Some Apple products have helped us to make life (much) easier. Others, on the other hand, upon reaching a certain point, can do quite the opposite and can become a nightmare. The 1st generation HomePod is an excellent product. However, certain features and limitations in some aspects make it more like a “black box” where you don’t know what’s going on, than a speaker.
HomePod Black Box Nightmare
The HomePod is a very nice and stylish product. It is a speaker that, in addition to standing out for its sound, stands out for its design. Well, the design of the HomePod, in addition to being one of its strong points, is also its Achilles heel. If you’ve ever seen a 1st-gen HomePod, you may have noticed a few things about its design:
- The power cord is integrated with the speaker.
- The absence of visible screws , how do we disassemble it ourselves?
- You can’t see inside , and we can’t know the state of the most essential components, like the cones.
These three design factors a priori do not seem like much, but we must bear in mind that the HomePod, despite being intelligent, is a speaker that we will be using for a long time. Checking the status of some components such as the speakers (the cones through which the sound is emitted), would be a very positive point for the user, in order to know how the device is.
Another element is the integrated cable. Something that, already in the new generation, Apple has corrected . A pull occurs, cable fraying, etc. and we have a speaker that works, but because of its cable it is useless. It’s time to go through technical service. In the same way, if we need to remove any component that, in other more conventional speakers, it would be easier to replace.
HomePod support can be a problem
So far we have seen the main design problems of the HomePod. But those design problems do not stop there and can cause more serious problems. If we want to repair our HomePod, we will have, yes or yes, to go to Apple technical service , which we remember, the 1st generation of the HomePod has been discontinued. Now, the nightmare begins when it has to be repaired.
We don’t know what it’s like inside (by ourselves), we don’t know what part is wrong, we can’t open the HomePod (easily and without damaging it ) to see what might be broken, and we can only go to a technical service that offers a price generic under the concept “Other damages”, and that until what happens to it is evaluated, we will not have a real estimate.
That real budget may be much higher than the €279 that Apple has as “estimated cost of repair.” Apple has created its own “black box” around the damage that can be repaired, since its official website does not indicate the most common failures, the most susceptible parts, or the prices of the parts themselves.
Even when Apple itself is already planning a new official repair service that is more accessible to consumers, so that we can repair our products at home if we want, of what was Apple’s flagship speaker, we barely have information in this type of way. official.
