Apple on Tuesday, Oct. 13, unveiled HomeView, its first smart display for the home. It costs $299 in the U.S., and Apple said preorders opened immediately, with deliveries beginning on Nov. 13.

HomeView places a seven-inch display on a stainless steel hinge above a rounded speaker base. The tabletop model comes in silver, starlight, rose pink and space gray, while a wall-mounted version without the speaker base costs the same $299 and comes in space gray and silver. It can stream television shows and music, make video calls and control lights, locks and other connected household devices.

The device runs Siri AI, Apple's upgraded voice assistant built on Apple Intelligence, and it can answer questions and use personal details from your messages and calendar, The Verge reported. It can tell people in the home apart by their faces, and that lets it switch from a shared screen to one person's own info, Apple said. The Verge said this can keep a parent's text messages hidden from kids.

HomeView is the center of a wider push into the home; Apple also showed new cameras, thermostats and a door lock for Apple Home, The Verge reported. The display also works as a hub for Matter and Thread, two common smart home standards.

Early hands-on reviews were warm. Macworld said the device "oozes personality." The Verge called it gorgeous but said Apple focused more on the screen than on new smart home tricks.

Preorders are open in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

What we know: HomeView costs $299, preorders are open, and it ships Nov. 13.
What we don't: How well Siri AI works in daily use, since no full reviews are out yet.