6 ms·

I'm a big apple fan, got a homepod last christmas, and it's the worst apple product that I've ever owned. Truly disappointing. Siri fails to recognize commands

by jshen 6y ago

I'm a big apple fan, got a homepod last christmas, and it's the worst apple product that I've ever owned. Truly disappointing. Siri fails to recognize commands that work great on alexa or google, the features it does have often fail (if I transfer a podcast from playing on my phone to play on the homepod, my phone often fails to sync with the location of my homepod). There's no way I will buy one of these until I hear from multiple people I know that they have one and it's truly amazing. edit: typos

Angostura 6y ago
Whereas my family say that it is the best Apple gizmo we own. It sits in the kitchen and typically only gets used for Playing music setting timers adding things to the shopping list answering stupid google queries during dinner. All of which it does with aplomb. But it was bought because wanted a great sounding smart speaker
- jen729w 6y ago
  I was gonna say it, but then you did. My non-tech partner 100% agrees. “Love it” is a term that I’ve heard. I do have a few (literally a few) custom shortcuts for weird things that it just couldn’t figure out, like playing specifically our local radio station, but other than that it’s amazing. “Hey Siri, play <whatever>” while we make dinner. “Hey Siri, turn it up!” Hey Siri good morning, turn the lights on, set a timer, she mostly does it all with aplomb. If this one broke I’d have another within half an hour. I might get the Mini just to put in another room and mess about. Now, caveat: I’ve never used Alexa or Google. I have no doubt that their voice assistant stuff would be better, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before I let one of those things listen to me at home. I just don’t trust them at all.
  - baggy_trough 6y ago
    I'm glad you're happy about it, but for me, Siri is a disaster. It only has about a 75% chance to get a simple music command right. Pretty hopeless.
    - AlphaSite 6y ago
      Google assisted has a 40-59% success rate for simple alarm and timer commands in my home.
      - kaishiro 6y ago
        That is a surprisingly exact percentage range. How are you tracking this?
    - bengale 6y ago
      I'm always pretty surprised by the disparity, I wonder if its an accent thing. Quite frequently we use our HomePod from the other room since they were too pricey (before today) to put in each room. I cant think of a time where its had an issue with us giving it commands even when we're hollering from the adjacent room.
      - nmca 6y ago
        It probably is - I live in London with a spectrum of housemates from about the place and the needed "Alexa voice" is basically RP if you want it to work at all.
    - matwood 6y ago
      Siri has gotten much better for me. It's actually useful now. With my Airpod Pros I can reliably respond to texts using my voice. Music commands are also much better. I'm not sure if I have just adapted my commands to ones that work, if Siri is improving, or it's both.
  - 72deluxe 6y ago
    I must be getting old because playing an audio track, looking up some information or changing the volume seems a first world "problem" and is still incredibly easy just by using the device that is performing the task, eg. playing music. Back in the day, using my CD player or cassette player didn't seem like hard work. The gulf between the "issues" that these devices solve and real problems in the world (starvation, war, death by covid) has never been wider. I honestly am happy that they're useful for people but they feel like devices looking for a real purpose. I know someone with 70+ "smart" lightbulbs and cameras and devices all over his house and I do not understand how turning the light on or off can be considered too difficult for him to do. I think reading through this thread confirms it! Didn't mean to target your comment in general but this is as far as I've got reading through this thread. Like you, I wouldn't trust the Google or Amazon devices at all!
    - jen729w 6y ago
      A sign of getting old indeed: when the technology at stage `n` is surely good enough and you see no reason for `n+1`. ;-) You also set up a nice straw man there. Nobody’s saying that these things are “solving problems”. They’re just cool new technology. Being able to ask for an album while I’m chopping the vegetables for dinner is cool. Why not?
      - 72deluxe 6y ago
        I must accept I am out of touch with the kids, like Principal Skinner... "why not" is quite a good question though. I will ponder, thanks.
    - JshWright 6y ago
      Turning off one light is not hard. Walking through the house in the evening to make sure the kids didn't leave lights on (and to lock up the various doors, and set the thermostat back, etc) is annoying. Being able to speak a single voice command to do all that on my way upstairs is much more convenient. Could I still do it by going to a different room? Absolutely. Is it nicer to not have to do that? Definitely. Why did you have a CD player if cassettes worked for your? Was rewinding the cassette really too much trouble? Kids these days...
- tupputuppu 6y ago
  For me, asking Siri on my iPhone 11 Pro to play music from Spotify is always an adventure. Last it played me Spanish female singers, and before that I got acquainted with Japanese jazz! Then there's the 20% of times it freezes for around 20 seconds before replying, and the other 20% of time it just says "there's an error, please retry".
  - thefunnyman 6y ago
