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The majority of reviews for the update are NEGATIVE.

  • 15 October 2017
  • 32 replies
  • 1719 views
polarbearmusic
Userlevel 4
Badge +1
Is Sonos tracking user response to this update? I've been taking a screenshot of reviews from the Google Play Store daily. Here is a breakdown of the Play Store reviews from 10/7/2017 to 10/15/2017.

5 star: +8
4 star: -5
3 star: +32
2 star: +155
1 star: +396

I have attached screenshots for reference. At a ratio of 137.75 bad reviews (1 or 2 star) to every single good review (4 or 5 star), I think it's safe to say that most users don't like this update. I don't have stats from the Apple Store, but the reviews from there indicate IOS users have very strong negative reactions. From what I've seen on the forums, the response here is not much better.

Can we expect some type of fix soon?
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Best answer by jeftjeft 28 October 2017, 16:26

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32 replies

Airgetlam
I'm sure there's more to come. Sonos seem to be always working to improve, even if sometimes we don't agree it is an improvement 🙂
Bruce
P
Responding to my earlier post calling the last version “HORRID”. I very much like this latest update. Thank you Sonos for listening!
A
Userlevel 5
Badge +10
I am actually going to say it is my favorite version of Sonos yet (well except for the issue with being able to play over the Queue but I have accepted that is the way it is and has been for some time now). Maybe one day I will get my Queue lock / party mode and I will be able to say the app is pretty perfect for me.

Interesting you talk about "favourite version". The Sonos experience is currently multiple competing versions:
1. The unfinished v7 queue changes (which were fine in principal), and all the inconsistency problems that still causes - the "mostly ephemeral" queue, with individual play buttons free to go do their own crazy thing (you have to learn which buttons should never be clicked)
2. The desktop UI - dated appearance, great navigation / layout (except queue issues)
3. The ongoing mobile experiment - mostly OK, except for the My Sonos issues with poor layout, excessive clicks and different terminology from desktop and selected mobile screens

Of course, it's probably unrealistic to expect that I could just walk from room to room, pick up the closest device, and have a seamless and consistent experience from my multi-room system.
chicks
Is anyone going to tell me that a blue screen, DOS character based, control/shift/alt/arrow key combination based wordprocessor is better than a graphic based, mouse driven, WYSIWYG interface? Of course not, but people did, because that is what they were used to.


Yeah, I threw a fit when they made the move from vi to vim, lol.
Chris
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Have you given the newest version from Tuesday a good try. It looks the same but having the nav at bottom it flows very well.

I am actually going to say it is my favorite version of Sonos yet (well except for the issue with being able to play over the Queue but I have accepted that is the way it is and has been for some time now). Maybe one day I will get my Queue lock / party mode and I will be able to say the app is pretty perfect for me.
Respect the Queue (1)Move (2)Beam (1)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1)Connect:Amp (3)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings
P
The majority of the views were negative for the 5.0 version when it was released, the version you all love now and desperately wants back. I can show you posts and threads identical to these, with the same screenshots and the same complaints, in the weeks following the 5.0 release. People hate change. Give it time.

I have professed the virtues of Sonos for many many years and although I understand that people are resistant to change, I cannot find one good thing about this change. I would give anything to have the old UI back. I used to go out of my way to get people to buy Sonos because of the positive impact it would have on their lives but now the app is so bad that I have stopped recommending this as a great system. I have spent months trying to get used to this and simply cannot. Compared to the previous versions this is HORRID. I can only assume that you have a lack of reference and don't know how good it used to be so possibly by not having anything to compare to this app may seem ok.
jgatie
We shall see who is proven right in about 3 more years. I'm already 1-0 in this little game, care to wager on how 8.0 will viewed by the vast majority the next time Sonos overhauls the UI? Maybe that thread can hit 45 pages like the 5.0 one did.
U
Userlevel 6
Badge +1
I suggest to you that the swapping of the controls on the fighter jets was a perfect example of the lack of science in UI design, i.e. the trends and fashion emphasis I spoke of. Luckily, changes based on fashion or trends in audio system apps don't result in lost lives and multi-million dollar craters in the ground..
That example actually dates back to the late 1940's and gave birth to the field of human factors and ergonomics, because having jets crash due to bad design is a bad investment. And already back then that resulted sound science like fits law for example. Since than a lot more progress has been made.

At the time of the WordPerfect release, every one of the complainers could not recognize the obvious benefits of WYSIWYG because they were blinded by their familiarity and muscle memory allegiance to the old blue screen of perfection. They utterly refused to believe there could be any improvements, improvements which in hindsight, became stupidly obvious.

