The Galaxy Buds 2 and their wireless charging case have a very compact design. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Weโre just a couple days removed from Samsungโs Unpacked event, where it announced two new foldable phones, two new smartwatches, and one new premium set of earbuds โ the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. While there are some trade-in deals if you preorder those buds before their release on August 26th, thereโs a better deal happening on the similarly named base model.
Right now, you can get the excellent value that is the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 for just $99.99 ($50 off) at Best Buy and Amazon. That matches their lowest price, and unlike some previous occasions, these are USA models that come with a full warranty. Theyโre also available in nearly all colors, including Best Buyโs exclusive darker phantom black.
The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are sure to offer more with their 24-bit, 360-degree audio, but they cost $229.99. The standard Galaxy Buds 2 at just $99.99 have 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 lackluster ambient 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 15th, if you subscribe to the Google One Premium 2TB plan with its $99.99 per year plan, you can get a Google Nest Hub for free. The Nest Hub is Googleโs seven-inch smart display that plays Google Photos slideshows, controls smart home functions via Google Assistant, and even tracks your sleep if you put it near your bed. It normally sells for $99.99, though itโs frequently discounted to around $50 to $55. Read our review of the Google Nest Hub.
The Google One plan in this bundle includes 2TB of storage and some extra perks like 10 percent back on Google Store purchases and a VPN for Android and iOS. To qualify, you just have to be a new subscriber or an existing subscriber to Googleโs lower-tier 200GB plan. After clicking โGet Offerโ on the promo page and subscribing, youโll receive an email after one week to claim your free Nest Hub.
There are a lot of Bluetooth speakers out there, and while many of them go for a fun and colorful design, very few of them look, well, cool. The Marshall Emberton, however, certainly looks cool, especially if youโre a musician or have an affinity for the look of classic Marshall amplifiers. And while youโd be forgiven for assuming this is just a crappy marketing ploy to slap an iconic name on a shoddy, rebranded product, the Emberton is actually a very good speaker that outputs some great sound quality.
The Marshall Emberton is a waterproof Bluetooth speaker with an exceptional battery life of around 20 hours that tops up via USB-C, and itโs waterproof. Thereโs no microphone here for voice assistant use, but there are some excellent physical buttons, an easy-to-use joystick, and a clear-as-day LED battery level. This speaker usually costs a hefty $169.99, but itโs available now at Amazon, Best Buy, and direct from Marshall for $119.99 in black or black and brass. Read our review.
From Bluetooth speakers to robot vacuums, our next deal is another one that stands out in some unique ways from a crowded space. The Roborock S7 Plus robovac with its included auto-cleaning station is currently $727.49 ($222.49 off) at Home Depot. The caveat here is that it may take a week or more to get it delivered to you or your local store, depending on your area, but this is one of the best deals yet on this excellent vacuum / mop hybrid bot.
The Roborock S7 pulls double duty with vacuuming and mopping, and itโs got some excellent features to help do both tasks without much fuss โ like its ability to lift its chassis to vacuum your carpet without running a wet mop over it. Its excellently-named โRock Dockโ cleaning station is a handy add-on thatโs included with this deal, but be aware it can get clogged. Even so, this is a great value for the bot named the best hybrid vacuum / mop in our buying guide. Also, if youโve been wanting a robovac but arenโt too excited about iRobot getting bought by Amazon, this makes a nice alternative. Though Roborock is owned by Xiaomi in China, so the grim privacy reality of who youโre trusting with mapping your house remains a little complicated. Read our review.
More Friday, more deals:
Newegg is including a $10 gift card with the purchase of the just-released Marvelโs Spider-Man Remastered on Steam. You get both the game code and gift card digitally. The rerelease from 2018 plays great on PC, and even on the Steam Deck.
Googleโs 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 itโs a fine option if youโre in Googleโs ecosystem. Read our review.
The Twelve South Curve laptop stand in white is down to $44.13 ($15.86 off) at Amazon after you click the on-page coupon for an additional $10 off. This all-metal stand holds laptops up to 17 inches in size at a fixed elevation of 6.5 inches.
The 11-inch iPad Pro from 2021 with an M1 CPU and 128GB of storage is $749 ($50 off) at Amazon. While the Pro models have dipped lower before, sizable discounts are not exactly common. Still, this is an excellent iPad that will last many years. Read our review.
Appleโs Magic Keyboard for that same 11-inch iPad Pro (as well as the latest iPad Airs) is $249 ($50 off) at Amazon. Itโs a costly accessory, but itโs as close as you get to turning the iPad into a somewhat-functional laptop. Read our review.
The Nanoleaf Shapes Mini Triangles five-pack smarter kit is just $49.99 ($70 off) at Best Buy. It doesnโt get any cheaper than this if you want to dabble with some decorative and colorful smart LED light panels on your walls, though keep in mind these minis are certainly small.
The Sony LinkBuds S wireless earbuds are around $148 (about $52 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. We first covered this deal on these excellent, super-comfy earbuds last week, and surprisingly itโs still running.
If youโre a happy owner of the Meta Quest 2 VR headset (fingers crossed you got before the recent price increase), Ankerโs convenient charging dock is down to $68.99 when you click the on-page coupon for $30 off. Check out our video on the Quest 2 and accessories.
GPU prices keep falling (thankfully), and the EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti FTW3 video card is $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 enough headroom for high frame rates.