The Google assistant arrives on the Sonos One and Beam today

True to its promise to do so last week, Sonos today deploys Google Assistant as a second choice for a voice assistant on its smart speakers Sonos One and Sonos Beam. After you install the latest application and firmware updates, you can switch to Google Assistant on one of these devices.

As in the case of Alexa, as long as you have the Sonos One or Beam, your assistant voice commands control the entirety of your Sonos multiroom audio system, even if it includes templates older speakers. If you do not have one of the latest Sonos speakers, all you need is a Google Home Mini to get the same features, because Google's Home Speaker Series can now be linked to your Sonos setup.

You can choose Alexa or Google Assistant for each Sonos One or Beam in your system. If you start playing music with Alexa on a speaker, Google Assistant on the other side will be aware of what is playing and will be able to give you information about the song or respond to requests for track jump or playback.

Photo of Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Of course, Google Assistant can do more than satisfy your song requests. You can control your smart gadgets for the home, ask a number of questions or start reading content – including video – on any Android TV or on a TV with a connected Chromecast.

Sonos also supports the features of the wizard such as continuous chat (not to have to say "Hey Google") and the broadcast mode. That said, there are a few things missing from the One and Beam launch with Assistant. Those are:

• call
• Voice Match
• Interpreter mode
• Configuring routines in the Google Home app

Sonos says Google Assistant is only launched in the United States at the moment, but Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom will follow in July. Other countries will follow.