Hubbl is officially on sale across the country. It’s been called a gamer-changer for the industry. But is it really?
It’s early days but so far so good. I’ve been testing the Hubbl device which is $99 and connects to your TV via HDMI. The idea of Hubbl is to bring all channels, free to air and streaming together, in one, easy aggregated service.
TV aggregation service Hubbl is now available
The service itself is free, you’re only paying for the hardware and any subscriptions you have or are planning to sign up to.
I not only tested the Hubbl plug-in device, I also tested a 55-inch Hubbl Glass. It’s a 4K TV with Hubbl baked in. As I said on Sky News Weekend Edition above, Hubbl Glass is heavy. But the reason it is heavy is because there is a soundbar built into the frame.
I have the black unit but it comes in five colours. The price is A$1,595 for the 55 inch screen – A$1,995 for the 65 inch model.
SETTING UP HUBBL
Hubbl looks very similar to an Apple TV device. Just plug in the power, connect the HDMI cable (supplied) and away you go. In my situation Hubbl is plugged into a 75-inch Samsung 8K QLED TV. No soundbar but you can control a sound system via the remote if needed and the TV too. I am using the Hubbl remote to control the TV.
The remote feels good in the hand, is backlit when used and Hubbl can ping it when lost. I would have liked the volume buttons to be larger and a dedicated channel selector but I can live with it.
You need to create a Hubbl account to get going. You do this through https://hubbl.com.au/register. I already had a streamotion account so it was just a matter of registering the device.
All free-to-air channel apps are available on Hubbl
Once signed in I was able to access my Foxtel related apps immediately, and while the full array of channels and apps populated my menu, I had to sign in to each of them. Which is what you do on any smart TV anyway.
Hubbl’s interface is excellent and will improve over time
But once you finish setting up, Hubbl is excellent. I found the interface pretty responsive, including the voice search. I experienced the occasional bug during the soft launch period but nothing I was concerned or annoyed about.
The great thing about Hubbl is finding content you love but don’t know where to start. I asked my wife to try it out and she was blown away by a voice search that found an obscure series she started watching on a recent plane trip. Hubbl instantly identified the right series that was split up between Binge and Channel 7. It was able to show them in order even though the series continuity was broken up over different networks. Pretty powerful stuff.
So for $99 the Hubbl device is worth taking a punt in my opinion.
SETTING UP HUBBL GLASS
If you don’t want the hassle of plugging anything in, aside from a power cable, then Hubbl Glass is for you. Two TV models make up Hubbl Glass. A 4K QLED 55-inch ($1,595) and 65-inch ($1,995) each available in five colours.
They come in two boxes but are straight forward to put together. As I wrote earlier, the TVs are heavy for a reason, they have a soundbar built in.
Hubbl is part of the TV’s operating system. Having all the live channels in the menu with the streaming channels is excellent. Remember, Hubbl the service is free but it can save you money if you have the right apps.
You can reduce your monthly costs by paying for some streaming apps through Hubbl
The picture quality is good picture for the price. It’s no OLED but it will do the job for most people.
Searching across apps is much better than anything I’ve used before and voice is the killer feature. In fact the TV has a microphone built in so you can launch a search query by just saying, “OK Hubbl” followed by the show or subject.
Sport is easy to find whether its on Kayo or Stan (coming soon)
It’s important to note that the TV is a normal TV too. You can plug in an antenna and other devices, like a gaming console.
The TV has nice ambient mode too, and knows when you’re in the room.
There’s so much more to cover about Hubbl but that will take time. So I’ll be coming back to you in a couple of weeks with a comprehensive review and roundup as more services are added to the service.
