8 best gadgets we reviewed in June

With a slow month in terms of phone releases, we took the time to dig into some recently released tablets, peripherals, and smart home devices in June. We had the pleasure of reviewing high-end soundbars like the Sennheiser Ambeo Max and one of the best robot mowers yet in the Ecovacs Goat GX-600, even if their steep prices put them out of many consumers’ reach.

In the sub-$1,000 range, though, we found some super interesting electronics, including a class-leading Redmi midrange tablet, a versatile Govee smart lamp, and an impossibly small Unihertz smartphone, in addition to some great audio and video equipment.

1 Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE

Part of the first wave of clamshells with Google’s latest Plus certification, the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE pushes the envelope of what a Chrome OS laptop can do. Most notably, its 120Hz screen and advanced Intel CPU (with two performance cores and two efficiency cores) make high-frame rate gaming a reality in a category once mostly limited to cloud-based word processing. Google’s new Game dashboard makes this especially convenient, offering easy key mapping and screen recording and sharing.

The matte, 16-inch display gives you plenty of real estate to work with when you’re not playing, with a 16:10 aspect ratio that’s not ideal for all games but is great for packing content on the screen. A ton of onboard storage, plenty of connectors, and a Full HD webcam combine for added versatility. It’s also priced a little less than comparable Windows machines, despite offering some of the best visuals and performance we’ve seen on a Chromebook.

2 Xiaomi Redmi Pad Pro

One of the few Xiaomi devices to make it stateside, the Redmi Pad Pro embodies the brand’s typical approach to high-performing devices at reasonable prices. There’s a lot to love about this 12-inch slate, including a Dolby Vision-enabled display that competes with tablets twice the price. Battery life’s tough to beat, too, and practically impossible to use up in a single sitting.

While you may not have used Xiaomi’s software before, its HyperOS Android implementation (which the Redmi Pad Pro will see updated through Android 16) sports a streamlined interface and a decently powerful set of tools, including some multitasking-friendly functions that help you take advantage of the relatively large screen. Its only real drawback is the midrange Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chip, but it’s still more than we’d expect for $300, and fares well with everything but the most demanding games.

3 Unihertz Jelly Star

There aren’t any other phones quite like the Unihertz Jelly Star, and there probably never will be. With a form factor resembling a fun-size candy bar, at first glance it seems a lot like a gimmick. But inside, a Helio G99 SoC, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage make for a surprisingly capable phone. And since it doesn’t have many pixels to push, and is a little too small for the most resource-intensive use cases, it performs better than you might expect.

To be clear, it won’t win over people who routinely spend 5+ hours on their phone daily. In fact, it’s particularly great for reducing your personal screen time, if that’s something you’re looking for. The biggest issue for most people (other than the 3-inch screen) is that it’s stuck on Android 13 and only rarely gets security updates. Keep an eye out for the recently teased Unihertz Jelly Max, though, which promises to be the world’s smallest 5G phone, and could bridge the gap between today’s midsize flagships and the truly compact phones of yesteryear.

4 Apple iPad Pro (2024)

Yes, this is Android Police, and you’re probably not reading for news on everybody’s favorite fruit company. But we’d be remiss not to mention Apple’s greatest tablets yet, which sport the kind of processing power Android phones and tablets can only dream of. On top of the impressive M4 silicon, both the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro take advantage of novel tandem OLED technology for enhanced brightness, reduced power draw, and improved resistance to burn-in.

High-performance tablets don’t get much thinner or lighter, either, especially with this kind of battery life. Apple’s accessories are as great as usual, and also as expensive — one of the big overall knocks against these premium devices. The other knock, of course, is that you’ll have to commit to using iPadOS. It’s as useful, streamlined, and full-featured as ever, but it’s just not everybody’s cup of tea.

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  Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (2024)

  $944 $999 Save $55

  The 11-inch 2024 iPad Pro is the best 11-inch tablet yet. This year’s model includes a tandem OLED display for brighter images with drastically improved contrast ratios, the powerful new M4 Apple silicon chip at its core, and a redesigned build that makes it the thinnest Apple device ever made.

