Apple HomePod 2nd Gen Review
Our first look at Apple's second premium smart speaker, the HomePod (2nd gen), which features improved audio and new smart home features.
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00:00 (soft music)
00:02 It's been two years since Apple discontinued
00:07 its original smart speaker,
00:09 and now it's back with the aptly named
00:11 HomePod second generation.
00:12 All right, so let's open up the bottom here.
00:17 Ooh, that's nice looking right there.
00:21 So here's the HomePod.
00:23 It looks a lot like the original one.
00:26 One of the first things I noticed
00:27 that's different from the original
00:29 is that the power cord is now separate.
00:32 On the original HomePod and on the HomePod mini,
00:34 the power cord was hardwired in here.
00:37 So if it broke, then you had to replace
00:39 basically the whole unit, which kind of sucked.
00:41 There's a little tab on the bottom, pull this off.
00:45 Now, another big issue with the original HomePod,
00:48 which I think has been fixed with this one,
00:50 was that the original HomePod had a little silicone base,
00:53 and if you left it on some wood furniture,
00:55 it would actually leave a big white mark.
00:57 That was a big problem, and it looks like
01:00 that this is made of a different material,
01:03 so hopefully it shouldn't be a problem.
01:05 We'll peel off the top here,
01:06 and you can see, like the original HomePod,
01:09 this one also has a circular touchscreen,
01:12 so there's nothing much else in the box
01:14 except for the power cord here,
01:17 and that plugs right in the back.
01:19 Outwardly, the new HomePod looks pretty much
01:27 like the original, but inside is where
01:30 all the changes have happened.
01:31 Both of them have one large speaker at the top here
01:34 that's facing upwards, and they both have
01:36 an array of tweeters around the bottom.
01:38 However, the second HomePod only has five along the bottom,
01:42 whereas the original had seven.
01:44 So obviously, Apple made some improvements
01:46 and realized it only needed five rather than seven,
01:49 and they're also angled upwards more,
01:51 so you shouldn't get as many reflections off of a surface.
01:54 Also, the new HomePod is Matter-compliant.
01:57 Matter is a new smart home standard
01:59 that should make it easier to connect devices
02:01 like smart plugs and switches and things like that.
02:04 Another cool feature of the HomePod 2
02:07 is that it'll be able to listen for a smoke
02:09 or a carbon monoxide detector and then send you an alert.
02:12 Now, this is something that has already existed
02:14 in Amazon's Alexa devices for a while now,
02:18 but it's good to see it coming to Apple's products too.
02:24 Now, setting things up.
02:25 There we go, there we go.
02:27 Now, pick a room, then you can set up personal requests
02:30 so that it can listen to your voice,
02:33 and Siri will give you reminders for various things.
02:37 Apple does make it pretty easy
02:38 to set up things through HomeKit.
02:40 All right, so now we're all set up.
02:43 Hey, Siri, what's the weather today?
02:46 - Should be sunny in New York, New York today.
02:48 Daytime temperatures will hover around 55 degrees,
02:51 with overnight lows around 36 degrees.
02:54 - The display is a lot more colorful than the original one.
02:57 It's a little bit larger too,
02:59 so, but let's find out what this HomePod really sounds like.
03:03 Hey, Siri, play Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
03:05 - Symphony number five in C minor, ob.
03:10 (orchestral music)
03:13 - This is long.
03:17 (orchestral music)
03:20 (orchestral music)
03:23 - Another great feature about the HomePod 2
03:25 is that it uses its array of microphones
03:28 to listen for the room itself,
03:30 and it'll adjust the output of the music itself
03:35 tailored for every room that it's in.
03:38 Let's listen to more Beethoven.
03:40 (orchestral music)
03:43 (orchestral music)
03:46 (orchestral music)
03:49 (orchestral music)
03:52 (orchestral music)
03:54 (orchestral music)
03:57 (orchestral music)
04:00 (orchestral music)
04:03 (orchestral music)
04:05 - Hey, Siri, stop.
04:07 So, another cool feature of the HomePod
04:09 is that you can automatically transfer music
04:11 from your phone, speaker itself,
04:13 just by moving your phone closer.
04:14 Let me show you how that works.
04:15 So, we'll start playing here.
04:17 And if I bring it close.
04:20 Boom.
04:23 That's pretty cool.
04:25 So, that's our first look
04:28 at the Apple HomePod 2nd generation.
04:30 It sounds great,
04:31 it has some new and impressive smart home features,
04:34 and you can add it to your Apple TV
04:36 to make it part of your entertainment center.
04:38 The biggest drawback, of course,
04:40 as with most Apple products, is its price.
04:43 At $299, it's far more expensive
04:45 than most other smart speakers.
04:47 But, if you're in Apple's ecosystem,
04:49 and you wanna stay there,
04:51 then it could be worth it.
04:53 For more news, reviews, and analysis,
04:55 be sure to go to tomsguide.com.
04:57 And be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok.
05:01 For Tom's Guide, this is Mike Prospero.
05:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]