Google has accidentally leaked its new Nest security cameras and video doorbell line. Setup options appeared in the Google Home app for wired versions of the Nest Cam Indoor (3rd gen), Nest Cam Outdoor (2nd gen), and Nest Doorbell (3rd gen), as reported by Android Authority. The options now appear to have been removed, but an eagle-eyed Redditor also found the new products locked up at Home Depot, ready to go on sale.
Google has already confirmed that it plans to unveil new information about the infusion of its Gemini voice assistant into Google Home on October 1, replacing Google Assistant. That’s likely when we’ll see the new hardware, too. These overdue updates are rumored to include a resolution bump to 2K, a new zoom and crop feature, fresh colors, and a switch to Gemini for Home. There’s also talk of a new subscription option as Nest Aware turns into Google Home Premium, and a new Google Home Premium Advanced plan. Details haven’t been confirmed, so take all of this with a pinch of salt.
As for the design of the new lineup, they look almost identical to the existing range, aside from the colors, which include an eye-catching red. Perhaps in preparation for the new releases, the Nest team recently updated the Home app to provide preview images from the last event before the live view loads, swiping between timeline and events, and better notifications with a static thumbnail expandable to a large animated preview. There was also a raft of performance improvements and some much-needed polish. —Simon Hill
Sony’s Xperia 10 VII Won’t Launch in the US
Courtesy of Sony
Sony stopped selling its flagship Xperia phones in the US last year, and that seems to be continuing with the latest midrange Xperia 10 VII, announced on Friday. It’ll launch in Asia, Europe, and the UK, and it debuts a fresh design language with a horizontal camera bar, much like Google’s Pixel phones (and even the iPhone Air).
It has a 6.1-inch screen, which may sound nice and compact, but it’s slightly bigger than the 6.1-inch iPhone 16. That’s probably because the bezels at the top and bottom of the screen are a little chunky for a modern phone. Still, you get a 120-Hz refresh rate, and some folks will be excited to see the 3.5-mm headphone jack and microSD card slot. It’s powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chip with a 5,000-mAh battery in tow, and no wireless charging.
As for the cameras, Sony has a 50-megapixel main camera paired with a 13-MP ultrawide, and you can use the dedicated shutter button on the side to snap pics. It’ll cost £399 or €449 in the UK and Europe and goes on sale September 19, the same day as the latest iPhone 17 lineup.
Qualcomm Debuts Quick Charge 5+
This week, Qualcomm announced the next evolution of its fast-charging technology, known as Quick Charge 5+. Qualcomm calls it its “fastest and most versatile charging solution,” which can recharge phones from 0 to 50 percent in five minutes. That was true of the original version of Quick Charge 5, though, which is now more than 5 years old. The advances in Quick Charge 5+ revolve around “advanced thermal control” and “intelligent power delivery” to the standard. It’s less about increasing charging speed and more about maintaining that speed sustainably.
For example, Quick Charge 5+ doesn’t just flow all that juice to the device uninhibited; instead, it “dynamically” regulates that power using a “reduced-voltage approach.” This means it can lower the voltage on the fly to prevent overheating while charging, without impacting performance or battery health.
Qualcomm says its fast-charging technology powers over 1 billion devices, but we’ll have to see if Quick Charge 5+ picks up more mainstream adoption in phones and accessories in the US. Qualcomm’s annual Snapdragon Summit is coming up on September 23, and the company says devices announced at the conference will support Quick Charge 5+. —Luke Larsen
Ultraloq Enables NFC Unlock for Android Phones
Courtesy of Ultraloq
Smart-lock brand Ultraloq is adept at adding support for the latest smart-home standards into its devices, from Matter to HomeKit. Now, Android users can share a similar experience to Apple Home Key users with an update to its Bolt NFC smart lock ($200), allowing it to work with NFC-enabled Android devices for a tap-to-unlock feature, much like how you tap to pay. It’s a feature often touted for iPhones, and usually, you can’t switch between ecosystems when a device is compatible with both. The Bolt NFC lock will allow for both Apple and Android devices to wirelessly unlock this smart lock with a tap.
The Android tap-to-unlock feature will work with both the Apple Key version of the lock and the slightly cheaper non-Apple Key version, but only the Apple Key version of the lock will have a true tap-to-unlock experience with no background app or other steps. The cheaper lock will require you to install the company’s U Home app to run in the background. Choosing the Apple Key version of Ultraloq’s Bolt NFC also allows you to use both Apple and Android devices to instantly unlock the door, so you won’t have to choose a single ecosystem if you and your partner each have a different phone of choice. The lock also works with NFC cards and Ultraloq’s key fobs. The free update is available through Ultraloq’s U home app for anyone who already owns the Bolt NFC. —Nena Farrell
Solo Has an Easier-to-Light Smokeless Firepit
Courtesy of Solo Stove
Smokeless firepits are mostly firepits, but with an extra layer of combustion that reduces the resulting smoke considerably. But smokeless firepits still involve, essentially, building a campfire inside a steel canister. The maker of WIRED’s favorite smokeless firepit, the Solo Stove Bonfire 2.0, has launched an innovation this week designed to make this process easier for the intimidated. No tinder needed.
