If you’re a fan of shopping on Amazon, you’re probably familiar with Prime Day. The event, which debuted back in 2015, was launched to treat customers to numerous deals and discounts. And this year it won’t be any different, as Amazon’s Prime Day will be making a comeback on July 11.
The event is set to start on July 10 at 9 PM ET thus giving customers up to 30 hours to shop. As before you’ll need to have subscribed to Amazon Prime ($99 a year in the US) to be able to take advantage of the deals and discounts.
Amazon has expanded the sale to include 13 countries this year including US, UK, Spain, Mexico, Japan, Italy, India, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium, and Austria.
Note that this year Amazon will offer some deals exclusively for those who use the Alexa voice function on an Amazon device like the Echo, Echo Dot or Fire TV.
While the details about the promos that are to be offered during that specific day are yet to be revealed, Amazon is drumming up interest by inviting members to explore exclusive promotions leading up to Prime Day. Between July 5 and July 9, Amazon will offer deals based on a daily theme as follows:
July 5th: Voice shopping July 6th: Amazon Music July 7th: Amazon Video July 8th: Everyday Essentials July 9th: Amazon Reading
The following deals start now:
• Amazon Music Unlimited – four months of the full catalog on-demand service that offers access to tens of millions of song for just $0.99
• Prime Video – get $10 to spend before Prime Day when you stream a Prime video for the first time on your TV
• Kindle Unlimited – save up to 40% on a Kindle Unlimited membership
• Audible – get 40% off your subscription during the first 6 months (only $8.95/month for 6 months)
• Everyday Essentials – save up to 35% with coupons on select everyday food and household items in Prime Pantry
Come Prime Day we expect to see some pretty nifty deals on Amazon’s Prime Exclusive Phones, as well. It appears the Moto G5 Plus and Alcatel A30 Plus are going to be offered with 50% off, but you’ll be able to save up to $80 on other models too. So, have you saved the date in your calendar yet?
Over the last few years we’ve come to test a number of speakers from Fugoo. Whereas we previously had never heard of the brand, we now look forward to each new product. Why? Consistency. Its various speakers all have a similar, somewhat distinctive design, can be accessorized and enhanced with clamps, mounts, and straps. Moreover, Fugoo’s products are built well and feature quality materials.
We’ve spent a few weeks with one of Fugoo’s latest releases, the Style-S. A portable Bluetooth speaker with an IP67 rating, the unit is is designed to go wherever you do. Able to withstand being in three feet of water for up 30 minutes, it can also stand up against dust, sand, mud, and pretty much anything else that might be considered messy.
Unlike the new-ish Fugoo Go, the Style-S doesn’t look like the sort of speaker that wants to play outside. The fiber-reinforced resin case gives off a semi-casual, almost beach life appearance, but it would be right at home in an office or kitchen. Don’t be fooled, though, this speaker loves to get wet and dirty.
One of the cooler features of the Fugoo Style-S is its ability to pair to another unit for true stereo sound. Conversely, it can also simply double the existing playback, giving equal sound to both. The former works great in an environment where you plan to listen to music with interesting audio mixing and engineering; the latter suffices for podcasts, audiobooks, and other less ambitious sources.
According to Fugoo, the Style-S will deliver around 15 hours of continuous playback at fifty percent volume levels. This is about five hours longer than what you’ll get out of the Fugoo Go and amounts to a good two or three days at the beach.
As a matter of practice, we charge our devices up just about any chance we get. Even when we’re testing things out, we find ourselves plugging in when possible. Our thought is much like teaching children how to use the restroom: go when you can, not when you have to. As such, we charge at night, even if we know we only used a fraction of the battery.
Charging is done via microUSB cable and takes around three to four hours if the speaker is at near zero. This is also a little faster than what we experienced in the Fugoo Go.
Whether going it alone or paired with another unit, music sounds great with these speakers. We recommend the stereo if you’re in smaller areas or where you can listen to appreciate the dynamics in music. Adding a soundtrack to a pool party? Go with the Double mode and just crank it.
