Homepod price map

The HomePod mini is the smart speaker Apple fans have been waiting for. Size : 3. This small spherical speaker aims to compete with the Amazon Echo, but in a package the size of the Echo Dot. Small size : At just 3. Great sound: Despite its small size, the Mini sounded better than the much larger Amazon Echo. You can also use the mini to make calls, send messages and more using Apple's Handoff feature.

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Content:

• Siri may improve accuracy by mapping the room like a HomePod does
• Apple enables the Intercom feature on HomePod, improves Siri with latest update
• Apple 'HomePod' speaker to take on Amazon, Google
• First Look: Apple HomePod — Here’s What You Need to Know
• Apple's HomePod Mini is good if you have an iPhone but the $99 Amazon Echo sounds better
• Apple HomePod Price List in Singapore for November, 2021
• I’m not buying Apple’s HomePod for two main reasons
• Apple HomePod Mini Review
• Apple HomePod mini review

WATCH RELATED VIDEO: HomePod Mini Review: Big Sound, Tiny Box!

Siri may improve accuracy by mapping the room like a HomePod does

However, Siri and the smart home experience still need some work, even years after launch. For anyone looking to enter the Apple smart ecosystem, or who has an Apple Music subscription, the HomePod mini is the speaker to go for. The Apple HomePod mini is the tech giant's smaller, cheaper version of its flagship smart speaker, the Apple HomePod which Apple has now confirmed will be discontinued.

However, Apple believes that a combination of its Siri voice assistant and excellent sound quality will win the day — and there are a number of impressive things about this tiny speaker. The first of these is the set-up process — you'll need an iPhone or iPad to use the HomePod mini, and you can simply hold your device near the new HomePod mini and the connection is instant. All Wi-Fi passwords and accounts are synced, and if you're setting up two speakers together they'll automatically pair after you've confirmed that's what you want to do.

It takes practically seconds to get up and running. This a very inoffensive-looking speaker too, with a small spherical design that takes up far less space than the original HomePod. The latticed fabric housing blends nicely into the background, and the top glows with a pleasing light — although we do wish there was an option to dim it or turn it off at night, for when you're listening to calming music as you're drifting off to sleep.

For us, the audio performance is the key reason to buy the HomePod mini. It's excellent for a speaker that's so small, and it really feels like the right mix of value for money and sound quality.

The bass isn't too heavy, vocals aren't lost in the mix, and when you pair two minis, the stereo experience is really immersive. You can't ask the HomePod mini to play anything through Spotify — that can only be enabled through AirPlay, and requires using your phone rather than the simpler method of asking Siri to play tunes with your voice. Essentially, you'll need a subscription in order to make full use of your HomePod mini. One of the biggest issues we encountered was when using the HomePod as a smart voice assistant.

It works best if your family is set up with multiple Apple devices, but controlling your smart home devices with your voice is still hit and miss. We experienced multiple occasions when lights would turn on and off on command, only for a lamp or plug socket to randomly stay on, requiring us to issue a second command in order to get it to switch off.

However, if you like using Siri and you've got an Apple Music subscription, buying a couple of HomePod minis should be an easy choice. The sound quality is exceptional for the size, and the interconnection with Apple's smart home is largely strong, in spite of some issues.

The latest of which being the addition of Spatial and Lossless audio options in the current beta build. While not everyone has access to this beta update as of yet, it's a good indication that Spatial and Lossless audio will roll out to all users soon. It's not like Apple to price its products at the more affordable end of the spectrum, so perhaps the company is anticipating that people will buy more than one unit — as mentioned, you can pair two to get stereo sound.

The Apple HomePod mini set-up process is incredibly simple — it's easily the best we've seen for any smart speaker, especially if you've not owned a smart speaker before and are worried that setting one up would be a complicated business.

Hold your iPhone near to the HomePod mini and you'll get a notification that asks if you'd like to connect — tapping this will activate the camera, which you can use to find the swirling light on top. You'll also have your Apple ID synced across, as well as the choice of whether you want to enable it to just log information for you, or allow personalized info for other people in your pre-defined household. All of this is handled through the Home app on your iPhone, and this is also where you'll be asked to assign your mini to a room so you can say things like 'play music in the bedroom' , as well as pair with another speaker if you've happened to buy an even number of HomePod minis — once again, these will be auto-detected by your iPhone, and you'll be presented with the pairing option.

The HomePod mini design is — and we hate to describe it in this way — so very Apple. It's understated, minimal, and attractive without being overbearing — it looks like what we imagine most people would have drawn if you'd said "sketch a small speaker from Apple". Perhaps the only thing they'd get wrong is that it's spherical, which allows it to pump out degree sound. This is a move that Amazon's made with the new Echo , so it's clearly in fashion, but the sheer size or lack thereof of the HomePod mini is what impresses, especially when you consider the sound quality it offers, which we'll get onto and laud in a moment.

