The speakers equipped with Google Assistant will lose some features soon. Following an investigation, the United States International Trade Commission concluded that Google had infringed five Sonos patents. As a result, the government agency banned the search giant from importing new products with the Assistant in the U.S. and from selling already imported handset.
In addition to violating patents on smart speakers, Google has also used technologies developed by Sonos on mobile phones, computers and streaming devices. Until you complete the removal of certain Assistant functions on all of these products, the owner of Android will not be able to sell them in the United States.
In an official statement sent to consumers on the Google Nest forum, the company explained the situation and warned that it will begin changing speaker features soon. A part of the message says the following:
“Due to a recent court ruling, we’re changing the way you configure your devices and how the Group Speakers feature will work going forward. If you’re using the Group Speakers feature to control volume in the Google Home app by voice command, with Google Assistant, or directly on the Nest Hub screen, you’ll notice some changes.”
Google Nest team.
Google will remove volume control functions
Google then details some functions being removed from smart speakers. Among the disabled features is, for example, the option to adjust the volume of multiple speakers simultaneously by voice command or by the volume buttons of the phone. From now on, you can only change the audio intensity of each output individually.
In addition, smart speakers from third-party brands such as JBL and Lenovo equipped with the Google Assistant should have their firmwares updated. Without the update, the speakers will not work in groups. In some cases, users will still need to download a different application to receive the fixes over the internet.
The dispute between Google and Sonos is not over and could lead to more problems for the search giant in the future. There are still lawsuits pending in court over two other possible patent violations that could result in further changes to devices equipped with the Google Assistant.
