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Android Functionality Needed

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I know some aspects of this topic have already been discussed, however if sonos keeps reading them who knows they may actually make software so full Android functionality can be integrated into all sonos products 😀 I have been told the new era 100 + 300 products do now have Android integration and allows sonos room sound correction software analysis the room and this optimization of these products,can  sonos not issue an software update to their older products to allow Android functionality? Also I would like sonos to allow amazon unlimited subscribers to be able to nativity use sonos products through the amazon music app thus giving amazon music uses fun functionality in what and how they play their music via sonos products come on sonos you can do it and finally I hope when sonos release the ARC 2 soundbar they give Android integrated as they do for the era 100 + 200 and also includes Two 2.1 HDMI connectors to allow connection to the TV and a Blu-Ray player or a PS5 Xbox x 

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Best answer by jgatie 21 June 2023, 17:45

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jgatie

The new devices do not have “Android integration” per se.  They have Quick Tuning functionality, which is a hardware implementation on the speaker itself which can be enabled via Android or iOS.  However, since it is the specialized device hardware doing the Quick Tuning and not the controller, it is not able to be retrofitted to the older devices.  

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The new devices do not have “Android integration” per se.  They have Quick Tuning functionality, which is a hardware implementation on the speaker itself which can be enabled via Android or iOS.  However, since it is the specialized device hardware doing the Quick Tuning and not the controller, it is not able to be retrofitted to the older devices.  

Hello many thanks for your quick reply and the information you have provided me with, I do feel that sonos are still very Apple centric and need to integrate full functionality as the have with apple products, as Android devices are a huge market that sonos needs to tap into as this would be a win win situation as sonos would sell more products and Android users would benefit from having sonos products fully compatible with android hope sonos will sort this situation out soon and make everyone happy not just apple users 

jgatie

Hello many thanks for your quick reply and the information you have provided me with, I do feel that sonos are still very Apple centric and need to integrate full functionality as the have with apple products, as Android devices are a huge market that sonos needs to tap into as this would be a win win situation as sonos would sell more products and Android users would benefit from having sonos products fully compatible with android hope sonos will sort this situation out soon and make everyone happy not just apple users 

 

The reason why full Trueplay isn’t available on Android has nothing to do with Sonos being “Apple centric”.  After all, for years Android users could play local files from their devices and connect directly to Sonosnet, which iOS users could not. 

The real reason is the multitude of sources for microphones in Android devices, even within the same brand and model, means it is impossible to tune Trueplay to every microphone used in Android devices. 

iDevices, on the other hand, have a standardized microphone for each model, so it is relatively easy to tune to Trueplay.

melvimbe

Also I would like sonos to allow amazon unlimited subscribers to be able to nativity use sonos products through the amazon music app thus giving amazon music uses fun functionality in what and how they play their music via sonos products come on sonos you can do it

 

 

You can use the the Amazon music app and ‘cast’ music to play on your Sonos speakers.  You may need to setup Amazon Alexa (whether you have any Alexa devices turned on or not) to do this, but it does work well.  It even works when you are not on your local WiFi network.  Was there some other functionality you were looking for?

 

and finally I hope when sonos release the ARC 2 soundbar they give Android integrated as they do for the era 100 + 200 and also includes Two 2.1 HDMI connectors to allow connection to the TV and a Blu-Ray player or a PS5 Xbox x 

An Arc 2 soundbar is likely years away.  I suspect the Trueplay quick tuning will be available then, and any other future Sonos products.  As far as adding an HDMI passthrough feature, I highly doubt that will happen.  Besides requiring a hardware change, which Sonos tends to avoid on gen 2 product, it means that the speaker has to be capable of handling whatever video standards exist now and in the future along with whatever license may be required (perhaps none). It means the Arc needs to process ‘normal’ audio signals as well as ARCeARC.  A lot of customers will be annoyed that it doesn’t have multiple HDMI inputs and switching capability.  Besides, there are a growing number of devices, like this one, that already handle the features you’d want without Sonos building it into the Arc or Beam.

