Apple fans rejoice, the HomePod has finally been released by Apple.
The HomePod was announced in June 2017 with release stated as December 2017. However it was not until January the following year that Homepod was released and 26th of January available for pre-order. With it hitting retail stores in February, priced at £319.
HomePod comes in two colour options; Space grey or White. Apple claims not only there is high quality audio but that they have ‘revolutionized the way music sounds in a home’.
Powered by the A8 chip, the same one as used in the iPhone, the gadget incorporates Apples assistant Siri, in a very similar way to Amazon Echo range.
Spec wise the HomePod boasts six microphones along with seven tweeters, the sound quality is designed to be ‘environment adaptive’, ensuring it sounds perfect wherever it is placed. This is achieved by the tweeters adjusting the sound by monitoring its surrounding and keeping the microphone clear for voice commands even with loud music.
Support for multi-room audio and stereo pairing was also claimed in the start however these features were not available at the release time and will be added on later through a software update. Something Sonos and Amazon will be pleased about!
Streaming music to the HomePod has various options from Apple music to Beats1 live Radio or podcasts or Airplay – one big omission is Bluetooth.
Android users also take note, an iPhone or ipad is required to set up the HomePod.