6 Cool Gadgets to Have on Your Radar This Week

This week, Apple released the first public betas of iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and watchOS 8 (you can check them out, here). United Airlines announced that it was adding Bluetooth to some of its airplanes, allowing passengers to use their wireless headphones while watching in-flight movies. And LG is bringing Dolby Vision 120Hz support, which is ideal for next-gen gaming, to some of its most popular OLED TVs. A bunch of cool new gadgets were announced, too.

Nikon Z FC

Nikon

The Nikon Z FC is the company’s newest mirrorless camera and the most interesting thing about is that, well, it doesn’t look like a new camera. It fact its design to look similar to one of the company’s most beloved cameras, the FM2, which first came out in the early ’80s. But the Z FC definitely doesn’t shoot like a vintage film camera. It packs a 20.9-megapixel APS-C sensor and a Z-mount, so it fit any of the Z6’s and Z7’s full-frame lenses. It also packs the usual modern upgrades: electronic viewfinder, touchscreen display and USB-C charging.

Price: $960 (body only) — $1,200 (with 28mm lens)

Klipsch Cinema 1200 and 800 Soundbars

Klipsch

Klipsch announced its first two Dolby Atmos soundbars. The Cinema 120o ($1,499) is a 5.1.4 surround sound system (which is able to decode Atmos in full 7.1.​4) and the Cinema 800 ($799) is a more traditional soundbar-and-subwoofer combo. Other than the size and power of the soundbar and wireless woofer (and the fact that the Cinema 800 doesn’t with satellite speakers), the two systems are very similar. They both connect to your TV via an eARC-enabled HDMI 2.1 port (which supports the passthrough of up to 8K HDR and Dolby Vision). And they have built-in Bluetooth and support Alexa and Google Assistant.

Price: $799 — $1,499

Lenovo Smart Clock 2

Lenovo

Lenovo’s second-generation Smart Clock sports the same 4-inch display as its predecessor and still comes integrated with Google Assistant. It does have a better speaker (that plays stereo) and, more significantly, a taller design that makes it compatible with a wireless charging pad. The wireless charging pad is sold separately, but you’ll likely want to get it because it has a built-in USB port (so you charge another device) and it has a neat nightlight feature. The Smart Clock 2 will start at $90 and it’s expected to be released this coming September.

Price: $90

Dell UltraSharp Webcam

Dell

Dell announced a high-end webcam that can work with either Windows 10 PCs or Macs. The UltraSharp Webcam is a true 4K webcam (a rarity) that connects to your computer via USB-C. You can adjust the resolution and the frame rates of the captured video — it can capture 4K at 30fps or 24 fps, and 1080p video at up to 60fps — and it also has some neat AI tricks to keep you in frame and in focus. The only real downside is that, considering its steep price, it lacks a mic.

Price: $200

LG QNED Mini LED TVs

LG

Early this year LG has announced a new type of TV — called a QNED Mini LED TV — that’s a sort of a middle ground between its OLED TVs and NanoCell LCD TVs. In a nutshell, they use a similar NanoCell and quantum dot technologies as are in LG’s NanoCell LCD TVs, but they also have Mini LED backlighting so they deliver better contrast (even if it’s not quite at the same level as its OLED TVs). This week, LG officially announced the pricing and availability for these QNED Mini LED TVs. A 65-inch model will cost $1,999. A 75-inch model will cost $2,999. And a 86-inch model will cost $3,999. They will be available starting this July.

Price: $1,999 — $3,999

Satechi Stand & Hub for Mac Mini with SSD Enclosure

Satechi

This is Satechi’s new stand-and-hub combo that’s optimized for the M1 Mac mini. It has a hidden enclosure for M.2 SATA SSD storage (which all recent Macs have), meaning you can more affordably add storage (rather than buying an external SSD). The stand-and-hub combo sits flush underneath your M1 Mac mini, connects via a single USB-C connection, and adds a bunch of much-need ports, including a USB-C data port (5Gbps), three USB-A ports (5Gbps), both micro SD and SD card readers, and a headphone jack. It’s available right now.

Price: $100

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