Apple HomePod Mini - The Complete Review
The iKJB Review #4
Are you looking for a new smart speaker?
Are you an Apple consumer?
Does your Home Consist of an Apple EcoSystem?
Are you someone/know someone that constantly uses Apple's products for all their personal and business needs?
Interested in a mini, affordable speaker that works even better than the original HomePod?
If any one of the above sounds like yourself or someone you know, I'd suggest trying out Apple's latest smart speaker - "The HomePod Mini".
As you may already know, the HomePod Mini is the new, smaller version of the HomePod - which released back in 2018. It consists of many great features that we'll be discussing in this post.
We'll first begin with the design of the product.
Design:
The HomePod mini is small, sphere(round)-shaped and compact in design. It's wrapped with mesh fabric and comes in two different colours: White & Space Grey. The Mini consists of a flat top, which is the interface for the device. The HomePod Mini is 3.3 inches in height and 3.9 inches wide. It has a silicone base at the bottom which helps to keep the speaker in place.
The HomePod Mini is powered by a non-detachable power cable with a USB-C Connector at the end, which is designed to work with an included 20W power adapter. Because the HomePod mini features a USB-C Connector at the end, it can be powered with a battery pack or MacBook with a USB-C port.
LIGHTS ON THE INTERFACE AND THEIR MEANINGS:
In this section, I'll briefly explain the lights that will display on the HomePod Mini, when performing certain actions.
Blue & Purple - Siri is listening, processing(when swirling) and responding to your commands & questions. When you say "Hey Siri" or press the top and no light appears on the HomePod's interface, then Siri is not awake and is not listening to your words. You must either say "Hey Siri" again or press and hold the HomePod's interface for a few seconds.
White - When music or any sort of audio is being played on the HomePod mini, a white colour light will display.
Green - When you are using the mini as a speakerphone for phone calls and when intercom messages are being played, a green light will display on the HomePod mini.
Controls:
In this section, I'll explain some of the basic interface controls needed to control the HomePod. Note, that you can control the HomePod Mini from the Home App of your iPhone/iPad.
Tap - Pause or Play Music/Audio
Double Tap - Skip to the Next Track
Triple Tap - Previous Track
Press & Hold - Wake Up Siri
(+) - Increase Volume
(-) - Decrease Volume
Intercom:
Similar to Google Broadcasts, Apple has an "Intercom" feature on their HomePod models. Intercom enables family members to communicate with one another using the HomePod, HomePod mini and other Apple Devices. This feature works with iPhones, iPads, Watches, HomePods, AirPods and even CarPlay, as well. As Siri is available on multiple devices, Intercom works across all of them. You can use your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, HomePod and CarPlay to send & receive messages. You can send and receive messages while driving, exercising at the local gym, visiting the grocery shop and anywhere outside of home.
If you have more than one HomePod in the house, you can send voice messages from one HomePod to the other by asking Siri. Your message will automatically be broadcasted so everyone can easily respond.
For Example:
You are done cooking for the family and exhausted from preparing a large meal, singlehandedly. You realize that calling all your family members to the dining table would involve constantly moving from one place to another (upstairs to the backyard to the garage and back to the kitchen). You also have to serve all your family members, which again would make you more tired. You also remember that the Kitchen HomePod mini, which you use to control your smart home & listen to music with, has an Intercom feature. You know that your tech-enthusiast son invited & connected all your family members to the HomePod. You decide to send an Intercom Message with your HomePod. How would you do that?
To send an intercom, activate Siri and say Intercom, "Dinner is ready, everyone come to the dining table." This will be sent to everyone that is connected to the Home you've created in the Home App, including those at home and those who are outside as well.
In the Home App on the iPhone and iPad, there's also an option to send Intercom messages to the HomePod mini.
If you tap on the small waveform in the upper right corner, you can record a message and press intercom below to send it to the HomePod. From my experience, this method only sends Intercom messages to the HomePod.
To reply to an intercom, say "Hey Siri," reply.
Be sure to visit the Home Settings in the Home App and modify the intercom's notification settings. Invite/connect your family members (with their Apple ID) and make sure to select and enable those who can use the Intercom feature.
Last and but definitely not least, make sure to turn Intercom with HomePod "ON" to send and receive intercom messages with your HomePod Mini.
Siri
Siri is a key part/component of the HomePod. It serves as a personal assistant for a variety of purposes, including everyday tasks, searching the web, asking questions ("How many kilograms are in a gram?"), controlling smart home accessories and listening to your favourite playlists/podcasts.
