This past Saturday, it was my one-year anniversary of having my HomePod first generation. At the time, this was the only HomePod on the market.
When it comes to the look of the HomePod itself, it does have that unique, premium look to it. The speaker produces sounds around all angles of the device.
Where the speaker thrives is when it comes to sound quality and bass. I never thought a speaker of that size, or at least one made by Apple in its first attempt, would have that good of sound and bass quality. There are some songs out there that when played on the HomePod, it sounds just like you’re at a concert.
I do like the size and portability of the original HomePod. It’s a little hefty because of all of the tech inside, but this seems like the kind of speaker one could bring to a party or social to play good music.
The three things that I have used my HomePod for are the following: Apple Music playback, listening to podcasts and using it to play YouTube videos.
I have used it to play content from my Apple TV and make phone calls off of as well.
Last Christmas season, it was great playing Christmas music off of. I am a huge fan of that time of the year, so having this smart speaker made it a lot better.
The one feature that I have not liked about it is Siri. Why, you might ask? Well, Siri is too stupid.
A Siri Shortcut I have on my iPhone and iPad is the CARROT Weather voice shortcut. When I say “Weather Report” to Siri on my iPhone and iPad, it gives me the latest weather conditions from CARROT Weather, which is what I want.
When I do this with my HomePod, it just gives me the local weather from what I assume would be the equivalent of the default Apple Weather app.
I’m hoping that in future versions of iOS, Apple does try to make Siri smarter or at least give it the option to mirror the iPhone and iPad Siri Shortcuts.
Despite the problems with Siri on the HomePod, I still love the device overall though. It has definitely been a huge benefactor for me.
However, I have also thought about getting a HomePod Mini for my bathroom so I could play music or podcasts while in the shower or getting ready for work in the morning. The size of the Mini is great, compact and stupid simple.
If you can still find a first-generation HomePod, I would recommend getting one since not only will it be an important chapter in Apple’s product history, but that they do make for excellent-sounding speakers.
