Category: Technologies

The Lenovo Yoga 7i 16 serves up ample screen real estate and two-in-one versatility along with strong performance and a lengthy runtime — and does so for a reasonable price of $1,000. Lenovo’s largest convertible features a roomy 16-inch, 16:10 display that makes it a good fit as a home or work laptop where you aren’t connected to an external monitor. And despite its large display, the Yoga 7i 16 offers outstanding battery life.

As a tablet, however, this 16-inch, 4.5-pound feels a bit unwieldy in your hands and is best used on a lap or desk. If you are in search of a 16-inch two-in-one and envision a near 50/50 split between laptop and tablet modes, I’d steer you toward the LG Gram 16 2-in-1 because it offers a big display and long battery life in a package that’s more than a pound lighter than the Yoga 7i 16. Our Yoga 7i 16 test model is more affordable than a comparable LG Gram 16 2-in-1 configuration, however. This Lenovo’s component lineup is strong for the price, but the real value of the Yoga 7i 16 is its large display and long battery life. It’s a good pick for convertible shoppers who will use the system more as a laptop than a tablet.

LenovoYoga 7i 82YN-16IRL8

Price as reviewed	$1,000
Display size/resolution	16-inch, WUXGA 1,920 x 1,200 16:10 aspect ratio, 60Hz refresh rate, 300nits,
CPU	1.7GHz Intel Core i7-1355U
Memory	16GB DDR5 5,200MHz RAM
Graphics	128MB Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Storage	NVMe Intel 512GB SSD
Networking	Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) (Dual band) 2*2 + Bluetooth 5.1
Operating system	Microsoft Windows Home 22H2

The Yoga 7i 16 line starts at $885 (regularly discounted to less than $800 at Lenovo) for a model with a Core i5-1335U CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a 16-inch touch display with a 1,920×1,200-pixel resolution and 300-nit brightness rating. Our $1,000 test system is available at Best Buy and bumps you up to a Core i7-1355U CPU and 16GB of RAM while supplying the same display. A display upgrade to a 2.5K-resolution (2,560×1,600), 400-nit panel is available on models starting at $1,140 (but, again, currently discounted to $885). We would strongly urge you to opt for the higher-resolution display. The Yoga 7i 16 starts at 759 in the UK. Pricing isn’t available yet in Australia, where the Yoga 7i 16 is listed as available soon.

The Yoga 7i 16 supplies a 13th-gen Core i7 CPU and 16GB of RAM; many models at this price make you squeak by with a Core i5 chip and 8GB of RAM. The system’s efficient 13th-gen Core i7 U-series processor sits in the sweet spot of providing great application performance while also delivering impressive battery life. Compared with similarly sized laptops and convertibles, the Yoga 7i 16 finished at or near the top of every test. It was particularly strong on our PCMark 10 and Geekbench 5 tests, indicating a well-rounded machine ready to tackle office tasks and engage in multitasking without a hiccup. Most impressive was its showing on our battery life test, where it lasted for 13 hours, 40 minutes. That’s an outstanding runtime for any Windows laptop and particularly so for a system with a 16-inch display.

Thin yet sturdy

There’s nothing particularly interesting to the look of the Yoga 7i 16. Like so many other laptops these days, it features a rather dull, dark gray chassis Lenovo calls Storm Grey. But for the price, it’s a solid enclosure. For one, it’s an all-aluminum case at a price where many models slap a metal lid behind the display and hope you don’t notice the plastic keyboard deck. It feels rigid, with only a hint of flex in the lid and keyboard deck. For another, it has passed MIL-STD 810H tests, which means it offers military-grade protection against drops, vibration, shock, dust, altitude and extreme temperatures.

The military ruggedness doesn’t come at the expense of portability. The Yoga 7i 16 features thin display bezels and measures a trim 14.3 by 9.8 by 0.7 inches. It’s quite thin for a 16-inch laptop, particularly a two-in-one since touchscreens require extra display layers. While it’s thin for a 16-inch laptop, it’s of average heft, weighing in at 4.5 pounds (the extra display layers also add to the weight). That’s the same weight as the HP Spectre x360 16 and an ounce or two lighter than the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus laptop. The LG Gram 16 2-in-1 is the exception to the rule among 16-inch models; it weighs a scant 3.3 pounds.

I’d describe both the keyboard and touchpad as below average. The keys offer shallow travel and yet feel a bit soft and loose. I prefer a snappier, firmer feel. You do get a number pad, an item for which most 16-inch laptops find room. And the keyboard offers two-level backlighting, which is always helpful when typing in a dark room or red-eye flight. The touchpad is generously proportioned and has a matte finish for smooth gliding, but its click response offers a bit too much travel and feels clacky.

