Apple HomePod mini experience for less than 800 yuan is here

At the WWDC 2017 Global Developers Conference, Apple released its first smart speaker, HomePod. Three years later, Apple brought us HomePod mini.

Apple’s naming follows certain rules, and there are many products that use the suffix “mini”, such as iPhone 12 mini, Mac mini, iPad mini and HomePod mini.

Generally speaking, all Apple products named mini have one thing in common, that is, small size, affordable price and powerful enough performance. HomePod mini is no exception.

The compact HomePod mini

HomePod is 172mm high, 142mm wide, and weighs 2.5KG, while HomePod mini is only 84.3mm high, 97.9mm wide, and weighs 345g.

After opening the box, you will find that the size of HomePod mini is about the same as that of Apple.

The mini size allows you to hold the HomePod mini in one hand, like a sphere. Since the surface of the speaker is still covered with seamless mesh fabric, it feels more skin-friendly.

There is a circular touch area on the top of the HomePod mini, which users can use to adjust the volume, switch songs, and call out Siri. The white light will turn on when playing audio, and the colored light will turn on when using Siri. Compared with HomePod, the lighting range of HomePod mini will be larger.

It is worth mentioning that in order to make it easier for users to distinguish between the main and sub-speakers, Apple has made some adjustments to the touch lights on the top of the speakers. The light of the main speaker will be brighter, and the light of the sub-speaker will be dimmer.

In addition, as the indoor light becomes brighter, the light in the touch area on the top of the HomePod mini will also become brighter.

Like HomePod, the tail of HomePod mini also has a charging cable extending from the inside of the body. It has no built-in battery, so it requires an external power source.

However, the other end of the HomePod mini charging cable is a Type-C interface, and the official comes with a 20W fast charging head. Oh~ Is this environmentally friendly? You can judge for yourself.

It should be noted that the official recommendation is to use a charging head of 20W or above. A charging head below 20W may cause the HomePod mini to not work properly.

The charging cable of this Home mini is made of braided material, so it looks very textured and feels very good to the touch.

The little "commander" in the family

The connection method of HomePod mini is still simple and convenient. Just bring your iPhone or iPad close to the device, and the matching pop-up window of HomePod mini will appear. After simple settings according to the prompts, use iPhone or iPad to scan the circular area on the top of HomePod mini to complete the connection.

Of course, if you have two HomePod minis, you can also form a stereo system, which will also appear as an animated pop-up window.

Audio playback mode

In addition to using Siri to play songs from Apple Music, HomePod mini also uses AirPlay, so Android phones cannot play audio on HomePod in the same fool-proof way as iPhone.

If you are using a Windows laptop and want to use HomePod mini to play audio, you can use the Win version of the iTunes app, which is essentially an application of AirPlay technology.

In addition, you can also transfer the audio to HomePod mini by bringing the iPhone close to it. After actual experience, the transfer playback function is quite smooth to use, without any major delays, and you don’t need to bring the iPhone close to HomePod mini to activate the transfer playback function. You can also use this function to transfer calls to HomePod mini.

Of course, you can also reversely cast the audio being played by HomePod mini to your iPhone or iPad.

HomeKit

HomeKit is a smart home platform released by Apple in 2014. As the commander of the home, it is natural for HomePod mini to control the smart home.

We just happen to have a HomeKit-certified Aqara smart gateway on hand, and we can connect to the Home App by simply scanning the QR code on the packaging box with an iPhone or iPad.

Aqara smart gateway has a more intimate function, that is, it supports night light. We can control the switch of the night light through HomePod mini voice.

In addition, you can also let HomePod mini switch the color of the night light. The night light mode of Aqara smart gateway provides a variety of colors for users to choose from.

Not only that, through HomePod mini, you can control the brightness of the night light by voice, such as calling out Siri to reduce the brightness of the night light (100%) to 5%.

