Apple has taken a big step into the world of the smart home. The Apple HomeView was announced today in New York, and I got to see it before anyone else.
It was unveiled alongside a new compact speaker, the HomePod mini 2, and an upgraded TV streaming box, the Apple TV 4K. The HomePod mini 2 comes in new colours and introduces a feature called SoundGlow, which makes the lights on top of the speaker match the album art of whatever track you’re playing. It also has Siri AI built in for the first time, though it comes with a price rise from £129 to £149 – arguably still a bargain. Pre-orders start today (13 October), with the HomePod mini 2 going on sale on Friday 30 October.
The new Apple TV 4K streaming box also has an upgraded processor to support Siri AI, and you can now talk directly to the box instead of using the microphone on the remote. That’s particularly handy because you can ask Siri where you’ve left the Apple TV remote, prompting it to make a noise so you can find it (and yes, it’s probably just slipped down between the cushions again). Pre-orders have just opened, with the new box going on sale on Friday 13 November for £299.
But the big news is the new smart home hub – a compact device with a bright display, designed to look good in a kitchen, bedroom or elsewhere in the home. It provides quick, easy access to whatever information you need, whether that’s the details of a recipe or a live view of who’s at the front door. A built-in camera recognises who’s standing in front of the device, automatically displaying personalised content.
It’s also set up to work with smart home accessories such as video doorbells or home security cameras. The display can therefore react when somebody rings the doorbell, show you what your smart thermostat is set to and more. Having been the first to see the brand-new device, here are my initial impressions of the all-new Apple HomeView.
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Apple HomeView: First impressions
The base of the Apple HomeView is an aluminium dome, looking a bit like a HomePod mini, only a bit bigger. On top, connected by a stainless-steel hinge, sits a square 7in display that can be angled exactly as you like it, so it can go on a low table, a workbench or a high shelf.
Built into the frame of the display is a 12MP Centre Stage camera, which allows the HomeView to recognise who’s standing in front of it. You can customise the apps and wallpaper just as easily as you would on an iPhone, so the display can look markedly different depending on whose account is showing. Anyone familiar with other Apple devices should find the HomeView seamless and intuitive to use.
There are on-screen elements that any family member can access, such as music playlists, while other content is automatically restricted. This means it offers strong privacy: my text messages will only be shown to me, for example. If you try to sneak a look when I walk away, the screen quickly shuts off the content.
The screen is discreet enough that it won’t dominate a small room, but large enough that you can watch video on it or read details on it from across the room.
It uses Siri AI – the new, smarter version of Apple’s personal assistant. This means you can ask the HomeView to pull up the recipe someone sent you by text message. If that’s a link to an online recipe, it’s smart enough to reformat it to present the ingredients first and embed timers you can activate with a tap of the screen. You can swipe to the next part of the recipe while you’re cooking or ask Siri to move to the next step, making things easier when your hands are covered in food, say.
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Even though it’s a small device, the audio is powerful, rich and detailed – I heard it play in a huge, echo-prone room and it sounded great. If you prefer, there’s also a screen-only version that can be mounted on a wall. This still has capable speakers, but they’re not as high-fidelity – I would say they’re better suited for letting you talk to whoever’s ringing the video doorbell, for instance.
The first Apple Home Collection items that will work effortlessly with the HomeView include a sleek indoor camera from LG, which, when it senses you’re home, modestly turns the camera down so you know it’s not recording. There’s also an outdoor camera with optional floodlights and a video doorbell with two cameras – one that looks at whoever’s on the doorstep and another that faces downwards to see if a parcel has been delivered. These accessories will become available in December.
Apple HomeView: Verdict
The new Apple HomeView looks great and sounds great, too. It offers some really useful features, thanks to compatible apps and helpful accessories. Above all, it has great potential. Households that have demurred from adopting connected devices because they seemed too niche or too complicated to set up may feel that, with the Apple HomeView, the time for the smart home has finally come.
Apple’s HomeView is available to pre-order now. It costs £299 and goes on sale on Friday 13 November.
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