Danny
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Also I would like sonos to allow amazon unlimited subscribers to be able to nativity use sonos products through the amazon music app thus giving amazon music uses fun functionality in what and how they play their music via sonos products come on sonos you can do it

 

 

You can use the the Amazon music app and ‘cast’ music to play on your Sonos speakers.  You may need to setup Amazon Alexa (whether you have any Alexa devices turned on or not) to do this, but it does work well.  It even works when you are not on your local WiFi network.  Was there some other functionality you were looking for?

 

and finally I hope when sonos release the ARC 2 soundbar they give Android integrated as they do for the era 100 + 200 and also includes Two 2.1 HDMI connectors to allow connection to the TV and a Blu-Ray player or a PS5 Xbox x 

An Arc 2 soundbar is likely years away.  I suspect the Trueplay quick tuning will be available then, and any other future Sonos products.  As far as adding an HDMI passthrough feature, I highly doubt that will happen.  Besides requiring a hardware change, which Sonos tends to avoid on gen 2 product, it means that the speaker has to be capable of handling whatever video standards exist now and in the future along with whatever license may be required (perhaps none). It means the Arc needs to process ‘normal’ audio signals as well as ARCeARC.  A lot of customers will be annoyed that it doesn’t have multiple HDMI inputs and switching capability.  Besides, there are a growing number of devices, like this one, that already handle the features you’d want without Sonos building it into the Arc or Beam.

HI many thanks for your quick reply, It's just I'm not too technology expert and I've been led to believe that sonos speakers won't allow you to the amazon music app directly to stream music, you can of-course stream music from amazon music but only via the sonos app and therefore not in amazon HD/ultra HD  - with regards to Arc 2 HDMI pass though what I mean is having 2 E-arc HDMI port's so you can input a 2.1 device and connect to your TV or a PS5 if this is correct then why can't sonos do this when lots of other manufacturers do it

melvimbe

HI many thanks for your quick reply, It's just I'm not too technology expert and I've been led to believe that sonos speakers won't allow you to the amazon music app directly to stream music, you can of-course stream music from amazon music but only via the sonos app and therefore not in amazon HD/ultra HD  -

 

 

Ah.  This is actually on Amazon as I understand it.  They need to enable casting (or voice command requests) for HD and atmos audio tracks.  You can only do this through the Sonos app or via a TV right now.

 

with regards to Arc 2 HDMI pass though what I mean is having 2 E-arc HDMI port's so you can input a 2.1 device and connect to your TV or a PS5 if this is correct then why can't sonos do this when lots of other manufacturers do it

 

It absolutely can be done, Sonos is just very unlikely to do it as they never have before.  That’s been a request with the Playbar, long before the Arc ever existing.  Then again, Sonos also said they were not going to do bluetooth either.

 

Danny
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HI many thanks for your quick reply, It's just I'm not too technology expert and I've been led to believe that sonos speakers won't allow you to the amazon music app directly to stream music, you can of-course stream music from amazon music but only via the sonos app and therefore not in amazon HD/ultra HD  -

 

 

Ah.  This is actually on Amazon as I understand it.  They need to enable casting (or voice command requests) for HD and atmos audio tracks.  You can only do this through the Sonos app or via a TV right now.

 

with regards to Arc 2 HDMI pass though what I mean is having 2 E-arc HDMI port's so you can input a 2.1 device and connect to your TV or a PS5 if this is correct then why can't sonos do this when lots of other manufacturers do it

 

It absolutely can be done, Sonos is just very unlikely to do it as they never have before.  That’s been a request with the Playbar, long before the Arc ever existing.  Then again, Sonos also said they were not going to do bluetooth either.

 

Thanks Danny 👍 yep never say never I just think with a company like sonos they can do almost anything if they want to, I'm not knocking sonos but I just wish they would open up to Android users and  increase functionality of their products as I'm sure they would increase sales enough to make it financially viable and open up there products to a much wider customer market like just catering for apple users  there are 100 s of million Android users 😀 fingers crossed ehh 

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Hello many thanks for your quick reply and the information you have provided me with, I do feel that sonos are still very Apple centric and need to integrate full functionality as the have with apple products, as Android devices are a huge market that sonos needs to tap into as this would be a win win situation as sonos would sell more products and Android users would benefit from having sonos products fully compatible with android hope sonos will sort this situation out soon and make everyone happy not just apple users 

 

The reason why full Trueplay isn’t available on Android has nothing to do with Sonos being “Apple centric”.  After all, for years Android users could play local files from their devices and connect directly to Sonosnet, which iOS users could not. 

