Vratislav Holub In the extensive range of Apple products, we also find the popular HomePod mini smart speaker, which boasts support for the Siri voice assistant, great sound, compact dimensions and a low price. Apple lovers liked this piece quite quickly. Specifically, it replaced the larger HomePod, which was significantly more expensive and practically no one was interested in it. Of course, to make matters worse, the HomePod mini also functions as a so-called home center and thus completely protects the functionality of the smart home.
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The HomePod mini became a sales hit almost immediately. With this product, Apple managed to overcome the bad luck of the first model, which was simply not very interested. In any case, even in this case we would find some shortcomings. Since the voice assistant Siri does not speak Czech, the product is not even officially sold in our country, which is why we have to rely on other resellers. On the other hand Alge you can get it from 2190 CZK, while if you went directly to Germany for it, it would cost you 99 € (just under 2450 CZK). But let's leave the sale aside for now. The HomePod mini has one very fundamental shortcoming.
Support for other applications
Where voice assistants have an edge over the competition is support for third-party apps. Unfortunately, something like this is missing from the HomePod mini, and apple fans have to be satisfied with the support of what has been approved by Apple directly. Specifically, it is native Music, Notes, Reminders, Messages and others, or some music streaming platforms such as Pandora or Amazon Music (Spotify is unfortunately missing) are also supported. Thus, users cannot install the apps they need. They simply have no way.
home pod mini
However, products like Amazon Echo or Google Home are on a completely different level. They have no problem, for example, with installing the Dominos app, through which you can then order pizza. Simply say what you would like and the speaker will do the rest for you. In any case, the Dominos app is just one of many – as well as Phillips Hue for controlling smart lighting, Nest for controlling a smart home or Uber for calling a "taxi". HomePods simply lack something like that.
Why it's good to bring support to other apps
Time keeps moving forward. Thanks to this, we have at our fingertips better and smarter devices that can make our daily lives easier and more pleasant. That is why voice assistants such as HomePod mini, Google Home or Amazon Echo are an integral part of smart homes. Unfortunately, Apple has been facing considerable criticism for a long time from its own users who complain about Siri's shortcomings. It lags slightly behind its competition, which is clearly demonstrated by the absence of support for third-party applications. So Apple should definitely not delay and come with support as soon as possible. On the other hand, as we know Apple, we shouldn't be surprised if we just don't see something like this.
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God, it's so sad that you don't order a pizza or a taxi, it's enough for me as a Homekit base, man, "time goes forward" but look around you, what's going on, how 90% of people live, go to a thousand small cities, villages... you in Prague and Brno wake up! 90% of the country does not even have such a high-quality internet connection as you have in these cities, they will pick up the phone and order if they even have such a service in their area...
And how does slow internet affect HomePod performance? The speed in Mb/s units is all you need on it.
"The HomePod could only need this improvement and it would be an instant hit."
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Too many words. Instead of an article, one sentence would be enough: Siri with Czech language support.