The Home Pod: A Speaker with a Chip and a Twist

One of the unique features of the Home Pod is that it has an AAA chip inside, which allows it to understand when you say the code word "hey Siri." This means that even if the music is loud, your voice will still be heard in your commands. This technology provides an added layer of security and convenience for users.

Privacy Concerns

Apple's quest to make your life as private as possible is a top priority with the Home Pod. However, it's not perfect, and there are some concerns about privacy. The good news is that all your commands are totally encrypted, so everything that gets sent back to Apple is secure. However, one thing that stands out as particularly cool is the mute button on the speaker. Located right next to the power button, this feature allows you to quickly turn off the mic and prevent the speaker from listening in.

Multi-Room Speaker Setup

One of the things that sets the Home Pod apart from other speakers is its multi-room speaker setup capabilities. With AirPlay, users can pair the Home Pod with another AirPod or any other device to create a seamless music experience throughout their home. This feature is especially useful for those who want to be able to control their music system from multiple rooms.

Smart Home Integration

Both the Home Pod and other smart speakers have the ability to control your smart home devices, making it easy to adjust lighting, temperature, and security settings with just your voice. While some users may not need this feature, others will appreciate the convenience of being able to control their home's systems from a single device.

Siri vs. Google Assistant

One of the biggest questions for potential Home Pod owners is whether Siri or Google Assistant is better. Currently, Siri is up to snuff with Google Assistant, but Apple has hired John G and Andrea from Google to work on its machine learning and improve Siri's capabilities. This means that if you're an iPhone user looking for a speaker with a robust assistant system, the Home Pod may be worth considering.

Music and Podcasts

For music lovers and podcast enthusiasts, the Home Pod is a great choice. It handles music and podcasts with ease, playing them back clearly and accurately. Whether you want to listen to your favorite albums or catch up on the latest news, the Home Pod delivers.

Portability and Ease of Use

The Home Pod's portability and ease of use are major selling points. Weighing in at just 2 pounds, it's easy to take with you wherever you go. The setup process was surprisingly easy, taking only about 20-25 minutes to complete. This made it a breeze to get started and start enjoying your music.

Comparison to the Think Speaker

The Home Pod is often compared to other portable speakers on the market, including the Think Speaker. While both speakers offer great sound quality, there are some key differences between them. The biggest advantage of the Home Pod is its ease of use and setup process, which was significantly easier than the Think Speaker.

Would I Give Up My Home Pod?

Finally, the question remains: would you give up your Home Pod for another speaker? For this author, the answer is a resounding no. While other speakers may offer some advantages, such as better sound quality or a longer battery life, the Home Pod's unique features and ease of use make it an attractive option for many users.

