One author described the HomePod as “Openly Hostile”.....WTH!

MaxSmarties

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I just think the author intentionally wrote it in such a manner as to discredit it. A good deal of people are headline readers only and many will not read the entire article like I would and therefore, would not have a favorable impression of the HomePod. The thesis, for lack of a better term, was lost in all of the negatives, in my opinion.
Absolutely. And it’s not a first time for The Verge...
HomePod is far from being perfect (fortunately most of its shortcoming could be fixed by software), but there are ways to speak about a product.
The author choose to cast a negative light on the product, being very smart in doing that. Sounding like “it sounds very well... it’s useless if you aren’t an Apple fanboy ... but it sounds very well”.
 

jgibson2400

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No, we're upset because the article was clearly written to be anti-apple. It's not a non-biased review of the product showing value and flaws, it's an apple-bash.

Apple positioned the HomePod at it's unveiling as much better sounding competetior to the Amazon Echo, Google Home and Sonos.

It seems almost universal that the HomePod is getting glowing reviews for sound quality. I don't consider it biased to point out where it falls short vs Google Home, Sonos or Amazon Echo primarily because, again, that is how Apple chose to position it. I would think it somewhat unfair if this was positioned as an Apple Music speaker or as an accessory to Apple iOS devices.

In that context the lock-in question is fair because all of the other devices that Apple considers competetion for the HomePod can support alterantive music services directly and all are well suited to take audio from any source and play it.
 

Just_Me_D

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I understand where the article is coming from because there are some odd decisions that don't have an obvious or good answer to.

The device has bluetooth - I can't think of any technical reason why the audio profile is missing preventing it from working with bluetooth audio from other sources like even the AirPods support. Hostile may not have been my word choice but it's hard to come up with a good explanation why it's missing other than the goal of Apple trying to lock users in. Definitely not customer friendly if hostile is too strong.

In comparison to the other smart speakers - one can't get every service on other others but they are open to services that want to be on those speakers. Spotify is allowed by Google to be used directly on the Google Home, Spotify is allowed to be used directly on Echo. Spotify is allowed to be used directly on a Cortana device. Sportify is blocked from making their service usable directly on a HomePod.

I do think it is fair to question whether or not it is customer unfriendly lock-in as the goal or that it's just not ready yet and will be coming.

Your reply was well-stated, and I appreciate that. With that in mind, and no, I don’t have a HomePod to verify, the article via the below link states otherwise in regard to Spotify.

https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/homepod-spotify-airplay/
 

jgibson2400

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Yes, airplay does work. What I'm referring to is support from the others to directly use alternative services... If a provider such as Spotify wants their service accessible it can be - on Echo or Google Home you can "Alexa play..." or "Hey Google play... " with spotify content if you want to use Spotify instead of Google Play Music or Amazon Music. Even though I'm certain Spotify would love "Hey Siri play... " to be possible with the HomePod, Apple does not support that.

I've got my fingers crossed it will eventually come as I'd like to think it's a technical issue they need to overcome and not the goal of lock-in being the reason why it's not here.
 

MaxSmarties

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That is the hope, but Apple's pace for Siri improvements does not give one condifence that we'll see iterations / improvements as quickly as anyone would like.

Again the “Siri is dumb” narrative...
In my experience, it isn’t. Siri is doing basically every task I need.
Siri on HomePod isn’t perfect (it can improve phone calls integration and access to the calendar, for instance), but it works.
And I’m sure HomePod could drive Siri improvements even faster.
 

Just_Me_D

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Yes, airplay does work. What I'm referring to is support from the others to directly use alternative services... If a provider such as Spotify wants their service accessible it can be - on Echo or Google Home you can "Alexa play..." or "Hey Google play... " with spotify content if you want to use Spotify instead of Google Play Music or Amazon Music. Even though I'm certain Spotify would love "Hey Siri play... " to be possible with the HomePod, Apple does not support that.

I've got my fingers crossed it will eventually come as I'd like to think it's a technical issue they need to overcome and not the goal of lock-in being the reason why it's not here.

I understand, and hopefully, Apple will allow it with an update in the near future. We’ll see.
 

TylerLV76

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At no point did you claim to be trolling here to inflame the rest of us, sometimes it's just clear with subtext.

So because an article pointed out facts about a device you think Im “trolling”? I somehow made the OP create this thread and agreed with them on the title?