When asking Siri to play music, you can only play music from Apple Music. Apple Music offers a three month free trial period for new users - so you can try it with your new HomePod for the first 3 months and decide later.
Other music apps and third-party services, radio stations, TuneIn, News Stations, and iTunes can also be played on the HomePod mini.
You can also use the HomePod Mini as a speaker for your Apple TV or iPhone/iPad, when watching a YouTube Video or anything on Netflix.
Siri can answer queries from any person in the house and can access each of their personal content (music preferences, calendars, reminders, and more). Make sure that you add all of them to your Home Network and enable personal requests & voice recognition when setting up your HomePod.
I'll explain more about the "personalized experience" function of the HomePod, soon.
Siri Shortcuts
To use this feature, visit the Shortcuts App on your iPhone or iPad. This will take a while to set up but it sure does save some time in the long run. It's similar to taking an hour every Sunday to plan out your week's schedule.
For example,
I can set up a ShortCut where when I say/type the word "Bro" to Siri, it will automatically make a phone call to my brother. As Siri is a central component of Apple's devices and is connected with your Apple ID, it will work on all of your paired devices. With Voice Recognition & Personalized Experience, the HomePod will recognize your voice and automatically perform what you've instructed it do in the Shortcuts app.
"Hey Siri, Bro"
Your HomePod will automatically make a phone call to your brother.
Web Search:
Search the web and have the results directly sent to your phone.
When you ask Siri a complex question that requires additional information from the web or when you ask Siri to search the web for answers, it will automatically perform a web search and send the "search results" to your iPhone.
HandOff:
Sending music, podcasts, or any other type of audio from your iPhone to your smart speaker and back again has never been more easier with Apple's HandOff Feature. Turn on BlueTooth and make sure your device is connected with the same Wi-Fi Network as your HomePod Mini.
How to Use HandOff:
Bring your iPhone or iPad close to the speaker and you'll feel a vibration and see a notification appear on your device. This will let you know that the audio is being transferred to the HomePod. This process also works in reverse.
In my opinion, I'd say that this is the best feature of the HomePod Mini and is a unique feature that no other smart-speaker maker has yet incorporated into their products.
Personalized Experience:
Siri can now recognize the voices of up to 6 different family members on the HomePod Mini and will provide a personalized experience for each of them.
With Personalized Experience, Siri can recognize a particular voice and pull up that person's information from their Apple ID/iCloud, such as their Messages, Contacts, Phone, Calendar and Reminders.
It can also play music, podcasts, perform Shortcuts and provide a snapshot update of their day - including personalized news, weather, calendar appointments and reminders.
For the Siri Shortcuts example that I'd stated above, your mother and yourself have set the same shortcut("Bro") for two different people. With Personalized Experience, Siri can recognize the voice of the individual saying the command, and will perform the given action from the "Shortcuts" app.
When your mother says the word "Bro" to Siri, then Siri will make a phone call to your uncle from your mother's phone. When you say the word "Bro" to Siri, then Siri will call your brother from your phone.
This is just an example of what Siri can do with Personalized Experience. Try it out and let me know how it goes....
Review:
We've now finally come to the review/recommendation portion of the HomePod Mini; something that most of you would've scrolled down to see.
In my opinion, the HomePod mini is a great-quality speaker for the price. Apple is only a rookie in the Smart-Speaker industry and there is definitely room for improvement.
For example, Google has a feature called "Continued Conversations" on their smart speakers, which enables the user to have human-like interactions with the assistant. Another feature from Google is the "adaptive sound" feature, which automatically adjusts the volume of the speaker based on the room's surrounding volume.
But I'm confident that Apple will continue to improve their HomePods and exceed users' expectations in the upcoming years, as they've done with all their products in the past.
I would totally recommend the HomePod to anyone who is buying a smart speaker for the first time and is someone who is fully bought into Apple's Ecosystem. What I mean by Apple Ecosystem is that you should have many of Apple's products at home (iPhone, iPad, Watch, Apple TV), in order to use and enjoy this speaker to its fullest.
Everyone in your home needs to be using Apple's Products & Services in order to make the HomePod Mini worth having. The HomePod models work only with Apple's devices, so having an existing Apple device is a must.
Thank you very much! Hope this review was helpful.. Now begin exploring with the HomePod Mini..
Please do check out my YouTube Channel, as I've posted many videos relating to the HomePod Mini in English & Tamil, as well.
Regards,
iKJB
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