Apple HomePod 2 Review: I'm Confused
Apple HomePod 2 Review: I'm Confused
The second generation HomePod is really good. And really bad.
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Speaker provided by Apple for review.
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Content
0.48 -> foreign
6.52 -> [Music]
7.11 -> [Applause]
14.93 -> [Music]
23.72 -> look who we have here Mr shiny and new
27.72 -> hey what's up uh why do you sound
29.699 -> sarcastic no no we're we're just joking
31.679 -> it looks just like Greg welcome back we
33.719 -> were wondering if we'd see you again
35.16 -> what do you mean again I'm brand new I
38.219 -> just came out look at this what is he
40.68 -> talking about I think it was that
42.12 -> software update Craig we know it's you
44.12 -> no I said I'm brand new my my name is
47.219 -> Tim what are you oh God you got me there
50.16 -> Craig very funny very good he still
52.44 -> loves me who is Steve still loves me
54.539 -> Steve still loves me Steve still loves
56.64 -> me oh my God
62.699 -> new homepod old homepod okay new homepod
66.659 -> got it so this new home pod the second
68.58 -> generation homepod that's just come out
70.14 -> is one of the most confusing new Apple
73.2 -> products I've seen in a long time we
75.54 -> just reviewed the 10th generation iPad
77.04 -> which was already pretty weird but this
78.78 -> one is incredible so just a little
81 -> history recap for context so the
82.56 -> original homepod came out in 2018. it
85.259 -> was a 350 dollar Siri enabled smart
88.38 -> speaker with excellent sound really
90.78 -> impressive engineering Rock Solid build
92.64 -> quality and a non-removable cable it
95.28 -> kind of flopped and not a lot of people
96.84 -> bought it Apple then decided to lower
98.82 -> the price a bit from 350 to 300 which
101.64 -> they almost never do so that's a pretty
103.32 -> good sign of how well things were doing
104.64 -> apparently it peaked at around six
107.1 -> percent of Home Smart speaker market
109.38 -> share which honestly is higher than I
111.18 -> would have thought and eventually they
112.619 -> caved and came out with a homepod mini a
115.079 -> much smaller version of basically the
116.759 -> same exact thing but now it's 99 bucks
119.04 -> this one started selling much better for
121.32 -> obvious reasons and eventually the big
123.119 -> homepod was just deleted from their site
125.46 -> in 2021 it was discontinued but now it's
128.039 -> back
128.819 -> it's new and improved it's but it's it's
132.18 -> like didn't you try this already I mean
134.28 -> I should say this is to be fair it is a
136.739 -> better product in a couple small ways
138.3 -> it's kind of hard to tell just by
139.739 -> looking at it from the outside but
141 -> here's what's actually new fundamentally
143.16 -> it's the same layout in almost the same
145.739 -> size you can see slightly different
147.239 -> proportions here the new one is a little
149.52 -> bit more Stout I guess you could say and
151.68 -> while we're at it this is actually a new
153.42 -> color which is called Midnight instead
155.879 -> of the original space gray you might
157.92 -> remember the name from The Midnight
159.48 -> iPhone color which is mostly black but
162.239 -> with the tiniest hint of blue and that
164.58 -> is here too then up top the touch
166.379 -> surface is roughly the same size but
168.06 -> it's inset a little bit this time and
170.16 -> the display covers the whole circle
172.019 -> instead of just a small portion in the
173.879 -> middle so anytime you're talking to it
175.379 -> or adjusting the volume or talking to
177.12 -> Siri a little it's just a little more
178.98 -> vibrant up there and then they've also
180.48 -> clearly listened to some of the feedback
182.459 -> because the power cable is now fully
185.099 -> removable designed to be removed unlike
187.56 -> the last one so you can feed it up
188.76 -> behind a desk or a table or something
190.62 -> when you're setting it up but also do
192.54 -> you remember that weird story where the
194.159 -> original homepods white plastic bottom
196.379 -> was staining wooden tables we confirmed
199.08 -> it with our own it would only take like
200.22 -> one to two minutes of sitting on a
201.54 -> wooden table doing absolutely nothing
203.04 -> for it to leave a permanent white ring
205.019 -> on that table naturally we tried the