We found ourselves treating the speaker as if it didn’t belong outside. To us it looks like a more fashionable unit. It definitely deserves the Style moniker. But, when fitted with a bike mount or clamp, it quickly becomes more utilitarian and practical. In other words, we’ve seen much uglier or boring speakers with less functionality.
Another feature we appreciate seeing in a portable speaker is the ability to take calls in speakerphone. To us, a Bluetooth speaker that’s designed to go anywhere should, listeners should be able to keep their phones tucked away and still take phone calls. We don’t want to be out on the river, in a kayak, only to take our phone out of a waterproof carry case. Indeed, the Style-S lets us use voice-enabled speakerphone, giving us peace of mind.
As it relates to sound, we never really had to get the volume levels up above half. Pairing it to another speaker gave us more than enough to provide ample backing music for a day next to the pool. And, if you’re taking this on a hike or bike ride, you won’t want to be that loud, lest you desire to look foolish.
The Fugoo Style-S is compatible with a number of accessories, including the Bike Mount, Strap Mount and Multi-Mount. In a related note, if you purchase the speaker from Fugoo’s website, you can currently receive a free Mount Pack which includes the aforementioned items. Alternatively, you can save 30 percent on a second Style-S speaker.
As you might suspect, I love tech. Writing for a site based on technology affords me the opportunity to play with a bunch of cool accessories, phones, and toys that I otherwise wouldn’t even know existed. Here are some of the coolest tech gadgets that I’ve gotten to play around with in the first half of the year While this list isn’t exhaustive, these are definitely near the top of my list.
V-MODA Forza Metallo Wireless
These are by far my favorite earbuds of all time, wired or not. V-MODA is well known in the audio industry for making innovative and super high-quality headphones and they absolutely knocked it out of the park with the Forza Metallo Wireless.
The neckband style headphones come with four tips and three different style of fins to keep the earbuds in your ears. While in your ears, you won’t hear much else. Whether you think that’s a good thing or not is up to you. But, I can’t say enough about the sound quality. The punchy bass and clean mids and highs are really a pleasure to listen to and make music from all genres sound fantastic in my testing.
One of the cooler features of the Forza Metallo Wireless centers around the vibration motor in the neckband. When a call comes in, the neckband vibrates just enough to let you know something is going on. Sure, you’re probably going to hear your phone ring through the earbuds when they’re in, but if you’re anything like me, you leave the earbuds dangling even when you aren’t using them so I love this feature.
The cords for the earbuds could be a bit shorter and the neckband could have a bit more weight to keep it from sliding down your neck toward your back, but I did love the ten hours of battery life and the included carrying case. You can also have V-MODA 3D print you some decorative earcaps if you’re into that sort of thing.
This one isn’t for the faint of heart. The Fluance Fi70 is the biggest Bluetooth speaker I’ve ever seen in person. And Fluance used all that space to put in a ton of cool shit that makes music sound absolutely fantastic. This thing is seriously huge and you need to make sure you have room for it before you buy it. It measures 3-feet across and almost a foot deep. Fluance recognized this probably isn’t sitting on an entertainment center or table and included a stand that you screw into the bottom of the speaker so it can be free-standing. Smart.
The Fi70 has two eight-inch subwoofers that deliver the most bass I’ve ever heard from a speaker like this. During an early 2000’s rap nostalgia trip, Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Notorious B.I.G. literally had my windows shaking it was so loud and the bass was so deep. When Fluance says you’ll feel the bass, they are not joking.
Not only does the speaker sound great, but it looks great too. My unit has a white face with a bamboo finish on the sides. Fluance also includes a black faceplate in case you want to cover up the front of the speaker. I could sit here and rattle off information about frequencies, responses, amplifiers, and tweeters, but let me just restate this: music sounds absolutely fantastic and for my money, this is the best speaker on the market.
