Surprise! The HomePod actually sounds incredible

That was the first of many questions I asked the HomePod Apple installed in the corner of its WWDC demo area, and the answer was the same each time: silence. Sure, the hazy light on top of the speaker ebbed and flowed -- that doesn't mean it understood anything I was saying. Spokespeople quickly clarified that this was a non-functional demo unit, but I did eventually hear one next to a Sonos PLAY:3 and an original Amazon Echo. Musically, it blew them both out of the water. It looks almost exactly the way countless leaks and reports suggested: It's a short, rounded cylinder covered in a fine fabric mesh with a blinky light on top.