Category: Technologies

Samsung hasn’t been shy about flaunting the cameras on its new phones. It even wrangled endorsements from acclaimed directors Ridley Scott and Na Hong-jin during its Galaxy S23 announcement. However, in a surprising move for Samsung, the camera plays second fiddle to battery and performance upgrades in the new Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus.

The Galaxy S23 ($800, 849, AU$1,349) and Galaxy S23 Plus ($1,000, 1,049, AU$1,649), which are available today alongside the $1,200 Galaxy S23 Ultra ( 1,249, AU$1,949), feel like a half-generation upgrade compared to last year’s Galaxy S22.

Performance is faster, and battery life is thankfully a bit longer, which addresses the biggest complaint I had about the Galaxy S22. But unlike the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s cameras, which have noticeable improvements in color tone and dynamic range along with a new 200-megapixel sensor, the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus’ cameras largely feel the same as last year.

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And that’s OK. We’re past the point of revolutionary annual upgrades, and the Galaxy S23 is the perfect example of that. Instead, Samsung focused on making practical refinements to one of the areas that matters most in a phone: how long it lasts on a single charge. Still, you shouldn’t upgrade to the S23 or S23 Plus unless your phone is more than two years old since it’s not a radical change.

One of the Galaxy S23’s biggest drawbacks, however, isn’t a flaw with the phone itself, but rather the tough competition from Google. The $899 Pixel 7 Pro falls in between the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus pricewise and offers a stellar camera that bests Samsung’s in some scenarios. Samsung, however, does offer compelling trade-in bargains that could make the S23 lineup more compelling.

8.9

Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus

$800 at Samsung

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Like

• Attractive design
• 4 generations of Android OS updates
• Longer battery life than the Galaxy S22
• Fast performance
• More storage in the base S23 Plus

Don’t Like

• Cameras are basically the same as last year
• Expensive
• No improvements to fast charging
• Regular Galaxy S23 lacks base storage upgrade

Overall, the Galaxy S23 is ideal for Android fans that prioritize fast performance, solid cameras and having a spacious and bright screen in a compact package. The Galaxy S23’s cameras don’t always measure up to Apple’s and Google’s, but they’re still good enough to fit most peoples’ needs.

Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus get a battery upgrade

Like the Galaxy S22, the 6.1-inch Galaxy S23 remains a top choice for Android fans that prefer smaller phones. But there was just one problem with the Galaxy S22: Its battery life sometimes felt too short to get through a full day.

It looks like Samsung took these concerns to heart. Both the regular Galaxy S23 and the larger 6.6-inch Galaxy S23 Plus get a longer battery life compared to their predecessors. The Galaxy S23 has a 3,900-mAh battery, up from the Galaxy S22’s 3,700-mAh capacity, while the Galaxy S23 Plus has a 4,700-mAh battery instead of the S22 Plus’ 4,500-mAh battery. The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor inside the Galaxy S23 series, which has been optimized for Samsung’s new phones, should also bring some improvements to power efficiency.

Even though I’ve only used the new phones for a few days, these upgrades are already noticeable. When I used the 6.1-inch Galaxy S22 as my daily smartphone for roughly a month, I noticed that the battery dipped down to between 30 and 40% by 9 p.m., especially after a long day in the office.

With the Galaxy S23, the battery was down to 46% by 9:45 p.m. after a day of heavy usage (running benchmark performance tests, taking lots of photos and videos, etc.). With light usage after a day that started at 10 a.m, I had 64% left by the time I went to sleep just past 12:30 a.m. The Galaxy S23 Plus had 73% of its battery left by bedtime (around 11 p.m.) after a full day in the office.

Of course, battery life will vary depending on how you use your device. Tasks like making video calls and recording video will drain the battery faster, and settings such as screen brightness typically impact battery life. During my tests, I usually had the screen set between 25% and 50% of the phone’s maximum brightness; since Samsung’s phones have fairly bright screens, there’s usually no need to set it any higher.

I also tested the battery life by putting each phone through a 45-minute endurance test to see how quickly the battery drains after routine tasks like scrolling through social media, watching YouTube videos, playing games and making a video call. The Galaxy S23 dipped to 91% after that test, while the Galaxy S23 Plus decreased to 95%. Both scores represent a mild improvement over the Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus, which reached 89% and 92%, respectively.

To get a more thorough sense of the Galaxy S23’s battery life, I also ran a three-hour YouTube streaming test in which I cranked the display brightness all the way up while watching a video and measured the battery level at every hour. As you can see in the table below, the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus fared better than their predecessors during these tests, especially by the end of the third hour. Both phones also beat the Galaxy S22 Ultra in this test, and the Galaxy S23 matched the performance of the $599 Pixel 7.

While battery life improved, the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus have the same charging speeds as last year. The Galaxy S23 supports 25-watt fast-charging and 45-watt fast-charging for the Galaxy S23 Plus. But in practice, those charging speeds didn’t feel that different. The Galaxy S23 went from 47% to 86% after 30 minutes, while the Galaxy S23 Plus went from 59% to 94%.