    The fact that you can’t specify a default music app on iOS also bothers me quite a bit. On Android, assistant knew what app to use so I could just ask it to play something and not have to specify “on Spotify “. Of course this problem extends to loads of other apps on iOS.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- binaryblitz 6y ago
  TIL the word aplomb. I'm a 30 year old native english speaker. Not sure whether to be excited to learn a new word, or worried that I didn't know it.
xinsight 6y ago
Maybe i had low expectations, but i was impressed with homepod siri's understanding and how much it could do. I don't know why Apple doesn't just publish a list of all the commands. I documented what i found if anyone is interested: https://xinsight.ca/homepod/ https://xinsight.ca/homepod/
- X-Istence 6y ago
  Apple does have this page: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208336 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208336
austinkhale 6y ago
Really?? I love mine. I use it every day for Hue bulb activations, playing music, timers, etc. and it does the job perfectly. It doesn’t answer all the same answers as the Google Assistant but I feel like that’s worth the privacy trade off.
- jshen 6y ago
  A $30 echo will do that. I have a few of those, why spend $200 for a HomePod if that’s all it is.
  - conception 6y ago
    Sounds much better and privacy
    - jshen 6y ago
      Privacy is an interesting dimension. I definitely wouldn’t trust google, but why trust Apple over Amazon?
      - rahoulb 6y ago
        Because Apple is making privacy a key differentiator across their entire product line. How private they actually are is a different matter, but certainly they talk a lot about how the data that is sent to their servers doesn't include IDs and can't be tracked back to you, even if it does get stored.
  - steve_adams_86 6y ago
    I don’t own one personally, but I use one at the office daily. They sound incredible. I have some google smart speakers and they’re pretty underwhelming in terms of sound. The voice assistant is excellent, though. I’d much prefer the sound of the HomePod but it’s hard to justify the expense when I have something that works fine. If I could do it over, I’d absolutely spend way more for the better audio experience. While I use the assistant for things apart from music, music is still more than 99% of what comes out of that thing.
reikonomusha 6y ago
Mine bricked itself on an update. No way to hard reset it. Apple would repair it only for $1 less than the full cost of the device.
- kevinlou 6y ago
  You're kidding? That's such poor product support. I have a whole army of Google Homes, and not one has bricked or had any problems. However, at their price point (bought the Home for $100, Home Minis were mostly free or $20) I wouldn't mind shelling out for a replacement. Considering the starting price of the HomePod, it's nuts that Apple would charge that much to fix (for something that was their issue no less).
  - Tagbert 6y ago
    That also does not sound typical of Apple customer care. They are generally very helpful and will often not charge for some issues, particularly if the device was actually bricked due to an update. They would likely replace a device for that kind of thing. I’m not convinced that we have the full story here.
    - unicornfinder 6y ago
      Clearly you don’t have much experience of Apple’s out of warranty support. Once your Product is out of warranty they have very little interest in helping you.
- lilyball 6y ago
  I’ve never even heard of a HomePod bricking itself, nor does it sound plausible that Apple would charge to fix a device they bricked themselves, especially at $1 less than the price of a new device. I feel like you’re omitting something here.
  - 1123581321 6y ago
    It is plausible. 13.2 had a problem with bricking HomePods: https://www.macrumors.com/2019/10/28/new-13-2-update-bricking-some-homepods/ https://www.macrumors.com/2019/10/28/new-13-2-update-brickin... And the out-of-warranty repair cost is $279. Perhaps they got it on sale at $280. https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/12/17003296/homepod-repair-ifixit-teardown https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/12/17003296/homepod-repair-i...
bastawhiz 6y ago
I don't own one, but I visited a friend who had gotten one. He was excited to show it off. It was embarrassing. It played the wrong song. He asked it to increase the volume, which it did on the second attempt, but then it was too loud to hear him give the command to decrease the volume. He tried stopping it with his phone and couldn't. Ended up having to press a button on the thing (I think? Or he unplugged it). Quite literally the worst possible demo.
- mensetmanusman 6y ago
  This is an amazing SNL skit. I covid-insanity-laughed maniacally when I imagined this being part of the slick apple demo video from today.
snyp 6y ago
How was the sound quality though? I don’t care much for the smart assistant features but would definitely consider getting it for good sound quality
- lacogubik 6y ago
  It's pretty good, obviously not as good as high end speakers, but for the price (I got mine for £200) it's really good value and effortless to use. Main feature is it can adjust to any room or place you put it. I find it bit bass heavy, though I prefer more neutral sound. I bought it just for listening of music while I work and I'm very happy with it. I want to get another one to pair them into stereo setup. Some reviews: https://www.flatpanelshd.com/review.php?subaction=showfull&id=1545383058 https://www.flatpanelshd.com/review.php?subaction=showfull&i... https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16976906/apple-homepod-review-smart-speaker https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16976906/apple-homepod-rev...

