The Sonos One could get smarter
Sonos is reportedly talking to Roku about adding Roku’s new voice assistant to its smart speakers including the Sonos One.
The Roku Entertainment Assistant is due to launch next year and a partnership would mean that you could talk to your Sonos One to search for TV shows, for instance, that would play on a Roku TV or a Roku smart streaming stick. No mention of the Sonos Beam soundbar yet but that could be in the mix too.
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That’s according to anonymous sources talking to CNET who said that a collab would also involve Roku Connect, software which makes it easier to pair TVs with speakers.
The excellent Sonos One already supports Alexa voice controls and Google Assistant is coming by the end of the year. Adding support for another voice assistant seems a no-brainer for Sonos especially when its CEO Patrick Spence has outlined how he wants Sonos speaker owners to use whichever assistant they like for the tasks it’s best at.
Likewise, Roku is rolling out Google Assistant support for its streaming sticks like the new, affordable Roku Premiere. One big bonus with Roku is that it does Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video and Google Play – so you don’t need to choose camps – and it’ll be good for smart home owners to get a serious new option when it comes to living room entertainment controls.
A Sonos spokeswoman’s response to the Roku rumours was that it won’t speculate on future partnerships but that: ” Sonos is committed to bringing the voice services our customers want to our platform. So naturally, we’re open to having discussions with any number of companies crafting innovative voice experiences.” Sounds promising to us.
