In my review of iPad versus Android tablets, I couldn’t think of anything nice to say about Android tablets. The good ones cost as much or more as an iPad and seemed to lack some of the advantages that Android phones have over iPhones (the Motorola Xoom is such a bad business idea that the shareholders should really be asking why anyone at Motorola gets paid more than $15 per hour (in fact the top executives helped themselves to more than $13 million/year each in return for exposing the shareholders to ridicule with this feeble attempt at competing with Apple)). Today, however, Sonos has introduced a controller application for Android to drive their whole-house music system. The Sonos is a great system and it is nice to be able to drive it from my phone, but the phone screen is a little small for choosing from among the huge array of music that is available. This would seem to be a natural application for the $150 7-inch Android tablets that are beginning to flood the market. The official Sonos controllers are nice, but they cost $350 and can’t be used to check a fact on Google, participate in a video chat, etc.
[There is also a Sonos app for the iPad, but $500 is too much to pay for a remote control and the iPad’s one-screen-size for everyone is probably too big for this application.]
Are you for this because you already have an Android phone? Do you have Sonos hardware required to hook this up?
On the Apple side, you just need a iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad as a “controller”. You use Apple’s free Remote app, and then you can play from any iTunes library in your house. It also lets you choose the speakers you’d like to play out of. Of course if you only have a computer with iTunes, you can only play to speakers attached to that computer. But, if you pick up an Airport Express ($99), you can play to any speakers attached to that. Going further, all of this still works for your video with the AppleTV as well.
Don’t get me wrong, this kind of control over house audio, and direct access to your library is great, but it’s definitely already available with Apple’s products, and the hardware required to set it up seems to be cheaper too. A quick check here: Sonos Zoneplayer is $349? And you still need an Android phone. Where as an iPod touch + an Airport Express is only $328, and that’s all you need.
Your parting shot at the iPad’s screen size here as being “too big” for this application, is a little weird. I have to assume it’s because you’re used to how most apps currently available on Android tablets are simply upscaled resolution from the phone versions, or even with the apps that are written for Honeycomb, there is just no rethinking of the structure of the app. They again are mostly a scaled up “Tablet” version, but with some more buttons exposed or moved around. That’s not the approach developers have with universal (iPhone/iPad) iOS apps, where they are very much a “new” app.
Matt: I have five Sonos zones in the house already. I don’t want an iPod Touch (too small) for this application. I don’t want an iPad for this application (too big; too expensive). I want a 7″ tablet and I don’t want to pay more than $150 for it.
An Airport Express is all that I need? Can it pull all of the files that it streams from a Linux NAS box like the Sonos does? Can it pull down Rhapsody stations and songs like the Sonos does? Does it have a built in power amplifier to drive conventional loudspeakers? Does the Apple software make it easy to divide up a house into multiple zones, each one playing a different music source or all merged in “party mode”?
Finally a reason to buy an Android tablet: Sonos controller…
Exactly what I thought! Which Android tablet would you preferr?
jD: Which 7″ Android tablet? I’m not sure. I think we might need to wait another month or two. The big flood of designs hasn’t hit the market yet. I’m on a general program to buy Japanese-made or at least Japanese-brand items in order to help recovery from the tsunami. So maybe Sony or Toshiba? Not sure what other Japanese companies are making Android tablets. I’m going to try to hold the price below $200 if possible.
Two thumps up for your attitude to support Japan!
I think we generally have to wait cause I read, that Sonos does not support tablets atm, just smartphones. Is this correct?
jD: I would think that the app will run on an Android tablet, but for the moment simply won’t take advantage of the full resolution. There is an earlier Sonos controller from a third party (Andronos) that maybe will use the full tablet screens earlier than the Sonos official app. Either way, I don’t think it will be long. Probably Sonos is waiting for a less braindead Android tablet to hit the market.
I heard either borders or barnes & noble sells an e-reader that can be cracked to install android. It’s supposedly a bargain for a low-performance tablet.
I saw a $99 7″ Android tablet for sale at CVS yesterday.