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Can anyone with a Homepod comment on the usability compared to the Google and Amazon spy systems... err speakers?

by llampx 6y ago

AceJohnny2 6y ago
I haven't used Alexa, but Siri on HomePod is way behind Google Assistant in capabilities and recognition reliability. I use it moderately for setting timers, reminders, shopping list, controlling my HomeKit lights, and getting weather. I'd judge it to be 80% reliable in picking up commands (but the way human memory works, it's likely much higher than that but the times it fails are more memorable) But HomePod is a phenomenal speaker.
- AceJohnny2 6y ago
  I just tried to tell it to play music, but my closer iPhone picked up the order instead -_-;
  - hinkley 6y ago
    If we keep making these, you're going to need to name each device. Hey HomePod, play something sinister.
- ballenf 6y ago
  That's true, unless you have privacy options enabled in your Google account. In which case your Google Home becomes a doorstop. At least that was my experience before I gave away a gifted Google Home because it refused to let me proceed through setup without disabling a bunch of privacy settings across my entire Google account.
cloudengineer 6y ago
I use it for home automation using hoobs, and as a primary speaker. They are the best sounding of all, and in stereo mode, they sound even better.
iwasakabukiman 6y ago
The sound quality is way beyond anything Google or Amazon offer. If you have other Apple devices, it works just like Siri on your phone. I've got one in my kitchen and it can hear me anywhere in my 3 bedroom house. It's pretty impressive from an audio recognition standpoint. Amazon and Google both have much better home assistants built in.
- actuator 6y ago
  There is a new Nest audio device out which apparently has good audio and is at the same price as Homepod Mini.
  - crooked-v 6y ago
    ...with the additional downside that it's from Google, and Google projects and devices have a tendency to be abandoned pretty quickly whenever their interest turns to something else.
    - threatofrain 6y ago
      Has Google ever abandoned consumer hardware, or their obligations to Nest customers?
      - crooked-v 6y ago
        Well, sure. Look at the Pixel phones: the Pixel 1 was released Oct 2016 and support ended Dec 2019, and the Pixel 2 was released Oct 2017 and they'll be dropping support this year after updating to Android 11. Even with Nest specifically they dropped Works With Nest support last year, effectively killing off the many integrations that had been built since 2014 in favor of their newer Works with Google Assistant program.
        bookofjoe 6y ago
        Then there's my beloved 2013 Google Glass Explorer Edition, which still works perfectly but which Google stopped supporting February 25, 2020. https://mashable.com/article/google-glass-explorer-edition-final-update/ https://mashable.com/article/google-glass-explorer-edition-f...
eschneider 6y ago
I have a homepod that I use exclusively for playing musing and it's quite good at that. It's definition of what's "disco" and isn't doesn't quite match mine, but...close enough.
actuator 6y ago
> Google and Amazon spy systems I have only used an Echo in the past but fwiw Google does specify what they store and how they use it. https://store.google.com/magazine/google_nest_privacy https://store.google.com/magazine/google_nest_privacy
- Nextgrid 6y ago
  Why would you trust a company whose bottom line ultimately depends on spying on everyone, in a regulatory environment which demonstrated that breaching your own promises/privacy policy (in the case of Facebook and the 2FA phone numbers they promised not to use for ad targeting purposes) results in nothing more than a slap on the wrist?
  - lern_too_spel 6y ago
    Because the alternative (Apple) is a company that produces worse products that breach my privacy even more. You cannot get your location on an Apple device without also sending your location to Apple. You cannot install an app on your iOS device without telling Apple. If you want to make your own apps for your device, you have to deanonymize yourself even further with banking details. If you want better privacy, don't continue to let companies who lie about providing better privacy get away with it. So far, I haven't seen Google deliberately lie about the privacy of their services. That should be the bare minimum that we expect.
    - millstone 6y ago
      Yeah Google deliberately lies. That's why they're being sued by the state of Arizona, for willfully deceiving users and tracking their locations even if they opted out. [1] They said "with Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored" and then did it anyways. Apple, for its part, says "Apple doesn’t retain a history of what you’ve searched for or where you’ve been" and there's no reason to doubt it. 1: https://www.azag.gov/press-release/attorney-general-mark-brnovich-files-lawsuit-against-google-over-deceptive-and-unfair https://www.azag.gov/press-release/attorney-general-mark-brn...
selykg 6y ago
Primarily use mine as a speaker and HomeKit device. I have a couple light switches that I use with HomeKit and Siri works really well with control of that. I also use it with Apple Music and from time to time as an AirPlay device. It also works really well for those purposes. I don't typically use Siri for reading emails, text messages, or other things like that. I will ask it what the weather is as I walk out the door to determine whether I need to grab an umbrella or a hoodie or something. It also works well enough for that.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
