Apple HomePod: dit vindt de pers
Het duurt nu niet lang meer voordat Apple de HomePod lanceert in onder meer de Verenigde Staten en het Verenigde Koninkrijk. Het embargo op de eerste recensies van het is verlopen, waardoor verschillende (voornamelijk Amerikaanse) websites nu hun mening kunnen delen met de rest van de wereld. Hoewel er over kleine dingen van mening wordt verschild, lijkt er wel een consensus te bestaan over de geluidskwaliteit. Die is namelijk dik in orde. Hieronder tref je een overzicht aan van een aantal internationale recensies.
The Verge schrijft dat de HomePod een eenzaam apparaat binnen het ecosysteem van Apple is. De recensent is te spreken over de geluids- en bouwkwaliteit; het basgeluid is aanwezig, maar nooit overdonderend, bijvoorbeeld. Verder klinkt de speaker ‘rijker en voller’ dan een hoop andere speakers op de markt. De HomePod echter aan iedereen aanbevelen, lukt niet.
All of this is why I started thinking of the HomePod as “lonely.” It feels like it was designed for a very demanding person to use while living alone entirely inside Apple’s ecosystem. It’s tied more closely to a single iPhone and iCloud account than any other smart speaker, and Siri has none of the capability or vibrancy of what’s happening with Alexa. Apple can try to move mountains by itself, or it can recognize that the HomePod is a little iOS computer for the home and let developers build on it as they have for so long and with such great success with the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
The HomePod is a remarkable new kind of audio device. It does more to make music sound better than any other speaker of this kind has ever done before, and it really, truly works. But unless you live entirely inside Apple’s walled garden and prioritize sound quality over everything else, I think you’re better served by other smart speakers that sound almost as good and offer the services and capabilities that actually fit your life.
The Wall Street Journal meldt dat het speaker gedeelte van de slimme speaker strak op orde is, maar dat het slimme gedeelte niet goed uit de verf komt. Siri wordt omschreven als een ‘goede butler’ als het om Homekit-apparaten gaat, maar nergens heeft Apple de stemtassistent verbeterd ten opzichte van de versie op iPhone en iPad.
The HomePod has an iPhone processor and pairs with your iPhone—yet it can’t make a phone call? To use it as a speakerphone, you need to start the call on your iPhone then select the HomePod as an audio source. You can, however, send text messages from the HomePod with just your voice.
There are more things the HomePod can’t do, despite being hooked to your iCloud account and iPhone. It can’t tell you your next calendar appointment. It can’t alert you to new emails or texts. It’s also missing crucial third-party apps like Uber and Venmo.
TechCrunch laat weten dat Siri goed op stemcommando’s reageert, ook wanneer de muziek hard staat. Maar laat ook weten dat Siri nog steeds beperkt aanvoelt. Verder is het fijn dat de slimme speaker zonder al te veel moeite kan worden gekoppeld aan een draadloos netwerk.
The sound that comes from the HomePod can best be described as precise. It’s not as loud as some others like Google Home Max or as bright (and versatile) as the Sonos Play 1, but it destroys the muddy sound of less sophisticated options like the Amazon Echo. To genuinely fill a large room you need two but anyone in a small house or apartment will get great sound from one.
The HomePod was the “best” sounding. It’s nuanced and subtle with great separation and clarity across all kinds of music. The Play 1, for instance, had decent mid range but an overly bright high end with just the out of the box calibration. At maximum volume, the Play 1 became shrill and painful where the HomePod maintained balance.
Andere recensies van de Apple HomePod
CNET:
With the HomePod in the center of the room, for example, I heard distinct wedges of good (and less good) sound around the speaker. Sometimes the front sounded great and the back not so much. Sometimes the best sound came from 90 degrees on either side.
Apple says the speaker adjusts itself based on room position, and as I moved the speaker around I could hear the difference as it recalibrated. Overall I found that the HomePod sounded best placed against a wall or in a corner, which is fine since that’s where most people will probably place it anyway.
To be absolutely clear, there was no comparison in sound quality. HomePod offered so much more quality that it was quite literally laughable to hear the others. The only speaker that sounded decent was the Sonos One, but even it couldn’t compete with HomePod.
It’s hard to explain the sound of HomePod, but you get a feeling that the sound is enveloping you, even when using just one speaker. There is a sense that this is how the songwriter and producer wanted the song to be heard when they recorded it.
The result is a speaker with a deep bass and rich treble that is loud enough to fill a large room with superb sound. HomePod makes the Amazon Echo and Google’s Home sound muffled and tinny in comparison.
But Siri on HomePod is embarrassingly inadequate, even though that is the primary way you interact with it. Siri is sorely lacking in capabilities compared with Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant. Siri doesn’t even work as well on HomePod as it does on the iPhone.
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