207.36 -> same thing with the new one which does
209.22 -> have a bit of a redesigned base to
210.959 -> spread out that surface area
213 -> and it takes longer but it actually
215.459 -> still does stain with a slightly
217.92 -> different pattern but it does in fact
220.2 -> still stain wooden tables this is your
222.659 -> PSA if you get the white home pod do not
225.12 -> expect it to not stain your table what
227.64 -> else oh inside there are two new sensors
229.68 -> there's a temperature sensor and a
231.299 -> humidity sensor which is nice to have
233.28 -> hey Siri what's the temperature
236.519 -> it's currently 49 degrees
238.92 -> that's outside hey Siri what's the
241.14 -> temperature in here
244.26 -> it's 71 degrees Fahrenheit in the office
246.48 -> and so you can sort of like calibrate
248.22 -> that to sync up with our smart home
250.319 -> actions let's say the humidity gets
252 -> below a certain number you turn on your
253.739 -> smart humidifier or your temperature
255.659 -> gets over 75 degrees you turn on your
258.18 -> fan your AC stuff like that it's cool to
259.979 -> have it built in instead of needing a
261.72 -> separate sensor like I have with my
263.82 -> Google home setup and there's also a new
265.62 -> sound recognition feature so if homepod
268.08 -> with its microphones here's an alarm or
270.36 -> a smoke detector or something like that
271.62 -> it'll send a notification to your phone
273.419 -> which obviously doesn't make sense if
274.86 -> you're home but if you're away and a
277.32 -> smoke detector goes off and you get a
278.699 -> notification on your phone you will now
280.139 -> know to check the cameras in your home
282.479 -> or something like that to see what's
283.62 -> going on good to know I should also
285.84 -> mention though that the 99 homepod mini
289.199 -> that I mentioned earlier also already
291.479 -> secretly had those sensors and they're
293.88 -> being activated by the latest homepod
295.44 -> software update along with the sound
297.3 -> recognition feature and matter support
299.58 -> it's the new homepod and mini actually
301.56 -> have a thread radio which means they can
303.24 -> be used as a matter hub but there is now
305.4 -> that matter support across the board
306.96 -> really the biggest change though is
308.46 -> actually what they've removed so we
311.16 -> talked about the homepod being a feat of
312.9 -> audio engineering in this little compact
314.82 -> package if you took a cross section of
316.5 -> the original homepod you'd see a woofer
318.3 -> on Top seven tweeters all the way around
320.58 -> the outside playing in every direction
321.96 -> and then six far-field microphones
325.08 -> in this new homepod this midnight
328.139 -> homepod here you'd actually have the
330.24 -> same woofer but you now have five
331.979 -> tweeters around the outside and four
334.44 -> far-field microphones so they removed
337.08 -> two tweeters removed two microphones and
341.16 -> removed fifty dollars from the price tag
343.44 -> so on one hand I guess I should be
345.36 -> impressed that it still sounds every bit
348.36 -> as good to me as the original despite
350.52 -> lesser internal Hardware now typical
352.62 -> disclaimer I'm no audio file but I've
354.9 -> listened to a lot of good speakers in my
356.46 -> time and after some quality time with
358.44 -> the homepod yeah it still sounds really
360.72 -> good it still has this super crisp and
362.699 -> balanced and not distorted sound in a
365.34 -> variety of environments and a variety of
367.5 -> volumes which is really important you
369.06 -> still get that satisfying thump from the
371.46 -> woofer and the low sub bass Rumble even
373.919 -> at lower volumes which is awesome and it
376.259 -> uses computational audio to adjust the
378 -> sound based on how close it is to a wall
379.68 -> so if you're plugging it into an outlet
381.3 -> you're probably kind of close to a wall
382.979 -> it figures out its location with the
384.9 -> shape shape of the room is and adjust
386.699 -> from there and you can put two together
388.5 -> for a stereo pair that puts out sound
390.9 -> much bigger than it looks like it's
393.06 -> supposed to it can even actually give
394.86 -> you full Dolby Atmos setup here they
397.199 -> actually they keep showing these setups
398.58 -> of it being your TV speakers and every
400.319 -> time I see this it looks silly because
