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Best Buy discounts Apple HomePod and Google Home by up to $100 for Black Friday

By Shubham Agarwal Published November 29, 2019

Best Buy is running some of the best discounts available on smart home gadgets and as Black Friday kicks in, it has added a handful of new ones. The retailer slashed

$100 off of the Apple HomePod

and

$50 from the Google Home

. The fresh deals bring the Apple HomePod down to $200 from its sticker $300 price and the Google Home is available for $50 instead of its usual $100 cost.

In spite of the fact that Apple launched the HomePod more than two years ago, it still remains one of the best sounding smart speakers on the market. Its cylindrical, fabric exterior produces a balanced and loud sound through an array of seven speakers. The Apple HomePod can also sense the spaces around it and automatically adjust its output for the best listening experience. It has a total of six microphones that you can use to talk to the company’s virtual voice assistant, Siri.

The HomePod’s biggest letdown is that it’s locked in the Apple ecosystem. That means it doesn’t natively support any third-party music streaming services. So, for instance, you can’t directly ask it to play your Spotify or YouTube Music library. You will have to be an Apple Music subscriber to enjoy that perk. As a workaround, you do have the option to cast music from these platforms. In our Apple HomePod review, we concluded that it’s strictly for Apple’s most loyal customers.

The Google Home, on the other hand, is a lot more flexible. Unlike the HomePod, it can plug into the majority of third-party platforms out there. It runs the Google Assistant which always listens for your commands through a pair of microphones. The smart speaker comes equipped with dual 2-inch passive radiators for clear highs and rich bass.

But you don’t have to necessarily settle for these two. If you want, for instance, a smart display instead of a speaker, there is a multitude of more deals you should check out.

In addition, to completely take advantage of these speakers, you will need a few smart appliances. For that, make sure to drop by our smart home Black Friday deals section.

Topics

Shubham Agarwal

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Shubham Agarwal is a freelance technology journalist from Ahmedabad, India. His work has previously appeared in Firstpost…

Smart Home

Apple HomePod vs. Apple HomePod 2023

Apple HomePod second-gen.

It has been quite a few years since Apple first launched the (now-defunct) HomePod, but the old smart speaker has been given a revival. The second generation HomePod retails for $299, and it offers some serious improvements over the original. Not only does it bring enhanced audio quality, but there are plenty of other upgrades that make it much better than its older sibling. Here’s a closer look at all the differences (and similarities) between the original HomePod and HomePod 2023.
Design

When compared side by side, you won’t notice many differences between the two HomePods. The new HomePod is about 200 grams lighter than the original model and is a couple of millimeters shorter, but overall the two are very similar. The touchpad on top of the HomePod 2023 is also a bit larger and now extends almost all the way to the edge of the device. Beyond those minor differences, they both sport an oblong design and come in multiple colors.
Speakers and sound
A diagram of the second-gen Apple HomePod internals (left) seen next to those of the first-gen HomePod. Image used with permission by copyright holder

Smart Home

Apple finally activates HomePod Mini’s hidden temperature/humidity sensor

Black HomePod mini on a side table, in front of an Apple TV

Apple recently revealed its second-gen HomePod, which is set to become the company’s flagship smart speaker in 2023. Featuring the S7 chipset, spatial audio, Matter compatibility, and tons of fancy room-sensing tech, the device is certain to be a hit when it launches in February. It’ll also feature a temperature and humidity sensor. Oddly enough, so does the existing HomePod Mini -- except Apple has only just activated the feature.

Apple has kept the temperature and humidity sensor deactivated for years, although now, with the launch of a new HomePod around the corner, the company has finally gone ahead and turned on the instrument in its existing Home Mini lineup. Once your HomePod Mini receives the update, you’ll be able to use it to track both the temperature and humidity in your home, then use that information to create various automations through Apple Home.

Mobile

Why a Kindle Paperwhite is the best $100 you can spend on Cyber Monday

A personal reads on a Kindle Paperwhite while relaxing at campsite.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are prime times throughout the year to get mobile tech at lower-than-usual prices. That means there are ample Cyber Monday phone deals, tablet deals, and smartwatch deals. But those aren't the only mobile gadgets you can buy for cheap. Also available at a discount today is the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite.

The Kindle Paperwhite isn't a particularly exciting mobile device, at least not on paper. It isn't a flashy flagship smartphone or a powerful tablet you can use to play CoD: Mobile. Instead, it's a very simple e-reader that's designed for reading e-books and nothing more. But it's because of that simplicity that the Kindle Paperwhite is so damn good — and why it's the best $100 you can spend on a new gadget this Cyber Monday.