to use it a little earlier to find my darn phone. "Hey Google find my phone" will ring only mine at full volume. Not having to run around the house room by room looking for it or asking my wife to call it ( and hoping the ringer is turned up) is almost by itself worth the price of admission.
Don't you have an Apple Watch? Find your phone is one of the surprisingly useful features.
Not only does he not have one (nor an iphone), he claims he doesn’t know what they even look like and can’t say that he’s seen more of them in the wild on normals.
What would an Apple Watch benefit me for that I don't already have. Very honest question.
As for the iPhone X, yay I did finally see my first verified one in the wild this past month and even got to play with it for a half-hour. Very helpful owner too, friend of a friend. Nice piece, tho the gestures were initially a bit confusing for this neophyte. Sometimes they did one thing and sometimes another or was I confused?
Serious question: do people really ask their home-centric smart speakers for navigation? If so, how does that work and why is it better than just asking my phone?
Thanks in advance.
You never check for directions before you leave the house?
Yes, on a device with a screen.
How about a simple "how long will it take me to get from here to Wherever Place", or "How's the traffic on the way to work" I'm sure you've done that, and no screen needed.
The HomePod is primarily a device to listen to music on. Therefore Siri on the HomePod is mostly focused on music, not driving or making phone calls, you have a phone for that. I think the people buying the HomePod will be satisfied with the HomePods abilities.
I like to play my music via my TV, using Music Match in AppleTV, listen it on my stereo, and have a screen saver of my photographs while the music is playing.
Tell me if I can use the HomePod to listen to my music in this fashion? Seriously.
Although I don’t own a HomePod, I believe you can airplay to is from your Apple TV, so I guess the answer is yes.
This is helpful. Thanks.
I assume I have to pair and unpair the HomePod each time (to go back to the default setting for watching TV)?
That being said, who really ever uses a voice assistant? I set alarms for cooking and that’s it.
I had to use it a little earlier to find my darn phone. "Hey Google find my phone" will ring only mine at full volume. Not having to run around the house room by room looking for it or asking my wife to call it ( and hoping the ringer is turned up) is almost by itself worth the price of admission.
One of the nice features of Watch, flick up and tap and your phone starts pinging.
...and one of the nice smart-speaker features, no flick and tap or additional expense, assuming it was on your wrist to begin with.
One can complete the flick and tap before you’ve finished speaking your sentence to your speaker (which yes is an added expense as well).
Youre not a watch guy but mine is on wrist every single day.
But hardly 24/7. I understand why you are trying to resist the idea that this could possibly be a nice-to-have feature on a smart-speaker along with multiple voice support: It's not on the HomePod yet. But I'll wager you'll LOVE the convenience when multi-voice support brings that and a dozen other personalized features to your HomePod in the months to come.
I hope more people doing a test like this. If reports like this won’t push Apple to be serious about SIRI I don’t know what will.
There’re so many fundamental things SIRI could be improved. If Apple won’t do it I hope they get called out like this until they understand it will hurt their brand.
(I’m talking about SIRI in general, like on iPhone, not specifically on HomePod.)
Take your comprehension of the English language, you too have so much that needs improving upon for the reader's ease and understanding of your intent.
The HomePod is primarily a device to listen to music on. Therefore Siri on the HomePod is mostly focused on music, not driving or making phone calls, you have a phone for that. I think the people buying the HomePod will be satisfied with the HomePods abilities.
I like to play my music via my TV, using Music Match in AppleTV, listen it on my stereo, and have a screen saver of my photographs while the music is playing.
Tell me if I can use the HomePod to listen to my music in this fashion? Seriously.
Although I don’t own a HomePod, I believe you can airplay to is from your Apple TV, so I guess the answer is yes.
This is helpful. Thanks.
I assume I have to pair and unpair the HomePod each time (to go back to the default setting for watching TV)?
While waiting for AI article there is one at 9to5 today that explains how, and the ups and downs of it. When it might be good and when not to waste your time.
Siri has been a very poor service since it came out. I never use it because when I do, its useless. "Siri, read my text messages." Her reply? "You will need to unlock your iPhone first." That defeats the purpose, if I am asking, it is because I do not or can not look at my phone. Maybe ask me to speak my passcode? How about noting my watch is within feet or that it is my voice? Further, sending a text with voice dictation is poor, I had much better use with Google Now. Siri is just trash when compared to the competition and it have not improved very much since release.
Test finds HomePod's Siri 'at the bottom of the totem pole' in smartspeaker AI
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totem_pole?wprov=sfti1 Those from cultures that do not carve totem poles often assume that the linear representation of the figures places the most importance on the highest figure, an idea that became pervasive in the dominant culture after it entered into mainstream parlance by the 1930s with the phrase "low man on the totem pole"[26](and as the title of a bestselling 1941 humor book byH. Allen Smith). However, Native sources either reject the linear component altogether, or reverse the hierarchy, with the most important representations on the bottom, bearing the weight of all the other figures, or at eye level with the viewer to heighten their significance.[27]Many poles have no vertical arrangement at all, consisting of a lone figure atop an undecorated column.
