Every month, we are treated to exciting new tech that aims to make our lives better. And this month is no exception. We have a couple fantastic audio products that won’t break the bank, some pretty neat and rather unusual accessories, and a couple of big items to round off the list.
First we have the white Soul Electronics X-SHOCK Wireless Earphones. We included the black variant in a previous episode but the white version is so fresh that it’s worth including in another episode. What stands out the most about these is the looks. They are white with some transparent plastic that lets you peek into the innards. I’ve never seen earphones quite like these. Since I am as pale as a piece of paper, I kind of like the color because they don’t stick out as much as the black variant. They actually make me look a little bit tan.
These also excel in sound quality and features. The bass doesn’t rattle me enough to give me a headache like some other over-the-air headphones can do but the bass is very noticeable and it does satisfy that thirst for bass that I usually possess. I often switch between these and AirPods but I prefer these ones while running or working out because the suction is much better. They don’t feel like they’re going to fall out.
As for features, you do get a 3000mAh battery bank that offers 60 hours of playtime, give or take. They can be submerged in water for up to 30 minutes and there are flashing LEDs for improved visibility for nocturnal outdoor activities. They are $10 more expensive than the AirPods, coming in at $170. I think they are absolutely worth it.
Best Tech episodes didn’t use to feature autonomous vacuums but that has changed in 2018. The latest autonomous vacuum we had the pleasure of reviewing was Ecovacs’ pride and joy, the Deebot 901 vacuum. It’s one of their most premium vacuums that’s priced at around $400. If you use this link, you can get at least $50 off. What’s special about this product is that in addition to being able to vacuum up various debris from my carpet or hardwood floors, the 901 vacuum can connect to Wi-Fi and be controlled via Alexa or the Google Assistant. That’s really cool. All you have to do is say “Start Deebot” and it’ll start running and cleaning up my home.
What’s unique to the 901 is that it is able to map up your apartment or house that you can decide when and what you want cleaned by creating virtual boundaries. Maybe you have a rug that doesn’t do so well with vacuums, you can make that specific area off-limits for this vacuum all through the app. You don’t need to place little hardware sensors around your home. It’s all done via software, that’s really cool.
There’s also a ton of data that it gathers, like the area and duration of the cleaning. You can set the vacuum power and schedule cleaning sessions. It’ll even remember when you need to change the filters and brushes and remind you.
The actual performance is very good. I have a dog named Arlo, as many of you know. He sheds twice a year but it seems like he’s always shedding. If I don’t vacuum everyday or a few times per week, there will be so much hair that it’ll clog up the brushes. This is a problem that I’ve had on all my autonomous vacuums. It’s just something that happens. I will say, on max power, it was able to vacuum up the vast majority of debris on my floors, which is ultimately why it deserves a spot in this video.
Next, I have one of the best speakers you can buy for the money. This is the Mokcao Life 30-watt Bluetooth speaker. It has a beautiful bamboo wood finish on the front and back that would look especially great in any contemporary or mid-century modern home. There’s also an organic fabric that wraps around the body of the speaker with nothing else but function buttons. It looks good and sounds great. It gets plenty loud. I actually wasn’t able to max out the volume because I didn’t want to get evicted. What I will say is that the bass is very strong often outshining the mids and highs of a song. Some people will like that, others won’t. But there are different sound profiles that you can mess around with to find a sound that aligns with your listening preference.
It retails for $90 but you can use this promo code (KM6ENMDJ) to bring the price down to $50. Also, we will be giving away one of these speakers. All you have to do is subscribe and drop a comment down below.
The KeySmart Pro is the rather unusual accessory I teased earlier in this video. It’s a compact key holder that features an LED light and tile tracker built in so you’ll never lose or misplace your keys again. It can hold up to 10 keys and you can use the Tile app to ping your keys and locate them on a map. The battery can reportedly last up to 60 days but realistically, it’ll probably last a little over a month or so. I will say, it’s not a perfect device. It can be hard to fold the key out of its slot and some keys won’t fit between the screw so you may have to drill a hole in the key or two.
All in all, it’s still a pretty neat product and it could make for a great birthday gift as it costs around $60.
Another accessory we have is the 45-watt Zendure Portable battery pack. This is a 20,100mAh battery bank with USB-C input and output that can charge a MacBook Pro, iPhone X, Nintendo Switch-- pretty much any mobile device you have. What I like about this particular pack (because there’s a million of them out there) is that it has a metal case that is ribbed for improved durability. You can travel with it with no problems. It goes through TSA without any issues. It supports fast charging and there’s a battery indicator on the side.
It is a little bit pricey, at around $70 but you can get 10% off on the link.
The last product on the list is the OnePlus 6. This phone was recently launched to great fanfare. As of producing this video, OnePlus has sold over a million OnePlus 6 devices in 22 days. That’s incredibly impressive.
What’s so appealing is its price to spec ratio. For $529, you get all of the core specs and features of a phone that costs almost twice as much, like a near bezel-less display, Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor with up to 8GB of RAM, dual 16-megapixel camera sensors, all day battery life, and premium metal and glass build. With its near stock Android software, this is one of the fastest phones I have ever used, giving the iPhone X and Galaxy S9 a run for their money.
With that said, those are some of the best tech products we had the pleasure of testing out during the month of June 2018.
