HomePod for $200? New features and holiday promotions make a competitive AirPlay 2 speaker

My original review of Apple’s HomePod smart speaker leaned heavily on optimism for future features that seemed so obvious, they were inevitable. Some features like calendar access and multiple timers showed up after several months. More recently, HomePod has gained multiple user support — a feature glaringly missing at launch for a smart speaker with home in its name.
HomePod was a tough recommendation at the start, tuned only for customers deep in the Apple ecosystem with Apple Mus