While charging speed isn’t a deal-breaker when buying a new phone, it would have been nice to see Samsung push forward in this area. That’s especially true considering rivals like Xiaomi and OnePlus continue to shorten the time it takes to replenish their respective phones’ batteries.

Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus’ new processor is fast

The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus feel snappy and fast in everyday use, as phones in their price range should. Playing games with the graphics and frame rate at the highest settings felt smooth, and apps launched instantly. All three new phones have an adaptive refresh rate that reaches up to 120Hz for smoother scrolling and animations, which also contributes to the devices’ peppiness.

The one area where the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor seems to make a difference in everyday use is exporting video. The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus both exported a 30-second 4K video to 1080p faster than the Galaxy S22 Ultra and Pixel 7 Pro. The iPhone 14, however, was the fastest of the bunch. The Galaxy S23 lineup runs on a special customized version of Qualcomm’s latest mobile chip that’s been optimized for these phones, meaning it’s different from the version inside the OnePlus 11.

Benchmarks meant to test general computing (Geekbench 5) and how a processor handles high performance in short bursts (3DMark) told a similar story. The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus performed well compared to the Galaxy S22 and Pixel 7 Pro, and even outperformed the iPhone 14 on most tests. The OnePlus 11 was their closest competitor, which isn’t surprising considering it has a similar processor. But the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus did outpace the OnePlus 11 in the test meant to evaluate a processor’s single-core performance, which makes sense considering Samsung overclocked one of the CPU cores.

That said, real-world usage matters more than benchmarks. Other than the faster video export speeds, I didn’t experience anything on the Galaxy S23 lineup that felt unusually fast compared to most other phones in the same price range.

Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus camera is similar to the S22

The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus each have a triple rear camera that consists of a 50-megapixel main camera, 12-megapixel ultra wide and a 10-megapixel telephoto. Thanks to a technique called pixel binning, you can choose to shoot photos at the full 50-megapixel resolution or 12 megapixels depending on the scenario. The 12-megapixel option, for example, is usually better for poorly lit circumstances since it groups multiple pixels together to serve as a larger pixel for gathering more light. Samsung also integrates the controls from its Expert Raw app right into the main camera, making it more convenient for those who want easy access to the full, uncompressed version of an image.

This camera system is largely the same as the one on the S22, although Samsung has made some processing improvements, particularly when it comes to low light photography. That’s the biggest difference I noticed during my time testing the new phones against the Galaxy S22.

Check out the photos of my husband in a dim restaurant below. His face is brighter and his beard is more detailed.

Still, I preferred the iPhone 14’s and Pixel 7 Pro’s images, mostly because they captured more accurate skin tones. The Galaxy S23’s photo is brighter and more detailed than the Pixel 7 Pro’s, but it also makes his face look a little washed out.

The Galaxy S23 performs well in dim conditions overall, which isn’t surprising considering low-light photography has been a big area of focus for Samsung in recent years. Even though the iPhone 14 and Pixel 7 Pro performed better in the examples above, the S23 easily challenges Apple and Google in other low-light photography scenarios, like taking photos of pets and still objects.

In the photos of a book stack below, for example, the Galaxy S23 did a great job at retaining detail and color. The iPhone 14’s photo isn’t as colorful and has some noise compared to Samsung’s, although the Pixel 7 Pro’s image was a close competitor.

Otherwise, there isn’t anything that feels new or surprising about the Galaxy S23’s camera. While the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus can both capture crisp and clear images, there were instances in which colors either looked exaggerated or blown out compared to the same photos taken on the iPhone 14 and Pixel 7.

You can see an example of the exaggeration in this photo of my husband below. The shade of blue in his denim jacket is brighter than it looked in real life, while the iPhone 14 and Pixel 7 Pro’s photos look more natural.

But as I said in my review of the S23 Ultra, this isn’t always a bad thing. It can make certain photos pop and look more attractive overall, as is the case with the photo below. The pink flowers look more colorful and vibrant in the S23’s photo compared to the rest.

Samsung also upgraded the Galaxy S23’s selfie camera with a 12-megapixel sensor compared to the S22’s 10-megapixel front camera. However, I didn’t notice much of a difference under normal circumstances.

But Samsung’s phones easily took better selfies in low light compared to the iPhone 14 and Pixel 7 Pro. The photos from Google and Apple’s phones are both noisier and grainier than Samsung’s, which I noticed when comparing the photos on a large monitor. The Galaxy S23’s selfie is also a bit clearer than the S22’s, but the difference isn’t as dramatic.

The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus have a 3x optical zoom and 30x digital zoom, just like the S22 and S22 Plus. You’ll need to splurge on the $1,200 Galaxy S23 Ultra to get the 10x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom.

But the S23 and S23 Plus still have more to offer than the $799 iPhone 14, which has a 1x optical zoom and a 5x digital zoom.

Samsung is usually the king of zoom, but in this scenario Google takes the cake. The Pixel 7 Pro has a 5x optical zoom and a 30x digital zoom that looks far crisper than Samsung’s, as shown below.

