Apple's HomePod mini review: the speaker for the rest of us

2

Comments

  • Reply 21 of 48
    jcs2305 said:
    No native Spotify support, no can do.

    How to change the default music app on HomePod


    The ability to change default music services came with IOS 14.  I use Apple music so I haven't been able to test this, but at this point Apple has given the ability with IOS 14.





    HomePod runs tvOS, not iOS.  Apple refuses to allow Spotify on the HomePod because they want to push their own Apple Music service.  That is what they hoped HomePod would do, but unfortunately, that did not work out so well when HomePod didn't fly off store shelves, even when marked down to $199.  So no matter what is featured in iOS 14, you cannot change the default music service to Spotify for Siri to control on the HomePod.  Apple controls what you can listen to.
    LOL. You may want to follow the link in that post you quoted. If you hurry you will still have time to come back and edit your post. 

    I’ll save you the time, though. Using an iPhone running iOS 14 you can adjust the HomePod settings in the Home app to choose a different default music service. Once that is done Siri can be used to play music from that service. The ball is in Spotify’s court. If Pandora, et al, can pull it off then Spotify can. 
    edited November 2020 supadav03winstoner71williamlondonStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 22 of 48
    This review makes no sense at all.  The majority of the article identifies all the flaws of the mini, and carries over all the flaws from the first failed HomePod, yet somehow they give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.  Apple cannot even clear them out at $199 on sale, yet they come out with another severely compromised product and overprice it at $99.  AI forgot to bring up the failed Wi-Fi issue with the mini.  Many reports coming in of the mini's Wi-Fi failing constantly, and rebooting it only fixes it for a few minutes before Wi-Fi fails again.  Wi-Fi is required for the product to function, so basically people are left with a round ball that does nothing.  It is odd that Apple now powers the mini with the silicon from the discontinued watch 5 and makes it run tvOS(?), but then again, they powered the original HomePod with the outdated and discontinued A8.  Even worse, they are using an outdated Wi-Fi protocol because the mini only supports 802.11n!  Even their discontinued AirPort Extreme from 2013 supported 802.11ac!  No wonder it is failing on Wi-Fi networks.  It is like they are making these things from their own bargain bin of leftover and outdated parts.  (Remember when Apple made lousy PowerPC 603e computers by jamming a 64-bit processor onto a leftover Quadra 32-bit board?  That is how they are building these HomePod products).

    I honestly don't know why people think the HomePod sounds good.  It is far too heavy on the bass and too boomy, and Apple refuses to incorporate tone/EQ controls so people can tailor the sound to their own liking.  It is Apple's way, or no way.  Too many restrictions on a speaker that take away the enjoyment of its sole purpose - to listen to music.  Sorry, but the 4.5 rating is a joke.
    Couldn't agree more.  1) My full-size HomePod has impressive "heavy" sound, but in general the bass is set way too high and there's no way to adjust it.  Apple prides itself with music appreciation, but without an equalizer you just can't take such a device seriously.  2) Literally each and every time I play music from my Mac or iPhone to my HomePod, I can 100% count on there being some connectivity issue.  I walk in the door, tell my iPhone to play its music on HomePod, it does, then 15 seconds later it loses the connection, for no reason. Every. Time.  Reconnecting wastes about 3 minutes of my time, then the connection drops again at random intervals after that - 10 minutes, 30 minutes, between songs/videos, just randomly.  I paid $349 for it 2 years ago and, although I still use it in my work-from-home office, I wouldn't buy it now at 1/2 that price and the Mini just sounds like more of the same, only weaker.  Surely they could have figured out a way for it to play music from a phone using only Bluetooth, like at the beach (it requires WiFi to function at all, and only 802.11n?! - sorry, what year is this?  This product is off-brand because it's riddled with compromises and seems behind the times.   My HomePod's reliability is as if it wasn't even made by Apple, to connect with Apple products.  I hope this isn't an indication of what's to come from them.
    CheeseFreezewilliamlondon
  • Reply 23 of 48
    Ordered 2 from Best Buy on the 16th. Delivered on 18th. Just fyi, no waiting. 
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 24 of 48
    Nice review.

