Sonos has announced a “Generation 2” revision to its Sonos One hardware, a little over a year old. The new hardware brings a faster processor, more memory, and support for Bluetooth Low Energy.
The company isn’t known for updating its hardware specifications – at least, not so publicly – and it looks like this change is being introduced to give the Sonos One a little longer life in a more competitive smart speaker market.
For potential buyers looking for radical, sweeping changes – you’re out of luck, for now. It looks like the changes might lead to direct support for Apple’s AirPlay 2 standard in a future update. Bluetooth LE is also said to aid in the setup process for the speaker.
We’re still waiting for Sonos to make good on its promise to bring Google Assistant to its speakers – currently running Alexas – but it seems the new “Gen 2” hardware won’t be required for this when it finally launches.
The company also says it wants to make the setup step that adapts the speakers’ output to your room available on more platforms (its currently only available with their iOS app), but its hard to see how these revisions might facilitate that change.
Check out Scott’s review of the Sonos One
Regardless of the changes under the hood, Sonos assures us there’s no difference in the audio capabilities – it’s still going to pack that distinctive Sonos punch.
“We’re still waiting for Sonos to make good on its promise to bring Google Assistant to its speakers”
It’s a sad joke. People waited years for Google Assistant on these devices. And when it finally comes, the Cast function won’t be working properly, so you won’t be able to cast to this device.