threatofrain 6y ago
IMO Google Assistant is still generally stronger in parsing my sentences, multi-command workflows (Siri doesn't have it), and not having all my devices wake up and respond at the same time.
- accrual 6y ago
  > multi-command workflows One thing I'm waiting for with Siri is the ability to set the colors and brightness of my Hue lights at the same time. I have to "Hey Siri" twice to do what should be a single command.
  - ballenf 6y ago
    Could a Shortcut do that for you? Or a "scene"?
- shagie 6y ago
  This gets to a different philosophy of voice assistant computing between the companies. Google (and Amazon) have significant cloud infrastructures. The sequence of wake -> audio clip -> cloud -> process -> command -> device --- that's how they do it. Apple has taken a different route with a limited set of "domains" which have voice processing associated with them. These can be seen in https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sirikit https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sirikit which has different apps register that they can handle different domains. This means that Google (and Amazon) will have a stronger parsing of those sentences and commands for arbitrary queries. Siri, however, has a stronger integration with arbitrary commands that are part of an existing 'domain' being handled by an existing app. The multiple device wake is an interesting problem (I've seen Alexa, when two devices both wake, verify that the correct one had the response). With Siri, I've seen multiple devices wake, but I haven't had multiple ones respond - I suspect there's some network traffic to decide which one has the best audio signal and ability to process the information... but that's my experience, I could very well be wrong there. The thing is that this really goes to a difference in philosophy about how voice assistants work and integrate with different 3rd party applications.
Grazester 6y ago
You mean the Google, Amazon and Apple spy systems? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/26/apple-contractors-regularly-hear-confidential-details-on-siri-recordings https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/26/apple-con...
- hello_friendos 6y ago
  That article is over a year old and Apple does not allow this anymore. Of course Google and Amazon still do. https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/28/20836760/apple-apology-siri-audio-recordings-privacy-changes-contractors https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/28/20836760/apple-apology-si...
  - Grazester 6y ago
    You act like if this was some kind of bug that Apple discovered and fixed. It was not. It was a conscious decision they made and would still be doing if this article was not published and there wasn't some controversy surrounding it. Yeah good for them for not doing it anymore but the point is they did and that was a year ago not a lifetime. Apple is only trying to sell you privacy since its looks good for them.
  - lern_too_spel 6y ago
    Google also doesn't retain audio recordings by default and hasn't for longer than Apple hasn't. https://www.blog.google/products/assistant/doing-more-protect-your-privacy-assistant/ https://www.blog.google/products/assistant/doing-more-protec... Apple is consistently worse on privacy than alternatives. Don't let them get away with it, or everybody will play Apple's game of just pretending that they care about privacy.
    - Bud 6y ago
      Apple is consistently better on privacy, actually, than competitors. Not sure which competitors you are talking about or which issues/products, but you're way, way off-base. And for obvious reasons: Amazon and Google need to gather user data to survive because they don't make any profitable hardware. Apple doesn't need your data, plus, they have a real and honest commitment to privacy. It's not even a close call, really.
whycombagator 6y ago
Related, but if you want a non spying speaker (i.e a network connected speaker with no mic) - Sonos make a mic free version of their entry level speaker: One SL. It supports Apple Airplay 2 and two One SLs can be paired for studio sound. However, it is more expensive than the HomePod mini, not wireless (needs to be plugged in), & although it integrates tightly with iOS it can’t be as smooth as HomePod probably is (I haven’t tried the HomePod myself).
- sneak 6y ago
  Sonos spies on your usage instead of your audio, and is nowhere near the Homepod in terms of sound quality.
  - burke 6y ago
    Huh? Seriously? Maybe the little Sonos One isn't, but they make some hardware that rather clearly outperforms the Homepod.
  - apetresc 6y ago
    Well maybe not the ~$400 Homepod, but who knows how it will stack up against the $99 one.
  - whycombagator 6y ago
    Sure there’s some level of tracking, but that wasn’t my point. My point is that it’s mic free Also, Sonos speakers from my research outperform HomePod in terms of sound - but if you have data to suggest otherwise feel free to share
    - gingerlime 6y ago
