No, not instead of using a phone!

It will trigger stored playlists etc - but has no browsing, so it still needs a phone for closing / browsing.

As John of Manchester fame described - its a companion to the phone.

Again, thats an odd or slightly limiting choice to make on their part.

Why make a physical object you can interact with to alleviate having to reach for a phone all the time (there seems to be some desire for that), but then only to make a companion, which still requires picking up your phone alot of the time.

The Essence wheelies found an audience, but no-one looking at it oddly expect it to do much more than trigger / play / pause / volume.

Looking the the Halo, essentially its replacement, you'd expect a touchscreen device to facilitate more.

If they expand its functionality and include browsing / viewing the contents of a current playing queue and ability to jump around within it.....then fine, that'll make more sense and be more than just a starter / stopper of predefined music.

But its not logical to laud something on the basis of what it may become, history should have taught us that much at least.

BenSA wrote:

Millemissen wrote:

seethroughyou wrote:

Because its functionality or lack of is listed. You’re not going to discover new functionality like an Egyptian mummy’s tomb by buying it, seeing the videos or seeing it being demonstrated at a dealer is sufficient.

Long story short....it is not a device for you - just don’t buy it.

But please be/stay positive and come back in a year or or so to judge again.

 

@Sandy

You know I twnd to agree with you.

But aren’t we (and a couple of others) just a minority - for most users this will be sufficient.........and it is pretty ;-)

 

MM

I think that sums it up. Most people aren't going to delve into all the possibilities as the people on this forum will. 

Its beautiful to look at and they can play their music instead of having to use a phone.

If you are style/decor conscious then the Halo is then perfect. 

Barry Santini wrote:

You can’t judge any B&O products by specifications or ultility.

It’s all about the gestalt.

B

The SS Gestalt ship sailed years ago.

Put a pic of every today product on one page and describe the overarching theme. Pull out a catalog from 10 years ago or older versus today and see how things have changed. 

Today without utility the gestalt would be value of coherent design/implementation across the entire offering. That is missing for me. 

The world has changed. 

@Sandyb

’If they expand its functionality and include browsing / viewing the contents of a current playing queue and ability to jump around within it.....then fine, that'll make more sense and be more than just a starter / stopper of predefined music.’

in that case my complaint would be.....it is too small!

Lots of people are happy with a couple of predefined playlists and two preset radiostations - exactly what the 4 MyButtons give them (which definitely is more than the Essence Remote offers).

MM

Well yes I agree.

Hence my posts earlier / elsewhere that the form factor should have been a little bigger, even if that meant only 10-20% bigger. That would have allowed a slightly bigger screen, and hence browsing may not have been so cramped. 

Or why not a bigger circular screen within the same ring footprint? Again, more screen real estate, more browsing possibilities. 

I'm not talking about a screen so big that it replicates the big screen browsing of a tablet. But this as it is is smaller than even old iPhone screen sizes.

Even leaving the Halo as it is, there is scope for adding a horizontally scrolling play queue - it's not brilliant does this way on the Moment, but its still ok and offers the ability to jump around to different points in the queue.

But yes, as you say, B&O must be assuming there are sufficient people for whom the predefined triggering is enough.  Slightly escapes me though - with the streaming services offering a universe of music, a few set playlists is enough?

Sandyb wrote:

Or why not a bigger circular screen within the same ring footprint? Again, more screen real estate, more browsing possibilities. 

As I said above, it's a BeoRemote One in a different design. It's easy to see from the design, LCD, functionality and implementation. Not sure this makes it wise, but they've taken the ageing remote and implemented in a different format. Most likely for consistency.

My first impression after using mine last night.

Yes, well indeed I can see that after a few days consideration too.

But this just highlights again the limited ambition of this.

Look at a regular remote form factor, be it the BR1 or otherwise, and you know there's only so much it will do (ironically, the Br 1 does more than a regular shaped remote does!). Look at something with a touch screen like the Halo, and one expects it do a bunch of things, but in fact it does less than you expect.

And surely the Halo has more processing capability than a BR1, which buffers the above point.

Anyway, it was what I expected (minus the lack of older BV controls), and was never for me. But that doesnt stop it from being a disappointing, especially considering it was probably the most looked forward to product of the year from B&O.

moxxey wrote:

Sandyb wrote:

Or why not a bigger circular screen within the same ring footprint? Again, more screen real estate, more browsing possibilities. 

As I said above, it's a BeoRemote One in a different design. It's easy to see from the design, LCD, functionality and implementation. Not sure this makes it wise, but they've taken the ageing remote and implemented in a different format. Most likely for consistency.

My first impression after using mine last night.

Features and design wise.. Meh - ok.

Price? Is this a joke? I know B&O have a huge markup but $1000 for something to select a song or change volume?

I mean I can get an iPad Pro which is better in every way and just run the B&O app on it. I can even buy a fancy stand for the iPad and set the screen to never lock.

15 years ago this thing would have been cool but not today.

The Verge appear very confused by the Halo.