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Best Amazon Prime Day 2018 deals: Fire TV streamers and TVs available now
New Galaxy S10 leak reveals details about the phone's most exciting feature
Roku wants to make your smart TV sound better with its new Wireless Speakers

Best Amazon Prime Day 2018 deals: Fire TV streamers and TVs available now

Posted: 16 Jul 2018 08:34 AM PDT

65-amazon-fire-tv-cube — The Fire TV and Fire TV Stick are available for their lowest prices ever.
Sarah Tew/CNET

Looking for a new TV or streamer this Prime Day? The first home video deals feature Amazon Fire TV devices.

Amazon Prime Day, the online retailer's giant 36-hour sale, officially starts at noon PT (3 p.m. ET) on Monday through Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. PT (Wednesday, 2:59 a.m. ET). But many of the best discounts on Amazon's devices, including Fire TV branded streamers and televisions, are live already as part of the company's early access deals.

Here's the best discounts on streamers and TVs we've seen so far.

Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote ($19.99, $20 off) The best price yet for Amazon's basic streamer, the Fire TV Stick is a solid alternative to Roku, especially for Alexa fans. For Prime members only, it's $10 less than the Roku Express. Read the CNET review of the Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote.

Buy the Amazon Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote for $19.99 (Prime members only)

Fire TV with 4K Ultra HD and Alexa Voice Remote ($34.99, $35 off) Another best-ever price exclusively for Prime members, this Fire TV is the "pendant" design -- a bit bigger than a stick but still easily hidden behind your TV -- that adds 4K HDR capability, perfect for your compatible TV. That price is $30 less than our favorite 4K HDR streamer, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus. Read the CNET review of the Fire TV with 4K Ultra HD.

Buy the Amazon Fire TV with 4K HDR for $34.99 (Prime members only)

Fire TV Cube ($89.99, $30 off) Available for the lowest price in its short lifetime, the Cube combines the 4K HDR Fire TV with an Echo speaker for hands-free Alexa voice control and streaming -- including control of your TV, sound bar and/or AV receiver. There's no Roku equivalent to this bad boy. Read the CNET review of the Fire TV Cube.

Buy the Amazon Fire TV Cube for $89.99 (Prime members only)

TCL 32S305 32-inch Roku TV ($129.99, $70 off) CNET's favorite smart TV system is Roku, and this TCL packs it into a small, bedroom-friendly size for a dirt-cheap price. This is one of the few deals so far that's not just for Prime members. Read the CNET review of the TCL 32S305.

Buy the TCL 32S305 32-inch Roku TV for $129.99

Toshiba 50-inch Amazon Fire TV Edition TV ($289.99, $110 off) Yes this TV probably won't deliver a top-tier picture, but for this price you might be able to overlook that. It's $30 less than the TCL 49S405, which also has 4K HDR compatibility (for what it's worth) and the superior Roku TV operating system, but judging from our review of the similar Element Fire TV Edition set from last year, this Toshiba will appeal even more to Alexa fans.

Buy the Toshiba 50-inch Amazon Fire TV Edition TV for $289.99 (Prime members only)

That's it for now, but we'll update this post if we spot any more great deals on home video gear when Prime Day officially starts later today.

In the meantime, check out deals available now and everything you need to know about Amazon Prime Day 2018.

Prime Day 2018: CNET's complete coverage

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New Galaxy S10 leak reveals details about the phone's most exciting feature

Posted: 16 Jul 2018 06:09 AM PDT

The Galaxy S9 isn’t selling as well as Samsung would have liked, and that’s probably the only reason why we’ve got so many Galaxy S10 rumors at this time of year when the Note 9 should be dominating the Android rumor mill. But, guess what, the Galaxy Note 9 will basically be a Galaxy Note 8 with Galaxy S9+ specs, so it’ll hardly be exciting to most people. Due in either January or February depending on which rumors you favor, the Galaxy S10 should bring a variety of new features, including a fingerprint-sensing technology not seen on any other widely available devices. But that’s just the start for Samsung.

The Galaxy S10 won’t be the only Samsung smartphone to feature in-display fingerprint sensors, well-known Samsung insider Ice Universe says, but it’ll be the first one. In a post on Weibo, he said the Galaxy S10’s sensor wouldn’t be an optical one. Instead, we’re looking at an ultrasonic sensor embedded in the screen that will use ultrasound to read fingerprints.

The Galaxy S10, Galaxy A series phones, and the Galaxy Note 10 are all expected to use this new sensor. The Galaxy S10 will come in three screen sizes, including 5.8-inch, 6.1-inch, and 6.4-inch, although only the bigger models are supposedly going to get the ultrasonic sensors, which are made by Qualcomm.

The leaker continued spilling Samsung details on Twitter, relaying tidbits about Samsung mobile chief DJ Koh’s trip to China.