The best part of the display is its size. The 16-inch panel with a tall 16:10 provides ample space on which to work or play. If you are going to lug around a 4.5-pound laptop, at least make it one with such a display. The 1,920×1,200-pixel resolution suffices for watching shows and movies, but if you’re planning on using the Yoga 7i 16 for school or work and will be spending long stretches reading on its screen, then I’d encourage you to choose a model with the upgraded 2.5K (2,560 x 1,600 pixels) panel. Text looks fuzzy when seated close up on the 1,920×1,200 display and lacks the inky black sharpness you get from a finer resolution. The display upgrade is also rated for 400 nits of brightness, which is appreciably more than the 300-nit rating of our test system.

The webcam checks off all three boxes we like to see checked: 1,080p resolution [check]; IR capability for using facial recognition for easy, secure logins [check]; and a physical shutter to cover the lens to protect your privacy when it’s not in use [check]. The camera’s images looked crisp and well-balanced, with only a fraction of the graininess that besets that of 720p webcams.

The Yoga 7i 16 features a basic pair of integrated stereo speakers, and they produce average laptop audio. Many larger laptops squeeze in four speakers for fuller sound, but you get only two here. You might not mind them for watching shows and movies, but music playback is less than enjoyable with the distinct lack of a bass response.

The port selection is solid, with a pair of USB Type-C ports and a pair of USB-Type A ports in addition to an HDMI out. Both USB-C connections support Thunderbolt 4, and you also get a microSD card slot.

Budget two-in-one shoppers will find much to like in the Yoga 7i 16, from its sturdy, all-metal chassis and roomy display to its peppy performance and long-lasting battery. We suggest choosing a model with a higher-resolution display, however, since it’s a small price to pay for crisp text. We’d also recommend the impressively lightweight LG Gram 16 2-in-1 for anyone looking for a big-screen convertible. It’s a little more money, but you get a better display and battery life that’s just under 13 hours.

Geekbench 5 (multicore)

LenovoYoga 7i 82YN-16IRL8 8809LG Gram 16 2-in-1 8765Asus VivoBook 16X OLED 7984Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 7202HP Laptop 17 5880

Cinebench R23 (multicore)

Asus VivoBook 16X OLED 12385LenovoYoga 7i 82YN-16IRL8 9476Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 8181LG Gram 16 2-in-1 8137HP Laptop 17 7098

3DMark Wild Life Extreme

LG Gram 16 2-in-1 3853LenovoYoga 7i 82YN-16IRL8 3736Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 2543Asus VivoBook 16X OLED 2133HP Laptop 17 1720

PCMark 10 Pro

LenovoYoga 7i 82YN-16IRL8 5988HP Laptop 17 5781LG Gram 16 2-in-1 5383Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 5331Asus VivoBook 16X OLED 5282

Online streaming battery drain test

LenovoYoga 7i 82YN-16IRL8 820LG Gram 16 2-in-1 767Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1 697HP Laptop 17 530Asus VivoBook 16X OLED 454

System Configurations

LenovoYoga 7i 82YN-16IRL8	Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-1355U; 16GB DDR5 5,200MHz RAM; 128MB Intel Iris Xe Graphics; 512GB SSD
Asus VivoBook 16X OLED F1603ZA-DS74	Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-12700H; 16GB DDR4 3,200MHz RAM; 128MB Intel Iris Xe Graphics; 512GB SSD
Dell Inspiron 16 2-in-1	Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 1.3GHz Intel Core i5-1235U; 8GB DDR4 3,200MHz RAM; 128MB Intel Iris Xe Graphics; 512GB SSD
HP Laptop 17	Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.3GHz AMD Ryzen 5 5625U; 8GB DDR4 3,200MHz RAM; 512MB AMD Radeon Graphics; 256GB SSD
LG Gram 16 2-in-1	Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.1GHz Intel Core i7-1260P; 16GB LPDDR5 5,200MHz; 128MB Intel Iris Xe Graphics; 512GB SSD

It’s now going to cost you even more to get the Nakamichi Dragon 11.4.6 home theater system. The company announced on Monday that it’s raising its already sky-high prices by $400 due to an increase in manufacturing and packaging costs. It will still offer 1,000 units at the original $3,499 price, with preorders opening on Aug. 3 at 12 p.m. ET (9 a.m. PT).

Each Dragon unit consists of over 700 components and requires a 110-step assembly process that’s done entirely by hand, the company said. The completed system weighs 140 pounds and is packaged with enough protection to withstand a 12-foot drop test, according to Nakamichi. The lengthy post-assembly inspection process, coupled with shipping adjustments made to minimize the risk of crushing the product, led to the price increase.

“We understand that price adjustments can be a sensitive matter,” the company said on its website. “Rest assured that this decision was made after careful consideration and analysis of producing 500 Dragon systems.”

The Nakamichi Dragon, which was announced at CES in January, is set to be the company’s flagship home theater system. The plug-and-play unit features 14 speaker drivers powered by seven digital amplifiers that are embedded into a stainless steel casing. It comes with two 8-inch wireless quad subwoofers and omnimotion wireless surrounds, which integrate multiple channels together for multidirectional sound.

