Sonos has just corrected the main drawback of its excellent Roam portable speaker

I’m generally a huge fan of the Sonos Roam, but in the months since the portable speaker was released, I definitely ran into one downside: poor power management. When the device is idle, its battery drains much faster than I would like – and faster than most Bluetooth speakers. Sometimes that means a dead Roam just when you want to use it the most. This has led me to turn the speaker off completely when not in use, which is less than ideal for something that is supposed to fit into a multi-room audio system.

Fortunately, today Sonos made some improvements to address battery drain.

After installing the latest software update (with the Sonos app on Android or iOS), the Roam should last longer on a charge when it’s not doing anything. “We have improved Roam’s power management to help extend Roam’s battery life when not actively in use,” Sonos said in its patch notes for the update. Sonos S2 day 13.3.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The update also allows you to wake the Roam from standby mode by pressing one of the top buttons; previously this could only be done with the power button on the back. And the Sonos app will now alert you if the Roam is connected to a charger that isn’t delivering enough juice to actually charge the battery. Finally, Sonos indicates that two Roams that had been paired in stereo will now reconnect automatically if one of them briefly loses connection to the network.

To install the update, make sure the latest version of the Sonos app is installed on Android, iOS, PC, or Mac. On mobile, you should automatically be prompted to update your devices when you open the app. If not, you can still manually check for the update by tapping the gear tab, choosing System, then System Updates.