Apple HomePod release date, news and features

Unveiled at WWDC 2017, the Apple HomePod is Apple's answer to the Amazon Echo and Google Home, equipped with the existing Siri voice assistant that we're familiar with from its inclusion on the iPhone.

After first appearing on phones, voice assistants entered the home in a big way with the Amazon Echo, a speaker that was equipped with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant.

While Apple has had a voice assistant, Siri, on its phones for some time now, it has so far been left behind when it comes to smart speakers. Competitor Google brought its own voice assistant to dedicated hardware with the Google Home speaker last year.

Rumors have been circulating for a while now that both Microsoft and Apple are planning on bringing their voice assistants, Cortana and Siri respectively, to the home in the form of smart speakers, and at WWDC 2017 Apple finally announced its version.

We first heard reports of Apple employees testing the 'Apple Speaker' in their own homes in September 2016, and another round of rumors suggests this home testing is still ongoing. More recently we've heard rumors that the speaker is actually entering production, making an imminent reveal looking ever more likely.

There's also been word on the Apple street that the speaker is going to be shaped like a Mac Pro - just a bit smaller.

So, read on for all the information we have so far about Apple’s HomePod.

Cut to the chase

What is it? A smart speaker equipped with Apple’s Siri voice assistant
When is it out? December 2017 in the US, UK and Australia
What will it cost? The speaker will cost $349

Apple Siri Speaker release date

The Apple HomePod will be released in December 2017 at a price of $349.

It will be available in both white and space gray.

Apple Siri Speaker features

Apple has confirmed that the new speaker will be spacially aware, so it should know how to optimise its sound to suit your home. It can detect the space that it's in, directing channels as appropriate depending on its location.

The HomePod is equipped with 7 tweeters on its base, a 4-inch upward-facing woofer. You can also pair two of the speakers together for a stereo configuration.

The speaker is equipped with 6 microphones that it will use to listen for voice commands. You can not only use it to control music, but you can also ask it questions about the music that's currently playing, such as for the name's of band members.

Apple boasts that the microphone array is intelligent enough to cancel out background noise so that the speaker can hear you over the sound of its own music.

The speaker is also compatible with a number of non-music features, such as reminders, giving weather information, and controlling HomeKit supported smart home devices.

Check out our full list of the devices that work, or will work, with Apple HomeKit.

However, Siri has some significant problems compared to competing voice services.

For example, it heavily prioritises Apple’s own apps rather than allowing you to use alternatives. Ask Siri to play some music, and it will only be able to play songs that are located in your Apple Music app.

This is in contrast to both Alexa and Google Assistant, which both allow you to use a music app of your choice, rather than restricting you to Amazon Prime Music and Google Play music respectively.

Amazon has been especially open with allowing developers to integrate their services into its smart speakers. It allows the creation of ‘Skills’ which essentially act as apps for the smart speaker, and so far there have been over 10,000 of them created for the speaker.

On a basic intelligence level, Siri also has a number of problems. Ask it when the Mona Lisa was painted (the year 1503, art buffs), and the voice assistant will happily tell you that ‘the answer is one thousand, five hundred and three,’ rather than being intelligent enough to realise that the year should be read aloud as ‘fifteen oh-three’.

Of course there’s always the chance that Apple will put significant effort into improving Siri before the technology finds its way into a smart speaker. Google did a similar thing when it overhauled Google Now, creating Google Assistant, in the months before the Google Home was released.

Meanwhile, recent comments by Apple VP Phil Schiller suggest Apple is thinking along the lines of a Siri speaker with an integrated screen - so basically just a big iPad with better audio, then?

Facial recognition

Previously, smart speakers focussed entirely on the voice, and recognising the commands that are spoken by the user.

However, there are some rumors that Apple’s rumored smart speaker might feature facial recognition via a built-in camera.

The technology could be used to recognise which users are interacting with the device, allowing it to cater to their individual preferences in music or lighting.

Over the past two years Apple has acquired the facial recognition startups Faceshift and Emotient, which suggests that such technology is something that the company is exploring.

Apple’s speaker would not be the first to feature a built-in camera. The recently announced Amazon Echo Look has a built in camera, which is used to recognise and recommend clothing choices.

Google Home recently added the ability to recognise users based on the sound of their voice, and we’d imagine that Apple would want to feature similar functionality if it wants to compete with the existing major players in the market.

Emotion sensing

Related to the facial recognition capability is a recent rumor that the smart speaker will be able to recognise user’s emotions.

We’re not entirely sure what this could end up adding to the overall user experience, but it’s funny to think that the speaker could theoretically play different music depending on how it reads your mood.

Beats technology

Another recent rumor points towards the device making use of ‘some form of Beats technology’, although it’s unclear exactly what this could be.

Apple needs to improve Siri’s ability to recognise our voice, since we’ve found that its current implementation on phones can be a little flaky. Could a Beats-built microphone fit the bill?

The big development with Beats headphones over the last year has been the introduction of Apple's new W1 bluetooth chip, which makes it a lot easier to pair the headphones to an iPhone, and also improves battery life.

Obviously that latter point isn't as important for a speaker that's likely to be mains, rather than battery, powered, but it would be a great feature if the speaker could be easily paired to your phone by simply holding it close by. Could this perhaps be another way of identifying the user – by proximity to the W1 chip?

Apple Siri Speaker AirPlay

The Amazon Echo Dot has a 3.5mm audio jack output that allows it to plug into a stereo, and Google Home integrates with the Chromecast.

Allegedly Apple’s Siri speaker will offer similar functionality thanks to an integration with Apple’s AirPlay technology, which allows users to stream video and audio from their phone to a television or stereo respectively.

This would allow the speaker to be less reliant on its on-board speaker for audio output, meaning you hopefully won't have to put up with weak, tinny sound if you want to use it to listen to music.

A new challenger has entered the arena

Smart speakers are one of the most unexpected and cool technologies to have come out over the past couple of years, and interesting to see each of the technology giants repurposing their existing voice assistants to work in a home context.

Apple isn't the only one with such a device on the horizon. Microsoft appears to be readying a home speaker equipped with its Cortana voice assistant, and between that and Google's existing smart speaker efforts, the market is set to get crowded very quickly.

Apple has a real chance of standing out when it comes to its home automation efforts thanks to HomeKit, but it's not as strong when it comes to integrating with non-Apple services such as Spotify.

Apple's next major conference is set to be WWDC in June, but as previously mentioned, we would be surprised to see a hardware reveal come out of the software-focussed show.

Then again when it comes to Apple anything is possible, so keep your eyes trained on the McEnery Convention Centre in San Jose from 5-9 June for any new information about Apple's voice controlled ambitions.

Contributer : Techradar - All the latest technology news http://ift.tt/2swOY8R