danvm

sflocal said:

indiekiduk said:

That's quite a bold statement given it's going to take something major for the 2015 MBP and even more for the 2012 Air users to upgrade given how bad the problems with the keyboards are, and waste of money touch bar, and dongle hell, and and and...

Stop making stuff up.  I owned those MacBooks, and I love the keyboard of my late-2017 MBP.  Keyboards were fine in all of those, including the new ones.

I'm a developer, using the function keys often, and the Touch Bar does not get in the way.  

Jeez... some people just have a chip on their shoulder.

slurpy said:

indiekiduk said:

That's quite a bold statement given it's going to take something major for the 2015 MBP and even more for the 2012 Air users to upgrade given how bad the problems with the keyboards are, and waste of money touch bar, and dongle hell, and and and...

95% of people in the real world have zero problems with the keyboard, touchbar, "dongle-hell", etc. It's a small, viciously vocal group on the internet that sets this narrative, backed by the anti-Apple cottage industry that makes a killing from anti-Apple articles, Youtube videos, etc. The new MBPs are fantastic, forward looking machines, easily the best I've ever owned. Keyboard takes a bit of getting used to, but I can now type FASTER, with less effort, and more quietly- I'd never go back. Also, this "dongle-hell" is a hyper-sensationalized, hilariously overblown narrative. Most people will at MOST need a $10 usb-C to usb-A adapter. Funny how I see tons and tons of the new MB/MBPs out in the wild, and literally zero "dongles. 

But either way, continue with the "new Apple hardware is a disaster" narrative. It's not like it's an original thought- it's lazy, and people like you have been claiming this for the past couple decades with every new Mac update. 

StrangeDays said:

danvm said:

StrangeDays said:

danvm said:

It would be impossible to cobble a similar platform out of the terrible speakers built into existing Echo and Dot appliances, and neither Amazon, Google, Samsung, Spotify or other speaker makers really have to clout to produce such a sophisticated, premium speaker and sell it to a critical mass of users globally.

Based in many reviews, the HomePod sound quality is very similar to the Google Home Max, 

That isn’t what I’ve read at all. 

I suppose you already read the AppleInsider comparison with the Sound Max, and they concluded "Fortunately, there isn't enough of a difference between the two to justify buying one or the other for sound quality reasons alone."  

There are a few blind tests, with the same results,

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/head-head-apple-homepod-really-sound-best-160346138.html

And the one I think you trust more, the Consumer Reports review, which said that the competition is better.
https://www.consumerreports.org/smart-speakers/apple-homepod-early-test-results/

Pogue’s test was hopefully flawed - not double blind, used a non acoustically-neutral curtain, and ordered the test playback in the same order every time. 

And CR is a joke. 

What I’ve read from people on reddit and the blogosphere said HP is notably better, and cheaper. 

StrangeDays said:

danvm said:

jcs2305 said:

danvm said:

It would be impossible to cobble a similar platform out of the terrible speakers built into existing Echo and Dot appliances, and neither Amazon, Google, Samsung, Spotify or other speaker makers really have to clout to produce such a sophisticated, premium speaker and sell it to a critical mass of users globally.

Based in many reviews, the HomePod sound quality is very similar to the Google Home Max, and I wouldn't consider neither of them premium speakers.  And to say that Samsung is not capable of doing sophisticated premium speaker is non sense.  They own Harman Audio, which includes companies like Harman-Kardon, AKG, Infinity and Revel, among others.  Those companies have years of experience in the audio market.  We'll have to see the results of the final product, but I wouldn't count them out.  

If these two speakers aren't premium than please elaborate what you would consider premium?  Also Samsung has barely owned Harman for a year so don't go acting like they are suddenly deeply involved in design with these companies as of yet.

I don't consider speaker the size of the HomePod or Sound Max premium.  When you listen to high end speakers, that cost thousands of dollars, the definition of premium changes.  IMO, the HomePod may sound good for a $350 small speaker, but that doesn't means it's a premium quality speaker.  And yes, the Samsung acquisition was recent, that could be the reason they don't have a smart speaker in the market. 

What you consider is largely irrelevant, as “quality” is a relative term that doesn’t imply a given form factor size. The use case for the HP is a shelf speaker, not a hifi system. So indeed it can be a high-quality speaker for this use case and form factor. We’re comparing like to like here. 

StrangeDays said:

danvm said:

tmay said:

danvm said:

tmay said:

danvm said:

It would be impossible to cobble a similar platform out of the terrible speakers built into existing Echo and Dot appliances, and neither Amazon, Google, Samsung, Spotify or other speaker makers really have to clout to produce such a sophisticated, premium speaker and sell it to a critical mass of users globally.

Based in many reviews, the HomePod sound quality is very similar to the Google Home Max, and I wouldn't consider neither of them premium speakers.  And to say that Samsung is not capable of doing sophisticated premium speaker is non sense.  They own Harman Audio, which includes companies like Harman-Kardon, AKG, Infinity and Revel, among others.  Those companies have years of experience in the audio market.  We'll have to see the results of the final product, but I wouldn't count them out.  

Gee, seems like Samsung is going to play ketchup, yet again!

Meanwhile, Apple just created another $billion plus a year revenue stream. 

Definitely they are behind in this market, same as Apple is.  But I wouldn't say that Samsung is not capable of designing a premium speaker, considering they own a company like Harman Audio.  

Samsung is further behind in this market than Apple, since Apple has the premiere distribution network, and customers, as Daniel noted.

I'll rephrase, Samsung is not behind, they are not in the market yet.

By that same logic Apple wasn’t behind in the market, despite what everyone else has been saying for a year.