As far as video recording is concerned, the S23 and S23 Plus can record at 8K resolution up to 30 frames per second. When recording video at the highest supported resolution and frame rate for each phone (4K at 60 frames per second for the iPhone 14 and Pixel 7 Pro), I noticed the Galaxy S23’s footage had more accurate color tones compared to the Pixel 7 Pro. The iPhone’s video, however, looked a bit crisper.

I also noticed that video stabilization improved slightly on the Galaxy S23 compared to the Galaxy S22, enabling it to better compete with Apple’s Action Mode.

The Galaxy S23’s camera isn’t a leap forward, but it’ll feel significant to those upgrading from a phone that’s several years old.

Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus have a slightly new design

The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus have largely the same appearance and feel as the Galaxy S22. And that’s a good thing in my opinion, because I loved the Galaxy S22’s sleek and colorful look.

The main difference is that Samsung did away with the camera island on the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus, instead opting for standalone lenses that sit arranged in a vertical column on the back of the device. It’s the same aesthetic as the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and it makes the S23’s design feel more consistent. Otherwise, the phones are available in new color options that include lavender, black, cream and green.

All three phones come in the same size options as the S22 lineup. There’s the 6.1-inch Galaxy S23, 6.6-inch Galaxy S23 Plus and 6.8-inch Galaxy S23 Ultra. Samsung does a better job than most at squeezing spacious screens into small devices. The Galaxy S23 Ultra still feels massive, but the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus feel surprisingly petite for their size.

The Galaxy S23 Plus, for example, only feels slightly larger than the 6.1-inch iPhone 14 despite the amount of extra screen space it provides. The Galaxy S23 is also one of the few Android phones with a 6.1-inch screen other than the Pixel 6A, making it a compelling choice for those who prefer compact devices.

All three new Galaxy phones launch with Android 13 and the One UI 5.1 overlay. Samsung also provides four generations of Android OS version upgrades, which is noteworthy considering Google only commits to three generations of updates on its Pixel phones. That means your Galaxy S23 will last for at least four years from a software perspective, so it shouldn’t feel outdated anytime soon.

Consistent with Samsung’s theme of making practical changes this year, the Galaxy S23 Plus and S23 Ultra now start at 256GB of storage rather than 128GB. That means you get double the storage capacity for the same price as last year’s devices. While it’s a great value for Samsung’s pricier phones, I’m disappointed Samsung didn’t do the same for its entry-level Galaxy S23. It would have been a good way for Samsung to further justify the Galaxy S23’s higher price compared to the $599 Pixel 7 while also giving potential Pixel 7 Pro shoppers another reason to consider Samsung instead.

Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus: Buy or skip?

The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus are moderate improvements over the Galaxy S22, bringing quality-of-life improvements like longer battery life, more base storage for the Plus and faster performance. Since this isn’t a major update, I don’t recommend upgrading unless you have a phone that’s more than two years old at the very least. Those who have an older phone will get the benefits that came with last year’s camera upgrade and redesign, along with the S23’s better battery life.

If you’re shopping in the $900 price range, the Pixel 7 Pro is also worth considering. The camera generally captures more accurate colors and crisper zoom shots than Samsung’s and you get a slightly larger screen for a cheaper price than the Galaxy S23 Plus. However, just remember that Google only offers three generations of Android OS updates for the Pixel 7 line, so you might want to upgrade sooner. Both Samsung and Google provide five years of security updates for their higher-end devices, so you’ll still have years before the phones may be susceptible to vulnerabilities.

The Galaxy S22 is also a tempting option at its new price of $700. But if you can afford it, I’d recommend going for the Galaxy S23 because of its longer battery life and newer processor. Let’s face it, your phone’s battery isn’t going to get any better over time, so you might as well invest in a device that will last longer.

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 of course balance all of this against the price to give you the verdict on whether that phone, whatever price it is, actually represents good value.

The more files you have on your Mac, the more difficult it can be to find what you’re looking for. That’s why we have the Finder, which can help you more easily go through your computer’s documents, folders and applications. However, to get the most out of the Finder, you need to know how to use it efficiently.

In this story we’ll show you 15 tricks you need to know to master the Finder, whether you need to open specific folders, quickly delete unimportant files, hide annoying sidebars and more. Here’s what you need to know.

And if you want more Mac tips, check out where to find all of your saved Wi-Fi passwords on your computer and these six Mac keyboard shortcuts you should be using all the time.

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Set a default folder to appear each time you open a new Finder window

If you navigate to a particular folder often, then you can set it as your default and save yourself a few clicks each time you open the Finder. Click the Finder menu in the menu bar and then select Preferences. Under the General tab, you will see that for New Finder windows show, the default is All My Files. You can change to your Home or Documents folder, or whichever folder you use the most.

Automatically remove items from the Trash

If you click the Advanced tab in Preferences, you’ll see a number of boxes to check, including Remove items from the Trash after 30 days. This can help you keep your trash from overflowing with files.

Open a new Finder window

Need to open another Finder window. You can use a keyboard shortcut for that. Hit Command + N to open a new Finder window. You can also use Command + T to open a new Finder tab, which allows you to view various folders within a single Finder window.