by jshen 6y ago

Angostura 6y ago

Whereas my family say that it is the best Apple gizmo we own. It sits in the kitchen and typically only gets used for Playing music setting timers adding things to the shopping list answering stupid google queries during dinner. All of which it does with aplomb. But it was bought because wanted a great sounding smart speaker

jen729w 6y ago
I was gonna say it, but then you did. My non-tech partner 100% agrees. “Love it” is a term that I’ve heard. I do have a few (literally a few) custom shortcuts for weird things that it just couldn’t figure out, like playing specifically our local radio station, but other than that it’s amazing. “Hey Siri, play <whatever>” while we make dinner. “Hey Siri, turn it up!” Hey Siri good morning, turn the lights on, set a timer, she mostly does it all with aplomb. If this one broke I’d have another within half an hour. I might get the Mini just to put in another room and mess about. Now, caveat: I’ve never used Alexa or Google. I have no doubt that their voice assistant stuff would be better, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before I let one of those things listen to me at home. I just don’t trust them at all.
- baggy_trough 6y ago
  I'm glad you're happy about it, but for me, Siri is a disaster. It only has about a 75% chance to get a simple music command right. Pretty hopeless.
  - AlphaSite 6y ago
    Google assisted has a 40-59% success rate for simple alarm and timer commands in my home.
    - kaishiro 6y ago
      That is a surprisingly exact percentage range. How are you tracking this?
  - bengale 6y ago
    I'm always pretty surprised by the disparity, I wonder if its an accent thing. Quite frequently we use our HomePod from the other room since they were too pricey (before today) to put in each room. I cant think of a time where its had an issue with us giving it commands even when we're hollering from the adjacent room.
    - nmca 6y ago
      It probably is - I live in London with a spectrum of housemates from about the place and the needed "Alexa voice" is basically RP if you want it to work at all.
  - matwood 6y ago
    Siri has gotten much better for me. It's actually useful now. With my Airpod Pros I can reliably respond to texts using my voice. Music commands are also much better. I'm not sure if I have just adapted my commands to ones that work, if Siri is improving, or it's both.
- 72deluxe 6y ago
  I must be getting old because playing an audio track, looking up some information or changing the volume seems a first world "problem" and is still incredibly easy just by using the device that is performing the task, eg. playing music. Back in the day, using my CD player or cassette player didn't seem like hard work. The gulf between the "issues" that these devices solve and real problems in the world (starvation, war, death by covid) has never been wider. I honestly am happy that they're useful for people but they feel like devices looking for a real purpose. I know someone with 70+ "smart" lightbulbs and cameras and devices all over his house and I do not understand how turning the light on or off can be considered too difficult for him to do. I think reading through this thread confirms it! Didn't mean to target your comment in general but this is as far as I've got reading through this thread. Like you, I wouldn't trust the Google or Amazon devices at all!
  - jen729w 6y ago
    A sign of getting old indeed: when the technology at stage `n` is surely good enough and you see no reason for `n+1`. ;-) You also set up a nice straw man there. Nobody’s saying that these things are “solving problems”. They’re just cool new technology. Being able to ask for an album while I’m chopping the vegetables for dinner is cool. Why not?
    - 72deluxe 6y ago
      I must accept I am out of touch with the kids, like Principal Skinner... "why not" is quite a good question though. I will ponder, thanks.
  - JshWright 6y ago
    Turning off one light is not hard. Walking through the house in the evening to make sure the kids didn't leave lights on (and to lock up the various doors, and set the thermostat back, etc) is annoying. Being able to speak a single voice command to do all that on my way upstairs is much more convenient. Could I still do it by going to a different room? Absolutely. Is it nicer to not have to do that? Definitely. Why did you have a CD player if cassettes worked for your? Was rewinding the cassette really too much trouble? Kids these days...
tupputuppu 6y ago
For me, asking Siri on my iPhone 11 Pro to play music from Spotify is always an adventure. Last it played me Spanish female singers, and before that I got acquainted with Japanese jazz! Then there's the 20% of times it freezes for around 20 seconds before replying, and the other 20% of time it just says "there's an error, please retry".
- thefunnyman 6y ago
  The fact that you can’t specify a default music app on iOS also bothers me quite a bit. On Android, assistant knew what app to use so I could just ask it to play something and not have to specify “on Spotify “. Of course this problem extends to loads of other apps on iOS.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
binaryblitz 6y ago
TIL the word aplomb. I'm a 30 year old native english speaker. Not sure whether to be excited to learn a new word, or worried that I didn't know it.