    The British love their Queens, don't they?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 25 of 48
    JapheyJaphey Posts: 1,767member
    These Minis just make me want an original now. I guess I’m not alone because I haven’t seen them marked down to $199 at Best Buy since the Minis were released. Does anyone think an upgrade is on the horizon? 
    watto_cobrasellerington
  • Reply 26 of 48
    jagbatth said:
    Still have yet to receive my HomePod mini from the Adorama deal Apple insider mentioned a month ago.  HomePod mini is available in Mexico and other countries and I ordered on launch date with no updates on shipping or even if it will ever ship. Sad story. Please do not use Adorama for anything or recommend these schmucks in the future!
    Same here. It would at least be nice for AI to say something about this. I know it’s a third party reseller but it still had AI’s backing, and I thought maybe the $10 discount was helping AI a little bit so that’s why I did it through Adorama instead of Apple, Inc. Now I’m waiting for weeks while many already have it. Last correspondence from Adorama said that they’re still backordered and also that Nov. 30th is when it should arrive. I’ll believe it when I see it. 
    Our deals coordinator should be chiming in on this fairly soon, in this thread.
    Appreciate it, thank you! 
  • Reply 27 of 48
    Alger said:

     I hope this isn't an indication of what's to come from them.
    Perhaps Apple isn't the company for negative nellies?!
    edited November 2020 watto_cobraStrangeDays
  • Reply 28 of 48
    jagbatth said:
    Still have yet to receive my HomePod mini from the Adorama deal Apple insider mentioned a month ago.  HomePod mini is available in Mexico and other countries and I ordered on launch date with no updates on shipping or even if it will ever ship. Sad story. Please do not use Adorama for anything or recommend these schmucks in the future!
    Adorama is basically a camera and photo/video centric shop. 
    I’ve been happily buying photo gear from them for years. 

    For Apple gear, I buy from Apple.
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 29 of 48
    jagbatth said:
    Still have yet to receive my HomePod mini from the Adorama deal Apple insider mentioned a month ago.  HomePod mini is available in Mexico and other countries and I ordered on launch date with no updates on shipping or even if it will ever ship. Sad story. Please do not use Adorama for anything or recommend these schmucks in the future!
    Adorama is basically a camera and photo/video centric shop. 
    I’ve been happily buying photo gear from them for years. 

    For Apple gear, I buy from Apple.
    That’s great. Some of us wanted to get a tiny discount while also maybe supporting our favorite Apple news site. There was no disclaimer saying “only buy photo gear from this company, not Apple products.” Next time I’ll look for one. 
    williamlondon
  • Reply 30 of 48
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 1,999member
    I’ve bought a lot of stuff from Adorama (and B&H) over the years, including Apple gear, without issues.   New product in high demand, all resellers are having issues getting product in. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 31 of 48
    Still can't connect to a regular TV, huh...
    williamlondon
  • Reply 32 of 48
    Still can't connect to a regular TV, huh...
    Hmmmm, connects to my “regular” TV.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 33 of 48
    Still can't connect to a regular TV, huh...
    Hmmmm, connects to my “regular” TV.
    Do enlighten us. 
    Sorry, should have said, “whaaaa, there’s no headphone jack in these phones anymore.”
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 34 of 48
    Still can't connect to a regular TV, huh...
    Hmmmm, connects to my “regular” TV.
    Do enlighten us. 
    Sorry, should have said, “whaaaa, there’s no headphone jack in these phones anymore.”
    Didn’t expect you’d be hoisted on your own petard, I’ll bet. 

    (Happens all the time, especially when a poster’s trying to be too clever by half...)
  • Reply 35 of 48
    Still can't connect to a regular TV, huh...
    Hmmmm, connects to my “regular” TV.
    Do enlighten us. 
    Sorry, should have said, “whaaaa, there’s no headphone jack in these phones anymore.”
    Didn’t expect you’d be hoisted on your own petard, I’ll bet. 

    (Happens all the time, especially when a poster’s trying to be too clever by half...)
    Oh sweet irony.
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 36 of 48
    The badge with 850 unread mails?! (In the 1st video)
    It would drive me crazy!!!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 37 of 48
    I don’t see the fixed usb cable as advantage.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 38 of 48
    This review makes no sense at all.  The majority of the article identifies all the flaws of the mini, and carries over all the flaws from the first failed HomePod, yet somehow they give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.  Apple cannot even clear them out at $199 on sale, yet they come out with another severely compromised product and overprice it at $99.  AI forgot to bring up the failed Wi-Fi issue with the mini.  Many reports coming in of the mini's Wi-Fi failing constantly, and rebooting it only fixes it for a few minutes before Wi-Fi fails again.  Wi-Fi is required for the product to function, so basically people are left with a round ball that does nothing.  It is odd that Apple now powers the mini with the silicon from the discontinued watch 5 and makes it run tvOS(?), but then again, they powered the original HomePod with the outdated and discontinued A8.  Even worse, they are using an outdated Wi-Fi protocol because the mini only supports 802.11n!  Even their discontinued AirPort Extreme from 2013 supported 802.11ac!  No wonder it is failing on Wi-Fi networks.  It is like they are making these things from their own bargain bin of leftover and outdated parts.  (Remember when Apple made lousy PowerPC 603e computers by jamming a 64-bit processor onto a leftover Quadra 32-bit board?  That is how they are building these HomePod products).

