Category: Technologies

Starz launched in 1994 as a premium cable channel, but it is now known for its streaming service, too. The company has invested heavily in original productions with the ever-expanding Power universe and series such as The Serpent Queen, a strategy that has paid off with audiences. Fans — including me — enjoy P-Valley (which holds a 100% rating with Rotten Tomatoes critics), year-round Power spinoffs and the critically acclaimed Outlander. And you can stream Starz without any commercials.

While Starz may not have a large stable of content like Netflix, Disney Plus and Hulu, the company is locked in a deal with Universal to air films following their theatrical releases. It’s also the place to watch Lionsgate films. You can count on it to watch major features including John Wick 4, and it’s the exclusive streaming home of Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

Starz also has a way of attracting rock-star talent. The Foo Fighters’ debut horror flick Studio 666 will land on the platform this year. And if you happened to catch the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show, you may have enjoyed hip-hop icons like Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige who graced the stage. With the exception of Dr. Dre, each performer has appeared in a Starz TV series in a recurring or guest role (yes, Eminem too).

But why should you follow 50 Cent’s advice and download the app, let alone subscribe for $10 a month? For one thing, it’s a low price for a service with Starz’s selection and no commercials interrupting what you watch. The network also stands apart by promoting diversity and representation in its originals, elevating the voices of women and people of color. This approach contributes to its growing subscriber base and makes Starz an intriguing alternative to its better-known rivals.

Starz vs. Netflix, Max, Hulu, Disney Plus, Prime

	Starz	Netflix	Max	Disney Plus	Prime Video	Hulu
Monthly price	$10	Starts at $7	Starts at $10	Starts at $8	$9 (or included with $140/year Prime membership)	Starts at $8
Ads	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Top titles	Power Book II, Outlander, Power Book IV, P-Valley	Stranger Things, Queen Charlotte, Squid Game, Dahmer	Succession, House of the Dragon, Titans	The Simpsons, The Mandalorian, Bluey	Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Boys, Rings of Power	Handmaid’s Tale, The Bachelor, Bob’s Burgers
Mobile downloads	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
4K HDR available	Yes	Yes (on Premium plan)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Number of streams:	4	1 (2 for Standard, 4 on Premium)	2 (4 for Ultimate)	4	2	2

Starz streaming app vs. Starz cable channels

The Starz stand-alone app is available for $10 a month. However, there are two Starz premium cable options: Starz and Starz Encore, a suite of niche content. Sometimes they’re both included as part of a bundle. Other times, they’re sold separately. Starz Encore is mostly new theatrical releases and ’70s films.

If you pay for the Starz channel through a cable or satellite TV provider or as an add-on to a streaming service such as Hulu, you can sign in to the Starz app at no additional charge. All of Starz’s content is available on the app, but note that Xfinity prohibits its subscribers from using the app.

DirecTV Stream offers Starz as a premium channel (with app access) for $11 a month, while most other providers charge $10 monthly. Unlike Max, for example, the Starz app doesn’t have multiple price tiers. Instead, the streaming service offers a single flat rate for its ad-free content, with no option to pay less if you watch ads.

There’s a standard seven-day free trial for new users, but you can keep your eyes peeled for special promotions to save a little money.

The Starz catalog includes films and flagship originals

Starz has more than 800 movies and 70-plus television shows in its catalog. Viewers can take in all of its originals on the app, including popular series such as P-Valley, award-winning Outlander, Heels, The Serpent Queen, BMF, Black Sails and the Power franchise.

Once upon a time, Power was the No. 2 show on cable after Game of Thrones, bringing in an average audience of roughly 8 million, according to Deadline. These days, Power Book IV: Force and Power Book II: Ghost are pulling in big viewership numbers that rival shows on Showtime and Max. And a 2021 report from Parrot Analytics found that demand for Starz originals was higher than Disney Plus, Max and Netflix — domestically and globally.

Like its streaming competitors, Starz rotates its film selection based on licensing agreements, so some titles are only available for a limited time. Film choices include Saw 1-7, along with Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, Men in Black: International, Clerks III and Alice, Darling.

The new Universal agreement also opens the gates to titles from Blumhouse, Focus Features, plus select movies in the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group library like the Despicable Me and Minions films. The deal affects theatrical releases in 2022 and beyond, enabling Starz to broadcast the studio’s big titles exclusively approximately 18 months after their release dates.

Upcoming in-house projects include the 50 Cent-produced Queen Nzinga, a John Wick prequel series and a Spartacus sequel. Starz also greenlit a romance drama from Ava Duvernay, and new seasons of Blindspotting and Shining Vale starring Courteney Cox.