The real reason is the multitude of sources for microphones in Android devices, even within the same brand and model, means it is impossible to tune Trueplay to every microphone used in Android devices. 

iDevices, on the other hand, have a standardized microphone for each model, so it is relatively easy to tune to Trueplay.

Thanks for your reply even so I bet sonos could join up with a 3rd party software company and create an app that would work with the vast majority of android devices or come up with some type of true play that would be compatible with android devices, yes of-course android users can do this and apple users cannot and versa, that not the point I'm trying to make which is if sonos invested money into finding an solution for Android users they would open up a worldwide market of 100's of millions extra customers who would be more likely to invest large amounts of money in sonos eco system if??? They could easily integrate it with their life

buzz

Popmaster109,

Would you be willing to take your Android to a calibration facility? At the facility your microphones could be calibrated. Would you be willing to pay a fee for this service?

The problem with Androids is that the microphone calibration can vary from production batch to batch on the same model phone. Perhaps some models are consistent enough that one calibration will be valid for the entire model run, but this uniformity will not be known until the model production ends. Unfortunately, there will be legions of models that will not be uniform enough for developing a standard calibration. There would be a list of supported models. I expect that this list would be relatively short. Would you be OK with a short list of supported models? (that might not include your phone)

Note that in any of these cases, purchasing a new Android phone will invalidate any past calibration. This already happens when a new iPhone/iPad is introduced. There is a lag between product introduction and Trueplay availability. During the lag a large batch of iPhone/iPad’s is sampled in order to develop a calibration spread.

Would you be willing to purchase or rent an Android accessory that enables Android Trueplay?

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Popmaster109,

Would you be willing to take your Android to a calibration facility? At the facility your microphones could be calibrated. Would you be willing to pay a fee for this service?

The problem with Androids is that the microphone calibration can vary from production batch to batch on the same model phone. Perhaps some models are consistent enough that one calibration will be valid for the entire model run, but this uniformity will not be known until the model production ends. Unfortunately, there will be legions of models that will not be uniform enough for developing a standard calibration. There would be a list of supported models. I expect that this list would be relatively short. Would you be OK with a short list of supported models? (that might not include your phone)

Note that in any of these cases, purchasing a new Android phone will invalidate any past calibration. This already happens when a new iPhone/iPad is introduced. There is a lag between product introduction and Trueplay availability. During the lag a large batch of iPhone/iPad’s is sampled in order to develop a calibration spread.

Would you be willing to purchase or rent an Android accessory that enables Android Trueplay?

OK so your an apple fan boy I take it no more to be said then that Ehh apple says what they think is best for you the customer who's just paid £1,200 for their phone and they don't allow you to set it up as you want yeah that's why apple phones device may have more stability with their microphones but I'd rather be able to have the choice about how I use my £1,200 pound S23 ultra than have safe but totally boring i-phone 

buzz

Actually I’m not anyone’s fanboy. I happen to own an iPad because it is required for a work function not supported on Android. (Unrelated to SONOS) It’s likely to be the only Apple product that I’ll ever own.

Platform exclusivity cuts both ways. There is an Android functionality that I must have for work that is not supported on iOS. For me, Android is about as irksome as iOS.

jgatie

OK so your an apple fan boy I take it no more to be said then that Ehh apple says what they think is best for you the customer who's just paid £1,200 for their phone and they don't allow you to set it up as you want yeah that's why apple phones device may have more stability with their microphones but I'd rather be able to have the choice about how I use my £1,200 pound S23 ultra than have safe but totally boring i-phone 

 

I basically said the same thing as @buzz.  Does that make me an Apple fanboy too?  Because if it does, I’d be the very first Steve Jobs loathing, iOS hating, won’t have an Apple device in my home, owner of almost every Samsung Galaxy phone and/or tablet made in the last decade+ “Apple fanboy” in the history of the world.  Still doesn’t change the fact that Android microphones are too non-standardized to use for Trueplay, which is why Sonos has begun to incorporate Quick Tune into their newer devices.  Unfortunately, this new Quick Tune technology is not backwards compatible.  

