Understanding of Apple 's smart speaker "HomePod" Summary

June of 2017WWDC 2017Apple's smart speaker announced at "HomePod"is. Initially planned to be released in December 2017, but this schedule was postponed, eventually the reservation acceptance began on January 26, 2018, spanning the year, on 9th February the United States, Britain, Australia It will be released only in some areas. I tried to summarize what kind of smart speakers made by Apple that had not been clarified for a long time since WWDC 2017 was announced.

HomePod - Apple
https://www.apple.com/homepod/

HomePod arrives February 9, available to order this Friday - Apple
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/01/homepod-arrives-february-9-available-to-order-this-friday/

The columnar speaker HomePod wrapped in mesh as a whole is able to reproduce the sound faithful to the original sound by Apple's developed audio technology and state-of-the-art software. Color is developed in two colors, the left is space gray, the right is white. The size is 172 mm in height × 142 mm in width (diameter), weighs 2.5 kg.


The top part is like this. Since HomePod is equipped with Siri, you can also operate by voice, but you can tap on the top to play / pause music, double tap to skip songs, return to the previous song with triple tap, + / - icon You can tap to adjust the volume. Continue to tap the top surface, rainbow colored light is displayed on the top, so even if you talk to Siri it will be OK sign.


You can see how it shines by looking at the following movie.

Introducing HomePod - Apple - YouTube


The internal structure is as follows, near the top is the heart of HomePodA8 chipIn addition, high excursion Woofer, 6 microphone arrays, 7 tweeter arrays etc are built in.


A8 chip isiPhone 6And iPad mini 4,6th generation iPod touch,4 th generation Apple TVIt is the same chip that is mounted on etc. Buffering is faster than real-time, direct up-mix of voice and peripheral voice,Beam forming, Advanced echo cancellation etc. become possible.

The high excursion Woofer is equipped with a custom amplifier, it is possible to realize a deep and rich bass. As a speaker of this size also incorporates a rare 20 mm diaphragm, it has a low frequency adjustment algorithm to analyze the sound and provide a smooth, immersive sound, so anyway it is strong for bass pattern.

In addition, you can enjoy excellent sounds from all angles with 7 beamforming tweeter arrays. The seven tweeter arrays are arranged in a unique array, each with an amplifier and a transducer, each custom designed with precise acoustic horn. This will accurately recognize every space and deliver faithful sound to the original sound no matter where the user is in the room.

It is equipped with six microphone arrays designed to enable Siri's voice control by capturing the voice of the user. For example, even while talking to HomePod from the other side of the room while streaming music at a loud volume, HomePod seems to hear the voice of the user firmly.

Also, as with magic, setting HomePod is momentary, and the corresponding iOS terminal instantaneously detects HomePod by simply turning on the power. As mentioned above, since it has excellent spatial recognition capability with seven beamforming tweeter arrays, no matter where the HomePod is placed in the room, it automatically analyzes the sound and adjusts the sound. By emitting sound directly to the center of the room and reflecting and diffusing on the walls etc. on the left and right of the room, HomePod sounds immersive using direct sound and reflected sound in the room It is possible to deliver it anywhere.


Also, if two HomePods are placed in the same room, it will automatically detect each other, balance the sound, it will be possible to provide a sound more immersive than conventional stereo. In addition, it is also possible to place HomePod in multiple rooms, in which case each HomePod communicates with each other via AirPlay 2 to decide whether to play the same music at the same place or to play another music . You can also manage other AirPlay 2 compatible speakers with HomePod. However, functions using multiple HomePods will be provided in the latter part of the year 2018 with free software updates.

In addition, HomePod is an audio file format compatible with lossless compressionFLAC, So it is possible to enjoy speech data without deteriorationclearIt is becoming. In addition, the overseas media that has experienced the actual machineappleinsiderAccording to HomePod's sound quality, "I am better than the sound quality of competing products such as Google Home Max, the latest Amazon Echo, Sonos One".


As Apple says "HomePod was created to bring out the best of Apple Music", HomePod can use Apple Music of an all-you-can-eat music streaming delivery service with over 45 million songs. Also, since it is equipped with Siri, you can play various songs simply by talking to you, you can also learn the tastes of the user's music and send recommended music. When a person using Apple Music is in the communication range of HomePod, connecting to the same Wi - Fi makes it possible to stream music at any time.

Others report Apple related news9to 5MacAccording to HomePod alone, music purchased from iTunes and radio content "Apple 1" distributed by Apple and podcasts can be played back. "HomePod was created to bring out the best of Apple Music", but it does not seem to necessarily have to play music as a monthly member of Apple Music. Also, at the time of article creation, HomePod does not support music streaming service like Spotify, but you can play Spotify application on iOS terminal, skip to HomePod on AirPlay and use Spotify in simulated way.


Since HomePod is equipped with Siri, you can have the news read aloud, have traffic information taught, weather you are taught. It is also possible to manage tasks and get reminders registered, so you can talk to a specific person and exchange messages. Other third party applicationsSiriKitYou can use HomePod if you use. According to Apple, applications such as WhatsApp, Things, Evernote can be used from HomePod via Siri. According to appleinsider who touched the real machine, since Siri is set not to read user's personal information when there is no terminal which is registered on HomePod on the main registration, there is also concern that personal information will leak unintentionally There is none.

In addition, HomePod can also play the role of a hub that controls smart appliances, so you can turn off the light or turn on the air conditioner just by talking to it. The corresponding smart home appliancesHomeKitIt's compatible, you can check what the Apple Store checks. Although HomeKit compatible home appliances are managed by home application, it will be possible to control by voice from HomePod.

HomeKit - All Accessories - Apple (Japan)


The method of pairing between HomePod and iOS terminal has also been clarified, and it can be checked from the following. To pair HomePod and iOS device firstApple ID 2 Factor AuthenticationWheniCloud keychainYou need to enable it. Thereafter, it is necessary to pair with the passcode, and as a method to obtain the passcode, "How to let the iOS terminal pairing special sounds generated by HomePod" and "Siri to 4 digit There are two ways to ask the user to pass the passcode and manually input this to the iOS terminal.

HomePod Setup - YouTube


To subscribe to AppleCare for HomePod you need an extra $ 39 (about 4,300 yen), as with other devices, small external appearance damage and other functions that do not affect functionality will be unsupported.

The selling price of HomePod is 349 dollars (about 38,000 yen), it was released on February 9, 2018 in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and deployment in France and Germany is decided this spring. The time of release in Japan is yet to be determined.