> Their Homepod line has been completely neglected

That's kind of what I want. I bought a Homepod Mini to replace an Echo and it has worked without me thinking about it for many years now.

The Echo was replaced because Amazon kept messing with it. The by-the-way prompts were so irritating. They were trying to solve a discoverability problem that I didn't have. If Amazon had neglected the device, it would probably still be in my kitchen.