Apple HomePod - Unboxing & Setup!
**Full Article Based on the Provided Video Transcription**
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Hey everyone, Dan with MacRumors, and in this video, we're gonna unbox the brand new Apple HomePod, set it up, and see what it sounds like. The unboxing experience is traditional Apple—simple design of the box, simple to open, and even simply packed with very little included aside from some paperwork and stickers. The simplicity carries all the way over to the setup.
Kind of I had a little bit of a problem trying to set both of these HomePods that I purchased, and both were giving me the same error. Turns out, a simple Google search will show that I'm not the only one with this issue. It is believed to be something tied with my iCloud keychain. But for the sake of timing in this video, I set up the HomePod using a new Apple ID, and the setup process was blazing fast—just a few clicks through the menu, and the HomePod was ready to go.
Continuing on with the simple theme, the design of the HomePod itself is very clean and minimal. The seamless mesh fabric design was considered for both aesthetic and acoustic performance. It feels a bit squishy when you first hold it in your hand, and if you press in a little on the mesh, it almost feels as if you're denting the HomePod. But that's not the case—overall, I really like this design. The HomePod is very solid and very heavy for its surprisingly smaller size. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting the HomePod to have this small of a footprint.
There is one part of the design that I absolutely cannot wrap my head around, and that is the non-removable power cable. I'm sure there was a good reason to go this route, but I can't personally think of any. The cable itself is wrapped in what seems to be the same material as the HomePod, so it should hold up for a long time.
The top of the HomePod is where you'll find your screen—where you'll tap for basic playback controls and where Siri will display a multicolor waveform during interactions. The inside of the HomePod is where all the magic happens: packed with a seven-tweeter array, a high-excursion woofer, the Apple-designed A8 chip to power everything, and six microphones all around to make sure Siri will hear you from every angle and that your music sounds clear, crisp, and great from any position in the room.
So, what does all of this tech packed into this little circular speaker sound like? Well, it sounds pretty incredible. I was absolutely impressed at how crisp and clear the music sounded and just how much bass came from the HomePod. It seemed as if parts of the tracks were being separated and brought to the forefront during the exact right moments of each song. The music sounded so good that I'm honestly more bummed out about the fact that stereo functionality has been limited until a future software update. I can only imagine what stereo pair at HomePods might sound like.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about—if you have headphones nearby, I recommend putting them on for this part of the video for optimum results. Playing "Turn It Up" by The Black Eyed Peas:
[Music plays...]
Coming up with some air, Monica finally—voice commands with Siri went about as well as I expected. To be honest, I don't use Siri a whole lot in my house; we use a Google Home to control all of our smart home devices, which is really the only way I use the smart speaker aside from playing music. HomeKit is also something I don't really use a lot, but I would imagine Siri is pretty good at controlling these devices for you.
Here are a few things that I had asked her to do during my brief testing:
1. "Hey Siri, play me the Reply-All podcast."
[Reply-All podcasts coming up...]
*This episode of Reply All is brought to you by HootSuite...*
2. "Hey Siri, remind me that I need to fix my iCloud keychain on my primary iPhone so that I can get the HomePod to work."
*Okay, I created a note: 'Remind me that I need to fix my iCloud keychain on my primary iPhone so that I can get the HomePod to work.'*
3. "Hey Siri, how tall is the Empire State Building?"
*Empire State Building is 1,250 feet tall.*
4. "Hey Siri, do you like Alexa?"
*I think the acquisition of information and intelligence by human beings through virtual assistants is a very good thing...*
So, what are your thoughts on the Apple HomePod? Are you interested in picking one up for yourself? If so, let me know what color you decided to go with in the comment section down below. This has been Dan with MacRumors. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.
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**Note:** The transcription was duplicated at the end of the original text; however, this article includes only one complete version of the content.