macgui

A friend of mine was told he was pre-diabetic, and diabetes ran in one side of his family, the latter requiring daily insulin injections for decades.

He started carefully monitoring his diet and mountain biking. The combination has kept diabetes at bay with no need for any drug therapy. He's disciplined enough that he no longer does the finger-stick testing daily.

If the Watch could give an early warning, a lot of people could follow his path and avoid the disease and drug treatment.

gatorguy said:

Those who already cared deeply about buying quality sound are likely to have done so before the HomePod ever came along IMHO.  But their "quality sound systems" probably didn't offer any home control or personal assistant features. THAT'S what separates the HomePod from other very nice sounding audio systems. You're selling short what value Siri should have.

So there's nobody left to care deeply about music and buy a HomePod?

'Caring deeply' is a broad and subjective term, as is audio in general. Some people think audio is 'tinny' if it doesn't rattle the license plate frame. Go figure.

I've bought a ton of various BT speakers to use with my iPads and iPhone, and after a bit they all drain my enthusiasm. Too much bass, weak midrange (lack of presence) and next to no highs. 

Like many there's very nice stereo audio gear in my living room and bedroom. When I want to kick or lie back, they're my goto choices.

But I like the convenience of a digital assistant and the Echo dot (in both locations) is very handy. Alway there, always listening and at my beck and call. I can do the same with Siri, if I pick up an iPad or phone, or if I've already plugged them into AC (ok, AC > DC).

My experience is both Alexa and Siri routinely fail me, but surprisingly, rarely at the same time. So when one doesn't work, the other does. Almost always. Each is better at something the other isn't. So an always-ready Siri would be a good thing for me.

There are times I don't want to fiddle with my audio gear. I just want to wake up or walk in and listen to music. Not quite as easy with my phone and Homepod as with Alexa, but better sounding. So far, the HP seems like it fits my bill quite well. There will be some improvement in features and function via software and firmware, just like my ˚Watches. I'll be OK with that.

gmgravytrain said:

Samsung's motto is, "Anything Apple can do, we can do better."

To be fair, that can be applied to Apple's operations. They're seldom the first to market with a product, but instead develop what they be leave is a better way. Apple doesn't have a patent on that methodology. 

Somebody develops a method of steering a horseless carriage with levers. Somebody else comes a long with a wheel for steering. At some point the wheel becomes everybody's choice.

gmgravytrain said:

Samsung always stays hungry, constantly nipping at the butts of rival companies. If Apple had the same philosophy, they might have mostly wiped out the Android platform by now. However, passive Apple is now the only company that remains on the doomed list

Ok, that's some funny stuff right there!

Wait, he's serious ?! That's hysterically funny!

Just goes to show no matter how small the teapot, someone will try to cram a tempest into it.

coconutBattery shows my 5yo 5s' battery is at 37% capacity. I didn't need an app to know that my battery capacity was crap. It discharged ('ran down') very quickly and also charged to 100% very quickly (never a good sign).

One moment it would read 85%, five minutes later it would show 22%. Recently when I took it off the charger it showed 87% for the first half of the day, right up until it dropped to 30%. 87% to 22% in the proverbial blink of an eye.

For the last couple of months and around one of the iOS 11.x updates I noticed the bad battery and slow page changes. A subsequent update helped with the battery draining.

Point being I think Apple made the right call, and that this somehow is a betrayal of iPhone users is ridiculous.

I tried to read all the posts; really I did. But they became disinteresting so I skimmed then stopped and maybe missed worthwhile stuff. Maybe not.

I have two Dots. Alexa is ok, but I'm not loving her. I get a lot of 'Sorry, your Echo Dot has lost connection' or something similar, and a pulsing red light. There are a couple of simple things that work OK and that's good enough, until if and when Apple offers a Siri equivalent. I admit Alexa is likely underutilized since I don't know much about expanded Her (pi) horizons.

But Alexa is much better than Siri in hearing me at a distance, and answering short questions. Alexa easily understands my excellent elocution, as she should, where Siri frequently mishears me. Very annoying. 

When Siri does hear me correctly, she also understands syntax much better than Alexa. I can ask for the same information in far many more different ways than Alexa. This is more like natural speech. So far I'd say Alexa (with my Dot) is about 90% accurate on first command whereas Siri is closer to 70-75% for me. I like the Dot, I like Siri. I'm not in love with either. Yet. Both are a far cry from Her. LOL!

As far as high-end goes, maybe it's like art. I can't define an absolute category/limit/demarcation of what is and what isn't. But someone believing $200 speakers are 'high-end' makes it clear that they don't know high-end. Writing high-end off as broadly relative is foolish.

I remember Steve Jobs touting the Apple HiFi as so good he got rid of all his 'expensive stereo gear'. Or something like that. I listened to the HiFi at length, and while impressive in many respects, it was not high-end high-fidelity material. It sounded nice, but...

The HomePod greatly interests me. But I'm not prepared to assume it will be an awesome high-end speaker. I don't know what magic Apple may or may not pump into the HP, but I'd never buy one if my need or intent is to add speakers to it. That seems bizarre. That feels to me like getting an i7 quad-core Mac Pro and adding a high-performance (high-end) graphics card to adapt its output to fed a 12" 512x384 monitor.

Call me an audiophile snob (of which I'm neither) but Bluetooth and 'high-end' are oxymoronic. Not that there aren't fine sounding BT speakers, Audioengine for example. But that's not really high-end audio. Good audio, and better than many can appreciate, but not really HE. I like that the HP uses AirPlay. On paper, there's greater fidelity potential for those who can appreciate it, not to mention the range over BT.

The HP looks to me to be more about audio than voice assistance, unless Apple is finally going to give Siri some much needed improvement in performance and greater capabilities. I'm interested in having the same easy access to Siri that I do with Alexa. And I hate the 'Hey...' part. It's an unnatural word in my vocabulary. But the biggest attraction so far is the audio.

I'll not be buying out of the gate, though. Given my experience with the HiFi, I'll be sifting through a lot of reviews before I even visit one at the Apple Store. At $750 for stereo, the HP will really have to impress me. And an HP won't replace the Dot on my night stand.