Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

The Sonos Era speakers solve a major problem for Android users

The new Sonos Era 100 and Era 300 usher in a new generation of wireless speakers for the company, and our first impressions were pretty good. They also close a gaping hole that has plagued a pretty large segment of users. Android users no longer are left out of the Trueplay feature.

Sonos TruePlay settings.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Custom tuning of speakers for their environments isn’t particularly new. Google has done it with its Nest Hub Max. Apple does it with the HomePod. But Sonos has always required a phone to do the listening for ambient sound and fine-tuning the speakers. And to date, that phone always has had to be an iPhone (unless you have a portable Sonos Move, but that’s almost a different product category at this point. Stay with us here).

It’s as simple as that, and Sonos keeps its messaging about the change just as simple in its press release. “Using the microphone array in Era 100 and Era 300, Trueplay optimizes the sound for the unique acoustics of your space with just a tap in the Sonos app.”

It’s worth at least acknowledging that while having Trueplay in the new generation of Sonos speakers fixes things going forward, it doesn’t change the status quo for Android users who already have a Sonos speaker. Even the old Sonos Play:1 allows for Trueplay — again, only if you have an iPhone — and the new hardware does nothing to change that fact.

But if you’ve got an Android phone and are in the market for a new Sonos speaker, you’ll at least no longer be left out of the Trueplay fold.

The new Sonos Era 100 and Era 300 are available for preorder now and will be available on March 28. The Era 100 runs $249, and the Era 300 costs $449.

Editors' Recommendations

Phil Nickinson
Section Editor, Audio/Video
Phil spent the 2000s making newspapers with the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal, the 2010s with Android Central and then the…
The Sonos Roam speaker just got a major connectivity fix
Sonos Roam

Sonos today rolled out an update that targets one speaker and one speaker only — and it may well drastically improve the super-popular (and very portable) Sonos Roam.

There actually are four fixes in Update 13.3, which is available now via all of Sonos' platforms, which includes Android, iOS, iPad OS, MacOS, Windows 8 and up, and Amazon Fire OS 7 and up. Half of the bullet points tackle battery life specifically, which has been a sore spot for Roam owners from the get-go. And battery most certainly is an important feature of a portable speaker, second only to sound quality — especially for one that costs $179 at retail. (Now's a good time to remind everyone that Sonos speakers have gotten a little more expensive of late.)

Read more
The most innovative TV tech of 2023
LG MLA OLED technology is the most innovative TV technology of 2023.

While 2023 was more evolution than revolution for TVs, a few standout innovations this year set the stage for big competition among TVs in 2024.

In 2022, Samsung Display's QD-OLED display technology made headlines as the most innovative display technology since OLED was introduced to consumer TVs by LG some 10 years prior. In a remarkably timely effort to clap back at Samsung, LG Display unleashed the most meaningful update to its OLED display technology in 10 years, and this year, that tech earns our top award for the most innovative TV tech of 2023.

Read more
Delivered for the holidays, the 65-inch LG C3 OLED TV is $500 off
The LG C3 Series OLED 4K TV in the living room.

If you're browsing the slew of OLED TV deals happening now, in desperate search of a home theater upgrade, but you want it delivered to your doorstep before the holiday gatherings start, you need to make your purchase now. We've looked around and there's probably no better option to give your living room an immediate wow factor than the 65-inch LG C3 Series OLED 4K TV, which is available from Best Buy at $500 off. It's still not cheap at $1,600 instead of $2,100, but we assure you that it's worth every single penny.

Why you should buy the 65-inch LG C3 Series OLED 4K TV
Take a look at our roundup of the best OLED TVs, and you'll see the LG C3 Series OLED 4K TV as our top pick. You'll enjoy amazing picture quality and impressive peak brightness levels on its 65-inch screen, and when it comes to HDR and SDR performance, its color and contrast capabilities are downright fantastic. This is possible because each pixel in an OLED TV is a self-contained organic light-emitting diode, eliminating the need for a backlight and enabling one of the biggest differences between OLED and QLED TVs -- the LG C3 Series OLED 4K TV can achieve perfect black levels. OLED TVs also offer superior response time, wider viewing angles, less power consumption, and better eye comfort.

Read more