Up until this point, I never really tried the HomePod, despite being fully invested in the Apple Home Ecosystem. So for the last 3 months, I've used HomePod and here are my thoughts.
With just a single homepod, I’m pretty impressed with how it sounds. It sounds really good. You could walk anywhere around it, and the sound quality is similar all around, and even in large spaces. So you really could place this speaker anywhere and get some pretty good sound out of it, and it helps that the speaker looks good, so that it probably does fit in most places you’re thinking of. The touch controls work well, and I do love the integration into Apple home. But that’s because my preferred smart home platform is apple homekit. There’s a built-in humidity and temperature sensor that you can use in your apple home automations. But if you want to change any settings on the Homepod, that’s only on the Apple Home app. So if you don’t use a lot of Apple Homekit devices, or don’t own apple devices, taking full advantage of the Homepod’s features can be difficult. The Homepod alone is nice, but when combined with some other Apple products, it can do some pretty amazing stuff. Two can be paired together to really fill out a room. And you can even use a single one or a pair as speakers for your Apple TV. And if your TV has an e-arc HDMI port, you can even use the HomePods as speakers for anything else you watch on your TV as well as gaming consoles. Wirelessly. I’ve been using a sonos beam soundbar for the TV in the primary bedroom, and once I switched it out for a pair of homepods, I quickly noticed how much more bass and clarity I was hearing in the audio coming out of the homepods. I noticed that the two homepods were good at emulating a surround audio system and the bass was more booming than I expected. Definitely plenty for a bedroom or living room.
How does the HomePod compare to other smart speakers. And what does Smart Speaker even more, other than the obvious. It normally means a device that can be used as a speaker, as well as a device that has smart functionalities like voice assistants, bluetooth or wifi connectivity, and you’re able to stream to the speaker or do some other cool stuff with it. But at its core, you can separate it into a device that does two different things. Act as a speaker, and a smart home assistant. And there’s a lot of different products that at first, you might think are exactly like it, namely these two products. A google home, and Sonos speaker. These are older versions of each but the point is kind of the same. These are all smart speakers. But not all smart speakers are the same. It’s kind of a spectrum between whether something is closer to a smart home product, or a speaker. The Google home is very smart home oriented, while the sonos lineup of products are closer to speakers with a few smart features, the Homepod, is pretty close to the middle, with some great smart home features and even some amazing features like the ability to use them as speakers for everything on your TV, not just for the Apple TV. But unlike those other smart speakers, the Homepod has one major flaw. It’s very much an Apple accessory, a device that requires you to use another apple device to setup, works best with an Apple device to cast to it, and does need some other Apple devices to access some of it’s best features, like using it as a TV speaker replacement, or use the built-in sensors for smart home functionality. And if you’re not in that ecosystem, then that $300 price tag isn’t just $300, it’s a learning curve, more cost, and potentially segmenting your different devices into different ecosystems. But there is a product that lets you dip your toes into the world of Apple Home tech without pouring $300 into it. And that’s the homepod mini. And let me tell you. The homepod mini is a good value.
So at this point, I think it’s conclusion time. The Homepod sounds great, it looks good, and is the perfect companion in an Apple smart home. There are similar priced speakers that sound better, there are cheaper smart speakers that does smart home functions better. But the HomePod is both a great sounding speaker, and a solid smart home device. But honestly, all that could be said about its smaller sibling, the HomePod Mini. So, if you’re not ingrained in the apple ecosystem. Skip this. If you’re looking for the perfect Apple Homekit companion with good sound. Get the HomePod Mini. And if you want the best sound out of that homekit companion, for music, or as a TV speaker substitute. Get the HomePod.