And because that sometimes happens, it's always the case right? It can't possibly be that it's the design that's at fault, it's always the user's resistance to change that's to blame. Doesn't matter how hard to read something may be, how many more clicks you might need, how weird the screen is layed out, etc. There is no such thing as a bad design.

PS - Sonos never forces upgrades,

They did with 8.1 as people demonstrated with screenshots of their app telling them they needed to upgrade to be able to use the system. i wouldn't be posting here if I could've kept using 7.4

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/please-go-back-to-the-last-app-the-update-sucks-so-bad-6791742/index3.html#post16160787
jgatie
I suggest to you that the swapping of the controls on the fighter jets was a perfect example of the lack of science in UI design, i.e. the trends and fashion emphasis I spoke of. Luckily, changes based on fashion or trends in audio system apps don't result in lost lives and multi-million dollar craters in the ground.

At the time of the WordPerfect release, every one of the complainers could not recognize the obvious benefits of WYSIWYG because they were blinded by their familiarity and muscle memory allegiance to the old blue screen of perfection. They utterly refused to believe there could be any improvements, improvements which in hindsight, became stupidly obvious. If familiarity and muscle memory are so powerful as to blind a large portion of a user base to obvious benefits like WYSIWYG, imagine how effective they can be to mask subtle improvements, or just a different style or look with the same functionality? Kind of like how 5.0 was originally horrible until people got used to it, so that now it is intuitive, beautiful and easy to use.

See you all in 3 years.

PS - Sonos never forces upgrades, though if you enable automatic updates on your devices, they will do just that, update automatically. Also, upgrade one device and you will have limited Settings menus until you update your hardware in kind. Ditto for those who update hardware but not controllers.
B
Userlevel 5
Badge +7
What is so unpolished about the new design?
(1) Play 1, (1) Play 3, (2) Play 5s Gen 1, (1) Play 5 Gen 2, (1) Connect Amp powering a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 10.1, (2) Echo Dots.
U
Userlevel 6
Badge +1
No, it is true. And I never said one is better or worse than the other. I don't give much credence to the "science" of UI design, it is more trends and fashion than any real science.
Good thing others do or we'd stil have jetfighers crash because someone had the bright idea of switching the emergency eject handle with the throttle. Sound familiar?

Still doesn't explain why you have such an issue with people that do care about user friendly design.

As to usability and intuitiveness, people rioted over the usability and intuitiveness of the WordPerfect UI after they changed to WYSIWYG. Is anyone going to tell me that a blue screen, DOS character based, control/shift/alt/arrow key combination based wordprocessor is better than a graphic based, mouse driven, WYSIWYG interface? Of course not, but people did, because that is what they were used to..
Great example, because there was a clear case to be made for WYSIWYG. Something that's completely absent with the new controller.

Look, Sonos will tweak it, your muscle memory will adapt, and we will all be back here in three years arguing the same things, except by then 8.0 will be perfect and 11.0 will be horrible.

That's the problem right there. They forced people to upgrade to an unpolished new design, for no apparent reason. And now we have to bare with them while they try to get it right.

You really expect usto trust people that not only didn't get it right but, despite the negative feedback, decided to turn our speakers into expensive bricks until we got with the program?
G
Userlevel 3
Badge
The majority of the views were negative for the 5.0 version when it was released, the version you all love now and desperately wants back. I can show you posts and threads identical to these, with the same screenshots and the same complaints, in the weeks following the 5.0 release. People hate change. Give it time.

Not true for me, i love changes and surprises, but if they are intelligent... logic...
The new update is really problematic, poor (white! Absurd!) and the functions are “hidden”.

Sonos please update with an intelligent controller like before (and give back the colored app-icon please)...


At the very least, I was expecting to be able to find a way to go back to the old look. But it's not there. How this got approved is befuddling.
jgatie
No, it is true. And I never said one is better or worse than the other. I don't give much credence to the "science" of UI design, it is more trends and fashion than any real science. As to usability and intuitiveness, people rioted over the usability and intuitiveness of the WordPerfect UI after they changed to WYSIWYG. Is anyone going to tell me that a blue screen, DOS character based, control/shift/alt/arrow key combination based wordprocessor is better than a graphic based, mouse driven, WYSIWYG interface? Of course not, but people did, because that is what they were used to.

Look, Sonos will tweak it, your muscle memory will adapt, and we will all be back here in three years arguing the same things, except by then 8.0 will be perfect and 11.0 will be horrible.
U
Userlevel 6
Badge +1
Same thing was said about 5.0. Now it is considered the ultimate example of usability. My how things change.

You keep spamming this in every thread and it's just not true. When people ask for a rollback to 7.4 back that doesn't mean they think it was perfect. It merely means it was practically workable.

