- Hey guys, this is Austin.
This is the Apple HomePod and at $350,
I have exactly one question, "Why does it exist?"
Now no, I'm not trying to say this is some
useless product or that it is not meant for anyone.
When you consider that the world is filled
with Amazon Echos and Google Homes
that cost 40 or $50, a $350 speaker
that has Siri inside, that's a little bit
of a hard sale for most people.
So in classic Apple fashion, the unboxing is super simple,
no giant stabbing knife needed.
So this has come out today and it's a little bit late.
I think this was originally supposed to come out
late last year.
But the idea here is that this is a very high end,
a very good sounding speaker that just happens to have Siri.
You know what I'll say, this looks really nice.
So it has this fabric mesh all the way around,
it's nice and soft.
It's definitely a little bit of a different look.
Although the power cable's built in, okay.
We also have designed by Apple in California
with what I assume is yes, a single Apple sticker.
Not a lot of accessories with your $350 smart speaker,
but all that matters is how does it actually sound.
Alright, so, $350, a lot of money.
But I will say there actually are some nice things
about the hardware.
So like I was saying, this fabric finish feels pretty nice
and it even comes across to the power cable.
There's a lot of attention to detail here.
What you won't find with the HomePod is anything
besides this power cable.
So there's no USB, there's no Bluetooth.
There's not even going to be any kind of aux input
which now that you think about it,
Apple's killed the headphone jack on everything else.
It makes sense to kill it on the speakers.
What you will see however is a little tiny grid
of LEDs that are below the sorted
frosted panel on the top.
So it's kind of cool, but there's not a proper screen.
It's more for kind of giving you notifications
and sort of a little bit of a colorful thing
when Siri's listening.
Like EarPods, the setup is going to be
pretty straightforward.
So if you have an iPhone and yes,
you're probably gonna want to have
a lot of Apple products for the HomePod to make sense,
you'll see a little setup icon right here.
Do that and it should sync it with the Apple ID.
One thing you probably will want
with the HomePod is Apple Music.
So it does support Airplay so things like Spotify
and YouTube will work.
However, if you actually want it
to work properly just using your voice,
you're going to want to use Apple Music.
They're very specific.
The HomePod is for people who have everything Apple.
Before we get started, I'm going to give
everyone a warning.
The words Hey Siri and Hey Google are about
to be spoken many many times.
You've been warned.
- [Siri] Sorry, I can't search the webpage.
- The main reason to pick up the HomePod though is for music
and at least on paper, this sounds pretty good.
So you're getting seven microphones
that are paired up with an Apple AA chip
which not only are going to be listening for you
to call Siri but also it's going to be able
to tune the music for your specific room.
Now to do that, it uses the total of eight speakers
inside this guy.
So there's seven small speakers
that are spread out all the way around
to be able to give you a full 360 sound,
but there's also going to be a single four-inch subwoofer.
So at this point, if you have Apple Music,
you can just tell it to play a song.
However, if you're like me and use Spotify,
you're gonna have to airplay it from your phone.
So of course you're gonna be listening to this
on YouTube so everything is going to be compressed,
but we do have a microphone here to hopefully give you
a decent idea of what this sounds like in person.
Let's give it a try.
(soulful music)
I will say one thing.
This does a really good job of giving you
that full 360 sound.
No matter really where this is placed,
you're pretty much going to hear
the same thing around.
Something else is immediately apparent.
This guy, even though it's obviously
a very small speaker, has a lot of bass.
(heavy metal bass music)
It's also really apparent that they're doing
a good job of making sure it doesn't bottom out.
So even though there is a lot of bass,
it's not really overpowering the rest of the music.
And even when you crank it up to higher volumes,
it stays surprisingly well put together.
And I guess for a $350 speaker,
you hope it sounds pretty good,
but I'm pretty impressed.
Hey Siri, pause.
One thing I will say is that the microphones do
a really good job even when you're cranking it
to be able to actually hear you pretty well.
However, I think the best way of actually being able
to properly test how well this sounds is put it up
against its biggest competitor.
When I say biggest, I mean biggest,
the Google Home Max.
So if you guys are not familiar,
the Google Home Max is very much
the sort of Google competitor to the HomePod.
And yes, it is much larger, but there's a lot
of things that are going to be very similar.
So this has Google Assistant whereas this has Siri.
They both have multiple speakers inside
that are going to be working together
and they both also do have a version
or the sort of room sensing technology
that will tune the sound based on what kind
of environment that you're in.
There are some advantages to the Google Home though
including the fact that not only does it have
a USB port, but it also supports Bluetooth
as well as Aux In.
