Royole, the Japanese company best known for its visually impressive but somewhat clunky flexible screens like the universally panned "crunchy" FlexPai foldable phone is bringing its bendy tech to a smart speaker/smart display. Its new Mirage Smart Speaker is essentially a JBL Pulse-like smart display with an Amazon Echo Show's smart display wrapped around its body.
New take on smart displays
Smart displays all look pretty similar: basically tablets bolted onto a smart speaker. The Mirage's bendable 8-inch AMOLED touchscreen (1,920 x 1,440 resolution) breathes new life into the product category with a design that Input Guides Editor Evan Rodgers describes as a "nano cyber keg."
Toggle mics or camera on or off
The Mirage has a halo-like ring above and below, capacitive touch controls on top, and a ring of LEDs for ambient lighting around the bottom. It offers 360-degree audio and beam-forming mics for listening in on your conversations, err, voice commands. Fortunately, for privacy worrywarts, there are switches to turn off the mics or the camera.
Sounds like good sound
On paper, the Mirage sounds like it has decent sound with three full-range drivers and a passive bass radiator. We didn't get a demo of the speakers so who knows how well it really sounds.
Crazy expensive
Holy crap, this smart display is expensive. $899. You have to really be in love with bendable displays to blow money on this when it comes out in Q2. Any sane person will stick to a $99 Nest Hub or $129 Echo Show.
