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HomePod mini works with your iPhone for requests like hearing your messages or notes, so they are completed on device without revealing that information to Appl
by athenot 6y ago
HomePod mini works with your iPhone for requests like hearing your messages or notes, so they are completed on device without revealing that information to Apple.
This is the big differentiating feature, along with the seamless integration within the rest of Apple's product line.
EDIT: HomePod does this too but it was not at a price point nor size that competed with other assistants.
- ChrisLTD 6y agoMaybe that’s why my HomePod feels so slow?
- AceJohnny2 6y agoThe SoC in the Homepod is old. It's the Apple A8, which was used on iPhone 6 (2014). The HomePod Mini uses Apple S5, which was in the Apple Watch 5 (2019)
- saagarjha 6y agoNote that the S5 is essentially identical to the S4 chip.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Synaesthesia 6y agoIt's not that bad of a CPU. It's powering my iPad Air 2 (A8X) which doesn't do too badly. Remember when we were freaking out about the unprecedented performance of the A7, the first 64-bit mobile chip? And now it's in a speaker.
- duhi88 6y agoFor real. Maybe, just maybe, a voice-controlled speaker doesn't need the latest cutting edge CPU. I wasn't expecting new Homepod hardware until after they announce on-device Siri. That seems like the only thing that would warrant a better CPU.
- ChrisLTD 6y agoIt feels slower than my old Amazon Echo which is certainly using a crappier chip than the A8.
- selykg 6y agoDoesn't seem slow to me. Mine responds quite quickly.
- ChrisLTD 6y agoDo you have an Echo or Google Home for comparison?
- selykg 6y agoI don't, but the wait time from when I ask my HomePod to do something and when it does it is fast enough for me that I don't much mind. If I say "Hey Siri, turn on my lamp" it turns it on within a second or so of asking.
- dzhiurgis 6y agoMaybe depends on country. iCloud is silly slow abroad. Takes 3 minutes to download 30 second video on a gig connection.
- bashwizard 6y agoYes, it's super slow abroad. Especially in the US.
- acolumb 6y agoConsidering that the HomePod non-mini doesn’t do any on-device language processing, I don’t see a need for that much power.
- ulfw 6y agoYea but who says that a watch chip from 2019 is faster than a phone SoC from 2014?
- qchris 6y agoI don't even really use any other Apple products, and have never really been particularly comfortable with smart assistants, but I have to say that the steps that they've taken here with E2E, non-AppleID-tied identifiers, on-device computation, and of course the really good price point have got me seriously considering a purchase from them for the first time in a long time. For my family members that already have Apple products for their tablet, phone, etc., but have either Amazon Echo or Google Home smart assistants, I'm definitely looking that these as an option for holiday presents.
- dmix 6y ago> non-AppleID-tied identifiers One thing I've learned is the identity is absolutely everything in (mass) surveillance. The more places we can disconnect or obscure this as end users (or ideally consumers) the better.
- haswell 6y agoI'm pretty deep into the Apple ecosystem (iPhone, Watch, iPad, MBP), but when it comes to smart speakers, I've always used a combination of Echo and Alexa-compatible Sonos devices. The Alexa devices have always bothered me. Not just because of the baseline privacy concerns, but because it seems so damn easy to activate the trigger word on accident. The absolute worst part being a false positive activation of my Sonos system while watching a movie/show. When this happens (and it happens a lot), the audio volume of the show is lowered significantly to allow Alexa to hear the rest of the command. Pause the show, wait til "she" stops listening, rewind the show very slightly because I missed whatever was just said due to the volume shift, resume the video, instantly pause again at the moment she was originally triggered until she stops listening, resume the show, this time without having to rewind since I paused soon enough not to miss any dialog. Maddening. And the fact that all of these false positives get sent straight to Amazon doesn't make me feel great. I didn't need a HomePod for its audio quality since I already have great quality with the Sonos system, and couldn't justify the original HomePod's price as a command/control-focused smart speaker with a home already filled with Alexa devices. All of that to say, HomePod mini is perfect for me. I can throw out my Echos, disable Alexa on the Sonos system, and scatter a couple of Minis to replace the Echos. This is something I didn't realize I wanted.
- TYPE_FASTER 6y agoYeah, that'll be a differentiator for me. We have a few Echo Dots, which are pretty neat devices, but I'm not a huge fan of providing audio to Amazon and Google. Also, my neighbor was getting swatted and narrowed it down to his Echo Dots.
- leoedin 6y agoWhat do you mean by the last part? Swatted, as in having a SWAT team called to his house? What role did the Echo play in that?
- TYPE_FASTER 6y agoYes, the police showed up at his door a couple times saying somebody called 911. He disconnected everything from his network, no more visits from the police. He plugged devices back in one at a time, leaving a day or so between devices. Within an hour of plugging in the Echo devices, the police were back. He unplugged the Echo devices, no issues since.