Unlike other firepits on the market, Solo Stove’s new Summit Fire Pit includes a patent-pending “Quick-Strike Cone” on its bottom that looks a little like the cinder cone in a volcanic crater. Drop some logs into the pit around the metallic cone. Then pour some fire-starting gel on the top of the cone, which has ramps to funnel the gel into reservoirs on the firepit’s base. Light the gel, and the gel will light the logs. Theoretically, the goal is to make lighting a firepit about as easy as lighting a can of Sterno.
The napalm-like flow of fire gel in Solo’s marketing video is entrancing, I’ll admit. Solo promises that the Summit will create the “most advanced, most beautiful” flame of any Solo firepit, largely because of more intense flames and shorter firepit walls. This smokeless flame show can be yours for $600, around $50 more than the most similar model of Solo Stove firepit without a cinder cone. —Matthew Korfhage
xMEMS Boosts the Bass
Courtesy of xMEMS
I have been a staunch advocate of xMEMS’ solid-state headphone driver technology ever since I first laid ears on it in a pair of wireless earbuds a few years ago. The drivers don’t act like typical pistons or moving coils in speakers, instead using silicon diaphragms and the piezoelectric effect to provide near lightning-fast response. This means perfect phase and excellent detail in your music, and it also means that the drivers are virtually bulletproof.
The main issue with xMEMS drivers has been that they aren’t great down low. That’s now been solved with a new full-range driver the brand calls the Cypress. Where previous xMEMS-equipped headphones needed a dynamic driver to handle the low end, thus somewhat defeating the purpose of their indestructibility, this new Cypress model offers 40 times the bass response and can go as low as 20 Hz. This brings listeners one step closer to the washing-machine-ready earbuds we’ve always wanted, though no brands have announced a pair using these new drivers yet. Mass production shipments are expected in 2026. —Parker Hall
Nikon Unveils the ZR, a Cinema Camera
Courtesy of Nikon
Nikon announced its first cinema camera this week, the Nikon ZR. It’s aimed at videographers and features some tech from Red, maker of high-end cinema cameras. (Nikon acquired Red last year.) The ZR is not a huge Red camera, though. The body is compact, so much so that it lacks a viewfinder. Instead, the ZR uses a huge 4-inch display that takes up most of the back of the camera. It’s in a movie-friendly 16:10 aspect ratio and supports the P3 color gamut.
Inside, the ZR uses the same 24.5-MP partially stacked sensor we saw in the Nikon Z6 III last year. That means video recording up to 6K at 60 frames per second, but the ZR also offers a new RAW video codec called R3D NE1, based on RED’s popular R3D RAW codec. It’s not the same, but it uses the same Log curve and color gamut, so you can use any LUT file and the results should look the same as what you get from the Red (at least in color terms).
Other nice cinema-friendly features in the ZR include support for 32-bit float audio from built-in and external mics, 7.5 stops of built-in image stabilization (IBIS), which is nice because the ZR can take advantage of the wide Z mount to support all kinds of third-party cinema lenses via adapters. The ZR goes on sale on October 20 for $2,199, which is $500 cheaper than the Z6 III. You can preorder it at Amazon, B&H Photo, or Adorama.
Spotify Finally Goes High Res
It may have taken 8 years of teasing and the arrival of many more features ahead of it, but high-resolution music on Spotify Premium is finally here. Spotify’s VP of Subscriptions acknowledged the long road it’s taken to get here, admitting it had “taken time to build this feature in a way that prioritizes quality, ease of use, and clarity at every step.”
Spotify says that tracks can be streamed at “up to” 24-bit/44.1 kHz, with listeners able to choose between Low, Normal, High, Very High, and now Lossless quality, customizable across Wi-Fi, cellular, and downloads. Listeners will know when lossless is playing as an indicator will appear in the Now Playing view, or bar.
Premium subscribers will be notified when lossless is available to them, with the feature rolling out gradually to more than 50 markets through September and October. Users in the US have already started to get access, but will need to enable it manually on each device they listen with. To do that, tap your profile icon on the top left of the app, go to Settings & Privacy, then Media Quality, and toggle it on. —Verity Burns
