Talking about Apple HomePod with screen: For me, the most valuable thing is still making a digital photo frame

These past few days, I've seen people talking a lot about the information that Apple is preparing to launch a HomePod with an additional screen attached, which is essentially a smart screen device. For many people, this may be a new toy, but I personally have started using smart displays since 2019 until now.

After so many years of experience through all ecosystems from Google, Meta to Amazon, hearing that Apple is about to jump in makes me very excited. However, what makes me most looking forward to this machine is not necessarily the matter of giving commands to control a smart home, but an extremely valuable function that few people have ever paid attention to: a true digital picture frame.

From Lenovo to Google Nest Hub to Echo Show: Smart displays have come a long way

The first smart display I used was from Lenovo launched in 2019, the hardware was made by Lenovo but ran on Google's smart operating system platform. Later, Lenovo was not interested in continuing, so Google produced the hardware itself, then after acquiring Nest, it changed its name to the very familiar Google Nest Hub line.

Besides, I also used Meta's Facebook Portal, but then they closed the project and stopped production. Currently on my desk is an Amazon smart screen, Echo Show 21. It can be seen that for nearly ten years, technology giants have wanted to bring a touch screen attached to a speaker and microphone into the user's living space so we can interact directly by voice.

Unlike pure smart speakers that only communicate one-way through sound, smart screens have more spacious display space to answer questions more intuitively. Previously, Apple had a standard HomePod and a mini HomePod, which users often placed in their homes to talk to Siri, listen to music, and use it as a control center for smart home devices in the HomeKit ecosystem.

Việc gắn thêm một chiếc màn hình lên HomePod là bước đi rất tự nhiên, giúp cho mọi thông tin phản hồi từ thời tiết, lịch trình làm việc cho tới trạng thái của các thiết bị đèn, quạt trong nhà hiển thị rõ ràng ngay trước mắt thay vì chỉ nghe tiếng Siri đáp lại. Dù vậy, thị trường smart display những năm gần đây lại có phần nguội lạnh. Google có vẻ nhạt dần và ít tung ra các bản cập nhật mới, Meta thì bỏ cuộc hoàn toàn, gần như chỉ còn mỗi Amazon là kiên trì duy trì các dòng Echo Show kích thước lớn.

Think of a smart display as a digital photo frame

The biggest reason why users gradually get bored with old smart displays lies in the voice command experience. Before the era of AI explosion, virtual assistants such as Google Assistant, Alexa or Siri processed language very mechanically, only understanding dry commands according to predetermined patterns.

Vietnamese people who speak English often don't pronounce it correctly so the machine doesn't understand, and when the machine spits out a bunch of English, we don't have time to grasp all the information, gradually creating a feeling of laziness in interacting. However, what has kept me from continuing to plug this monitor on my desk for many years is the Photo Frame feature, which turns it into a digital photo frame.

Thinking back, it's very interesting because the companies that make smart displays are all platforms that hold huge image data stores of humanity, from Google Photos, Amazon Photos, Facebook to Apple iCloud. In the smartphone age, we take too many photos. I myself have taken millions of photos with my iPhone, and after filtering them, there are still hundreds of thousands of photos stored in the cloud. But the reality is that we almost never open those photos again to look at them. Back in the 2010s and before, when the number of photos was small, I sometimes took out my iPad or computer to browse through memories, but now there are too many photos and life is too busy, no one has enough time to sit through each album.

At this time, a digital photo frame placed in the corner of the table or living room works great. It displays images in a completely passive way, automatically reversing photos randomly, recalling moments from the past, children's birthday photos or family trips to the beach. Although photos taken with an iPhone may not be as sparkling as a professional camera, when they suddenly appear before your eyes, they evoke so many beautiful memories, making the living space more emotional and warm. If you take a bunch of family photos and then leave them lying dormant in cloud storage, it's really a waste.

Expect a HomePod with a screen: Take full advantage of iCloud and communicate naturally with AI

Recently at the IFA exhibition event in Berlin, I visited the booth of a brand specializing in making high-end digital photo frames that allow users to upload unlimited photos to the cloud. But for a digital photo frame to work truly effectively, it must be directly linked to a cloud service and have a deep analytical AI algorithm. No one has the free time to copy thousands of photos onto a memory card plugged into the screen, but the device must automatically scan and identify each relative's face, identify geographical locations and event milestones to automatically select and present the most meaningful photos.

2 of many current Apple homepod concepts have screens And this is where Apple has the biggest advantage if they make smart displays. Most iPhone users have synced all family photos to iCloud Photos for decades.

This concept has been leaking on Twitter in the past few days A HomePod with a screen placed at home will turn that dormant photo archive into a stream of vivid memories every day. Furthermore, entering the age of artificial intelligence, we no longer have to use forced commands but can converse completely in natural language.

I really hope that in the near future, Apple will perfect Vietnamese for their AI system. At that time, we can sit on the sofa and talk to the screen as naturally as with a friend in the house: ask how the storm situation is today, ask for some quick calculations, or simply ask it to reopen some photos from the family trip to the North in 2014 to see together.

A device that combines smart control capabilities, natural conversation with AI and makes the most of family photo storage on iCloud is the ideal smart display that I have been waiting for from Apple for a long time. Do you guys have the habit of using smart screens to view souvenir photos in your home like me?