That’s not pro-Apple or anti-Android, that’s just the facts.  Labelling it as some sort of bias is just dumb denial of these facts, and does nothing to satisfy your wishes.  You just get someone or something to (wrongly) blame. 

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Actually I’m not anyone’s fanboy. I happen to own an iPad because it is required for a work function not supported on Android. (Unrelated to SONOS) It’s likely to be the only Apple product that I’ll ever own.

Platform exclusivity cuts both ways. There is an Android functionality that I must have for work that is not supported on iOS. For me, Android is about as irksome as iOS.

Please accept my sincere apologies for my apple fanboy comments it  just sounded like your reply was pro apple and related to the fact that sonos products are appleized well to a point, I'm not the most technology minded person and it seems you are and know about android microphones etc, but surely sonos could work with a 3rd party software app developer to have a much more android friendly room correction (Trueplay) Functionality? 

However I do accept that all apple devices are obviously made by apple and therefore much more standardised than android made by different companies, which TBH I hadn't taken into account fully until chatting on here,  so once Please accept my apologies and no offence was meant 

 

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OK so your an apple fan boy I take it no more to be said then that Ehh apple says what they think is best for you the customer who's just paid £1,200 for their phone and they don't allow you to set it up as you want yeah that's why apple phones device may have more stability with their microphones but I'd rather be able to have the choice about how I use my £1,200 pound S23 ultra than have safe but totally boring i-phone 

 

I basically said the same thing as @buzz.  Does that make me an Apple fanboy too?  Because if it does, I’d be the very first Steve Jobs loathing, iOS hating, won’t have an Apple device in my home, owner of almost every Samsung Galaxy phone and/or tablet made in the last decade+ “Apple fanboy” in the history of the world.  Still doesn’t change the fact that Android microphones are too non-standardized to use for Trueplay, which is why Sonos has begun to incorporate Quick Tune into their newer devices.  Unfortunately, this new Quick Tune technology is not backwards compatible.  

That’s not pro-Apple or anti-Android, that’s just the facts.  Labelling it as some sort of bias is just dumb denial of these facts, and does nothing to satisfy your wishes.  You just get someone or something to (wrongly) blame. 

Hi please can you read my reply to buzz as its basically the same reply I would have typed to you as well, many thanks Popmaster109 

buzz

Accepted.

Most of the SONOS users that I encounter are Apple users. This is hardly a valid scientific sample, SONOS has the data. Perhaps the dynamic is that iPhone/iPad and SONOS are perceived as premium, upscale products, attractive to the same customer base. Given the unit to unit consistency of iPhones and iPads, I think that SONOS decided that it would be great marketing to add a useful, “free” feature (Trueplay) for the major block of the user base. Apple fans are loving it, Android fans are grumpy and vocal. I have to giggle a bit over a tech friend and Apple hater who had to buy an iPad in order to support his business. He was not so flattering when he learned that I purchased an iPad to support my work. Both of us are willing to use the tool needed to get the job done.

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Many thanks for your reply, I do understand that SONOS had to choose apple when they were starting out and at least their waking up to the android users with their latest products era 100 + 300 and I'm sure for ALL future products and massively increase their sales, maybe SONOS could as an extra cost include a apple type device that will operate Identical as an i-phone or i-pad to help maximise their products performance with your own rooms acoustics, So may thanks for expanding my knowledge with regards to android microphone issues, I suppose all android users who have a friend who can let them use their apple product to use Trueplay and maximise their SONOS products performance 😀 

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I'm sure for ALL future products and massively increase their sales, maybe SONOS could as an extra cost include a apple type device that will operate Identical as an i-phone or i-pad to help maximise their products performance with your own rooms acoustics,


Do all Android devices support an external microphone input? Do they all have the same circuitry and (if needed) analogue-to-digital converter to to the mic input into an environment where software can analyse the data from the Trueplay process? I would think not. 
 