Open a specific folder in the Finder

Instead of looking for a folder, you can use the following keyboard shortcuts to open a specific folder:

• Command + Shift + C: Top-level Computer folder
• Command + Shift + D: Desktop folder
• Command + Shift + F: Recents folder
• Command + Shift + G: Go to Folder window
• Command + Shift + H: Home folder for your account
• Command + Shift + I: iCloud Drive folder
• Command + Shift + O: Documents folder
• Command + Shift + R: AirDrop folder
• Command + Shift + U: Utilities folder
• Command + Option + L: Downloads folder

Quickly search for a file or folder in the Finder

Although you can click on the magnifying glass in the top-right corner of any Finder window to search for a file folder, you can also use the keyboard shortcut Command + F to open the Finder with the search bar already activated.

Get info about a file or folder in the Finder

Need more information about a file or folder, such as file kind, folder size, date created or last modified? You can hit Command + I to open the Get Info panel for any selected file.

Show or hide the Sidebar in the Finder

If you need a cleaner view, use Command + Option + S to show or hide the Finder’s sidebar. Hit Command-Control-T to add a selected item — a folder, usually — to the sidebar.

Show or hide the path bar in the Finder

The Finder has another information bar in addition to the sidebar: the path bar. It’s the narrow bar along the bottom edge of the Finder, which shows you the folder path to the file you currently have selected. If you want to hide or show it, hit Command + Option + P.

Change the Finder view

You can change the view of the Finder by clicking the four buttons in the menu bar at the top of a Finder window. Alternatively, you can use keyboard shortcuts:

• Command + 1: Icon view
• Command + 2: List view
• Command + 3: Column view
• Command + 4: Gallery view

Check out your view options

Hit Command + J to open the View Options panel. This lets you choose, among other things, the types of columns — Date Modified, Size, Tags and so on — that you want to see for the Finder’s column view. You can set different columns to show for different folders in the Finder.

Quickly view a file without opening it

You can always double-click a file to view it, obviously, but there is a way to simply preview it. If you click on a file once, to highlight it, and then hit the spacebar, you can check out a preview of it. If you hold down Option + spacebar, you can open a full-screen slide of the file.

Create a new folder

Just like on your desktop, you can use the Command + Shift + N keyboard shortcut to create a new folder in the Finder.

Quickly trash a file or folder

Save yourself the trouble of dragging a file to the trash can in your dock. Instead, select the files or folders in the Finder you’d like to trash and hit Command + Delete. In related news, you can hit Command + Shift + Delete to empty the trash.

Add a file or folder to your dock

Use Command + Control + Shift + T to add a file or folder in the Finder to your dock. It will sit to the right of the dock’s divider.

Customize the Finder toolbar

From the menu bar at the top of the screen, go to View > Customize Toolbar to drag buttons to and from the toolbar at the top of the Finder. If you find that you don’t like the changes you made, just drag the default set back to the Finder to start again.

Looking for more Mac tips and tricks? Here’s a trackpad setting you should adjust and four different ways to take a screenshot on your Mac.

Do you enjoy cable clutter? Is your idea of a good time hunting around for the right adapter to connect a laptop to a display? If the answer is a resounding “no!” to these questions, you ought to consider a USB-C monitor for your next display upgrade.

A USB-C monitor offers the most streamlined setup and saves you from having various cables cluttering your desk.

With a USB-C monitor, a single cable delivers audio, video and power to the display. No need for an HDMI or DisplayPort connection for audio and video, with a separate USB cable to power the monitor’s USB ports. No need for an adapter or conversion cable to connect an HDMI or DisplayPort cable to your laptop. As laptops grow thinner, many have ditched the HDMI port altogether and offer only USB-C connections. Most notably, Apple’s MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro lack HDMI ports. And a USB-C monitor pairs nicely with a USB-C laptop.

In terms of resolution, I recommend at least full HD (1,920×1,080 pixels) for a 24-inch display; Quad HD (2,560×1,440 pixels) for a 27-inch display and Ultra HD (3,840×2,160 pixels, or 4K) for anything 32 inches or larger. The other spec to keep an eye on is the maximum brightness rating, which you’ll see range from 250 to 500 nits. Lower-end monitors are usually rated at 250 or 300 nits, which will likely suffice for a dark den or basement. For a sun-drenched office, however, you’ll want something that’s rated for 350 nits or higher. For more on that, I direct your attention to CNET’s monitor buying guide.

Check out the best USB-C monitor deals we can find right now. The screen sizes range from 24 inches to a 34-inch ultrawide display. What you won’t find here are professional-grade monitors with wide color gamut or gaming displays with fast refresh rates. These are general-purpose monitors for home, office and home office use.

Amazon

ViewSonic VX2485-MHU

24-inch FHD display

This basic USB-C display from ViewSonic is surprisingly well-rounded for the price. It serves up a full HD resolution, which ought to provide a crisp image across the 23.8-inch panel. In addition to USB-C connectivity, it also features both HDMI and VGA connections. It’s far from a gaming monitor, but if you want to play the occasional game, it does feature AMD FreeSync to help eliminate screen tearing and stuttering. Integrated speakers are on board — not always a given — and it’s adjustable with both tilt and swivel (but no height adjustment). With a minimal 250-nit brightness rating, however, it’s best used under artificial light rather than a room that receives a ton of natural light. It’s on sale for $160 at Amazon right now.

