Google Assistant has finally arrived on the Sonos One smart speaker and Sonos Beam soundbar, via a free free software update in the United States.
Sonos says that the update will be rolled out to the "UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, France, and The Netherlands" in July, with "additional countries to follow".
- Read our Sonos One review
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The company originally promised both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa support back in 2017, and despite a number of updates to the Sonos One – including AirPlay 2 support – Google Assistant hadn't been among them until now.
Flexibility for the smart home
The integration with Google Assistant means that Sonos One and Sonos Beam users can "easily start a song, queue a TV show, check the weather, and control the smart home" by giving voice commands to the built-in assistant.
It will also be possible to control compatible Google smart home devices that work with Google Assistant via the Sonos One or Sonos Beam.
In a letter sent out to Sonos shareholders, CEO Patrick Spence said that the new feature "will truly elevate the customer experience and marks the first time that consumers will be able to buy a single smart speaker and get to choose which voice assistant they want to use".
"We think giving consumers choice is always the right decision, and we anticipate this philosophy will be adopted in the industry over time."
Having interoperability between different voice assistants could prove very lucrative for the company, especially if customers value flexibility in their smart home products as much as Sonos is clearly hoping.
In a press release, the company said that Sonos customer "will have the ability to choose an assistant for each individual speaker", which means you could have Alexa built-in to the Sonos Beam in your living room, while the Sonos One in your kitchen is set up with Google Assistant.
The Sonos One was recently updated with a second generation model, but as Sonos said “the original Sonos One will continue to be supported through regular updates", Google Assistant will be available on the original model as promised.
Due to the recent upgrade, you can find the original Sonos One on sale for around $179 / £179 / AU$279 while the second gen model picks up the previous price tag of $199 /£199 / AU$299.
The Sonos Beam soundbar, which impressed us with its compact design and superb sound quality, comes in at $399 / £399 / AU$599.
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