Aloysius

Soli said:

These are solid ads.

Eh, I don't think so really. At least not on attracting new customers.

I think this whole ad campaign is great at making Samsung's customers feel better that they made the superior choice. It's preaching to the choir, so to speak.

I have trouble thinking the average person is concerned about the notch (considering just about every phone has one now), sd card slots (it may be expandable, but a pain when you need to transfer data if you outgrow one and don't have a pc), or split screen. At least not as buzz words. 

If these things are truly important, than show it in action and sell the benefits, not just listen a few random things the iPhone doesn't have.

zroger73 said:

Here's an idea: How about fixing what's broken before adding new features?

1. When using the HomePod as an AirPlay speaker, not all apps use it as an audio output even when the HomePod is set to the audio output device in the settings.

2. Every time the Apple TV goes to sleep, it disconnects from the HomePod and defaults the audio output back to the TV.

3. After playing audio to the HomePod using the Apple TV, the HomePod will no longer fulfill requests such as "Hey Siri, play smooth jazz". Instead, Siri says, "Hmm. I'm having trouble..." However, if I play then stop music from my iPhone, the HomePod will work properly.

I've stopped using the HomePod as an Apple TV speaker because of these issues and reverted back to my Bose SoundLink via a Bluetooth connection. The connection is maintained and all the Apple TV's audio is output properly.

As someone who routinely uses paired HomePods as the audio output of my AppleTV...

1. This is annoying. Most big apps works fine (Netflix, etc) but some third party apps don’t work right. I’m guessing the developer isn’t checking some box, but Apple should just make it force it. 

2. I don’t have this issue. The AppleTV and HomePod stay connected until I use my HomePod for something else. Which happens a lot, so I do have to reconnect a lot. It’s pretty simple but could be easier. Wish I could just use Siri to change audio output. 

3. When I have my AppleTV and HomePod “paired”, and I say “Play...” it will play it through the AppleTV, routed to the HomePod (kinda backwards imo). If my AppleTV is off, it turns on my TV, since it is plugged into the HDMI-CEC connection. Maybe yours isn’t? 

All that said, what I’ve read is that the latest beta allows you to more permanently set the HomePod as the default audio, but it will still have to be selected if you use your HomePod for something else. 

Imo, it should be an easy fix. Instead of permanently pairing an AppleTV and HomePod, you should be able to tell the AppleTV to “look for” and connect to the specified homepod when you play content. If it can’t connect, it should have a dialog message. It would replace whatever is currently playing, just like airplay does currently.