New Sonos Speaker to Feature Gesture Control

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As the story goes, I’ve been tracking at least one new incoming Sonos speaker — the S100 aka RM010. And after unpacking a publicly available Sonos beta APK for Android, I came across several interesting renders. They appear to show a sleeker Play:3 or Play:5 that does away with hardware buttons on top in favor of a touch sensitive surface and gesture control… including newly introduced transport controls. Around back, near the power cord, is what appears to be a relocated pairing button.

Like the existing Play:3, this “ZPS6” speaker can placed vertically or horizontally. Beyond the new hardware itself, Sonos is also poised to unveil speaker tuning technology based on evaluation of in-room acoustics via smartphone or iPad mic.As to driver count, acoustic quality, and price, we’ll have to wait and see.

UPDATE: I’ve learned that both Trueplay and the new speaker will be announced tonight. And, the speaker is indeed a Play:5 replacement — available later this fall for $500 in white or black. Beyond the modern new look featuring touch controls, we’ve also learned it’s been upgraded from five custom drivers to six for a wider, room-filling soundstage.

7 thoughts on “New Sonos Speaker to Feature Gesture Control”

  1. Given the touch-sensitive surface, I’m guessing this is not the portable or outdoor speaker I’m also hunting. Another tidbit – in one XML file the ZPS6 also refers to a Play:5 (gen 2). But, beyond the ZPS6, I also saw reference to “Encore” and what looked like a little handheld remote?

  2. Wish I had gesture control for my kindle voyage, particularly for page turns, or even better track my eyes and turn the page automatically.

    It will be interesting to see sonos implement gestures, but doubtful I will upgrade any of my 6 speakers.

    Would love to see them provide native AirPlay. Using an airport express to a connect is a headache.

  3. There are also hints of some kind of room calibration incoming, maybe from Sonarworks or something mentioned as Trueplay in the XML files. Perhaps it’s a new, dedicated device from Sonos to perform room calibration. There’s a reference to http://www.sonos.com/speaker_tuning in the XML also, but this page is (still) not available.

  4. the little handheld remote you refer to only mentions the Up & Down buttons so I think this is just a generic representation of an IR remote that you can pair with the playbar for volume control, nothing more sadly !

  6. After more digging thru the app’s XML, I’m pretty darn confident this new speaker will replace the existing Play:5. Unlike the existing Play:5, it can be placed horizontally or vertically and can also be used a rear channels speakers in a surround setup with Playbar. Sadly, no sign of an updated Playbar with HDMI switching… I so want that. Take my money, Sonos!

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