Starz President of Domestic Networks Alison Hoffman told CNET that much of the brand’s success can be attributed to its lineup of diverse content. With women and people of color helming many of the network’s series, the company prides itself on listening to its audience, casts and showrunners by telling stories that may not be represented elsewhere. Additionally, Hoffman shared that Starz is focused on beefing up its original programming slate in the coming year.

Read more: The Best Original TV Shows to Stream on Starz

Starz app offers early access to new episodes

One of the most appealing qualities about streaming via the Starz app is its early release schedule. New episodes of original shows like Power Book II: Ghost, P-Valley and Outlander drop at midnight ET on the day of their air dates, hours before their live premieres on cable. West Coast residents can watch at 9 p.m. PT on a Saturday night. You can watch new episodes as often as you’d like before the live release and then afterward on demand.

How does the app perform?

Starz’s interface is user-friendly with neatly organized categories based on genre, originals, previous viewing habits, popularity, special themes or release date. You can also browse movies and series based on alphabetical order, year or your favorite cast members. Starz allows you to click on actors’ names for a list of their roles in other projects streaming on the service. Occasionally, the app will automatically recommend “cast picks” connected to who and what you watched.

When filtering a search, there’s also an option to choose content based on run time, which ranges from under 20 minutes to over 60 minutes. That includes kid-friendly fare. Like Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max, the Starz app gives you the ability to create personal watchlists and up to five user profiles. It also allows four simultaneous streams on any screen. Another plus? You can download as much as you want to kill time when all you have is your phone. Lunch breaks and travel don’t have to be boring.

With that in mind, your screen size won’t matter when watching movies. One of the downsides of the app is that Starz resizes the aspect ratio for movies. That means if a film was originally shot with letterboxes and a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1, Starz sometimes crops it to fill up your entire screen. That makes some movies look distorted. Also, the company logo lurks on the screen during films, which can be a minor annoyance.

I tried the app on an Android phone and while the sound and picture quality is great, I noticed that playback is sometimes choppy where the video plays at a sped-up pace and throws off its sync. Occasionally, there’s a lag with the rewind and fast-forward feature. Additionally, when using an iPad, if you pause a show for too long, the episode starts over when you return. You have to manually fast forward or rewind. Other Android and iOS users have reported similar issues.

The autoplay feature kicks in at the end of every movie or TV show, but you can disable it in the app’s settings. Within that menu, users can also choose between medium or high quality for downloads or adjust the parental controls on each profile. For playback, Starz allows you to select English or Spanish for audio language or subtitles. It also has picture-in-picture capability, which enables you to watch two videos at the same time, even if one is on another app.

Starz offers value for $10

Compared to its competitors Prime Video, HBO Max, Disney Plus and Showtime, the Starz app is on the lower end when it comes to pricing for ad-free streaming. Disney Plus is $11, Prime Video costs $9, Max clocks in at $16 a month while Paramount costs $11 with similar offerings. While Starz’s catalog may not be as expansive as other streaming services, it’s growing and its exclusive prestige originals make it a viable choice.

The $250 Moto G 5G is not a bad phone. It’s just that you might get more value looking around.

I kept returning to that feeling throughout my weeks reviewing the phone, despite the dramatically reduced price this year’s model hits compared with last year’s $400 Moto G 5G. For instance, I like the phone’s 6.5-inch 120Hz display. But the screen isn’t dramatically better than the 90Hz displays I see in $200 phones like the Moto G Stylus or the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G.

The 5G connectivity is noticeably fast compared with 4G-only phones like the Stylus, but the Moto G 5G’s slower Snapdragon 480 Plus processor coupled with 4GB of RAM aren’t quite enough to power resource-heavy multitasking that truly take advantage of 5G speeds.

Even though the Moto G 5G’s cameras are similar those on other Moto G phones, photos are hit or miss. Images come out nice in bright outdoor areas but struggle with getting detail in low-light environments. I took the phone on a sunny Central Park picnic and got a lot of vibrant photos that I’m super happy with. But the opposite was true when I took the phone to a Kim Petras performance thrown by Motorola, where my photos on the crowded indoor dance floor came out blurry, noisy and lacked a lot of detail. It’s typical for this price range, and is a similar issue across all of the Moto G phones that I’ve tested this year.

When I compare the Moto G 5G against phones that are just $50 more, I realize how much I’m sacrificing. If you can swing it, $300 phones offer a lot of perks that are worth the upcharge. The $300 Moto G Power 5G for instance doubles your available storage space to 256GB, which is the cheapest phone I’m currently aware of offering that much internal space. The $300 OnePlus Nord N30 5G can quickly recharge its battery from nothing to 100% in 45 minutes with its included charger. By comparison the Moto G 5G takes well over 90 minutes to do the same thing.

