A digital assistant is better the more it knows about you.
Totally agree with that, my post was more about what else the data is used for. As long as the data is kept to serve me and is deleted upon my request I’m fine with it. What I am not fine with is that when I ask about X to my virtual assistant and then I see endless shit about X without even a way to opt out (Amazon is still recommending me Halloween fake spiders because I bought one to prank my ex 2 years ago I wish I could opt out).
I would only trust an assistant if the data is not used for any kind of marketing or advertising purposes, so as bad as Siri is, it’s probably the only one I would trust with anything more than song requests or asking about the weather.
[that being a quote form the linked article, not Simonb]
I’m fairly heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem. I do have a PC, a ChromeBox and a Chromebook Pixel, too, but most tech in the household is Apple.
I’ve had the HomePod since day one. My experience with Siri is quite frustrating. Often, the first time I say Hey Siri [command] there’s no response at all. It takes a second request.
Siri frequently misunderstands or misinterprets requests. I speak well and I speak clearly but the device can not handle some very simple things. A request to increase the volume can have it play a different piece of music, for instance.
In terms of the intelligent part of the speaker, it’s very poor. In terms of the audio quality, I can’t help but think all the reviewers have been slipped something in their drinks, because they’re all raving about it and it’s not that great. It’s good, but the reviews would have you believe it’s amazing.
In summary, some might call me an Apple fan boy and I’m disappointed with this product.
That said, I have no interest in Amazon or Google due to their data collection.
I’ve been using Google services for almost 20 years and I can honestly say they’ve never exploited any of my personal data to spam me. I guess that is quite subjective but if you’re stating that’s something that’s happened to you - can you elaborate?
The purpose of my posting was more about Siri not understanding me and the quality of the audio not being as good as the reviews. That is what I was getting at.
Yeah, that’s fair. I’m just pointing out that Siri doesn’t understand you because it doesn’t have the data. Google has the data, but you have concerns about how they use it. I’m admittedly a fan of Google but I find those concerns unfounded and I’m not sure where they come from. That’s not to say they aren’t legitimate concerns, I’m just wondering why you’d say that - if you’d rather not elaborate that’s all good, we don’t have to continue this discussion
I drew the line when I was getting adverts related to my email content. That’s when I moved off gmail. I think they’ve since stopped this practice but it was enough to turn me off.
So… I’m a huge Apple fan. I’m so far in the Apple ecosystem, that I’m trapped.
However… This advert (despite it’s “artistic brilliance”) is everything that is wrong with the HomePod.
As a speaker - Phenomenal. Even at it’s price… it’s brilliant.
As a smart speaker… Terrible. Through no fault of the hardware, but Siri just isn’t up to the job.
Apple need to introduce something similar to Echo Dot or Google Mini… So you can have access to Siri around the house (and multiple people can use it).
If Apple want to crack the “smart home”, they need to seriously reconsider the direction they are going with the HomePod.
Yep - we have one full Google Home in our main bedroom, one Mini in the kitchen, and another Mini in the Living Room. Proper multi-room audio and it works seamlessly. Got Chromecast Audio in my studio monitors too, and they recently launched voice commands from Chromecast which is plugged in to our main TV (so, you can say Hey Google, show Youtube videos about Cats on Chromecast)
My cousin and one of my best friends work there and have let me spend weeks staying at their lovely houses in Mountain View and San Mateo respectively for free…Does that count?
The RAF did some research into this when they first started putting voice based alerts into fast jet cockpits. They found that the best voice to use was one that sounded like a mother!
I wish I could opt out).
