Quick Thoughts on the HomePod Mini: Ambient Siri
Siri has been around a long time, 10 years next year and its been a slow, but progressive climb up the hill. Apple started off ahead of most people when they introduced Siri with the iPhone 4, but when Google and Amazon came into the smart assistant market they rocketed ahead. Siri still lags because both of them, namely with general queries with Google and Home Automation support with Alexa, but over the last two years Siri has improved with its multi-person support, more “facts”, Siri Shortcut support, Daily updates, multi-music support (Finally), multiple timers (A sillier finally), and more. As opposed to Alexa though, I have Siri with me all the time. Android users who use Google Nest speakers have had this for years, but for the first time I have Siri everywhere I go. Siri is my digital assistant that’s presents on the following:
- Apple Watch
- AppleTV
- Mac
- iPad
- Carplay
- HomePod
- AirPods
As an Apple user, this concept of having a singular digital assistant everyone is novel, but its still nice to have finally. Me having Nest Home Mini’s and a Nest Home Hub, Google Assistant has always a been a big draw of Android.
Its been a few years since I’ve had an modern Android phone and WearOS watch, but before my GS7 started to fade I did appreciate being able to do things like set a reminder on my smart speaker and have it show up on my watch or phone or issue a command on my watch and have it control my smart home gear. I have been running 2x digital assistants for years now and therefore 2x separate smart homes.
For me, the one thing I have really appreciated with having one voice assistant is consistent commands and services. When I set a reminder on the HomePods, it saves to my reminders app and when I set a scene in HomeKit, it is the same command as my smartphone. As dumb as it sounds, it really cuts down on the cognitive load of controls a smart home, especially in the evenings when you are tired. I still find Siri lacking in being able to randomly ask questions, but having as it an extension of my phone’s reminders, calendar, HomeKit, My Briefing, and Siri Shortcuts is useful and being able to play Apple Music and Podcasts has been great, especially with Airplay 2’s multi-room support. I listen to a lot of podcasts so this has been particularly nice. As somebody who works with a lot of technology at work and as a hobby, having my personal gear all work together seamlessly is much appreciated. I enjoy tinkering with things of course, but there are times that I am in a hurry, tired, or trying to focus on other stuff and things “Just working” is nice.
Overall, I have been very happy with the Homepod Mini joining my larger HomePods. It makes a lot of sense in rooms like a bedroom that are not big enough to justify the full Homepod. I don’t think you can go wrong with Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri at this point, just pick the one that makes the most sense for you. If your household uses a lot of Apple gear and services like Apple Music or Homekit I think you’ll like the Homepod Mini a lot.
-Hobie 🦖
“Hey Siri, What’s my update?”
