Apple has recently unveiled its voice-controlled HomePod speaker, which is in direct competition to smart home devices like Amazon’s Echo or Google Home. In a world where we live “smart”, we aim to be in control of everything around us, especially technology. Smart homes are on the rise, and thus we can connect pretty much everything we can imagine to our home system.
Apple announced the launch of its HomePod on June 5th at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.
The speaker is Siri-enabled and links up with the Apple Home app, allowing users to control their connected smart home devices by voice, without touching their iPhone or iPad at all. How great is that?
Well, users only need to say “Hi Siri” followed by their direct command to trigger Apple’s intelligent personal assistant to follow your orders – like setting the light, starting or pausing the TV or even closing the blinds on their windows.
However, in a technologically-developped century, how does Apple distinguish HomePod from the dominant smart speakers on the market? It’s the sound quality, the brand hopes.
The tech giant says the speaker produces a high-quality sound that puts it on par with “un-smart” home music systems like Sonos.
Speaking at the conference, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Philip Schiller, said that the device will “reinvent home music… just like the iPod reinvented music in our pockets”.
“Apple reinvented portable music with iPod and now HomePod will reinvent how we enjoy music wirelessly throughout our homes,” said Schiller.
“HomePod packs powerful speaker technology, Siri intelligence and wireless access to the entire Apple Music library into a beautiful speaker that is less than seven inches tall, can rock most any room with distortion-free music and be a helpful assistant around your home.”
Shiller said.
Measuring just under seven inches tall and featuring rounded mesh covering, the speaker includes an Apple-designed woofer that allows the volume to be turned up without distortion, as well as seven beam-forming tweeters at the base that offer directional control.
But that is not all.. It gets even smarter than that. Another amazing feature includes a room-sensing technology that will automatically adapt the sound to the size of its location.
Siri will also become a “musicologist”, learning users’ music preferences and answering questions like “who is the drummer?”.
HomePod will be available to purchase in white or space grey in December this year for $349 (£270).
Apple has faced criticism for “copying” its competitors rather than leading in the smart speaker market, which has been pioneered by Amazon since it launched the Echo in late 2014.
Recent versions of the product include the Echo Look, which incorporates a camera so it can judge your appearance, and the Echo Show, which incorporates a touchscreen.
Google launched its own take on the smart speaker, Google Home, in 2016. Both devices can act as hubs for the smart home, controlling other smart home products, from lighting and heating to doorbells and electronics.
Recently launched connected home devices include Philippe Starck’s smart radiator valves, which allow users to remotely control the temperature of each room using their voice, and Yves Behar’s home security system that can let visitors into a home even when no one is there.
