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$199 Oculus Go VR headset is ready for pre-order on Amazon
We're just hours away from the first keynote speech of Facebook's F8 event where we're expecting to hear about all kinds of things, including its mass-market standalone VR headset. Facebook showed off early standalone VR work with "Project Santa Cruz" two years ago, then last year revealed the Oculus Go and its $199 price. We got some hands-on time with its comfy wireless experience at GDC recently, but now Amazon watchers Wario64 and the Tracker App note that Monday night it became ready for pre-ordering. If you're already sure you want one of the headsets that will bring a VR experience without requiring any help from a PC or phone then you can go ahead and get in line now. The only issue remaining (other than any idea about details or software support) is the release date, which Amazon has filled in with a likely placeholder of December 31st. Update: After debuting at F8 earlier today, the headset is now officially on sale, and you can read our review right here.
Galaxy S9 US pre-orders focus on trade-in deals
Now that Samsung's Galaxy S9 and S9+ are official, American carriers are tripping over themselves to offer launch details ahead of March 2nd pre-orders and the March 16th launch... and trade-in deals are a common theme this time around. T-Mobile, for instance, is promising $360 off the price of the S9 or S9+ if you turn in an eligible phone (typically a high-end Apple, LG or Samsung phone from the past couple of years). Verizon, meanwhile, is offering between $100 to $350 in credit if you hand in a qualifying phone from Apple, Google, HTC, LG, Motorola or Samsung. Comcast's relatively new Xfinity Mobile is getting in on the action as well, with promises of at least $200 and as much as $450.
Amazon's party-ready Echo Buttons are available to pre-order
The holidays are almost here, and that means you may end up playing a lot of party games with visiting friends and relatives. Amazon might spare you from having to break out yet another board game, though: it just put its Echo Button accessory up for pre-order. Pay $20 and you'll get two of the super-simple controllers for Alexa-driven entertainment like Beat the Intro (a name-that-song title) or Fourth Down Football Trivia. They should be released on December 19th, or just soon enough that they could accompany an Echo speaker you're gifting to a special someone.
iPhone X pre-orders are open -- but there's already a wait
Apple reopened the online store this morning at 3 AM (or maybe a minute later) to sell its new iPhone X, and whether or not supply chain rumors are true, it's already becoming tough to get. Within 30 minutes, orders promising to arrive on launch day (November 3rd) have dried up for buyers in the US, with most people now seeing an expected wait of 4-5 weeks. So if you're bypassing the iPhone 8 for this $1,000+ upgrade, let us know -- how did the website or app work for you, and when is your phone scheduled to arrive?
Dell's $350 Windows Mixed Reality 'Visor' is now up for pre-order
Dell is finally ready to show you Microsoft's mixed reality vision. The electronics maker has started taking pre-orders for its $350 Windows Mixed Reality headset called Visor, which it showcased at IFA this year. Visor is one of the fruits of Redmond's partnerships with several manufacturers, including Acer and Asus, in an effort to release AR-and-VR devices much, much more affordable than its $3,000 HoloLens. It boasts 1,440 x 1,440 in resolution per 2.89-inch LCD panel for each eye, a 110 degrees field of view, a 360 panoramic view and a 90Hz refresh rate. The headset also flips upwards for convenient transitions from reality to mixed reality -- just lower it down when you want to use it.
Samsung says Note 8 presales are the best in series history
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is on fire. No, not in the the literal way that the Note 7 was. I should say its sales are on fire because those actual fires don't seem to have curtailed the demand for the Note 8. During the five days after presales for the phone began, the phone racked up 650,000 orders across 40 countries. According to Samsung, which announced the sales stats at a press conference today in South Korea, those preorder numbers are around 2.5 times higher than the Note 7 over the same time period.
Microsoft’s new Surface Pen will set you back $99
Microsoft's new Surface Pen, announced at the same time as a new Surface Pro tablet, is supposed to feel like writing on paper. The company also claims its the "fastest pen ever" on any platform and it has a staggering 4,096 pressure points (up from 1,024), reduced parallax and a new Apple Pencil-like tilt feature that lets you use the side of its writing tip for things like shading. This new stylus is available for pre-order now for $99. Only the platinum color is available for pre-order, so far, but there are also black, cobalt blue and burgundy colors on Microsoft's pre-order page.
Google Home will arrive in Canada on June 26th
Google is finally bringing its Home speaker to Canada. It took a while, but at least the tech titan didn't wait two years like it did with Android Pay, which just recently made its way to the country. If you're in Canada, you can now pre-order the smart speaker from the big G's online store or Best Buy for $179 CAD. Best Buy will throw in a free Chromecast, too, and is slashing $50 off the price of a Philips Hue starter kit if you order it at the same time. The Home comes loaded with Google's voice-activated Assistant, which will arrive in the region knowing both English and French. All you've got to do is start your sentences with "OK, Google" if you want to issue a voice command.
Tesla's Solar Roof is available for pre-order
Tesla didn't quite fulfill its promise to start Solar Roof sales in April, but you thankfully haven't had to wait that much longer to pull the trigger. As of today, you can pre-order Tesla's stealthy solar power cells in textured or smooth variants ahead of the first US installations in the summer (2018 elsewhere). While the price will vary depending on your home, of course, the company estimates that a "typical" buyer will pay about $21.85 per square foot instead of $24.50 for a regular roof. Not that there will be much mystery regardless of what you pay -- Tesla is offering a cost calculator to figure out your real-world expenses.
