I was in a movie theater last December watching Avatar: The Way of Water in 3D, and I said to myself: “Wow, this is an immersive film I’d love to watch in next-gen VR.” That’s exactly what I experienced in Apple’s Vision Pro headset, and yeah, it’s amazing.
On Monday, I tried out the Vision Pro in a series of carefully picked demos during WWDC at Apple’s Cupertino, California, headquarters. I’ve been using cutting-edge VR devices for years, and I found all sorts of augmented reality memories bubbling up in my brain. Apple’s compact — but still not small —headset reminds me of an Apple-designed Meta Quest Pro. The fit of the back strap was comfy yet stretchy, with a dial to adjust the rear fit and a top strap for stability. The headset’s sleek design, and even its glowing front faceplate, also gave me an instant Ready Player One vibe.
Watch this: Apple Vision Pro: I Tried Apple’s AR/VR Headset
05:35
I couldn’t wear my glasses during the demo, though, and neither will you. Apple’s headset does not support glasses, instead relying on Zeiss custom inserts to correct wearers’ vision. Apple did manage, through a setup process, to easily find lenses that fit my vision well enough so that everything seemed crystal clear, which is not an easy task. Also, we adjusted the fit and tuned spatial audio for my head using an iPhone, a system that will be finessed when the headset is released in 2024.
From there, I did my demos seated, mostly, and found myself surprised from the start. The passthrough video camera quality of this headset is good —really, really good. Not as good as my own vision, but good enough that I could see the room well, see people in it with me, see my watch notifications easily on my wrist. The only headset that’s done this previously was the extremely impressive but PC-connected Varjo XR-3, and Apple’s display and cameras feel even better.
Apple’s floating grid of apps appears when I press the top digital crown, which autocenters the home screen to wherever I’m looking. I set up eye tracking, which worked like on many other VR headsets I’ve used: I looked at glowing dots as musical notes played, and got a chime when it all worked.
A list of apps as they would appear inside of the Apple Vision Pro headset.
Apple/Screenshot by CNET
From there, the interface was surprisingly fluid. Looking at icons or interface options slightly enlarges them, or changes how bold they appear. Tapping with my fingers while looking at something opens an app.
I’ve used tons of hand-tracking technology on headsets like the HoloLens 2 and the Meta Quest 2 and Pro, and usually there’s a lot of hand motion required. Here, I could be really lazy. I pinched to open icons even while my hand was resting in my lap, and it worked.
Scrolling involves pinching and pulling with my fingers; again, pretty easy to do. I resized windows by moving my hand to throw a window across the room or pin it closer to me. I opened multiple apps at once, including Safari, Messages and Photos. It was easy enough to scroll around, although sometimes my eye tracking needed a bit of extra concentration to pull off.
Apple’s headset uses eye tracking constantly in its interface, something Meta’s Quest Pro and even the PlayStation VR 2 don’t do. That might be part of the reason for the external battery pack. The emphasis on eye tracking as a major part of the interface felt transformative, in a way I expected might be the case for VR and AR years ago. What I don’t know is how it will feel in longer sessions.
I don’t know how the Vision Pro will work with keyboards and trackpads, since I didn’t get to demo the headset that way. It works with Apple’s Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad, and Macs, but not with iPhone and iPad or Watch touchscreens —not now, at least.
Dialing in reality
I scrolled through some photos in Apple’s preset photo album, plus a few 3D photos and video clips shot with the Vision Pro’s 3D camera. All the images looked really crisp, and a panoramic photo that spread around me looked almost like it was a window on a landscape that extended just beyond the room I was in.
Apple has volumetric 3D landscapes on the Vision Pro that are immersive backgrounds like 3D wallpaper, but looking at one really shows off how nice that Micro OLED display looks. A lake looked like it was rolling up to a rocky shore that ended right where the real coffee table was in front of me.
