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Where It Stands: Apple HomePod
This is a review of the Original HomePod, released in 2018. That meant it was paired with the iPhone 6, to give you an idea of the time lapse here! The second generation was released in 2023, which means this first model had a 5 year life before the 2nd gen, which is pretty long for first generation technology. Let’s get into it.
Original Purchase Date: Spring 2018 (I did not review this product at time of purchase)
Time used between Purchase and Where it Stands: 6 years
I debated between the Sonos One and Apple HomePod at the time, and got to try them both. I went for Apple mostly because I thought it looked “cooler” and liked that it paired with my iPhone and Apple ecosystem. Sound-wise the two were the same to my non-audiophile ears. The speaker proved to be an amazing way to increase music playing in our house. Previously we’d been using a reciever and speakers with an iPod plugged into the Auxillary jack. With the HomePod, everything was just simple and the sound was amazing, and it stayed that way all these years.
A couple years ago we upgrade to a Samsung Frame TV. While the TV itself is pretty awesome (hidden on the wall of other framed pieces of art), the sound SUCKS! And the interface is almost un-usable. I do not recommend the Frame TV unless you plan to upgrade how you will use it with a Roku/FireTV/Apple TV setup. We choose, un-suprisingly, to pair an Apple TV, but that didn’t solve the sound issue, until I learned you could pair the HomePod as a soundbar! It worked almost seamlessly, and we have used the HomePod as our soundbar for the past couple of years. I imagine that two HomePods in stereo mode would be even better, but these things still cost $300, so we’re sticking with the one until it dies.
No review of an Apple product would be complete without mentioning Siri, the voice assistant. Most reviews are quick to call out the tool as “very bad”. Our house is ruled by a combo of Amazon Alexa and Apple Siri. We use Alexa to control our lights and other smarthome items. And we use Siri for music. Both assistants can set timers and tell you the weather just fine (though the Homepod couldn’t set timers when it first launched). They also both decide to start talking out of the blue for no reason. The Siri voice assistant is sure to get better when Apple rolls out “Apple Intelligence” in the next version of their Operating System in the fall of 2024, but for now, the voice assistant on the HomePod is fine. It’s functional. And rarely that annoying. As long as you don’t set your expectations too high.
We’ve seen no issue with sound quality over the 6 years that we’ve used the HomePod and recommend it to anyone looking for a high quality smart speaker. It’s best with Apple products, but it is also easy to use Spotify, which happens often with us, as we have a teenager in the house. Definitely a good product after all these years!
ElevatoR(eview) Verdict:
Design: Cup Half Full
Ease of Use: Cup Half Full
Sound Quality: Cup Half Full
Cost: Cup Half Empty
Overall: Cup Half Full
Long-form reviews of the current Apple HomePod to consider, when you have more time:
Have a Cup of T(ech) 