Nekteck sent over its fast wireless charger for us to take a look at and I’m in love with it. The charger has a shelf so the phone sits upright on my desk allowing me to see incoming alerts on my phone in real time. This is a massive plus in my opinion. Also, as the name would indicate, this thing charges damn fast. I went from 50% to 100% in about a half hour of it sitting on the charger. That’s crazy fast for wireless charging.
The build quality is good and the price is too (about $25), but I do wish Nekteck offered a bundle with its Quick Charge 2.0 wall adapter since once isn’t included in the box. Yep, you’ll have to supply your own QuickCharge wall adapter, but the one that came in the box with your phone will work if you don’t want to buy a new one.
You can grab the Neckteck Fast Wireless Charger for $25 on Amazon.
Spigen’s Samsung Galaxy S8 Cases
I love an amazingly designed phone and I hate covering one up. I bought the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus in large part because of the gorgeous design and beautiful display, but every time I walk out of the house without a case on I have a nagging (or screaming) voice in the back of my head that my $850 glass phone is completely unprotected and one stumble away from disaster. Contrary to popular belief, I can’t just ring up Samsung and ask for another one. I paid for this with my own money.
So, when Spigen asked if we wanted to check out its Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus case lineup, I jumped at the chance. Three have really stuck out to me so far, the Neo Hybrid Crystal, Liquid Air Armor, and Thin Fit cases.
The Neo Hybrid Crystal is easily my favorite of the bunch. I’ve always been drawn to the Neo Hybrid lineup for the nice balance it strikes between bulk and protection. It always seems to feel like my phone, just a little bit bigger. I love the Neo Hybrid Crystal because not only can I see my phone too, but there’s a nice accent color to go along with it. The Blue on Black color combination looks really cool in my opinion.
Spigen Liquid Armor for the Samsung Galaxy S8
Behind the Neo Hybrid Crystal, the Liquid Air Armor is probably my most used case. It feels a little bit slimmer than the Neo Hybrid and is solid black with a nice triangle design to give it some visual flair. The matte black is a little less conspicuous than the clear and blue Neo Hybrid Crystal case so I tend to use it more when I’m going to a meeting. It still builds in that great drop protection due to the use of TPU and feels pretty soft and comfortable to hold.
Spigen Thin Fit for the Samsung Galaxy S8
When I have to force myself to use a case, I go with the slim fit. It measures in at about a millimeter so it still feels like my phone when I hold it in my hand. The Matte Blue color looks electric and beautiful and resists fingerprints better than I expected. While you’re not going to get much protection from drops, you will get them from scratches and scrapes which is a bigger deal than you might think when you have a glass phone.
So, there you have it. Those are some of my favorite gadgets so far this year. This is far from an exhaustive list, but these are some of the products I use most or are most impressed with. I’ll definitely be back near the end of the year with a new edition If you’ve picked any of these gadgets up or currently own any of them, let me know down in the comments what you think of them. Also, let us know what your favorite new tech of the year is. We want to hear from you!
Editor’s note: Some of this gear was released before 2017, but I included tech I gained access to in 2017, not just tech that was released in 2017.
At the beginning of this month, Motorola unveiled the Moto Z2 Play saying the product will become available for purchase sometime this summer.
Well the Moto Z2 Play just landed at Verizon with a full retail price of $408. Customers can also snag it for $0 down and $17/month for the next two years. If you buy the phone between 06/29/2017 and 07/26/2017 you’ll also be awarded a free JBL SoundBoost 2 Moto Mod worth $79.99. Verizon also notes it will start shipping Moto Z2 Play orders starting 07/06/2017.
The Moto Z2 Play is the latest upper middle-ranger Motorola unleashed into the wild. It comes equipped with a 5.5-inch 1080p display and Snapdragon 626 processor. The version offered by Verizon includes 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage (with microSD support for memory expansion up to 2TB).
In case you’ve missed the Moto Z2 Play’s announcement, you can read all about it in our older article. The new Moto is also compatible with a host of old and new Moto Mods. Speaking of which, we have fresh info about the new Mods’ availability dates.