$160 at Amazon

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ViewSonic

ViewSonic VG2755-2K

27-inch QHD display

This ViewSonic model is a 27-inch display with a QHD resolution for a sharper picture than an FHD display provides. It’s one of the most affordable 27-inch QHD monitors you’ll find, and it’s rated for a sufficient 350 nits of brightness. The stand isn’t the sleekest, but it makes up for its clunky design with flexibility, offering pivot, swivel, height and tilt adjustments.

$300 at Amazon

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Lenovo

Lenovo Q27h-10

27-inch QHD display

This Lenovo model offers USB-C connectivity along with both HDMI and DisplayPort. It’s rated for 350 nits of brightness and also supplies integrated speakers and a modern design with thin bezels and a flexible stand that provides height, tilt, swivel and pivot adjustments. It’s slightly discounted at Amazon right now from its already reasonable $350 list price.

$328 at Amazon

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Dell

Dell S2722DZ

27-inch QHD display with webcam

This Dell monitor that offers similar specs as the above models — 27 inches, QHD resolution, USB-C connectivity, 350-nit rating — along with a 5-megapixel, pop-up webcam for all of your video conferences. It’s price has gone up slightly; last month it was on sale for only $330. It might be worth waiting to see if its price dips back below $350 before pulling the trigger on a purchase.

$374 at Amazon

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BenQ

BenQ EW3270U

32-inch 4K display

This BenQ model at its current price of $349 is one of the most affordable 32-inch 4K displays with USB-C connectivity. It’s rated for 300 nits of brightness and also features AMD FreeSync and both HDMI and DisplayPort connections.

$349 at Amazon

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AOC

AOC U32P2CA

32-inch 4K display

This 32-inch 4K AOC display, with a rating of 350 nits, should provide a panel that is a bit brighter than the above BenQ. It supplies a DisplayPort connection and a pair of HDMI ports in addition to USB-C connectivity. It also has integrated speakers and a flexible stand with height, tilt and swivel adjustments.

$400 at Amazon

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LG

LG 34WP65G-B

34-inch ultrawide display

This ultrawide display acts like a two-monitor setup but without the break in the middle between the display. It features an ultrawide 21:9 aspect ratio and a 2,560×1,080-pixel resolution. In addition to being plenty wide, it should be plenty bright with a 400-nit rating. It also features AMD FreeSync. It’s reasonably priced at $400 and even more so right now at Best Buy with its $50 discount.

$350 at Best Buy

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Although earbuds with ear hooks may not be for everyone, you can’t deny that they add an extra level of security. While your buds may fall out of your ears, the hooks keep them attached to your head, preventing you from losing them or having them drop to the pavement, which may lead to some damage. That’s an important feature, particularly if you wear earbuds while running or biking.

Here’s a look at the best earbuds with ear hooks, all of which we’ve tested. Most of them are affordable, with most costing less than $100. We’ll update this list as new sports earbuds hit the market.

Read more: Best Workout Headphones for 2023

David Carnoy/CNET

Soundcore by Anker Sport X10

Top value ear-hook style true-wireless earbuds

The new Soundcore Sport X10 have an interesting design with rotating swiveling ear hooks that flip up when you’re using them and flip down when you want to set them in their charging case, which has a smaller footprint than a lot of buds with ear hooks.

As long as you get a tight seal, they sound good, with powerful, punchy bass and good detail. They also have active noise canceling, which is effective though not as good as Sony or Bose’s noise canceling. They’re also fully waterproof with an IPX7 rating, which means they can be fully submerged in up to 3 feet of water for 30 minutes. Battery life is rated at up to 8 hours with an additional three charges in the charging case.

$80 at Walmart

$56 at Amazon

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Screenshot by David Carnoy/CNET

JBL Endurance Peak 3

Best new ear-hook style true-wireless earbuds

JBL has upgraded its ear-hook style sport earbuds for 2023. Available in black or white, the Endurance Peak 3 buds offer better battery life (up to 10 hours with four extra charges in their case) improved voice-calling performance and an IP68 rating that makes them fully waterproof and dust-proof. They also have an Ambient Aware transparency mode and Talk Thru mode that can automatically lower your music’s volume level and open up the buds to the outside world. That means you can have conversation with someone without removing the buds from your ears.

They stayed on my ears very securely during runs and I thought they sounded quite good, though they do have a bit of bass push (by that I mean they have powerful bass). Just be aware that if you don’t get a tight seal, sound quality will be significantly worse. Also, like other earbuds with ear-hook designs, the case is on the beefy side. That said, the buds do seem durable and if you get a good fit, they’re an excellent (and less pricey) alternative to the Beats Powerbeats Pro. I also though the touch controls worked well and was easily able to toggle through the sound modes.

