+1

I downloaded a really old iOS app, I think it’s called Sonopad, that goes into a kind of screensaver mode when you tap on the album art. The album art is displayed very large in the centre and large ‘forward/back play/pause’ controls pop up when you tap the screen. It seems to work fine but looks and feels like it was designed for iOS 4! I really liked how the Amazon Echo Show 8 display looks while playing streaming music but you are limited to using the speaker in the Show or the line out and cheap DAC they have built in connected to powered speakers or HiFi.

I use a Show 5 wired to line in of Connect Amp, and the display is an excellent additional feature that is otherwise completely missing in the Sonos range. All DACs are cheap now, so I do not believe that this matters; I certainly don't hear any sound quality losses. Unfortunately the Sonos Alexa integration, that untethers the Show from the Sonos unit and for what that is worth, also bypasses the Show DAC, does not have the Show display artwork of what is playing; something that Sonos will hopefully correct in the future.

PS: If I were buying today, I would put the down the little more money needed for the Show 8 over the 5, for the larger display.

Yes, I moved from an Echo Show 8 streaming via Line Out to the Philips Fidelio speakers I have to a Sonos system, also using the Show 8 as the controller. As you say, for some unknown reason this bypasses the excellent Echo Show music display and control screen. I ended up selling the Show 8, moving to an Android tablet dedicated to the Sonos app. Everyone in the house agrees the interface was vastly better using the Show 8 than using the Sonos app. That’s why I went looking for better alternatives on Apple’s app store. 

I have knocked on the Sonos doors a few times now for this feature by addressing whatever unknown reason there is. Another knock with this post. If they are unable to offer this feature themselves, they should expedite giving this via Echo devices that can do this cheaply now. It can only help Sonos sales.

I have a Surface RT set up in Kiosk mode for this purpose. Here is a video of how to set it up: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1658688324141871&external_log_id=4895fdf168b88ed752dcab4de0354f70&q=phonos%20(sonos%20app)

How does the app show currently playing music on the Surface? As mentioned above, the Echo Show has a very simple and elegant layout during playback: 

In comparison, the Sonos app looks like you could direct drone strikes in a different time zone while listening to some incidental background music. And why are the volume controls  made as small and fiddly as technically possible?!

See “TV Display Mode” on this page: http://www.phonos.org/windows/

That is exactly what I’m looking for. I think I have an older Lenovo Windows 10 tablet around so will test this out. Thanks!

I think the Sonos app has a lot more functions to do then the echo show, for example, since it also handles administrative tasks.  Alexa has a separate app for this.  And of course, the show has the benefit of voice control to handle some features, which Sonos app does not.  You don’t need buttons to scroll through music choices or select which speakers to play to on the Show.  

That said, I don’t think anyone would complain if there was a more stripped down version of the Sonos app available, or different modes.  I think Sonos somewhat allows and relies on third parties to do this, but it wouldn’t be a problem if they did their own, obviously.

Yes, they need at least two modes, one like the current interface for people with the tablet or phone in their hand and also a simplified display with larger controls and album art. Deezer and Spotify apps do this with their ‘car mode’. The Sonos app is great for me to use when listening to music but in a busy kitchen with people coming and going it’s fiddly and not easy to see what’s going on from a few feet away. 

When we were using the Echo Show everyone in the house used it with no guidance or help, when we switched to using the Sonos app I had to sit everyone down and show them how to get around the interface, get back to selecting music, finding radio stations etc. 

All I need is for the Show to display artwork, to go along side with voice commands and new music discovery that is facilitated by the net; unfortunately this is possible at this time only when using the Show wired to line in jacks on such Sonos kit as has them.

Just installed this on a Windows 10 tablet from the Microsoft Store, the interface doesn’t look like the screenshots? I downloaded Phonos Universal, is that the right version for me? When I check the version it says 4.1.1104.0 Trial

Sorry, no, you need Windows 8.1, not 10 for that to work. Kiosk Mode on Win 10 is totally different and not supported.  Also the Win 10 version of the app (which you tried) doesn’t have TV Mode as no-one seemed to be using it in the older version, so I never re-implemented it.