My favorite product releases this week: Govee, Lego, Twelve South and more
This week brings the launch of Twelve South's first folding iPhone stand, a hybrid smart lamp and speaker from Govee and a Lego brick-built Battle Droid.
A new flexible stand built for your iPhone
I've been using one of Twelve South's Curve MacBook stands for years now. So, I was thrilled to see that the company was bringing the same machined aluminum build and flexible features to an accessory designed for your iPhone. The new Curve Nano is its smallest stand yet but sports the same folding functionality that I've grown to love with its laptop counterpart.
The Twelve South Curve Nano features a thin design that connects to your iPhone via MagSafe. It also works with other smartphones that support Qi2 or have a magnetic case attached. That allows it to snap right onto the back of your handset for quickly propping up your device in either vertical or horizontal positions, based on whether you're taking a FaceTime call or just watching videos. The stand offers adjustable viewing angles with a hinged form factor that comes in three colors. The Coastal Blue is an easy highlight, but you'll also find more typical Dune and Slate styles.
You can buy the new iPhone stand for $35 directly from Twelve South or at Amazon.
This multicolored lamp is also a Bluetooth speaker
As an early adopter in the smart home space, Govee has been impressing me with its wide range of smart lights for years. Other CNN Underscored editors share my thoughts about the brand, as Govee has even climbed to the top of quite a few best-tested guides for various smart home accessories.
This week, Govee started shipping its newest standalone smart lamp, the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro, and I had to check it out. The company was kind enough to send one over for me to feast my eyes and ears on, and I've been putting it to the test for the past week. Now you may say, 'Rikka, it's a smart lamp, what do you mean by ears?' Well, Govee is mixing things up by tapping audio company JBL to add speakers to the Table Lamp 2 Pro.
This isn't the first time a company has thought to bundle the two products together, but it might be the best. Harman Kardon previously added ambient lighting to its usual speaker tech with the Aura Studio series, resulting in what I found was a fairly lackluster release following my testing. Govee is amping things up with its Table Lamp 2 Pro, adding more vibrant multicolor lighting and a robust audio system that doesn't feel like an afterthought. It's powered by a 2.5-inch 500cc full-range speaker and comes complemented by a 5,200mAh battery for over four hours of continuous music and lighting.
If I had a nickel for every time one of these lamp and speaker combos has shipped, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. At the very least, Govee is making sure that the second time is, in fact, the charm. After testing this past week, it has earned a spot in my smart home. If you want to pick one up for yourself, the $180 price tag is now live at Amazon and directly from Govee.
A new buildable droid has hit store shelves
Next up on the list, I am checking in with Lego to see what's new. The company tends to save its new releases for the first of every month, and for July, there's a collection of new kits. While you can shop all of those new kits on this landing page, my favorite of the batch shouldn't be a surprise for longtime CNN Underscored readers — it's the newest Star Wars set!
This month, the newest buildable character is being deployed for battle. The new Battle Droid flies onto the scene with a STAP speeder straight out of 'Star Wars: The Phantom Menace' and features a classic tan coat of paint. The model is on the same scale as other buildable droids from a galaxy far, far away, like the K-2SO I covered on May the 4th. It's the latest kit that I am eyeing up for myself and find that its 1,088 included bricks and $140 price tag should earn it a spot in my collection.
Its biggest solar generator to date
DJI makes some of the best photography drones on the market. The one feature that matters most with quadcopters is flight time, and the company has consistently been improving its batteries to support more time in the air. Last year, it brought that same power efficiency to a line of portable power stations, and now the largest electric generator to date has arrived.
The DJI Power 2000 arrives with double the capacity of its predecessor, clocking in with 2,048Wh of portable energy. And no, you're not seeing double with the ports. DJI includes twice as many AC outlets with a grand total of four, as well as four USB-A slots, four USB-C ports and two SDC outlets. Shared between that robust array of I/O is 3,000W of continuous power output, which ensures this heavy-duty portable battery can power anything from a smartphone to a fan, heater, refrigerator and more. And when it does come time to refuel, the power station can be topped up in just 90 minutes when plugged into the grid. You'll also be able to use a car charger or plug-in solar panels for off-grid deployments.
My favorite part about the debut is that it's on sale. DJI has dropped the new Power 2000 down to $1,099 to celebrate its launch, an $800 price cut that makes it far more affordable to adopt the company's latest and greatest.
New accessories draped in gradient hues
My favorite fashion brand has a new collaboration out this week, as the AAPI-owned company, PH5, brings its colorful and wavy designs to Charles & Keith with a new collection of tops, bags and sandals. PH5 has been wowing me for years with its vibrant pieces and is now bringing a few first-of-their-kind products to its wardrobe. The new shirts are exactly what I've come to expect from the brand, but it's the accessories that are particularly catching my eye.
New releases like Mesh Gradient Wave sneakers and Toni Gradient Knotted Tote mark the first times that PH5 has released a pair of shoes or a bag. Each of them comes wrapped in the company's signature design cues and means you can accessorize with those playful designs instead of wearing a shirt or dress that's a little too loud. Everything is now available for purchase from Charles & Keith, with pricing across the collection starting at $56.
This invisible deadbolt works with Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant
This Nuki Smart Lock is a product launch that came out of nowhere for me. I fancy myself as something of a smart home aficionado and try to keep tabs on the latest and greatest releases in the space. Even so, this new smart lock seemingly just popped into existence. As for why I am so excited, Nuki is the latest company to hide smart security features in a design that hardly stands out from a traditional lock. Aside from a glowing LED ring on the knob, this looks like any other old piece of front door hardware.
Up until now, the company Level has made my personal favorite smart lock with its invisible Bolt offering. But with Nuki's new model clocking in at a far more affordable $159 price tag, I'm enticed to try this one out for myself; as long as I can convince my current landlord to let me swap the hardware. The actual smart tech on this new release is also better than my current frontrunner. It works with the smart home platform Matter thanks to a built-in Thread radio, which makes that it will connect with all the popular smart home systems like Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Google Home and more.
As deals editors at CNN Underscored, we are some of the first people to hear about the latest product news from reader-favorite brands. Our deals team — comprised of senior editor Rikka Altland, editor Jacqueline Saguin and associate editor Elena Matarazzo — is passionate about product launches that we would be tempted to shop, and we enjoy finding a coveted new item (especially one from a brand with top marks from our experts) because it means we're helping our readers make savvy buying decisions.
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