We’re just days away from Samsung’s Unpacked event, where it announced two new foldable phones, two new smartwatches and a new premium set of earbuds – the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. While there are some trade-in deals if you pre-order those buds before they release on August 26, there’s a better deal on the base model of the same name.
Right now you can get the excellent value of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 for just $99.99 ($50 off) at Best Buy and Amazon. That equates to their lowest price, and unlike some previous occasions, these are US models with a full warranty. They are also available in almost all colors, including Best Buy’s exclusive dark phantom black.
The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro certainly offer more with their 24-bit, 360-degree audio, but they cost $229.99. The standard Galaxy Buds 2 for just $99.99 has good quality audio, active noise cancellation, a wireless charging case and a very compact design. They nail the essentials for a lot less, with the main complaints being lower water resistance, lack of auto-pause when you remove them, and a matte environment mode. Read our review.
Google is offering a unique deal that bundles its cloud storage service with one of its popular smart home accessories. From now until September 15, if you subscribe to the Google One Premium 2TB plan with the subscription of $99.99 per year, you can get a Google Nest Hub for free. The Nest Hub is Google’s smart 7-inch display that plays Google Photos slideshows, controls smarthome functions through Google Assistant, and even tracks your sleep when you put it next to your bed. It normally sells for $99.99, although it is often discounted to around $50 to $55. Read our review of the Google Nest Hub.
The Google One plan in this bundle includes 2 TB of storage and some additional benefits, such as 10 percent back on Google Store purchases and a VPN for Android and iOS. To qualify, all you need to do is be a new subscriber or an existing subscriber to Google’s lower 200GB plan. After clicking ‘Get Offer’ on the promotion page and signing up, you will receive an email after one week to claim your free Nest Hub.
Google One’s Premium 2TB plan includes 10 percent rewards for purchases on the Google Store, added Google Meet functionality, a VPN for Android and iOS, and of course 2TB of cloud storage. It can also be shared with up to five other users. It costs $99 per year, and if you renew or upgrade to a subscription at the annual rate before September 15, you get a free Google Nest Hub smart display.
There are many Bluetooth speakers out there, and while many of them go for a fun and colorful design, very few look like, well, cool. However, the Marshall Emberton certainly looks cool, especially if you’re a musician or have an affinity for the look of classic Marshall amps. And while you’d be forgiven for assuming this is just a crappy marketing ploy to put an iconic name on a sleazy, rebranded product, the Emberton is actually a very good speaker that produces great sound quality.
The Marshall Emberton is a waterproof Bluetooth speaker with an exceptional battery life of approximately 20 hours that can be recharged via USB-C, and it is waterproof. There’s no microphone here for use by the voice assistant, but there are some excellent physical buttons, an easy-to-use joystick and a bright LED battery level. This speaker normally costs $169.99, but is now available at Amazon, Best Buyand direct from Marshall for $119.99 in black or black and brass. Read our review.
Marshall’s Emberton is an IPX7-rated waterproof Bluetooth speaker designed to look like iconic Marshall guitar amps. It doesn’t have a microphone, but charges via USB-C, has 20 hours of battery life and simple physical controls.
From Bluetooth speakers to robot vacuums, our next deal is another one that stands out in a crowded space in some unique ways. The Roborock S7 Plus robovac with the included automatic cleaning station currently costs $727.49 ($222.49 off) at Home Depot. The caveat is that it can take a week or more to get to you or your local store depending on your region, but this is one of the best deals yet on this excellent vacuum/mop hybrid.
The Roborock S7 does double duty with vacuuming and mopping, and it has some excellent features to do both tasks without much fuss – like the ability to lift the chassis to vacuum your carpet without leaving a wet mop. walk. The excellent “Rock Dock” cleaning station is a handy add-on included in this deal, but keep in mind that it can get clogged. Still, this is a great value for the bot called the best vacuum/mop hybrid in our buying guide. Also, if you’ve been wanting a robovac, but aren’t too thrilled with the fact that iRobot is being bought by Amazon, this is a nice alternative. While Roborock is owned by Xiaomi in China, the stark privacy reality of who you trust with your home mapping remains a little complicated. Read our review.
This hybrid mop/vacuum cleaner robot is one of the best double-acting vacuum cleaners on the market. The sonic mop technology scrubs your floors but lifts the mop to vacuum your carpets without getting them wet. In the Plus configuration, it comes with an auto-emptying cleaning and charging station – the ‘Rock Dock’.
More Friday, more offers:
- Newegg includes a $10 gift card with the purchase of the just released Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered on Steam. You will receive both the game code and the gift card digitally. The 2018 reissue plays great on PC, and even on the Steam Deck.
- Google’s entry-level Nest Thermostat is $88.94 (about $41 off) at Amazon. It may not have the smarts of the older Nest Learning Thermostat, but it’s a great option if you’re in Google’s ecosystem. Read our review.
- The Twelve South Curve Laptop Stand in White Drops to $44.13 ($15.86 off) at Amazon after clicking the coupon on the page for an additional $10 off. This all-metal stand holds laptops up to 17 inches at a fixed height of 6.5 inches.
- The 2021 11-inch iPad Pro with an M1 CPU and 128GB of storage will cost $749 ($50 off) at Amazon. While the Pro models have gone down before, significant discounts aren’t exactly common. Still, this is an excellent iPad that will last for many years. Read our review.
- Apple’s Magic Keyboard for that same 11-inch iPad Pro (as well as the latest iPad Airs) costs $249″ ($50 off) at Amazon. It’s a precious accessory, but it’s as close as you can get to turning the iPad into a somewhat functional laptop. Read our review.
- The Nanoleaf Shapes Mini Triangles five-pack smarter kit is only $49.99 ($70 off) at Best Buy. It doesn’t get any cheaper than this if you want to use some decorative and colorful smart LED light panels on your walls, but keep in mind that these minis are definitely small.
- The Sony LinkBuds S wireless earbuds are about $148 (about $52 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. We first discussed this deal last week on these excellent, super-comfortable earbuds, and surprisingly, it’s still up and running.
- If you’re a lucky owner of the Meta Quest 2 VR headset (fingers crossed for the recent price increase), Anker’s handy charging station costs $68.99 when you click the coupon on the page for $30 off. Watch our video about the Quest 2 and accessories.
- GPU prices continue to fall (thankfully), and the EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti FTW3 video card costs $679.99 ($140 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. This 8GB card is more than capable of playing games at QHD 2560 x 1440 resolution with plenty of headroom for high frame rates.