And whenever the Pixel 6A is on sale for $299 — its power, performance, photography and longer software support outshine all of these $300 and under phones.

The Moto G 5G tries to hit a strange middle ground between $200 phones and $300 phones, but I think it’s more likely you’ll spend slightly less money or slightly more money on a different phone. Again, that’s not to say the Moto G 5G doesn’t offer a lot for $250. It’s just that you can get a very similar phone and save $50, or get a substantially better phone by spending $50 more.

Moto G 5G design, specs, performance

The Moto G 5G is one of the cheapest phones I’ve seen that has a 120Hz refresh rate display. I found the phone animates very smoothly when reading websites, scrolling apps and playing games, and that’s quite appreciated even with the display’s lower 720p resolution. But like I mentioned earlier, due to that lower resolution I don’t feel like the screen looks that much better than the 90Hz 720p displays I see in phones that cost less. It also left me missing the more detailed 120Hz 1,080p displays I see on the $300 Moto G Power 5G and the OnePlus Nord N30 5G.

The phone’s otherwise basic design comes in two color options: Harbor Gray or Ink Blue. The display includes a hole punch for its 8-megapixel selfie camera. The back of the phone highlights its two cameras, a 48-megapixel main camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera. It’s a simple matte plastic design, which does pick up smudges.

Along the sides of the phone are a power button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor, a headphone jack, a SIM card tray and a microSD card slot. It continues to be notable that the headphone jack and microSD card remain standard features in this price range, as they are otherwise rare finds on more expensive phones.

The phone’s performance is adequate. I didn’t experience problems with most tasks such as making phone calls, reading articles, listening to music or playing games. However, more demanding apps might overwhelm the phone’s processor and 4GB of RAM, which I consistently experienced when I tried to play Marvel Snap while toggling between other tasks. The game reloaded whenever I switched apps, which was an issue because I usually like to play it while multitasking since Snap is a card game.

Those who just need a phone for making calls, sending texts, listening to music and reading news articles will likely be satisfied with the Moto G 5G. The phone’s 128GB of space should be plenty of room for storing apps, photos and media — but the option to expand with a microSD card means you can add more if you need to.

The issue with the Moto G 5G, however, is that its middling performance makes me question whether I get that much more value out of this it compared with the cheaper Moto G Stylus. In my Geekbench testing the Moto G 5G’s processor does run faster than the Stylus. Yet in real-world use, I felt like performance between the two phones was about the same — slightly sluggish but gets me through most tasks.

Geekbench 6 Benchmarks

Moto G 5G (2023) 740 1,790Moto G Stylus (2023) 448 1,471OnePlus Nord N30 5G 893 2,037Moto G Power 5G 878 2,206

For some people, a faster data connection is worth the extra money. 5G networks are starting to hit a point of maturity where many devices benefit from faster video streaming and downloading while on the go. However, 4G LTE is still quite capable and ubiquitous. Unless you plan on tackling cloud gaming or have a lot of large files to regularly upload from your phone, there’s hardly anything yet that truly requires a 5G connection.

Another miss for me is that the Moto G 5G, like all Moto G phones, will receive only one software update and three years of security updates.

Moto G 5G photography

The Moto G 5G’s photos are colorful with plenty of detail when taken in daylight. While on that aforementioned Central Park picnic, both regular pictures and portrait mode photos came out vibrant with a pronounced bokeh effect on the latter. However, the mix of bright highlights, like clouds and shadows under the trees show just how limited the Moto G 5G’s dynamic range is.

I took the photo below with the 8-megapixel front-facing camera. This was inside of a well-lit elevator, but the photos has more details than I would have expected.

Below are closeups of pets and food, which look OK.

And here are the pictures that I took at that Motorola event with Kim Petras and Cirque Du Soleil. The Moto G 5G struggled to document the action so poorly that I switched to my personal phone to share photos with friends.

But these camera pluses and minuses aren’t isolated to the Moto G 5G. I had the roughly the same camera challenges across the Moto G Stylus, Moto G 5G and the Moto G Power 5G. Since you’re not getting better camera quality by paying more for the Moto G 5G, Motorola’s cheaper option could be the better choice as long as you don’t mind sacrificing 5G.

In my comparison photos below of the grass wall in CNET’s office, all three phones were similarly able to differentiate between the different shades of green featured in the decoration.

While I’m still in the process of testing the $200 Samsung Galaxy A14 5G, I took a comparison photo of the same grass wall, finding the image quality to be a little more saturated by comparison.

