While previously teased, Sonos is doing their own virtual assistant of sorts w/ the Sonos Voice Control. But this ain’t some destined-to-fail feature slated to compete against the like of Alexa, Google Assistant, & Siri. This is all about music and helping you pull off tasks hands-free.
Despite not being a full-on virtual assistant, you will be able to use Alexa along w/ it on the same device to pull off smart home controls & general inquiries. No support for Google Assistant though. It will have a notable voice behind it w/ Giancarlo Esposito from Breaking Bad, Mandalorian, and many more works of medium.
Think Alexa or Google Assistant but only for music.
So to be more specific on what you’ll be able to do w/ it. You’ll be to play/pause music, skip songs, adjust the volume, and send audio to other Sonos speakers in the house. All by using its own ‘Hey Sonos’ key phrase. You’ll be able to utilize the new feature on the likes of Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, Pandora, & Sonos Radio at launch w/ some limited Spotify access.
And last but not least, privacy is their number one priority. All actions & voice commands will be processed on device w/o having to get uploaded to a server. With the other assistants opening up the possibilities for always-listening mics gone wrong, Sonos wants to try & better put the customers minds at ease.
Sonos Voice Control will arrive on June 1s via update for free here in the US while those of you in France will get access later this year.
