The $349 worth of HomePod is the newest addition to the large line of Apple Products. It is a smart home device which will compete with The Echo, released in 2015, and Google Home, released last year. The HomePod will feature Apple-engineered audio technology and advanced software to deliver the highest-fidelity sound throughout the room. A powerful motor drives the diaphragm a full 20 mm that is simply unheard of for a speaker this size and not seen in any other Voice First system.
The AI will continuously assess the music and dynamically tunes the low frequencies for smooth, distortion‑free and a consistent 360º audio experience.
The speaker is about seven inches high with Apple’s unique minimalistic design. The device is sleek and is space friendly thus fitting into anywhere with discretion. The devices are powered by seven speakers along with an A8 processor which will make the speaker as powerful as the iPhone 6.
The top of the speaker has a LED display where the responses are recorded by Siri in waveform thus making it look unique.
The HomePod will be connected directly by Apple music services and Siri will now act as your personal musicologist. You can communicate with Siri and it will suggest your playlist according to your music taste. Siri will now have many new features dedicated to music: you will now be able to ask Siri who’s the drummer playing on a particular track, as well as which song topped the charts in 1996.
Features
Apple‑designed A8 chip, faster than the iPhone 6
- Seamless mesh fabric in Space Grey or White
- High‑excursion woofer
- Internal low-frequency calibration microphone for automatic bass correction
- Six‑microphone far-field beam forming array
- Seven‑tweeter beam forming array, horn-loaded tweeters, each with its own custom amplifier
- Touch-sensitive LED Waveform indicator and control
- Dimensions:
- 8 inches high (172 mm)
- 6 inches wide (142 mm)
Weight:
- 5 pounds (2.5 kg)
HomePod will soon be incorporated into music streaming services like Spotify.
Role of Siri
HomePod has improved the way one can communicate with Siri. One can invoke Siri by “Hey Siri” without any hindrances. The top LED waveform will notify users if Siri is listening to or not. HomePod is using a fundamentally new technology that allows for some of the best wake word recognition.
Privacy will play a larger part and Apple has worked hard to make a far more innovative experience for the users. They made sure that the device will wake up to the recognized voice. Everything is encrypted along with the files being made anonymous.
The idea is to make HomePod your go-to music playback system. Eventually, this creates larger audiences and hold back many competing systems.
SiriOS
The processor that run HomePod is very powerful indeed. It is powerful enough to stretch the music equally in the room and thus giving a better experience for the users. SiriOS will become a Voice First platform that will connect you to 100s of devices.
With HomePod, Siri can also read the news, write and receive iMessages, give updates on traffic, the weather, the latest sports results, but also answer any fundamental questions you might have on life, as well as remind you to take the trash out, translate anything, and control your home’s light, heat, and even the oven.
The Competitors
HomePod will soon dominate the voice commerce. Siri will whole heartedly play a vital role in creating a user-friendly ecosystem.
Apple is allowing Google and, primarily right now, Amazon to establish themselves as the market’s leaders. For a brand-new platform that, like smartphones, could eventually be at the core of how people interact with all kinds of products and services, that’s a big risk.
The HomePod can deliver the same type of home-controlling functions as Google’s Home and Amazon’s Echo, but it isn’t priced or sized to wind up in every room.