An iPhone 14 has helped save someone’s life again, thanks to Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite feature and crash detection technology.

A man who drove off a cliff in Los Angeles and landed 400 feet below was reached by search and rescue on Friday after his iPhone sent automatic SOS alerts, Apple said.

“At 10:51pm on Fri we were alerted to a car 400′ over a cliff by the driver’s iPhone 14 crash detection. Location was Mt Wilson Rd. After locating him we guided in an @LACoFireAirOps copter. Suffered head trauma,” Mike Leum, search and rescue first responder, tweeted over the weekend with footage of the rescue.

Leum said the driver would have died if his iPhone 14 hadn’t sent alerts to emergency services.

The Emergency SOS via satellite feature arrived for the iPhone 14 in November last year, and allows you to contact emergency services and share your location even when you’re out of cell service range. The service is free for iPhone 14 users for the next two years.

Crash detection is available on the iPhone 14 and the Apple Watch 8, and uses the axis gyroscope and high G-force accelerometer, as well as your GPS and microphone, to detect an impact (though it has reportedly mistaken rollercoaster rides for car accidents). It then automatically connects you with emergency services, passing along your location info, as well as notifying your emergency contacts.

It’s not the first time the iPhone 14 has been used to help rescue someone — Emergency SOS helped locate a stranded man in Alaska and alerted first responders to a highway crash in California in December.

Here’s how to use the iPhone 14’s Emergency SOS via satellite to contact 911 if the worst should happen.

Tech giants have made “voluntary commitments” with the White House that they’ll help reduce the risks involved in artificial intelligence.

US President Joe Biden met with Microsoft, Meta, Google, OpenAI, Amazon, Anthropic and Inflection on Friday, where they agreed to emphasize “safety, security and trust” when developing AI technologies. Here are some details in each of those categories:

• Safety: The companies agreed to “testing the safety and capabilities of their AI systems, subjecting them to external testing, assessing their potential biological, cybersecurity, and societal risks and making the results of those assessments public.”
• Security: The companies also said they will safeguard their AI products “against cyber and insider threats” and share “best practices and standards to prevent misuse, reduce risks to society, and protect national security.”
• Trust: One of the biggest agreements secured was for these companies to make it easy for people to tell whether images are original, altered or generated by AI. They will also ensure that AI doesn’t promote discrimination or bias, they will protect children from harm, and will use AI to solve challenges like climate change and cancer.

The arrival of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 was the beginning of a stampede of major tech companies releasing generative AI tools to the masses. OpenAI’s GPT-4 launched in mid-March. It’s the latest version of the large language model that powers the ChatGPT AI chatbot, which among other things is advanced enough to pass the bar exam. Chatbots, however, are prone to spitting out incorrect answers and sometimes sources that don’t exist. As adoption of these tools has exploded, their potential problems have gained renewed attention — including spreading misinformation and deepening bias and inequality.

What the AI companies are saying and doing

Meta said it welcomed the White House agreement. Earlier this week, the company launched the second generation of its AI large language model, Llama 2, making it free and open source.

“As we develop new AI models, tech companies should be transparent about how their systems work and collaborate closely across industry, government, academia and civil society,” said Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs.

The White House agreement will “create a foundation to help ensure the promise of AI stays ahead of its risks,” Brad Smith, Microsoft vice chair and president, said in a blog post.

Microsoft is a partner on Meta’s Llama 2. It also launched AI-powered Bing search earlier this year that makes use of ChatGPT and is bringing more and more AI tools to Microsoft 365 and its Edge browser.

The agreement with the White House is part of OpenAI’s “ongoing collaboration with governments, civil society organizations and others around the world to advance AI governance,” said Anna Makanju, OpenAI vice president of global affairs. “Policymakers around the world are considering new laws for highly capable AI systems. Today’s commitments contribute specific and concrete practices to that ongoing discussion.”

Amazon is in support of the voluntary commitments “as one of the world’s leading developers and deployers of AI tools and services,” Tim Doyle, Amazon spokesperson, told CNET in an emailed statement. “We are dedicated to driving innovation on behalf of our customers while also establishing and implementing the necessary safeguards to protect consumers and customers.”

Amazon has leaned into AI for its podcasts and music and on Amazon Web Services.

Anthropic said in an emailed statement that all AI companies “need to join in a race for AI safety.” The company said it will announce its plans in the coming weeks on “cybersecurity, red teaming and responsible scaling.”

“There’s a huge amount of safety work ahead. So far AI safety has been stuck in the space of ideas and meetings,” Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder and CEO of Inflection AI, wrote in a blog post Friday. “The amount of tangible progress versus hype and panic has been insufficient. At Inflection we find this both concerning and frustrating. That’s why safety is at the heart of our mission.”

What else?

