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Sonos One (Gen 2) Smart Wi-Fi Speaker Review: Best Alternative to the HomePod?

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hitesh
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Sonos One (Gen 2) Smart Wi-Fi Speaker Review: Best Alternative to the HomePod?

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Sonos is one of the earliest pioneers of multi-room audio setups and wireless home audio streaming. Although the company’s product range now covers even portable audio products, it’s still best known for its connected smart speakers, such as the Sonos One, which I’m reviewing today. Now officially available in India through a distributor, Sonos hopes to take on existing smart speaker brands such as Amazon and Google with a major differentiator – a focus on sound quality.

Priced at Rs. 21,999 in India, the Sonos One (Gen 2) is a Wi-Fi speaker with support for Apple AirPlay 2, and has the ability to stream music directly off the Internet. Although it is more expensive than options such as the Google Nest Audio and Amazon Echo series, the Sonos One promises better sound quality. Does this smart speaker live up to the hype? Find out in this review.

sonos one review logo Sonos

The Sonos One (2nd Gen) works with the Sonos app, which is available on Android and iOS

 

Sonos One (Gen 2) design and specifications

Sonos is best known for its high-end speakers and home audio solutions, but some of the company’s more recent products are positioned as more affordable one-box solutions that are easier to install and use. The Sonos One (Gen 2) is like many of the other smart speakers currently on the market, in the sense that it’s a single device that must be connected to a power socket and is intended to remain in one place.

The Sonos One (Gen 2) speaker has a rectangular block-like shape, with a metal grille on around it, and a plastic base and top. The bottom of the speaker has a socket for the included power adapter. The back has an Ethernet port for wired connectivity and a single button that controls some pairing-related functions. The speaker weighs 1.85kg, and is quite heavy for a product of its size.

The top of the Sonos One (Gen 2) has a touch-sensitive zone, which is used to control playback and the volume. There’s also a microphone button if you need to mute the mic. The play/pause button and volume controls work with single taps, while swiping from left to right or right to left in this area will skip to the next or previous track respectively. You can also control these functions from your smartphone.

The audio drivers on the Sonos One (Gen 2) consist of one tweeter and one mid-woofer. The speaker is powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core processor and has 1GB of RAM. The Sonos One (Gen 2) does not have Bluetooth connectivity, and uses only Wi-Fi to stream music off the Internet through linked services. Google’s Chromecast protocol is not supported on the Sonos One (Gen 2) either, so you won’t be able to cast music to the speaker from an Android phone, even with supported apps.

Although the company mentions that both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi are supported, I had various connectivity issues with 5GHz Wi-Fi and had to use a 2.4GHz connection to use the Sonos One (Gen 2) properly. Sonos’ famous multi-room implementation can be set up through the app if you have multiple speakers in your home, and you can also set up a stereo pair with two Sonos One speakers in the same room.

Since the Sonos One (Gen 2) is a Wi-Fi-enabled speaker, you need the Sonos app to set it up (available on iOS and Android). The process took around 10 minutes in total, including connecting the speaker to my Wi-Fi router and linking my streaming services to it. You can also go through the ‘TruePlay’ tuning process which is said to optimise sound based on the acoustics of your room.

The app is quite simple to use once fully set up, with tabs for quick access to recently played tracks, playlists and curations in your linked streaming services, and settings for the Sonos One itself. There’s also a useful Search tab that lets you search across all linked services and your own playlists with keywords.

sonos one review main2 Sonos

The Sonos One (2nd Gen) supports various streaming services, including Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music

 

Services that can be linked with the Sonos One (Gen 2) include Apple Music, YouTube Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, Gaana, and JioSaavn. You also get free, pre-authenticated access to Sonos Radio, which lets you stream curated Internet radio stations and playlists on the speaker.

If you’re using the Sonos One (Gen 2) with any AirPlay-compatible device such as an iPhone or iPad, you can play audio directly on the speaker using any of the supported apps on the device itself, thanks to AirPlay 2 support. This naturally makes the Sonos One particularly well-suited for use with Apple devices. The Sonos One supports linking Google Assistant or Alexa for hands-free voice commands in some countries, but disappointingly, this feature was not supported in India at the time of this review.

Sonos One (Gen 2) performance

The Sonos One (Gen 2) is a smart speaker for all intents and purposes, but the inability to set up a voice assistant in India is a considerable drawback. As of now, it isn’t possible to just ask the speaker for the content you want. This is a very basic and fundamental feature for any smart speaker such as the Amazon Echo range or the Apple HomePod mini. However, the Sonos One is still very usable even without this feature, albeit with a few more steps needed to play what you want.

You might wonder why buyers should even consider this device over competing smart speakers, given this significant drawback and its high price, but I think this can be answered with one very strong point – sound quality. The Sonos One is very impressive when it comes to sound quality, delivering loud, enjoyable, and refined sound that is comfortably superior to what I’ve heard on any other mainstream smart speaker, including the similarly priced Amazon Echo Studio.

sonos one review back Sonos

You can connect an Ethernet cable to the Sonos One, as an alternative to Wi-Fi

 

I used the Sonos One (Gen 2) with an Apple iPhone as the controlling device. I found that using AirPlay from within apps such as Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Audible was a lot easier than using the Sonos app. The latter works decently well for fetching content, and this will be your only option if you’re using an Android phone. There were a couple of occasions on which the apps weren’t able to detect the speaker through AirPlay, but this was easily fixed by rebooting either the speaker or my router.

