Apple HomePod: Everything to Know Before Buying in India

Apple hasn’t made any main adjustments to the HomePod offered in India in comparison with what was initially launched within the US. However, if you happen to’re extraordinarily observant, you’ll discover that the India model does not have a braided energy cable. When we checked with Apple, the corporate couldn’t verify a cause for this.

Setup solely takes a few minutes. All you want is to plug your HomePod into an influence socket after which deliver a appropriate iPhone or iPad near it. The HomePod will recognise it and replica your Apple ID particulars and preferences over robotically. You’ll get on-screen prompts that that you must faucet one-by-one to finish the setup course of. It’s even simpler than organising a sensible TV, and is much like the way you get began with any current new Apple product. The setup course of for the HomePod is much better than what you will get with an Amazon Echo or Google Nest machine.

Apple HomePod supplies a straightforward setup to iPhone customers

No, you need not do something after organising your HomePod. It makes use of its microphones to robotically sense the scale of your room and its relative place, and can use this to ship you an optimum sound. Apple calls this “Spatial Awareness.” We had been in a position to take pleasure in a room-filling sound expertise in a 15×10-foot room, with soothing lows and mids in addition to crisp highs. However, you aren’t getting an adjustable equaliser to tweak the sound profile as per your preferences. You can manually regulate EQ settings within the Apple Music app or no matter different music app or supply machine that you simply use with the HomePod, although.

Apple has supplied highly effective sufficient microphones that do not require you to return very near the HomePod to talk with Siri or management your music. While Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant on our Amazon Echo and Google Nest units would typically fail to grasp what we had been saying when standing in numerous components of our room, on account of ambient noise and music that was taking part in from a TV in the identical room, we discovered that the HomePod was in a position to catch most of our instructions with none noticeable delay.

Yes, Siri has been educated to grasp what individuals say in easy English, even with an Indian accent. We requested a number of individuals of various age teams to attempt utilizing Siri, and the outcomes had been acceptable for all of them.

You want an iPhone, iPad, or iPod contact to arrange your HomePod. The listing of appropriate fashions consists of the iPhone 5s and later, all iPad Pros, iPad (5th generation), iPad Air and later, iPad mini 2 and later, and iPod contact (sixth era). The machine that you simply’re connecting together with your HomePod additionally must run no less than iOS 13.3.1. Once related and configured, you’ll be able to play audio tracks out of your good TV or MacBook by way of AirPlay. There’s no official help for Android customers, although. You can’t use Bluetooth to pair laptops, smartphones, or different supply units, and there are not any bodily inputs.

The HomePod requires an Apple Music subscription for you to have the ability to use its full music performance. This means which you can’t ask Siri to stream your favorite music tracks if you do not have Apple Music. At least that is now available at Rs. 99 a month, and Apple says its assortment consists of over 60 million songs and tens of 1000’s of playlists. You may use AirPlay to stream music saved in your native Apple Music library, or from apps comparable to Amazon Prime Music, Spotify, or YouTube Music on a appropriate machine. You may ask Siri in your HomePod to play music saved in your native library.

Apple HomePod requires an Apple Music subscription to ship you a full-fledged expertise

Yes, you’ll be able to play songs from any third-party app, however solely by way of AirPlay. You cannot ask Siri to play your favorite music from a third-party app. This implies that if you wish to use voice instructions to play a selected monitor, you’ll have to use Apple Music. This is not like how one can play music straight from third-party apps together with Amazon Prime Music, Gaana, JioSaavn, Spotify, and YouTube Music on an Amazon Echo or Google Nest speaker. Even Siri on the iPhone allows you to play music from third-party apps.

No, Siri does not perceive any Indic language together with Hindi but. With the iOS 13.3.1 update in late January, Apple launched help for Indian English Siri voices on the HomePod. There is not any phrase on when or whether or not Hindi help will likely be added. You ought to decide an Amazon Echo or a Google Nest if you happen to would favor to make use of Hindi instructions. However, the HomePod does presently help Cantonese, French, German, Mandarin, and Spanish.

The HomePod, via its Siri integration and Apple Music help, is able to appropriately recognising the names of many standard Indian albums, songs, and singers. We succeeded in asking Siri on the HomePod to play a number of Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, and Punjabi songs. It was additionally in a position to perceive singer names comparable to Bir Singh, Dijit Dosanjh, Nimrat Khaira, Shreya Ghoshal, SP Balasubrahmanyam, Tarsem Jassar, and PB Sreenivas. Similarly, we had been profitable when asking it to play tracks together with Awara Hoon, Baapu Tere Karke, Ivan Yaara Magano, and Phire Elam Dure Giye.