Moto G 5G bottom line

The $250 Moto G 5G does include a lot of value for its price. You get a 120Hz display at one of the cheapest prices I’ve seen so far, along with 5G compatibility. Its processor can stand up to most tasks, even if it struggles with some multitasking. And if your carrier ends up subsidizing the phone to a price that’s free or close to free, it’s a very appealing option for someone that just wants a basic 5G phone.

But if you aren’t getting a carrier subsidy, I recommend you either consider Motorola’s cheaper Stylus or phones that are $50 more expensive. The 4G-only $200 Moto G Stylus includes much of the same functionality as the Moto G 5G along with a built-in stylus, but it comes with 64GB of storage, a noticeable step down.

There’s a lot to gain from stretching your budget beyond the Moto G 5G’s $250 price, if you can. For example, the $300 Moto G Power 5G offers twice the storage, while the $300 OnePlus Nord N30 provides exceptionally fast charging.

The Moto G 5G does include many essential features that I want to see in a cheaper phone, but it just feels lost compared with other options in this price range. In some ways it’s so similar to $200 phone options, that it doesn’t stand out enough to justify the extra money. Yet it also doesn’t stand out enough at $250 when phones that cost just a little bit more are including tangible features that can increase how useful your phone can be.

How we test phones

Every phone tested by CNET’s reviews team was actually used in the real world. We test a phone’s features, play games and take photos. We examine the display to see if it’s bright, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and build to see how it is to hold and whether it has an IP-rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s performance to the extremes using both standardized benchmark tools like GeekBench and 3DMark, along with our own anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution videos and playing graphically intense games at high refresh rates.

All the cameras are tested in a variety of conditions from bright sunlight to dark indoor scenes. We try out special features like night mode and portrait mode and compare our findings against similarly priced competing phones. We also check out the battery life by using it daily as well as running a series of battery drain tests.

We take into account additional features like support for 5G, satellite connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus support, fast charging speeds, foldable displays among others that can be useful. And we balance all of this against the price to give you the verdict on whether that phone, whatever price it is, actually represents good value.

Slay the Spire, the acclaimed deck-building roguelike game, arrived on Apple Arcade Friday, and it’s ready to take up hours of your life. If you subscribe to Apple Arcade ($5, 5 or AU$8 a month), you can play this game at no additional charge, and without ads or in-app purchases (hence this version being called “Slay the Spire Plus” on the App Store).

The game was developed by Meta Crit Games, and was nominated for a number of awards, including for outstanding achievement in game design and strategy/simulation game of the year at the 2020 D.I.C.E. Awards.

In Slay the Spire, you choose from four different characters and start at the bottom of a map, then work your way through different locations until you reach the big boss at the top. The map changes each time you start a new game, too, so each game is different.

As you make your way to the top you build your deck — each character has a different set of cards with their own unique mechanics — and fight monsters in turn-based combat, all while avoiding booby-trapped treasure along the way. Or you can try to deal with the consequences of the trap: I swiped some treasure and ran away from a boulder, like Indiana Jones, but ended up getting crushed and lost a lot of health. I would not recommend this.

Each new game takes about an hour to complete, but the changing nature of the map gives the game a lot of replayability. There’s also a daily challenge and a custom game mode if you want something more difficult.

You can access this game, and many others, in Apple Arcade for $5 a month, or $60 annually. You can also try Apple Arcade for free for one month with your first sign-up, or you can get a three-month free trial when you buy a new Apple device. To access Apple Arcade, open the App Store on your iOS device and tap the joystick in the menu bar.

It feels like summer just started, but before you know it, it’ll be time to load up on school supplies again. Like most everyday items, back-to-school supplies have become more expensive over the past couple of years, so it’s wise to plan ahead in order to get everything your student needs at the best prices.

Online shopping is the easiest way to cross everything off your list in one shot. Whether you need notebooks, pencils, highlighters or even a budget laptop, you can find pretty much everything you need online — without the hassle of ransacked shelves or waiting in line. Online shopping can also save you money since it’s easier to do price comparisons without driving all over.

There are several online retailers that will make your back-to-school shopping a whole lot easier. We’ve rounded up a list of the best places to shop for back-to-school supplies based on prices, availability and the range of items offered. Here are the best places to shop online so you can find everything your student needs to get them through the school year.

More back-to-school recommendations

• 8 Back-to-School College Essentials to Keep in Your Backpack
• Great Back-to-School Gifts for Your Teacher
• Best Back-to-School Gear for $100 or Less
• 15 Dorm Room Essentials You Need From Amazon Now
• Free Apps You Need to Download Before Starting College
• 4 Surefire Ways to Decorate a Backpack to Make It Look Brand-New

The supply drought for the latest PlayStation and Xbox consoles — the PS5 and Xbox Series X — is long over, so it seems odd to ask the question posed in the headline. But if you frame it as “Should I buy one on Prime Day or wait for a better price later in the year?” it starts to make a little more sense. Because then the answer becomes “Maybe.” It all hinges on what exactly is being offered and the possibility of seeing discounts on either console when Black Friday rolls around (and if you want to wait that long).

