New HomePod at Home [u]

My new HomePod arrived today. The sound is great, especially the bass.

zOMG! My HomePod Arrived!

I was at a meeting, about half an hour away from home, when I received the shipment delivery notification. Apparently, I was so excited my HomePod arrived that, for the first time, my Apple Watch's "Elevated Heart Rate Notification" went off.

HomePod Setup

The box contained one item, HomePod with a permanently attached power cord plus a little paperwork and, of course, an Apple sticker.

Setup was as simple as holding my iPhone within 2" of HomePod while it took a minute or two minute to transfer my configuration data and link it to my iTunes account.

First Song

Picking the first song to play on my HomePod was no simple task, commensurate with picking a first dance song at a wedding. I chose "Fix Bayonets" which is a bugle call (similar to "Charge") to command troops to unsheathe their bayonets and attach them to their rifles in preparation for close combat.

AirPlay

HomePod is an Apple product, and Apple invented AirPlay for audio and video transfer, so, it's very convenient to use iTunes on a Mac, iPhone, or iPad to control the HomePod.

High Note

I do like that I can use HomePod to text people, "Hey Siri, text my Mother. Did you book your flight to come to San Diego?" Plus, it will notify me of an incoming text message. (Update: It appears that HomePod will not notify users of incoming text messages alerts – it can only read a text message, if you ask Siri.)

Siri on HomePod sounds more elegant and seems to be much better at understanding my commands compared to Siri on iPhone, but it's only been two hours.