The JBL SoundBoost 2 and Moto TurboPower Pack will become available from Motorola on July 10. Later on, starting July 30 customers will also be able to pick it up at Best Buy. Verizon will start offering the Mods come August 10. Both will cost $79.99.
The Moto Style Shell with Wireless Charging will land at Best Buy on July 30 for $39.99 a pop. As for the Moto GamePad, we’re yet to find out when it will launch.
Did you get your new and shiny OnePlus 5? Then you probably had a chance to play with it for a bit and form a few impressions of it.
If that’s the case, OnePlus is inviting you to write a short post (no more than 300 words) or make a quick YouTube video detailing how you feel about your new phone – what you like, what you don’t like, you know the basic stuff.
This is what you need to cover in your “essay”:
• How do you feel about OnePlus 5’s design or hand feel?
• What’s your overall impression of the OP5?
• List out your favorite three new things about the OP5 and let us know why.
Entries can be submitted in English, German, Italian, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Danish or Swedish.
You’ll also need to post a photo of your OnePlus 5 box with a note including your forum username.
So what’s in it for you, you might be wondering at this point? Well, OnePlus will award 10 points for each entry (to be used in the Raffles), but finalists will receive a new OnePlus Backpack or a Dash Power Bundle with one Dash Car Charger.
You have until July 10 at 10 pm EDT to submit your mini-review. The community team will randomly pick 10 lucky winners who will be announced on July 13. Good luck!
It happened to all of us – our smartphone or laptop ran out of juice when we needed it the most. It’s even more frustrating when all your mobile devices are rendered unusable at once, while we are away from home.
A new Indiegogo project hopes to be able to solve your problem. It’s called LAER and technically it’s a Bluetooth-enabled laptop sleeve.
But on top of providing protection for your lappy, LAER also claims to be able to charge your laptop, smartphone, and tablet – all at the same time. This way you won’t have to carry all your chargers with you every day.
The sleeve includes a DC charger for PC and Mac computers, USB-C charging, USB Quick Charge and Qi wireless charging. With LAER you’ll be able to place your tablet or smartphone on its surface to easily get some juice flowing into them. You can hook up to three devices at the same time.
The makers of LAER claim that thanks to the Quick Charge option, you’ll be able to charge your device from 0 to 50% in just 30 minutes.
Naturally, LAER is powered by a battery itself, and you’ll be given a choice between a smaller 5,000 mAh juice box and larger 20,000 mAh one. You can easily swap them out too.
An accompanying smartphone app which tracks how much battery is left in LAER will also be released, alongside the accessory.
If the project sounds interesting to you, know you can make a pledge right now. For $100 you’ll get a LAER sleeve and a 5,000 mAh battery. If everything goes well, customers should be able to get their hands on the LAER by March 2018.
Google announced a few new updates for Google Photos during its I/O 2017 back in May, but so far the features haven’t been available for the public.
This changes this week as Google has started rolling out the new feats for both Android and iOS users across the globe.
Now when you open the app you’ll see a new personal suggestions section located at the top, based on personal sharing habits and the people who appear in the photographs. Also, there’s a new Sharing Tab which allows users to easily keep track of their sharing activities.
The new update to Google Photos also includes Shared Libraries – a tool which helps people to share photos with friends and family.
You should be able to see a new Share your library option in the menu bar on the top left which lets you share an entire library. Just tap on it and enter your friends’ emails.
Once a friend is given access to your library he or she will be able to see all the new photos you’ll be adding, without you having to repeat the process.
Suggested Sharing is also available, so now when you take a few photos at the family BBQ, Google Photos will be able to suggest who you may want to share the photos with (example grandma, uncle, best friend).
Family and friends who use Google Photos and were present at the event may also get reminders to add their own set of (related) photos to a shared album.
The new features are currently rolling out, but it might take a few days before they reach everyone.
Samsung have unveiled a new line of camera sensors under the ISOCELL brand at MWC in Shanghai.