Recommendation

If you're in the market for a portable speaker that offers great sound quality and convenience, the Home Pod is definitely worth considering. While Siri may not be as robust as Google Assistant at this time, its capabilities are still impressive, especially for Apple users who want to stay within their ecosystem.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enoh yeah hey it's Chris welcome to a video comparing the Apple home pod to the LG think smart speaker why am i doing this video because I'm a huge Apple fan I'm a huge home pod fan but everyone is always given the home pod a really hard time usually because of series but for other reasons too so this video is me as an Apple fan saying should you stick with the home pod should you get the home pod if you're an Apple fan or should you consider something else like this LG think smart speaker which has Google assistant built right in so we're gonna look at the sound quality we're gonna talk about the design and the interface and all kinds of different things in this video to help you make a good decision before I forget - I'm always looking for great Apple accessories and I found some really cool home pod accessories if you're curious what they are and how much they costs are pretty budget-friendly I'm gonna link those up down in the description today's video is sponsored by audio mod if you're an iPhone user and you miss your headphone jack audio mod can bring it back the audio mod case is slim lightweight and protective and has a 4100 milliamp hour battery capacity and yes a built in three and a half inch headphone jack if you're an iPhone user who wants more battery life and more headphone options then this is a no-brainer you can pick one up using the link down in the description so let me get started by just talking about the home pod a little bit do I like the home pod well yeah like I said I love the home pod me and my family use the home pod everyday everyday I don't care if it's a workday or a weekday the home pod is always getting you you listen to it like when we're eating will just say throw on some music I listen to it to like check out podcasts and the news I love the sound quality and this is gonna be a good test for me I've not listened to this LG speaker yet but I love the sound quality it'll be good for me to compare it to something else to see if it's worth all the hype that I built up in my head or whether it's really just mediocre I think it's gonna be worth the hype I hope so so one thing you could ask me is Kris is there anything that you'll say is bad about the home pod and there's one thing really that bugs me as someone who uses every day and it's the fact that it's always setting off Siri it's Siri always since I'm talking to it even when I'm not like someone will just be having a random conversation and Siri will come on and say Oh what can I do can I help you and that's kind of annoying so I'm a well-documented home pod fan but that doesn't mean I'm not willing to give another speaker a fair shake to see if it can unseat the home pod in my actual everyday life and just for fun I'm gonna be checking out this guy too which is the LG pk7 which is a portable speaker it's a Bluetooth speaker just to compare the sound quality basically in case you're wanting something that's more portable okay so we have two speakers here the home pod is $349 and the LG think is one hundred and seventy nine dollars so already right there you have one benefit for this speaker if it turns out to be any good then it's a little bit cheaper well it's quite a bit cheaper than the home pod and funnily enough this guy is $219 so it's actually more expensive than the thing and right off the bat - you can tell that the home pot is a little bit shorter than the think maybe a little bit wider - alright so I'm really making this video for Apple users who are wondering if this is really the best speaker for them and Apple builds this mainly as something for music for listening to audio rather than a smart speaker first so it's for music first and it also has to do some smart stuff whereas this guy I feel like it's really billed as the entire package it's not meant to be more of a smart speaker over a music speaker or vice-versa it's just a speaker that does everything so because Apple emphasizes the speaker abilities of the home pod first and foremost the first thing I want to do in this video is the sound test you can compare Wow can definitely tell there's some bass here oh no sirree interrupted it's rich it's nice it doesn't sound bad I'll say that all right here we go same song at 50% oh yeah it's richer it is richer than to think oh yeah that's so good I don't know what you guys are hearing but this sounds better noticeably than this like noticeably okay now just for fun I'm gonna bring in this speaker so we can compare it to both of these guys here we go I don't know what did you think you got to leave a comment okay we have to compare the home pot again just a double check because that really did blow me away oh yeah yeah this is the home pod there's no no comparison between this portable guy and a home pod I hate to turn it off that was so nice I don't think you understand it's the richness it's the same music between this guy and this guy but the richness it's just blowing away the other speakers but let's be fair though we have to give this guy another chance too okay here's the verdict from the person sitting right here I have no idea how that came through this microphone right here which actually was a little bit closer to the LG than the home plot but here's the thing this just had more depth to it really honestly it was richer there's no other word I just keep saying Richard because that's what it sounded like there was more like to it the thing about this one is is that it sounds very nice if you just put this on your shelf somewhere and listen to it you would really like it but the thing is when you compare it to something else right at the same time that's where you can hear the differences and I think it's probably might be a little bit subtle coming through this microphone but here in real life in person this is like no contest the winner which is crazy cuz it's smaller it's smaller but it still has a richer sound I know it's probably hard coming through the microphone but I would really love your opinion