Review: Genie Offers an Affordable Alternative to the HomePod
By Todd Bernhard
I was looking forward to an Amazon Alexa killer from Apple. Instead, the company pre-announced a high-end speaker that only the well-heeled will be able to justify in every room. For the rest of us, there's the Genie from DreamWave, which costs $60, but can be purchased for as little as $40 via Kickstarter. It's not exactly a fair comparison, as the Genie requires an iOS device to be paired with it, and "Hey Siri" functionality enabled. Your iPhone or iPad does the heavy lifting of voice recognition and executing commands. The Genie is basically a remote speaker which can be connected via Bluetooth or audio cable.