      Can't comment about the sound quality. As far as privacy however, I definitely understand people's worry about the mic, but honestly I think it distracts from really looking at the data tracking practices and how much data is collected even without a mic. See [0] I'm curious about Apple's data tracking, but based on their marketing page alone it definitely feels like they've given it a big consideration and it's not an afterthought. I cannot say the same for Sonos unfortunately. (I assume Google/Alexa etc are worse, but I don't use those, and didn't dig into it). [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24680614 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24680614
naravara 6y ago
I only housesat for someone with one so my experience is limited. My take was audio quality is WAY better, so if your primary desire is for a speaker it blows the Google/Amazon ones out of the water. BUT Siri is less useful so if you want more voice-control/smart assistant stuff it feels much more limited. It's actually really decent at the use cases it's explicitly designed for, but completely falls apart if you have any edge cases. Bear in mind though, these are what Apple thinks of as edge cases like "What if I prefer Spotify over Apple Music," not necessarily a reasonable person's idea of an edge case. I, personally, didn't notice much of a difference between the HomePod and the Sonos 5 though I know people who say the HomePod is markedly better. The Sonos, however, has a line-in and works with an Alexa unit if you have it (though, strangely, it's not built in). If not for the privacy sensitivity with Alexa I'd probably go for the Sonos, but the privacy and integration with the rest of the Apple ecosystem kind of tips it back to Apple for me.
halfnormalform 6y ago
Homekit might limit you as far as hardware goes, but if you’re handy you can run a Home Assistant instance and connect Siri to just about anything: Z-wave sensors, Logitech Harmony Hub, non-HomeKit light bulbs, etc.
bluk 6y ago
If you're going for the HomePod (vs. the HomePod mini), buy it only if you have Apple Music or iTunes Match. It's really not worth it otherwise. I have a Google Home, Google Home mini, and an Echo Dot (got all of them for free except the HomePods). Assistant wise, you'd get better results from Google Assistant/Alexa. Apple has been lagging and playing catchup (from not having multiple timers in the initial HomePod release to adding voice recognition last year when Google had it earlier). The answers are more limited like your iOS Siri (don't expect anything better). Even worse, it seems like HomePod's Siri backend is different than say an iPad's which generally means it's a generation behind. For instance, the HomePod doesn't really support continuous conversations/follow-up questions. Siri is ok finding popular music, but if you ask it to play the "The A-List: K-Pop playlist" vs. "The A-List: Pop Music" for instance, it's a tossup on which it chooses dependent on the alignment of the planets. The same goes for musician names where if it kinda sounds like the more popular musician, it will tend to choose the more popular one. Furthermore, if you have a specific version of a song (say acoustic/live version), then the HomePod always tends to pick the most popular version of the song even if you say "acoustic" or any other hints. There are "Shortcuts" on the HomePod. You can use it to add Todos to third party apps (if you don't want to use the Apple Reminders integration) or play a podcast from a third party player from your iPhone/iPad. Not as useful as Alexa skills and every now and then it takes some magical phrase to correctly activate them. The main problem with Siri beyond lacking knowledge is that Siri lacks consistency. While it's ambitious in letting you say anything versus the narrower "scripted keywords" that Alexa understands, if you say something one day that it perfectly understands and repeated it exactly a week later, you have no idea if Siri will still understand you. I read about this complaint before against Siri, but having experienced it more than a few times now, it is incredibly frustrating. And Siri sometimes (unintentionally) mocks you by repeating all the main parts of your request back to you correctly, but it does the wrong thing. Hardware wise, the HomePod sounds better than a Google Home, Google Home mini, and Echo Dot. But of course, the others are cheaper. Two HomePods do sound better than one. Besides the better output, the mics are significantly more sensitive even in a loud environment. If you're putting the HomePod in a noisy kitchen or playing music loudly, then a HomePod can pick up your voice without you shouting at it. The Apple TV integration has gotten better, but even with two HomePods, a relatively cheap home theater setup sounds better and can be used for all your TV content instead of just from your Apple devices. If you place the HomePods right next to the TV at roughly the same height, they sound good but if you move them too low/high or around the room, it does sound "off". The whole spatial two HomePod thing kinda does work for music in a room, but for TV content, it does not. Really the other assistants are as good if not better than the HomePod, then the only distinguishing (non-privacy) feature is if you want a premium and pretty good way to listen to Apple Music. Maybe a few more music services which hopefully will be available soon. I don't regret buying the HomePods at all because I do like listening to music on them, but all of the assistant and "smart" tech is available on your iPhone if it can hear you.