You do understand there are only 2 Apple products I dont own right? Airpods and a Homepod.

There was another thread in which it asked what you dont like about Apple. This Apple ego was at the top of my list. Cant imagine why. Some of the users are entirely too sensitive.
 

Just_Me_D

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That is the hope, but Apple's pace for Siri improvements does not give one condifence that we'll see iterations / improvements as quickly as anyone would like.

Yeah, but that’s subjective. Personally, I’ve been using Siri for a few years, and I use it quite a bit. I know what it can and cannot do for ‘me’ and I’m okay with that. It pros, in the way I use it, exceeds its cons. Still, I understand that it’s the opposite for other people. It’s the same for the HomePod.
 

jgibson2400

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I didn't say it's dumb but let's not pretend it is anywhere near as "capable" as Alexa or Google Home.

SiriKit has barely evolved since it was announced at WWDC in 2016. Google Assistant and Amazon Echo are improving at a much faster pace.
 

jgibson2400

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Yeah, but that’s subjective. Personally, I’ve been using Siri for a few years, and I use it quite a bit. I know what it can and cannot do for ‘me’ and I’m okay with that. It pros, in the way I use it, exceeds its cons. Still, I understand that it’s the opposite for other people. It’s the same for the HomePod.

Siri is ok, I use it somewhat regularly with my watch but I gave in and added a few Echos in my house and find them much more capable. In a perfect world (for me) the HomePod would have had a line in and I could have connected my $30 Amazon Echo to it and had the best of both worlds.
 

anon(50597)

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You could but wouldnt you be the same as the people who call you a sheep, or fanboy? Seems a bit hypocritical dont you think?

I thought you were going to BestBuy?

I understand both sides of the “argument”, but the article certainly leaned towards negative, especially the title. The focus was the “walled garden” argument which really doesn’t hold much water because Apple’s proprietary focus has been both popular and effective.

As others have said, we don’t know what improvements might come with this device in the future, it’s in its initial release. I have a feeling it won’t be the “failure” some are speaking or hoping for.
 

TylerLV76

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I thought you were going to BestBuy?

I understand both sides of the “argument”, but the article certainly leaned towards negative, especially the title. The focus was the “walled garden” argument which really doesn’t hold much water because Apple’s proprietary focus has been both popular and effective.

As others have said, we don’t know what improvements might come with this device in the future, it’s in its initial release. I have a feeling it won’t be the “failure” some are speaking or hoping for.

Im here right now actually lol. Someone else is playing with the floor model so Im able to stand back and listen. I think alot of the lows are disappearing due to the open area the speakers in.

It sounds pretty good though but the sales people have zero clue about this thing. So far 2 have told me it does bluetooth streaming. One sales guy said it did and Inasked him if he was sure and his counterpart agreed it “definitely does”.

In regards to the article, the title was click bait as we all agree. The contents however are not. Nobody is denying that. So if people are upset about the title, no problem but dont get upset at the author for stating facts and their opinion.
 

anon(50597)

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Im here right now actually lol. Someone else is playing with the floor model so Im able to stand back and listen. I think alot of the lows are disappearing due to the open area the speakers in.

It sounds pretty good though but the sales people have zero clue about this thing. So far 2 have told me it does bluetooth streaming. One sales guy said it did and Inasked him if he was sure and his counterpart agreed it “definitely does”.

In regards to the article, the title was click bait as we all agree. The contents however are not. Nobody is denying that. So if people are upset about the title, no problem but dont get upset at the author for stating facts and their opinion.

Thanks for the live update!
You might be right about the lows. I believe, from what I’ve read, this device has the ability to adjust based on its surroundings (walls, etc.) and would sound different in a living room for instance.
Most sales people at a store like that don’t know much about all the different products. That’s why I hang on forums like this, to learn from real people with real experience.
Click bait for sure. Aren’t most articles these days? It does what it intends to do, cause emotions to stir and get people talking.
 

Just_Me_D

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.... but the sales people have zero clue about this thing. So far 2 have told me it does bluetooth streaming. One sales guy said it did and Inasked him if he was sure and his counterpart agreed it “definitely does”.

....

When I was at Best Buy earlier, that was my experience, too. The one sales guy I spoke to didn’t know anything about it. I basically gave him a crash course on what it was, what it did and didn’t do as well as it’s focal point the guy was in awe of it after that.
 

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