xinsight 6y ago

Maybe i had low expectations, but i was impressed with homepod siri's understanding and how much it could do. I don't know why Apple doesn't just publish a list of all the commands. I documented what i found if anyone is interested: https://xinsight.ca/homepod/ https://xinsight.ca/homepod/

X-Istence 6y ago
Apple does have this page: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208336 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208336

austinkhale 6y ago

Really?? I love mine. I use it every day for Hue bulb activations, playing music, timers, etc. and it does the job perfectly. It doesn’t answer all the same answers as the Google Assistant but I feel like that’s worth the privacy trade off.

jshen 6y ago
A $30 echo will do that. I have a few of those, why spend $200 for a HomePod if that’s all it is.
- conception 6y ago
  Sounds much better and privacy
  - jshen 6y ago
    Privacy is an interesting dimension. I definitely wouldn’t trust google, but why trust Apple over Amazon?
    - rahoulb 6y ago
      Because Apple is making privacy a key differentiator across their entire product line. How private they actually are is a different matter, but certainly they talk a lot about how the data that is sent to their servers doesn't include IDs and can't be tracked back to you, even if it does get stored.
- steve_adams_86 6y ago
  I don’t own one personally, but I use one at the office daily. They sound incredible. I have some google smart speakers and they’re pretty underwhelming in terms of sound. The voice assistant is excellent, though. I’d much prefer the sound of the HomePod but it’s hard to justify the expense when I have something that works fine. If I could do it over, I’d absolutely spend way more for the better audio experience. While I use the assistant for things apart from music, music is still more than 99% of what comes out of that thing.

reikonomusha 6y ago

Mine bricked itself on an update. No way to hard reset it. Apple would repair it only for $1 less than the full cost of the device.

kevinlou 6y ago
You're kidding? That's such poor product support. I have a whole army of Google Homes, and not one has bricked or had any problems. However, at their price point (bought the Home for $100, Home Minis were mostly free or $20) I wouldn't mind shelling out for a replacement. Considering the starting price of the HomePod, it's nuts that Apple would charge that much to fix (for something that was their issue no less).
- Tagbert 6y ago
  That also does not sound typical of Apple customer care. They are generally very helpful and will often not charge for some issues, particularly if the device was actually bricked due to an update. They would likely replace a device for that kind of thing. I’m not convinced that we have the full story here.
  - unicornfinder 6y ago
    Clearly you don’t have much experience of Apple’s out of warranty support. Once your Product is out of warranty they have very little interest in helping you.
lilyball 6y ago
I’ve never even heard of a HomePod bricking itself, nor does it sound plausible that Apple would charge to fix a device they bricked themselves, especially at $1 less than the price of a new device. I feel like you’re omitting something here.
- 1123581321 6y ago
  It is plausible. 13.2 had a problem with bricking HomePods: https://www.macrumors.com/2019/10/28/new-13-2-update-bricking-some-homepods/ https://www.macrumors.com/2019/10/28/new-13-2-update-brickin... And the out-of-warranty repair cost is $279. Perhaps they got it on sale at $280. https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/12/17003296/homepod-repair-ifixit-teardown https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/12/17003296/homepod-repair-i...

bastawhiz 6y ago

I don't own one, but I visited a friend who had gotten one. He was excited to show it off. It was embarrassing. It played the wrong song. He asked it to increase the volume, which it did on the second attempt, but then it was too loud to hear him give the command to decrease the volume. He tried stopping it with his phone and couldn't. Ended up having to press a button on the thing (I think? Or he unplugged it). Quite literally the worst possible demo.

mensetmanusman 6y ago
This is an amazing SNL skit. I covid-insanity-laughed maniacally when I imagined this being part of the slick apple demo video from today.

snyp 6y ago

How was the sound quality though? I don’t care much for the smart assistant features but would definitely consider getting it for good sound quality

lacogubik 6y ago
It's pretty good, obviously not as good as high end speakers, but for the price (I got mine for £200) it's really good value and effortless to use. Main feature is it can adjust to any room or place you put it. I find it bit bass heavy, though I prefer more neutral sound. I bought it just for listening of music while I work and I'm very happy with it. I want to get another one to pair them into stereo setup. Some reviews: https://www.flatpanelshd.com/review.php?subaction=showfull&id=1545383058 https://www.flatpanelshd.com/review.php?subaction=showfull&i... https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16976906/apple-homepod-review-smart-speaker https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16976906/apple-homepod-rev...