Raising my hands to my face, I saw how the headset separates my hands from VR, a trick that’s already in Apple’s ARKit. It’s a little rough around the edges but good enough. Similarly, there’s a wild new trick where anyone else in the room can ghost into view if you look at them, a fuzzy halo with their real passthrough video image slowly materializing. It’s meant to help create meaningful contact with people while wearing the headset. I wondered how you could turn that off or tune it to be less present, but it’s a very new idea in mixed reality.
Apple’s digital crown, a small dial borrowed from the Apple Watch, handles reality blend. I could turn the dial to slowly extend the 3D panorama until it surrounded me everywhere, or dial it back so it just emerged a little bit like a 3D window.
Mixed reality in Apple’s headset looks so casually impressive that I almost didn’t appreciate how great it was. Again, I’ve seen mixed reality in VR headsets before (Varjo XR-3, Quest Pro), and I’ve understood its capabilities. Apple’s execution of mixed reality felt much more immersive, rich and effortless on most fronts, with a field of view that felt expansive and rich. I can’t to see more experiences in it.
Cinematic fidelity that wowed me
The cinema demo was what really shocked me, though. I played a 3D clip of Avatar: The Way of Water in-headset, on a screen in various viewing modes including a cinema. Apple’s mixed-reality passthrough can also dim the rest of the world down a bit, in a way similar to how the Magic Leap 2 does with its AR. But the scenes of Way of Water sent little chills through me. It was vivid. This felt like a movie experience. I don’t feel that way in other VR headsets.
Avatar: The Way of Water looked great in the Vision Pro.
20th Century Studios
Apple also demonstrated its Immersive Video format that’s coming as an extension to Apple TV Plus. It’s a 180-degree video format, similar to what I’ve seen before in concept, but with really strong resolution and video quality. A splash demo reel of Alicia Keys singing, Apple Sports events, documentary footage and more reeled off in front of me, a teaser of what’s to come. One-eighty-degree video never appears quite as crisp to me as big-screen film content, but the sports clips I saw made me wonder how good virtual Jets games could be in the future. Things have come a long way.
Would I pay $3,499 for a head-worn cinema? No, but it’s clearly one of this device’s greatest unique strengths. The resolution and brightness of the display were surprising.
Watch this: Apple, Disney Partner on Vision Pro Entertainment
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Convincing avatars (I mean, Personas)
Apple’s Personas are 3D-scanned avatars generated by using the Vision Pro to scan your face, making a version of yourself that shows up in FaceTime chats if you want, or also on the outside of the Vision Pro’s curved OLED display to show whether you’re “present” or in an app. I didn’t see how that outer display worked, but I had a FaceTime with someone in their Persona form, and it was good. Again, it looked surprisingly good.
I’ve chatted with Meta’s ultra-realistic Codec Avatars, which aim for realistic representations of people in VR. Those are stunning, and I’ve also seen Meta’s phone-scanned step-down version in an early form last year, where a talking head spoke to me in VR. Apple’s Persona looked better than Meta’s phone-scanned avatar, although a bit fuzzy around the edges, like a dream. The woman whose Persona was scanned appeared in her own window, not in a full-screen form.
And I wondered how expressive the emotions are with the Vision Pro’s scanning cameras. The Pro has an ability to scan jaw movement similar to the Quest Pro, and the Persona I chatted with was friendly and smiling. How would it look for someone I know, like my mom? Here, it was good enough that I forgot it was a scan.
We demoed a bit of Apple’s Freeform app, where a collaboration window opened up while my Persona friend chatted in another window. 3D objects popped up in the Freeform app, a full home scan. It looked realistic enough.
Dinosaurs in my world
The final demo was an app experience called Encounter Dinosaurs, which reminded me of early VR app demos I had years ago: An experience emphasizing just the immersive “wow” factor of dinosaurs appearing in a 3D window that seemed to open up in the back wall of my demo room. Creatures that looked like carnotauruses slowly walked through the window and into my space.
