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Including Ultimate Ears's newest wireless earbuds, Alienware's new gaming laptop and a Wi-Fi 6 router.
For more of the latest and greatest product releases, check out our full collection of the best new gear.
This week, Samsung announced its next big "Unpacked" event would take place on August 10 — and you can expect some new foldable smartphones. For the first time, you can access Snapchat on your computer via your web browser. The prices of ESPN+ and Slack are both going up, unfortunately. And Nikon and Canon are both getting out of the DSLR game.
There were a bunch of new gadgets announced this week, too. Here's what you need to know.
Ultimate Ears announced its second pair of wireless earbuds, the UE Drops, and they are significantly higher-end than the company's 2020-released UE Fits. Like before, the UE Drops are custom molded to your ears to they provide a very secure fit. But the new wireless earbuds promise far superior sound quality thanks to their 9.2mm drivers (which are more on par with the company's line of IEMs). And they have more premium features, such as a transparency mode (but no active noise-cancellation) and a wireless charging case.
Alienware announced two next-generation gaming laptops, the Alienware m17 R5 and the Alienware x17 R2, and they are significant because they are the first that can be configured with 480Hz displays. The ridiculously high refresh rates promise to deliver extremely smooth graphics — whether you'll be able to see those differences from, say, 120Hz or 240Hz displays, is a very debatable matter — on their 1080p displays. Additionally, both 17" laptops can be configured with AMD’s highest-end CPUs (Ryzen 7 and 9) and GPUs (Radeon RX 6-series).
The TP-Link AX5400 is a new router that supports Wi-Fi 6E and can deliver speeds of upwards of 5,400 Mbps. It's packed with a good amount of high-end features, such as tri-band technology (more bandwidth for more devices) and the latest Wi-Fi security protocol (called WPA3). The kicker is that it costs well under $200, making it one of the more affordable routers that supports Wi-Fi 6E you'll find.
Twelve South announced a new-and-improved version of its height-adjustable iPad stand, the HoverBar Duo. The refreshed model has a new "QuickSwitch Tab" that allows you to quickly switch out bases so you can use either a desk clamp or a more desktop-style base. The idea is that you can more easily use your iPad as mounted desktop (with a wireless keyboard or mouse) or as a secondary display. Or you can use it to mount your iPad so that it's easier to record selfie-style videos. Additionally, the new model is now available in a matte white.
Eve has introduced an updated version of its HomeKit-supported motion sensor, the Eve Motion. The big thing with this second-generation model is that it's the first of its kind to support Thread, which is low-power mesh networking standard (similar to Zigbee or Z-Wave) that's designed to make smart home devices work better with each other. It's also compatible with Matter, an upcoming smart home standard that will unify gadgets that work with Apple's, Google's, Samsung's and Amazon's smart home ecosystems.