I had the impression the Mini version did not have Bluetooth, which made it hard to use for me as I travel a lot and wanted to bring it along without hooking to Hoel wifi.
Although apparently the large HomePod did have Bluetooth 5.0, you could not use it to play music…. So if someone came to your house with a phone that is not from Apple, they could not share their music. The biggest reason not to get one.
Why would that matter? If they wanted me to hear something, they could just tell the HomePod to play it.
Not really concerned with how my home interacts with visitor's devices.
Well, thats you. I have people over that may want to play their Spotify playlist, or renters in my holiday place that want to play music when they are there, etc. I don’t think that having hoped for Bluetooth support was a very contentious wish.
Great to see them again, but it should have been priced at $250…sorry, $249. $300 is a big number considering the array of competing samples on the market.
Apple got this all ass backwards imo. If they’d gone mini first, then large, I’m convinced the original large HomePod would have been a bigger success. Still in love with my original three large HomePods, such a great sound. Love the two minis I have too. It’s just a great product full stop. Great to see these back.
Very excited by this announcement! I have the original HomePod and it works great. Can it be paired for stereo with the newer model announced today?
No. The tech and speaker/microphone array inside is different so you have to imagine that there would be a number of issues in terms of sound quality, processing, and room sensing that wouldn't work out too well for a stereo match.
My hypothesis is that the original HomePod was discontinued in order to clear the way to really push out larger numbers of the $99 mini, all in support of growing HomeKit. HK becomes viable when the user can stand anywhere in the house and make a verbal command to control devices. The original HomePod was a too-expensive proposition for most to consider distributing throughout the house. The mini was available, but the option of the better sounding device would make some significant percentage of users defer a purchase, or buy only one or two OG HomePods instead of a flock of minis to put everywhere. The result would thus stifle the nascent HomeKit market.
Now with millions of minis out there, the big HP can be resurrected without interfering in the objectives for growing HomeKit.
Still hoping they will now enable setup - 2 HomePods as soundbar + subwoofer + dolby atmos + 2 HomePod minis as rear surround speakers. That would make it for me 😎
I'd like them to allow the Apple TV (hardware) to work in Target HTS Mode — i.e., the Apple TV (hardware) + HomePods would work as an HTS for your TV/Cable box, similar to the Target Display Mode iMacs used to support or Target Disk Mode.
As far as I know, there's no way to get sound from your TV (or cable box) to a single or pair of HomePods, so if it doesn't make sense for you to use your Apple TV (hardware) for everything, HomePods don't work as a general purpose HTS, and who wants to have separate speakers for your TV/Cable box and your Apple TV (hardware). If the Apple TV (hardware) could accept sound input from your TV/Cable box and play it on HomePods that would solve that problem.
Still hoping they will now enable setup - 2 HomePods as soundbar + subwoofer + dolby atmos + 2 HomePod minis as rear surround speakers. That would make it for me 😎
I'd like them to allow the Apple TV (hardware) to work in Target HTS Mode — i.e., the Apple TV (hardware) + HomePods would work as an HTS for your TV/Cable box, similar to the Target Display Mode iMacs used to support or Target Disk Mode.
As far as I know, there's no way to get sound from your TV (or cable box) to a single or pair of HomePods, so if it doesn't make sense for you to use your Apple TV (hardware) for everything, HomePods don't work as a general purpose HTS, and who wants to have separate speakers for your TV/Cable box and your Apple TV (hardware). If the Apple TV (hardware) could accept sound input from your TV/Cable box and play it on HomePods that would solve that problem.
Of course I meant while connecting it to my Apple TV
Very cool. Until mine original one died and I replaced it with two minis, I really enjoyed it. At some point I'll try a DIY repair on the old one because the failure I experienced (totally dead and will not power up) seems to have a fairly small number of well known causes. Glad to see Apple bring it back supposedly better sounding than before, which is saying a lot because the original one sounded so damn good.
I had the impression the Mini version did not have Bluetooth, which made it hard to use for me as I travel a lot and wanted to bring it along without hooking to Hoel wifi.
Although apparently the large HomePod did have Bluetooth 5.0, you could not use it to play music…. So if someone came to your house with a phone that is not from Apple, they could not share their music. The biggest reason not to get one.
Why would that matter? If they wanted me to hear something, they could just tell the HomePod to play it.
Not really concerned with how my home interacts with visitor's devices.
At some point Apple will stop supporting software updates for HomePods just like they do for every product they make. Once that happens they will become large bricks. Having Bluetooth support for streaming from other devices would allow them to continue being useful.
Still hoping they will now enable setup - 2 HomePods as soundbar + subwoofer + dolby atmos + 2 HomePod minis as rear surround speakers. That would make it for me 😎
I'd like them to allow the Apple TV (hardware) to work in Target HTS Mode — i.e., the Apple TV (hardware) + HomePods would work as an HTS for your TV/Cable box, similar to the Target Display Mode iMacs used to support or Target Disk Mode.
As far as I know, there's no way to get sound from your TV (or cable box) to a single or pair of HomePods, so if it doesn't make sense for you to use your Apple TV (hardware) for everything, HomePods don't work as a general purpose HTS, and who wants to have separate speakers for your TV/Cable box and your Apple TV (hardware). If the Apple TV (hardware) could accept sound input from your TV/Cable box and play it on HomePods that would solve that problem.
Of course I meant while connecting it to my Apple TV
Right, I understood that, I'm suggesting an entirely different enhancement related to the use of HomePods. There's no reason they couldn't do both, but Target HTS Mode would significantly increase the number of people interested in HomePods; people who currently don't buy them because they need a general purpose HTS, not one that only works with Apple TV (hardware).
