The HomePod Mini is Apple's most recent and only smart speaker currently offered by the
company now that the regular HomePod has been discontinued.
I've been using one for over the past six months and to be honest when I first got it,
I didn't think there was any way I was going to be recommending this thing after six months
of use, but I do recommend it.
So, I'll tell you why, what do I like about it, and what are some of the downsides to
using a HomePod Mini, and first up let's talk about the setup process and overall design.
The setup process was really fast.
It took me maybe two minutes to set up.
You just bring your IPhone close to the HomePod mini like you would with AirPods and your
phone will recognize the HomePod Mini and instructions will appear on your phone to
guide you through the setup process.
The HomePod Mini’s design is pretty nice in my opinion, and I love the blurred LED
lights Apple uses at the top to indicate different actions like when Siri’s talking to you
or you're making a phone call or transferring music or other media to the speaker.
The only thing you'll want to keep in mind with the space grey version that I have is
the top part will show dust and fingerprints very easily.
Also the power chord cannot be detached from the HomePod Mini itself which might make it
more annoying to you if you're moving a HomePod Mini around a lot.
But for me over the long term, this hasn't been an issue.
In terms of sound, for its price, the HomePod Mini sounds good.
Vocals are clear and there is some bass though, it's not room-filling bass.
For comparison to the Nest Audio, which competes with the HomePod Mini, both are good with
treble and clearness with vocals but I'd give the edge to the Nest Audio with bass.
It produces a more punchy bass to me than the HomePod Mini.
Now when turned up to max volume, the HomePod Mini doesn't seem to produce any distortion
at all, which is impressive.
For a better soundstage, you can also stereo pair two HomePod Minis together.
One of the main ways to control music and media on the HomePod Mini and this gives it
a unique advantage over a lot of the competition is AirPlay.
Airplay is Apple's proprietary tech that allows you to cast media from an Apple device like
an iPhone, iPad, Mac or even an Apple Watch to another device like an Apple TV, or HomePod
Mini.
AirPlay is built into every Apple product at the system level similar to Google's cast
support on Android and other Google devices.
Not only can you AirPlay music from an Apple device over to the HomePod mini, but if you
have a newer iPhone like an iPhone 11 or iPhone 12 that have a U1 chip, when you bring your
phone near the HomePod Mini, it'll start to vibrate and if you bring it close enough almost
touching the top of it, it'll automatically transfer the media plane on your phone to
the HomePod Mini.
And when you're done listening on the HomePod Mini, you can just bring your phone back to
it and pick up the media back on your phone.
This was a feature I thought would just be a cool party trick originally, but I've actually
used it quite a bit over the past six months because it's easy and it works really well.
Another thing Apple makes it really easy to do with the HomePod Mini is group speakers
into speaker groups to play media at the same time.
And it's also easy to do on the fly as well.
Plus the best thing is it'll work with any AirPlay 2 speaker like my Onkyo receiver.
The HomePod Mini also features simple controls on the device itself for playback.
Just tap the top to play or pause media and there are volume symbols and into the top
plastic for volume controls.
You can also tap and hold the top of the device to summon Siri which is the predominant way
to interact with the HomePod Mini.
Siri can help you do all sorts of things on the HomePod Mini and while it can't technically
do as many things as the Amazon Assistant or the Google Assistant, it can do most of
the things people want a smart assistant to do on a smart speaker, like playing music,
setting timers...
Siri: “All right.
I've added it to reminders.”
Helping you find your Apple devices.
Siri: “Looking for Josh's iPhone.
It's nearby.
Pinging Josh's iPhone now.”
Calling or texting someone, and controlling your smart home devices.
Siri: “Okay, the Josh's bedroom lights are off.”
In general, I found Siri’s responses to be quite a bit faster than my Google Assistant
speakers I have around to my home.
Josh: “What's the weather?”
Siri: “It's currently clear in 37 degrees…”
Google Assistant: “Currently 36 degrees…”
Where I especially notice it speed is with controlling smart home devices like turning
off my lights or my TV through my Apple TV 4K.
The phone call and text message functionality is another feature that I've used quite a
bit on the HomePod mini and it's actually pretty unique to the HomePod mini experience
because Amazon and Google Assistant speakers, they will let you make outgoing phone calls,
but the HomePod Mini takes this a step further by allowing you to transfer a call from your
phone or other Apple device over to it.
And text message support is another thing that's unique to the HomePod Mini and has
worked flawlessly for me.
Over the past six months, the last feature I want to point out that works really well
is Apple's intercom feature.
It allows you to broadcast a message from one HomePod Mini to another HomePod Mini in
your household as well as other Apple devices.
Siri: “Okay, sending an intercom to everyone in my home...Dinner is ready.”
So those are all of the things that I like about the HomePod Mini.
Now let's talk downsides and the one major downside of the HomePod Mini experience right
now is music service availability.
You can only ask Siri to play from Apple Music, Pandora, and Deezer, but not from Spotify,
YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or Tidal.
If you use one of those services, you'll need to use AirPlay to stream music and media from
your Apple device to the HomePod Mini.
Now, if any of this changes, we’ll post an update in a comment below, so make sure
you check that out and while you're down there, you know, hit that subscribe button.
Another small disappointment with the HomePod Mini is that you can't use it to ping AirTags
which feels like a miss.
When I ask my HomePod Mini to find my keys, for example...Siri: “Looking for Josh's
keys.
You'll need to continue on iPhone.”
The last potential downside that I want to mention is there's no physical mute button
on the HomePod Mini itself.
The mics can be muted through the HomePod Mini Settings in the Apple Home app but not
through a hardware switch.
Now, maybe Apple has done enough with its marketing and technology stack around privacy
where it's earned your trust and this is not going to be that big of a deal to you or it
may be.
Now personally I rarely use the mute switch on my Google Assistant speaker, so this isn't
that big of a downside to me, but again, it may be to you.
So that's the HomePod Mini.
Whether you want to use it to listen to podcasts, music, the radio or set timers, reminders,
control your smart home devices, or just ask Siri things like the weather, the news, adding
events to your calendar, and broadcast with the intercom feature it does a lot and even
some things it's rivals can't do like the music and media handoff, and phone call and
text messaging functionality thanks to its tight integration within the Apple ecosystem.
Now do I recommend the HomePod Mini?
Actually yes, but only for specific types of users.
This device is only going to appeal to people already in the Apple ecosystem and if you're
already in the Apple ecosystem, but you use Spotify, YouTube Music, or Amazon Music and
you mainly want to use your smart speaker for playing music, the HomePod mini actually
may be a speaker to skip for now until those services are available on it.
If you're looking for just a general smart speaker that does a lot of things as well,
I think it makes a great smart speaker plus Siri is wicked fast on it.
The Apple HomePod Mini retails for $99 US dollars and comes in either space gray or
white, both of which look great in person and can be purchased at a variety of retailers.
I hope you found this video helpful and informative and if you did and liked it, make sure you
hit that thumbs up button below and subscribe to the channel to see more 6 Months Later
Reviews like this one on Apple and other tech products.
For 6 Months Later, I'm Josh Teder, thanks for watching.