It’s always exciting to get our hands on newly launched products, and Apple JUST dropped HomePod and HomePod Mini in SINGAPORE (6 April 2023)! This is honestly a long time coming, with HomePod being around since 2018, but not made available locally.
HomePod in Midnight
What is HomePod?
If you don’t know what HomePod is – in a nutshell, HomePod is a dynamic powerhouse that seamlessly integrates Apple hardware, software, and services to deliver a legendary audio experience that would fill your room easily.
HomePod in Midnight
How’s the audio?
HomePod delivers an unparalleled audio experience with deep bass and amazing high frequencies, allowing users to enjoy all the fidelity of the music just as the artist intended. With the robust design, room sensing and Spatial Audio support, this is the most suitable audio companion for your home set up.
Close up of HomePod in White
What is Room Sensing?
Room sensing is an interesting feature to the HomePod, allowing it to listen for sound reflections and adapt accordingly to leverage the directional control of its beamforming tweeters array to sift out direct and ambient audio.
Reduction in Ambient Sound
Speaking of the beamforming array of five tweeters, your HomePod can direct sound down and out the bottom to prevent unwanted table reflections to meddle with the sound output. Think of it as a powerful smart audio device that delivers strong audio performance – to listen to your favourite tunes, ask Siri to help you with tasks, or chat with your friends over a phone call – completely hands-free.
Close up of HomePod in Midnight
Illuminated Touch Surface
HomePod now features a touch surface that illuminates from edge to edge, and comes in 2 gorgeous colours – White, and Midnight. The touch surface gives you access to quick controls and pulsates a different colour depending on your action. It shows a white pulse when media is playing, multicoloured when Siri is activated, and shows a green hue when a phone call is active or Sound Recognition check-in is in progress.
HomePod in White – Living room setting
Supported Apps
Wrapped in a seamless mesh fabric, HomePod supports a wide range of apps – from Apple Music, to popular third-party services including podcasts and radio stations, you can even activate remastered ambient sounds to complement your favourite music.
HomePod mini in Orange
What is HomePod mini?
HomePod mini stands at just 3.3″ tall and fits easily into any space like a perfect side piece. Powered by Apple-designed S5 chip, the HomePod mini delivers exceptional audio with optimised loudness, adjustable dynamic range in real-time.
Close up of HomePod in Orange
Hands-Free Experience
Designed to be a hands-free experience, HomePod mini can be activated just by using your voice for any function you require. Simply say ‘Hey Siri’ and your request would be fulfilled. If you still prefer to have a hands-on experience with your HomePod mini, the colour-matched touch surface on top is quite easy to navigate.
Source: Apple
Multi-room Experience
Looking for a multi-room audio experience? Add HomePod and HomePod mini to multiple rooms throughout the house and they can play the same music everywhere – in perfect sync, or a different song in every room if you prefer. AirPlay-enabled TVs can also be part of the fun to create a truly home sound system that’s unique to your space. One is never enough~
Source: Apple
How to Set HomePod Up?
To set up your HomePod / HomePod mini, do ensure that your iPhone is updated to iOS 16.4 or iPad is updated to iPadOS 16.4. Once HomePod is set up, do update it to version 16.4 in the Home app to enjoy the full suite of features.
Close up of HomePod in White
With my place being dominated by Apple products, it takes no convincing for me to want to get a HomePod (or two) to spruce up my living space. Can’t get any better than having a full ecosystem of Apple products in one’s house to drive excellent performance across all devices~
Where to Order?
HomePod comes in 2 colours (White and Midnight) and starts from S$429 here.
Source: Apple
HomePod mini comes in 5 colours (White, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Space Grey) and starts from S$139 here.