“Today is a milestone in bringing the industry together to ensure that AI helps everyone,” said Kent Walker, Google’s President of Global Affairs, in a blog post later Friday. “These commitments will support efforts by the G7, the OECD, and national governments to maximize AI’s benefits and minimize its risks.”

Google, which launched a chatbot called Bard in March, previously said it would watermark AI content. The company’s AI model Gemini will identify text, images and footage that have been generated by AI. It will check the metadata integrated in content to let you know what’s unaltered and what’s been created by AI.

Image software company Adobe is similarly ensuring it’s tagging AI-generated images from its Firefly AI tools with metadata indicating they’ve been created by an AI system.

Elon Musk’s new AI company xAI wasn’t part of the discussion Friday, and Apple also appeared to be absent amid reports it has created its own chatbot and large language model framework.

You can read the entire voluntary agreement between the companies and the White House here. It follows more than 1,000 people in tech, including Musk, signing an open letter in March urging labs to take at least a six-month pause in AI development due to “profound risks” to society from increasingly capable AI engines. In June, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, along with other scientists and notable figures, also signed a statement warning of the risks of AI. And Microsoft in May released a 40-page report saying AI regulation is needed to stay ahead of potential risks and bad actors.

The Biden-Harris administration is also developing an executive order and seeking bipartisan legislation “to keep Americans safe” from AI. The US Office of Management and Budget is additionally slated to release guidelines for any federal agencies that are procuring or using AI systems.

See also: ChatGPT vs. Bing vs. Google Bard: Which AI Is the Most Helpful?

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to help create some stories. For more, see this post.

Samsung’s next Unpacked event is just days away on July 26. That means we might see a new foldable phone — or two — from the company. Rumors indicate Samsung’s next foldable, expected to be called the Galaxy Z Fold 5, will be a minor update to the Galaxy Z Fold 4. The potential announcement comes on the heels of Google introducing its first foldable phone, the Pixel Fold, in June. The Pixel Fold’s form-factor and price position it as Samsung’s largest rival to the Galaxy Z Fold 4.
Among the biggest changes expected to the Galaxy Fold 5 is a redesigned hinge that should reduce the device’s thickness. But, of course, we won’t know for certain until Samsung makes an announcement. Rumors also point to routine changes like a thinner build suggest Samsung is still fine-tuning the Galaxy Z Fold’s design.
Each year, Samsung has implemented modest but useful changes to the Z Fold’s physique that make it more palatable. With the Galaxy Z Fold 4, for example, Samsung increased the cover display’s width, a small change that makes it feel a bit more like a regular phone when closed. But the Z Fold 4 is still notably girthy when folded compared to a standard phone, showing there’s still work to be done.

Read more: Preorder/reserve new Galaxy phones now

Here’s what we know about the Galaxy Z Fold 5 so far based on rumors and historical Samsung product launches.

Galaxy Z Fold 5 release date

Samsung’s next Unpacked event will be held on July 26, which means we can expect new products to arrive shortly thereafter. Samsung typically releases new foldable phones in the August time frame, while it typically announces new Galaxy S phones around February.

The Galaxy Z Fold 4, for example, was announced on Aug. 10 and went on sale Aug. 26. Before that, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 hit store shelves on Aug. 27 in 2021. With that in mind, it seems likely that the July event will focus on the Z Fold and Z Flip.

Reportedly leaked Samsung marketing images that surfaced on Twitter and were first published by well-known leaker Evan Blass also suggested that foldables will be announced at the event. However, that leak didn’t show the Z Fold 5 specifically.

Galaxy Z Fold 5 price

Samsung’s tablet-style foldable doesn’t come cheap. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 starts at $1,800 without a trade-in. That’s certainly cheaper than Samsung’s original Galaxy Fold, but it’s still considerably more expensive than your average phone. It’s also the same price as Google’s recently announced Pixel Fold.

We haven’t heard much about the Galaxy Z Fold 5’s price when it comes to leaks and rumors. But TM Roh, president and head of Samsung’s mobile experience division, acknowledged when speaking with CNET last August that pricing is a challenge.

“It’s definitely a challenge that we are tackling, and we will need to tackle,” he said.

Galaxy Z Fold 5 design

If the rumors turn out to be true, Samsung may make some design refinements to the Galaxy Z Fold 5. Korean news outlets The Elec and ET News, as well as prolific leaker Ice Universe, have reported that Samsung will implement a new water drop-shaped hinge for the Galaxy Z Fold 5. This could result in a less noticeable crease and a slimmer profile when closed, similar to the Oppo Find N, which has this hinge style. The biggest benefit would be that the phone folds completely shut with no gaps, making it feel more sleek when being used as a normal phone.

That would be a much-appreciated improvement, considering one of the Galaxy Z Fold 4’s biggest drawbacks is that it still feels chunky when folded. Competitors like Oppo and Huawei have also done a better job at hiding the crease, as my colleagues Sareena Dayaram and Eli Blumenthal have written, so this new hinge could help Samsung catch up.

