October has been slower than usual for the tech world, thanks to the usual fall hardware announcements from Google and Microsoft earlier this year. Still, we’ve seen quite a few companies unveil new devices over the past two weeks as Amazon’s October Prime Day continues. While you’re busy shopping or watching Elon Musk talk about robotaxi and cybervans, the Engadget team continues to review recently released products. As always, this bi-weekly recap is here to help you catch up. But since I missed last week’s version (I ran out of time), it’s a bit off track.
From Meta’s Quest 3S VR headset and DJI Air 3S drone to Sony’s mid-range audio gear lineup, this week was all about the “non-flagships” that happened to be less premium and more affordable. And it turns out you don’t have to throw a chunk of your retirement savings at the company to get a solid device worth the money.
Sony LinkBuds Fit and LinkBuds Open and Bose QuietComfort Earbuds Review
Billy Steele
sony
Sony unleashes its mobile audio capabilities with LinkBuds Fit, combining great sound with tons of features.
- Compact and comfortable design
- Surprisingly loud
- Various convenient functions
- ANC performance is lacking
- battery life
- Call quality is good, but not great.
$200 at Sony
The most important thing I learned from Billy’s recent reviews of Sony and Bose headphones is that flagship premium-level noise cancellation is making its way into the midrange offerings. And I’m happy about that. If you decide to save money, most of the features you’ll miss out on are spatial audio, head tracking, and features that make for a more immersive and intuitive listening experience. Personally, I don’t mind missing out on those things for now. I really want decent sound, good voice quality and competent reduction of background noise.
Even if you’re not in the market for headphones, be sure to check out Billy’s review of Sony’s LinkBuds trio of devices. Because he literally went through pains to test out these strangely designed earbuds for us. In fact, the headline rejected in the review was “Why Do I Suffer?” We salute you, Billy.
Devindra Hardawar
meta
The Meta Quest 3S delivers immersive virtual reality for just $300. It’s fast, comfortable, and has a variety of games and VR experiences to choose from.
- fast performance
- comfortable to wear
- excellent controller
- Large app library
- Old Fresnel lenses produce artifacts.
- No headphone jack
- average mixed reality camera
$299 on Amazon
Quest is arguably the best VR headset on the market for consumers. Especially considering that it costs less than alternative options while still providing a relatively high-quality, immersive experience. Unlike the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro, the new Quest 3S is a much more palatable $300. As Devindra confirmed in his review, it’s comfortable, fast, and gives wearers access to Meta’s massive library of VR apps and content. In Devindra’s words, “It’s not Meta’s first $300 VR headset, but it’s still a huge achievement.”
DJI Neo and DJI Air 3S review
steve dent
DJI
DJI’s Air 3S is the company’s first consumer drone with LiDAR, designed to make flying safer at night.
- Excellent image quality
- LiDAR improves obstacle detection at night.
- ActiveTrack 360 creates cinematic tracking footage.
- long battery life
- It now has 42GB of internal storage space.
- Sometimes it may not be able to detect small obstacles.
$1,099 at DJI
Continuing the trend of great products at lower-than-usual prices, the DJI Neo is a great drone that you can buy for just $200. Calling it the best $200 drone ever made might sound like hyperbole, but I can’t really think of another drone for the same price that offers similar performance to the Neo. One of the main cons, according to reviewer Steve, is that it sounds like a banshee, but honestly, I think it’s a pro for me in that it’s pure comedy. I never thought I’d be in the market for a drone that makes banshee sounds, but I figured $200 would be a fair price for the aerial video I could get here, and anyway, I could easily sing an upbeat, operatic song over the footage. .
At the other end of the spectrum, Steve also tested the high-end DJI Air 3S drone and Canon’s EOS R5 II, both of which cost significantly more. The good news is that Canon’s EOS R5 II is now much improved, bettering its competition from Sony while also offering some interesting features like eye-controlled autofocus. Of course, it is still too early to trust. However, if you have the money to purchase these premium products, you will be experiencing cutting-edge technology. Perhaps part of the appeal is that it doesn’t always work.
Dan Cooper
Remarkable / Engadget
reMarkable adds a color screen to your e-paper tablet for the ultimate distraction-free writing experience.
- Color is a welcome and useful addition.
- Backlight allows you to work even in dark environments
- Significantly improved performance
$579 at Remarkable
I know Dan was a little worried about offering a device to a niche that scores as highly as the reMarkable Paper Pro, but after some discussion we both agreed it was a good fit. For now, the reMarkable Paper Pro is arguably the best e-paper writing tablet with a color screen, even after Amazon’s announcement this week of its first color Kindle. According to Dan’s review, Paper Pro not only took things up a notch with the addition of color, but was also much faster and more stable in the process.
In particular, I like how much effort has been made to more seamlessly blend handwriting and typed text for a more natural note-taking and annotating experience. And despite breaking away from this edition’s usual theme of affordable products with premium specs, it’s still tempting to find a way to shell out the $600 or so needed to buy a Paper Pro with the accessories Dan recommends.
Phoenix Springs and Neva reviews
Jessica Condit
I’m not a huge gamer, but I love learning about games from Jess. She recently reviewed the sci-fi mystery Phoenix Springs and the dreamy platformer Neva. The pieces are so beautifully written that I can’t wait to check out each title so I can get a feel for how she works with clarity. Phoenix Springs follows a technology journalist and covers some of my favorite genres (sci-fi and mystery), and the art on the Neva looks absolutely gorgeous. I don’t know if I’ll have time for new games yet, but these two games have definitely been added to my list.
Upcoming Review: On the Horizon
As the Engadget team mulls over a variety of things and begins writing holiday gift guides, we’re thinking about our favorite products for ourselves and our loved ones. Many of us love e-readers and writing tablets. I’m keeping my eye on one of the new Kindles announced this week, especially the new Kindle Scribe and possibly Colorsoft. We’ll keep an eye on reMarkable Paper Pro for now, as it won’t be available until later this year. You might also be wondering what Amazon hardware chief Panos Panay is selling besides cans of Diet Coke. When I got a chance to talk to him in an interview this week, I learned what he (like many others) enjoys drinking.
Many of us are millennials and have a huge weakness for retro games. Editor-in-Chief Aaron Souppouris spoke with the folks at Analogue, and you can read his beautifully composed piece and learn more about the upcoming Analogue 3D.
This week Apple surprised us by announcing a new iPad mini tuned to offer more storage and performance with the A17 Pro processor. Of course, it also supports Apple Intelligence. It may seem like a minor update, but some of my colleagues and I still like the idea of a small tablet. If only the screen was better.
All of the recently announced items are included in our review list, along with the Google TV Streamer and Samsung Galaxy S24 FE that launched in the past few weeks. As we get closer to November and all the holiday shopping that comes with it, hopefully hardware releases will slow down appropriately. We’re still looking forward to the Apple event for Mac, and I still vividly remember being surprised by the announcement of Humane’s AI pins late last year. But now I sometimes find myself feeling nostalgic and longing for simpler times.