Once connected using AirPlay, streaming was stable and lag-free, sound quality was as good as it could be, and playback and volume controls were quick and responsive. While all of this would have been a lot easier with a voice assistant, none of the other functionality of the speaker is crippled so it’s not a total loss.

Apple’s Siri voice assistant is typically able to hand music off from one device to another using AirPlay protocols, but all of my attempts to do this with audio from my AirPods Pro to the Sonos One using voice commands were met with errors. This did work properly when using AirPlay within the Apple Music app; the music paused on my earphones and resumed on the Sonos speaker after a moment. Once again, voice commands don’t seem to work with the Sonos One (Gen 2) at all.

sonos one review top Sonos

The controls of the Sonos One (2nd Gen) are at the top, as is the microphone

 

Sound quality on the Sonos One (Gen 2) is, as stated above, exceptional for a smart speaker of this price and size. The speaker is loud, refined, cohesive, and detailed with all genres, and the sonic signature is flexible enough to adapt well to just about any kind of audio content being played. Even at high volumes, there wasn’t much distortion or struggle to be heard from the speaker, and it quite easily delivered powerful sound that could be heard clearly even from different rooms in my home.

Listening to Let’s Groove by Earth, Wind & Fire, the Sonos One offered up tight, refined bass, while allowing for plenty of sparkle in the highs and definition in the mid-range of this disco track. The sound was lively and enjoyable, with much more energy being delivered than what I expected from a speaker of this size. The flexibility of the sound was noticeable even with different types of music, including the punchy and aggressive Boom by Tiesto, with the speaker delivering exactly what was needed.

Even with gentler tracks such as Truth by Kamasi Washington, the Sonos One allowed detail to shine through. With audio books, I was able to hear Ray Porter’s excellent narration of Heaven’s River by Dennis E. Taylor clearly and attentively even from about 10 feet away. The Sonos One is a well-tuned smart speaker that easily outperforms all of its competitors when it comes to sound quality.

TruePlay tuning on the Sonos One (Gen 2) is quite a tedious process, since it requires you to move around the room with your phone for around 10-15 minutes to measure sound using its microphone, all while keeping things quiet. The process failed and needed to be started over a couple of times when I tried this, because of even the slightest disturbance such as someone speaking in a different room, or a doorbell ringing. However, once completed, I found the sound a bit more lively and open with TruePlay active, and would recommend going through these steps for best results.

Verdict

Smart speakers typically need to check some boxes when it comes to features such as Internet connectivity, the ability to link with popular streaming services, and access to voice assistants. As of now, the Sonos One (Gen 2) only fulfills two of the above requirements, although it is possible that the company could roll out support for voice assistants in India in the future. However, on all other counts such as connectivity, usability, and sound quality, the Sonos One is an excellent smart speaker.

Although expensive at Rs. 21,999, the Sonos One (Gen 2) sounds considerably better than any other smart speaker I’ve heard, and this alone makes it worth considering if you have the budget. It might also be worth considering the Amazon Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen), which although not as good in terms of sound quality, does have an excellent 10-inch screen and full-fledged access to Alexa, for a more complete smart experience.

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Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt Home Security Camera Review: Take a Look Around

By
hitesh
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0
Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt Home Security Camera Review: Take a Look Around

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Godrej is among the most established names in the business of home security in India, with a wide range of products including door locks, personal lockers, video door phones, alarm systems, and CCTV camera systems. Among the company’s more recent launches is the Spotlight range of home security cameras, which is a foray into the Internet-of-Things space. That means Godrej will have to compete against popular tech brands such as Xiaomi and Realme. I’m reviewing the Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt home security camera, a compact Wi-Fi-enabled device that works with an app on your smartphone.

Priced at Rs. 3,499, the Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt home security camera does exactly as its name suggests; you can not only view the camera feed remotely, but you can also adjust the field of view by panning or tilting the camera using the app. I’ve had a chance to use this new IoT home security camera from Godrej, and here’s my review.

godrej spotlight pan tilt home security camera review sd slot Godrej

The Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt Home security camera has a microSD card slot to store recorded footage

 

Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt Home Security Camera design and build quality

Godrej currently has two Wi-Fi-enabled home security cameras in the Spotlight range – a fixed version, and this one, which as the name suggests, is able to pan and tilt mechanically when controlled via the app. The cylindrical camera is attached to a vertical ‘stem’ from one side, and this attaches to a circular base that holds the electrical components and Micro-USB power port. The entire base turns to pan left or right, while the stem allows the camera module to tilt upwards and downwards.

The camera can be placed on a tabletop or mounted on a ceiling when clipped onto an attaching plate (which is included in the box). A lengthy USB cable and power adapter are also included, allowing for some flexibility in positioning the Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt camera. Interestingly, Godrej states that the camera can be powered even with a power bank, so it can be used on the go or away from a power outlet.