if you liked this one or this one better or if you're in the camp of liking the portable one better - I don't know about that let me know rank them please one two three now let's talk about the design next I'm sitting here and I'm looking at the two speakers and I have a very clear favorite and it's the home pod like there's just no question it looks better this is a pure cylinder there's no tapered edges or curved edges you know it's just hard plastic versus whatever this soft material is then of course over here on the LG you just kind of have this flat touch surface and there's not really a screen to speak up over here you've got this capacitive screen that loves to play whenever judges you've got volume up and down that light up you've got the Siri that lights up and shows you what's going on whereas over here you've always wanted to be cool whoa whereas over here you've just got the lights when you say okay Google and these lights light up and by the way the home pod comes in two colors so whether you like the black or the white you can have whatever you want whereas over here I believe it's just this one color now let's talk about some of the special features because each of these has its own unique set of features that may help you decide you want one over the other on the home pod side it's spatially aware once you set it down it automatically adjusts itself to the space that it's in and honestly while both speakers did sound nice that feature that I just mentioned may have been what made this sound so much richer than the think I don't know but over here on this side of the equation you have some EQ settings you remember those from your old Walkman if you're old enough where you could like change like bass boost or treble boost or classical music or jazz music whatever it was in a similar way you can adjust things here - thanks to the partnership with Meridian audio but still if that's something you want to do you want to change and adjust the sound you have some options here whereas the home pod is just the way that it is you either like it or you don't something else is very unique about the home pod is that it has an AAA chip inside and so one of the things that lets you do is that it can understand when you say the code word hey Siri sorry if I activated all your junk I activated all my junk so even if the music is loud it's going to hear your voice in your commands no matter what that's thanks to that AAA chip additionally in Apple's quest to make your life as private as possible I say as possible I didn't say they're perfect but as possible all your commands are totally all your commands are completely and totally encrypted so after you say the code word which I won't say again I'll spare you from that everything that gets sent back to Apple to get processed is encrypted privacy you don't get it over here one thing though that I really really really really really really think is cool about the think speaker is that there's a mute button right here so here's a privacy feature that doesn't exist over here you can turn the mic off so that it's not listening to you supposedly something else that's very important to a lot of people is the option to have multi room speaker setup so over here you can have another air pod paired with this thanks to airplay - so you can have two pompons hooked up together over here you can hook this into all your other LG speakers if you've got an LG sound bar for instance or just some other speakers then you can hook those up another thing too is that both of these guys can control your smart home okay aside for the sound and a few differences here in there the big thing that's gonna be on people's mind is Siri vs. Google assistant here's my hot take on this right now is Siri currently up to snuff with Google assistant the answer is no not right now but did Apple hire John G and Andrea from Google to work on their machine learning and make Siri better yes they did that matters if you want to be in the Apple ecosystem and see Siri improve it's going to be improving trust me but let me make this very clear somebody who uses this speaker every single day I don't go to it to use the assistant I'd go to it to play music and podcasts on conveniently and that it handles very well at no point during the day do I sit there and say to myself I wish that Siri would do more on my home pod because for me I say hey Siri play some Andy Mineo and it does plus on top of that I'm using my phone interact with Siri more than anything else or my watch for that matter so if you're thinking about getting a home pod and you're really into music or listening to like podcasts or the news or whatever then I would say don't let anything related to series stop you on the other hand if you're really craving Google assistant and you're an iPhone user then yeah this actually is a pretty nice speaker that has a great mute button right by the way I want to talk about this set up I'm just remembering the setup for this was such a breeze compared to taste this actually was a big pain in the butt it was doable but it took me like 20 or 25 minutes this was so easy to set up just like air pilots so nice it's that Apple touch and this guy since he was in the video already I might as well just say if you're looking for a portable speaker that's obviously around the same size kind of then this might be something that you want to look into I mean obviously look at the lights it's really gonna put on a great light show to the beat of whatever song alright it still sounds good oh-ho yeah look at that can you see it moving I like it and if you're like going to the beach going to the mountains going to the plains wherever you live if you're going somewhere and you want to take music this is a great handle so the big question is would I give up the home pod for the LG think and the answer is I want to keep you waiting like they do on TV no I'm not going to because I love this so much and the sound really is better and I don't need the Google assistant as an Apple user I'm deep in the Apple ecosystem but that being said could I recommend this to you if you're interested in it for whatever reason yeah I really could because it did sound good not quite as good alright thanks for watching this guy's got some more great videos coming up something on the Apple watch is next I do believe and it's a good