Can anyone with a Homepod comment on the usability compared to the Google and Amazon spy systems... err speakers?

by llampx 6y ago

Can anyone with a Homepod comment on the usability compared to the Google and Amazon spy systems... err speakers?

I haven't used Alexa, but Siri on HomePod is way behind Google Assistant in capabilities and recognition reliability. I use it moderately for setting timers, reminders, shopping list, controlling my HomeKit lights, and getting weather. I'd judge it to be 80% reliable in picking up commands (but the way human memory works, it's likely much higher than that but the times it fails are more memorable) But HomePod is a phenomenal speaker.

AceJohnny2 6y ago
I just tried to tell it to play music, but my closer iPhone picked up the order instead -_-;
- hinkley 6y ago
  If we keep making these, you're going to need to name each device. Hey HomePod, play something sinister.
ballenf 6y ago
That's true, unless you have privacy options enabled in your Google account. In which case your Google Home becomes a doorstop. At least that was my experience before I gave away a gifted Google Home because it refused to let me proceed through setup without disabling a bunch of privacy settings across my entire Google account.

cloudengineer 6y ago

I use it for home automation using hoobs, and as a primary speaker. They are the best sounding of all, and in stereo mode, they sound even better.

iwasakabukiman 6y ago

The sound quality is way beyond anything Google or Amazon offer. If you have other Apple devices, it works just like Siri on your phone. I've got one in my kitchen and it can hear me anywhere in my 3 bedroom house. It's pretty impressive from an audio recognition standpoint. Amazon and Google both have much better home assistants built in.

actuator 6y ago
There is a new Nest audio device out which apparently has good audio and is at the same price as Homepod Mini.
- crooked-v 6y ago
  ...with the additional downside that it's from Google, and Google projects and devices have a tendency to be abandoned pretty quickly whenever their interest turns to something else.
  - threatofrain 6y ago
    Has Google ever abandoned consumer hardware, or their obligations to Nest customers?
    - crooked-v 6y ago
      Well, sure. Look at the Pixel phones: the Pixel 1 was released Oct 2016 and support ended Dec 2019, and the Pixel 2 was released Oct 2017 and they'll be dropping support this year after updating to Android 11. Even with Nest specifically they dropped Works With Nest support last year, effectively killing off the many integrations that had been built since 2014 in favor of their newer Works with Google Assistant program.
      - bookofjoe 6y ago
        Then there's my beloved 2013 Google Glass Explorer Edition, which still works perfectly but which Google stopped supporting February 25, 2020. https://mashable.com/article/google-glass-explorer-edition-final-update/ https://mashable.com/article/google-glass-explorer-edition-f...

eschneider 6y ago

I have a homepod that I use exclusively for playing musing and it's quite good at that. It's definition of what's "disco" and isn't doesn't quite match mine, but...close enough.

actuator 6y ago

> Google and Amazon spy systems I have only used an Echo in the past but fwiw Google does specify what they store and how they use it. https://store.google.com/magazine/google_nest_privacy https://store.google.com/magazine/google_nest_privacy

Nextgrid 6y ago
Why would you trust a company whose bottom line ultimately depends on spying on everyone, in a regulatory environment which demonstrated that breaching your own promises/privacy policy (in the case of Facebook and the 2FA phone numbers they promised not to use for ad targeting purposes) results in nothing more than a slap on the wrist?
- lern_too_spel 6y ago
  Because the alternative (Apple) is a company that produces worse products that breach my privacy even more. You cannot get your location on an Apple device without also sending your location to Apple. You cannot install an app on your iOS device without telling Apple. If you want to make your own apps for your device, you have to deanonymize yourself even further with banking details. If you want better privacy, don't continue to let companies who lie about providing better privacy get away with it. So far, I haven't seen Google deliberately lie about the privacy of their services. That should be the bare minimum that we expect.
  - millstone 6y ago
    Yeah Google deliberately lies. That's why they're being sued by the state of Arizona, for willfully deceiving users and tracking their locations even if they opted out. [1] They said "with Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored" and then did it anyways. Apple, for its part, says "Apple doesn’t retain a history of what you’ve searched for or where you’ve been" and there's no reason to doubt it. 1: https://www.azag.gov/press-release/attorney-general-mark-brnovich-files-lawsuit-against-google-over-deceptive-and-unfair https://www.azag.gov/press-release/attorney-general-mark-brn...

