No Spotify? That's not so smart, Apple: ROB WAUGH reviews the HomePod (and issues a warning over leaving it on polished tables)

By Rob Waugh Event for The Mail on Sunday

Published: | Updated:

GADGET OF THE WEEK 

Apple HomePod, £319

Rating:

I think I reached the pinnacle of 'smart speaker' enjoyment by making mine say 'I can see you' behind my five-year-old son, while I watched his expression of pure terror live on my webcam.

With this sort of exquisite experience on offer, no wonder so many of us are buying them.

Apple has arrived late to the party, but its HomePod speaker is instantly the best-sounding smart speaker out there.

Apple's HomePod speaker is instantly the best-sounding smart speaker out there

Apple's HomePod speaker is instantly the best-sounding smart speaker out there

Music tends to be what you actually use these things for, once you tire of asking them to tell you jokes and Googling the ages of celebrities. I'm sad, I know.

Apple's 7in speaker offers big, room-filling sound and is armed with clever tech that means it adjusts itself perfectly to wherever it's placed in a room.

Don't leave it on polished tables, though: it can mark the surface due to its rubbery base.

At £319 a go, it's also brutally expensive – you could buy eight Echo Dots for the price.

And when it comes to doing anything else bar listening to Apple Music, the wheels come off the bus. 

It's lacking functions (no calendar, no recipes), and you can't lock it to your voice, so there's the scary prospect of your kids using it to set an alarm for 4am or texting your boss (unless you disable the function altogether).

Annoyingly, it won't work with Spotify at all: the voice-controlled music only works if you pay another £10 a month to subscribe to Apple Music.

No doubt HomePod will evolve – but for now, it may not be quite 'smart' enough to justify that thumping great price tag. 

Apple

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