    I honestly don't know why people think the HomePod sounds good.  It is far too heavy on the bass and too boomy, and Apple refuses to incorporate tone/EQ controls so people can tailor the sound to their own liking.  It is Apple's way, or no way.  Too many restrictions on a speaker that take away the enjoyment of its sole purpose - to listen to music.  Sorry, but the 4.5 rating is a joke.
    Your post is basically all nonsense. You don't have the product, I do. There is no wifi issue with it. And $99 is overpriced? Yeah, maybe if youre used to cheapie Android knockoffs and the similarly crappy speakers. The HPm sounds fantastic for the small size. The regular HPs sound great...so their main purpose for me is as speakers for my ATV; we did blind A:B testing w/ a popular sound bar and the votes favored the HPs.
    williamlondonDogpersonwatto_cobrawinstoner71
  • Reply 39 of 48
    jcs2305 said:
    No native Spotify support, no can do.

    How to change the default music app on HomePod


    The ability to change default music services came with IOS 14.  I use Apple music so I haven't been able to test this, but at this point Apple has given the ability with IOS 14.

    HomePod runs tvOS, not iOS.  Apple refuses to allow Spotify on the HomePod because they want to push their own Apple Music service.  That is what they hoped HomePod would do, but unfortunately, that did not work out so well when HomePod didn't fly off store shelves, even when marked down to $199.  So no matter what is featured in iOS 14, you cannot change the default music service to Spotify for Siri to control on the HomePod.  Apple controls what you can listen to.
    More paranoid nonsense.
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 40 of 48

    Alger said:
    This review makes no sense at all.  The majority of the article identifies all the flaws of the mini, and carries over all the flaws from the first failed HomePod, yet somehow they give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.  Apple cannot even clear them out at $199 on sale, yet they come out with another severely compromised product and overprice it at $99.  AI forgot to bring up the failed Wi-Fi issue with the mini.  Many reports coming in of the mini's Wi-Fi failing constantly, and rebooting it only fixes it for a few minutes before Wi-Fi fails again.  Wi-Fi is required for the product to function, so basically people are left with a round ball that does nothing.  It is odd that Apple now powers the mini with the silicon from the discontinued watch 5 and makes it run tvOS(?), but then again, they powered the original HomePod with the outdated and discontinued A8.  Even worse, they are using an outdated Wi-Fi protocol because the mini only supports 802.11n!  Even their discontinued AirPort Extreme from 2013 supported 802.11ac!  No wonder it is failing on Wi-Fi networks.  It is like they are making these things from their own bargain bin of leftover and outdated parts.  (Remember when Apple made lousy PowerPC 603e computers by jamming a 64-bit processor onto a leftover Quadra 32-bit board?  That is how they are building these HomePod products).

    I honestly don't know why people think the HomePod sounds good.  It is far too heavy on the bass and too boomy, and Apple refuses to incorporate tone/EQ controls so people can tailor the sound to their own liking.  It is Apple's way, or no way.  Too many restrictions on a speaker that take away the enjoyment of its sole purpose - to listen to music.  Sorry, but the 4.5 rating is a joke.
    Couldn't agree more.  1) My full-size HomePod has impressive "heavy" sound, but in general the bass is set way too high and there's no way to adjust it.  Apple prides itself with music appreciation, but without an equalizer you just can't take such a device seriously.  2) Literally each and every time I play music from my Mac or iPhone to my HomePod, I can 100% count on there being some connectivity issue.  I walk in the door, tell my iPhone to play its music on HomePod, it does, then 15 seconds later it loses the connection, for no reason. Every. Time.  Reconnecting wastes about 3 minutes of my time, then the connection drops again at random intervals after that - 10 minutes, 30 minutes, between songs/videos, just randomly.  I paid $349 for it 2 years ago and, although I still use it in my work-from-home office, I wouldn't buy it now at 1/2 that price and the Mini just sounds like more of the same, only weaker.  Surely they could have figured out a way for it to play music from a phone using only Bluetooth, like at the beach (it requires WiFi to function at all, and only 802.11n?! - sorry, what year is this?  This product is off-brand because it's riddled with compromises and seems behind the times.   My HomePod's reliability is as if it wasn't even made by Apple, to connect with Apple products.  I hope this isn't an indication of what's to come from them.
    You must have some home networking issues. I can't think of any time my HPs dropped audio for no reason. I use them daily. 
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
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