The small sphere sits on a flat bottom, and while it's weighty enough to not get easily knocked around, it's got nowhere near the heft of the original HomePod. That lack of weight also means you won't need to worry about it marking the surface it sits on, as could be the case with the larger HomePod. The speaker is covered with a gray or white mesh, depending on your choice, and the power lead plugs into a USB-C charging block which, thankfully, is included in the box, which isn't the case with the recent iPhone 12 range.

It's a shame that Apple didn't make the HomePod mini portable, with a small battery inside like the Sonos Move — but that would have increased the size, and taken away from how impressively compact this little speaker is.

It's easy to slot in discreetly around the home, but equally it looks fine placed on top of a bedroom cabinet or prominently displayed on a shelf. The sound is guided from the internal driver down to the base of the HomePod, where it's fired outwards to create a more immersive sound. The ability to tweak the audio output on the fly to improve the sound quality in real time, plus the use of a full-range driver and two passive radiators, makes for very impressive performance indeed — and the results speak for themselves.

We had one instance where, when using two HomePod minis paired together, they fell slightly out of sync, but a restart fixed this. Music handoff is a new feature that you won't find on the bigger HomePod, as it uses the Ultra Wideband chip, the same one as those inside the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12, to know when one of those phones is being pointed at it.

Get close, point your music-playing phone at the HomePod mini, and a little rumble will tell you the music is now playing on the speaker.

To 'steal it back', simply repeat the procedure and it'll come off the small HomePod and onto the phone again. It's a really neat process, and one that will delight those who want to just pass music like it's magic or can't be bothered fumbling around looking for the AirPlay icon to play their music on a speaker. In that respect, the HomePod mini is a useful tool. When it was announced alongside the iPhone 12, Apple went to great lengths to talk about how Siri is such an intuitive assistant, one that could easily help you on your phone, in your car, and when you're wandering around your home.

There are some more useful features on hand, but it depends on how integrated you are with onboard Apple apps. Interacting with Siri is pleasant enough, with the cadence of its voice improved to be more natural-sounding in recent months — this is something Google and Amazon are trying to do with their assistants too, and it makes a big difference.

Also new with the HomePod mini is the Intercom feature, which enables you to tell Siri via your phone or HomePod to make announcements that are played on other HomePod speakers in your home. This could be an issue — if someone is having a conversation in a room and you just butt in with an intercom message, it might be a little intrusive. We understand why Apple built this feature in, but we rarely used it except for novelty value during our testing.

The HomePod mini is fine if you live alone, but it can handle multiple users, and is at its best in a bigger household. You need Apple Music to be able to command tracks with your voice — that's key to enjoying the HomePod mini.

Siri can be anything from idiosyncratic to downright annoying at times — if you like the way it behaves, you'll enjoy the HomePod mini a lot more. This is a speaker for those embedded in the Apple ecosystem. If you don't have an iPhone but you're desperate for a HomePod you can hack around it, but it's far from ideal. The HomePod mini is so much more powerful when you put two together — the sound that the stereo setup brings really enhances the experience. Apple needs to make the HomePod more night-time friendly and not be so loud Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades.

He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor until becoming Global Editor in Chief in Gareth has written over 4, articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera.

Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.

North America. Home Reviews Audio Visual. Our Verdict. For Incredible sound Sleek design Useful functionality. Against Needs Apple Music for full function Siri and the smart home features need work. TechRadar Verdict. Cons - Needs Apple Music for full function - Siri and the smart home features need work - -. One-minute review The Apple HomePod mini is the tech giant's smaller, cheaper version of its flagship smart speaker, the Apple HomePod which Apple has now confirmed will be discontinued.

Your family uses iPhones The HomePod mini is fine if you live alone, but it can handle multiple users, and is at its best in a bigger household.

You have an Apple Music subscription You need Apple Music to be able to command tracks with your voice — that's key to enjoying the HomePod mini.

You have a lightly-sleeping household Apple needs to make the HomePod more night-time friendly and not be so loud Gareth Beavis.

Apple enables the Intercom feature on HomePod, improves Siri with latest update

While most attention is undeniably focused on the imminently arriving new HomePod Mini , Apple is keen that we don't forget its flagship smart speaker, the original HomePod. To that end, it's just released software update The big news is the arrival of the Intercom feature, which allows you to send messages from one HomePod to another, or even every HomePod in the house. In future you'll be able to send Intercom messages to and from other Apple devices, too, such as iPhones , iPads and even CarPlay.