As part of the ISOCELL brand, Samsung could use the ISOCELL Dual sub-brand to help bring a dual camera setup to the Galaxy Note 8. Expected to be released at the beginning of September, the Note 8 could be the first Samsung device to feature a dual camera setup thanks to the new sensors released at MWC.
The dual camera technology will feature two 13 MP sensors with autofocus, f/2.0 aperture, and 1.12µm pixel size. While Samsung haven’t confirmed that the Note 8 will have a dual-camera setup, or even use this latest sensor, it seems pretty likely that this will be the first device we will see this technology being used on. Samsung always tend to push the boundaries of its devices to the next level with each iteration and leaving the camera relatively untouched on the Galaxy S8 over the S7 leaves a big area of potential improvement for the Note 8.
Despite the new sensors only being shown off at MWC in recent days, you can expect that Samsung have been developing this sensor for sometime and most likely in enough time to make it part of the Note 8 product cycle.
Following the release of its Tablo Dual – a DVR for cord cutters who wish to record TV over-the-air from a digital antenna, Nuvyyo now returns with a couple of hot new products.
The first one is an Android app for Android TV called Tablo Engine, which will initially work with the NVIDIA Shield to allow users to record live TV without the need of additional DVR hardware.
But in order to capture the free, over-the-air TV signal, users will still need to have an HDTV antenna. You’ll need to connect your antenna to the NVIDIA Shield and users can do so using the Tablo’s second new product – the Tablo Tuner USB adapter.
Tablo Tuner
The Tuner is a dongle equipped with a USB connection at one end and the hook up for an antenna on the other. It can connect to a USB port on the Shield TV and start serving you live television through via the Tablo Engine app.
The Tablo Engine app + the Tablo Tuner combo basically lets you use your NVIDIA Shield TV like a Tablo DVR. The app takes advantage of the Shield’s available storage space and will save DVR recordings onto it in MPEG2 format.
Tablo Engine app
Here’s the complete list of features available with the Tablo Engine app:
• Live TV: Watch, pause and rewind live TV in stunning full HD quality
• Fast Channel Changes: Tune to live TV in seconds from the live TV grid guide
• Recording & Time Shifting: Watch, pause, rewind and fast forward completed and in-progress recordings
• 14-Day Live TV Grid Guide: Browse and set recordings for shows airing over the next 14 days
• Content Discovery & Series Recording: Discover new shows and set one-click series recordings (ALL NEW or ALL episodes) via the Netflix-style program guide
• 5.1 Surround Sound: Enable Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound pass-through for a premium audio experience
A companion browser app for Tablo Engine is also available and you can manage recordings and adjust the Engine’s settings from there.
If you’re interested in the new products, you should know the Tablo Tuner is currently available for $69.99 from the official Tablo store. The Tablo Engine app is available for download via the Play Store.
Keep in mind that if you purchase a Tablo Tuner will also receive a 6-month subscription to the Tablo Engine guide data package free of charge, as part of the bundle. After which you’ll be required to pay $3.99 / month or $39.99 per year.
Last week, we saw the OnePlus 5 announcement, but some deadpanned the device for featuring flagship specs without a proper IPX water resistance. However, it seems that may not matter after one user took to the waters to test out his OnePlus 5 by submerging it in a bowl filled with water.
The test lasts about a minute before it’s pulled from the depths, but as you can see, the device is still fully functional. While some devices are “fried” as soon as they get wet, the real test will be to see how the device is functioning after a week of usage.
Many commenters on the video have already called foul on this, as there is no real way to determine whether there is permanent damage to the OnePlus 5. Some are even asking the video’s creator to publish another update after a week so that we can all see the results for ourselves.
Regardless of this single 2-minute long video, OnePlus did not explicitly claim any water resistance rating for its 2017 flagship. So we recommend that you avoid performing this test yourself, so that you won’t void any warranties or worse, ruin your precious new device.
If you really need a water resistant device, you’re better off looking at the LG G6 or Galaxy S8, and not the OnePlus 5.
