Vergecast: Amazon buys Roomba, non-watch wearables, and the best cheap(er) phones

Every Wednesday and Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where our editors make sense of the week’s most important technology news. On Wednesdays, editor-at-large David Pierce leads a selection of The Verge’s expert staffers in an exploration of how gadgets and software affect our lives — and which ones you should bring into your home.

This week, David taps into The Verge’s reviews team to explore where we’re headed with smart home gadgets, wearables, and midrange phones.

At the top of the show, Verge smart home reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy returns to discuss Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot, maker of the ever-popular Roomba robot vacuum. What does Amazon want with Roomba? Jennifer explains.

Later in the show, Verge wearable tech reviewer Victoria Song joins David to explore the fascinating world of non-watch wearables: rings, earbuds, sports bras, and sleep trackers. Afterward, we hear from Whoop CEO Will Ahmed about his approach to wearable technology.

In the final segment, Verge mobile reviewer Allison Johnson and David get together to discuss their ideal version of a midrange smartphone and what the best tradeoffs are for the price.

You can listen to the full show here or in your preferred podcast player. We have lots of ideas about how to do this show, and we’re going to do a lot of experimenting with it, so we hope you’ll tell us what you like and don’t like. Either way, we’ll see you again on Friday!