Galaxy Z Fold 5 S Pen

Samsung’s book-style foldable has supported the S Pen since the Galaxy Z Fold 3, so it seems likely that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 will as well. The question, however, is whether you’ll be able to store it within the device as you can with the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

ET News reported that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 will not include a storage slot for the S Pen. There’s less room for S Pen storage since the hinge structure has changed, the report said citing a person close to the issue.

However, a previous report from The Elec said Samsung cited adding a designated slot for the S Pen as a challenge that it believes needs to be overcome to further popularize foldable phones. This suggested that Samsung was indeed considering adding an S Pen holster to its next foldable.

Embedding the S Pen in the Galaxy Z Fold 5 could make it more useful as a productivity device, further defining who that product is truly for. But doing so while reducing the device’s thickness is certainly a challenge. One solution could be to create a magnetic mechanism for attaching the pen to the Z Fold 5, similar to the way the Apple Pencil attaches to the iPad.

Galaxy Z Fold 5 storage and other specs

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 will likely have some specifications in common with the Galaxy S23 lineup. The phone may be available in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB storage options, just like the Galaxy S23 Ultra, according to Sam Mobile.

It’ll also likely run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, according to The Elec, just like the Galaxy S23 family. Samsung optimized the version of the chip that’s inside its latest flagship phones, so it’s possible it will do the same for its next foldables.

We haven’t heard many rumors about the camera yet, but The Elec reports it could have a 12-megapixel selfie camera and a triple-lens rear camera with a 50-megapixel main camera. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 also has a 50-megapixel main camera, so it sounds like we won’t be seeing too much of an upgrade there. But if it does have the new Samsung-optimized edition of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, we may see some of the behind-the-scenes improvements to image processing that arrived on the Galaxy S23.

The 12-megapixel front camera would also represent an upgrade from the 10-megapixel selfie camera on Galaxy Z Fold 4’s cover screen, provided that The Elec’s information is correct.

Overall, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 seems like it could be a modest improvement over the Galaxy Z Fold 4. But if the rumors turn out to be true, it’ll represent another step toward addressing some of the aesthetic compromises that come with foldable phones, like screen creases and thick designs when shut.

Looking for more Samsung discounts? CNET has the current best Samsung coupons and promo code offers, updated and verified daily.

The range of Bluetooth speakers out there is wide and diverse — and that’s not only in terms of sound but also in the varieties of shapes and sizes. Which speaker style is best for you all depends on your needs and listening habits. For a speaker that’s travel friendly with a portable design, you’re going to want to invest in one of the top mini Bluetooth speakers, while those looking for a big sound from a speaker that packs a punch may find that a larger Bluetooth boom box or party speaker is the way to go.

The speakers on this list all have rechargeable batteries and are considered portable speakers, though you may get a workout lugging some of these around. They weigh a minimum of 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms), and some weigh a lot more than that. All feature a built-in strap or handle that makes them easier to lug around. And they all have excellent battery life if you keep the volume at moderate levels, but if you really crank things up, you’re looking at much-reduced battery life numbers.

Most are ready to go for whatever event you have in mind. From camping trips to beach parties, they’re all fairly rugged. Most offer a good degree of water resistance and a few are fully waterproof and dust proof. I’ve personally listened to all of these (or, in the case of the Soundcore Trance Go, I’ve listened to its nearly identical sibling speaker). So to find the best Bluetooth boombox for your get-togethers, read on.

Read more: Best Bluetooth Wireless Speaker for 2023

More audio recommendations

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• Best Sonos Speakers Starting at $100

• Best Wi-Fi Speakers and Music Systems
• Best Soundbars for 2023
• Best Turntables Under $300 for 2023: Audio Technica, Pro-ject, Fluance and More

• Best Headphones for 2023

• Best-Sounding Wireless Earbuds: Sony, Sennheiser and More Compared

• Best Bluetooth Wireless Speakers for 2023

July is another big month for PlayStation Plus subscribers. A little bit of everything is coming this month, including two retro games that are the inspiration for a new TV series.

Twisted Metal is the vehicular combat franchise that originated on the original PlayStation and is now a TV series coming to Peacock on Thursday. Just in time for the show’s debut, Twisted Metal and Twisted Metal 2 are now available on PS Plus on the Premium tier. Award-winning co-op game It Takes Two and indie RPG darling Undertale are also available on the service this month.