DJ Koh attaches great importance to the Chinese market and today came to Wuhan, China to listen to the voice of consumers. He said that Note9 SPen will have many new features, including special features related to the game. pic.twitter.com/aTaUWKUl1I

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) July 16, 2018

The top Samsung exec supposedly said that the Galaxy S10 won’t have an optical fingerprint sensor because it doesn’t work as well as an ultrasonic sensor. He added that Samsung could have added optical sensors to displays two years ago but didn’t.

DJ Koh said that the Galaxy S10 does not use an optical fingerprinting solution because optical fingerprinting can cause a bad user experience. Otherwise, Samsung could adopt it two years ago. We will bring a better screen fingerprinting experience for S10.

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) July 16, 2018

We’ve seen a bunch of devices with fingerprint sensors placed under the display this year, and all of them come with optical sensors — here’s how they work. Ultrasonic sensors do offer a significant advantage over optical ones. They should work even if the display is dirty, and the entire screen could act as a giant fingerprint sensor.

Back when we expected the iPhone X to feature a fingerprint sensor under the display, ultrasonic sensors were a theoretical possibility, as Apple has patents on the technology. It looks like Samsung will beat Apple to the punch, however — love it or hate it, Apple is focused on Face ID for the time being.

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Roku wants to make your smart TV sound better with its new Wireless Speakers

Posted: 16 Jul 2018 06:00 AM PDT

Roku has long been known for its set-top boxes and Roku TVs, but now, the entertainment company is introducing the Roku TV Wireless Speakers. They're the Roku's first pair of wireless speakers that will harness the Roku Connect platform that was announced at CES to link up with your Roku-powered smart TV over Wi-Fi.

The goal of the Roku TV Wireless Speakers isn't necessarily to compete with ultra high-end home theater setups but with the built-in speakers on your smart TV that tend to be the default option for most users. If you're the kind of person who obsesses over your sound system, the Roku TV Wireless Speakers probably aren't for you. They're more for the sort of person who wishes their movies and music sounded better without having to rewire their entire living room. They're a more simple and entry-level way of stepping into the wide (and oftentimes, jargon-filled and confusing) world of audio equipment.

I was able to listen to a pre-production demo of the Wireless Speakers compared to the built-in speakers on a TCL Roku TV, and they do what Roku is promising here. The paired speakers offered a fuller, richer stereo sound than the TV speakers. Music had a better range, especially on the low end, and movie clips had more detailed audio than without the extra punch the speakers provided. We'll obviously have to wait for the speakers to come out to see how they sound compared to their competition, but Roku seems to have succeeded in its goal of outperforming the default option.

In line with offering a less complicated entertainment experience, the Roku TV Wireless Speakers are very simple to use. Simply plug in the two speakers, press the "Connect" button on the back, and the speakers will wirelessly connect over Wi-Fi to your existing Roku TV device. There's also a Bluetooth option, if you'd like to use them for playing music from your computer or phone instead.

And while wireless audio may bring concerns of latency, Roku claims to have solved the issue by running its operating system on both the TV and speakers, letting the two devices communicate to each other and keep audio and video in sync at all times. For scenarios where latency is even more important, like gaming, the system can automatically switch over to using the built-in TV speakers. The speakers are part of the product of Roku's acquisition of Danish audio startup Dynastrom for $3.15 million last year, and they leverage that company's experience in wireless audio.

Adding to the experience is the included Roku TV Voice remote and square Roku Touch remote. While the speakers don't feature onboard microphones, the idea is that you'd use the remotes (which only offer push-to-talk functionality and aren't always listening to you in the background like Amazon's Alexa devices) for voice controls. The new Touch remote takes it a step further, with several programmable preset buttons that you can set to store a specific command or playlist.

The Roku TV Wireless Speakers aren't smart speakers in the traditional sense; there's no onboard digital assistant like Siri or Alexa, no option to control other devices in your smart home, and no support for things like trivia queries or weather updates. And while Roku is still working on its own Roku Entertainment Assistant (which will work with Roku TV devices and, by extension, the new speakers), it's still going to be an entertainment-focused voice assistant, not an Alexa replacement.

The Roku TV Wireless Speakers are just the beginning of Roku's audio ambitions, and while the company didn't have any specifics to share, it's easy to imagine future products that leverage Roku Connect at different price points and form factors that allow Roku TV owners to further build out their living room audio setup. If you can add a pair of speakers, why not a subwoofer? Or a soundbar? Or a full 7.1 surround sound system?

The Wireless Speakers will be exclusively available from Roku.com in October, but the company is doing things a little differently with the preorder. In October, the two speakers bundled together with both the Voice remote and Touch remote will cost $199.99. But customers can preorder them today for an introductory, first-week price of $149.99, with a second, longer preorder option starting on July 24th through October 15th that will cost $179.99.

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