Let's Talk about HomePod

Talk about HomePod

Apple HomePod is the smart speaker that desires to be at the middle of your house audio experience, and that's great news for iPhone and iPad users. 

We got an opportunity to see the HomePod soon after Apple's WWDC keynote in San Jose, but we weren't allowed to touch it. In fact, we couldn't even touch the pristine white table it sat on, and trying to activate it with'Hey, Siri'didn't work either. We tried ... often times, but the program isn't enabled yet. However, we did get an opportunity to listen to the energy of the audio and compare it to the might of the Sonos Play:3 and the Amazon Echo and it's pretty impressive.

Apple HomePod price and release date 

Apple made the argument that the HomePod speaker combines the most effective of the brand new speaker ideas out there. It's both a good speaker and powerful supply of music. For this reason, Apple made the purpose that the buying price of both these items would normally be more costly than the HomePod price. In fact, Apple is suggesting you're obtaining a big discount. So nice, right? Simply how much will it cost? You will end up paying $349 for the brand new Apple speaker, but you won't manage to buy it right away.The release date has been pushed back again to early 2018 in the US, UK and Australia.

HomePod setup

When you start the HomePod, it wants to learn where it's in space. It'll distribute a 360 beam of sound, seeing if you can find any surfaces nearby, and when it finds it's on a display or perhaps a bookcase will use the wall behind to reflect a different level of sound. 

It's similar functionality to what's offered by Sonos having its multi-room speakers, although this technique utilizes you travelling the speaker's room with a telephone that then uses its microphone to gauge the space. 

The HomePod may also automatically work-out whether there's another speaker nearby, and will connect with it and balance the sound to be sure the two will work well in tandem.Pairing your Apple device involves simply holding it close to the speaker in quite similar way as the AirPods. Apple is yet to confirm whether you can use non-Apple devices with the speaker. 

HomePod audio performance

We were fortunate to experience the HomePod doing his thing to listen to the audio performance before it launches later in the year - and to sonically compare it to the Sonos Play:3 and the Amazon Echo. The Play:3 will set you back $299 (so very little less with regards to cost, and isn't voice-enabled) and the Amazon Echo will surely cost $180 - which is a fair amount cheaper than the $349 Apple is asking. But how do they sound compared together? Well, the HomePod is easily the most effective of the three with regards to efficiency - but you'd expect that given additionally it is probably the most expensive. 

The first song we heard - Sia's The Greatest - featured impressive vocal performance, with an extensive and clear sound that flooded the room. 

However, the bass was far too punchy, almost pulsing, with this particular song, and while the Sonos was more muted vocally it offered a gentler bass and an arguably easier sound with this particular song.

The Amazon Echo sounded tinny in comparison too, but for the price and shape this is almost to be expected. Next up was Norah Jones with Sunrise, a far more vocal-powered track, and travelling the room the HomePod delivered well-radiated sound. On this track, without a lot of bass, the Echo sounded not half-bad either, which makes it feel OK value for money. With Stevie Wonder's Superstition, the Play:3 and HomePod matched up the same way as Sia's first song - the bass pulsing a bit harder on Apple's speaker, and Sonos sounding more soft.

 However, the width and dynamism of the HomePod really pushed the song sonically, which makes it seem like an infinitely more expansive device. And curiously, Apple's speaker sounded great on the bass-heavy DNA by Kendrick Lamar, the 4-inch woofer inside the device combining very well with the vocals to supply a definite performance. The Sonos Play:3 wasn't remote, nevertheless the chorus sounded more boxed-in.

The most impressive performance from the HomePod came once we heard two together to hear The Eagles'Hotel California recorded live.Both speakers created a soundscape so loud and clear so it felt like being there, the audience's screams melting into the backdrop and the guitar feeling genuinely stage left even though there is no visual cue. It would have been interesting to listen to this against stereo Sonos speakers, nevertheless the HomePod proved it had been more than a capable speaker with this particular performance alone. 

HomePod size and features

HomePod has been designed to become a 7-inch with a 4-inch upward-facing woofer that Apple promises will rock almost any room with distortion-free audio. It will help this thing has 7 beam-forming tweeters in its base. 

We could actually extend our index finger and thumb and almost span the whole speaker, which, based on the HomePod specs, is just under seven inches tall. That makes it a bit taller than the portly Google Home, and slightly shorter than canister-shaped Amazon Echo. But it's more than simply a noisy wireless speaker. 

Apple has Siri baked into it, which explains why everybody was calling it the Apple Siri Speaker before today's launch event. Which means it will have the ability to answer inquiries like the Home and Echo, what's more, it's planning to be the best iPhone and iPad associated speaker around. 

Early decision 


While regardless we're holding up to attempt the execution of the HomePod's voice acknowledgment and communication, the sonic execution demonstrated Apple has made something that is effortlessly a match for Sonos'famed speakers. 

Given the execution it's over something, for example, the Amazon Echo, if Apple can enhance Siri to a notwithstanding moving toward Alexa then the HomePod would have been a convincing purchase. 

It is a disgrace it sounded so great with two, in ways - the cost is entirely high on the off chance that you need to get a double set, regardless it practically appears to be justified, despite all the trouble even just at that beginning time. 

It's difficult to state why Apple has given a before take a gander at a speaker not seeking a half year, but rather it's presumable intending to need to dispatch it close to the occasions and flaunting the execution now will doubtlessly shield others from putting resources into an adversary for a friend or family member. 

We're quick to test the voice execution with this to watch finish the HomePod can be as a house speaker and right hand - yet the early execution is really encouraging.