expired Posted by SociablePanther976 • Nov 20, 2023
Nov 20, 2023 10:23 AM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expired Posted by SociablePanther976 • Nov 20, 2023
Nov 20, 2023 10:23 AM
Costco Members: Apple HomePod mini Wi-Fi Bluetooth Smart Speaker (Various)
+ $2.99 Shipping$75
$95
21% offCostco Wholesale
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We replaced all of our Dots with HomePod Minis, and have one stereo pair in our living room, and singles in five other rooms. They sound better than the Dots, no doubt. I prefer having one company surveilling our home, and I distrust Apple less than Amazon.
We don't find 'boop-to-transfer' useful--it's actually more of an annoyance than anything, e.g. when I happen to set my phone on the kitchen counter near the Mini that sits there and it transfers playback when I didn't want that. I appreciate that it is useful for others, just not us.
We have Hue lights all over, a couple old Wemo outlets, newer TP-Link outlets, and an Ecobee thermostat, Thread support hasn't mattered. Maybe it will in the future, I'll worry about it then.
Works better? No, sorry. It works ok, but not better then Alexa devices. If you have multiple in your home they will trigger from the wrong room more than the Alexa devices did. Siri misunderstand commands more frequently. Controlling playback to multiple HomePods via Control Center can be laggy and frustrating--from an iPhone 14 and 12, not a hardware issue on that end. Another minor thing that gets really annoying: presumably as a way to make it more personable, they have Siri say 'Uh, huh?" after you say "Hey, Siri"--but it waits a second before doing it, until you are speaking your command, effectively interrupting you. And if you don't talk over it who know what your partial command might trigger.
Finally--this isn't necessarily an issue unique to Apple smart speakers--if you have kids they can get really frustrating. Our 3.5 year old knows how to say Hey Siri, and ask for music. Not a problem in and of itself, because he's asking for thing like the Batman theme song by Neal Hefti--but the problem comes when she misunderstands and starts playing some trap song that is wholly inappropriate. Siri can recognize voices for determining which user is saying a command, but you can't tell it to only recognize commands from those voices. You can disable touch-to-enable Siri for the top touch-screen, but you can't turn off the pause or play touch command or volume controls, so little hands can still mess with things.
Anyway, TLDR, I doubt a 4th-gen full size Echo sounds better than a HomePod Mini. If they are otherwise happy with the Echo, I wouldn't bother spending the money--unless space is really that tight. Nothing apart from reminders integration would be improved by Siri. If that is very important, well, go for it.
Update: Target told me they don't match sale prices but only regular prices. Boo.
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Then again, I can always stereo pair them.
Update: Target told me they don't match sale prices but only regular prices. Boo.
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We replaced all of our Dots with HomePod Minis, and have one stereo pair in our living room, and singles in five other rooms. They sound better than the Dots, no doubt. I prefer having one company surveilling our home, and I distrust Apple less than Amazon.
We don't find 'boop-to-transfer' useful--it's actually more of an annoyance than anything, e.g. when I happen to set my phone on the kitchen counter near the Mini that sits there and it transfers playback when I didn't want that. I appreciate that it is useful for others, just not us.
We have Hue lights all over, a couple old Wemo outlets, newer TP-Link outlets, and an Ecobee thermostat, Thread support hasn't mattered. Maybe it will in the future, I'll worry about it then.
Works better? No, sorry. It works ok, but not better then Alexa devices. If you have multiple in your home they will trigger from the wrong room more than the Alexa devices did. Siri misunderstand commands more frequently. Controlling playback to multiple HomePods via Control Center can be laggy and frustrating--from an iPhone 14 and 12, not a hardware issue on that end. Another minor thing that gets really annoying: presumably as a way to make it more personable, they have Siri say 'Uh, huh?" after you say "Hey, Siri"--but it waits a second before doing it, until you are speaking your command, effectively interrupting you. And if you don't talk over it who know what your partial command might trigger.
Finally--this isn't necessarily an issue unique to Apple smart speakers--if you have kids they can get really frustrating. Our 3.5 year old knows how to say Hey Siri, and ask for music. Not a problem in and of itself, because he's asking for thing like the Batman theme song by Neal Hefti--but the problem comes when she misunderstands and starts playing some trap song that is wholly inappropriate. Siri can recognize voices for determining which user is saying a command, but you can't tell it to only recognize commands from those voices. You can disable touch-to-enable Siri for the top touch-screen, but you can't turn off the pause or play touch command or volume controls, so little hands can still mess with things.
Anyway, TLDR, I doubt a 4th-gen full size Echo sounds better than a HomePod Mini. If they are otherwise happy with the Echo, I wouldn't bother spending the money--unless space is really that tight. Nothing apart from reminders integration would be improved by Siri. If that is very important, well, go for it.
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