And practically workable is not something that can't be said from version 8, where all to often have to think in through and decipher a confusing layout in order to get the job done. Switching rooms is the case in point here, where the navigation, the screen lay out, as well the new white design are all contributing factors to a frustrating mess of an experience.

Fact is, Sonos controllers have never been perfect, but at least they were workable. Worse case you had to click twice - in the same spot, not the opposite side of the screen - and you were where you needed to be. With the new design however, it didn't just got worse (as with the transition from 5), it got a lot worse.

And if you disagree with that viewpoint - which quite some of us share - maybe explain your arguments instead of continuously being dismissive of anyone posting a critique.

Explain us, why you favor the white design over the black one, shows us how the new navigation is more efficient than the previous one, or why these big blocks in Mysonos or Rooms are better than a simple list. Just make the case for this new design you like so much.
michelenascondino
Userlevel 2
Badge +1
The majority of the views were negative for the 5.0 version when it was released, the version you all love now and desperately wants back. I can show you posts and threads identical to these, with the same screenshots and the same complaints, in the weeks following the 5.0 release. People hate change. Give it time.

Not true for me, i love changes and surprises, but if they are intelligent... logic...
The new update is really problematic, poor (white! Absurd!) and the functions are “hidden”.

Sonos please update with an intelligent controller like before (and give back the colored app-icon please)...
Nothing begins, noting ends, all is transformation.
jgatie
Change always invites negative reviews -- but these reviews aren't just griping about the unfamiliar. This upgrade truly fails in usability compared to previous versions.

Same thing was said about 5.0. Now it is considered the ultimate example of usability. My how things change.
K
Ok, I was wrong. And I am now quite used to the new app and have no issues with it of any kind. I hope - and I am sure that Sonos listens to all here - that for a long time to come only subtle tweaks and evolutionary changes are made to this version. No roll backs.
D
Userlevel 4
Badge +3
I think it's safe to say that most users don't like this update.
No, it isn't safe because it is a fallacy well known to poll takers and statisticians. Users that like or are neutral about the update don't take the trouble to post to say so.


This is clearly incorrect. If you look at the total number of reviews over all time, over 90% have been positive or average. Only very recently since the last "upgrade" have the figures completely reversed to show nearly 100% as being negative.
P
Userlevel 4
Badge +3
Very relieved to see that there is so much disquiet here about the update. Couple of weeks in and it still feels confusing and disorienting. That much already says it all. A well thought out interface feels natural, let alone after two weeks of use! Doesn't seem worth spelling out my views on what's wrong with it and how unsatisfactory that is when it's all been said. Just want to say 'here too'. Whilst we can't ditch it all because if the amount invested, I've started looking forward to the day that we can enjoy something better. Sad indeed.
M
Userlevel 3
Badge
Change always invites negative reviews -- but these reviews aren't just griping about the unfamiliar. This upgrade truly fails in usability compared to previous versions.
L
Userlevel 1
I agree with many of the comments. The upgrade is terrible. The app is updating all the time and it doesn't keep the settings for the individual rooms. It takes several menu actions to change the music. When a room is selected, there is no option to change the setting without going back. The menu on the bottom of the new application should never disappear when you select the room. Did you assign product manager that doesn't use the product? My whole family agrees this update is terrible. Over the last 3 years I would recommend Sonos to everyone. We have eight devices in seven rooms. When people visit our house, we demonstrate how great the experience can be. Unfortunately, the demo is no longer simple or intuitive. It has turned into a tough sell. Not at all simple. So unfortunate. Most people judge a products by the app store ratings, the scores are tanking. ROLL IT BACK!!! Your reputation is on the line. Pull together your most frequent users. You have the data. We don't want to see you stumble. We all have a lot invested in your product.
G
Oh such a 1st world issue - put your energy to better use... It’s like dealing with a bunch of prepubescent kids... goodness sake it’s an initial release ....
jgatie
My post refers specifically to reviews on the Google Play Store, because there is data to back up my statement. If you have a similar histogram of reviews from past releases, feel free to post it here.

There is no point in continuing to belabor this. Sonos seems to have agreed to fix many flaws we have pointed out. The question is how soon can we expect these fixes?

I could give you a 45 page thread full of them, as well as another thread titled almost exactly like this one about terrible app reviews of the 5.0 release. But will it really do any good?
B
Userlevel 5
Badge +11
Its like we are being punished for owning Sonos with this new update please fix i have house full of your stuff

Fix what? Nobody can read your mind.
User455388
Badge
I also hate hate the new update. I too have a house full of Sonos products, and have been very pleased with them for years.

Can't even conceive of how this got approved. Just a mess. Embarrassing, I no longer want to show off my system!
www.kimvanantwerp.com
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