Did you ever dream about having a soundbar for your smart TV that has Android TV support and also Google Assistant on-hand? No? There really wasn’t a clamor for such a product but someone over at JBL though it would be a marketable idea and so now we have the JBL Link Bar. We have no idea yet how this will be received, but it’s now up for pre-order on the B&H online store. It has a pretty high price tag of almost $400, but it’s being marketed as a sort of 3-in-1 device so it just might be worth it.
The Link Bar was officially unveiled at the Google I/O conference earlier this year and based on the product demo at the event and also how it seems to be working through their official video (watch below). If you’re just planning to set up your home entertainment system and you don’t have a sound bar, a smart TV set-up, and a smart speaker, then this would be the perfect and maybe even affordable product for you.
The Link Bar is made up of a 100W soundbar that looks like most of its kind, with its long form factor and black speaker mesh. It also functions as an Android TV set-top box and since it’s powered by Google Assistant, you can just give it commands like you would any smart speaker in your house. You can ask it to play videos on YouTube or Netflix. You can ask about the weather, information about a specific subject, and you can add appointments to your calendar.
It comes with three HDMI inputs, one HDMI output with ARC, an optical port, and an auxiliary input so you can connect other devices as well. You can also use Bluetooth connection to stream to the speaker. If you don’t feel like using the Google Assistant, you can turn on the privacy switch for the microphones.
The JBL Link Bar is now up for pre-order on the B&H site and you’ll have to shell out $399.95. It will start shipping out by October 16th and availability in other stores should be that same day.
SOURCE: B&H
