Apple makes some of the best phones on the market, but they sure are pricey. For a lot of folks, spending $800 and up on a phone just isn’t a priority, but that doesn’t mean you have to put up with a poor user experience. If you’re happy to go for a refurbished device, you can save a ton of money on recent iPhone devices, like the iPhone 12, which is on sale for just $330 today only at Woot. Though it’s a couple generations old, Apple still sells this model from $600 so you’re saving close to half on its current going rate.
Despite being released a few years back, the iPhone 12 spec sheet is still pretty loaded with advanced features by today’s standards. It features a 6.1-inch OLED display, a 12-megapixel dual rear camera system, IP68 water resistance and support for 5G speeds. It also supports the latest iOS 16 software and, given Apple’s support for devices that are much older, likely will continue to get software updates for several years yet.
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In our recent guide to iPhone upgrades, CNET’s Sareena Dayaram and Lisa Eadicicco concluded that existing owners should hold onto their iPhone 12 for another year since the iPhone 14 isn’t dramatically different. We also maintain a list of the best phones under $500 that features the iPhone 11, which would be surely supplanted by the year newer iPhone 12 if it didn’t retail for $600 usually.
Just note that Woot is selling its iPhone 12 devices in “scratch and dent” condition, which means that they will bear some physical imperfections. Your purchase is backed by a 90-day warranty in case any issues arise.
An AirTag tracker is a worthwhile investment if you’re the sort of person who regularly misplaces things like keys, bags, wallets or other valuables. The tiny item trackers can easily be dropped into a bag pocket or attached to a keyring to keep tabs on anything you’d want to keep close, and right now Amazon is offering a 2023-low price on a four-pack of Apple’s trackers. It’s down to $80, meaning you’re paying just $20 per device and undercutting the price of a single AirTag significantly. Walmart and Verizon have the same deal going on right now as well.
Apple’s AirTag trackers work seamlessly with your iPhone and the Find My app and offer a super simple one-tap pairing process. You can then throw a tracker into a pocket as is or grab an appropriate AirTag accessory in order to clip them to keys, hook them onto a bag, stick them to your bike or attach them to anything else you want to keep track of.
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Once set up, the AirTags will show up in the Find My app and show your items on a map so you can easily find them. If an item is in your vicinity, you can use the app to play a sound on the AirTag’s built-in speaker to help you find it and use the Precision Finding feature to be guided to your lost possession. This is handy if you’re just looking for your keys around the house, for example. If you lose an item further afield, you can put it in Lost Mode which will then ping you if the AirTag is detected on the Find My network and allow you to add a message and include your phone number or email address.
Each AirTag is powered by a CR2032 coin battery, four of which are included with your purchase and which last around a year before you need to replace it. AirTags are IP67 water- and dust-resistant too, so you don’t have to worry about them getting damaged if exposed to the elements.
Apple’s iconic MacBook Air laptop is only available with a 13-inch screen, for now.
A steady stream of rumors points to a new 15-inch MacBook Air debuting at Apple’s upcoming WWDC conference keynote on June 5. The latest not-quite-confirmation comes from Bloomberg’s noted Apple prognosticator, Mark Gurman, who previously said the new 15-inch Air will join WatchOS 10, iOS 17, MacOS 15 and Apple’s long-awaited mixed-reality headset, and more recently tweeted that he expects “several new Macs” at the event.
In addition to the rumored 15-inch Air, that could mean an updated Mac Studio desktop, updates to the current 13-inch Air and Pro models, or even the long-promised Mac Pro desktop, which is Apple’s only remaining Intel-powered computer.
I’m expecting three major focus areas next week: 1) several new Macs, 2) the mixed-reality headset, 3) the new OSs. With all of the new hardware and software, I expect the keynote to be one of Apple’s longest ever and easily exceed two hours.
Further, Apple’s long-standing 15-inch MacBook Pro vanished in 2019, replaced by new 14-inch and 16-inch versions, leaving Apple without a 15-inch laptop, which is still one of the most common screen sizes for Windows laptops.
