The new crop of smart speakers can also order you an Uber or tell you a joke. Listen up!
This year has seen the introduction of a new generation of smart speakers in Australia. After the launch of Amazon’s Echo (with its assistant, Alexa), Google Home (with Google Home Assistant) and Apple’s ‘HomePod’ (hello Siri!), several music brands have jumped into the arena and incorporated these technologies into their own products. The Sonos One, for example, now includes Alexa. “With Alexa, you can use your voice to play and control songs, and enjoy other great features people love about Alexa, such as making restaurant reservations, receiving travel updates and controlling your Alexa-enabled smart home devices,” says Ryan Taylor, global director of partnerships at Sonos. Apart from the Ultimate Ears brand, which delights in bold colours, many of the speakers aim to fit unobrusively into your home’s design. “Sonos speakers are simple and beautiful, and with a matt black or white finish, they’re made fade into the background,” says Ryan.