- corytheboyd 6y agoI meeeaaannn come on, I feel like this person is withholding some important details about why the police show up at their door. This is just too ridiculous to be real.
- TYPE_FASTER 6y agoThe devices can make calls. There have been vulnerabilities that allow people to gain access and send commands: https://voicebot.ai/2020/08/13/amazon-patched-an-alexa-hacking-vulnerability-discovered-by-cybersecurity-researchers-in-june/ https://voicebot.ai/2020/08/13/amazon-patched-an-alexa-hacki...
- kinkrtyavimoodh 6y agoThis story sounds quite ridiculous, and I'd be reserving skepticism for his version of the events rather than for Google/Amazon
- INTPenis 6y agoHow is it different though? Doesn't Siri on your phone send your recording to its backend to figure out what you need anyways? So it's just an extra step?
- nojito 6y agoIt's opt in and only for idevices.
- dmix 6y agoThey explained in the video the only time it hits the Apple service is when you activate Siri (and limited to Siri queries only). This is the way to do it ...if you insist on putting smart microphones in your house.
- tensor 6y agoBut that's true of Google too. It only hits their servers when you "hey Google."
- fearoffish 6y agoI think the difference stated above, was that for messaging, calls and other phone related activities it’s not sent. I’m not sure you can say the same for Google.
- ehsankia 6y agoOn Pixel 4, 4a and 5, assistant does most queries on devices with the Neural processor. I wouldn't be surprised if they bring that capability to speakers too eventually. Though that increases the price of course. HomePod Mini is equivalent to Google Mini or Echo Dot but costs 3x the price. Maybe it's all the Apple Tax but my guess is that they had to put a pretty strong processor to do NLP on-device.
- OkGoDoIt 6y agoMy interpretation of that was your voice query is still sent to Apple and interpreted as whatever text/command, but the contents of the text message are not pulled from iCloud, instead they are pulled from within your local network directly from your iPhone. So all of your requests still do get processed in the cloud on Apple servers, but they don’t wind up with copies of the content of your messages (unless of course you enable iCloud back ups or iMessage cloud sync). This is definitely an improvement versus how things work on the Google side, but it’s a far cry from nothing at all getting sent to Apple.
- major505 6y agoYup. I really thinking in getting a echo dot, but I have serious privacy concerns.
- martin_a 6y agoI ordered two today as they were 20 €/each during Prime Day. I plan on using them as speakers mostly, so I'll have a look at where they talk to and maybe drop that connection...
- dzhiurgis 6y agoI don't think Apple understands what 'world class' assistant means. I've tried their intercom feature on an iPhone using Hey Siri. The message doesn't get recorded if you don't speak english. It works fine if you press and hold side button tho (my preferred way to use Siri anyway). I would probably consider Homepod or Homepod mini if they've got batteries and bluetooth. Heck they could've even used MagSafe chargers for them. Now I've got two Soundcore Motion+ that got amazing hifi sound.
- jiggawatts 6y agoMeanwhile a friend of mine flat refused to even consider buying any such device, from any vendor, because he's concerned about being spied on. He cited several real incidents where vendors like Amazon had been caught listening in and sending audio clips to random subcontractors for analysis. Several huge companies, including Facebook, Google, and Amazon have made it their business to maximally violate the privacy of the general public. This rubs off on companies like Apple that treat customer privacy seriously. The "free market" doesn't stop rampant abuse, and doesn't stop damage to unlucky bystanders. If everyone cheats, then the incentive will be to cheat also. If everyone violates privacy, then there will be little to no benefit in not also violating privacy. Certainly not if consumers simply won't believe you. It's the same logic as: "Every politician is corrupt, so why should I vote for you Mr Honest Guy? You must be corrupt also! I'd rather vote for Mr Clearly On the Take, I like the way he smiles".
- systemvoltage 6y agoEveryone is cheating (they’re adtech companies) but Apple isn’t. Apple doesn’t have to cheat. They just charge it upfront, sure Siri won’t ever catch up because of the lack of data (knowledge graph like Google), but I’m fine with a crappy Siri than evil smart Alexa.
- m463 6y agoThat is a naive (and demonstrably false) assertion. Apple's privacy stance is really just marketing, like "There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it." You don't have to use an apple device for more than a minute to realize this. For example, you cannot use a new apple iphone without activating it with apple. In the first screen or two, you are presented with their privacy policy, with is literally hundreds of pages long. The rest of the setup is full of dark patterns, and even though it is GDPR compliant, it is very hard not to come out of the process without signing in or allowing them access to your data. I think all of this comes from "business common sense" which is based on fear. They want data (and control) because it is an easier and more guaranteed way to make and sell things. The only way out of this (for all of us) is actually robust competition by someone who will do it right and not collect data in the first place. (hint: it will help if they use rounded corners, gradients and transparency)