selykg 6y ago

Primarily use mine as a speaker and HomeKit device. I have a couple light switches that I use with HomeKit and Siri works really well with control of that. I also use it with Apple Music and from time to time as an AirPlay device. It also works really well for those purposes. I don't typically use Siri for reading emails, text messages, or other things like that. I will ask it what the weather is as I walk out the door to determine whether I need to grab an umbrella or a hoodie or something. It also works well enough for that.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

threatofrain 6y ago

IMO Google Assistant is still generally stronger in parsing my sentences, multi-command workflows (Siri doesn't have it), and not having all my devices wake up and respond at the same time.

accrual 6y ago
> multi-command workflows One thing I'm waiting for with Siri is the ability to set the colors and brightness of my Hue lights at the same time. I have to "Hey Siri" twice to do what should be a single command.
- ballenf 6y ago
  Could a Shortcut do that for you? Or a "scene"?
shagie 6y ago
This gets to a different philosophy of voice assistant computing between the companies. Google (and Amazon) have significant cloud infrastructures. The sequence of wake -> audio clip -> cloud -> process -> command -> device --- that's how they do it. Apple has taken a different route with a limited set of "domains" which have voice processing associated with them. These can be seen in https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sirikit https://developer.apple.com/documentation/sirikit which has different apps register that they can handle different domains. This means that Google (and Amazon) will have a stronger parsing of those sentences and commands for arbitrary queries. Siri, however, has a stronger integration with arbitrary commands that are part of an existing 'domain' being handled by an existing app. The multiple device wake is an interesting problem (I've seen Alexa, when two devices both wake, verify that the correct one had the response). With Siri, I've seen multiple devices wake, but I haven't had multiple ones respond - I suspect there's some network traffic to decide which one has the best audio signal and ability to process the information... but that's my experience, I could very well be wrong there. The thing is that this really goes to a difference in philosophy about how voice assistants work and integrate with different 3rd party applications.

Grazester 6y ago

You mean the Google, Amazon and Apple spy systems? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/26/apple-contractors-regularly-hear-confidential-details-on-siri-recordings https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/26/apple-con...

hello_friendos 6y ago
That article is over a year old and Apple does not allow this anymore. Of course Google and Amazon still do. https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/28/20836760/apple-apology-siri-audio-recordings-privacy-changes-contractors https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/28/20836760/apple-apology-si...
- Grazester 6y ago
  You act like if this was some kind of bug that Apple discovered and fixed. It was not. It was a conscious decision they made and would still be doing if this article was not published and there wasn't some controversy surrounding it. Yeah good for them for not doing it anymore but the point is they did and that was a year ago not a lifetime. Apple is only trying to sell you privacy since its looks good for them.
- lern_too_spel 6y ago
  Google also doesn't retain audio recordings by default and hasn't for longer than Apple hasn't. https://www.blog.google/products/assistant/doing-more-protect-your-privacy-assistant/ https://www.blog.google/products/assistant/doing-more-protec... Apple is consistently worse on privacy than alternatives. Don't let them get away with it, or everybody will play Apple's game of just pretending that they care about privacy.
  - Bud 6y ago
    Apple is consistently better on privacy, actually, than competitors. Not sure which competitors you are talking about or which issues/products, but you're way, way off-base. And for obvious reasons: Amazon and Google need to gather user data to survive because they don't make any profitable hardware. Apple doesn't need your data, plus, they have a real and honest commitment to privacy. It's not even a close call, really.

whycombagator 6y ago

Related, but if you want a non spying speaker (i.e a network connected speaker with no mic) - Sonos make a mic free version of their entry level speaker: One SL. It supports Apple Airplay 2 and two One SLs can be paired for studio sound. However, it is more expensive than the HomePod mini, not wireless (needs to be plugged in), & although it integrates tightly with iOS it can’t be as smooth as HomePod probably is (I haven’t tried the HomePod myself).

sneak 6y ago
Sonos spies on your usage instead of your audio, and is nowhere near the Homepod in terms of sound quality.
- burke 6y ago
  Huh? Seriously? Maybe the little Sonos One isn't, but they make some hardware that rather clearly outperforms the Homepod.
- apetresc 6y ago
  Well maybe not the ~$400 Homepod, but who knows how it will stack up against the $99 one.
- whycombagator 6y ago
  Sure there’s some level of tracking, but that wasn’t my point. My point is that it’s mic free Also, Sonos speakers from my research outperform HomePod in terms of sound - but if you have data to suggest otherwise feel free to share
  - gingerlime 6y ago
    Can't comment about the sound quality. As far as privacy however, I definitely understand people's worry about the mic, but honestly I think it distracts from really looking at the data tracking practices and how much data is collected even without a mic. See [0] I'm curious about Apple's data tracking, but based on their marketing page alone it definitely feels like they've given it a big consideration and it's not an afterthought. I cannot say the same for Sonos unfortunately. (I assume Google/Alexa etc are worse, but I don't use those, and didn't dig into it). [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24680614 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24680614

