The very first Google Smart Display — basically, a Google Home with a screen on it — was launched by Lenovo last week. And now, JBL has started taking preorders on its own smart display, called the Link View, which looks like it’ll be the second model to hit stores. It’s supposed to start shipping on September 3rd, as spotted by 9to5Google.
JBL’s smart display sells for the same price as Lenovo’s, but it appears that it’ll fix one of the Lenovo model’s shortcomings: sound. JBL is known as an audio company, so you can expect the speakers on the Link View to be much better than the single speaker grille on what Lenovo made.
The downside is that JBL’s model is horrendously ugly in comparison. That’s not necessarily out of line with Bluetooth speakers, though, and if you’re looking for a smarter version of that, then this might fit the bill. But it certainly won’t blend into your kitchen as naturally as what Lenovo’s offering.
The Link View is selling for $250. While its function as a smart speaker is a large part of the appeal here, one of the core selling points is the built-in Google Assistant display. The tech still seems to be pretty early on, but it can be used to display the time, weather, recipes, YouTube videos, and to look up the kinds of information a Google Home would normally tell you by voice. For more details on how they work, you can check out our review of the first model from Lenovo.
Additional Google-powered smart displays are expected from LG and Sony, but there’s no info yet on when they’ll come along.
