**Apple's HomePod: A Revolutionary Smart Speaker**

The HomePod is Apple's latest smart speaker that has been making waves in the tech industry. With its sleek design and impressive features, it's set to revolutionize the way we interact with our homes. In this article, we'll delve into the details of the HomePod and explore what makes it so special.

**Setup and Compatibility**

Setting up the HomePod is a breeze. Simply plug it in, and your iOS device will detect it as long as it's one of the devices on the list running iOS 11 or later. The HomePod comes in two color options - white or space gray - and has a compact design that fits neatly into any room. It measures 6.8 inches tall and 5.6 inches wide, making it easy to place on a shelf or stand. The speaker is wrapped in acoustic mesh fabric, which helps audio travel easily into the room. This feature also allows the HomePod's six microphones to pick up your voice commands from across the room, even when loud music is playing.

**Hardware and Processor**

The HomePod boasts Apple's A8 processor, which is the same chip found in the iPhone 6 and 6-plus. While it may seem like overkill for a smart speaker, the CPU is responsible for more than just processing audio - it handles real-time software modeling of the woofer mechanics, mixing of both direct and ambient audio, real-time buffering, Audio beamforming, and multi-channel echo cancellation. This means that the HomePod can provide an immersive audio experience with minimal delay or distortion.

**Siri and Voice Control**

One of the standout features of the HomePod is its integration with Siri. The AI-powered virtual assistant can be used to do everything from checking the weather to sending a text message, all hands-free. Users can also hand off phone calls to the HomePod for seamless conversations. Additionally, the HomePod works seamlessly with Apple's HomeKit platform, allowing users to control their smart home devices with ease.

**Music and Audio**

The HomePod is built with music lovers in mind. It comes preloaded with Apple Music, which offers access to over 45 million streaming songs. Siri can add songs to playlists or save a list of like songs for future recommendations. The speaker also supports the latest Bluetooth 5.0 technology, as well as 802.11ac Wi-Fi with MIMO capabilities, making it easy to stream music from any app that supports AirPlay.

**Pricing and Financing**

The HomePod may seem expensive at $349, but Apple offers special financing options to make it more accessible. Customers can take advantage of six-month financing plans with no interest if approved. This makes the HomePod a more affordable option for those who want to experience the latest in smart home technology.

