Apple Details HomePod's Gesture Controls for Siri and Music Playback

Tuesday January 23, 2018 7:03 AM PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today updated its HomePod product page with new details about the speaker's gesture controls for Siri and audio playback.


Apple has confirmed that users can tap the top of the HomePod to play, pause, skip a song, or adjust the volume, or touch and hold to talk to Siri. A colorful, animated LED waveform will appear when Siri is listening.

A single tap plays or pauses music, a double tap skips to the next track, and a triple trap returns to the previous track. Tapping and holding the digital plus or minus sign raises or lowers the speaker's volume respectively.


The touch and hold gesture to invoke Siri is in addition to the "Hey Siri" voice command that can be said from anywhere in a room.

Apple today announced that the HomePod will be available to order starting Friday, January 26, with in-store availability and orders arriving to customers starting Friday, February 9, in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Apple also revealed some other HomePod information today: the speaker will launch in France and Germany this spring, while multi-room audio and stereo sound support for multiple HomePods will be included in a software update later this year.

HomePod comes in White or Space Gray and is priced at $349 in the United States, £319 in the United Kingdom, and $499 in Australia.

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26 comments


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-Garry-
9 months ago
Earlier today I asked Siri to make a calendar entry for 1:25pm. Siri interpreted this as 1 20 5 PM and spat out her dummy.

And that’s the reason I could never spend £319 on this, regardless of the sound quality.
Rating: 7 Votes
Avatar
omihek
9 months ago

I asked Siri to "Set me a reminder for tomorrow", she did, I got a reminder that read "tomorrow" :(

I told Siri to "remind me to text Grandpa tomorrow". She texted Grandpa "tomorrow" right then.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
Mike Oxard
9 months ago

Earlier today I asked Siri to make a calendar entry for 1:25pm. Siri interpreted this as 1 20 5 PM and spat out her dummy.

And that’s the reason I could never spend £319 on this, regardless of the sound quality.

I asked Siri to "Set me a reminder for tomorrow", she did, I got a reminder that read "tomorrow" :(
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
JTR555
9 months ago

Do they expect me to always get up and go to HomePod to interact with it? I thought it was all about voice?


Exactly. Plus multiroom sometime later this year? They needed this to come out before Christmas and since they delayed it, they needed a product that was all around ahead of where Amazon Echo and Google Home are now. Other than quality of the speaker, I don’t get the impression they accomplished that. I’m glad I broke down and got Echoes and Echo Dots earlier this month.
Rating: 4 Votes
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sblemmy
9 months ago
HomePod seems rather underwhelming. Having said that, I'll likely end up getting one to replace my Sonos Play:1, which has great sound quality but a less than stellar interface for using Apple Music. Really, I can only see the HomePod appealing to people like me.
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
poppe
9 months ago

Earlier today I asked Siri to make a calendar entry for 1:25pm. Siri interpreted this as 1 20 5 PM and spat out her dummy.

And that’s the reason I could never spend £319 on this, regardless of the sound quality.


I ask siri to take me to the nearest Target and even though I'm heading towards one that is 4 miles away on the freeway in the direction I'm traveling - while using AppleMaps - she tries to tell me the nearest one to me is 17 miles to it and in the opposite direction of what I'm traveling.

Siri and suck it. She pushes me closer to getting off the apple train and that's someone who is deep in the sandbox with the watch, the phone, the tv, a laptop, and all my accounts synced in between and what have you.

I'm extremely skeptical she'll work better than where she is currently at which seems to some how have taken two steps backwards and five steps diagonally. The Amazon Echo can hear me in a room where people are talking and the TV is on, but Siri can barely do Hey siri in a quiet room if someone else is talking.
Rating: 2 Votes
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Braderunner
9 months ago

Earlier today I asked Siri to make a calendar entry for 1:25pm. Siri interpreted this as 1 20 5 PM and spat out her dummy.

And that’s the reason I could never spend £319 on this, regardless of the sound quality.

Siri needs a lot of work. I work on a college campus. Yesterday I asked Siri to "remind me to go to room three hundred one" at a certain time. She had "300 one". I mean, sure, I knew what she meant. And the reminder was good enough to remind me. But....
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
omihek
9 months ago

AirPods can stream from any app loaded on your phone, right? So maybe my question is whether those apps can be loaded onto the HomePod.

Haven't seen anything to suggest you can load apps on the HomePod, but I would be surprised if you aren't able to stream audio from any app loaded on your phone, just like AirPods.
Rating: 1 Votes
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omihek
9 months ago

Lots of questions about how this product will work. For instance, can it stream from any source other than Apple Music? Podcasts? From third-party apps, such as NPR One?

I would guess it will stream from anything the AirPods can, meaning audio from any source including third-party apps.
Rating: 1 Votes
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omihek
9 months ago

...Why did you send it once Siri said, “Ok, I’ve written a message to Grandpa that says “tomorrow”. Would you like me to send it?”

Siri doesn’t randomly text someone without confirmation.

I wasn't paying attention and thought she was asking me to confirm the reminder to text him tomorrow so I told her to go ahead and do it. My mistake and my fault, but she could have been more helpful.
Rating: 1 Votes
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