naravara 6y ago

I only housesat for someone with one so my experience is limited. My take was audio quality is WAY better, so if your primary desire is for a speaker it blows the Google/Amazon ones out of the water. BUT Siri is less useful so if you want more voice-control/smart assistant stuff it feels much more limited. It's actually really decent at the use cases it's explicitly designed for, but completely falls apart if you have any edge cases. Bear in mind though, these are what Apple thinks of as edge cases like "What if I prefer Spotify over Apple Music," not necessarily a reasonable person's idea of an edge case. I, personally, didn't notice much of a difference between the HomePod and the Sonos 5 though I know people who say the HomePod is markedly better. The Sonos, however, has a line-in and works with an Alexa unit if you have it (though, strangely, it's not built in). If not for the privacy sensitivity with Alexa I'd probably go for the Sonos, but the privacy and integration with the rest of the Apple ecosystem kind of tips it back to Apple for me.

halfnormalform 6y ago

Homekit might limit you as far as hardware goes, but if you’re handy you can run a Home Assistant instance and connect Siri to just about anything: Z-wave sensors, Logitech Harmony Hub, non-HomeKit light bulbs, etc.

bluk 6y ago

If you're going for the HomePod (vs. the HomePod mini), buy it only if you have Apple Music or iTunes Match. It's really not worth it otherwise. I have a Google Home, Google Home mini, and an Echo Dot (got all of them for free except the HomePods). Assistant wise, you'd get better results from Google Assistant/Alexa. Apple has been lagging and playing catchup (from not having multiple timers in the initial HomePod release to adding voice recognition last year when Google had it earlier). The answers are more limited like your iOS Siri (don't expect anything better). Even worse, it seems like HomePod's Siri backend is different than say an iPad's which generally means it's a generation behind. For instance, the HomePod doesn't really support continuous conversations/follow-up questions. Siri is ok finding popular music, but if you ask it to play the "The A-List: K-Pop playlist" vs. "The A-List: Pop Music" for instance, it's a tossup on which it chooses dependent on the alignment of the planets. The same goes for musician names where if it kinda sounds like the more popular musician, it will tend to choose the more popular one. Furthermore, if you have a specific version of a song (say acoustic/live version), then the HomePod always tends to pick the most popular version of the song even if you say "acoustic" or any other hints. There are "Shortcuts" on the HomePod. You can use it to add Todos to third party apps (if you don't want to use the Apple Reminders integration) or play a podcast from a third party player from your iPhone/iPad. Not as useful as Alexa skills and every now and then it takes some magical phrase to correctly activate them. The main problem with Siri beyond lacking knowledge is that Siri lacks consistency. While it's ambitious in letting you say anything versus the narrower "scripted keywords" that Alexa understands, if you say something one day that it perfectly understands and repeated it exactly a week later, you have no idea if Siri will still understand you. I read about this complaint before against Siri, but having experienced it more than a few times now, it is incredibly frustrating. And Siri sometimes (unintentionally) mocks you by repeating all the main parts of your request back to you correctly, but it does the wrong thing. Hardware wise, the HomePod sounds better than a Google Home, Google Home mini, and Echo Dot. But of course, the others are cheaper. Two HomePods do sound better than one. Besides the better output, the mics are significantly more sensitive even in a loud environment. If you're putting the HomePod in a noisy kitchen or playing music loudly, then a HomePod can pick up your voice without you shouting at it. The Apple TV integration has gotten better, but even with two HomePods, a relatively cheap home theater setup sounds better and can be used for all your TV content instead of just from your Apple devices. If you place the HomePods right next to the TV at roughly the same height, they sound good but if you move them too low/high or around the room, it does sound "off". The whole spatial two HomePod thing kinda does work for music in a room, but for TV content, it does not. Really the other assistants are as good if not better than the HomePod, then the only distinguishing (non-privacy) feature is if you want a premium and pretty good way to listen to Apple Music. Maybe a few more music services which hopefully will be available soon. I don't regret buying the HomePods at all because I do like listening to music on them, but all of the assistant and "smart" tech is available on your iPhone if it can hear you.