Read more: Best Game Subscription Services

Here are some notable PlayStation Plus inclusions so far:

• Horizon: Forbidden West
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

• Resident Evil 7
• Dishonored 2
• Watch Dogs: Legion
• Tekken 7
• Stray

• Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX

• Deathloop

• Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and FFVII Intergrade

• Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut
• Untitled Goose Game
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
• Death Stranding: Director’s Cut
• Returnal

• Inscryption
• Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (and now Black Flag and several others)
• Spider-Man: Miles Morales
• God of War (2018)
• Far Cry 6

There are some notable games on that list, but it also lacks the blockbuster Day 1 vibe of Xbox Game Pass, which has big debuts like Halo Infinite and the upcoming Starfield. Extra costs $15 a month, $40 for three months or $100 for a year. (In the UK it’s 11, 32 or 84, respectively, and in Australia it’s AU$19, AU$55 or AU$135.)

The more expensive Premium tier ($18 or 13.49 a month) also includes download and streaming access to about 500 older games, mostly from pre-PS4 consoles, most of which will run at 60 frames per second. It also includes access to game demos. You can try games like Horizon: Forbidden West, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and Hot Wheels Unleashed. (Note: In Australia the Premium tier is called Deluxe and costs AU$22 a month.)

One of the better aspects of the new PS Plus is there are plenty of cult and indie favorites in the Extra/Premium tier.

Here are some older or lesser-known picks so far:

• Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories
• XCOM 2
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker
• Pillars of Eternity II
• South Park: The Stick of Truth
• Tetris Effect
• Outer Wilds

I’ll update this list as more games are added, and as my colleagues remind me of top-tier classics I’ve missed.

Read more: PlayStation Plus vs. PlayStation Now

There are plenty of great wireless headphones out there, which can make the process of shopping for a new pair a little overwhelming, especially if you don’t know where to start. With such a wide variety of different brands and models to choose from, trying to find the best wireless headphones or earbuds can feel like you’re hunting a needle in a haystack.

In all honesty, there’s no single best pair out of headphones out there, because a lot of that is subjective, based on your individual needs. But that doesn’t mean some headphones aren’t better than others. To help you narrow the field and find the best wireless headphones for your needs, I’ve rounded up some of the top of the crop right now. Whether you’re looking for premium over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones or some rugged true-wireless earbuds, I’ve got you covered with some solid options for just about any budget.

I’ve tested all the models on this list and have fully reviewed several of them. If you’re looking for more-refined headphones and earbuds best lists, you can also check out our roundups of best wireless earbuds, best noise-canceling headphones, best workout earbuds and headphones and best open wireless earbuds, among many others. I’ll update this list as new top wireless headphones hit the market.

Best wireless headphones of 2023

More headphone recommendations

• Best Cheap Wireless Earbuds for 2023: Great Budget Picks
• Best Open Wireless Earbuds
• Best Wireless Earbuds and Headphones for Making Calls

• Best Wireless Headphones for Working at Home in 2023

• Best Noise-Canceling True Wireless Earbuds for 2023

• Best Headphones for Running
• Best Cheap Wireless Noise-Canceling Headphones Under $100
• Best On-Ear Headphones for 2023
• Best Noise-Canceling Headphones of 2023
• Best Wireless Earbuds for 2023: Top Picks for Every Listener
• Best Workout Headphones for 2023
• Best Over-Ear Headphones for 2023

• Best Cheap Earbuds and Headphones

• Protect Your AirPods: 5 Cases Under $20

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With the cost of airfare on the rise, it’s never been more important to save money any way you can. And there’s an easier way to score cheap tickets than spending hours scouring the web and comparing prices. A Dollar Flight Club subscription can save you tons of time, money and effort by granting you access to special travel deals and low-cost fares for business, premium economy and economy airline tickets. And right now you can score a lifetime Premium Plus membership for just $100 at StackSocial, which saves you hundreds compared to the usual $14-per-month cost. And if you want a more affordable option, you can get a lifetime Premium membership for just $50, but you’ll be restricted to economy seating. There’s no set expiration for this deal, so we’d recommend signing up soon if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

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As mentioned above, the Dollar Flight Club Premium Plus plan gives you access to savings on flights in business, premium economy and economy seating, and includes both domestic and international deals. (Premium only offers deals for economy seating.) Once you sign up and add your home airports, you’ll get instant alerts via email and can book whenever and wherever using the web or the app, which is available on both iOS and Android devices.

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When Sony’s WF-1000XM4 earbuds came out in 2021, we awarded them a CNET Editors’ Choice. And while they’re excellent, we had some quibbles — they’re on the large side and aren’t a good match for certain ears. Clearly, Sony took those gripes to heart when it set out design its next-generation WF-1000XM5 flagship noise-canceling earbuds. Not only are the XM5s smaller but they also offer improved performance pretty much across the board, with better noise cancelling, sound and voice calling. Are the Mark 5s perfect? Not quite. And at $300 — $20 more than their predecessor — they’re costly, too. But overall they’re really impressive — easily among the very top earbuds on the market.

