HomePod Mini 2 first look: Three things I love and one disappointment

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HomePod Mini 2 初探：我喜爱的三个亮点与一个失望之处

The new Mini is faster, quieter, and gorgeous in green, but its upgraded Mac speaker feature didn’t work for me.

新款 Mini 运行速度更快、更安静，绿色外观也十分精美，但其升级后的 Mac 扬声器功能对我来说却无法正常使用。

When I first heard about the new $149 HomePod Mini 2 at Apple’s Welcome Home event last month, I was disappointed. It’s been six years since Apple launched its entry-level smart speaker, and all it got in the second gen was a chip bump, some color glowy stuff, and better AirPlay? For $50 more than the original, which launched at $99, Apple didn’t even upgrade the sound system. It felt like the company phoned this one in.

上个月在苹果的“Welcome Home”发布会上，当我第一次听说售价 149 美元的新款 HomePod Mini 2 时，我感到很失望。距离苹果推出入门级智能音箱已经过去六年了，第二代产品仅仅是升级了芯片、增加了一些发光效果和更好的 AirPlay 支持吗？相比最初 99 美元的定价，新款贵了 50 美元，苹果甚至没有升级音响系统。感觉公司在这款产品上有些敷衍了事。

Now that I’ve got my hands on a couple and set them up in my home office, I’m more enthused. The Mini 2 is so much faster than the first-gen Mini, playing music in a few seconds and responding to smart home commands just as quickly. If you’re fed up with standing over your HomePod waiting for it to finally do what you asked, then that alone is worth the upgrade.

现在我拿到并已经在家庭办公室里安装了几台，我的热情高涨了一些。Mini 2 比第一代 Mini 快得多，几秒钟内就能播放音乐，对智能家居指令的响应也同样迅速。如果你已经厌倦了站在 HomePod 旁边等待它执行你的请求，那么仅凭这一点就值得升级。

Siri is much snappier and much less chatty. The biggest upgrade for the Mini 2 is Siri AI, but that isn’t available yet. Apple says it’s coming “later” in a software update. However, the basic smart voice assistant has definitely improved. Siri on the Mini 2 is much snappier than on the first-gen Mini, regularly responding in under three seconds. This is thanks to a newer, faster processor (the S10, up from the S5) and Wi-Fi 6E support (up from Wi-Fi 4).

Siri 的响应速度更快，废话也更少了。Mini 2 最大的升级是 Siri AI，但目前尚未上线。苹果表示将在“稍后”的软件更新中推出。不过，基础的智能语音助手确实有所改进。Mini 2 上的 Siri 比第一代 Mini 反应快得多，通常能在三秒内做出响应。这得益于更新、更快的处理器（S10，取代了 S5）以及对 Wi-Fi 6E 的支持（取代了 Wi-Fi 4）。

The green color is divine. This is the prettiest small smart speaker I’ve seen — and I’ve tried them all. Yes, Amazon’s Echo Dot Max’s purple is fun, the Google Home Speaker’s pale green is elegant, but Apple’s deep green is seriously sophisticated. It’s a color that fits in really well in various places around my home, and I’m so glad the company finally released a green option. It’s a big improvement over the slightly garish yellow and orange of the prior-gen Minis and the best of the new colors.

绿色版本美极了。这是我见过最漂亮的小型智能音箱——而且我几乎试过所有产品。没错，亚马逊 Echo Dot Max 的紫色很有趣，Google Home Speaker 的淡绿色很优雅，但苹果的深绿色显得非常高级。这种颜色能很好地融入我家中各个角落，我很高兴苹果终于推出了绿色选项。相比上一代 Mini 有些俗气的黄色和橙色，这是一个巨大的进步，也是新配色中最好看的一款。

A new setting in the Home app now lets you lock the Mini’s top controls. This goes for all HomePods, old and new, and it’s a major quality-of-life upgrade. How often do you intentionally touch the top of your HomePod? I bet far less often than accidentally! The other new trick for the top of the HomePod is Sound Glow. This makes the LEDs display colors that match the album art of the song you’re playing. It’s neat, but only works with Apple Music and Podcasts and is so subtle that I don’t feel it adds much to my music-listening experience.

“家庭”应用中的一项新设置现在允许你锁定 Mini 的顶部触控功能。这适用于所有新旧款 HomePod，是一项重大的体验升级。你平时会有意去触碰 HomePod 的顶部吗？我敢说，你误触的次数远比有意触碰的次数多！HomePod 顶部的另一个新功能是“声音光效”（Sound Glow）。它能让 LED 灯显示与当前播放歌曲专辑封面相匹配的颜色。这很酷，但仅适用于 Apple Music 和播客，而且效果非常微妙，我觉得它对我的音乐聆听体验提升不大。