So Apple’s HomeView has been announced. And it raises one key question for me at home – will HomeView – in conjunction with a couple of HomePod minis and maybe a large HomePod – be good enough to replace Amazon’s Alexa in my home?
Now, I should say that my home has five Amazon Alexa devices in regular use and I use them with some smart devices such as my Philips Hue setup. But I also regularly use the Apple Home app to work some other compatible devices such as HomeKit-compatible smart plugs, Nanoleaf lights and so on. Plus I have the 2022 Apple TV 4K (now replaced in Apple’s range by a newer model) as a home hub so I can access remotely. A little messy, granted. But my point is that jumping into the Apple Home ecosystem wouldn’t be starting from scratch.
One thing in HomeView’s favor is that it is a beautiful-looking product (oversized Apple Watch anyone?) even if I’m not sure the square display makes sense for some of the scenarios that Apple is talking up – perhaps design has won out here.
One thing that would concern me is swapping out some of the devices that have been most of use in my home over the last decade – the Echo in the kitchen (paired with the sadly discontinued yet still so useful Echo Wall Clock) and the Echo Show in the living room (sometimes I use the 15in. sometimes the 11in).
Why would I be wary of changing them? Because like many other smart homes, my smart home is actually a family home and changing familiar devices to something new could be an issue especially when I am not there to troubleshoot. Amazon Alexa devices work fairly reliably and they do the tasks my family need them to.
My music setup wouldn’t be too much of an issue though, because I use Apple Music anyway (HomeView reportedly is fine with Spotify and it’s displayed similarly to CarPlay) and so I sometimes AirPlay to various speakers as well as I have several Sonos products also set up in my home.
My early use of Siri AI – as of now still in beta -have been often very positive but sometimes absolutely dreadful. It’s still very slow compared to Alexa and remains woeful on the Apple Watch where it sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t. On the iPhone it is generally better but I’ve still had times when it simply can’t help. Mind you, it’s a vast improvement on older versions of Siri which were so poor compared to Alexa as well as Google Assistant or Gemini.
But Alexa does have its own issues. It’s a really great assistant for basic tasks but my family really didn’t like it when I switched to Alexa+. It could be a little condescending and over-familiar, while it tended to talk too much after answering a query or doing a task. So I actually ended up switching back to the basic version, though I am planning on giving it a spin again and I know I’m not alone with my assessment. Amazon also offers a Brief Mode for shorter responses.
I guess we’ll find out how I get on when I review the HomeView – and, crucially, will my kids start talking to it instead of Alexa?
Also check out: Every smart home product Apple has just announced, from a video doorbell to a floodlight security camera
