Apple HomePod officialy arrives on Feb 9, preorders start by Friday

Apple HomePod, the first smart speaker by Cupertino giant is finally ready to hit the stores in selected markets. Apple HomePod will go on sale Feb. 9 in the US, the UK and Australia. The preorder for the smart speaker starts on Friday. Apple says that the Wireless Speaker Brings Advanced Audio Technologies Into Any Home for an Incredible Music Listening Experience.

As noted, Apple unveiled the HomePod smart speaker powered by Siri at the WWDC 2017. The device is Apple's answer to the existing smart speakers such as Google Home and Amazon Echo.

Apple HomePod is a 7-inch smart speaker with abilities to play music, check the news and control the other connected devices. The device uses spatial awareness in order to sense its location in any room and adjust the audio automatically. The HomePod can be operated via Siri.

The Apple HomePod has a woofer that is designed by Apple. The woofer is sid to render clean and deep bass and custom array comprising of seven beam-forming tweeters. The speaker has Siri, Apple's voice assistant and wireless access to Apple Music Library. The HomePod has six mics that facilitate easier interactions. The device can learn user preferences and handle advanced searches within the library. Also, it will send messages and provide updates on sports, weather and news. It can also control other smart home devices taking Siri's help to turn the lights on and off.

The HonePod is powered by Apple's A8 chip. The company claims that the instructions given to the smart speaker are locally recognized on the device as well as encrypted on it for security purposes.

As per Apple, HomePod uses advanced software for real-time acoustic modeling, audio beam-forming, echo cancellation and more, powered by Apple's A8 chip, delivering a wide, spacious soundstage. Using spatial awareness to sense its location in the room, it automatically adjusts the audio to sound great wherever it is placed.

HomePod is available at an Apple retail price of $349 (US) in white and space gray in the US, UK and Australia and available to order beginning Friday, January 26, from apple.comand the Apple Store app. There's still no offical word from Apple on the availability of smart speaker for Indian market. We will keep a close eye on future updates from Apple on HomePod. Stay tuned on Gizbot.com.