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  Apple iPad Pro 13-inch (2024)

  $1200 $1276 Save $76

  The 13-inch iPad Pro is the best tablet yet. It’s the flexible MacBook alternative I’ve been waiting for, built with immense speed, productivity, and enjoyment in mind. It’s perfect if you want a quasi-laptop replacement. Aside from the high price, the iPad Pro 13-inch (2024) is now my new favorite way of working, and I use it more than my MacBook Pro.

5 Sonos Ace headphones

Well known for its line of premium home speakers, Sonos recently took the plunge with a pair of high-end, over-ear headphones, and we’re glad it did. The Ace land right in the top echelon of consumer cans, extending to the limits of human hearing, with no noticeable roll-off on either end, and support for the AAC and AptX HD/Lossless codecs that should cover just about every base.

Aside from simple music listening, the ANC components work nearly as well as those from industry leaders like Sony, including impressively natural ambient passthrough. They work in conjunction with Sonos soundbars, too, passing audio off seamlessly to transition to private listening, which supports excellent Dolby Atmos spatial audio. So what’s the catch? Like many Sonos products, their high price isn’t for everybody, but those who can stomach it will love them.

6 Govee Floor Lamp Pro

Govee’s made strides over the last couple of years to emerge as a leading smart lighting brand that doesn’t typically charge an arm and a leg like some premium brands (i.e., Philips Hue). Its Floor Lamp Pro isn’t exactly cheap, but performs as well as any standing flood light on the market, and a far cry better than most of its competition.

Tons of presets pair with user-friendly customization to provide extensive control over colors, smart home programming, and even dynamic response to ambient sound like music. Speaking of music, there’s a speaker built into the illuminated base, making this the most versatile smart lamp we’ve seen yet. It’s also a little taller than most, at a hair under 5-and-a-half feet, making it well worth the roughly $200 sticker price.

7 TP-Link Tapo C510W outdoor camera

Budget security cameras all too often make big sacrifices to cut costs, but this sub-$50 offering boasts great performance and a relatively complete feature set. As long as you’re able to route a power cable, it provides high-resolution monitoring with local storage and effective smart home integration. Pan/tilt functionality plus IP65 protection and a durable construction make it hard to beat in any weather.

It’s not perfect — rich notifications and cloud features are locked behind a subscription, and the 15fps frame rate could be better — but you won’t find this kind of image quality or usability anywhere else at this price. If you’re looking for a comprehensive, wired outdoor security camera, the C510W doesn’t have much competition right now.

8 Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless Earbuds

Sennheiser is known for premium sound (both pro and consumer); it’s not exactly famous for reasonable prices. So we were pleasantly surprised to find that not only do the Accentum wireless in-ears deliver the kind of fidelity we expect from the iconic brand, but at two-thirds the MSRP of its flagship Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds.

Their audio quality from bass to treble is hard to beat, with punchy, full lows, excellent midrange separation, and crisp, clear highs with no discernable distortion or compression artifacts. ANC performance isn’t quite on-par with top-tier alternatives, but absolutely works good enough to block out most external noise, especially if you’re listening to music. If you demand a premium listening experience but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg, the Accentum wireless earbuds are hard to ignore.

What’s coming in July

We’re looking forward to a handful of interesting phone launches this month, although some of the most promising — the CMF Phone 1, OnePlus Nord 4, Redmi 13 5G, and Honor 200 — almost certainly won’t hit the US market.

More notable for US consumers is July 10’s Samsung Galaxy Unpacked conference, which holds the promise of new Z Fold and Z Flip iterations in addition to new smartwatches, Galaxy Buds, and Samsung’s first smart ring. While we won’t have in-depth reviews right away, we will have some hands-on first looks, as well as extensive coverage of Samsung’s releases and all its new AI ventures, so stay tuned.