It’s elegant, powerful and intelligent – but it’s also nearly three times the price of its competitors. So is the Apple HomePod really worth the extra cost? MailOnline gave the smart speaker a test run to find out.
Design
Apple’s HomePod stands at nearly 7 inches tall, which is slightly larger than the average smart speaker. It also feels heavier weighing in at 5.5lbs (2.5kg).
But despite its size, it appears to blend into its surroundings. Apple wanted to focus on elegance and simplicity for the design, and it has achieved both.
The one major issue is that HomePod’s power cord doesn’t detach, which means you’ll have to put it in the corner of a room if you want to hide the cable.
Set up
Like many other Apple products, the set up is extremely straightforward.
All you have to do is plug the device in, tap an iPhone running the latest version of iOS against it and all your settings will be transferred over (this include Wifi logins).
The HomePod then shows up on the main screen of the Home app. By tapping and holding, you can bring up settings.
Music
Apple’s Phil Schiller said the focus of HomePod was on audio quality – and it doesn’t disappoint.
The speaker uses spatial awareness technology to sense its place in a room and adjust audio output based on that. For music enthusiasts, this means there is no longer just one ‘sweet spot’ in a room for listening to your favorite tracks.
It uses the same A8 chip that can be found in iPhones to analyse the music and tune the low frequencies and acoustics for the best sound experience.
It also features a high-excursion woofer with a custom amplifier to play a wide range of deep, rich bass. A powerful motor drives the diaphragm a full 20 mm peak to peak – remarkable for a speaker this size.
All of this means the HomePod sounds remarkably richer and fuller than other speakers.
However, if you want to get the best out of the music feature, you’re locked in to using Apple Music, which is a major sticking point for many users who have built up their music library in services such as Spotify.
Siri
Unlike Amazon’s Alexa, the HomePod doesn’t come with millions of ‘skills’, but it is far more sensitive to your commands thanks to the speaker’s powerful microphones.
However, Siri on the HomePod doesn’t recognise different voices, which may be a concern if you’re worried about someone reading your messages.
If your phone is connected, anyone in the same house can ask HomePod to send or read your text messages. There is a simply way around this in settings, but if you forget to turn off the function, your messages could be left exposed.
Apple says it uses an anonymous Siri ID, and, according to Apple,that communication is all encrypted.
So should you buy it? If you love music and sound-quality is important, then Apple’s HomePod won’t disappoint, and if you can afford the high-price it also is a stylish and intelligent smart assistant. But there remain a few issues to be worked out.