With the HomePod, we’re really reviewing two things at once: a premium speaker and a smart home hub. In the former category, the HomePod is excellent, with amazing sound and incredibly intuitive set-up. But in the latter Siri is only middling in its implementation, and the fact that you’re not able to break out of the Apple ecosystem.
Good
Compact, solid and stylish
Impressive auto-tuning
Siri and Apple Music works well
Weighty, authoritative sound
Bad
Over-reliance on voice control
Mid-range a little muddled
Very Apple-centric
Apple HomePod Specifications
Review Price: £279 $199
Airplay compatible
Available in white or space grey
Size: 172mm x 142mm, 2.5kg
Built-in power cable and power supply
Bluetooth 5.0 and 802.11ac Wi?Fi with MIMO
iPhone 5S, iPad mini 2, iPod touch 6th gen or later required
The audio quality of the Apple HomePod is, to put it simply, premium. It fills a room easily, with clear separation between all elements of music tracks.
It’s certainly at its best when placed against a wall, pulling apart the sounds well, with elements such as voices coming through with incredible breadth.
The feature that’s going to see you using this thing regularly is the ‘Hey Siri’ functionality that’s baked in, meaning that you’re able to speak to the HomePod to ask all manner of things.
In fact, this speaker is designed to not really be touched, with interactions ideally done via voice.
With that in mind, it’s a good thing that the voice recognition accuracy is incredible. Even if you’re lying with your back turned to the speaker, or in another room, saying (not shouting) ‘Hey Siri, turn up the volume’ will be recognized nearly every time.
The Apple HomePod is a great speaker. It delivers rich, clear sound that will impress anyone who listens to it, and every facet of the way it’s designed and delivers audio has been well thought through.
There are other speakers that can do more basically anything that has Alexa inside, as there are more smart home-enabled devices that are compatible with Amazon’s standard and there are cheaper speakers that still sound pretty good.
