So while Apple claims that the sound quality will be much better than its competitors, for the same price as one HomePod, you could purchase a 3 or 5-speaker Sonos surround sound system.
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Since the launch of the Echo and Google Home, it has been suggested Apple’s own assistant has fallen behind its rivals in the virtual assistant space.
We heard rumors that Apple would be launching a new Siri Speaker, the device is now official and it is called the HomePod. We do a comparison of features to find out! Schiller said devices like the Amazon Echo have poor sound quality, and wifi speakers like Sonos don’t have interactive voice assistants.
However, Adam Scott from comparison service PriceSpy said Apple’s “late” arrival to the smart speaker market could prove an advantage.
With consumers less interested in buying new tablets, Apple has increased its focus on designing tablets for professionals to do much of the same work that they usually perform on a laptop computer. They simply use voice recognition to understand the query and respond to them by fetching information or data from the internet or connected local devices.
How Smart is the Music Streaming?
Privacy has been a concern with home devices, as the mics are constantly listening in to user conversations while waiting for the command words, such as “OK Google”. HomePod owners will only be able to stream music from Apple Music, and will not be able to use a third party service such as Spotify as an alternative.
It’s possible that Apple knows it can’t stay the pace with Alexa or Google Assistant just yet, though it seems to be trying based on its recent acquisitions.
The HomePod is will release in December, 2017.
Both speakers come with a built-in smart assistant. And if you have HomeKit-enabled devices, you can control your lights, garage door, air conditioning and more using this speaker.
Apple takes a step beyond basic speaker hardware, though. That is $120 more than the brand new Amazon Echo Show with monitor, and $170 more than the regular Amazon Echo.
However, it still lacks some features that Amazon and Google’s products already have. This is the only big announcement by Apple since the launch of its Apple Watch sometime back in September 2014. It is seven inches tall and has seven tweeters.
Apple HomePod quite expensive than the other two – and that too by a fair margin.
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Another thing working against the HomePod is its support of only one music platform, Apple Music.
