HomePod Availability is Tightening Ahead of Friday's Launch

If that's a review ... i had to stop halfway, because it's a nonsense.

Let me guess how it will go: only negative or less than positive reviews will be considered real reviews. Everything else will be discounted as the person being an Apple shill not wanting to lose their early access to Apple products.

This for playing music...

Or more precisely, this is for playing Apple Music. ;)

Or more precisely, this is for playing Apple Music. ;)

It has airplay, and soon airplay 2, so it will play anything, but yes, it seem to shock some, works best with Apple Music.

Here's the first HomePod review that I've seen that actually goes into more depth than previous articles.

https://techpinions.com/you-cant-unhear-apples-homepod/52182

Though, almost to a review, they praised the sound quality. And this is after using the HP in their own environments. I suppose Apple could have given them units with different speakers inside, but why, really?

The reviews just confirm what Apple has advertised, and what the demos demoed: That the HomePod produces excellent sound. They also confirm that Siri isn't better on the HomePod than it is on other Apple devices (but it isn't worse, so if you are satisfied with Siri that's not a negative). Finally, they point out that the HP only supports Apple Music as a built-in service, which is how Apple designed it. Nevada is not Vermont, so if you want Vermont, you probably won't like Nevada. But if you're looking for Nevada, there's no better one than Nevada. Pointing out that it isn't Vermont is only a negative to those who want it to be Vermont. I don't use Spotify, so I don't care if HomePod supports it.

I don’t get writing a review based on what you wanted something to be vs what it was designed to be. Apple pitched the HomePod as high quality speaker first, minimal smart assistant second and cross platform never. So yeah if you have an Android phone and Spotify account HomePod isn’t for you. Apple never said it would be. if you’re reviewing HomePod based on things Apple never promised you’re doing it wrong.

A bunch of pre-release demo reviewers touted over and over recently because they were generally-to-very favorable on the product in their demo and "first look" (not-a-review) articles, are about to be bashed and marginalized for daring to now write down tangible cons in their official reviews.

So very right last week, yet likely to become so very wrong this week. What changed?

To be fair, the reviews I've read so far all praise the sound quality and most of the criticism is aimed at the limitations due to Siri and the walled garden, which realistically has been expected since the HomePod was announced.

If you are camped entirely in Apple's ecosystem it sounds like it could be a great addition to your home, if you use products and services from other companies then you will probably be better served going elsewhere.