Sonos iOS update is shockingly bad - first impressions
+6The whole My Sonos feature is confusing. The playlists are confusing, and huge graphics which means hardly any playlists can be shown. Was SO hoping the Mac app would get an update, but no such luck. Wait for more reviews before upgrading..... or am I missing something?
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Took me about 5 minutes of looking through the whole app and at each screen properly and tapping on everything to see what it did. I am somewhat dumbfounded why some find it so difficult. I doubt a new user would find it so as it is quite logically arranged with the choice tabs across the bottom.
It has its faults.
Choice...scream blue murder about something that has changed (you’ll never be able to operate a new TV, hate Windows with a vengence, really hate the latest Apple software updates, really hate all the changes on other music apps that do not have to manage multiple speakers...and the list goes on)
OR
Say what you don’t like and why.
My Sonos
Icons far too large. Favourites show a list for See All while Playlist just shows BIG icons. Consistency needed.
Browse
Just fine. Does what it says.
Rooms
Icons far too big
Search
Even better than before. Again final view is BIG icons. Should be a list, or small icons for consistency across views.
More - a welcome consolidation of “other”
The main gripes are about big icons. Consistency needs to be established so as to provide icons or a list (personal favourite) across screens and results.
I rather like the small red room indicator at the bottom.
White screen. So what, my opinion. I listen to music, not look at the app, and know how to adjust the brightness on my iPad (for example) as this needs to be adjusted when reading in dimmer surroundings. Does nobody else adjust the brightness of their screen? Why not? If the screen brightness is OK for other things then it is perfectly OK for the app. Would I prefer the app to have a darker background...honestly...don’t care.
The queue behaviour still needs work for consistency.
It has its faults.
Choice...scream blue murder about something that has changed (you’ll never be able to operate a new TV, hate Windows with a vengence, really hate the latest Apple software updates, really hate all the changes on other music apps that do not have to manage multiple speakers...and the list goes on)
OR
Say what you don’t like and why.
My Sonos
Icons far too large. Favourites show a list for See All while Playlist just shows BIG icons. Consistency needed.
Browse
Just fine. Does what it says.
Rooms
Icons far too big
Search
Even better than before. Again final view is BIG icons. Should be a list, or small icons for consistency across views.
More - a welcome consolidation of “other”
The main gripes are about big icons. Consistency needs to be established so as to provide icons or a list (personal favourite) across screens and results.
I rather like the small red room indicator at the bottom.
White screen. So what, my opinion. I listen to music, not look at the app, and know how to adjust the brightness on my iPad (for example) as this needs to be adjusted when reading in dimmer surroundings. Does nobody else adjust the brightness of their screen? Why not? If the screen brightness is OK for other things then it is perfectly OK for the app. Would I prefer the app to have a darker background...honestly...don’t care.
The queue behaviour still needs work for consistency.
Can't say I disagree on anything there BoB. The new UI needs tweaking. It stumbles in some areas, is better in others. Good constructive criticism is what is needed. Hopefully after the initial temper tantrums have died down, posts like yours are the norm.
I mostly agree too, although puzzled by the comment about inconsistency in My Sonos. Playlists (which is really Favourite Playlists) seems to me to be just like other Favourites categories.
Personally I would move Sonos Playlists to the Browse screen, leaving (favourite) Playlists in My Sonos.
Then I would rename My Sonos as Favourites 🙂
Personally I would move Sonos Playlists to the Browse screen, leaving (favourite) Playlists in My Sonos.
Then I would rename My Sonos as Favourites 🙂
John B wrote:
I mostly agree too, although puzzled by the comment about inconsistency in My Sonos. Playlists (which is really Favourite Playlists) seems to me to be just like other Favourites categories.
Personally I would move Sonos Playlists to the Browse screen, leaving (favourite) Playlists in My Sonos.
Then I would rename My Sonos as Favourites :)
Personally I would move Sonos Playlists to the Browse screen, leaving (favourite) Playlists in My Sonos.
Then I would rename My Sonos as Favourites :)
Important to note the distinction between "favourites" (anything the user has explicitly specified as a favourite thing) and "playlists" (playlists the user has created for whatever reason). Maybe they should be on "My Sonos", maybe they should be accessed by browsing. Should definitely be the same name and location on desktop and mobile.
