JBL’s Android-powered soundbar does a lot of things right

We just took a quick look at a 3D-printed prototype of the recently announced JBL Link Bar, a soundbar that also happens to be a set-top box running Android TV. It’s not coming out until later this summer, and a lot of stuff isn’t quite working yet. But the core ideas are pretty smart. Basically, it puts a relatively smart set-top box into your soundbar, making it a sort of a hybrid between a smart TV, an HDMI switcher, and a smart speaker. It’s a lot of things crammed together in honestly clever ways.

So if you’re just looking for an Android TV set-top box, this thing does that. It has Google Assistant, YouTube, and all the standard set-top box apps you’d like. As with other Android TVs, you can ask Assistant to do stuff like “Play H…

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https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/8/17332748/jbl-android-soundbar-tv-assistant