Object Capture: HomePod mini, by Apple
Apple's HomePod mini is a rare show of price-led restraint from the design-led company. At $99, this smart speaker costs the same as a portable iPhone battery or a Watch band made of yarn, yet it's built to the same high standards as the rest of Apple's upmarket catalogue.
The speaker takes a spherical form with portions lopped off opposing ends. Enveloping the sphere is an acoustically-transparent mesh, thick and intricately woven with a crosshatch pattern, ending in a lip at the top. This lends softness and depth to the design whilst hiding various microphone and screw holes. A rubber circle sits at the base for stability. It's remarkably pleasant in the hand for an object meant to be placed once and left to function without intervention. A color-matched braided cable juts out the back, at its end a USB Type-C connector, and a 20W power adapter is even included in the box.
With a glossy plastic touch-sensitive surface on top, the whole thing resembles a bulbous cup overflowing with some sort of liquid audio essence. This metaphor strengthens with Handoff, a feature allowing you to transfer audio from your phone to the HomePod mini by holding your phone near the top of the speaker. I'd liken this to pouring liquid from flask to cup.
I sometimes skip this charming ritual in favor of selecting the HomePod mini as an output device from my phone's control center, which works more consistently. Audio playback is near effortless either way.
The top surface responds to taps in a variety of ways. Touching the printed plus or minus icons adjusts volume, a quick tap on the center pauses and resumes audio, and a longer tap on the center activates Siri. These features are nice if the speaker sits beside you, but voice commands are the easier method of control.
The HomePod mini is exceptional at picking up voice commands in even the most challenging conditions. In fact, what convinced me to purchase a second one days after the first was the fact that it can register my normal speaking voice over the noise of a shower. It's almost too good at this— sometimes I try to summon Siri on my Watch in the kitchen, but my bathroom HomePod mini responds instead from twenty feet away.
The handsfree "Hey Siri" trigger and following commands are picked up by an integrated three-microphone array, and one of four selected voices will respond back, with a flurry of abstract colored blobs on the top surface. As a voice assistant, Siri nails the basics for media playback, and other functions like weather, reminders, and messaging. The HomePod mini tragically lacks support for native Spotify playback, so you can't just ask Siri to play music unless you have Apple Music or another compatible streaming service. This ball is in Spotify's court as the HomePod platform has been an open one for over a year now. Ongoing legal drama means Spotify support is far off, if it shows up at all.
Like the name implies, it's a tiny little thing, so tiny that Apple refuses to capitalize the "m" in mini. Standing at a short and stout 3.3 inches, it occupies less space on a table than your coffee mug, which is in stark contrast to its sound. A single one of these has enough volume to fill a room and then some. Apple's good at audio in nonstandard form factors— this has precedent. I'm no audiophile, but I have much to praise. Synths are rendered rich with detail and sparkle, while drums show off impressive bass. I'd easily believe I was hearing a speaker four times its size. At times, the sound gets a bit congested with complex songs, but this is rare. Two HomePod minis can also be paired as a stereo set though my experience with this is limited.
Corners were surely cut to meet the $99 price point, but they're few and far between. The only one I noticed upon unboxing was the box itself— white seams were visible at the edges of the black box. Apple's other boxes avoid these imperfections with smooth corner wraps. I think this is a smart little compromise, like many more that go largely unnoticed.
HomePod mini box, image courtesy of
POGProductionz
iPhone 12 Pro Max box, image courtesy of
zollotech
I worry for the future of a device like this, one so tied into an arbitrary ecosystem. You need Apple devices to use the HomePod mini. The lack of bluetooth audio support or an auxiliary port spells out death if (and when) Apple changes the AirPlay protocol, which will inevitably leave all of these speakers as beautiful, beautiful bricks.
That said, in the year 2021, provided you have the right devices, the HomePod mini is a rare example of world-class design at an accessible price. I give it my full recommendation.
Whew, that's two weekly posts in a row. This pace is satisfying but will not be the norm. Let me know your thoughts on this, and thanks kindly for reading!