Almost 2 years ago Apple discontinued the original HomePod. Leaving only, it’s smaller sibling on sale the HomePod Mini for £89. After so long I was wondering if the original HomePod would come back and whilst the HomePod Mini is pretty good little speaker for the price some people want more volume and depth which the original had. However, this week Apple has announced that the HomePod will be returning.
When I first saw the Second generation HomePod my first impressions were “Well it looks the same” BUT there is some slight small differences. On top of the device, you’ll see that there is a bigger touch screen surface with the familiar Siri colours it also looks a lot brighter.
Powering the device is the S7 chip which is the same one that you would find in the Apple Watch Series 7. The original HomePod came with the A8 chip which at the time I’m sure was great but the S7 is a lot more powerful and more with today’s times. (For reference the A8 chip was also the same as the chip powering the iPhone 6) Unlike the original HomePod however it doesn’t end there as the 2nd generation also comes with the U1 chip which I’m sure will make things like HandOff (Where you can simply place your phone near the HomePod and it will automatically transfer what you’re listening too, to the device) Actually work. I find 9 times out of 10 it does not.
It also features 2 new sensors, Temperature & Humidity. The HomePod Mini also has these 2 sensors but aren’t currently enabled however Apple have now said that in an upcoming update these will.
The original HomePod was priced at £349 and this new 2nd generation is actually £50 less costing £299. With the added sensors and newer chip your probably thinking awesome that’s not bad but in my opinion it’s still a steep asking price. First off the new device isn’t as tall (0.2 Inches less and thankfully 0.2kg lighter) comes with 2 less tweeters (A speaker) & 2 less microphones.
I personally won’t be going to be buying this new HomePod but that’s simply because I already have the original HomePod and I think anyone that does would be probably be doing the same. I’m excited to go and check it out and see how it sounds and how it performs in terms of sales for Apple in a couple of months’ time.
Something which to a lot of people is going to not really think is much of a big deal but to be honest it really is. This new second generation HomePod comes with a removeable power cord just like it’s brother the HomePod Mini. The reason this is such a big improvement to it’s predecessor is because on that one you couldn’t and with no ports at all on the device when it came to updating the device if that update would fail during the procedure it was very likely to become a bricked device as there was no way to recover or reset the software.
Also just like it’s predecessor the new HomePod has no Bluetooth features or a way of plugging in a physical device using a 3.5mm jack meaning if you have an Android device you can’t really use the device.
Apple also have announced several other items & more events. I wrote all about them and you can also check that out here -> https://kylewilkinson53.wixsite.com/kylewilkinsononline/post/apple-start-s-the-year-with-a-flurry-of-announcement-s
Thanks for reading.
Kyle Wilkinson
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All images from Apple's Newsroom here -> www.apple.com/newsroom
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