The smart speaker industry debuted in 2014 with Amazon’s Echo. Essentially a speaker and digital assistant on a device, the smart speaker uses Wi-Fi to connect to the internet. With a smart speaker, users can play streaming music, listen to the weather, get the latest news, find out if their teams won yesterday, control their smart appliances and more. And these devices are now offered in a variety of styles and prices, allowing almost everyone to have one or more smart speakers at home.
The HomePod mini receives an important new feature that Apple didn’t bother to mention in the latest update
Apple entered the smart speaker arena when it unveiled HomePod in 2017. After a delay, the product finally went on sale in February 2018. Apple’s smart speaker version was ambitious; eight speakers come with the product. With HomePod, Apple ran for the fences and cost $ 349. Consider that Amazon Echo Dot, with fewer resources, is listed for $ 50 and can often be found for sale at half that price during the holidays.
A Reddit user powers his HomePod mini using an 18 W power bank
Amazon and Google have been the top two smart speaker manufacturers, with Apple on second thoughts. The price, of course, is one of the main reasons why this happens. Apple ended up lowering the price to $ 299, but that didn’t spark a spark for buyers. So this year, Apple tried a different tactic. It launched the HomePod mini, a smaller and less ambitious smart speaker at a much more reasonable price of $ 99. Shipping started last month, and although the timing was not perfect, the device may have been found under many trees. Christmas this year.
Apple recently released the HomePod 14.3 update and it includes support for 18 W charging, but not for the reason you expect. The HomePod mini came with a 20 W adapter in the box and the device needed at least 20 W to work. As the update dropped to 18 W, HomePod mini owners now have a wider selection of adapters and chargers to choose from. According The 8 bits (via AppleInsider), Apple never changed the support notes that accompanied the update to mention that change. In fact, it was discovered by some Reddit users (who were probably told by their parents that they would never be anything) who tested 18 W power banks with the mini HomePod and found it really worked. Thus, the smart speaker can be used as a mobile device (with a Wi-Fi signal nearby or via your iPhone using AirPlay 2).
Prior to the update, if you tried to use an 18 W adapter to power your HomePod mini, an orange light would come on indicating that the smart speaker had a dumb owner who couldn’t read that 20 W was needed to make the device work. But there is one more warning. Not all 18 W power adapters will work even after upgrading. If you were lucky enough to buy the iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max at the time when Apple included a charger in the box with its devices, they will definitely work with the HomePod mini.
Audiophiles may like to hear a 360 degree sound that Apple says will fill an entire room. But, unfortunately, this is just one feature of a smart speaker. Many of the tasks that you want your HomePod mini to perform will require the use of your digital assistant. In that case, you would need to use Siri, which pales in comparison to Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
We don’t want to be accused of pestering, but we must remind you that before running your HomePod mini at 18W, you need to install update 14.3 first. To do this, make sure your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac is updated to the latest version. Open the Home app. Go home settings > Software update. If an update is available, click Install.
