It’s no secret that Siri is far behind its competition in the digital assistant space, and this continues with Apple’s new product, HomePod, which features Siri at the core of the experience.
For example, saying “Alexa, good morning” could trigger a specific playlist, album or song, in addition to other automations such as starting your coffee machine, or rolling up your blinds.
As it currently stands, HomePod has no form of audio automation whatsoever, down to the fact that it is unable to play a custom sound when your alarm goes off.
While Apple didn’t push the assistant side with HomePod, it did push the music and audio quality portion. Unfortunately, automating audio isn’t something HomePod, or Siri is capable of doing. With Siri, you’re only able to ask to play music from the Apple Music library, but can’t set it as a trigger.
With that said, music automation for Echo products will be rolling out soon to an Alexa near you. While HomePod is a great sounding speaker, it will need some serious work if it plans to compete in the digital assistant department. Fortunately, Apple recently poached Google’s head of AI, which should result in an overall better Siri experience.
