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Beam Ultra does not have Alexa or Google voice control?

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So I guess that the new Beam Ultra will not have voice control using Google or Alexa? I have to ask this, why does Sonos seem to struggle with what seems to be such small things that other companies have no issues with? Maybe it is time for a more competent company to buy Sonos.

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melvimbeAnswer

A few points I wanted to add to the discussion. Hopefully constructive.

1- Sonos, like any other company that makes consumer products, are going to release products before the Christmas retail season, even if all planned features are not yet available. Those that don’t want the product without the promised feature can always hold out until that feature is enabled.

2- Sonos is going to be implementing custom agents, which will open up SVC to any AI agent you want. It’s already been stated that Gemini is on that list of services that will be supported when the feature arrives. To be fair though, it’s unlikely to be same experience as Gemini on a google mini (or whatever speakers they have these days)

3 - I personally don’t care whether Sonos supports Alexa + or not. I do use Alexa + from smart home control where I need to, but I find the push to sell me product, and that they charge for it, I have had Echos for Alexa and Sonos for SVC/music without issue for years, and will continue till I can scrap Alexa. In short, I would understand if Sonos does put effort into getting Alexa + working natively, but I’m also happy to see them not spend any time and effort into it.

4 - I feel as though Sonos current stance on voice actually better matches their originally philosophy with music. Any music service that wants to be available on Sonos can be, and now any AI/Voice Assistant can as well. You aren’t locked into a service, can use multiple services, and switch whenever you want.

Danny

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kdowling

I posted a copy / paste above, directly from the Beam Ulta product guide that specifically says Amazon Alexa. You have to scroll down to the Microphone and voice, Voice control section.

And if you go to the section I pointed out from the same product guide, it only mentions SVC.

Your quote didn’t come from the product guide. It came from the Beam Ultra set up article. It mentions you can use SVC, because you can. It doesn’t say you can’t use Alexa. They are promoting their own voice assistant.

Mr. T

This quote is about Alexa+

“While it won’t be available at launch, Sonos is working closely with Amazon to bring Alexa+ to Beam Ultra.”

Regular Amazon Alexa is available, as stated in the product guide.

The product guide is inconsistent. The Beam Ultra product page only states SVC.

Mr. T

I posted a copy / paste above, directly from the Beam Ulta product guide that specifically says Amazon Alexa. You have to scroll down to the Microphone and voice, Voice control section.

And if you go to the section I pointed out from the same product guide, it only mentions SVC.

Your quote didn’t come from the product guide. It came from the Beam Ultra set up article. It mentions you can use SVC, because you can. It doesn’t say you can’t use Alexa. They are promoting their own voice assistant.

I never said the quote came from the product guide.

I said the product guide that you linked only states SVC under Power & Connectivity > Voice

kdowling

This quote is about Alexa+

“While it won’t be available at launch, Sonos is working closely with Amazon to bring Alexa+ to Beam Ultra.”

Regular Amazon Alexa is available, as stated in the product guide.

The product guide is inconsistent. The Beam Ultra product page only states SVC.

Ok, that’s why in my first reply I started with the footnote from the product page:

5. Availability of voice services varies by country and language

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drewbab1229Author

Trending Lyricist I

From what I can tell, Mr. T is correct. There are some posts on reddit where users state they have contacted Sonos and were told that it currently does not work with Alexa or Google at launch. However, they are working on getting it to work with Alexa+. Sonos should be clearer and more transparent. Or maybe they could wait and release the product, when it actually works. And they could bring back Google, but I guess they don’t want to do that since they are in a huge lawsuit with them and want to make their customers pay the price for this.

jgatie

From what I can tell, Mr. T is correct. There are some posts on reddit where users state they have contacted Sonos and were told that it currently does not work with Alexa or Google at launch. However, they are working on getting it to work with Alexa+. Sonos should be clearer and more transparent. Or maybe they could wait and release the product, when it actually works. And they could bring back Google, but I guess they don’t want to do that since they are in a huge lawsuit with them and want to make their customers pay the price for this.

Didn't you state you made your last Sonos purchase over a year ago? So why would you care?

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drewbab1229Author

Trending Lyricist I

You are correct. I was hoping this new CEO would get things turned around at Sonos and obviously that has not happened. I would like to upgrade some of my Sonos equipment, but I am a Google Voice household. I was hoping they would get back on track and start being able to use Google Voice and Alexa. However, I see they are heading in the opposite direction and just using their own voice service. I had spoken with the previous CEO and he told me they were working on bringing Google back, just trying to figure out how to do it technically, something other companies don’t seem to struggle with, but he is no longer employed at Sonos. Not sure how any of that is relevant as my question was technical, but there is your answer.

kdowling

I posted a copy / paste above, directly from the Beam Ulta product guide that specifically says Amazon Alexa. You have to scroll down to the Microphone and voice, Voice control section.

And if you go to the section I pointed out from the same product guide, it only mentions SVC.

Your quote didn’t come from the product guide. It came from the Beam Ultra set up article. It mentions you can use SVC, because you can. It doesn’t say you can’t use Alexa. They are promoting their own voice assistant.

I never said the quote came from the product guide.

I said the product guide that you linked only states SVC under Power & Connectivity > Voice

Sorry, my mistake. I thought you said the quote came from the product guide. On re-reading I see that wasn’t the case.

Airgetlam

Google are the ones that changed the requirements. As far as I know, it was not a decision made by Sonos, who tries pretty hard to be part of every ecosystem.

It’s fine to be upset, but you probably need to be upset with another company.

Bruce

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drewbab1229Author

Trending Lyricist I

I just spoke with someone at Sonos and currently is DOES NOT support Alexa or Google. If you go to the page for the product and go to tech specs and under voice control, it currently only uses Sonos Voice, what a joke Sonos has become!

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