Still, the cord is fixed to the HomePod instead of being able to detach it. Still, it has no battery. Still, Siri does not work with Spotify. And still, the top Siri controls are awkward.
It seems you missed some info in the article. “ We have learned that the new HomePod's power cord is easily detachable, which is an improvement over the original model.”
And battery? It’s collide not ParkPod. Why would you need a battery (and to recharge it) when you are at home?
And Spotify? It seems that Spotify has to make it possible, because Apple already provided this opportunity.
Still, the cord is fixed to the HomePod instead of being able to detach it. Still, it has no battery. Still, Siri does not work with Spotify. And still, the top Siri controls are awkward.
It's pretty amazing that so many think Tim Cook has the time to both design products and manage the cost of their components and final product.
Okay. Now Apple needs a BassPod subwoofer and the ability to tie it and and a few HomePods and HomePod minis into a true Spatial Audio network that supports Atmos.
THAT would rock.
Um … I can only comment on my own OG HomePods and those of friends who also have such, but … the bass on these things is window-flexingly powerful.
Also: apparently these new HomePods do in fact support Spatial Audio *and* Atmos. We’ll have to wait for independent testing, of course, but if you need more bass than the OG HomePods put out, YOU are the neighbourhood menace!
Still, the cord is fixed to the HomePod instead of being able to detach it. Still, it has no battery. Still, Siri does not work with Spotify. And still, the top Siri controls are awkward.
1. Nope. 2. No it isn’t. 3. That’s right, no battery. Yeah, let’s add 5-8 pounds to each speaker! Good idea! Oh wait it’s a terrible idea. Consider a Sonos Go, which is a battery-powered high-quality portable speaker that is compatible with AirPlay 2 (and not the only such thing on the market, either). 4. It works just fine with Spotify (et al) via AirPlay. So do the OG HomePods. So do the HomePods mini. 5. Opinion, not fact.
Reissue a product that failed in the market years ago, remove 1/3 of the speakers, keep the price, make it incompatible with the previous version, use a 8 year old CPU, downgrade network to a 14 year old standard, keep Bluetooth 5.0, and launch after Christmas. Why?
I really do not think having fewer speakers is going to be an issue. Technology marches on, Apple has learned a lot over all the iterations of devices about speakers and I am quite sure the Home Pod mini also was a learning experience. The 4 cylinder Turbo on my car replaced a 6 in the previous generation and is superior to it despite having 2 fewer cylinders.
As to pricing, inflation. There are things at the grocery store that are easily triple what they were 3-4 years ago and most have doubled. The CPU is not 8 years old - not sure where you got that. The networking relates to the need of the device. The latest networking HW likely costs significantly more and would not improve sound quality a bit.
The compatibility “issue” is a non starter. This is Apple, they were the first to abandon the legacy ports for USB and later to drop Ethernet jacks, FireWire and optical drives from laptops. If you want to run old stuff forever you might want to buy elsewhere.
As to after Christmas, a fair guess would be supply issues from China. If you follow business news you would know that there have been significant and ongoing disruptions to manufacturing in China all of 2022.
Ordered a HomePod Mini from Amazon when they had them at $89, and ended up returning it. Going in, I knew that we would only be using it from our phones (already have a better than decent surround sound receiver attached to the Apple TV), so the inability to connect to anything else wasn't a deciding factor. However, the 2 second delay playing video off my phone was definitely a deciding factor, even when both my phone and the speaker were withing inches of the router. Unwatchable.
After I experienced this, I found several others experiencing this lag, so it's a known issue. I get that it's AirPlay, and not Bluetooth, in play, but I still fail to understand the magnitude of this delay.
I've heard that the Apple TV has the capability to delay the video to match the audio, but I personally don't need that.
Comments
And battery? It’s collide not ParkPod. Why would you need a battery (and to recharge it) when you are at home?
And Spotify? It seems that Spotify has to make it possible, because Apple already provided this opportunity.
Still using Windows PC?
2. No it isn’t.
3. That’s right, no battery. Yeah, let’s add 5-8 pounds to each speaker! Good idea! Oh wait it’s a terrible idea. Consider a Sonos Go, which is a battery-powered high-quality portable speaker that is compatible with AirPlay 2 (and not the only such thing on the market, either).
4. It works just fine with Spotify (et al) via AirPlay. So do the OG HomePods. So do the HomePods mini.
5. Opinion, not fact.
As to pricing, inflation. There are things at the grocery store that are easily triple what they were 3-4 years ago and most have doubled. The CPU is not 8 years old - not sure where you got that. The networking relates to the need of the device. The latest networking HW likely costs significantly more and would not improve sound quality a bit.
The compatibility “issue” is a non starter. This is Apple, they were the first to abandon the legacy ports for USB and later to drop Ethernet jacks, FireWire and optical drives from laptops. If you want to run old stuff forever you might want to buy elsewhere.
As to after Christmas, a fair guess would be supply issues from China. If you follow business news you would know that there have been significant and ongoing disruptions to manufacturing in China all of 2022.