**In-Depth Review**

While we haven't had the chance to review the HomePod yet, Apple's commitment to innovative design and seamless integration with other Apple devices is evident. With its impressive audio capabilities, intuitive interface, and robust features, the HomePod is sure to be a game-changer in the world of smart speakers. Stay tuned for our full impression and in-depth review when we get our hands on one.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enapples home pod is finally set to arrive available to pre-order this Friday January 26th and arriving in stores starting Friday February 9th the home pod is Apple's iteration of a smart home speaker made to compete with Amazon echo and Google's home speakers the only difference is that it carries a $349 price tag that's much higher than the starting prices from Amazon or Google while some critics say that Apple is late to the game fans should also remember that you don't have to be first to win the first ipod was far from the first mp3 player on the market and smartphones existed long before the iPhone even Apple's air pods which are still a huge success came after other wireless headphones were available with a $350 price tag Apple has to justify the home pod coming in at a cost much higher than the competition so what will your hard-earned cash get you first and foremost Apple says the home pod speaker quality should blow the smart home speaker competition out of the water particularly cheap alternatives from Google and Amazon the home pod has an array of seven tweeters each with their own individual drivers custom amplifiers and transducers each tweeter comes custom designed with the precision acoustic horn that directionally focuses sound for comparison the $130 Google home has a single speaker and Amazon's hundred-dollar echo has two speakers meanwhile the $50 and under echo dot has just a single speaker the home pod also has advanced sensors that detect the space it's in so the speaker knows when it's next to a wall or in a corner the device then uses audio beamforming to focus a sound towards the center of the room while minimizing sound going towards any walls it can also isolate the vocals and direct sound beaming them to the middle of the room or bounce the audio off the walls to create an ambient audio feel it can even create stereo sound by splitting audio channels between the multiple tweeters later this year you'll be able to add another home pod in the same room and they'll automatically detect each other to create true stereo sound while tuning their audio to project towards the center of the room instead of towards each other when airplay 2 is released you'll be able to have home pods in multiple rooms and they'll communicate with each other so they could either sync and play the same music together or play different songs in different rooms all controlled through home kit the home pod also gets a dedicated high excursion subwoofer which means the Warford diaphragm has high travel specifically 20 millimeters which apple says is remarkable for a woofer at that size higher travel means more air is being moved creating more bass the subwoofer is four inches in size which on its own is larger than the entire Amazon echo dot the home pod even has a built-in low-frequency calibration microphone that listens to the bass so the smart speaker can automatically tune in correct it because of this Apple has greatly reduced or eliminated distortion which is common with subwoofers unless you get Google's high-end $400 home Mac speaker the competition doesn't feature any subwoofers setting up the home pod will be easy simply plug it in in your iOS device will detect it as long as it's one of the devices on this list running iOS 11 2.5 or later the home pod comes in either white or space gray color options in terms of size the speaker is 6.8 inches tall and five point six inches wide for comparison a standard bottle of water is eight inches tall and Amazon's echo is nine point three inches tall the home pod is wrapped in acoustic mesh fabric so audio can easily travel into the room this also helps the home pods impressive six microphones do a better job of hearing your commands from across the room even when loud music is playing the home pods competition meanwhile have microphones packed onto circuit boards instead of freely isolated near the outside of the device another reason for the home pods price tag is that it comes with Apple's a8 processor the same chip found in the iPhone 6 and 6-plus in contrast in iFixit teardown revealed that the Google Homes processor flash memory and RAM are the exact same chips found in the second-generation chromecast a product that sells for just $35 while it may seem like the a8 processor is overkill for the home pod the CPU is in charge of quite a bit of tech like real time software modeling of the woofer mechanics up mixing of both direct and ambient audio real time buffering Audio beamforming and multi-channel echo cancellation the a8 is also in charge of Siri which works with hey Siri and can be used to do anything from checking the weather converting units of measurement playing a podcast checking nearby traffic setting a timer a reminder and even sending a text message you can also hand off a phone call to the home pod for hands-free conversations home pod also works with home kit letting users ask Siri to turn on the lights set the thermostat turn on the sprinklers or any other tasks compatible with Apple's smart home platform home key integration with the home pod could prove to be a major step forward for Apple's smart home ecosystem some critics say that Siri is far behind competing voice assistance like Amazon's Alexa but Apple has packed the home pod with future-proofed hardware that will support years and years of updated software that means there's plenty of room for Siri to grow for those who don't want voice control or can't use it the home pod also comes with a touchscreen display right on top of the device tapping you're holding the plus or minus icons on the screen will adjust the volume users can also tap the center to play and pause double tap to skip to the next track and triple tap to go back to the previous track the screen also lets users touch and hold the screen to talk to Siri you'll know Siri is listening by the led waveform that animates with your every word the home pod is built with the Apple music subscription service in mind unlocking access to over 45 million streaming songs Siri can add songs to a playlist or save a list of like songs over time Apple music will learn your taste in music and fine-tune what it plays for you if you don't have Apple music yet you can start a free three-month trial and cancel any time if you enjoy it pricing is $10 a month for an individual plan $15 a month for family plan in five dollars a month for a college student however a subscription to Apple music isn't required so you can still stream music from your iTunes music library in that case iTunes Match is a good alternative to Apple music for just $20 a year you can also stream music from any app that supports airplay like Spotify or Pandora for example though those services won't offer convenient Siri integration at launch the home pod supports the latest and greatest Bluetooth 5.0 as well as 802 11ac Wi-Fi with MIMO technology which uses multiple transmitters and receivers to transfer more data at the same time the home pod also supports a wide variety of audio formats including mp3 and WAV if you really want to get your hands on home pod but can't afford it Apple also offers special financing so you can have six months to pay it off with no interest if you're approved just click the learn more link at the bottom of Apple's home pod page to apply we won't know how great Apple's $349 home pod will sound until we get our hands on one but when we do we'll make sure to let you know about it so make sure to subscribe to Apple Insider so you don't miss our full impressions and in-depth review if you enjoy