Updated on January 9th, 2022
Google smart speakers will undergo some software changes after the recent court ruling. In a long legal battle between the audio products company Sonos and Google, the US International Trade Commission has ruled that Google is in violation of five Sonos patents relating to smart speakers.
Check out Bose Home Speaker 500: Smart Bluetooth Speaker with Alexa Voice Control.
People with multiple Google speakers will be affected by this ruling. Users will no longer be able to adjust a speaker group’s volume with their phone’s volume rocker. As a result, users will not be able to use Google’s multi-room audio feature. Earlier a command 'Hey Google, set the volume at 75% on all speakers' was enough to change the volume of multiple Google speakers. The volume will now have to be set individually for all the speakers.
According to Google, these are the changes effected to speaker groups:
- To adjust the volume on your speaker groups, you will need to adjust each speaker individually instead of using the group volume controller. You’ll also no longer be able to change your Speaker Group volume using your phone’s physical volume button.
- Most Speaker Groups should continue functioning as expected unless you have a speaker group containing other brands of Cast-based devices, like JBL or Lenovo, they need to be on 1.52.272222 or higher Cast firmware version.
- A small set of users will need to use the ‘Device Utility app’ (DUA) to complete product installation and updates. You may receive a prompt to download and run DUA, and it will ensure that your device is connected to Wi-Fi and receives the most updated software version.
According to a report the tech giant has already gotten non-infringing designs approved by the ITC. Google only has 60 days to get its devices to comply with the new ruling.
Also, check out Sony SRS-RA5000 360 Reality Audio Premium Wi-Fi / Bluetooth Wireless Speaker, Works with Alexa and Google Assistant.
We hope you love our reviews! For your information, we do earn money from commission in the link in the content! For more information click here!
