Reviews Glow for HomePod's Sound, But Price, 'Walled Garden' Approach Temper Views

Early reviews of Apple’s long-awaited Siri-powered HomePod, due Friday, were long on praise for sound quality but critical about the smart speaker’s limited reach and $349 price tag. TechCrunch created a chart showing the pluses and minuses in an article answering the question of whether consumers should buy what it called “easily the best-sounding mainstream smart speaker ever.” The answer was yes to consumers who have $350 to plunk down on a speaker, own at least one iOS device, have an Apple Music subscription, use a smart assistant and use Siri (we thought the last two should be combined as one). But TechCrunch reviewer Matthew Panzarino saw Siri as a caveat. He credited HomePod as “vastly outstripping” other smart speakers in the ability to hear users trying to trigger a command at a distance and while music is playing, “but its overall flexibility is stymied by the limited command sets that the Siri protocol offers.” The Verge’s Nilay Patel said HomePod “sounds amazing” but “is that enough?” He’s never described a tech product as “lonely” before, but HomePod “demands that you live entirely inside Apple’s ecosystem in a way that even Apple’s other products do not.” The question for consumers is: “Is beautiful sound quality worth locking yourself even more tightly into a walled garden?” Patel said. The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern tweeted the HomePod "sounds incredible -- and not just for its size. But Siri is like that sesame bagel on the bottom while Google and Amazon are the everythings.” CNET said in a review: “The HomePod has great sound, but it's trapped in Apple's world.” CNET reviewer Ry Crist ran a price check, listing a string of gear consumers could get for the price of an iPhone 64 GB X and HomePod ($1,350). "Here's what else $1,350 will buy you: 64GB Google Pixel 2; Google Daydream VR headset; Amazon Echo (2nd gen); Amazon Echo Dot; 55" 4K TCL Roku TV; 4-bulb Philips Hue White Kit," he said.