this video like it and hit that subscribe button also check out a price guide which makes it extremely easy to find the best deals and Apple products updated daily be sure to follow us on social media and we'll see you in the next videoapples home pod is finally set to arrive available to pre-order this Friday January 26th and arriving in stores starting Friday February 9th the home pod is Apple's iteration of a smart home speaker made to compete with Amazon echo and Google's home speakers the only difference is that it carries a $349 price tag that's much higher than the starting prices from Amazon or Google while some critics say that Apple is late to the game fans should also remember that you don't have to be first to win the first ipod was far from the first mp3 player on the market and smartphones existed long before the iPhone even Apple's air pods which are still a huge success came after other wireless headphones were available with a $350 price tag Apple has to justify the home pod coming in at a cost much higher than the competition so what will your hard-earned cash get you first and foremost Apple says the home pod speaker quality should blow the smart home speaker competition out of the water particularly cheap alternatives from Google and Amazon the home pod has an array of seven tweeters each with their own individual drivers custom amplifiers and transducers each tweeter comes custom designed with the precision acoustic horn that directionally focuses sound for comparison the $130 Google home has a single speaker and Amazon's hundred-dollar echo has two speakers meanwhile the $50 and under echo dot has just a single speaker the home pod also has advanced sensors that detect the space it's in so the speaker knows when it's next to a wall or in a corner the device then uses audio beamforming to focus a sound towards the center of the room while minimizing sound going towards any walls it can also isolate the vocals and direct sound beaming them to the middle of the room or bounce the audio off the walls to create an ambient audio feel it can even create stereo sound by splitting audio channels between the multiple tweeters later this year you'll be able to add another home pod in the same room and they'll automatically detect each other to create true stereo sound while tuning their audio to project towards the center of the room instead of towards each other when airplay 2 is released you'll be able to have home pods in multiple rooms and they'll communicate with each other so they could either sync and play the same music together or play different songs in different rooms all controlled through home kit the home pod also gets a dedicated high excursion subwoofer which means the Warford diaphragm has high travel specifically 20 millimeters which apple says is remarkable for a woofer at that size higher travel means more air is being moved creating more bass the subwoofer is four inches in size which on its own is larger than the entire Amazon echo dot the home pod even has a built-in low-frequency calibration microphone that listens to the bass so the smart speaker can automatically tune in correct it because of this Apple has greatly reduced or eliminated distortion which is common with subwoofers unless you get Google's high-end $400 home Mac speaker the competition doesn't feature any subwoofers setting up the home pod will be easy simply plug it in in your iOS device will detect it as long as it's one of the devices on this list running iOS 11 2.5 or later the home pod comes in either white or space gray color options in terms of size the speaker is 6.8 inches tall and five point six inches wide for comparison a standard bottle of water is eight inches tall and Amazon's echo is nine point three inches tall the home pod is wrapped in acoustic mesh fabric so audio can easily travel into the room this also helps the home pods impressive six microphones do a better job of hearing your commands from across the room even when loud music is playing the home pods competition meanwhile have microphones packed onto circuit boards instead of freely isolated near the outside of the device another reason for the home pods price tag is that it comes with Apple's a8 processor the same chip found in the iPhone 6 and 6-plus in contrast in iFixit teardown revealed that the Google Homes processor flash memory and RAM are the exact same chips found in the second-generation chromecast a product that sells for just $35 while it may seem like the a8 processor is overkill for the home pod the CPU is in charge of quite a bit of tech like real time software modeling of the woofer mechanics up mixing of both direct and ambient audio real time buffering Audio beamforming and multi-channel echo cancellation the a8 is also in charge of Siri which works with hey Siri and can be used to do anything from checking the weather converting units of measurement playing a podcast checking nearby traffic setting a timer a reminder and even sending a text message you can also hand off a phone call to the home pod for hands-free conversations home pod also works with home kit letting users ask Siri to turn on the lights set the thermostat turn on the sprinklers or any other tasks compatible with Apple's smart home platform home key integration with the home pod could prove to be a major step forward for Apple's smart home ecosystem some critics say that Siri is far behind competing voice assistance like Amazon's Alexa but Apple has packed the home pod with future-proofed hardware that will support years and years of updated software that means there's plenty of room for Siri to grow for those who don't want voice control or can't use it the home pod also comes with a touchscreen display right on top of the device tapping you're holding the plus or minus icons on the screen will adjust the volume users can also tap the center to play and pause double tap to skip to the next track and triple tap to go back to the previous track the screen also lets users touch and hold the screen to talk to Siri you'll know Siri is listening by the led waveform that animates with your every word the home pod is built with the Apple music subscription service in mind unlocking access to over 45 million streaming songs Siri can add songs to a playlist or save a list of like songs over time Apple music will learn your taste in music and fine-tune what it plays for you if you don't have Apple music yet you can start a free three-month trial and cancel any time if you enjoy it pricing is $10 a month for an individual plan $15 a month for family plan in five dollars a month for a college student however a subscription to Apple music isn't required so you can still stream music from your iTunes music library in that case iTunes Match is a good alternative to Apple music for just $20 a year you can also stream music from any app that supports airplay like Spotify or Pandora for example though those services won't offer convenient Siri integration at launch the home pod supports the latest and greatest Bluetooth 5.0 as well as 802 11ac Wi-Fi with MIMO technology which uses multiple transmitters and receivers to transfer more data at the same time the home pod also supports a wide variety of audio formats including mp3 and WAV if you really want to get your hands on home pod but can't afford it Apple also offers special financing so you can have six months to pay it off with no interest if you're approved just click the learn more link at the bottom of Apple's home pod page to apply we won't know how great Apple's $349 home pod will sound until we get our hands on one but when we do we'll make sure to let you know about it so make sure to subscribe to Apple Insider so you don't miss our full impressions and in-depth review if you enjoy this video like it and hit that subscribe button also check out a price guide which makes it extremely easy to find the best deals and Apple products updated daily be sure to follow us on social media and we'll see you in the next video\n"