one so stay tuned hit subscribe if you haven't already follow me on instagram and twitter i'm at daily tech spell daily tek k in both of those places and i'll catch you in the next video lateroh yeah hey it's Chris welcome to a video comparing the Apple home pod to the LG think smart speaker why am i doing this video because I'm a huge Apple fan I'm a huge home pod fan but everyone is always given the home pod a really hard time usually because of series but for other reasons too so this video is me as an Apple fan saying should you stick with the home pod should you get the home pod if you're an Apple fan or should you consider something else like this LG think smart speaker which has Google assistant built right in so we're gonna look at the sound quality we're gonna talk about the design and the interface and all kinds of different things in this video to help you make a good decision before I forget - I'm always looking for great Apple accessories and I found some really cool home pod accessories if you're curious what they are and how much they costs are pretty budget-friendly I'm gonna link those up down in the description today's video is sponsored by audio mod if you're an iPhone user and you miss your headphone jack audio mod can bring it back the audio mod case is slim lightweight and protective and has a 4100 milliamp hour battery capacity and yes a built in three and a half inch headphone jack if you're an iPhone user who wants more battery life and more headphone options then this is a no-brainer you can pick one up using the link down in the description so let me get started by just talking about the home pod a little bit do I like the home pod well yeah like I said I love the home pod me and my family use the home pod everyday everyday I don't care if it's a workday or a weekday the home pod is always getting you you listen to it like when we're eating will just say throw on some music I listen to it to like check out podcasts and the news I love the sound quality and this is gonna be a good test for me I've not listened to this LG speaker yet but I love the sound quality it'll be good for me to compare it to something else to see if it's worth all the hype that I built up in my head or whether it's really just mediocre I think it's gonna be worth the hype I hope so so one thing you could ask me is Kris is there anything that you'll say is bad about the home pod and there's one thing really that bugs me as someone who uses every day and it's the fact that it's always setting off Siri it's Siri always since I'm talking to it even when I'm not like someone will just be having a random conversation and Siri will come on and say Oh what can I do can I help you and that's kind of annoying so I'm a well-documented home pod fan but that doesn't mean I'm not willing to give another speaker a fair shake to see if it can unseat the home pod in my actual everyday life and just for fun I'm gonna be checking out this guy too which is the LG pk7 which is a portable speaker it's a Bluetooth speaker just to compare the sound quality basically in case you're wanting something that's more portable okay so we have two speakers here the home pod is $349 and the LG think is one hundred and seventy nine dollars so already right there you have one benefit for this speaker if it turns out to be any good then it's a little bit cheaper well it's quite a bit cheaper than the home pod and funnily enough this guy is $219 so it's actually more expensive than the thing and right off the bat - you can tell that the home pot is a little bit shorter than the think maybe a little bit wider - alright so I'm really making this video for Apple users who are wondering if this is really the best speaker for them and Apple builds this mainly as something for music for listening to audio rather than a smart speaker first so it's for music first and it also has to do some smart stuff whereas this guy I feel like it's really billed as the entire package it's not meant to be more of a smart speaker over a music speaker or vice-versa it's just a speaker that does everything so because Apple emphasizes the speaker abilities of the home pod first and foremost the first thing I want to do in this video is the sound test you can compare Wow can definitely tell there's some bass here oh no sirree interrupted it's rich it's nice it doesn't sound bad I'll say that all right here we go same song at 50% oh yeah it's richer it is richer than to think oh yeah that's so good I don't know what you guys are hearing but this sounds better noticeably than this like noticeably okay now just for fun I'm gonna bring in this speaker so we can compare it to both of these guys here we go I don't know what did you think you got to leave a comment okay we have to compare the home pot again just a double check because that really did blow me away oh yeah yeah this is the home pod there's no no comparison between this portable guy and a home pod I hate to turn it off that was so nice I don't think you understand it's the richness it's the same music between this guy and this guy but the richness it's just blowing away the other speakers but let's be fair though we have to give this guy another chance too okay here's the verdict from the person sitting right here I have no idea how that came through this microphone right here which actually was a little bit closer to the LG than the home plot but here's the thing this just had more depth to it really honestly it was richer there's no other word I just keep saying Richard because that's what it sounded like there was more like to it the thing about this one is is that it sounds very nice if you just put this on your shelf somewhere and listen to it you would really like it but the thing is when you compare it to something else right at the same time that's where you can hear the differences and I think it's probably might be a little bit subtle coming through this microphone but here in real life in person this is like no contest the winner which is crazy cuz it's smaller it's smaller but it still has a richer sound I know it's probably hard coming through the microphone but I would really love your opinion if you liked this one or this one better or if you're in the camp of liking the portable one better - I don't know about that let me know rank them please one two three now let's talk about the