In addition to using HomePod mini voice to control your smart home, you can also create automated scenes in the Home App, such as going out, returning home, etc. HomeKit will automatically complete the specified operations according to your settings, just like when you get home, the lights in the living room automatically turn on.

It is worth mentioning that HomePod mini is Apple's first product equipped with Thread technology. Thread is a home IoT communication protocol technology and an IP-based wireless network protocol.

The role of Thread technology is that it has very low power consumption and can connect up to 250 devices at a time. It not only has a fast response speed but also low latency. At the same time, this also means that HomePod mini can be connected to various devices that support Thread technology, bringing users a better smart home experience.

Intercom (Broadcast)

Friends who have watched the Apple conference should have a deep impression of Intercom, because this is a feature that Apple highlighted when launching HomePod mini. Of course, HomePod also supports this feature, you just need to upgrade the firmware to the latest version. Since the factory firmware of HomePod mini already supports the broadcast function, it can be used directly.

There are two ways to activate this feature. One is to open the Home App and click the broadcast button in the upper right corner to talk directly; the other is to broadcast through Siri, for example, tell everyone that it is time for dinner.

If you place a HomePod mini in different rooms in your home, you don’t need to go to each room to notify your family. The broadcast function will do the work for you.

In addition, the broadcast function can be used in different network environments, so even if family members are outdoors, they can still use the broadcast function to pass on messages.

According to actual tests, the delay of the broadcast function is very low. Basically, you will receive the broadcast information on your Apple device in about 1-2 seconds. In order to prevent users from missing broadcast information, Apple has made a retention function, which allows users to freely switch the information they want to listen to, which is quite convenient.

Can computational audio make up for hardware deficiencies?

Many of you may be curious about the sound quality of HomePod mini. Is the computational audio technology introduced by Apple at the press conference really that amazing?

Let me first say the conclusion. The sound quality of HomePod mini naturally cannot be compared with that of its "big brother" HomePod, but in the smart speaker price range of less than 1,000 yuan, its sound quality can be said to be in the first tier.

Next, let's talk about the subjective listening experience. The mid-range vocals of HomePod mini are full and not muffled. In the treble part, even if the volume is turned up to the maximum, the sound is not distorted, but the low frequency part is a little lacking.

However, considering the size of the product, HomePod mini is only equipped with one full-range unit, two passive diaphragms and a four-microphone array. HomePod is equipped with a bass unit, seven high-frequency units and a six-microphone array. Even if HomePod mini supports spatial audio and computational audio technology, it cannot completely make up for the hardware gap.

In fact, the sound field of HomePod mini is still quite small. It is fine to use two in stereo, but the volume of a single one must be adjusted to more than 70%. If the living room is large, you may need to adjust the volume of the device to the highest.

After all, HomePod is almost several times the price, hardware, and size of HomePod mini, so there is no comparison between the two.

Is HomePod mini worth buying?

Is HomePod mini worth buying? After a few days of actual experience, our conclusion is that it is worth it.

If you are a user who has benefited from the Apple ecosystem for many years and your relatives are also Apple users, you might as well buy a few more, put one in each room, and then invite your family to your family group. In this way, you can promote the relationship between each other through HomePod mini.

Or if you just want to buy a smart speaker to listen to music, but your budget is less than 1,000 yuan, then HomePod mini would be a good choice.

Secondly, if you want to get into HomeKit smart home, HomePod mini can become your entry-level home "commander".

Through HomePod mini, we can see Apple's ambition in the smart home market. Lower prices, smaller body size, and good enough sound quality may make HomePod mini the best-selling smart speaker on the market.

However, due to Apple's closed ecosystem, many Android users are unable to use HomeKit. Secondly, there are not many smart home products that support HomeKit in China, and the prices are generally higher than other competing products on the market. I hope Apple can cooperate with more domestic smart home manufacturers to launch more related products, so that it can further expand the smart home market and allow more consumers to experience better smart home experience.