From today, the Sonos Controller for Android hits the Android Market, meaning that Sonos-owning Android fans can ditch the remote and instead use their smartphones to wrangle their tunes.
The free app has been a long time coming; while iPhone users have had the same functionality for over a year, the Android version was first announced in February 2011 and we were expecting to see it released in March.
Sonos had pushed the release date back in order to carry out further testing on the app, which allows you to make playlists, control volume, skip tracks and link or drop Sonos Zone Players all from your phone.
Testing, testing, one-two
As Craig Wisneski, senior product manager at Sonos, explained to TechRadar in a briefing, "We've been testing the app thoroughly over the past couple of months.
"Because of the diversity of phones running Android and all the differing manufacturers, it took us a little longer to make sure everyone would have the same experience. That level of quality is really important to Sonos."
Another reason for the hold-up is that the company didn't want to inconvenience customers with multiple firmware updates where one could do the trick; the company's other big news today (Apple AirPlay compatibility) requires an update too.
"We really wanted to consolidate the firmware updates so that it's as easy as possible for Sonos customers to update," continued Wisneski.
There are a couple of nifty features that iPhone owners will be jealous of in the Android app, particularly the ability to control the speakers' volume using the physical volume buttons on an Android phone.
TechRadar went hands on with the Android app at Mobile World Congress; you can read our thoughts here. But here's the Cliff Notes version: if you own both an Android phone and a Sonos wireless speaker system, it's a must-have.
