Poll: ** The Official Apple HomePod/HomePod mini thread **

Are you going to buy an Apple HomePod

  • Yes

    Votes: 28 13.8%

  • No

    Votes: 115 56.7%

  • Possibly, I'll wait and see what the reviews are like first

    Votes: 44 21.7%

  • HomePod mini - Yes

    Votes: 18 8.9%

  • HomePod mini - No

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • HomePod mini - Possibly, I'll wait and see what the reviews are like first

    Votes: 3 1.5%
  • Total voters
    203
ChrisD. said:
Prior to returning the HomePod I took it to a friends place for a BBQ. Once set up, the speaker kept disappearing from Airplay in Music and after a few hours 'Hey Siri' stopped working. Having previously taken a Sonos speaker around they all preferred the Sonos for ease of use although admitted the HomePod did sound great when working.

What was mentioned a lot is that there's no way to view a collaborative playlist or easily look at what's playing due to there being no app for it.
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Not had that myself possible WiFi issue ? You can control it by iPhone or iPad and create or show play lists etc through Apple Music. Or you can just ask it “Hey Siri what’s playing” etc... Apple Music is the App it uses.
 
We couldn't easily find out how to see on our own phones what is playing if someone else has kicked it off. Also it stopped showing up as an AirPlay device, seems to be a common issue.
 
A couple of reviews plus reviews in the broadsheets concluded - unless you're totally steeped in the Apple ecosystem then there are better, cheaper, more versatile wireless speakers out there. I think that's a pretty reasonable observation. Even though I have an iPhone to control the iPod I thought they were just too limiting.
 
Not had any issues with mine dropping from WiFi.

Actually finding myself use it more than my Sonos speakers, so easy to just ask Siri to play a Playlist or Airplay from my phone
 
JamesM said:
Not had any issues with mine dropping from WiFi.

Actually finding myself use it more than my Sonos speakers, so easy to just ask Siri to play a Playlist or Airplay from my phone
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Yes but just compare the Sonos compatibility re: music services and other kit compared to the Apple system. Sonos has just released the Sonos Beam which is both a soundbar for the TV and a music speaker to take on the Homepod - and it's got Alexa now with Google Assistant to follow. That's the real beauty of Sonos (besides great sounding speakers) they don't use the vertical lockin eco system with their products.
 
Apple Music is very good though. It has all the weird stuff I like so happy to pay for the usage. I think the simplicity of the HomePod is a good point it’s a music device primarily and it does that very well. I personally have no need or want to be controlling my lights or curtains as well tbh..... lol

Just been reading about the Beam it looks pretty good similar price to HomePod too.
 
Apple HomePod expected to badly trail shipments of Google Home and Amazon Echo smart speakers with a 4% market share, in a booming smart speaker market:

"Canalys expects the smart speaker installed base will approach the 100-million barrier by the end of this year, making it almost 2.5 times bigger than at the end of 2017. The installed base will keep growing, more than doubling in size to reach 225 million units by 2020. Amazon Echo devices will account for over 50% of the installed base in 2018, while Google's Home series will account for 30%. Apple's HomePod models will trail, accounting for a meager 4% of the 2018 base."
 
sesevans said:
Apple HomePod expected to badly trail shipments of Google Home and Amazon Echo smart speakers with a 4% market share, in a booming smart speaker market:

"Canalys expects the smart speaker installed base will approach the 100-million barrier by the end of this year, making it almost 2.5 times bigger than at the end of 2017. The installed base will keep growing, more than doubling in size to reach 225 million units by 2020. Amazon Echo devices will account for over 50% of the installed base in 2018, while Google's Home series will account for 30%. Apple's HomePod models will trail, accounting for a meager 4% of the 2018 base."
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I didn't know apple released speaker in all those categories... what's the comparison to google max? it's like comparing iphone x sales to all samsung phone models and lead narrative about poor success.
 
sesevans said:
Apple HomePod expected to badly trail shipments of Google Home and Amazon Echo smart speakers with a 4% market share, in a booming smart speaker market:

"Canalys expects the smart speaker installed base will approach the 100-million barrier by the end of this year, making it almost 2.5 times bigger than at the end of 2017. The installed base will keep growing, more than doubling in size to reach 225 million units by 2020. Amazon Echo devices will account for over 50% of the installed base in 2018, while Google's Home series will account for 30%. Apple's HomePod models will trail, accounting for a meager 4% of the 2018 base."
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Newsflash the Google Home Mini and Echo Dot are both miles cheaper than the HomePod, of course they will sell more, did you seriously even have to post that?
 
It's like him posting that a cheap £10 Casio watch outsells Rolex, it's not exactly news. I'd like to see the sales breakdown of the HomePod vs the Home Max though.
 
JamesM said:
The guy is like a broken record.
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What else do we expect from a Google shill? Only need to take a look at his responses in the various Home, Pixel threads for the obvious bias (not to mention leaving a media campaign tag on one post).

Personally, I'm sticking with a house full of Google Home and Chromecast, but I wouldn't say no to a HomePod or two, having heard a stereo pair. It's just a bit pointless for me, rooted in Google services as I am (iPhone 8 and iPad Pro 10.5 user at the minute, missus has my Pixel 2 after her Nexus 6P had a fit).
 
whiskycycle said:
Personally, I'm sticking with a house full of Google Home and Chromecast, but I wouldn't say no to a HomePod or two, having heard a stereo pair. It's just a bit pointless for me, rooted in Google services as I am (iPhone 8 and iPad Pro 10.5 user at the minute, missus has my Pixel 2 after her Nexus 6P had a fit).
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This is exactly it, it depends how far rooted you are into an eco system as to whether the HomePod is right for you.
 
JamesM said:
it depends how far rooted you are into an eco system as to whether the HomePod is right for you.
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It's the same reason I never went for Sonos a while back... I switched from iTunes (+Match) a few years back and threw everything at Google Music, as it just worked better for my needs and gave me a little more platform independence during my full Mac phase back then. Obviously the iOS client for Play Music isn't as good as the Android version, but it's /good enough/ and gets me by.

I understand why there's no proper casting of GPM to the HomePods, and would love to get that, but we can't have everything can we? Just wish there was a little less vendor lock-in... cut the music open and it effectively bleeds the same!
 
Have a question about sharing Apple Music.

I have 2 Sonos speakers and I'm able to download the sonos app on family members devices and link my apple music sub into that app so they can play music when they want.
Can a similar thing be done with the home pod? , I know they can speak to the home pod to play music but is there a way they can use the apple music app?
 
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