Currently, the Xbox Series S, for example, is regularly available for less than its $300 price; even now, before Prime Day kicks off on July 11, it’s available for $250 from Dell. So for that one, the price might not go much lower when holiday sales arrive. However, there may be some Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription promos or game or controller bundles to sweeten the deal.

Prime Day is coming next week, falling on July 11 and 12, but Amazon already has some early deals you can cash in on. Even better, you don’t have to pay for Amazon’s Prime membership to shop these Prime-exclusive deals. (You can also use Amazon’s new layaway program this year.)

Amazon’s biggest shopping event of the year offers exclusive savings for Prime subscribers, though you don’t have to be a paying subscriber to enjoy its benefits. Instead, you can get around Amazon’s membership requirement by signing up for a 30-day free trial between now and the event’s start date.

We’ll walk you through the process of signing up for your free 30-day Amazon Prime trial below to gain entry to the Prime Early Access Sale and, importantly, how to cancel your subscription so you don’t end up paying a dime. For more, check out our guides for avoiding shipping fees, finding hidden Amazon coupons and making the most of all of Prime’s perks.

Sign up for Amazon Prime from your laptop or phone

New subscribers can sign up for a Prime free trial via Amazon’s website with just a few taps. If you haven’t saved your payment details with Amazon through another purchase, you’ll need to have your credit or debit card handy.

1. Head to Amazon.com and sign into or create your Amazon account.

2. Select Prime in your account menu bar.

3. Tap or click Start your 30-day free trial.

4. Make sure your credit or debit card on file is up to date (your billing address too) — if it’s not, this is the time to do it.

5. Tap or click Start your 30-day free trial.

6. That’s it! You can start shopping any time and get Prime membership benefits like expedited shipping and of course, those Prime Day deals.

Cancel your Prime membership before being charged

To avoid being charged, you’ll need to cancel your membership before the 30 days are up. Here’s how.

1. Sign in to your Amazon account at Amazon.com.

2. Go to your account menu.

3. Select Prime (computer) or Manage Prime membership (phone), then tap Manage membership.

4. Select End Membership.

5. Tap or click End My Benefits.

6. Select Continue to Cancel.

7. That’s it. Your Prime account should be canceled. You can double-check by adding an item to your card and seeing if you have the option to ship it next day or within two days with Prime. If you can’t, you’ve successfully canceled.

For more Amazon shopping tips, check out our guide to scoring a discount with subscribe and save, scoring steep savings with Amazon Warehouse deals and how to get free returns on Amazon.

The new Google Pixel Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 are expensive. In fact, they have the highest prices of any phone currently out that I know. But does a premium price mean they take the best photos? I was curious to find out.

I should note that later this month, Samsung is holding an Unpacked event where I expect the next-gen Galaxy Z Fold to be announced. And it might have even better cameras. Once it’s out, we will happily pit the new Z Fold against the Pixel Fold. In the meantime, let’s dig into the details.

Both the Pixel Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 4 costs $1,799 and has five cameras. However, neither set any high marks for camera performance. As you might infer from their names, each phone’s key feature is a foldable screen — which is largely the reason for their beefy price tags. To make each phone pocketable when closed, the bodies are ultrathin, leaving less room for camera sensors and lenses. That means both Google and Samsung rely on their machine learning and AI prowess to make photos look good.

Read more: Best Camera Phone of 2023

Pixel Fold camera specs vs. Galaxy Z Fold 4

Both the Pixel Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 4 have three rear cameras, one cover screen camera and one interior screen camera. Resolution-wise it’s pretty close between what Google and Samsung each offer. I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you that comparing image sensor resolution is like trying to compare the calories in food; 100 calories of broccoli has different benefits than 100 calories of ice cream. So yeah, more megapixels isn’t always better. The biggest differences are actually in the software processing, which Google seems to be better at.

The hardware is nearly identical in terms of specs, with the Pixel Fold having a 48-megapixel sensor, while the Z Fold 4 rocks a 50-megapixel sensor.