Apple 'HomePod' speaker to take on Amazon, Google

The HomePod mini was a bit of a surprise when Apple launched it alongside the iPhone 12 and chums in October Just like its rivals, the HomePod mini is a low-cost smart speaker that can be controlled using just your voice. Image 3 of 5. The key thing to remember with the HomePod mini, though, is that while its rivals can be used on whatever phone you fancy, the HomePod mini is a smart speaker designed almost exclusively for users of Apple devices. Buy now from John Lewis. The HomePod mini is the smallest of the three rival speakers. In fact, the Apple HomePod mini is fractionally smaller than the 4th generation Echo Dot, although only by a few millimetres. As has become the fashion, the HomePod mini is wrapped in smart-looking textured fabric available in white or grey. It has a rubber base to stop the speaker sliding around surfaces and a captive, braided power cable emerging from the rear of the speaker.

First Look: Apple HomePod — Here’s What You Need to Know

Peter 21 October Apple Smart speakers Firmware Updates. With the introduction of the HomePod mini Apple also announced a new feature — Intercom. It does as the name suggests, allowing you to send voice messages between HomePods, either to a specific room or multiple rooms at once.

Apple's HomePod Mini is good if you have an iPhone but the $99 Amazon Echo sounds better

It was all good until I tried the Intercom feature, which is supposed to let you use two or more HomePod or HomePod minis to communicate with other HomePods via voice messages. In theory, you ask Siri to send a message to a specific HomePod i. And, in theory, whoever hears your message on the HomePod can respond by voice. On HoustonChronicle. Mac, Bob Levitus.

Apple HomePod Price List in Singapore for November, 2021

Hear me out on this. Five years ago, Apple released its own mapping app, booting out the Google Maps app that had been preinstalled on iPhones for years. But Apple Maps was a debacle: It lacked critical features and was buggy to boot. Over time though, Apple improved the app by fixing problems and adding capabilities. Eventually, Apple Maps became, if not great, at least good enough for most users, relegating Google Maps to also-ran status on iOS devices. The HomePod is the Apple Maps of As with Maps, Apple is likely to eventually fix its flaws, but users will need a lot of patience in the meantime. The setup process for the HomePod is, well, nonexistent.

I’m not buying Apple’s HomePod for two main reasons

When Apple unveiled the new HomePod Mini last month along with the iPhone 12 lineup it introduced a litany of next-level features aimed at competing with Google Home , Nest Audio and Amazon's family of Echo speakers. The HomePod Mini is already available for preorder , and devices ship and go on sale Nov. One of the downsides to using a smart speaker is you lose the three-dimensional sound you'd get from a stereo, which separates music into two channels surround-sound uses even more and plays sounds at different levels on opposite speakers.

Apple HomePod Mini Review

RELATED VIDEO: 2 HomePod Mini vs 1 HomePod - Watch THIS Before You BUY!

Shanghai Disneyland was closed on Nov. With the world moving more and more towards green energy due to the climate crisis, Turkey, which has increased its renewable energy capacity, met 20 percent of its one-day energy generation from wind, breaking a production record. Galatasaray on Oct. Apple 'HomePod' speaker to take on Amazon, Google. HomePod will take on lower priced Amazon Echo and Google Home, which have had momentum in the arena of voice-controlled speakers capable of controlling smart appliances, fetching content from the internet and more. It is designed to work with the Apple Music subscription service and can produce rich sound while tapping into the artificial intelligence power of Siri.

Apple HomePod mini review

However, Siri and the smart home experience still need some work, even years after launch. For anyone looking to enter the Apple smart ecosystem, or who has an Apple Music subscription, the HomePod mini is the speaker to go for. The Apple HomePod mini is the tech giant's smaller, cheaper version of its flagship smart speaker, the Apple HomePod which Apple has now confirmed will be discontinued. However, Apple believes that a combination of its Siri voice assistant and excellent sound quality will win the day — and there are a number of impressive things about this tiny speaker. The first of these is the set-up process — you'll need an iPhone or iPad to use the HomePod mini, and you can simply hold your device near the new HomePod mini and the connection is instant. All Wi-Fi passwords and accounts are synced, and if you're setting up two speakers together they'll automatically pair after you've confirmed that's what you want to do. It takes practically seconds to get up and running.

The speaker looks like a smaller, more spherical version of the big HomePod from almost three years ago. The outside is covered in a recycled plastic fabric mesh and there is a touch-sensitive disc at the top with a coloured LED display that lights up and pulsates as you interact with its voice assistant, Siri. It is an attractive object that is smaller and less prominent than its primary competition, the equally new Amazon Echo and Google Nest Audio.