I'd rather worry about getting fixes for the "only first 8 alphabetically in any category on main dashboard", "large tiles screen 1 then list on screen 2 inconsistencies", "My Sonos->edit option renames/deletes favourites, doesn't edit My Sonos screen", "poor use of screen space on both phone and tablet", and "Artists now called Others" issues currently affecting the bungled (and no doubt final) "My Sonos" implementation.
It has been over a month now, and I'm still not comfortable with the new interface. My wife outright hates it. My neighbors have Sonos, too, and they don't like it either. But I'm not here to complain, I'm here to offer two actionable suggestions to make things better.
1. Never hide the toolbar at the bottom of the screen. (Or at least provide an option to always show it.)
It consumes very little real estate, and always having it there would make usage more intuitive, and often saves a click.
2. MySonos needs an list view.
Every modern navigation system seems to offer choices between large icons, small icons, and various list views. At a minimum, offer the option to show MySonos entries as a list instead of GIANT icons.
If I were king I would roll back this terrible update, but I'm not and you won't, so please consider these simple improvements to address some of the usability issues you have introduced.
Thanks,
Brian
1. Never hide the toolbar at the bottom of the screen. (Or at least provide an option to always show it.)
It consumes very little real estate, and always having it there would make usage more intuitive, and often saves a click.
2. MySonos needs an list view.
Every modern navigation system seems to offer choices between large icons, small icons, and various list views. At a minimum, offer the option to show MySonos entries as a list instead of GIANT icons.
If I were king I would roll back this terrible update, but I'm not and you won't, so please consider these simple improvements to address some of the usability issues you have introduced.
Thanks,
Brian
User906183 wrote:
Every modern navigation system seems to offer choices between large icons, small icons, and various list views. At a minimum, offer the option to show MySonos entries as a list instead of GIANT icons.
A defining feature of Sonos design is the absolute lack of user choice and customisation. You want more info / detail (eg. access to tagging info, album / track times)? You're out of luck because Sonos want a clean minimalist interface. You want consistent, persistent-by-default / ephemeral-by-default queue behaviour? Well you're stuck with getting whatever mode the play button you clicked on defaults to. You want to decide what gets displayed on your "My Sonos" screen? Well add/delete favourites and watch Sonos pick the first up-to-8 alphabetically in each category, filling the screen with whitespace and forcing yet-another-click to that "fast access". You want a list of all your favourites in one screen? Use the desktop app instead of the mobile one...
Limiting user choice and keeping things simple is good UI/UX design. Unfortunately, good UI/UX design is rarely found in official Sonos controller apps these days...
BoredofBalham wrote:
See All shows a list
Just remember that the desktop app's "Favourites" screen (list of all favourites) is different from the mobile app's "My Sonos->See All" screen, which shows a list of all favourites (or whatever they're called these days) for a specific category only (or not-marked-as-favourite playlists). Because "consistency".
Quick observation: since latest update, the "now playing" screen has changed slightly, so instead of a back button to get to browse etc. menus, you have to instead slide something up or down (or more likely, pull up iPad notifications). I assume they looked at the iOS music player and thought "yeah, it's poor UX but it's what users expect"...
Amazingly bad App across all devises. Had local audio store bring out a sub to add to system, but when required creating an account, I had them take unit back and forced a credit for their time they tried to invoice. Negative downstream impact is significant. Manager in charge of rollout missed the mark badly. Window to correct situation is closing rapidly and harm inflicted is considerable. Customers and dealers are in open revolt.
Jeremy Allison wrote:
"If I do this now it does not change the room, but reverts to the wrong (original) room. Now I have to tap 'Rooms', add the room I want to listen to - ensuring that it *AND* the previous room are selected, then touch "Done". Then I have to click 'Rooms' again, de-select the previous room - leaving the new room selected, then click 'Done'."
Same problems with Sonos 8.2/Android 7.0 controller. Disappointing.
"If I do this now it does not change the room, but reverts to the wrong (original) room. Now I have to tap 'Rooms', add the room I want to listen to - ensuring that it *AND* the previous room are selected, then touch "Done". Then I have to click 'Rooms' again, de-select the previous room - leaving the new room selected, then click 'Done'."
Same problems with Sonos 8.2/Android 7.0 controller. Disappointing.
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