Read more: Best wireless earbuds of 2023

Sony WF-1000XM5 design

Available in black or silver, the XM5s are 25% smaller and 20% lighter than the XM4s, according to Sony, with each bud weighing 6 grams (the XM4s weigh 7.3 grams each). By comparison, Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 weigh 5.3 grams each. The XM5s’ charging case is smaller than the XM4s’, too — about 15% smaller — and it has wireless charging capabilities.

As I said, the XM4s are a little big. While they fit my ears nicely, they didn’t necessarily fit people with small ears well and one of the focuses of this redesign is for the buds to fit a wider range of ears better. As I expected, the new XM5s are a good fit for my ears, but I did want to have someone with smaller ears try both the XM4s and XM5s and let me know what she thought. You can watch my companion video review to see my co-worker Tara try the buds — and smaller XM5s clearly offered an improved fit for her.

The XM4s have a matte finish that I like. In contrast, these mix in a glossy finish that I was a little apprehensive about at first, but the outer part of the buds where the touch controls live has a matte finish, so it doesn’t pick up fingerprints and even the glossy part on the black version of the buds avoids smudging pretty well. I also appreciate that the buds don’t stick out of your ears as much as the predecessors did.

The XM5s include a fourth set of eartips (extra small), up from just three for the XM4s. And while they should fit most ears just fine, they retain a shortfall of the earlier model: they just don’t quite give me the tight seal that you really need for optimal sound quality and noise canceling performance.

The tips are made out of a high-tech polyurethane foam material that’s designed to conform to your ear canal and offer some added grip so the earbuds stay in your ears securely. But their shape isn’t quite right for my ears — I need tips that are a little wider and rounder — and I had to swap in a set of my preferred silicone tips that allowed me to get a better seal. It’d be nice if Sony included a wider variety of tips, but, as I said, the majority of you shouldn’t have a problem with the ones you get and many of you should be able to get a secure enough fit to run with these. Like the XM4s, the XM5s are IPX4 splashproof and sweat-resistant.

Sony WF-1000XM5 features

Sony’s flagship headphones and earbuds have always been loaded with features and these XM5 buds add some new upgrades to go along with existing favorites like Speak-to-Chat, a mode you can enable that automatically pauses your music and activates the headphone’s ambient mode when you start talking to someone. Ambient mode is similar to Apple’s transparency mode but with the Sonys you can adjust the level of ambient sound you want to let in. (Apple’s version of this feature is coming to the AirPods Pro 2 with iOS 17.)

I’m not going to go through all the earbuds’ features here but I’ll highlight the ones that stand out for me. First, you get multipoint Bluetooth pairing so you can pair the buds with two devices simultaneously and easily switch audio back and forth between them. There are also plenty of EQ settings to help tweak the sound and some adaptive sound modes, plus support for hands-free Alexa and Google Assistant (with my early review sample I could only get Alexa working but Sony says hands-free Google Assistant is supported). That feature allows you to tap into Amazon’s voice assistant without pressing anything on the buds. Also, there’s a new beta setting called “find your equalizer” that lets you choose between a series of EQ setting tweaks to find the sound you like best to create a custom EQ setting. I thought that was a good addition.

Like the XM4s, these buds have ear-detection sensors that pause your music when you take an earbud out — yes, you can use a single earbud if you want — and resume playback when you put it back in. But what’s new is spatial audio with head-tracking. Currently, it’s only available for Android users, according to Sony, and it’s unclear if Apple users will ever get it. But in my tests, it seemed to work a lot like Apple’s spatial audio for video watching.

One new feature that I almost missed is a new gesture control for answering and ending phone calls. You can choose to activate it or not, but it allows you to nodded your head to answer or end calls. There’s nothing yet that would allow you to skip music tracks forward back by shaking your head left or right, but it would seem possible to add that gesture control.

According to Sony, these are also compatible with the new LE Audio standard, so in the future, you should get access to features like Auraucast broadcast audio that would allow you, for example, to tap into an audio stream being broadcast from a certain TV at the gym while you’re on a treadmill.

Finally, the XM5s support Sony’s LDAC audio codec for devices that support it. Using LDAC can get you slightly better sound quality if you’re streaming high-res audio tracks from streaming services like Qobuz, Tidal and Amazon Music. iPhone users get the AAC audio codec, but a lot of Android phones support LDAC, though you sometimes have to activate that support via the developer mode in the settings.

If there’s a feature that’s missing it’s some sort of Find My Buds feature built into the Sony Headphones app. The AIrPods Pro 2 have a Precision Find My feature that really does come in handy at times.

Sony WF-1000XM5 noise-canceling performance

As far as performance goes, these feel like a bump up from the XM4s, though it’s not a quantum leap. They have new 8.2mm speaker driver units and 3 microphones in each bud and they’re powered by two new proprietary Sony chipsets with more processing power — the V2 Integrated processor and QN2e Noise-Canceling Processor.