$100 at Amazon

$100 at Best Buy

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Beats

Beats Powerbeats Pro

Most popular ear-hook style sport earbuds

Battery Life

Rated up to 9 hours

Noise Canceling

No

Multipoint

No

Headphone Type

Wireless earbuds

Water-Resistant

Yes (IPX4 — splash-proof)

The Beats Powerbeats Pro earbuds have been on the market for a few years but remain popular and are now available in several color options. Their jumbo charging case is a notable drawback, but they offer many of the same features as Apple’s AirPods 2 (they’re equipped with Apple’s H1 chip) but have better sound so long as you get a tight seal (they should fit most — but not all — ears well). There’s no active noise canceling but battery life is strong at up to 9 hours and they’re IPX4 splash-proof.

Note that the Powerbeats Pro are frequently on sale, so you should only buy them if they’re substantially discounted. Read our Powerbeats Pro review.

Read our Beats Powerbeats Pro review.

$154 at Amazon

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David Carnoy/CNET

Skullcandy Push Active

Best with voice commands

Battery Life

Rated up to 10 hours

Noise Canceling

No

Multipoint

No

Headphone Type

Wireless earbuds

Water-Resistant

Yes (IP55 — protection against low-pressure water streams)

With so many new wireless earbuds and headphones being released on what seems likely a weekly basis, it’s not easy for companies to differentiate their products in the marketplace. Skullcandy hopes its new voice-driven platform, Skull-iQ Smart Feature Technology, will do just that. Similar to the Apple AirPods’ “Hey Siri” feature, Skullcandy’s version allows you to say “Hey, Skullcandy” to issue hands-free voice commands without touching a button. Skull-iQ debuts on the sports-oriented Push Active, and the $100 Grind Fuel, which will be firmware updatable via the Skullcandy App.

With their ear-hook design, they’re essentially a more affordable version of the Beats Powerbeats Pro and they fit my ears slightly better than the Powerbeats Pro. I’m not usually a fan of ear-hook style buds, but this is one of the better ones.

The Push Active True earbuds are equipped with Bluetooth 5.2, are IP55 splashproof, have built-in Tile Finding Technology and are rated for up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge at moderate volume levels.

$60 at Amazon

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Cleer Arc

Best new open sport earbuds with ear hooks

Cleer’s Epic Arc buds are similar to Bose’s Open Sport Earbuds (see below) but are actually a little more comfortable to wear thanks to their swiveling hinge. Like the Bose buds, they rest on the top of your ear just above the ear canal and fire sound into your ears. They’re open so they let ambient sound in (that’s a plus if you’re a runner or biker and want to hear traffic), but their 16.2 mm drivers provide ample bass and volume. They don’t sound quite as good as the Bose Open Sport Earbuds but they’re pretty close.

I liked the case, which is a little big but pretty thin. While it has an integrated USB charging cable (that’s nice), like the Bose Open Sport Earbuds case it doesn’t have a rechargeable battery so it’s basically a dock for charging the earbuds, which are also available in black. Battery life is rated at up to 7 hours and they’re IPX5 splash-proof.

Some of these types of ear-hook-style earbuds have physical control buttons but these have touch controls. I found they worked pretty well but not great. The buds do have a companion app that allows you to upgrade the firmware and tweak the sound profile.

$130 at Amazon

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Tribit MoveBuds H1

Durable ear-hook earbuds

Battery Life

Rated up to 15 hours

Noise Canceling

No

Multipoint

No

Headphone Type

Wireless earbuds

Water-Resistant

Yes (IPX8 — can be fully submerged for long periods of time)

While the Tribit MoveBuds H1 only sound decent, not great, there’s a lot to like about them. They feel sturdy and are fully waterproof with an IPX8 rating. They also have very long battery life — up to 15 hours — and support Qualcomm’s AptX audio codec. Many Android smartphones offer AptX Bluetooth streaming.

$90 at Amazon

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Valentine’s Day is behind us, but don’t worry: You still have the opportunity to flirt with and date some Overwatch heroes in Loverwatch. Loverwatch is a web-based dating sim — the biggest and best surprise Overwatch 2 has delivered.

In the game, you’re guided by Hanzo in Cupid form as he helps you navigate your way to Genji’s or Mercy’s heart — whether that means friendship or romance is up to you. The journey will take you to Overwatch locales like a Midtown comedy club and a five-star restaurant in Circuit Royale as you spend time with your date and get to know them better. It’s a hilarious ride filled with self-aware jokes and a surprising amount of heart.

You can play Loverwatch by going to loverwatch.gg. It plays directly in your web browser — no downloads required. Simply follow the prompts on screen, follow Cupid’s advice, and interact with your dates. If you sign in to your Battle.net account, you’ll be able to earn in-game rewards for successfully winning the admiration of the Overwatch heroes.

As I mentioned in CNET’s season 3 guide, the Overwatch roster is overflowing with eligible dates. Of those 30-plus heroes, though, Genji and Mercy are two of the most popular, with plenty of backstory to draw from. That makes them good choices for Loverwatch, which is hopefully just the first iteration of a larger Overwatch dating sim. The game itself hints at the hopes of doing more.

