Sonos One Release Date, Specs News: First Speaker With Multiple Smart Assistant Support To Cost $199
Consumer electronics company Sonos has recently introduced a smart speaker that will support multiple AI smart assistants.
In an unveiling event that coincided with Google's own affair last Oct. 4, Sonos introduced their first smart speaker called Sonos One.
While it is packed with some promising features and specifications, it is safe to say that its most interesting offering is the support for multiple AI smart assistants from Amazon and Google.
The upcoming smart speaker will arrive out of the box with Amazon's Alexa, while the Google Assistant arrives in 2018.
Aside from Alexa and Google Assistant, Siri will be connected in some way to the Sonos One as well. Sometime next year, Apple's AirPlay 2 will be added to it, which means the smart speaker can be paired to any iOS device. Ultimately, any Siri-enabled handset can ask Apple's smart assistant to fire up the Sonos One speaker hands-free.
Like Amazon's and Google's own smart speakers, the Sonos One can take orders and be used with voice-activated functions. It is also designed to perform typical tasks that wireless speakers do such as stream music, podcasts, audiobooks, and more.
The Sonos One will also support a long list of music streaming platforms that include Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora, Google Play Music and more.
However, Sonos One users will only be able to use the voice-activated features of Alexa initially on select music streaming services upon launch, including Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Pandora, SiriusXM, and TuneIn. Meanwhile, the company promised that voice-control support will soon be added for Spotify.
"Alexa voice control for Spotify on Sonos One will be coming soon after launch. Voice transport controls like pause, skip, volume up and down, and even asking what's playing will be available for all other music services Sonos supports," the company added in a release.
The company has also confirmed that once the Sonos One smart speaker launches, they will issue an update for other speakers that will add the Alexa voice control features.
The Sonos One will cost $199 and will be released globally on Oct. 24.