All my demos were seated except for this one, where I stood up and walked around a bit. This sounds like it wouldn’t be an impressive demo, but again, the quality of the visuals and how they looked in relation to the room’s passthrough video capture was what made it feel so great. As the dinosaur snapped at my hand, it felt pretty real. And so did a butterfly that danced through the room and tried to land on my extended finger.
I smiled. But even more so, I was impressed when I took off the headset. My own everyday vision wasn’t that much sharper than what Apple’s passthrough cameras provided. The gap between the two was closer than I would have expected, and it’s what makes Apple’s take on mixed reality in VR work so well.
Then there’s the battery pack. There’s a corded battery that’s needed to power the headset, instead of a built-in battery like most others have. That meant I had to make sure to grab the battery pack as I started to move around, which is probably a reason why so many of Apple’s demos were seated.
Watch this: Everything Apple Announced at WWDC 2023
11:44
What about fitness and everything else?
Apple didn’t emphasize fitness much at all, a surprise to me. VR is already a great platform for fitness, although no one’s finessed headset design for fitness comfort. Maybe having that battery pack right now will limit movement in active games and experiences. Maybe Apple will announce more plans here later. The only taste I got of health and wellness was a one-minute micro meditation, which was similar to the one on the Apple Watch. It was pretty, and again a great showcase of the display quality, but I want more.
2024 is still a while away, and Apple’s headset is priced way out of range for most people. And I have no idea how functional this current headset would feel if I were doing everyday work. But Apple did show off a display, and an interface, that are far better than I was ready for. If Apple can build on that, and the Vision Pro finds ways of expanding its mixed-reality capabilities, then who knows what else is possible?
This was just my fast-take reaction to a quick set of demos on one day in Cupertino. There are a lot more questions to come, but this first set of demos resonated with me. Apple showed what it can do, and we’re not even at the headset’s launch yet.
It’s hard to beat Apple in terms of reliability and performance, which is why many of the brand’s products consistently end up on our roundups of the best in tech. If you’re currently enrolled in school or are headed off to college in the fall, you may want to snag an Apple iPad or Mac to help get you through your studies during the company’s annual Back to School sale.
Apple rarely offers discounts on its own products, but right now students can score an Apple gift card worth up to $150 with an iPad or Mac purchase as well as 20% off AppleCare Plus on top of the company’s usual education pricing discounts, helping make it a little more affordable for grads moving to the next stage. The promotion even includes the newly-announced 15-inch MacBook Air. It comes equipped with Apple’s M2 chip and starts at $1,199. It’s available for preorder now.
For the budget-conscious, the 13-inch MacBook Air is a solid option as well. It has an M1 chip and starts at $899. You can also opt for the MacBook Pro M2, which starts at $1,199. According to Apple, education pricing is only available for current and newly accepted university students and their parents or teachers and staff.
However, there are other options if you don’t qualify for something from Apple’s Back to School sale. In fact, you can often find even better direct discounts at other retailers. For instance, that M1 MacBook Air deal at Apple for $899 may come with a $150 gift card to spend on future Apple purchases, but you can nab that same laptop for $800 at Best Buy right now. It’s usually worth shopping around and only going for the Apple gift card promo if other retailers don’t have steep dollar discounts available or if you’re eyeing up another Apple purchase in the near future. You can check out our roundup of the best deals on MacBooks and iPads currently available for more options.
Apple’s iOS 17 software update, announced Monday, will add some handy features to Messages that you didn’t know you needed. With iOS 17, you’ll be able to turn pictures into stickers, transcribe voice memos, keep your friends and family notified on your way home, and more.
News about the iOS 17 Messages update came during the keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. Apple traditionally uses the annual event to give developers a preview of updates to its desktop and mobile software, and sometimes it introduces new hardware too. On Monday, the company unveiled its first mixed reality headset, the Vision Pro.