The 12-inch MacBook.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Throughout all this, the 13-inch Air has remained a standard, although the exact screen dimensions shifted a bit between the 16:10 aspect ratio of the M1 Air and the slightly larger 3:2 aspect ratio of the newer M2 MacBook Air.
But there’s an excellent case to be made for a 15-inch version of the MacBook Air. The 13-inch MacBook Air remains my default choice as the single most universally useful laptop for most people. But a 13-inch screen, no matter how good, isn’t necessarily big enough to be your all-day, everyday laptop. Especially if, like me, you have a set of aging eyes, bigger screens are becoming more important.
The problem is that the least-expensive 14-inch MacBook Pro is $1,999. The least-expensive 16-inch MacBook Pro is $2,499. That’s a big jump from the $1,199 13-inch MacBook Air.
A 15-inch MacBook Pro from 2018.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The idea of jumping into a larger 15-inch screen for a MacBook Air, using the same M2 chip as the 13-inch Air is an appealing one, especially if it adds only a modest premium to the price. Personally, I’d say around $1,300 to $1,400 would be a reasonable starting price, if you assume it would have specs similar to those of the 13-inch M2 Air.
Smartphones can be expensive. But even if you’re on a budget, you can still find some great options. These are some of the best phones under $200 and they offer a mix of modern features alongside legacy ports you can’t find on today’s more expensive phones. For example, you can get a phone with a 6.5-inch screen and multiple cameras, plus a headphone jack and expandable storage with a microSD card slot.
However, there are trade-offs to keep in mind. Phones under $200 will likely run slower than their pricier counterparts, lack NFC for contactless payments and may receive only one software update. Most of them won’t support speedier 5G connections, either. But you can have peace of mind knowing that they can support most apps from the Google Play Store and will receive a few years of security updates.
What’s the best phone under $200?
Phones that cost $200 before any discounts are also phones that come with minimal features and many compromises. Of the devices we’ve tested and reviewed, the Samsung Galaxy A12 is our favorite. It nails the essentials, like having a 5,000-mAh battery, four average cameras, and years of software and security updates. There’s the newer Galaxy A13 and the just-released Galaxy A14 (which we need to test), but the A12 still hits that sub-$200 price and can often be found selling for less than $100, or even as a freebie.
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Samsung’s Galaxy A03S at $160 (roughly 130, AU$240) includes plenty of great features and could be a great fit for someone looking for the cheapest possible phone that can handle most essential tasks. The phone’s 6.5-inch screen, capped at 720p resolution, is great for reading the news, watching videos, and playing games. Despite some performance lag found during our review, the phone is good at multitasking. But the phone’s tiny 32GB of storage space could fill up fast, so if considering this phone, it may be worthwhile to consider expanding the storage with a microSD card.
Samsung also plans to support this phone with at least four years of security updates, which at this price range is as good as it gets. On the software side, it’s less clear how many Android versions are scheduled, but the phone ships with Android 11 to start.
In our Galaxy A12 review, we found the phone took nicer photos than the cheaper Galaxy A03S thanks to its four-camera array with a 16-megapixel main camera, but it was still hindered by the same 32GB of onboard storage seen across all of Samsung’s sub-$200 phones.
While we haven’t tested the Galaxy A13, it’s possible that the $190 4G-only version of that phone is worth considering for its 50-megapixel main camera. But if you do plan to buy the Galaxy A12, know that the phone’s 3GB of memory handled multitasking well during our review, but experienced some lag when shifting between horizontal and vertical screen orientations.
The $130 Samsung Galaxy A02S was released in late 2020, and is still listed on Samsung’s website along with some wireless carriers. The phone originally shipped with Android 10, but has since received an update to Android 12 with Samsung’s One UI 4.1. Even though the Galaxy A02S is the lowest-priced phone in Samsung’s Galaxy line, the continued software and security updates should provide buyers with feature refinements along with protection from vulnerabilities.
During our review, we found multitasking to be the phone’s main shortcoming, along with the tiny 32GB of storage space included. The phone also has no fingerprint sensor, which means a security PIN or pattern will be necessary in order to keep the phone secure.
