Whether it ’s the result of compelling grounds or groupthink , the usually fractious and argumentative Apple rumorsphere has a trend every now and then to short verbalize with one vocalism . And right now that vocalisation is saying four words : HomePod with a display .
Within the outer space of a week , pundits spottedHomeAccessory17,1 referencesin backend code and atouchscreen interfacehidden in a tvOS beta that all seem to point to the same thing . Whether this will result in a ship mathematical product remains to be seen , but it ’s getting hard to refuse that Apple is at least working on some form of smart verbalizer with a screen .
Is this the right move ? I ’m not convert . Not because of any nonsense about “ if it ai n’t broke , do n’t ready it : ” satisfactory product can still be improved , and in any font , the HomePod has great deal of problem . It ’s just that I do n’t see how this particular approach will help .
The HomePod’s current screen isn’t all that useful—and a full touch screen probably won’t be either.
I ’ve got four HomePods : a pair of full - size of it unit in the living elbow room , and a HomePod mini in the kitchen and study respectively . I have a love / hate affair with all of them , and I ’m struggling to see how a screen will turn the situation around . My matter is n’t that I ca n’t see what track is play , or that I ca n’t play videos or see a read - out of local weather conditions . It ’s that the HomePod does n’t do what it ’s told becauseSiri is rubbish .
Design within reach
A complicate factor is that unlike the iPhone and iPad , which are generally about a fundament from our faces , the HomePod ’s position comparative to the user diverge widely from grammatical case to compositor’s case . My sustenance - room HomePods are on either side of the TV , so often I ’m facing them ; but when I ’m actually make for medicine on them I ’m far more likely to be over at the dining table , either with my back to the utterer or far enough away that I would n’t be able to see anything on the covert if they had them . The kitchen HomePod miniskirt is over to my right while I ’m ready , tucked behind the spaghetti and a pair of cactus plants , so a silver screen would be commodious to look at but not to use as a touch screen . And the study HomePod is directly behind me while I work . If it had a CRT screen I ’d barely ever see it … although I could scoot over and tap it quite easy .
The HomePod ’s current screen is n’t all that useful — and a full touch screen probably wo n’t be either .
metalworks
The HomePod’s current screen isn’t all that useful—and a full touch screen probably won’t be either.
With that variety of use guinea pig to contend with , the HomePod is a challenge for the house decorator . If you trust on a touchscreen , just as if you rely on buttons , you ’re wedge home proletarian to get out of their office chairs every time a song or record album ends . If you insist on communicating entropy to the user via a visual video display , you ’re making them , at minimum , turn to face the HomePod , and since the distance from a substance abuser to the HomePod is irregular , there ’s a near chance your interface text size will need to be turned up so bombastic that barely any entropy can be show .
There are two ascendance and informational attack that make sense for a speaker : either via dependable wireless using your smartphone ( which in my experience is very spotty with the iPhone and the HomePod ) , or sound - found . You know , since it ’s an audio - based machine . Voice ascendance is a very obvious method to use , since in any context of use in which you could hear the speaker , it can hear you . Voice suit all of the manifold use pillowcase HomePod possessor may dramatize .
That ’s the glide slope that Apple tried to set forth with , and theapproachwasn’t at fault ; the job was theexecution . commit the HomePod a screen door is n’t totally unsympathetic – and it ’s a class factor that ’s worked well for Amazon and Google – but it does n’t speak the rudimentary military issue that have bear the HomePod back . Really it ’s a cop - out because it ’s make an all new Cartesian product ( which may well come through ) while disregard the problems smite one Apple already has .
What would help is a thorough redevelopment of Siri : bushel that , and then for certain , you’re able to have a screen alongside a voice command organization that actually work . How lucky , then , that Apple is currently working on Siri as part of theApple Intelligenceproject . How fortunate for us poor long - ache HomePod owner .
Except that Apple Intelligence wo n’t bear on Siri on our HomePods : not in the initial wave of roll - out , which will bring on the iPhone , iPad , and Mac but on no other Apple devices , and probably not ever because it requires a certain level of processing power . The HomePod - with - a - screen may get a sufficiently brawny A - class chip to run Apple Intelligence some way down the descent , but the HomePods we spend $ 300 on wo n’t . This is frustrative , to say the least , and reward the sense that Apple would rather force customer to buy something new than make the matter they already buy work well .