Google Pixel Fold camera specs vs. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

	Google Pixel Fold	Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
Main camera	f1.7 aperture, 48MP sensor	f1.8 aperture, 50MP sensor
Ultra wide camera	f2.2 aperture, 10.8MP sensor	f2.2 aperture, 12MP sensor
Telephoto camera	f3.05 aperture, 10.8MP sensor	f2.4 aperture, 10MP sensor
Cover screen camera	f2.2 aperture, 9.5MP sensor	f2.2 aperture, 10MP sensor
Interior screen camera	f2 aperture, 8MP sensor	f1.8 aperture, 4MP sensor

The interior screen cameras are also different, with the Pixel sporting an 8-megapixel sensor and the Galaxy having just a 4-megapixel one. Samsung’s camera is buried under the display, however, which is brilliant. It’s the camera you use the least, and I think Samsung was wise to improve the inner display experience by “hiding” the camera, even if it comes with the trade-off of a lower-resolution sensor.

The last main hardware difference is the telephoto camera, which on the Pixel Fold has a 5x optical zoom, while the Z Fold 4 has a 3x optical zoom.

Pixel Fold photos vs. Galaxy Z Fold 4

Before we get into some direct comparisons, take a look at some of my favorite photos from the Pixel Fold and the Z Fold 4.

On the whole, Pixel Fold photos have better detail, a wider dynamic range and are more color accurate. And that’s even under a perfect summer day with blue skies, which is one of the most forgiving environments for any phone camera.

Take a look at the images below, each taken with the main camera, of a lunch area in Salesforce Park in San Francisco. The Pixel Fold’s snap balances the exposure better and has more details in the grass and tree leaves. And, yes, things were actually that green. But Samsung’s photo is messy. It’s overly bright, details are muddy and the color temperature is off — notice the green in the trees in the background and the sky.

Below are two more images from the main cameras. This time the differences aren’t quite as drastic. Both phones did a good job of capturing the cappuccino’s texture in the foam. But notice around the rim of the cup. The Pixel Fold’s photo looks more natural, with the cup’s rim in focus along with the top of the drink. The Z Fold 4’s image is strange. I know Samsung has a food optimizer setting, but I don’t remember it being on; it might have been. The edge of the cup is soft.

Next, take a look at the photos below, which were taken indoors under a mix of window light and low light. Here’s where the differences between Google and Samsung are huge. In Google’s photo of Peebles the cat, it handles the mixed light well, but captures some texture in his fur and whiskers. The photo is soft, but not in a bad way. Samsung’s photo looks bad. It suffers from over brightening, and is marred by a ton of image noise and heavy noise reduction, which makes the photo of Peebles look like a painting of Peebles.

Pixel Fold zoom vs. Galaxy Z Fold 4

Based purely on the specs, the Pixel Fold has the edge when it comes to zoom, since it has a 5x optical telephoto lens compared to the 3x on the Z Fold 4. That 5x is the sweet spot, helping you get closer to your subject without being in someone’s face.

Take a look at the zoom range on each phone.

At 5x it’s hard to tell any real differences between the two, aside from some loss of resolution on the Galaxy Z Fold because of the digital zoom.

Below are 10x digital zoom photos from both phones. Neither one looks great.

And last are photos taken at the max digital zoom magnifications on each phone: 20x on the Pixel and 30x on the Samsung. Despite the different magnifications, both have roughly the same amount of zoom/crop.

Samsung’s image has completely fallen apart and looks super soft and processed. The Pixel Fold’s photo isn’t great, but looks better thanks to Google’ Super Res Zoom, which uses a combination of hardware, software and AI to make it look better.

Pixel Fold night mode vs. Galaxy Z Fold 4

Moving on to night mode, things start to swing back in Samsung’s favor. Below are images of some apartment buildings taken an hour after sunset with night mode. Both look good, but the one from the Z Fold 4 looks better overall. The Galaxy phone protects the highlights better in the moon and in light sources like at the entrance of the apartment building in the middle.

Below are two more night mode shots. Again, both are good, though I like the one from the Galaxy Z Fold 4 more. The white balance is more true to the scene.

Pixel Fold selfies vs. Galaxy Z Fold 4

You have the option on both phones to take selfies several different ways. The first is using the cover screen camera on each phone. In the photos below, I think Samsung’s cover screen camera takes better selfies than the Pixel Fold’s cover screen camera. It does a better job at nailing focus and I like the brighter exposure.

Because these are foldable phones, you can also take a selfie with the main rear camera using the cover screen as a preview. I do like being able to use the rear camera to take selfies, but it feels like more of a chore. Between the two images below, I like the rear camera selfie from the Z Fold 4 better, since the brightness is more flattering.

There is a third way to take a selfie and that’s to use the inner display’s camera. Both the Pixel Fold and Z Fold 4’s inner screen camera are meant for video calls, so I tested them in the video that accompanies this article. Neither look good for a Zoom call, but the higher resolution on the Pixel Fold’s inside screen camera gives it a slight edge.

