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OnePlus Nord Buds 2 review: Same great flavor, now with ANC
The original was already very good, it just needed a few adjustments
OnePlus set a high bar with last year’s release of the Nord Buds, which are generally some of the best budget wireless earbuds on the market. They were priced at an almost suspiciously low $39, but delivered pretty clear sound and a set of features that would be good enough for most users. Despite having more expensive and flashier options, they’ve even become one of my go-to pairs of earbuds.
Samsung Galaxy A03s review: Better than last year's, it's a barebones phone well worth its price
Don't expect too much, but for a basic phone, the Samsung ultra-cheap Galaxy isn't such a bad deal.
While Samsung makes a big splash every year with its Galaxy S-series of phones and its lineup of foldable phones, the truth is those are very expensive. Heck, many of the best Android phones you can buy today are costly, often pushing over $1,000. However, plenty of manufacturers have gotten quite competitive in the midrange and budget phones market as of late. So even though Samsung often makes headlines with its more premium phones, they also make some of the best budget Android phones — including the Galaxy A03s.
Edifier MS50A Speaker review: Hi-fi meets Wi-Fi, with a side of Alexa
Pump tunes with Spotify Connect, and upgrade your Echo
Odds are pretty high that if you’ve ever shopped on Amazon around Prime Day or any other major shopping holiday, you might have bought an Echo or Echo Dot for nearly free. Or maybe you got one bundled with another smart home purchase.
Redmagic 8 Pro review: Perfect performance, phenomenal price
A low price doesn't mean you have to skimp on performance
Nubia’s Redmagic brand has been trundling along for years, releasing budget gaming phones with killer hardware. Last year’s Redmagic 7 is a great device if you value performance over all else, but buggy software means it’s a challenging recommendation for everyday use. However, Nubia has finally ironed out some (but not all) of the issues, making the Redmagic 8 Pro a much easier device to recommend than its predecessor.
Anker 757 Powerhouse review: A powerhouse in every sense
It's heavy and expensive, but Anker's new power station is insanely beefy
Once your portable power needs exceed even the best battery banks on the market, power stations may be your next stop. The $1,400 price tag doesn't exactly make the Anker 757 Powerhouse an impulse purchase, but there are more expensive options that aren't quite as good. With its hefty bank of over 1200Wh in long-life LFP cells, and 1500W of AC output, the Powerhouse is ready for years of powering household appliances.
Synology DiskStation DS1522+ review: Power and performance that's missing one thing
It's great at just about everything but being a Plex server
NAS systems have long been common appliances in businesses and the homes of cable cutters. They’ve grown even more popular over the last few years as many professionals shifted to working from home, while others have chosen to move their files to private storage rather than rely on cloud services. Synology’s new DS1522+ is a high-performance model designed for small businesses, video editors, and many data hoarders.
REVVL 6 Pro 5G review: T-Mobile is setting a high bar for budget phones
Despite some weak points, this is a great phone for $220
When a budget-friendly carrier-exclusive phone is announced, it’s natural to expect a lot of red flags. T-Mobile has been launching self-branded phones under the REVVL brand for several years, and as spec-to-price value continues to increase, it’s only producing better results over time. The new REVVL 6 Pro 5G is the latest to join this series, and thanks to a combination of software, performance, and battery life, it’s turning out to be one of the best budget phones I’ve ever used.
Realme GT Neo 3 review: A phone that earns its racing stripes
However, there’s more to the Realme GT Neo 3 than just the super-fast charging
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For Realme, the GT Neo 3 represents a more affordable yet sportier alternative to its top-end GT 2 Pro. While the phone does make a few trade-offs to get to the sub-₹40,000 price bracket, it also gets one feature that you probably haven’t even seen on a flagship phone. The GT Neo 3 can charge at an astonishing 150 watts, which can juice up half the battery in merely 5 minutes! This insane charging speed may be the highlight of this phone, but there’s much more that it gets right for its price.
ZTE Axon 40 Ultra review: An 'ultra' smartphone for less
The ZTE Axon 40 Ultra offers impressive hardware with a few notable flaws
When you see the word “Ultra” in the name of a smartphone, your first inclination might be to worry about your wallet. That is certainly the case with some of the best Samsung phones, where this buzzword typically means you’re going to be spending upwards of $1,000 for a high-end device. However, the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra bucks that trend by offering a wide range of advanced features – like an under-display fingerprint sensor, super-speedy charging, and a robust camera array – all at the almost-reasonable price of $799.
Amazon Echo Dot (4th gen) review: Good things come in small packages
Amazon's entry-level smart speaker delivers
Amazon effectively kicked off the sweet smart speaker market with the launch of the original Amazon Echo in 2015. The product line has gone through several evolutions and expansions since then, but for many customers, the Echo Dot has been a key entry point into the ecosystem thanks to a budget-friendly price and support for the full range of Amazon’s services. Now in its fourth generation, it adopts the new look of the larger Echo while retaining all of the qualities that made the original Dot popular.
OnePlus Nord Buds review: A better value than OnePlus phones
These deserve to sell for more than the $39 price tag
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OnePlus has proven it's a force to be reckoned with in wireless earbuds. It offers capable audio products from the budget-friendly Buds Z through to the high-end Buds Pro. The company recently launched its first set of earbuds under the even more budget-oriented Nord brand, previously known only for phones. Like the Nord phones, these earbuds offer more value than the rest of OP's lineup, but there are some compromises. No surprise with the very approachable $39 price tag, but these buds strike a great balance between quality and cost.