The device has a microSD card slot on the underside of the camera unit, which supports up to 128GB cards for continuous video recording. At around 400g, the camera is fairly heavy for a device of its size. It isn’t rated for water or dust resistance, so you’ll need to be careful if you’re mounting it in a semi-exposed, dusty, or humid area.

With a 2-megapixel sensor, this camera is capable of recording video at up to full-HD (1920×1080-pixel). The field of view is 110 degrees, and the camera can pan up to 350 degrees and tilt up to 90 degrees. This gives it the ability to look all the way around itself. There is also night vision through an IR filter which allows it to function in the dark. A built-in microphone and speaker let you use it for two-way communication.

Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt Home Security Camera app and features

The Godrej Spotlight app (available for iOS and Android) is used to set up and control the Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt home security camera. The setup process was fairly simple and took around 10 minutes to complete, following the on-screen steps. Once done, I was able to watch the camera’s video feed and configure other settings. The app can be used to watch and control multiple Godrej Spotlight cameras.

Jumping straight into the camera view, it takes four to five seconds to activate the camera from standby and show you a live feed with the date and time overlaid. It’s also possible to switch between SD and HD resolutions for the feed, view it in full-screen mode on your phone, and activate the microphone on the camera so you get a live audio feed along with the video.

godrej spotlight pan tilt home security camera review app Godrej

The Godrej Spotlight app is available for Android and iOS, and lets you control the camera and view the feed

 

The app has an on-screen D-pad to pan and tilt the camera with, and you can save angles to quickly jump to. You can also take screenshots, record video to save onto your smartphone, turn on two-way communication to speak to someone near the camera, configure the motion detection settings (to capture screenshots or video clips when motion is detected), and configure continuous recording settings (if a microSD card is inserted into the camera).

You can also set up cloud storage through the Godrej Spotlight app. This lets you access recordings even if the device and storage card are stolen or damaged. Cloud storage is a premium feature, and you’ll need to subscribe to a monthly Rs. 99 plan for unlimited space. Godrej does offer a seven-day free trial. It’s worth noting that this doesn’t mean you can record continuously and store everything; the cloud plan can only be used to store clips recorded because of motion detection.

You can log in to your Spotlight account to access your camera’s video feed and settings from a desktop browser, if you prefer. On one occasion during this review, the app froze and refused to load anything despite rebooting my smartphone. Only uninstalling and reinstalling the app fixed this issue.

Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt Home Security Camera performance

As with any home security camera, the hope is that you don’t need to use it at all. However, if that need does arise, the Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt camera gives you quick and reliable access to its video and audio feeds. This is, of course, a Wi-Fi enabled camera, and you will need a stable and reasonably fast Internet connection for everything to work properly. Godrej states that the Spotlight camera is only compatible with 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks, and I didn’t have any trouble when it was connected to my home network.

godrej spotlight pan tilt home security camera review base Godrej

The Godrej Spotlight camera can be powered even using a power bank, according to the company

 

The Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt home security camera provides a colour video feed in well-lit conditions, and automatically switches to a monochrome night-vision feed when needed. The video feed is clear and detailed at HD and SD resolutions, both in daylight and in the dark. It’s useful to be able to take screenshots or video recordings to save to your smartphone, in case you don’t want to use a microSD card for continuous recording.

Although there was a bit of blur in the feed when panning or tilting, the picture was about as good as you could expect for a home security camera. It’s sharp enough to recognise faces and objects, or even read text. On the whole, the Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt camera worked as expected when it came to its core functionality.

Pan and tilt movement was easy, but there was a noticeable delay of about a second between issuing a command and the camera responding and moving in the right direction. Two-way communication is a useful touch, although there is a bit of delay in the transmission of audio on both sides. This isn’t something you should be using as a substitute for video calls; rather, only use it for occasional functionality as a door phone or intercom.

The speaker on the Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt camera is quite loud, and there is also a built-in alarm function that should scare off intruders, once it’s set up and activated. The camera chimes loudly when turned on and connected to the Wi-Fi as well as during the setup phase, which can be very annoying. The microphone quality is decent, but there was always a slight hum to be heard from household appliances such as ceiling fans, or sounds coming in from an open window.

Verdict

The Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt home security camera is simple but effective at its core functionality, and offers just about everything you would expect from such a device. A wide range of movement means you can have the camera look all around wherever you place it, which is a nice bonus. Stable network connectivity and app support let you access the camera from anywhere, and additional features such as microSD and cloud support offer flexibility when it comes to storing footage.

Although there are slight delays in transmitting both video and audio, these issues are quite small relative to the generally positive experience I had with the Godrej Spotlight Pan-Tilt camera. There are more affordable options with similar features such as the Mi Home Security Camera 360 and Realme Smart Cam 360, but the quality of this product coupled with the reputation of Godrej as a security solutions provider make this a device worth considering.

Price: Rs. 3,499

Rating: 8/10

Pros:

  • Wide range of motion and field of view
  • microSD and cloud storage supported
  • Clear video in well-lit and dark environments
  • App is well designed, camera works through desktop browser too

Cons:

  • Slight delay in transmitting audio and video

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