Target HTS Mode might not even require any Apple TV (hardware) hardware changes, it might be implementable entirely through a tvOS update.
Very excited by this announcement! I have the original HomePod and it works great. Can it be paired for stereo with the newer model announced today?
From the new HomePod page..
"Creating a HomePod stereo pair requires two of the same model HomePod
speakers, such as two HomePod mini, two HomePod (2nd generation), or two
HomePod (1st generation)."
I had the impression the Mini version did not have Bluetooth, which made it hard to use for me as I travel a lot and wanted to bring it along without hooking to Hoel wifi.
Although apparently the large HomePod did have Bluetooth 5.0, you could not use it to play music…. So if someone came to your house with a phone that is not from Apple, they could not share their music. The biggest reason not to get one.
Why would that matter? If they wanted me to hear something, they could just tell the HomePod to play it.
Not really concerned with how my home interacts with visitor's devices.
At some point Apple will stop supporting software updates for HomePods just like they do for every product they make. Once that happens they will become large bricks. Having Bluetooth support for streaming from other devices would allow them to continue being useful.
Not a concern. By the time Apple stops supporting, I will have moved on to something newer, better more capable anyway. I have BT speakers that are 'bricks" because of old batteries. It's a speaker, not a lifetime commitment.
I had the impression the Mini version did not have Bluetooth, which made it hard to use for me as I travel a lot and wanted to bring it along without hooking to Hoel wifi.
Although apparently the large HomePod did have Bluetooth 5.0, you could not use it to play music…. So if someone came to your house with a phone that is not from Apple, they could not share their music. The biggest reason not to get one.
Why would that matter? If they wanted me to hear something, they could just tell the HomePod to play it.
Not really concerned with how my home interacts with visitor's devices.
At some point Apple will stop supporting software updates for HomePods just like they do for every product they make. Once that happens they will become large bricks. Having Bluetooth support for streaming from other devices would allow them to continue being useful.
Not a concern. By the time Apple stops supporting, I will have moved on to something newer, better more capable anyway. I have BT speakers that are 'bricks" because of old batteries. It's a speaker, not a lifetime commitment.
Well, also, like other Apple products, they don't stop working the instant Apple stops software updates, so it's typically quite a while before they become "bricks".
Still using the original HomePod, I’m kinda fed up with the lack of Siri integration with Spotify. Whoever’s fault it is I don’t care, but it’s terrible to have a device that puts Siri front and center yet is completely useless with one of the largest music services out there. I will go for Sonos next time. Won’t have Siri but at least seems to strive for more compatibility.
How about improving the sound quality? The originals did not impress me. If these sound like that, I'll pass. I want to hear sound as it was heard at the recording studio. Not like it's a best buy subwoofer. If these can sound like the studio, I just might get one eventually. I couldn't care less about Siri.
Still hoping they will now enable setup - 2 HomePods as soundbar + subwoofer + dolby atmos + 2 HomePod minis as rear surround speakers. That would make it for me 😎
I'd like them to allow the Apple TV (hardware) to work in Target HTS Mode — i.e., the Apple TV (hardware) + HomePods would work as an HTS for your TV/Cable box, similar to the Target Display Mode iMacs used to support or Target Disk Mode.
As far as I know, there's no way to get sound from your TV (or cable box) to a single or pair of HomePods, so if it doesn't make sense for you to use your Apple TV (hardware) for everything, HomePods don't work as a general purpose HTS, and who wants to have separate speakers for your TV/Cable box and your Apple TV (hardware). If the Apple TV (hardware) could accept sound input from your TV/Cable box and play it on HomePods that would solve that problem.
Of course I meant while connecting it to my Apple TV
We have connected 2 HomePods (stereo) to our smart TV using Bluetooth and it worked perfectly.
Still hoping they will now enable setup - 2 HomePods as soundbar + subwoofer + dolby atmos + 2 HomePod minis as rear surround speakers. That would make it for me ߘt;/div>
I'd like them to allow the Apple TV (hardware) to work in Target HTS Mode — i.e., the Apple TV (hardware) + HomePods would work as an HTS for your TV/Cable box, similar to the Target Display Mode iMacs used to support or Target Disk Mode.
As far as I know, there's no way to get sound from your TV (or cable box) to a single or pair of HomePods, so if it doesn't make sense for you to use your Apple TV (hardware) for everything, HomePods don't work as a general purpose HTS, and who wants to have separate speakers for your TV/Cable box and your Apple TV (hardware). If the Apple TV (hardware) could accept sound input from your TV/Cable box and play it on HomePods that would solve that problem.
Of course I meant while connecting it to my Apple TV
We have connected 2 HomePods (stereo) to our smart TV using Bluetooth and it worked perfectly.
What brand of TV? And are they also connected to Apple TV (hardware)?
Comments
Now with millions of minis out there, the big HP can be resurrected without interfering in the objectives for growing HomeKit.
That's what I think, anyway.
As far as I know, there's no way to get sound from your TV (or cable box) to a single or pair of HomePods, so if it doesn't make sense for you to use your Apple TV (hardware) for everything, HomePods don't work as a general purpose HTS, and who wants to have separate speakers for your TV/Cable box and your Apple TV (hardware). If the Apple TV (hardware) could accept sound input from your TV/Cable box and play it on HomePods that would solve that problem.
Target HTS Mode might not even require any Apple TV (hardware) hardware changes, it might be implementable entirely through a tvOS update.
Not a concern. By the time Apple stops supporting, I will have moved on to something newer, better more capable anyway. I have BT speakers that are 'bricks" because of old batteries. It's a speaker, not a lifetime commitment.
I will go for Sonos next time. Won’t have Siri but at least seems to strive for more compatibility.