Amazon Echo Show 5 review: Compact and competent
This bargain-priced smart display is a great way to get started with Alexa
Amazon launched its Alexa virtual assistant with the original Echo smart speaker in 2015, and just two years later it was pioneering the use of smart displays with the original Echo Show. Today, there are several versions of Amazon's Alexa-powered display, including the budget-friendly Echo Show 5. This device gives you hands-free access to Alexa, and the addition of a display makes it easier to control smart home devices, track packages, and more. The 2nd gen Show 5 costs just $85 when it's not on sale, but given the approach of Prime Day, it's almost half-off right now. If you prefer Alexa to Google Assistant or Siri, the Show 5 is easy to justify when it costs almost nothing.
Acer Chromebook Spin 513 (2H) review: Our favorite Chromebook’s dashing doppelganger
You get less power than the Spin 713 but the same awesome touchscreen
Chromebooks have traditionally fallen into one of two extremes: affordable Chromebooks with meager processors and even more meager screens or premium, ultra-powerful Chromebooks with shorter battery life. The best Chromebook around, the Acer Chromebook Spin 713, falls in the latter category with a gorgeous 400-nit touchscreen, a beefy i5 processor, and just enough battery to maybe get through a short workday without needing a charger. But what if you wanted that premium screen and build quality with a little less horsepower and a little more longevity?
Eero Pro 6E review: Dude, where's my gigahertz?
Even with the best specs, these routers don't offer a meaningful upgrade over cheaper models
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If you're anything like me, you live your life swimming in a sea of wireless signals, linking myriad gadgets together in the name of convenience. So many routers and mesh systems end up unreliable on busy networks or just can't provide enough range, but Eero has a reputation for offering a premium experience without the hassle. Eero (a part of Amazon's web-spanning operations) offers several mesh Wi-Fi systems, and the Eero Pro 6E is the most expensive at $700 for a three-pack. You probably don't need three of these new 6GHz nodes, but even the cheaper kits still cost a pretty penny.
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FiiO M11 Plus ESS review: Audiophile quality for the masses
The iPod may be dead, but this thing is better at playing music anyway
Standalone digital audio players (DAP for short) have been around for a while, but high-end players used to be reserved for people who already had large collections of high-def and lossless music at their disposal. The push for lossless and hi-fi music from streaming services has made it easier than ever for people to make the jump into the audiophile hobby, and the FiiO M11 Plus ESS is a great value for the money in this space—but it's not for casual music listeners.
Honor X9 5G review: Plastic, but is it fantastic?
A solid budget phone that falls short in the usual places
Honor managed to break away from its former parent company Huawei, which has largely been forced out of Western markets due to US sanctions. The ex-subsidiary now stands on its own two feet and has big plans for the future, hoping to conquer the high-end market with upcoming flagships like the Honor Magic4 Pro. However, to become broadly successful, the company needs to offer enticing products across all price points, and the Honor X9 5G (or Magic4 Lite, as it’s called in the EU) could hit the sweet sub-$300 spot.
Honor Magic4 Pro review: Hardware yay, software nay
This would be an amazing phone, if only it didn't run Honor’s Magic UI
Honor began life as Huawei’s budget sub-brand, but the company has successfully emancipated itself from its heavily sanctioned former parent. This means that Honor now has the chance to create proper flagship phones with Google services, and following up on the Magic3 Pro, the Honor Magic4 Pro might just be the headlining handset the company wants to use to make clear that it is now playing with the big boys. The ~$1,000 Magic4 Pro is certainly a phone of superlatives, but does it have everything it takes to break into the market?
Google Pixel Stand 2 review: Google is bad at accessories
All the bells and whistles in the world won't make it a good value
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The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro were a much-needed breath of fresh air in Google's smartphone lineup. After years of half-measures and poor decisions, the Pixel team finally nailed it. While Google is getting better at phones, it still struggles with accessories. Case in point: the $79 Pixel Stand 2. The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro can charge at up to 21 and 23W, respectively, matching wired charging speeds. However, that's just the maximum speed. Most of the time, the Pixel Stand charges much slower. That makes the price tag hard to swallow, particularly when other OEMs are producing much faster custom wireless standards. To top it off, the stand's Pixel-exclusive features don't work well enough to make up for that.
Sony LinkBuds S review: Do something nice for your ears
Sony's latest earbuds balance sound quality with comfort
The year isn't even half over, but Sony has now graced us with two devices under its new LinkBuds line. I did not hide my general distaste for the last Sony LinkBuds, which sported middling battery life and were nowhere near as comfortable as I'd hoped. Just a few months later, Sony has a new set of LinkBuds—the LinkBuds S. These earbuds have a more traditional design, eschewing the open-ear design of the last buds. However, they're much more comfortable thanks to the lightweight design, and Sony didn't sacrifice sound quality. They might not stand up to the Sony WF-1000XM4 or Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3, but you can wear them all day long. They're good enough that you might even want to.
BenQ GS50 review: The perfect portable projector for some summer fun
Watch a movie on the deck or by the pool, take it camping, or just let the kids play with it in the backyard
Some of us wait all year with big, bright plans of summer fun, saving up our time and money to enjoy every minute of nice weather with outdoor activities. Even just watching a movie can be that much better under the stars or in the backyard. But if you plan on watching with friends or family, you might want to consider a portable projector, and the BenQ GS50 is a pretty good choice, with powerful sound and a big, bright picture you can even use during the day (in the shade, anyway).