But the phone does include a microSD card slot for adding additional storage, a headphone jack and a large 6.5-inch 720p screen. If you just need a simple phone primarily for phone calls, texting and taking the occasional photo, then the Galaxy A02S could be a worthwhile choice.
How we test phones
Every phone on this list has been thoroughly tested by CNET’s expert reviews team. We actually use the phone, test the features, play games, and take photos. We assess any marketing promises that a company makes about its phones. And if we find something we don’t like, be it battery life or build quality, we tell you all about it.
We examine every aspect of a phone during testing:
Display.
Design and feel.
Processor performance.
Battery life.
Camera quality.
Features.
We test all of a phone’s cameras (both front and back) in a variety of conditions: from outdoors under sunlight to dimmer indoor locales and nighttime scenes (for any available night modes). We also compare our findings against similarly priced models. We run a series of real-world battery tests to see how long a phone lasts under everyday use.
We take into account additional phone features, like 5G, fingerprint and face readers, styluses, fast charging, foldable displays, and other useful extras. And we, of course, weigh all of our experiences and testing against the price, so you know whether a phone represents good value.
Phones that are under $200 just focus on the essentials, which means you’ll have to make some compromises. You’ll be able to make phone calls, text, video chat, browse the web and run most Android apps on these devices. But you shouldn’t expect NFC for mobile payments, 5G connectivity or — unfortunately — much included storage space.
However, these phones otherwise function well and could be what you’re looking for if all you need is a good communication device. They also include features that are becoming increasingly harder to find in more expensive phones, such as an included charger in the box, a headphone jack on the phone, and a microSD card slot for adding more storage.
That said, if you’re finding that your phone needs go beyond basic communication, you may want to consider phones that are under $300 or phones under $500, if you can expand your budget.
What about phones that are even cheaper, like under $100?
Phones under $100 do exist, but they usually come with significant compromises.
For instance, the TCL 30 Z is one of the cheapest Android 12 phones available, at $90. Though we haven’t tested this phone, I have noticed that it uses the antiquated micro-USB port for charging.
Most other Android phones and wireless headphones, even those in the budget price range, now use USB-C for charging, meaning you might find yourself scrambling for a charger if you misplace it. The phone is also getting only one major software update to Android 13 and two years of security updates, which is short but comparable to some phones sold under $300.
We haven’t reviewed any flip phones recently, but anyone looking for a device made specifically for phone calls should be well-served by most available options. Flip phones support 4G signals and — more importantly — HD Voice for clearer voice calls. Some flip phones even support modern apps like WhatsApp and the Google Assistant, albeit in a more limited way compared with how these services function on a smartphone. The , for instance, is a flip phone running on the brand’s KaiOS, which supports downloadable apps and services.
New iOS features can be fun, but we recommend only downloading a beta on something other than your primary phone just in case the new software causes issues. Apple also provides beta testers with an app called Feedback. Testers can notify Apple of any issues in the new software with the app, that way the problem can be addressed before general release.
Here’s what could be coming to your iPhone with iOS 16.6.
“With iMessage Contact Key Verification, users who face extraordinary digital threats … can choose to further verify that they are messaging only with the people they intend,” Apple wrote in a news release at the time.
The first iOS 16.6 beta appeared to include some of the framework for Contact Key Verification, but with iOS 16.6 beta 2, that seems to have disappeared. If you went to Settings and searched for “Contact Key Verification” in the first iOS 16.6 beta, you could see an option for the feature. But that option vanished in the second iOS 16.6 beta.
More Beats Studio Buds icons
The second iOS 16.6 beta adds two new color icons for Beats Studio Buds, according to the website Gadget Hacks. The new color icons are for the ivory and transparent Beats Studio Buds, so if you have either of those earbuds you should see those icons on your iPhone with the latest beta.
New iCloud for Windows prompt
Gadget Hacks also reports iOS 16.6 beta 2 adds a new prompt when you try to log into iCloud for Windows when your iPhone and Windows computer aren’t on the same Wi-Fi network. The new prompt reportedly advises you to use a different network and that your iPhone and Windows computer need to be on the same network.
Apple hasn’t announced a release date for iOS 16.6. Apple might include more features in iOS 16.6, and there’s no guarantee that these features will be included in the update.