Sony’s been in a nip-and-tuck battle with Bose for the best noise canceling and Sony says these buds have the best noise canceling based on its tests. It’s not a huge upgrade over the noise canceling that the XM4s offered but it is a little more effective and is quite impressive overall.

Like Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds 2, these buds are supposed to do a better job muffling a broader range of frequencies. From my anecdotal testing, they’re right there with the Bose buds for noise canceling, but it’s hard to declare an outright winner — the Bose also has great noise canceling. So do Apple’s AirPods Pro 2.

All three of these earbuds have adaptive noise canceling, though you can adjust the amount of noise canceling with the Bose using various mode settings. And all have use increasingly more powerful processors and software algorithms to interpret the sound around you to cancel it out. Why I say it’s hard to declare a winner is that sometimes one set of buds’ noise canceling works a touch better under certain conditions than another and vice versa. And maybe the AirPods Pro 2’s tips fit get you a tighter seal than the Sony’s. Or the Bose buds fit you get you a better seal. Alas, when it comes to noise-canceling supremacy, it’s not so cut and dry, even if a company declares its noise canceling is the best. And software algorithms do get updated and tweaked.

Sony WF-1000X5 sound quality

Thanks to the new drivers and upgraded processors, there are also improvements to sound quality, although it’s not a major bump up from from the XM4s, which already sounded excellent. That said, I thought the XM5s just sound a little cleaner — the treble sounds slightly more refined, the mids (where vocals live) comes across with a bit more clarity and the bass has slightly better definition. Everything’s been tightened up a bit so the earbud sound more accurate, which is what you’re aiming for from an audiophile perspective. I’m not sure the soundstage has expanded at all but the earbuds deliver big, voluminous sound that has nice depth and nuance to it (you can distinctly hear separate instruments in more complicated tracks).

Some of my test tracks include Spoon’s Knock Knock Knock, Athletes of God’s Don’t Wanna Be Normal, The Doors Touch Me – Take 3, Orbital’s Dirty Rat, Taylor Swift’s Vigilante Shit, Jvke’s Golden Hour and Drake’s Passionfruit. I used Qobuz both on my iPhone 14 Pro and Pixel 7 Pro.

Tonally, they’re a little warmer sounding than the AirPods Pro 2, which also sound excellent for their size, but the Sony XM5s arguably have a slight edge in overall tonal balance. They’re just a very pleasant set of earbuds to listen to and some of the best-sounding earbuds out there.

With Spoon’s Knock Knock Knock track, the AirPods Pro 2 have a touch more bite or sizzle to them — I had to lower the volume a bit using the AirPods Pro 2 when switching back and forth between the two buds with my iPhone 14 Pro streaming music from Qobuz. The vocals in particular came across sounding slightly more natural with the Sonys and the XM5s just sound slightly more refined overall. However, sound quality is subjective, and some people could very well prefer the AirPods Pro 2’s sound.

Sony WF-1000X5 voice calling performance

As for voice calling, Sony says you’re getting its “best ever call quality.” The earbuds have bone conduction sensors that Sony says “pick up the vibration of your voice directly from your skull bones, helping to isolate your speech from ambient sounds and background noise for clear calls even in loud environments.

I was generally quite impressed with the call quality and the noise reduction in particular — it seems like a pretty significant improvement over the XM4s (the new processors certainly are a factor in those improvements). Under harsher conditions a few callers did say my voice warbled a bit, but we test under some pretty harsh conditions in the noisy streets of New York (in my companion video, I show a test call that gives you a sense of the call quality).

Sony WF-1000XM5 battery life

Battery life on the WF-1000XM5 is the same as what you get with the XM4s: Around 8 hours on a single charge with noise canceling on at moderate volume levels and up to 12 hours with it off. The case holds two extra charges. That’s a couple of hours better than what you get with the AirPods Pro 2, so very good battery life overall.

Sony WF-1000XM5 final thoughts

As I said in my intro, these really are impressive earbuds. No, they’re not perfect and I’m sure Sony will issue some firmware updates to fix some bugs (the Sony Headphones iOS beta app I was using for this review did crash a couple of times on me) and perhaps improve performance a bit. But the key takeaway here is that Sony has managed to make its flagship earbuds significantly smaller while actually improving upon performance, with incremental upgrades to noise canceling and sound quality and a slightly bigger upgrade to voice calling. And for Android users anyway, there’s spatial audio with head tracking.

Apple users may find some advantages with the AirPods Pro 2, whether it’s from a fit or features perspective. As I’ve said before, the AIrPods Pro 2 are hard to beat for Apple users — they sound great for their size and also offer excellent noise canceling — and they are being discounted to around $200 or $100 less than these.

I also like the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 and the new Beats Studio Buds Plus, the latter of which cost significantly less. But the WF-1000X Mark 5s really are the complete package, particularly for Android users. Yeah, you could quibble about them not including a wider variety of ear tips and maybe missing a feature or two and costing so much. But they do largely live up to their hype.