The update to Messages will be part of iOS 17, which will arrive this fall. With the new features, people will be able to take their photos and turn them into stickers they use in text conversations, alongside standard emoji, which can also be used as stickers. People can customize their stickers with effects — like shiny, puffy, comic and outline — and keep them in a new drawer in the keyboard for streamlined access, Apple said in a press release. Stickers will be available systemwide, including in third-party apps.
To make a photo into a sticker, you’ll touch and hold an object in a photo. Then you can style your object with various effects, outline it or create animated Live Stickers with Live Photos. To use the sticker in Messages, you’ll add them in the bubble from the Tapback menu.
Watch this: Apple Reveals iOS 17
16:43
Search in Messages, Check In and more
Also coming is a refined search feature. People will be able to apply additional filters to their Messages search to more quickly find the exact conversation they’re looking for. Plus, when you’ve received lots of texts in a group chat, you’ll be able to use the catch-up arrow to locate where the conversation left off last.
iOS 17 Messages will also transcribe voice memos you receive, if you don’t have the time to listen to them. Apple also announced a new feature that will let you keep track of your friends by viewing their location in your text conversation.
Apple’s Check In feature through iOS 17.
Screenshot by CNET
Another new location sharing feature is Check In. If you want to keep a friend or family member updated on your journey home, for example, you’ll be able to use Check In, which notifies the person of your whereabouts and lets them know if you’re having trouble getting home. “If they are not making progress toward their destination, useful information will be temporarily shared with the selected contact, such as the device’s location, battery level, and cell service status,” Apple said in the press release. Check In will be end-to-end encrypted, so only you and the person you’re sharing this information with is privy to your location.
The iOS 17 updates don’t stop at Messages. Apple also introduced Live Voicemail, which will give people the ability to see the message a person is leaving you as it is being recorded. This could help with deciphering between important calls that unknown numbers leave and spam.
The iOS 17 update for FaceTime includes audio and video messages, so people can leave their friends and families a FaceTime voicemail of sorts.
Also, if people want to share a contact with one another, they can use the new feature NameDrop. By bringing two iPhones or one iPhone and one Apple Watch close together, contact information can be transferred from one device to the next.
With Sling Freestream, you can watch hundreds of live channels for free or dip into its vast library of thousands of on-demand titles whenever you please and at no cost. But, if you want to watch the latest and greatest shows as they air, you’re probably going to have to pay for a premium streaming service.
Since juggling multiple subscriptions and apps can be tricky and can often lead to overpaying for multiple services you may no longer be using, Sling makes it really easy to add or remove additional paid streaming services within your Sling Freestream account.
Sling Freestream offers almost 50 optional premium streaming services including popular choices like Showtime, AMC Plus, Discovery Plus, Starz and more, so there’s something for everyone.
How to subscribe to a premium service within Sling Freestream
First, you’ll have to make sure you’re signed up for a Sling Freestream account. Though you don’t need an account to use the free streaming service, you won’t be able to add premium services without doing so. Our linked guide will show you how. Once you’ve done that, follow the below steps.
2. Click Subscribe or Try Us Today on the service you wish to use.
3.Sign in with your Sling Freestream account details if you aren’t already signed in, or register for a new account.
4. You’ll then be presented with all of the available premium services and their prices (including any current promotions). Click Add under whichever you wish to subscribe to and then continue to checkout.
5. Add your payment details, check your order summary and confirm your subscriptions.
You should gain access to added premium channels or services almost instantly, though you may need to restart the Sling app or refresh your browser window to see them.
Sling makes it just as easy to unsubscribe from premium services, making it an attractive prospect for those that want a way to consolidate their viewing and payments in one place. Simply navigate to the My Account page and edit your subscriptions there.
With hundreds of live channels and a library of TV shows and movies to watch on-demand for free, and no credit card required, you can check out what Sling Freestream has to offer without spending a dime.