Loverwatch, as weird and unexpected as the project might seem, is one of the best things Overwatch has produced. CNET got to talk to the game’s writers and brand manager in media interviews the day after its launch. Here’s what we learned about the game’s origins and the possibility of fans getting more in the future.

Is Loverwatch canon?

No. The writers pulled from the characters’ personalities based on longstanding lore and in-game interactions, but the events of the dating sim aren’t canon. The game states that upfront before players begin courting the hero of their choice.

How to get the secret ending

For the rewards hunters: Genji and Mercy are the two options at the start of the game, but theirs aren’t the only hearts you can win. If you successfully form a connection with both heroes, you’ll unlock a secret ending where Cupid himself tells you that he admires your dedication to love in all its forms. You’ll get a unique reward for earning this ending, which transfers to your Battle.net account.

Why a dating sim?

Overwatch has needed something like this for years. It’s a bright, vibrant game filled with characters who inspire late-night lore-binging sessions, yet the core game is a competitive shooter — not the most inviting or accessible environment for everyone. A dating sim is a great way for Blizzard to get the game and its characters out in front of more people without asking them to go through the terrors of online matchmaking. The writers do a remarkable job of slipping in-jokes into the dialogue for people who’ve played for years, while still providing context for people who might’ve joined when Overwatch 2 launched as a free-to-play game.

The developers seem to be aware of the potential for engagement outside of the core gameplay. Overwatch Brand Manager Beth Bryson said that, as part of the game’s new free-to-play model, “We’re going to give [fans] ways to experience the Overwatch world and experience our heroes and interact with them in unique and different ways,” and Loverwatch is the introductory path.

According to Senior Narrative Designer Miranda Moyer, heroes are the lifeblood of the game, and the Overwatch developers were enthusiastic about giving fans an opportunity to interact with those heroes in a more character-focused experience. Moyer wrote Genji’s path in the dating sim.

Narrative Designer Kyungseo Min, who wrote Mercy’s path, said, “We wanted to [expand the universe] in a way where we wanted to include members of the community who kinda felt left out by the PVP experience,” and that a project like Loverwatch gives them the opportunity to expand while being inclusive.

Will there be more Overwatch dating sims?

Everyone who plays the game seems to be asking for more. Bryson said the hope is that the player response will be big enough to explore other avenues like Loverwatch. “I think there’s a very large appetite for that within the team. No promises, but we certainly make a stronger case for ourselves if players are jumping in and enjoying it.”

Moyer added, “There is absolutely a lot of enthusiasm behind this project, and we have a ton of ideas for the rest of the cast.”

Maybe your ultimate hope is to be able to court the troubled-but-wholesome members of Overwatch or the more complicated heroes like Ashe or the members of Talon. Or perhaps you just have an unquenchable thirst for one of the game’s omnics. Regardless, the best way to guarantee that possibility is to go play Loverwatch right now. Trust me, it’s worth the 10 minutes or so a single playthrough will take you, and you’ll be helping out the entire Overwatch community by advancing our obsession.

For more on Overwatch, check out how the newest hero expands the game’s lore and what you can find in the new map.

Presidents Day sales have hit a ton of retailers this holiday weekend, and StackSocial is no exception. The product platform has deals on apps, online courses and more. We’ve gone through the sale and gathered a few of our favorite discounts. Some of these deals expire as early as Feb. 22, so if you’re interested, be sure to make your purchase soon.

Headspace

Headway Premium: $50

Save $250

Headway presents big ideas in bite-sized segments so that you can do more with your day. Your purchase will grant you lifetime access to the Headway app, which provides 15-minute summaries of popular nonfiction books, focusing on those that align with your needs, goals and interests. Topics include self-growth, productivity, happiness and more. If you have a busy schedule, this app will help you tackle more in less time.

$50 at StackSocial

Dollar Flight Club: $46

Save $1,644

Do you like to travel? If you’re a budget-conscious flyer, Dollar Flight Club can help you access low-cost fares and other deals. Pay a one-time fee of $46, and you will get a lifetime subscription to DFC’s Premium Plus tier, which provides you with alerts on discounted business, premium economy and economy fares sent directly to your email, which will help you snag ticket for less.

$46 at StackSocial

Phigolf

Phigolf: World Tour Edition: $180

Save $69

Practice your golf swing from just about anywhere. Phigolf has a sensor and a weighted swing stick that allow you to use your real golf swing in gameplay, so you can practice without having to step foot on a course. And you can even go up against others online. This edition includes access to over 38,000 real golf courses and offers live 3D analysis on swinging, chipping, driving and putting.

$180 at StackSocial

StackSocial

The Complete Excel, VBA and Data Science Certification Training bundle: $25

Save $2,575

This training bundle offers 13 courses featuring 52 hours of total content covering everything you need to know about Excel, starting at the beginner level. Learn coding essentials for data science in Excel, how to automate tasks with Python, how to build pivot tables and so much more. You’ll get lifetime access to the courses included in this bundle, so you can learn at your own pace and revisit material if you need to. Note, however, that this deal is only for the course content. The software is not included.