Pixel Fold videos vs. Galaxy Z Fold 4 and final thoughts

On the whole, videos aren’t great from either phone. Video recordings suffer from image noise and have less dynamic range than photos from each phone. Most of the machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence Google and Samsung use in their photos is absent for videos. If you want to see sample video clips from each phone, please watch the video attached to this story.

So which phone has the best cameras? Neither the Pixel Fold or Z Fold 4 offer top-of-the-line phone cameras. But as far as these two phones go, I lean towards Google’s device more than Samsung’s (purely in terms of the cameras). The Z Fold 4, however, has an edge in other ways like the amazing inside screen, the premium fit and finish of the hardware and the software that seemed less fussy than the Pixel Fold.

Remember each of these phones costs $200 shy of two grand. For that price you get a phone that folds in half, that has two screens and five cameras. While the big interior screens of these foldables are great for editing your photos, few foldables offer the pristine image quality you’d find on their nonfolding counterparts. You should still look towards Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra or Google’s Pixel 7 Pro if you want amazing imaging skills, but you’ll have to decide what your priority is: beautiful photos or an exciting folding screen? Right now, you can’t have both.

Just know that a month from now, things could change with the launch of the rumored Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5.

A day after Facebook parent company Meta went live with its Twitter-like social media app Threads, Twitter has reportedly threatened to sue Meta.

Twitter lawyer Alex Spiro sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg accusing the company of intentionally stealing “Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property,” according to a report by Semafor.

“Competition is fine, cheating is not,” Twitter Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Elon Musk tweeted in response to the report Thursday.

Spiro accused Meta of getting Twitter’s secrets by hiring dozens of former Twitter employees and claimed the Facebook parent company put them to work making a Twitter copycat, using their insider knowledge to speed up development of the Threads app — which is “in violation of both state and federal law as well as those employees’ ongoing obligations to Twitter,” Spiro said in the letter.

Meta communications director Andy Stone rebutted the accusations, saying in a Thread that “no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that’s just not a thing.”

Threads launched Wednesday, with Meta positioning the new social media app as a Twitter rival. You can sign up for Threads using your Instagram credentials and keep your username, followers and verification status. Here’s everything you need to know about Threads, which reached 30 million sign ups in just 16 hours, according to Zuckerberg.

Read more: Why You May Not Want to Sign Up for Threads, Meta’s New Twitter Competitor

Spotify Premium subscribers paying through Apple’s App Store will need to use another payment method to continue listening without ads.

Spotify hasn’t offered new Premium subscribers the chance to pay using in-app purchases via the App Store for quite a while, but now it’s pulling the plug for legacy subscribers using that payment method, according to multiple reports. Affected subscribers will be moved to a free account (with ads) after their current billing cycle ends and will need to re-upgrade to Premium through the music service’s website.

Spotify and Apple have been at odds over Apple’s App Store policies and fees. In 2016, Spotify opted out of Apple’s in-app payment system, alleging the fees associated with it were unfair. Then in 2019, Spotify filed a complaint against Apple with the European Union, claiming Apple uses App Store rules to smother competition. The complaint led to antitrust charges from the European Commission, which Apple is still attempting to fend off.

Last year, Apple began allowing some apps to include links to outside payment options as part of a settlement with Japan’s Fair Trade Commission. The tech giant has pointed to the change, which allows app developers to bypass its fees, in its attempt to counter EU arguments. Google, which has also faced criticism over its app store fees, also began allowing Spotify and some other apps to offer their own in-app payment option alongside Google’s Android billing system last year.

Spotify didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional information on the billing change.

How to pay for Spotify Premium

Spotify Premium costs $10 per month for one account and lets subscribers play any song they want on demand and download and listen to songs offline. It also removes the ads that come with the free version.

People can subscribe on Spotify’s website or through the Android app. Spotify allows you to pay using a credit or debit card, prepaid card, PayPal, or gift card, among other methods.

Payment methods vary by country or region, according to Spotify. You can get more information about Spotify payments on the company’s support site.

Google and Meta, parent company to Facebook, will block links to Canadian journalism later this year for people in Canada in response to a new law that forces technology companies to compensate publishers for linking articles.

With Australia passing a similar measure in 2021, more countries are looking toward compensatory legislation as news outlets continue to layoff journalists in record numbers while Silicon Valley giants rake in hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue.

As we face a potential standoff between lawmakers and journalists on one side and the gatekeepers of the internet on the other, here’s what you need to know about Canada’s Online News Act and how it might impact you.

What’s up with Google, Facebook and Canada?

