The Sonos One webpage states "Everything that Alexa does -
Play songs, check news and traffic, manage smart devices and enjoy all those other helpful Amazon Alexa skills using a single Sonos speaker." However, reading the forum and other sites, this doesn't seem to be quite true.
We've be using an Amazon Echo Dot for a while, and find it to be really useful. I was looking for a multi-room speaker solution for an extension that we are building, and was considering Sonos Play:1 until I saw the Sonos One. However, I am concerned that if the functionality of Alexa is limited, this will irritate us.
I realise that Sonos will be able to add software updates and new features, but we don't have a roadmap as such. Could we reasonably expect that the Alexa integration in the Sonos One will reach parity with Amazon Echo, or will it always be a poorer cousin?
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Userlevel 1
I have 2 dots, and Echo and a Show. I am currently upgrading all the hardware to the new and improved versions and I came across the One, which I thought was a better alternative for sound cause the dots are not good for sound.
Just normal functions are too low to me. I also like that the one is going to be integrating the Google assistant so it seemed like a no-brainer. Google's AI is leaps above Amazon, but I have already committed to the Amazon Ecosystem and it does not make sense to have separate Google hardware and Amazon hardware.
However, if the One will do both then problem solved. However, a lot of the functions I like about Alexa are not currently available. I am a patient person so as long as they are coming then no problem.
Maybe I missed it but Sonos made it seemed like it was a marriage between Alexa and Sonos. I read the Spotify was not available yet, but I did not see these other issues listed. If it was, then it was not clear.
Because the Sonos One is not an Echo but rather an "Alexa enabled speaker" it must work through the Amazon provided API. Sonos has to wait until any given feature is made available in the API by Amazon and then do some coding to implement the feature on the Sonos One.
Userlevel 6
+11
The Sonos One marketing slogan of "Does everything that Alexa does" clearly needs clarification. I was under the impression that as and when new Alexa skills became available, they would work on the Sonos One without Sonos needing to be involved, e.g. flash briefing, why does Sonos need to 'code' this to work on the Sonos One? What else are they going to need to do in future when new skills are released?
That is what worries me. We know some basic skills don't work but we don't know why or what else won't work in the future. I doubt the calling features will ever work though as they're Echo units only.
If the calling feature has hardware requirements, then yes, not going to happen.
As far as other features, go, I think many of them will happen, but how many and how quickly they come really depends on how much effort Amazon wants to put in to it, as far as I can tell.
So I think the question is, what will push Amazon harder to impliment these features?
1 - High sales of the Sonos One and other Sonos products. The larger the Sonos market, the more Amazon will be pushed to make it fully integrated.
2 - A successful Sonos/Google Home integration. If you can do things with Google Home that you can't do with Alexa, I'm sure Amazon will scramble to match.
3 - High sales of Homepod and Google Home. Even if the features aren't better in competiting products, Amazon has to make sure they are ahead of the competition.
4 - High sales of echos, specifically echo dots. It may be a little counter-intuitive, but the more echos sell, the more Amazon will be willing to throw resources into development I think.
Really, a combination of these things is what you want. I really think all are likely to happen over the Christmas retail season and soon after.
As far as echo/alexa only being a tool to sell music services, I think it's a lot more then that at this point. I think Amazon wants to be involved in the infrastucture of your home, involved in everything you do, so they can profit off of everything you do. Kind of like credit cards, where Visa is 'everywhere you want to be', Amazon wants to help you get whatever it is you want to get, and take a cut out of each transaction.
Userlevel 7
+21
Why not just get a dot and then Use a play 1, or even better a pair of them. The ot is small enough to be hidden in a bookcase or under a cabinet. That way you have best of both worlds?
Userlevel 1
I agree with you. There are quite a few features like drop-in, flash briefings, voice calls unless you hook up through your home phone line, etc that do not function. When purchasing the one, I assumed I was getting an upgrade in sound, not losing functionality of Alexa. Not sure that trade-off is worth it, especially when Amazon has just launched devices with better sound. Hope this gets worked out quickly or it is going back to Best Buy and I love Sonos.
Userlevel 1
There is no technical reason for them not to work, other than Amazon making a decision not to open the whole platform.
I'm assuming that the Sonos One integration with Alexa supports Amazon Music natively (i.e. there is no need to specify the streaming source when asking to play music - happy to be corrected if this is not the case). Whilst this will make other services more cumbersome, this is an advantage for Amazon. Amazon is not looking for profit on the Echo devices so much as a gateway to their paid for services. Limiting Alexa in the Sonos One seems like a bad idea, so I am hoping that there were issues in the integration (this is two devices in one package, not a single device) and that this will be resolved over time. This could also be true for some of the more recent native features that Alexa supports: the Alexa firmware in the Sonos One at release will likely have been set in stone some months ago, but presumably could be updated to include these features. I guess it is all down to Amazon...
Userlevel 6
+11
I realise that Sonos will be able to add software updates and new features, but we don't have a roadmap as such. Could we reasonably expect that the Alexa integration in the Sonos One will reach parity with Amazon Echo, or will it always be a poorer cousin?
That is what worries me. We know some basic skills don't work but we don't know why or what else won't work in the future. I doubt the calling features will ever work though as they're Echo units only.
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