It’s taken a while, but Apple’s HomePod and HomePod mini have finally landed in Singapore. But Apple will have you know also that they do a whole lot more than play music. They’re also good as a smart home hub and can double up as a home intercom, tell you the temperature and humidity levels (and we know what high humidity levels can do to your home) and more.

Existing Apple users will find these a seamless way to set up their smart home. But, yes, you do need an existing Apple device to set up the HomePod and HomePod mini. Setting up is a cinch and takes less than five minutes.

Just how smart are they?

Both the HomePod and HomePod mini come chock-a-block with smart functions that could help you simplify everyday tasks. For starters, the HomePods have in-built temperature and humidity sensors, which means you can set automations to turn on the fan or close your blinds when a room reaches a particular temperature, for example. They also can recognise carbon and monoxide alarms and send alerts to your iPhone.

One of our favourites has to be the home intercom function. Place multiple HomePods or HomePod minis in different rooms of the house to use the voice-activated intercom function. Yes, you can now let the whole household know that dinner’s ready without having to scream at the top of your lungs (or sending a group chat message).

But these only scratch the surface of the smart home functions that they can do. Just connect and compatible smart devices (full list here) in your home via the Home app and you can control them via the HomePods, whether it’s automating your lights, fans or even morning alarms. Fancy coming home and having the lights, air-con or music turned on the way you like just by saying “Hey Siri, I’m home”? Yes, that’s possible.  

Okay, but they are speakers after all. How do they sound?

Let's start with the HomePod mini. At a wallet-friendly price of $139, this is a great entry-level smart speaker. It's also much more compact and portable compared to the HomePod, and comes in an array of colour choices — white, space grey and bold options like yellow, blue and orange — so it’ll fit just about any room.

There isn’t much to complain about with regards to audio quality. This omnidirectional speaker does a decent job, especially in a smaller room or apartment, whether you’re playing deep focus playlist for WFH days in the study or the Cocomelon soundtrack for the kiddos.

At $429, the larger HomePod, which comes in white and midnight, is the one that’ll elevate your home audio experience. You don’t have to be a sound geek to appreciate the rich and robust sound quality it delivers, whether you’re bopping to the latest TikTok viral hits or watching the latest episode of Ted Lasso. It truly does feel like a whole new world, even if you’re watching your fave Friends episode for the umpteenth time. If you don’t mind spending $858 in total for two HomePods, pairing two units together produces a more immersive stereo experience that will delight bona fide audiophiles as well as audio plebs who just want a great movie night in. The HomePod also has a room-sensing technology that allows it to recognise sound reflections from nearby surfaces, which means it adapts the sound according to where it’s placed, whether it's near a wall or furniture. Cool.

Hey Siri, what's up?

Siri's about to be your new best friend. Both the HomePod and HomePod mini controls are mostly done hands-free through voice commands, and, yes, Siri's super on the ball when it comes to responding to smart home commands, weather or temperature updates and more. Quick controls can also be done via the sleek touch surface on the HomePods. One thing to note: The HomePod and HomePod mini are connected natively to Apple Music and Apple TV, and via Airplay with other apps like YouTube and Spotify. For the latter, you can control them via the Home app, but not with Siri.

What we liked too is the Handoff function that lets you transfer whatever you're listening to on your iPhone to the HomePod. So if you’re on a call or listening to a podcast on your phone on the way home, and want to continue listening on your HomePods when you arrive home, just place your iPhone close to the HomePod or HomePod Mini to seamlessly continue your audio experience. Easy peasy.

Multi-room audio is also available on the HomePods, which means if you’ve got multiple HomePods in the house, mini or otherwise, you can play the same song on all the HomePods in the various rooms, if you like.

The HomePod ($429) and HomePod Mini ($139) are available at Apple stores, app and online.

Photos: Apple