Apple HomeView reviews are out and it looks like a winner, especially for people already using other Apple products. Let’s look at what folks are saying.
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, writing for The Verge, has what I consider the highest praise of all, saying that the HomeView is “powerful enough to run my smart home but simple enough for anyone in it to use.” That’s no small feat. Smart home complexity rises quickly the more devices you have, so it’s great to hear the HomeView seems simple enough for those in a household who care the least about automation. At the same time, though, Pattison Tuohy found user authentication to be clunky at times and ran into situations where personal information like text messages was left available for another person to view after they walked away from the device. Ultimately, The Verge gave the HomeView a 7 out of 10.
Billy Steele at Engadget gave the HomeView an 8.4/10. Steele was impressed with the device’s design, colorful screen, and great sound, but had some reservations about its dependence on an iPhone or iPad. He also concluded that it isn’t a good option for watching videos.
Jacob Krol at TechRadar gave the HomeView 4/5 stars, coming away from the experience appreciating the fact that the HomeView is not another entertainment screen, praising it for its customizable faces, FaceTime integration, and sound system. The counterweight to Krol is Mike Prospero’s review for Tom’s Guide. Prospero gave the HomeView 2.5/5 stars, lamenting the fact that the HomeView isn’t a small TV. Prospero expected more from Apple’s new device, but still came away impressed with its interface, hardware, and iPhone integration.
Chance Miller, 9to5Mac’s editor-in-chief, declared the HomeView adorable. Chance set up a HomeView in his kitchen and found that “It’s gone from being a nice-to-have to something I use and rely on for multiple tasks each day,” for things like timers, recipes, music, photos, and Siri requests.
Jason Snell at Six Colors concludes that the HomeView is an improvement over offerings from Google and Amazon, but he also found the device’s lack of flexibility constraining. Arguably that structure is a feature, not a bug, but I get it. We’re all used to getting more than the HomeView offers when we tap a screen from Apple.
Finally, Brian Tong’s video review explored the HomeView from the perspective of someone already using smart home devices from Google, Amazon, and others. For Tong, it was hard to justify yet another such device, especially since it lacks an App Store and has limited video support. Still, he found it a useful and fun accessory for Apple users.
As someone who has been on the fence about the HomeView from the start, I’m more intrigued than before, especially after having seen it in action in Jennifer Pattison Tuohy’s video and reading Chance Miller’s review. Having a centralized place to control devices, play music, display photos, check calendars and messages, and ask Siri questions are all appealing use cases. Perhaps I’ll give the HomeView a try sometime soon after all.