The Online News Act, which goes into effect at the end of 2023, compels Google and Meta to compensate publishers when linking to news content. It’s part of an effort to inject news publishers with an infusion of cash after the internet revolution upended traditional revenue streams for outlets.

Previously, newspapers relied on subscriptions, advertising and classified sections to keep their newsrooms operational. But with the move to information online, subscription revenue dried up as people began searching news for free, and sites like Craigslist and eBay, rather than newspaper classified sections, were used to sell people’s goods.

Between 2008 and 2021, 450 Canadian news outlets have closed, according to Pablo Rodriguez, the minister of Canadian heritage. He says this has led to public mistrust and the rise of disinformation. At the moment, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is encouraging Canadians to visit its site directly to catch up on the latest news.

Does this impact people in other countries?

Right now, Google and Facebook’s restrictions will only affect Canadians later this year when the law goes into effect. This means that Americans wanting to read up about news in Canada should still find news results from Canadian publications in Search.

Canada isn’t the first government to push a publisher compensation law. The first was Australia, where in 2021 it passed the News Media Bargaining Code. It’s expected to bring in $130 million annually, with Australia’s Treasury already calling the law a success. Both Google and Meta resisted the Australian law before eventually coming to the negotiating table.

The California state legislature has also advanced a similar law last month requiring Big Tech giants to pay for linking to content, with Meta already threatening to pull news content if the law passes. US senators tried passing a similar law titled the Journalism Competition Preservation Act last year, but it ultimately failed to pass it through Congress. Although, lawmakers resurrected the legislation last month and hope to bring it to the floor for a vote.

How to find news without Google or Facebook

For Canadians wanting to stay up-to-date on news later this year, here are some ways you can still find news.

• World news. The new law only affects Canadian publishers, so searching for news topics in Google will still bring you news from non-Canadian publications.
• Bing. Microsoft reportedly said it will continue serving up news links for Canadians on its search engine Bing.
• Canadian news sites and social media. You can go to Canadian news sites directly, and consider setting a Canadian news website like the CBC or Global News as your default home page on a web browser.
• Social media accounts. You can also follow those news outlets on social media platforms like Twitter. Meta says it’s still assessing how the Online News Act will impact news links on its newly launched Twitter competitor, Threads. There are also website aggregation sites like Feedly that can give you a Twitter-like feed of all the news publications you follow.
• Get a VPN. It should also be possible for Canadians to use a VPN and set their location to the US or another country. This should allow links from Canadian publishers to appear in search and on Facebook. Be sure to check out CNET’s guidance on the best VPN services before subscribing.
• Reddit. For Reddit users, subscribing to the r/Canada subreddit is a good way to find the top stories people are discussing. Cities and provinces like r/Toronto and r/BritishColumbia also have their own dedicated Reddit pages.
• Support Canadian journalism. Post.news is a new website that lets you redeem points to read local articles. You can follow publications in the same way you do on Twitter, and it’ll bring you a feed of all the latest stories. Signing up gives you 50 free points and each point costs less than a cent to buy. Even though the cost is minuscule, using a few points to read articles pays websites far more than a banner ad on the side of a webpage.

How has Big Tech affected journalism?

The state of journalism is one of many concerns governments around the world have regarding the power of Big Tech. The industry has largely been unregulated, allowing tech giants to expand rapidly around the globe. Regulators are also noticing the closure of newsrooms and continued layoffs. In the US, 2,500 news outlets have closed since 2005.

As the internet’s matured, major tech platforms like Google and Facebook took the lion’s share of traffic online, being the de facto way people sought out information.

Google, in particular, not only controls the window into the internet for billions of people through Search, Chrome and Android but also the advertising marketplace and associated technology, which is its own US Justice Department-led antitrust lawsuit. This gives Google a huge influence in driving traffic, meaning that for a site to succeed, it needs to optimize its content for Google Search. And as Google has floated more ads to the top of Search, including e-commerce links, that’s had an immediate impact on how much money websites can make.

What will the law do for Canadian journalism?

The Canadian law is estimated to bring in $329 million to Canadian newsrooms. By comparison, Google and Meta brought in $285 billion and $117 billion in revenue last year, respectively. Assuming each company had to pay out $329 million, this would only be 0.11% of Google’s 2022 revenue and 0.28% for Meta.

“Big tech would rather spend money changing their platforms to block news from Canadians instead of paying a small share of the billions they make in advertising dollars,” Rodriguez said in a tweet. “Canadians won’t be bullied. Big Tech isn’t bigger than Canada.”

Google has already shown it’s willing to play the long game, however; Google News backed out of Spain for eight years following the passage of a similar publisher compensation law before coming back last year.

Google didn’t respond to a request for comment. Meta said it had nothing further to add.