401.759 -> it's like okay you got these you got six
404.28 -> hundred dollars of speakers here for a
405.9 -> 300 TV and I'm not sure if this is a
408.06 -> real setup that exists anywhere but
410.4 -> honestly they sound good enough that in
413.039 -> a smaller room you really could get away
415.02 -> with this and no subwoofer they sound
416.88 -> that good so it's impressive it's a feat
419.1 -> of audio engineering like I said
421.44 -> but on the other hand
423.12 -> so is the last one and this is basically
426.36 -> the same exact proposition that flopped
428.88 -> on its face before it's still an
431.039 -> expensive premium audio product with
434.039 -> Siri I got we were just talking about
435.419 -> ratings on the waveform podcast recently
437.22 -> I'll link that episode below the like
438.72 -> button if you want to watch it but
440.22 -> basically the the thing about products
442.259 -> like this is It's hard to give it like a
444.24 -> number rating because it is a really
446.699 -> good product and a really bad product at
449.16 -> the same time like both are true like if
451.62 -> you're just buying it to be a speaker
453.539 -> for your iPhone and Apple music it's
456.36 -> really good it's it's the best one
458.039 -> clearly it's got incredible sound
459.479 -> quality the versatility of going
461.22 -> anywhere in the room and still sounding
462.78 -> good the quick pairing and beaming
464.759 -> feature with your iPhone the far field
466.74 -> mics can hear you pretty much at any
468.599 -> volume from across the room but this is
471.18 -> still a bad smart speaker like it still
474.18 -> won't set Spotify as its default music
476.46 -> app it still cannot pair to anything
478.68 -> that's not an iPhone or something with
480.599 -> AirPlay and it cannot be used as a pure
482.759 -> Bluetooth speaker there's still no audio
484.62 -> jack it still doesn't have a screen that
486.419 -> can actually tell you anything or
487.86 -> display background things like running
489.479 -> timers and at the end of the day it's
491.58 -> still a Series Speaker which means I
493.74 -> mean I did a whole video on Siri versus
495.3 -> Google Assistant versus the others but
497.16 -> just to keep it simple Siri is still
499.08 -> very limited and pretty bad so it's the
501.66 -> same as the it's going to flop again
503.699 -> right like is fixing the non-removable
505.74 -> speaker going to be the reason why this
507.66 -> doesn't flop no is the larger better
511.56 -> display on the top going to be the
512.82 -> reason the homepod is suddenly a success
514.56 -> no is the 50 price drop Gonna Save it
517.56 -> it's it's good but it's not massive it's
520.62 -> still super expensive the thing that we
522.36 -> learned with the homepod when it came
524.039 -> out
524.88 -> and we kind of knew this already but as
526.62 -> people don't really for the most part
528.899 -> like paying a huge premium just for
531.779 -> sound quality and that's why the mini
533.64 -> came out and was functionally the same
535.32 -> product but didn't sound as good and
537.42 -> that sold way more because it was
538.92 -> cheaper maybe Apple just doesn't care
540.66 -> anymore they spent the money developing
542.7 -> it they might as well like they they're
544.019 -> ignoring the sunken cost fallacy and
545.76 -> they're just like we gotta just try
547.5 -> again maybe we were too early we'll just
549.18 -> ship the thing now and see if people
550.5 -> want it this time I don't know tough to
552.66 -> say here's a conclusion if you are such
555.06 -> a fan of Apple products and sound
558.48 -> quality that you want to hear exactly
561.899 -> how bad Siri is and Crystal Clear high
564.24 -> definition Dolby Atmos even
566.16 -> then this is a smart speaker for you but
569.04 -> for everyone else there's still the
571.14 -> homepod mini and for everyone else there
573.54 -> are other options from Google and Amazon
576.12 -> that are frankly much better smart
578.339 -> speakers not Samsung though that Bixby
580.74 -> smart speaker straight up never came out
582.72 -> don't think I forgot about that Samsung
584.82 -> so you know we know Siri sucks but at
587.58 -> least Siri sucks seamlessly on a smart
591 -> speaker that sounds pretty sweet
594.6 -> thanks for watching
596.16 -> catch you the next one
597.959 -> foreign
600.8 -> [Music]
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvqZCMGjh3s