After getting blown out in Game 1, the Miami Heat used a fourth-quarter comeback to take Game 2 in Denver to even the NBA Finals at a game apiece. Nikola Jokić scored 41 points for Denver, but Miami held the rest of the Nuggets in check and got out of the Mile High City with a 111-108 win when Jamal Murray missed a three-pointer at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime. The series now shifts to South Beach for the next two games, starting with Game 3 on Wednesday night. Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m. ET (5:30 p.m. PT) on ABC.
Whether you live in the US or are looking to follow the basketball action from around the world, we’ll outline the best live TV streaming services to watch the 2023 NBA Finals live, no matter where you are.
Jimmy Butler led the Miami Heat to a Game 2 victory in Denver to even the NBA Finals.
Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images
Nuggets vs. Heat Game 3: When and where?
The next two games will be played at the Kaseya Center in Miami. Tip-off for Game 3 is set for tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET or 5:30 p.m. PT in the US — that’s 1:30 a.m. BST in the UK, and at 10:30 a.m. AEST in Australia on Thursday, June 8.
What is the schedule for the rest of the NBA Finals?
The schedule for the rest of the NBA Finals is as follows. All games will air in the US on ABC.
• Wednesday, June 7: Nuggets at Heat, 8:30 p.m. ET (Game 3; series is tied 1-1)
• Friday, June 9: Nuggets at Heat, 8:30 p.m. ET (Game 4)
• Monday, June 12: Heat at Nuggets, 8:30 p.m. ET (Game 5)
• Thursday, June 15: Nuggets at Heat, 8:30 p.m. ET (Game 6, if necessary)
• Sunday, June 18: Heat at Nuggets, 8 p.m. ET (Game 7, if necessary)
How to watch the NBA Finals 2023 online from anywhere using a VPN
If you find yourself unable to view the game locally, you may need a different way to watch the game — that’s where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, and it’s also a great idea if you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.
With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. Most VPNs, like our Editors’ Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.
Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you’re streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.
Looking for other options? Be sure to check out some of the other great VPN deals taking place right now.
ExpressVPN is our current best VPN pick for people who want a reliable and safe VPN, and it works on a variety of devices. It’s normally $13 per month, and you can sign up for ExpressVPN and save 49% plus get three months of access for free — the equivalent of $6.67 per month — if you get an annual subscription.
Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Livestream the Nuggets vs. Heat Game 3 in the US
All games for this year’s NBA Finals will be shown live nationally in the US on ABC and ESPN3. Most of the major streaming TV services offer ABC, but it can be a bit complicated.
Sling TV’s Orange plan doesn’t include ABC, but it does include ESPN3, which will also work for streaming the NBA Finals. Sling also offers a Blue plan that has ABC in select markets, but the Orange plan should do the trick and also includes the regular ESPN channel.
Hulu Plus Live TV costs $70 a month and includes ABC. Click the “View all channels in your area” link at the bottom of its welcome page to see which local networks are available where you live.
YouTube TV costs $73 a month and offers all the main channels that broadcast NBA basketball, including ABC. Plug in your ZIP code on its welcome page to see which local networks are available in your area.
DirecTV Stream is expensive. It’s the priciest of the five major live TV streaming services. Its cheapest, $65-a-month Entertainment package includes ABC as well as ESPN and TNT. You can use its channel lookup tool to see which local channels and RSNs are available in your area.
It is worth noting that DirecTV has an additional $15 “advanced receiver service” fee that automatically applies and is extra from the sticker price, which makes the Entertainment package $80 per month.
Each live TV streaming service offers a free trial, allows you to cancel anytime and requires a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live TV streaming services guide.
Livestream Nuggets vs. Heat Game 3 in the UK
For basketball fans in the UK, every 2023 NBA Finals game will be shown live on Sky Sports. This game will be broadcast on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Arena, with tip-off set for 1:30 a.m. BST on Thursday morning. Game 4 will also stream for free on Sky Sports YouTube.
Sky subsidiary Now (formerly Now TV) offers streaming access to Sky Sports channels with a Now Sports membership. You can get a day of access for 12, or sign up to a monthly plan from 25 per month right now.
