Although smart homes and appliances are still in the process of becoming a thing, some manufacturers are already making the jump from smartphone apps to control them to smartwatch apps to control them. Of course, it actually sometimes makes more, sense at least in terms of convenience and speed, to tap on your wrist quickly instead of having to whip out your phone first. Sonos, it seems, is just one of the latest to join the smartwatch bandwagon, though it hasn’t exactly jumped in completely just yet.
At the prompting of a suggestion over at the Sonos forums, a beta user revealed the photo above, claiming to be a Sonos notification for Android Wear. Of course, more than just a notification, it also has controls for playback, including play, pause, skip forward, and jump back. Noticeably missing are volume controls, though it’s hard to imagine the final product lacking that essential feature.
Smart or network-connected appliance makers have been shifting, some rather slowly, away from dedicated remote controls to apps that offer the same functionality. After all, who’d want to have yet another contraption that is more likely to get lost in the blackhole that is the couch? Sonos has started it in 2012. Some, like Logitech’s Harmony system, offer both smartphone apps and separate remote controls. In terms of quick controls, a smartwatch version would be a logical next step, though there will always be functionality that will be better reserved for the larger screens of smartphones.
At this point, what the final version of the Sonos Android Wear app will look like, much less when it will arrive, is still a big unknown. Some important pieces might still be missing, like the aforementioned volume knobs. The photo also shows only an Android Wear notification but it would only be reasonable to expect that a fullscreen app will also be available.
Usually in Android Wear – in music playing apps, the volume controls are on the next screen when you swipe left along with the controls for skipping to next track etc. This is probably nothing to do with an actual Sonos app. It’s just a standard Android Wear feature that kicks in when you play music from just about any app. And yes it makes total sense to control ‘the internet of things’ from a smartwatch. Smartwatches will help the internet of things take off and vice versa.
i guess i wasn’t aware this was missing. i have the sonos beta app and the moto360 and have seen music playback controls since i’ve been using the moto360. looks just like the photo above. i always assumed they were generated by the persistent sonos playback notification. i haven’t tried using volume control, but tracklisting and pause function works well at my house. i get a similar playback control and notification when i’m chromecasting from netflix or HBOGo.