design next I'm sitting here and I'm looking at the two speakers and I have a very clear favorite and it's the home pod like there's just no question it looks better this is a pure cylinder there's no tapered edges or curved edges you know it's just hard plastic versus whatever this soft material is then of course over here on the LG you just kind of have this flat touch surface and there's not really a screen to speak up over here you've got this capacitive screen that loves to play whenever judges you've got volume up and down that light up you've got the Siri that lights up and shows you what's going on whereas over here you've always wanted to be cool whoa whereas over here you've just got the lights when you say okay Google and these lights light up and by the way the home pod comes in two colors so whether you like the black or the white you can have whatever you want whereas over here I believe it's just this one color now let's talk about some of the special features because each of these has its own unique set of features that may help you decide you want one over the other on the home pod side it's spatially aware once you set it down it automatically adjusts itself to the space that it's in and honestly while both speakers did sound nice that feature that I just mentioned may have been what made this sound so much richer than the think I don't know but over here on this side of the equation you have some EQ settings you remember those from your old Walkman if you're old enough where you could like change like bass boost or treble boost or classical music or jazz music whatever it was in a similar way you can adjust things here - thanks to the partnership with Meridian audio but still if that's something you want to do you want to change and adjust the sound you have some options here whereas the home pod is just the way that it is you either like it or you don't something else is very unique about the home pod is that it has an AAA chip inside and so one of the things that lets you do is that it can understand when you say the code word hey Siri sorry if I activated all your junk I activated all my junk so even if the music is loud it's going to hear your voice in your commands no matter what that's thanks to that AAA chip additionally in Apple's quest to make your life as private as possible I say as possible I didn't say they're perfect but as possible all your commands are totally all your commands are completely and totally encrypted so after you say the code word which I won't say again I'll spare you from that everything that gets sent back to Apple to get processed is encrypted privacy you don't get it over here one thing though that I really really really really really really think is cool about the think speaker is that there's a mute button right here so here's a privacy feature that doesn't exist over here you can turn the mic off so that it's not listening to you supposedly something else that's very important to a lot of people is the option to have multi room speaker setup so over here you can have another air pod paired with this thanks to airplay - so you can have two pompons hooked up together over here you can hook this into all your other LG speakers if you've got an LG sound bar for instance or just some other speakers then you can hook those up another thing too is that both of these guys can control your smart home okay aside for the sound and a few differences here in there the big thing that's gonna be on people's mind is Siri vs. Google assistant here's my hot take on this right now is Siri currently up to snuff with Google assistant the answer is no not right now but did Apple hire John G and Andrea from Google to work on their machine learning and make Siri better yes they did that matters if you want to be in the Apple ecosystem and see Siri improve it's going to be improving trust me but let me make this very clear somebody who uses this speaker every single day I don't go to it to use the assistant I'd go to it to play music and podcasts on conveniently and that it handles very well at no point during the day do I sit there and say to myself I wish that Siri would do more on my home pod because for me I say hey Siri play some Andy Mineo and it does plus on top of that I'm using my phone interact with Siri more than anything else or my watch for that matter so if you're thinking about getting a home pod and you're really into music or listening to like podcasts or the news or whatever then I would say don't let anything related to series stop you on the other hand if you're really craving Google assistant and you're an iPhone user then yeah this actually is a pretty nice speaker that has a great mute button right by the way I want to talk about this set up I'm just remembering the setup for this was such a breeze compared to taste this actually was a big pain in the butt it was doable but it took me like 20 or 25 minutes this was so easy to set up just like air pilots so nice it's that Apple touch and this guy since he was in the video already I might as well just say if you're looking for a portable speaker that's obviously around the same size kind of then this might be something that you want to look into I mean obviously look at the lights it's really gonna put on a great light show to the beat of whatever song alright it still sounds good oh-ho yeah look at that can you see it moving I like it and if you're like going to the beach going to the mountains going to the plains wherever you live if you're going somewhere and you want to take music this is a great handle so the big question is would I give up the home pod for the LG think and the answer is I want to keep you waiting like they do on TV no I'm not going to because I love this so much and the sound really is better and I don't need the Google assistant as an Apple user I'm deep in the Apple ecosystem but that being said could I recommend this to you if you're interested in it for whatever reason yeah I really could because it did sound good not quite as good alright thanks for watching this guy's got some more great videos coming up something on the Apple watch is next I do believe and it's a good one so stay tuned hit subscribe if you haven't already follow me on instagram and twitter i'm at daily tech spell daily tek k in both of those places and i'll catch you in the next video later\n"