It’s OK to be confused about the metaverse. Pessimists can point to Meta’s difficulties over the last year convincing us we’ll all inhabit this immersive 3D realm. Optimists can point to Meta’s new $499 Quest 3 virtual and mixed reality headset, announced Thursday, and a competing headset Apple is expected to reveal in just a few days as evidence that tech giants are still backing the idea of an immersive digital realm.
“Just in the last couple of years, it feels like a bunch of things have snapped into place — the prerequisites that we need to have on hand in order to really start building a metaverse,” Stephenson said Wednesday in a talk at Augmented Reality Expo.
Stephenson’s vested interest just isn’t from his novel. He’s worked at several startups since the 1990s, including augmented reality headset maker Magic Leap, but his current effort, Lamina1, is working on metaverse plumbing it hopes will lead to an open foundation easy for developers to build upon and for people to visit.
It’ll be a tough sell. The 2021 metaverse buzz has diminished greatly. Facebook renamed itself Meta, but investors have slammed its ambition to capitalize on the metaverse. And Web3 movement, which aimed to build “decentralized” metaverse tools that would reward those creating salable goods in the metaverse, has suffered persistent problems. That includes scams, security vulnerabilities and “rug pulls” in which project organizers hype a cryptocurrency then cash out, leaving investors with valueless assets.
Creative Strategies analyst Olivier Blanchard is a skeptic and the mainstream adoption of computer-generated virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) that blends computer imagery with the real world, and the umbrella term encompassing both, mixed reality (XR).
“Once the AI gold rush cools off and Apple has finally given it some sense of direction, it is going to need to decide what it wants to be when it grows up if it has any hope of ever attracting mainstream consumers,” Blanchard said. “Metaverse and XR companies are going to have to clearly communicate to users how their solutions will actually make their lives better rather than just more expensive and complicated.”
But maybe the metaverse won’t be as tough a sell soon.
Apple’s expected headset, years in the works and likely to emerge at the company’s WWDC developer conference, could help convince developers to build mixed reality apps. Apple successfully wooed mobile developers to write millions of apps for iPhones and iPads. And Meta’s Quest 3 XR headset has video pass-through mode that will give it AR abilities.
The metaverse has a long way to go before matching the widespread adoption of today’s web or the metaverse in Snow Crash.
Snow Crash is a rollicking novel that uses humor and adventure to take the edge off its dystopian vision. The metaverse plays a central role in the book, but Stephenson places the blame for the dystopia on human society more broadly. With the metaverse, Stephenson wanted to present a technology realm that accommodated a broad span of human activity.
“Our initial exposure to the metaverse is a kind of very vast market, a lowest common denominator to include … the worst of television,” Stephenson said. “But later on, as we get farther into the book, we see that people have used it to make beautiful works of art. There are some people … who lavished a lot of time and attention on making homes in the metaverse that are exquisite works of art, both visually and in this sonic environment.”
That metaverse was all about VR, but Stephenson takes a broader definition today, “a three-dimensional, virtual, shared environment,” which includes AR, too. Although Snow Crash is famous for its metaverse, there also are “gargoyle” characters in the book’s real world, uber-techies hidden behind AR goggles who are constantly tapped into data feeds.
Stephenson said he was impressed with progress with VR, AR and XR, in particular with game engine tools like Unity and Unreal Engine that are widely used for 3D graphics and gaming. But so far, there’s not enough reason to hang out in the metaverse.
Ori Inbar, a leader of augmented, mixed, and extended reality technology, speaks at the AWE 2023 next to a virtual version of himself.
Stephen Shankland/CNET
“If we’re going to have a metaverse that’s being used all the time by millions or billions of people, then there have to be experiences in the metaverse that are worth having,” Stephenson said. Lamina1’s goal is to improve the metaverse tooling so developers and other creators can build those experiences. That includes the blockchain and NFT technology that’s lost much of its luster as cryptocurrencies lost much of their value since peaking in 2021.
Stephenson helped to co-found Lumina1 in 2022, but he’s pulled back some. He still serves as chairman, but in 2023, he resumed novel writing, too, he said.