Livestream Nuggets vs. Heat Game 3 in Canada
Live coverage of NBA postseason games is split between TSN, Sportsnet, RDS and NBA TV in Canada. The third game of the Finals is set to be broadcast on Sportsnet, which means it can be watched via its streaming service Sportsnet Now. Existing TSN or Sportsnet cable subscribers can meanwhile watch at no extra charge using the details of their TV provider.
Sportsnet is broadcasting Games 3, 5 and 7 (if necessary) of the NBA Finals. To stream without a cable provider you will need to sign up for Sportsnet Now, its streaming service, which starts at CA$15 per month for its “standard” option.
TSN Plus has Games 4 and 6 (the latter only if necessary). The service is priced at CA$20 a month or CA$200 per year.
Livestream Nuggets vs. Heat Game 3 in Australia
This year’s NBA Finals can be watched Down Under on ESPN via Foxtel. If you’re not a Fox subscriber, your best option is to sign up for streaming service Kayo Sports.
A Kayo Sports subscription starts at AU$25 a month and lets you stream on one screen, while its Premium tier costs AU$35 a month for simultaneous viewing on up to three devices.
The service gives you access to a wide range of sports including F1, NRL, NFL, F1, NHL and MLB, and there are no lock-in contracts.
Better still, if you’re a new customer, you can take advantage of a one-week Kayo Sports free trial.
Quick tips for streaming the NBA Finals using a VPN
With four variables at play — your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN — your experience and success when streaming NBA Finals games may vary.
If you don’t see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the “search for city or country” option.
If you’re having trouble getting the game after you’ve turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs — like Roku — don’t have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you’ll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you’re using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.
All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network’s sports app, you’ll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help, since both devices will appear to be in the correct location.
And remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you’re using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommend Brave.
“Rerouting” is the last thing you want Siri to tell you when you’re lost in a no-signal zone on the road. Fortunately, with the iOS 17 update, you’ll soon be able to use your iPhone’s Maps app offline, Apple announced at its WWDC event Monday. This long-awaited feature has been available on Google Maps for years and will finally be available for iPhone users later this year.
The iPhone is getting offline maps for its Maps app this year. That means you’ll be able to access any map you’ve downloaded, even if you don’t have Wi-Fi or a cellular signal. For instance, if you’re going on a trip, you can download the route and access it without using cellular data. This is helpful if you’re low on data or if your route takes you through an area with little to no signal that would cause the Maps app to stop navigating correctly, potentially causing you to veer off course.
What can you do with Apple Maps offline?
When iOS 17 becomes available later this year, you’ll be able to download designated areas and access turn-by-turn navigation while using Maps offline. Also, you’ll be able to see your estimated time of arrival and find places in Maps, among other things.
In addition, Maps will make it easier to find thousands of trails in parks across the US. The app will also support drivers of electric vehicles with real-time charging availability information, Apple said.
When will iPhone’s offline maps be available?
Offline maps will be available on iPhone with the launch of iOS 17, which is coming this fall (it usually arrives in late September with the new iPhone). You’ll want to make sure your iPhone is compatible with Apple’s latest software — if not, you won’t have access to this new Apple Maps feature.
As Apple kicked off WWDC 2023 on Monday, all eyes were on the Vision Pro headset. But buried at the bottom of a press release issued by the company the same day was another announcement worth getting excited about (well, I’m excited about it): Third-party virtual private network support is coming to Apple TV.
Once Apple releases its latest TV operating system — TVOS 17 — later this fall, you’ll be able to download third-party VPN apps to your Apple TV. This will allow you to open up a world of streaming opportunities on your Apple TV device and keep your viewing activities hidden from your internet service provider.
A VPN is a piece of software that encrypts your internet traffic and routes your connection through a secure server in a location of your choosing. In doing so, the VPN changes your visible IP address to the address of the VPN server you’re connecting through, making it appear to the sites you visit as though you’re in a different location. This means that you can access geographically restricted content online from streaming services like Netflix simply by connecting VPN servers in different regions around the world. You can even use your VPN to get around blackout restrictions and stream local sports broadcasts.
