{"id":470,"date":"2020-05-12T21:33:35","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T16:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kunaldua.local\/blog\/?p=470"},"modified":"2020-05-13T18:18:37","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T12:48:37","slug":"homepod-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/12\/homepod-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"HomePod Finally Available In India \u2014\u00a0Thoughts Of A Long-Term User"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The HomePod is <a href=\"https:\/\/gadgets.ndtv.com\/audio\/news\/apple-homepod-availability-price-in-india-rs-19900-specifications-features-2226846\">finally available in India<\/a>, roughly three-and-a-half months after Apple <a href=\"https:\/\/gadgets.ndtv.com\/audio\/news\/apple-homepod-price-in-india-rs-19900-availability-launch-soon-specifications-2171331\">announced<\/a> its India launch and released a <a href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-us\/HT208714\">software update<\/a> that enabled Siri support for English (India) on the device. The Rs. 19,900 price tag is a pleasant surprise if you compare it to the official price in the US ($299), but it\u2019s exactly what you would expect if you take in the unofficial market price, which stands at $199.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been using a HomePod \u2014 in both India and Sweden \u2014 since March 2018 and my experience is pretty much in line with what you might have read elsewhere. In a nutshell, it&#8217;s by far and away the best-sounding smart speaker available in India right now. While the newest high-end Echo devices feature much-improved sound quality, nothing comes close to the richness, clarity, and sheer loudness that the HomePod can offer.<\/p>\n<p>However, Siri\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/gadgets.ndtv.com\/mobiles\/reviews\/iphone-11-pro-max-review-india-price-2102690\">well-documented<\/a> shortcomings mean that it, sadly, falls short as far as the \u201csmarts\u201d are concerned. While adding support for English (India) means that the HomePod is now as good as Siri on iOS in understanding Indian accents and \u2018Indianisms\u2019 (like Bollywood song names), its ability to offer useful answers and information is just as limited as that of the iPhone.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The difference HomePod\u2019s support for English (India) makes, an illustration <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/szHb3zwZQG\">pic.twitter.com\/szHb3zwZQG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kunal Dua (@duak) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/duak\/status\/1222409304281681920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 29, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>At home, we use our HomePod regularly to set timers and to look up weather, something we\u2019ve been doing a lot more frequently since we <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/duak\/status\/1219154333310300161?s=20\">moved to Stockholm<\/a>, as the weather plays a much bigger part in day-to-day lives in this part of the world. Other HomePod features like <a href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-us\/HT208322\">personal requests<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imore.com\/homepod-gains-significant-siri-shortcuts-capabilities-ios-1312\">Siri Shortcuts<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-us\/HT208940\">HomeKit-support<\/a> haven\u2019t gained any traction in our household.<\/p>\n<p>The boy will ask Siri to play the occasional tune, but I\u2019ve noticed he now turns to Alexa more often, probably having been scared by the \u201cSorry, I\u2019m having trouble\u2026\u201d response that the HomePod used to give every once-in-a-while until I figured out how to solve the problem for good (more on that in a later post). Of course the real reason he turns to the Echo Spot for his music requests is that he likes seeing lyrics as he\u2019s listening to a song, and that he doesn\u2019t mind the tinny sound.<\/p>\n<p>But the most use we get out of our HomePod every day is by using it as a speaker for our Apple TV over AirPlay. We\u2019ve been cord-cutters for the best part of a couple of years now, which means we do 100 percent of our TV viewing via the Apple TV, and the HomePod is our audio output device of choice.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-471\" src=\"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Apple_iOS_11.4_supports_new_HomePod_music_control_05292018.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"677\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Apple_iOS_11.4_supports_new_HomePod_music_control_05292018.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Apple_iOS_11.4_supports_new_HomePod_music_control_05292018-600x339.jpg 600w, https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Apple_iOS_11.4_supports_new_HomePod_music_control_05292018-768x433.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/duak\/status\/1200275693440925696?s=20\">Minor annoyances<\/a> aside, this works really well, and at various points I\u2019ve considered adding another HomePod to the setup, what with <a href=\"https:\/\/slickdeals.net\/newsearch.php?src=SearchBarV2&amp;q=homepod&amp;searcharea=deals&amp;searchin=first\">$199 sales extremely common<\/a> in the US, and enjoying a <a href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-us\/HT208807\">true stereo pair<\/a>. The only thing that\u2019s stopped me from doing that is long-term \u2014 and I mean <em>really\u00a0<\/em>long-term \u2014\u00a0question marks over the utility of the product.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve already invested nearly $400 in a HomePod (yes, I am one of the \u201csuckers\u201d who bought it at full retail prices when it first launched in the US) knowing fully well that this device will one day become a very expensive (albeit beautiful) paperweight.<\/p>\n<p>One day, in the mid- to long-term future, Apple will stop shipping HomePod firmware updates. And some day, Siri will no longer work on the device because Apple has moved on to a new voice-based assistant. And finally, WiFi and AirPlay standards on the HomePod will go out of date and will no longer be compatible with the digital infrastructure of the time.<\/p>\n<p>Once all that happens \u2014 and that day will surely come \u2014 the HomePod, like many other smart devices that rely entirely on modern interfaces like wireless audio, will be completely useless.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-472\" src=\"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/homepod-siri-interact.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1137\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/homepod-siri-interact.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/homepod-siri-interact-600x569.jpg 600w, https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/homepod-siri-interact-768x728.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Which brings me to the biggest thing I wish the HomePod did differently \u2014 it should have shipped with an aux-in port. I know that makes me sound like the one dude who still complains about the iPhone\u2019s missing headphone jack (hi, @<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/reckless\">reckless<\/a>) but it\u2019s the inclusion of this \u201clegacy\u201d port that would\u2019ve made the HomePod a truly \u201cfuture-proof\u201d product. Let me explain.<\/p>\n<p>Before I cut the cord and switched entirely to the current Apple TV + HomePod setup, I had a whole host of devices connected to an A\/V receiver. And the device I was using for my audio needs was a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnet.com\/reviews\/cambridge-soundworks-radio-cd-740-review\/\">Cambridge SoundWorks Radiio CD 740<\/a> unit that I love for the same reasons I love the HomePod \u2014 it\u2019s relatively compact (for what you get), and the sound quality is top-notch.<\/p>\n<p>I paid top dollars for both products at purchase (and didn\u2019t mind doing that for the most part), but I can\u2019t imagine I will have my HomePod hooked on to my TV in 2038, the same way the 740 I bought nearly twenty years ago is still connected to my TV back home in India \u2014 all thanks to the good-old aux-in port.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The HomePod is finally available in India, roughly three-and-a-half months after Apple announced its India launch and released a software update that enabled Siri support for English (India) on the device. The Rs. 19,900 price tag is a pleasant surprise if you compare it to the official price in the US ($299), but it\u2019s exactly<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/12\/homepod-in-india\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8220;HomePod Finally Available In India \u2014\u00a0Thoughts Of A Long-Term User&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Multi-Room-audio-Apple-HomePod_white_05292018.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":488,"href":"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions\/488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kunaldua.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}