If Sonos were to produce an independent device and market it for, say, $50 how many folk would buy it? It’s effectively a “use once” product. I suspect that the cost to design, develop, test, market and support such a product is unlikely to make good business sense - cost would far outweigh income. 
 

And bundling it with all future products would upset buyers who’d only need one such device and not want to keep paying for extra ones. 

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I'm sure for ALL future products and massively increase their sales, maybe SONOS could as an extra cost include a apple type device that will operate Identical as an i-phone or i-pad to help maximise their products performance with your own rooms acoustics,


Do all Android devices support an external microphone input? Do they all have the same circuitry and (if needed) analogue-to-digital converter to to the mic input into an environment where software can analyse the data from the Trueplay process? I would think not. 
 

If Sonos were to produce an independent device and market it for, say, $50 how many folk would buy it? It’s effectively a “use once” product. I suspect that the cost to design, develop, test, market and support such a product is unlikely to make good business sense - cost would far outweigh income. 
 

And bundling it with all future products would upset buyers who’d only need one such device and not want to keep paying for extra ones. 

I see your point and your probably right but I do still think a worldwide company like SONOS could if they wanted make in conjunction with a 3rd party software developer an android app that would give nearly as much capability as the one for apple products, I feel  SONOS could and should do it to widen their appeal to android users and yes it would be a financial outlay but I think and feel SONOS would not only recoup that outlay very quickly but massively increase their sales by increasing android functionality within their products, their are more android users than apple users and just because apple i-phones are the most popular mobile phone in the world doesn't mean their the best just because they're popular and I'm not apple bashing but i strongly believe if companies like SONOS would and should include android users the same features and functionality (yes I like that word as it expresses what I'm trying to say) I know it would exponentially increase their sales 

melvimbe

HI many thanks for your quick reply, It's just I'm not too technology expert and I've been led to believe that sonos speakers won't allow you to the amazon music app directly to stream music, you can of-course stream music from amazon music but only via the sonos app and therefore not in amazon HD/ultra HD  -

 

 

Ah.  This is actually on Amazon as I understand it.  They need to enable casting (or voice command requests) for HD and atmos audio tracks.  You can only do this through the Sonos app or via a TV right now.

 

with regards to Arc 2 HDMI pass though what I mean is having 2 E-arc HDMI port's so you can input a 2.1 device and connect to your TV or a PS5 if this is correct then why can't sonos do this when lots of other manufacturers do it

 

It absolutely can be done, Sonos is just very unlikely to do it as they never have before.  That’s been a request with the Playbar, long before the Arc ever existing.  Then again, Sonos also said they were not going to do bluetooth either.

 

Thanks Danny 👍 yep never say never I just think with a company like sonos they can do almost anything if they want to, I'm not knocking sonos but I just wish they would open up to Android users and  increase functionality of their products as I'm sure they would increase sales enough to make it financially viable and open up there products to a much wider customer market like just catering for apple users  there are 100 s of million Android users 😀 fingers crossed ehh 

Sonos stock has recently tumbled and as a result, they’ve had to layoff 7% (130) of the their employees.   This is atleast the 3rd time they’ve had to go through a round of layoffs. That’s not a company that is in a position to do almost anything they want.  I don’t think Sonos is in serious danger, but they aren’t a position to take a lot of risks or unjustified costs.   I get that as customers, we are free to make assumptions about the market and how this feature or that will bring in enough sales to justify costs, but Sonos actually has to do the analysis to prove it.  I have little doubt that Sonos has taken serious looks at HDMI passthrough and other features you mentioned over the years and determined it would not be right for the business right now. 

 

The way I see it,  I need Sonos to continue to stay in business (and not be sold to big tech) for a long time to support my system.  I have some feature requests I’d like to see, but I’d rather Sonos make the smart choices about these and other features.  That said, it’s perfectly understandable for other customers to be completely unconcerned about Sonos well being and just want the features they want right now regardless of whether it makes sense on the other side of the equation.

Danny
buzz

Buy once with free support and added features forever is a difficult long term business model.

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