$25 at StackSocial

Vint Cerf, a founding father of the internet, has some harsh words for the suddenly hot technology behind the ChatGPT AI chatbot: “Snake oil.”

Google’s internet evangelist wasn’t completely down on the artificial intelligence technology behind ChatGPT and Google’s own competing Bard, called a large language model. But, speaking Monday at Celesta Capital’s TechSurge Summit, he did warn about ethical issues of a technology that can generate plausible sounding but incorrect information even when trained on a foundation of factual material.

If an executive tried to get him to apply ChatGPT to some business problem, his response would be to call it snake oil, referring to bogus medicines that quacks sold in the 1800s, he said. Another ChatGPT metaphor involved kitchen appliances.

“It’s like a salad shooter — you know how the lettuce goes all over everywhere,” Cerf said. “The facts are all over everywhere, and it mixes them together because it doesn’t know any better.”

OpenAI’s ChatGPT and competitors like Google’s Bard hold the potential to significantly transform our online lives by answering questions, drafting emails, summarizing presentations and performing many other tasks. Microsoft has begun building OpenAI’s language technology into its Bing search engine in a significant challenge to Google, but it uses its own index of the web to try to “ground” OpenAI’s flights of fancy with authoritative, trustworthy documents.

Cerf’s concern arrived just as people putting Bing through its paces discovered factual errors that didn’t match source documents and bizarre chat behavior during extended conversations. Microsoft pledged to improve performance.

In 2004, Cerf shared the Turing Award, the top prize in computing, for helping to develop the internet foundation called TCP/IP, which shuttles data from one computer to another by breaking it into small, individually addressed packets that can take different routes from source to destination. He’s not an AI researcher, but he’s a computing engineer who’d like to see his colleagues improve AI’s shortcomings.

Cerf said he was surprised to learn that ChatGPT could fabricate bogus information from a factual foundation. “I asked it, ‘Write me a biography of Vint Cerf.’ It got a bunch of things wrong,” Cerf said. That’s when he learned the technology’s inner workings — that it uses statistical patterns spotted from huge amounts of training data to construct its response.

“It knows how to string a sentence together that’s grammatically likely to be correct,” but it has no true knowledge of what it’s saying, Cerf said. “We are a long way away from the self-awareness we want.”

OpenAI, which earlier in February launched a $20 per month plan to use ChatGPT, has been clear about about the technology’s shortcomings but aims to improve it through “continuous iteration.”

“ChatGPT sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers. Fixing this issue is challenging,” the AI research lab said when it launched ChatGPT in November.

Cerf hopes for progress, too. “Engineers like me should be responsible for trying to find a way to tame some of these technologies so they are less likely to cause trouble,” he said.

Cerf’s comments stood in contrast to those of another Turing award winner at the conference, chip design pioneer and former Stanford President John Hennessy, who offered a more optimistic assessment of AI.

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to create some personalfinance explainers that are edited and fact-checked by our editors. Formore, see this post.

Twitter users who secure their accounts using text message will lose the extra layer of security after March 20 unless they change their two-factor authentication method or pay for the platform’s subscription service.

Two-factor authentication allows people to protect their accounts even if someone has stolen their password. Twitter users who have this security process enabled are able to log into their account after they enter their password and a code they receive through a text message or an authenticator app. They can also use a security key.

The company said in a blog post it is no longer allowing “accounts to enroll in the text message/SMS method of 2FA unless they are Twitter Blue subscribers.”

“To be clear, two-factor authentication is still not required to log into Twitter, although we highly encourage users to enable it. This change just restricts the 2FA methods available for accounts not subscribed to Twitter Blue,” Twitter Support tweeted on Friday. Twitter Blue, the platform’s subscription service, costs $8 per month if you subscribe through the web or $11 a month on your mobile device.

Twitter users can change their two-factor authentication app through the account’s settings. Once users click “security and account access,” there’s three different options listed in a section for two-factor authentication.

Twitter’s announcement came hours after Platformer’s Zoë Schiffer tweeted that the social network planned to make this change. It’s another example of how Twitter is trying to entice more users to subscribe to Twitter Blue as advertisers pull back spending after billionaire Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the company last year. The Information reported earlier this month that Twitter has roughly 180,000 subscribers in the US so the service doesn’t appear to be popular among the platform’s users. The company has tried to get more people to subscribe by offering a coveted blue checkmark, longer tweets and other features.

The change also comes as Twitter faces more scrutiny and whistleblower complaints about how the company isn’t doing enough to safeguard the security of users. Last year, Twitter users complained that two-factor authentication wasn’t working properly and the company said it was looking into instances where SMS codes weren’t being delivered.

Using a text message for two-factor authentication, Twitter said in a blog post, has been “used – and abused – by bad actors.” Hackers have tried to access codes sent through text message by transferring a person’s phone number to another device in what is known as SIM swapping.

Twitter users who disable text message 2FA will not automatically have their phone number disassociated from their account but can update their number in the account’s settings, the company said.