I only realised yesterday that I went out photographing once in February. I think it was a combination of the weather and illness that caused this. On the bright side I have some photographs of Stirling to post later and will be taking a lot of photographs in the last third of this month and next month due to having some time off and vacationing!
For now, I found this video inspiring and extremely creative and it features one of my favourite objects and a favourite music artist (FKA Twigs).
It may have been delayed by two months but wow, was it worth the wait. The HomePod is a speaker with a digital assistant. Note: speaker and digital assistant was worded as speaker first and digital assistant second.
There has been lot of comparison between the HomePod and Amazon's Echo and Google's Digital assistant. In my opinion comparing the HomePod to Echo or Google Assistant is like comparing Apple's to Orange's (see what I did there...). Google and Amazon have digital assistants that happen to play music.
So, what does $350/£319 get you?
I purchased the Space Grey HomePod which was delivered on launch day and had it up and running within 5 minutes of opening. It is deceptively heavy, but oozes quality from the feel of the specially designed mesh fabric that covers it to the power cord that connects it to power.
The sound comes from 7 tweeters arranged in a circle around the base of the unit and one high-excursion woofer at the top of the unit. The Apple A8 chip provides the power for the software (which is basically a stripped down version of iOS 10.2). HomePod automatically analyses the acoustics, adjusts the sound based on the speaker's location and separates the music into direct and ambient sound, direct sound being directed to the centre of the room while ambient sound is diffused into left and right channels and bounced off the wall.
There are six functions that you can activate on the touch surface on the top of the HomePod:
The space between the + & - is also the space for the siri wave, which is activated by saying "Hey Siri". What is most amazing about the Siri function is that you don't need to pause between saying "Hay Siri" and your question. It's that fast. Another impressive feature about the HomePod is that no matter how loud the music is playing it can still hear any commands you ask without the need to raise your voice. It has the ability to do some audio math where it takes away the music it is playing and is left with your voice command. It's impressive and the accuracy is very good.
Two of the features that were promised at the announcement are yet to be released; being able to connect to another HomePod to create stereo sound and Airplay 2 which would allow HomePods to connect throughout your house. These features are coming later this year, most likely with the update to iOS 10.3. There has been a lot of talk about these features not being included at launch, but this is Apple, they would rather launch when it is ready than release something that is half baked and requires updates (that doesn't mean they have never got it wrong, but that they never release something they know isn't as good as they can make it).
There are some negative points that are worth mentioning. There is no native Spotify support. I imagine this will put a lot of people off as switching to Apple Music will mean that they will loose there curated taste in music that Spotify has built. You need a device running iOS to use the HomePod (so all Android users are out). Also, for some reason a lot of people have pointed out that there is no line in, but then these are probably the same people that want a 3.5mm jack on their iPhone though...
Siri on the HomePod has limited functionality at this point. You cannot add calendar items, but you can set reminders, send and receive text messages and add reminder items. I expect that more functionality will be added to Siri in the future. At this point it will only play Apple Music, iTunes or Beats 1 radio natively, unless you use Airplay from your iOS device.
So, if you want a digital assistant I would recommend the Echo or the Google Assistant, however, if you want an amazing speaker to listen to music, then the HomePod is the answer.
I am going to link to a couple of reviews that I have read and liked. These are longer, more in depth from highly respected tech journalists and will certainly answer more questions than I do here.
Daring Fireball - HomePod
Om Malik - My HomePod Review
So, first impressions after a weekend of using it; I like it. The sound is incredible, if you don't believe me go into an Apple Store and listen to one. I am confident that more functionality will be added to Siri, but then I bought a speaker first and a digital assistant second.
I have yet to peel of the plastic at the top of the unit as apparently it is a fingerprint magnet :-)
I thought I might give an update regarding my experience using the new iPhone X after having it for three months. Original impressions can be read here.
Face id – I am still impressed with the face id, although it never seems to recognise me when I am bleary-eyed first thing in the morning in the darkness, I usually have to resort to putting in the passcode. I would say it works 75% of the time in the dark which is a little disappointing. My main problem about this feature is that when the phone is sitting on my desk I have to pick it up to unlock it, I am used to just putting my finger onto the touch id to see the messages. It a small complaint…
Wireless charging – I decided to buy the mophie charger (7.5watts) from the Apple store (£55) this was not an impulse by and I took a lot of time to decide to buy it. I decided on the mophie over the Belkin as it took up less real estate on my desk and it also featured a no slip rubber base. It also feels and looks better than the Belkin. The Belkin pad slipped about on the desk and also felt a bit cheaply made. I like the ease of charging this way. I have a small niggle about this feature though; I have a metal strip between the case and the phone so that phone mount on the dashboard in my car holds the phone in position for the Sat-Nav, meaning I have to be fairly precise about where the phone is positioned when I put it on the charger. I have actually taken to taking the cover off when I am working at my desk. I would imagine most people wouldn't have this problem.
Size – I have gotten so used to the smaller form factor that when I pick up an iPhone 7/8+ I am shocked at the size of it. Reports from the past couple of days suggest that the top of the line iPhone this year will go back to the larger size which might make me want to stay at the smaller form factor.
Camera – I use it on a daily basis and have even posted a few Instagram shots from it lately. It is good, but I am not convinced it is better than the previous model. The portrait modes are nice to have, but from what I can tell they are still in beta and could be doing with some tweaking. If memory serves me correctly Apple also announced that there would be a fake long exposure mode released as well which has failed to materialise. This is a couple of photographs that I have captured recently.
Physical button positions – I take a lot more screen shots by accident due to the position of the physical buttons on this iPhone. To take a screenshot on the iPhone X you are required to press the on/off button on the right side and the volume up button on the left side. Due to my grip on the phone I often press the volume up button when I press the on/off button, causing a screenshot to be taken.
Animoji – Have yet to use after testing it. Maybe good for kids, but then who would give a child a £1K phone? The fact that this took up 10 mins of the presentation of the new iPhone blows my mind.
Overall? Well, I am not disappointed, yes, I have a few niggling problems due to my own workflow and personal preferences but I have never had it crash on me. Is it revolutionary, no. The face-id is sensational most of the time, but on those occasions when it doesn't work its very annoying having to go back to typing in my alphanumeric password.
Apple has finally announced the release date of the HomePod and I am eagerly awaiting the pre-order opening... am sure I'll have some views on this as well!