At the Augmented World Expo, AR fans are abundant, including show organizer and AugmentedReality.org Chief Executive Ori Inbar, who shared the stage with a virtual, nearly life-size version of himself appearing in a telepresence box built by ARHT Media. Inbar spent much of his 20 minutes on stage at the show defending the technology, arguing that it’s thriving despite the tech world’s attention moving to AI.
“We won’t rest until everyone uses XR, everywhere, all the time.”
Amazon will pay two separate penalties for privacy violations, the Federal Trade Commission has announced: $25 million for allegedly not deleting children’s data and $5.8 million for failing to restrict employee and contractor access to Ring security videos.
This put the data “at risk of harm from unnecessary access,” according to the FTC.
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule “does not allow companies to keep children’s data forever for any reason, and certainly not to train their algorithms,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement.
“We take our responsibilities to our customers and their families very seriously,” Amazon said. “We work hard to protect children’s privacy, and we have built robust privacy protections into our children’s products and services.”
“One employee over several months viewed thousands of video recordings belonging to female users of Ring cameras that surveilled intimate spaces in their homes such as their bathrooms or bedrooms. The employee wasn’t stopped until another employee discovered the misconduct,” the FTC alleges.
Ring’s failure to “implement basic measures to monitor and detect employees’ video access” meant the company also didn’t know who or how many employees accessed private videos inappropriately.
Ring didn’t seek customer consent for human review of their videos until January 2018, the FTC alleged.
Ring’s lack of security, including not offering multifactor authentication until 2019, meant hackers exploited account vulnerabilities to compromise 55,000 customers’ accounts in the US, the complaint says. Of those 55,000 customers, 910 accounts across 1,250 devices saw the hacker take “additional invasive actions, such as accessing a stored video, accessing a live stream video or viewing a customer’s profile,” the complaint details. In 20 instances, the hackers maintained access to customer devices for over a month.
“In many instances, the bad actors were not just passively viewing customers’ sensitive video data. Rather, the bad actors took advantage of the camera’s two-way communication functionality to harass, threaten, and insult individuals — including elderly individuals and children — whose rooms were monitored by Ring cameras, and to set off alarms and change important device settings,” the FTC’s complaint says.
The $5.8 million penalty will be used to refund customers, and Ring is required to delete data and videos if obtained prior to 2018 and “delete any work products it derived from these videos.”
Ring’s statement likewise disagreed with the FTC’s claims. “We want our customers to know that the FTC complaint draws on matters that Ring promptly addressed on its own, well before the FTC began its inquiry; mischaracterizes our security practices; and ignores the many protections we have in place for our customers,” Ring said.
Google on Thursday announced seven new features and updates to Android phones, tablets and Wear OS smartwatches. The offerings aim to help people learn new skills, stay productive on the go and protect their information, according to a blog post from Google.
The updates and features rolling out as of June 1 for phones and tablets include Reading Practice, which helps new readers improve their vocabulary and comprehension skills using thousands of compatible children’s ebooks on Google Play Books. There are also new widgets that bring Google TV, Google Finance and Google News to a user’s home screen and fresh emoji combinations in the Emoji Kitchen on Gboard.
These new options come shortly after Google I/O, where the tech giant revealed some of the new features coming to its Android 14 software. Android 14 is available in public beta and will officially arrive later this year.
This feature drop for Android and Wear OS comes just days ahead of Apple’s WWDC event, when it’s expected to show off iOS 17. The update is part of Google’s attempts to keep Android fresh and helpful in between major operating system releases.
New features coming to Wear OS smartwatches include new tiles and watch face complications for Spotify and an option for commuters in Washington, DC and the San Francisco Bay Area to use their watch to ride with their SmarTrip and Clipper cards in Google Wallet. (Google on Thursday announced even more features for Google Wallet.) Additionally, Google Keep for Wear OS users will be able to add a tile for fast access to a to-do list or selected note.
The tech giant said most people in the US with Google accounts can now try dark web report on the Google One website and app. It lets users run scans to see if their Gmail address has been exposed on the dark web. Google One subscribers can also scan for more personal information like their social security number.
