9-Minuten-Video zeigt: Apples HomePod im Test

Auch der HomePod bricht nicht mit Apples Tradition: Am letzten Dienstag vor dem offiziellen Verkaufsstart des neuen Produktes am 9. Februar ist jetzt das Presse-Embargo zu dem Multiroom-Lautsprecher gefallen, der noch im Frühjahr auch in Deutschland erhältlich sein wird.

Bild: James Bareham

Entsprechend liegen nun die ersten Stimmen amerikanischer und englischer Medienvertreter vor, die von Apple mit einem Vorabexemplar des Sonos-Konkurrenten ausgestattet wurden.

Das Medienecho fällt dabei erwartungsgemäß aus: Funktional könnten Siri und der HomePod durchaus etwas mehr bieten, das akustische Produktversprechen Cupertinos scheint der knapp 400 Euro teure Speaker jedoch zu erfüllen.

Wir empfehlen euch das eingebettete 9-Minuten-Video von Nilay Patel, das die Besprechung auf theverge.com flankiert und den Neuzugang in Apples Produkt-Lineup erstmals, hochaufgelöst in einer realistischen Umgebung präsentiert:

Pressespiegel: Die ersten HomePod Rezensionen

Neben den Berücksichtigungen von Jim Dalrymple, Megan Wollerton und Edward C. Baig empfehlen wir die folgenden Rezensionen:

Nilay Patel – theverge.com

All of this is why I started thinking of the HomePod as “lonely.” It feels like it was designed for a very demanding person to use while living alone entirely inside Apple’s ecosystem. It’s tied more closely to a single iPhone and iCloud account than any other smart speaker, and Siri has none of the capability or vibrancy of what’s happening with Alexa. Apple can try to move mountains by itself, or it can recognize that the HomePod is a little iOS computer for the home and let developers build on it as they have for so long and with such great success with the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Brian Chen – nyt.com

Siri also had laughably awkward pronunciations of some artist names. When I once asked HomePod to play songs by Tupac, Siri replied: “Sure, here’s Tu,” and after a short pause said: “Pac.” (I’m not sure Dr. Dre or Jimmy Iovine, whose streaming service was acquired by Apple to develop Apple Music, would approve.) In response to my concerns, Apple said HomePod studies a customer’s music preferences over time. I figured a week should have been enough.

David Phelan – independent.co.uk

What if you’re a Spotify subscriber? You can launch Spotify on your iPhone, say, and once you’re playing a track you can transfer it to the HomePod speaker using AirPlay. This works well, but obviously you don’t get the voice control capabilities here, apart from changing volume and so on. You can also use AirPlay to throw other tracks from your iPhone or iPad to the HomePod, or for other people in your home to play, they just need to be on your Wi-Fi network.

Joanna Stern – wsj.com

The HomePod has a circular touch screen up top that indicates when Siri is listening. Annoyingly, its placement makes it difficult to see from across the room. There’s no physical off button for the mic; if you want it to stop listening, you have to say so.

Matthew Panzarino – techcrunch.com

There’s a reason my review is only four sentences: if you don’t like Apple Music, don’t buy a HomePod. The HomePod sounds great but on the surface, it’s debatable whether it’s great enough to justify the limitations of its smart features when compared purely on those merits and not as a component of the Apple ecosystem.