Yes, you’ll be able to ask your HomePod to go forwards or backwards, and pause or play a tune utilizing your voice instructions. You may regulate the quantity by telling Siri on the HomePod what you need.

The contact panel on the HomePod allows you to management your music manually. There are quantity buttons that seem if you’re taking part in a tune or talking with somebody on a cellphone name. You can faucet the panel to pause or play a monitor, double-tap to go to the following monitor, and triple-tap to go to the earlier monitor.

Apple HomePod supplies guide quantity controls whereas taking part in an audio

Yes, you’ll be able to ask Siri in your HomePod in regards to the present climate, close by locations, or any basic data questions that you simply may need. It makes use of the Internet to supply solutions to most of your questions immediately.

Yes, you’ll be able to ask Siri on the HomePod to set an alarm or timer. You may set a reminder for a selected process after enabling the Personal Requests option utilizing the Home app in your iPhone or iPad.

Siri does help contextual replies, which implies you’ll be able to ask follow-up inquiries to some extent based mostly on the solutions to a earlier query. The characteristic is presently fairly restricted in scope, although.

You can definitely ask Siri in your HomePod to ship a message or learn what you have obtained. To ship a brand new message, all that you must do is say, “Hey Siri, send a message to [contact name].” You can then communicate your message. After that, Siri will ask you if you happen to’re able to ship it to your contact. The HomePod additionally allows you to hear your messages learn out to you. However, it does not present any alerts if you obtain a brand new message. In addition to textual content messages, Siri on the HomePod additionally works with third-party apps together with Skype for iPhone and WhatsApp.

Yes, you’ll be able to ask Siri in your HomePod to make a cellphone name for you. You may reply your calls straight on the HomePod, and you’ll examine for missed calls in your cellphone. Further, you’ll be able to ask Siri to play your most up-to-date voicemail. It is, nevertheless, necessary to spotlight that the HomePod does not make any sound when a cellphone name is available in, identical to you aren’t getting notified of any new messages until you have already got your cellphone on you. Also, you will not be capable to use an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) that requires keypad enter out of your aspect.

No, identical to with messages and cellphone calls, the HomePod does not help iPhone system audio. This implies that if you happen to get an e mail or message on an app comparable to Slack or WhatsApp in your iPhone, you will not get its notification alert out of your HomePod.

No, Apple hasn’t supplied any ports — not even a 3.5mm audio enter — to allow you to plug something into the HomePod utilizing a cable.

Apple has supplied Bluetooth connectivity on the HomePod, however that is restricted to its proprietary options. This implies that you can not use the HomePod as a Bluetooth speaker.

Apple has built-in HomeEquipment help into the HomePod to allow you to management supported good lights, switches, followers, and sensors utilizing voice instructions. You may arrange routines by way of the Shortcuts app in your iPhone or iPad to let the HomePod execute sequences of actions robotically. That stated, the listing of HomeEquipment-supported units is proscribed when relative to good units that help Alexa and Google Assistant.

The cable obtainable with the HomePod isn’t formally detachable, however there are some tales on the Web that describe methods to take away it. We do not advocate you to take action as this may void your official guarantee. You might want to go to an Apple service centre if in case you have any hassle with the cable.

Apple has provided a HomePod multiuser option in sure markets that lets customers arrange the speaker as a household machine, and permits Siri to personalise experiences for as much as six customers. However, this characteristic is not but obtainable in India when utilizing the “English (India)” language setting.

Apple HomePod has a multiuser choice, however it’s but to be obtainable for Indian customers

Yes, you’ll be able to disable Siri on the HomePod by saying “Hey Siri, stop listening!”, or via the Home app. There is not any devoted swap on the HomePod to do that. Once you have deactivated Siri, you’ll be able to solely restore it utilizing the Home app in your iPhone or iPad.

Apple hasn’t carried out any solution to allow you to take a look at your historical past of interactions with Siri. You can ask the assistant to repeat what was stated to it final, however that is restricted to a couple minutes.

Yes, you’ll be able to delete your Siri interactions by way of the HomePod by going to Siri History> Delete Siri History from the HomePod settings in your Home app.

Yes, Apple has carried out stereo pairing on the HomePod by way of AirPlay 2. This allows a 3D surround-sound expertise.