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It’s no secret that Sonos is planning to announce something next week – the company has sent out invitations to virtual events to the press, and we’ll tune in. But it turns out we didn’t have to wait that long to take a look at the product; a report from The Verge details the new Sonos Roam in great detail, the pictures and everything.
Much as predicted by previous leaks, the Sonos Roam is a more compact Bluetooth speaker than the Sonos Move – the type of speaker you might keep in a backpack. It’s also a lot cheaper, at $ 169, rather than the Sonos Move’s $ 399 (as good as this speaker might be).
Here are other details we learn from the report:
- It’s tiny, just 6.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches.
- It weighs “about a pound”.
- USB-C charging and wireless charging (with a $ 49 docking station) are on board.
- It should last around 10 hours on a charge.
- It’s waterproof.
- The Roam can connect via Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth and supports stereo pairing in Wi-Fi mode.
- It supports AirPlay 2.
- There are microphones on board for Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.
And that’s about it. The Wi-Fi connectivity should help differentiate it from most other Bluetooth speakers, as it can easily integrate into homes with existing Sonos. Sonos also has a reputation for sound quality which I hope to keep with the Roam.
What I’m curious to see is if Sonos is leveraging Wi-Fi connectivity for other home applications. While this speaker is frankly tiny compared to other Sonos offerings, it could theoretically be used as a cheap surround or Atmos speaker in a small home theater setup.
To be clear, the report doesn’t claim this feature, but it would be an interesting perk for Sonos that could help attract potential buyers to its ecosystem. It will depend on the power and quality of the speaker – I guess we’ll see soon enough.
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Published March 4, 2021 – 19:24 UTC
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