You all realize the main reason Siri is not as good as Google is that Apple anonymizes all the Siri data. Unlike google who stores all your queries in Voice and Audio activity so it just knows a lot more about you.... Apple is taking care of your privacy and compromising Siri to protect your anonymity.
While we all understand those points, there are a lot of things people are complaining about with Siri (which isn't specific to HomePod I might add), that can be dramatically improved, and yet, for reasons unknown to us all, have not been. Why Apple isn't expending more resources toward Siri is anyones guess. Some say that Apple doesn't actually care about Siri. Others suggest that they provide just enough to get by, yet never once going above and beyond. I think it's somewhere in the middle. They've been gut punched recently with all of the security breaches, and the latest iOS code reveal by someone certainly isn't helping matters any. I think there's a whole lot of people looking through everything to find all the stuff they have yet to find, and it's taking away from improvements to the things we all want. While we do all want to have secure devices and Macs, I think a lot of us are extremely disappointed that Apple hasn't made Siri far more useful than it is. I pointed out in another post that I'm extremely upset that when asking Siri a question, I don't get a verbal response, rather I get websites containing the information. Do you have any idea how pissed off that makes me? I didn't ask for a website. I don't care about the website. I wanted the information I specifically asked for. Try this sometime, just to be as pissed off as I am, "Hey Siri, when is the next tour available at the silver mine in Tombstone, Arizona?" Did I ask for a website anywhere in that question? FSCK NO! I asked for a time. A specific time. Did I get that from Siri? No. In my opinion, Apple needs to get off their asses and make Siri usable for people who actually want to interact with it. Bringing up a list of websites rather than the information I asked for doesn't make it beneficial to use, it just pisses me off.
Comments
Tell me if I can use the HomePod to listen to my music in this fashion? Seriously.
I debated buying the HomePod. At $350 I consider it only a little bit expensive. I think that Apple has created some incredibly original hardware with its circle of tweeters and microphones for tuning it. If it had a auxiliary line-in port I would have bought it - you could hook up an Echo to it then and get the best of both worlds.
Home Pod needs two other big things
1. Software Siri improvements. Hopefully Apple will now work at improving HomePodOS and Siri at the same level that they have improved as they improved watchOS since it's initial release. This includes adding Multi-User Support to iOS for the iPad and tvOS.
2. Create a HomePod Family HPF with a HomePodMax (50% bigger with 12 1 inch tweeters and 6 2 inch mid-range Woofers also arranged in a ring around the HPM , one 3 inch woofer and one 6 inch sub-woofer horizontally mounted at top and bottom of the HPM, and 10 far-field microphones) . Basically using similar design to the current HP but designed to sound better at the mid range, go louder and include an auxilary in-port connection. Hopefully they could do this for $699.00 Lastly the HPF should have a top of the line HomePodBar with HDMI and optical in port ($999) .
Since I think that this will probably take 5 to 10 years for Apple to get there, I bought a Sonos Play 5 (it has the auxiliary 3.5 mm port) instead. But if Apple surprises me and improves the HP faster than expected then I would probably pick this up next year. Right now it looks like a very good start acoustically if you have apple Music, but like Niel I don't.
So you expect these dopey devices to know all human knowledge, and be able to parse out the correct bit of random knowledge for any given query? this ain’t Star Trek, bud. not happening in our lifetimes.
search engines aren’t going away. speaking of which, how often do you use googles “I’m feeling lucky” button instead of getting all the query results back?
Youre not a watch guy but mine is on wrist every single day.
As for the iPhone X, yay I did finally see my first verified one in the wild this past month and even got to play with it for a half-hour. Very helpful owner too, friend of a friend. Nice piece, tho the gestures were initially a bit confusing for this neophyte. Sometimes they did one thing and sometimes another or was I confused?
I assume I have to pair and unpair the HomePod each time (to go back to the default setting for watching TV)?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totem_pole?wprov=sfti1
Those from cultures that do not carve totem poles often assume that the linear representation of the figures places the most importance on the highest figure, an idea that became pervasive in the dominant culture after it entered into mainstream parlance by the 1930s with the phrase "low man on the totem pole"[26](and as the title of a bestselling 1941 humor book by H. Allen Smith). However, Native sources either reject the linear component altogether, or reverse the hierarchy, with the most important representations on the bottom, bearing the weight of all the other figures, or at eye level with the viewer to heighten their significance.[27]Many poles have no vertical arrangement at all, consisting of a lone figure atop an undecorated column.