If you ask me, the so-called smart speakers are a fantastic idea. A small device that can answer questions, play music with a command and even take care of your home? That’s a device straight out of a sci-fi flick! Sign me up! But unfortunately, as the modest success of devices like the Amazon Echo or Google Home has shown us, smart speakers are a better idea in theory than in practice. In reality, they fall squarely into the category of “cool gadgets you use for fifteen minutes before forgetting in a drawer somewhere”. Because let’s face it – most of us don’t really need a $180 smart speaker to play our music when a far cheaper non-smart speaker which connects to our phones can do the exact same thing. The Amazon Echo, while a really fun novelty that has given us plenty of unintentional entertainment over the years, most consumers haven’t really found a good reason to keep it around for everyday use.
And then came Apple, who promised to change that. They promised to do to the smart speaker what their iPod once did to the mp3 player, revolutionizing the entire market forever! And thus the Apple HomePod was announced to an audience of thousands, alongside its specs, functions and, perhaps most importantly, price point. So now that we’ve got concrete data rather than mere promises, one has to wonder: is the HomePod the Second Coming that was promised to us? Is it the revolution in smart speaker technology we’ve been waiting for? Is it worth purchasing? The short and, sadly, very unfortunate answer to all these questions is a resounding “no”.
The HomePod fails on every level when compared to its contemporaries. It was supposed to offer brand new, revolutionary features not found among the competition, but honestly? I’m having a really tough time figuring out what those features are supposed to be, because from where I’m standing, the HomePod doesn’t offer anything new whatsoever. It still plays music, you can still use a digital assistant (like Amazon’s Alexa, except it’s Apple’s Siri) to answer your questions, and if you have a smart home with electronically controlled lights and stuff like that you can control it through the device if you so desire. That’s it. Where’s the promised revolution? Not only that, but the HomePod actually does works WORSE than its competition in one of its main regards – streaming music. You want to stream music from Pandora, Spotify or any preferred service that isn’t Apple Music? Well, in that case, you’re better off purchasing something else.
And perhaps the worst part is the HomePod’s price. Apple’s gadgets have always been ridiculously overpriced, we’ve known that for years, but this just may be a new height. The Echo is $180 and is regularly discounted (on Black Friday the Echo was only $140), while Google Home doesn’t fall far behind, at about $130. How much is Apple asking for its “revolutionary invention”? A whopping $350. And the worst part is that you know people will be lining up to buy it on day one, despite the fact that there are cheaper, better alternatives available today. Don’t be like them, folks. Apple have, on occasion, created good tech. The HomePod is not among them.