You can expect the best VPN providers to start rolling out Apple TV VPN apps alongside the release of TVOS 17 this fall.
If you want to upgrade to a premium Apple fitness tracker ahead of the summer months but don’t want to spend $400 on the latest Apple Watch Series 8 or Apple Watch Ultra, you can get in on the Apple Watch ecosystem for less today with a one-day refurb sale on the Apple Watch Series 6 at Woot. With various colors and configurations on sale and prices starting at just $170, you can get a recent Apple Watch model with support for upcoming WatchOS 10 software for less than half the price of the latest model.
Though a couple of years old, the Apple Watch Series 6 still boasts impressive features like an always-on display, water-resistance up to 50 meters and an 18-hour battery life. The Series also offers advanced health features like accurate heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring, ECG capabilities and SpO2 tracking. At today’s price, it’s possibly a better starter smartwatch pick than the Apple Watch SE, which strips out some of the advanced health tracking features in order to come in at a low price.
You can use the Apple Watch to track your workouts and daily activity, see your notifications, take calls on your wrist and customize your watch’s look with different watch faces and bands. It runs the current WatchOS 9 software and will get the just-announced WatchOS 10 software when it releases this fall meaning you’re getting a smartwatch that will be supported into the future.
Note that the Apple Watch deals on offer at Woot will have a little wear and tear, such as minor scratches, dents or dings, but they are in full working condition with batteries guaranteed to function at 85% capacity.
Samsung plans to hold its next Galaxy Unpacked event in its home country for the first time next month, the Korean electronics giant announced late Tuesday.
Samsung’s 27th Unpacked launch event will be held in Seoul in late July, the company said in a statement that indicated it would unveil its next generation of foldable devices. In the past, Samsung has usually chosen to unveil its new lineup of devices in cities such as New York and Barcelona.
Foldable phones have garnered a lot of attention in recent years, but they still haven’t hit the breakout moment when they graduate from being a novelty device. But the space appears to be picking up steam, with Google announcing its first foldable phone, called the Pixel Fold, and Motorola unveiling the new Razr Plus and Razr.
“The foldable category embodies Samsung’s philosophy of delivering breakthrough innovation that pushes boundaries to reshape the future of mobile experiences,” TM Roh, the head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung, said in a statement.
With the release last year of the Galaxy Z Flip 4, Samsung’s current flagship foldable, the company took a step in the right direction in its quest to win over consumers’ interest and wallets, CNET’s Lisa Eadicicco wrote earlier this month.
She praised the device’s fine-tuned the phone’s design, improved nighttime photography and longer battery life. But she still has a wishlist of improvement suggestions she thinks will make Samsung’s foldable more attractive.
Eadicicco suggests the Galaxy Z Flip 5 needs a bigger cover screen and could add more functionality to Flex Mode, which taps into the phone’s ability to bend and fold in different ways.
Samsung didn’t announce a specific date for the event or tease specific products expected to be released, but perhaps a new Galaxy Z Flip will be unveiled that taps these suggestions. You can expect CNET to be on hand for the event with all the details and commentary.
If you’re an iPhone owner, you’re likely excited about all the changes coming with iOS 17. Apple previewed the latest software update at its WWDC event Monday. It’ll be available to download this fall, but not all iPhone users will have access. As with all of the major Apple software updates, several iPhones are getting left behind, including the iPhone X.
If you’re not sure which iPhone you’ve got, a quick check in your settings can show you. Open your Settings app and tap General > About. Next to Model Name, you’ll see which iPhone you have.
What if your iPhone isn’t on the compatibility list?
If your iPhone isn’t listed above, it won’t support iOS 17 and you won’t get a notification to download the newest software. For instance, if you have an iPhone X or older, the latest software you’ll ever be able to use on that phone is iOS 16.