Microsoft's Surface Laptop arrives on June 15th for $999
If you like the Surface Laptop and its combination of portability with upscale design, you can do something about it very quickly. Microsoft is taking pre-orders for the Surface Laptop today ahead of its release on June 15th. Prices start at a relatively reasonable $999 for a platinum-colored model, although you definitely won't get a monster machine for the money: that base machine includes a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM (really, in 2017?) and a 128GB solid-state drive. You're clearly paying for the 13.5-inch touchscreen more than you are the underlying performance.
ZTE's Axon 7 Mini smartphone is yours for $300
As promised, ZTE is launching the Axon 7 Mini in the US... and it might just hit the sweet spot if you're more interested in price than raw performance. The 5.2-inch Android phone ("mini" is clearly a relative term) is now available for pre-order at just under $300, or a full hundred bucks less than the full-size Axon 7. The first orders should ship around October 27th. To recap, you're still getting the Axon 7's stereo speakers (with Dolby Atmos support), dual SIM slots and an 8-megapixel front camera. The cost-cutting mainly comes through the 1080p screen, a modest Snapdragon 617 processor, a less-crisp 16MP camera, and reductions to both memory (3GB) and storage (32GB) -- it's really a mid-tier phone with some premium perks.
You can now pre-order Oculus Touch controllers for $199
At last week's Oculus Connect, the virtual reality company revealed that its Touch motion controllers would arrive December 6th. You don't have to wait until then to make your purchase though, Oculus is now accepting pre-orders ahead of that date. If you also pre-ordered and purchased a Rift headset from the company's website, using the same email will allow you to jump to the front of the line for the accessories if you commit before October 27th.
Fossil's latest Android Wear smartwatches arrive on August 29th
Fossil revealed a handful of new wearables back in March and a pair of those gadgets are arriving this month. The company announced today that its Q Wander and Q Marshal smartwatches would be available for pre-order August 12th and are due to hit Fossil stores (both retail and online) August 29th. Both models run Android Wear, so they're compatible with both Android and iOS devices. The 45mm timepieces pack touchscreen displays, steel cases, interchangeable bands and magnetic charging. To complete the look you're after, Fossil offers a range of bands that include leather, silicon and stainless steel options.
Samsung's designer Serif TV reaches the US for $1,499
How much do you value design over sheer value for money? You're about to find out. Samsung's Serif TV is now available for US pre-orders through the Museum of Modern Art at a price of $1,499 -- given that this is only a 40-inch set, you're clearly paying for the typography-inspired body more than you are the electronics. Not that you aren't getting some decent hardware. The Serif packs a 4K display with high dynamic range color support, and you're getting perks that include an exclusive remote control, detachable legs and a custom interface with a simple "curtain mode" menu. If you're at all interested in this conversation piece, the biggest obstacle may simply be having to wait until it ships in August.
Last PlayStation VR pre-orders start on June 30th
Did you miss out on the first round of PlayStation VR pre-orders, but remain determined to get Sony's virtual reality headset on launch day? You have one last (official) chance to make it happen. Sony has reiterated that its final wave of American PSVR pre-orders starts on June 30th at 10AM Eastern, when you can snag the PS4 wearable through GameStop's website. The company is promising that stores will have units on release should you miss out, but let's be honest -- if you're an early adopter, you probably don't want to risk going VR-free come October 13th.
PS4 players can get 'Modern Warfare Remastered' a month early
We've known the upcoming Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare title would come bundled with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered for a few weeks now. However, at this week's E3, Sony and Activision clarified just how the availability of the reboot will go down. If you pre-purchase Infinite Warfare bundle that includes Modern Warfare Remastered for PS4, you'll receive that latter game a month before the duo is officially released on November 4th. Those packages range from $80 to $120 and the pre-release of Remastered will only feature the campaign. Those 10 multiplayer maps will remain under wraps until the first week of November.
Elon Musk says this is 'part 1' of the Tesla Model 3 reveal
If you're ready for Tesla's $35,000 electric vehicle and have $1,000 ready to put down, then your day has dawned -- at least in Australia. Elon Musk tweeted a pic of the Model 3 pre-order line down under where it's already March 31st, while the rest of us get ready for the company's LA event tomorrow night at 11:30PM ET. Of course we'll be on hand for what he says is just "part 1 of the Model 3 unveil," with a part 2 scheduled for closer to its production in late 2017. In yet another tweet, Musk promised a follower we will "see the car very clearly, but some important elements will be added and some will evolve." Update: Check out all the details from the Model 3 unveiling (like news that there were 115,000 pre-orders before any had even seen the car) right here.
Pre-order your PlayStation VR core bundle at 10AM ET
Already have the camera and controllers you need to make full use of PlayStation VR? Your moment is at hand: as of 10AM Eastern Time today, March 29th, you can pre-order the PlayStation VR core system ahead of its October launch. Plunk down $400 and you'll get the headset, a demo disc and nothing else. Sony has warned that hardware is likely to sell out quickly, so you'll probably want to move fast if you're bent on trying the PlayStation 4's VR experience as quickly as possible.
Pre-order the first Ubuntu Linux tablet
If you've been talking a lot about using Ubuntu Linux away from your PC -- or using a mobile device as your PC -- you now get to put your money where your mouth is. BQ has started taking pre-orders for both the HD and full HD versions of the Aquarius M10, the first official Ubuntu tablet. Shell out a respective €259 ($289) or €299 ($335) and you'll get a 10-inch slate using Canonical's open source software, which can switch to a desktop PC mode when you attach an external display, keyboard and mouse.
You can now pre-order HTC's Vive VR headset for $799
If you passed on the Oculus Rift because you're dead set on owning HTC's Vive VR headset, your time has now come. The company has just opened pre-orders for the $799 bundle (€899 in Europe and £689 in the UK), which includes the Vive headset, two wand controllers, a couple of room scale movement sensors and three VR titles.