So you know if you're not living in 2018 yet,
this has got you covered.
However, the price it runs is kind of surprising.
Whereas the HomePod runs a pretty expensive $350,
Google will charge you $400 for the Google Home Max.
Hey Google, play Hotel California.
- [Assistant] Okay, Hotel California by Eagles.
("Hotel California" by Eagles)
- So at first glance, they're actually
surprisingly different.
So the Google Home Max is louder,
kind of expected with it being a much larger speaker.
However, it completely lacks that 360 directionality
of the HomePod.
So from the side, it's kind of okay,
but from the front, it is very very loud.
Now the HomePod, even though it's a little less bassey,
I think does a much better job of making sure
that you really hear all of the different instruments.
There's a lot of separation between the two.
But let me just do a few other songs
and kind of fully actually test
to see what these guys sound like.
Although to be fair, Hotel California is the only song
anyone actually needs to listen to,
but I guess I could play like two or three other songs
if you really want me to, for some weird reason.
Hey Google, play Like Whoa from Logic.
- [Assistant] Like Whoa by Logic, sure.
Playing on Spotify.
- Okay, so after listening to these both
for a little while, my impressions are pretty firm.
This sounds good.
It's decent in the vacuum, but there's a lot of bass
and it is very directional.
The HomePod, there's just so much more separation.
You hear all the different instruments.
You hear the different vocals.
Like everything is very sort of layered
whereas this, it feels a little bit flattened in comparison.
It's a good speaker, but there's no doubt,
the HomePod sounds phenomenal.
However, that's just one piece of the puzzle.
So sure, if you're just going to buy one
of these for pure audio quality,
you can stop watching now.
But I think what a lot of people are interested in is
how the actual assistants on these guys work.
Hey Google, when do the Olympics start?
- [Assistant] Competitions of the PyeongChang 2018
Olympic Winter Games begin on Wednesday,
February seventh, 2018, and ends on Sunday,
February 25th, 2018, PST.
- [Austin] Hey Siri, when do the Olympics start?
- [Siri] The 2018 Winter Olympics will be held
February ninth to the 25th in PyeongChang, South Korea.
- Hey Google, how many cups in 42 gallons?
- [Assistant] 42 US liquid gallons equals
672 US customary cups.
- Hey Siri, how many cups are in 42 gallons?
- [Siri] 42 gallons is 672 cups.
- Something I'm noticing is that Siri is
a little bit more curt and gives you
like much shorter answers where Google will
actually give you all the detail.
Hey Google, what's the news?
- [Assistant] Here's the latest news.
From NPR News Now, at 3:00 p.m. today.
- [Man] Live from NPR News...
- Hey Siri, what's the news?
- [Siri] Here's the latest news from NPR.
- Hey Google, play the latest episode of Reply All.
- [Assistant] Okay, playing the latest episode
of Reply All, number 42 Blindspot rebroadcast.
- [Man] This episode of Reply All...
- Hey Siri, play the latest episode of Reply All.
- [Siri] Sorry, I couldn't find Reply All
in your music.
If you have an Apple Music subscription.
- No, Podcast.
Hey Google, what do you think about Siri?
- [Assistant] Full respect.
Being an assistant is hard work.
- Hey Siri, what do you think about Google Assistant?
- [Siri] I think the acquisition of information
and intelligence by human beings
through a virtual assistant is a very good thing.
- (laughs) Google's like, Siri's great.
I think the information by human-like beings is excellent.
Alright, so what have we learned?
Well I think that they're actually fairly
evenly matched as far as the assistant side.
So for the basic stuff, they're going to be
very similar for things like turning on
and off your lights or kind of feeding out traffic
or the basic kind of things.
Now I think as you get to be a little more advanced,
I would give the slight edge to Google Assistant,
but I think a lot of people have sort of been
complaining about Siri.
At least based on this, they're not that far off.
Now as far as the music side goes,
it's definitely a HomePod win.
But for me, if you're not going to be
really serious about music, I think it's hard
to recommend either of these.
So in my house, I really like using
the Google Home Minis as well as the standard Google Homes.
They're much less expensive.
Unless you're really serious about the music,
they sound totally fine, especially if you're
really focused on the assistant side.
So should the Apple HomePod exist in 2018?
Yeah, it's actually not bad.
So to be fair, you need to be totally
into the Apple ecosystem.
So I'm talking Apple Music, iPhones, Macs,
the whole thing.
But if you are, this is a really
really good sounding speaker.
So I'm curious, what do you guys
actually think about HomePod?
Let me know in the comments below
and I will catch you in the next one.