Apple has unveiled an affordable HomePod mini speaker - the details
Apple’s HomePod mini is a significant new pitch to get Siri into your home.
Apple’s HomePod mini is a significant new pitch to get Siri past your front door and into your home.
It’s a smart speaker, in a similar vein to what Amazon Echo and Google Home offer in your home.
At first you might think HomePod mini is just a cheaper HomePod which is a solid high-fidelity speaker with custom-engineered audio technology.
The problem was that at a recommended $469,HomePod was not something everyone would buy, apart from Apple Music users who really loved the audio quality. Apple had dealt Siri out of being the knockabout personal assistant you encounter regularly in homes.
Unless you owned a big HomePod, Siri never felt like it resided in your home. It was present on your iPhone and iPad when you walked around, but not permanently sitting on the kitchen bench or your lounge room sideboard.
At $149, HomePod mini is a different product animal. It’s more affordable to the point where many Apple users might buy one out of curiosity - $149 doesn‘t seem so out of reach as $469 does.
Now you can place Siri anywhere, just as you would an Amazon Echo or Google Assistant unit. Siri is now on equal footing with the competitors.
Amazon and Google recently upgraded the audio quality of their affordable smart speakers. The baseline is for them not only to be smart, but acoustically acceptable.
Google has released Nest Audio for the same $149 price. Amazon sells a vast array of smart speaker devices with the Echo 4th generation also $149.
The new HomePod mini is a jazzy looking device; it’s spherical and wrapped in a mesh fabric that Apple says is designed for its acoustic quality. The controls for volume and play/pause are at the top, which lights up when you chat with Siri.
In my view Apple has a bit to go before Siri is on equal footing with its rivals. Alexa and Google Assistant have developed into formidable personal assistants with Alexa capable of thousands of skills and Google Assistant is well integrated into Australia offering opening and closing details of businesses, directions, and a host of local information.
Apple Homekit only seemed to work with more expensive connected devices. These days I can buy a smart light that can be remotely turned on and off for $10. I’d like to connect it too.
Apple’s selling point remains privacy and security. Its Siri speakers are not there to listen and work out your consumer likes and dislikes, and what product to pitch to you on various devices over the next days.
Apple says HomePod mini houses a full range dynamic driver with high output and minimal distortion, a pair of force-cancelling passive radiators to produce bass and high frequencies, and an acoustic waveguide for 360 sound.
It has added an S5 chip to provide what it calls computational audio that can adjust the loudness and dynamic range, and control the movement of the driver and passive radiators. It says these adjustments can take place at 180 times per second.
Apple is doing here what it does to images in its higher end cameras. Apple has this belief that raw media can indeed be enhanced through machine learning and other digital methodology.
HomePod minis can be played in sync across your home and they can become a stereo pair if placed in the same room. They can be networked with regular HomePod speakers and third party AirPlay 2 devices.
Apple plans to add a “Handoff” experience late this year. It will interact with your iPhone when it is close by, and music played on one can quickly flow to the other. If you are donning AirPods to go for a walk, you can switch playing from the HomePod mini to your phone and AirPods easily, as you walk out the door.
Apple is making a big play with how HomePod mini will integrate with existing Apple devices. For example, you can use HomePod mini to make calls and send messages.
Then there’s the coming “intercom” feature. You can be in the car using your phone or Apple AirPlay, and send a message that’s broadcast right around your home via these and other connected speakers. You might be driving home, and want to ask your kids to turn the oven on or boil the kettle. People can tap on a notification to hear the message and respond.
You can remotely use your Apple watch to turn on groups of lights ready for when you arrive.
You can choose whether messages go everywhere, to a particular room or device or particular zone. You can set up rules that might include or exclude a particular room. The intercom feature will be added via a software update to HomePod and HomePod mini speakers.
The speaker will play iTunes podcasts, Apple Music, and content from iHeart radio and TuneIn directly. Music services from Pandora and Amazon will be added. Spotify isn‘t in the list yet but Apple says providers in general can join.
Apple has also flagged these speakers to work with Apple TV 4K. They will deliver 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound and Dolby Atmos audio as you watch a movie. Apple is counting on the beam forming capabilities of a speaker to deliver this sound quality, rather than a bunch of separate speakers. We will see how rich this experience is when we get to test the speaker.
Apple says HomePod mini will recognise individual voices, so when you request information, it will deliver your information and not another family member’s.
As I said, HomePod mini represents a move by Apple to increase the use of Siri in homes. Its success will depend on Siri getting smarter and HomeKit linking to all kinds of existing smart lights, powerboards, locks, speakers and other connected home devices.
HomePod mini can be ordered in Australia from November 7 with availability beginning the week of 16 November. $149 RRP.
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