Las Vegas - All of the best smart speakers have available voice assistants and sound great But the last time I checked, none of them were floating and didn't have flexible displays At least not like this strange speaker I found at CES 2020

The Alexa-enabled Mirage combines Cleer's audio hardware with Royole's flexible AMOLED screen technology to create a smart speaker/display hybrid that appears to float in the air debuted at CES, but Cleer says it will finally be ready to ship in Q2 2020

The visible backbone supports Mirage, but when viewed head-on, it looks like a cylinder floating between two transparent disks Viewed at the correct angle, it is quite trippy

Inside the Mirage are three 175-inch full-range drivers and a passive radiator In my demo, Selena Gomez's "Hands to Myself" was heard in full through the 31 channel speakers, and I found the Mirage's circular design and wrap-around grille to be accurate for a 360-degree listening experience

As majestic as the Mirage sounded, I had a hard time taking my eyes off the curved 78-inch AMOLED touch display throughout the hands-on session The screen remained colorful and bright even as I manipulated the unique interface with my fingers and voice

However, relying on voice commands, it quickly became apparent that the integration with Alexa was not yet sophisticated When I asked Alexa to tell me a joke, a Star Trek pun appeared on the blue background, just as it did on the Echo Show But when I asked Amazon's voice assistant to display a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, it simply could not

Even more impressive is Mirage's 5 megapixel front-facing camera, which can take pictures and video chat with friends and family When demonstrated on the exhibit floor, I could see myself clearly

If the smart assistant integration goes smoothly (which Cleer says it will), Mirage's modern design and solid audio will make it the coolest smart speaker of the year However, the $899 price tag may be a big turnoff

Be sure to check out our CES 2020 hub for the latest news and hands-on impressions from Las Vegas