Sonos will launch Google Assistant on its smart speakers next week

Saw this a few minutes ago as well. It's progress so that's great BUT...

It sounds like the only gateway to using Google Assistant on Sonos is via the Sonos One or Sonos Beam. I hope that I'm either reading into the statement too much OR that this is only the first step and they will eventually (sooner rather than later) add the ability to interface with any Google Assistant Device to play music via Sonos.

If not that's a HUGE swing and miss. I have a feeling this is going to be a frustrating and long process of "almost but not quite" if you know what I mean.

That part doesn't seem to be defined by any of the data so far, one way or another.

We'll just need to wait until the release more information in order to know. I have to admit, it would be challenging to think that the implementation would be that wildly different than the Alexa integration.....but I've got no inside knowledge, nor am I in the beta (although I suppose if I was, I'd have to say that, due to the NDA?)

That part doesn't seem to be defined by any of the data so far, one way or another.

We'll just need to wait until the release more information in order to know. I have to admit, it would be challenging to think that the implementation would be that wildly different than the Alexa integration.....but I've got no inside knowledge, nor am I in the beta (although I suppose if I was, I'd have to say that, due to the NDA?)

Every article out there specifically says "...Sonos is nearly ready to roll out Google Assistant to its Sonos One and Sonos Beam smart speakers"

Engadget even went as far to say "There weren't many other details on the forthcoming launch in Sonos' press release; it still remains to be seen if the Assistant will work with other Sonos speakers via a Google Home device."

I'd be willing to bet money that when the update drops next week it will only apply to Sonos One and Sonos Beam devices.

This is going to be problematic for me (and probably many) because the rooms where I have these devices also contain native Google Home devices. It will be interesting to see which device executes the command or if they have a plan to address this.

My apologies. I was talking specifically about the interface with another Google Assistant device.

Yes, it would make sense that only the Sonos devices that have microphones would be the only Sonos devices that can accept a voice input. That's exactly as the Alexa integration works. It would be challenging to have any of the other speakers do it, as they don't have microphones.

Essentially, I'm predicting that it will react in the same way as an Alexa device. You could use the Sonos speakers that have microphones to use as input. You could then group that speaker with any other Sonos device. And you could use a Google input device to control your Sonos. Essentially exactly the same as the Amazon Alexa integration. It just doesn't make much sense for it to be any other way. But I could be wrong. We'll see soon.

Oh, I should probably mention that those Sonos speakers with microphones also have faster processors, and potentially more memory than devices that were designed many years earlier. So the same limitations that impact the ability of the older Sonos devices to not be able to be AirPlay 2 and Alexa enabled speakers would impact the ability for them to run the Google Assistant.

My apologies. I was talking specifically about the interface with another Google Assistant device.

Yes, it would make sense that only the Sonos devices that have microphones would be the only Sonos devices that can accept a voice input. That's exactly as the Alexa integration works. It would be challenging to have any of the other speakers do it, as they don't have microphones.

Essentially, I'm predicting that it will react in the same way as an Alexa device. You could use the Sonos speakers that have microphones to use as input. You could then group that speaker with any other Sonos device. And you could use a Google input device to control your Sonos. Essentially exactly the same as the Amazon Alexa integration. It just doesn't make much sense for it to be any other way. But I could be wrong. We'll see soon.

I've never even tried Alexa with my Sonos so I don't know how it works. But I THINK what you're saying is that you expect the user will be able to do one of two things:

1 - Use a Sonos One or Sonos Beam as an input device for Google Assistant commands to control Sonos speakers.
2 - Use any other Google Assistant device (Google Home mini, Google Home Hub, Google Assistant on a phone, etc) as an input device for Google Assistant commands to control Sonos speakers.

I'm saying that I bet that only item 1 above will be available when they launch this feature.

As I've said repeatedly, it is unclear, and we'll have to see.

I bet that only item 1 above will be available when they launch this feature.I bet we'll find out next week 😉

A spokesperson declined to share additional details on the timing Assistant support for legacy Sonos speakers, saying that the company would share more next week, but CEO Patrick Spence suggested that this functionality was definitely coming as well: “If you have a Google Home device, you will be able to use that to control your Sonos,” Spence said.

Hopefully sooner than later for this most important part of this integration.

I would guess that only Gen 2 One's will be supported. There has to be a good reason they updated the hardware recently.