Amazon launches Alexa, Echo smart devices in India

Of course if you love the idea of Alexa and Sonos working in harmony, you’ll want to read up on the new Sonos One – a speaker that’s been built specifically to work with Alexa.

Sonos is known for its speakers, but now they’re ready to talk back. Our office one has, for instance, been pumping out tunes of varying quality for years.

The US sound Company who took a pot shot at other sound Companies has also revealed a “works with Sonos” certification program for third party developers to integrate their hardware or software with the Sonos platform. You get the same twin Class D amplifiers. The Echo connects to your Sonos speakers wirelessly, so you don’t have to manually hookup either device to your Sonos speakers; simply update your Sonos system and app, then enable Sonos’ Alexa skill. The six far-field microphone array is the same, and even the top control panel is reminiscent of the smart home hub pioneer with its LED indicators and touch controls. When implemented, this will allow users to play any sound from an iOS device on a Sonos One.

The Sonos Play:5 incorporates an innovative design that allows for the most effective wireless performance.

With Alexa’s help, you can pause and skip tracks, adjust the volume, and find out what’s playing-all with your voice.

In addition to music, consumers can use Alexa for such things as listening to weather and news reports and setting timers.

A £199 device from Sonos and two from Google – a cut-price mini-speaker for £49 and a high-end one at £399 – will go head to head with products from Apple and Amazon. It will likewise have video calling, Google Photos, Google Assistant and YouTube (which the Echo Show lost access to recently). Their new smart speaker, the Sonos One, will launch with Amazon Alexa (in countries where it’s available) but will eventually support multiple voice services including Google Assistant which is arriving in 2018 (unfortunately there’s no eta beyond “sometime in 2018′)”.

“There are many speakers out there that you can control with your voice, but a lot of them are just devices that make sounds, not systems designed for delivering great sound easily in any room of your home”, Sonos sound experience leader Giles Martin said.

More compelling will be a series of software upgrades to come sometime in 2018 which will add support for Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri, via AirPlay 2. Siri will be usable for voice control.

In that respect, the Sonos One becomes the arbiter of the whole setup.

The Sonos app is being updated that makes it easier to use, thanks to what it claims is simpler navigation made possible by placing key buttons in a navigation bar at the bottom of the screen.

And there’s a new Sonos app out today.