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How to trade in your MacBook, macOS desktop, iPhone, or iPad

tigaman webdesign — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 14:18:55 +0000

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

If you’re looking to trade in your Apple product — be it a MacBook, iMac, Mac desktop, iPhone, or iPad — you stand to get a pretty good return. Apple’s tech has a reputation on the secondhand market for retaining value long after release. This speaks to build quality but mostly to Apple’s long-lasting software support for its older products. The trend is positive both for buyers, who will end up with a product that could continue to work for years, and sellers, who will make a good percentage of their original purchase price back.

There are plenty of ways of trading in your old Apple products for cash. You can easily net an extra $50 to $100 from a sale if you’ve taken care of your tech, as buyers will pay more for products that look closer to new condition. So it pays to make sure that your hardware is in good shape.

Clean your gear

How you clean your Apple product will vary depending on what it is you’re selling. You’ll want to apply some screen cleaner to your iPhone, MacBook, iMac, or iPad before listing it for sale. While doing so, take note of any scratches or other defects in the display or the body, and be sure to accurately report them during the selling process, or you’ll probably be met with an unhappy buyer and no sale.

Remove any stickers from your tech, and if you have a can of compressed air, clean out any ports and grilles. There’s no reminder more immediate that your device is preowned than forgetting to clean out port gunk.

If you’re selling a macOS desktop, like a Mac Pro or Mac mini, open it up and gently remove any dust that has accumulated within, and if you want to add some RAM to sweeten the deal for buyers, this is your chance.

Detach your services

You’re going to perform a factory reset, which should take care of anything you have associated with your computer or iPhone, but just in case…

Make sure you’re completely backed up on iCloud (or your favored backup solution).
Sign out of services such as Messages, Find My, and iCloud.
Unpair devices such as an Apple Watch and any headsets or earbuds.

Perform a factory reset

Ensuring that your computer, phone, or watch is properly wiped is mutually beneficial for both buyer and seller. What good is hardware that you can’t access due to an unknown passcode? Depending on what product you’re dealing with, the process for initiating a factory reset will be different, but it’s usually easy.

MacBook or macOS desktop

On your MacBook or macOS desktop, first make sure you’ve backed up all of your personal files to your cloud storage service of choice or to an external hard drive. Once you’ve ensured that everything is duplicated and safe in a location other than your hard drive, you can wipe the computer.

If you’ve got a system running macOS Ventura:

Go to System Settings > General.
You’ll see Migration Assistant on the right. Click on Erase All Content and Settings and follow the directions from there.

Click on Erase All Content and Settings and follow the directions from there.

If you have macOS Monterey:

Go to System Settings > System Preferences.
Click on Erase All Content and Settings and follow the directions from there.

If you have an older system that hasn’t been updated, or if the directions above don’t work, try this:

Click the Apple logo up top, and hit Restart.
Once you hear the startup chime, hold down the Command + R keys until the Apple logo appears on your screen. This will load you into the recovery partition of your hard drive, letting you obliterate your personal information once and for all.
Of the applications listed, open Disk Utility, then click into the first option listed under your hard drive’s name. If you haven’t changed its name, it will probably be called “Macintosh HD.”
Navigate to Erase and confirm the selection. If you choose to securely wipe your computer, it will take a few hours for the operation to write over your drive several times.
With this step finished, you’re ready to reinstall the operating system. Click the red x, and you’ll be popped back to the recovery menu. Make sure your machine is connected to the internet, then hit Reinstall macOS to return it to factory settings.

iPhone or iPad

Before you wipe your phone or tablet, switch on iCloud to sync all of the information that you want to keep. Then:

Open up the Settings app and navigate to General.
Once you’re there, scroll down to Transfer or Reset Phone, then hit Erase all content and settings at the bottom of the screen. (If you’re transferring to a new iPhone and aren’t sure you’re ready, tap Get Started under the subhead Prepare for New iPhone first.)
If asked, enter your passcode or Apple ID password.

Apple Watch

We have directions on how to reset your Apple Watch to factory settings here.

Trade or sell your Apple hardware

You can simply trade in your hardware via Apple itself, or you can go to a number of sites that will offer you the chance to sell your stuff.

Apple Trade In gives you store credit toward a new device.

Apple Trade In will give you Apple Store credit in exchange for your computer, iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch. (It will even do a trade-in for an Android phone.) On Apple’s site, you can find out how much you can get for your device — click on the blue Find your trade-in value button. You’ll just need to answer a few questions to find the value. You can either mail your device in or trade it in at Apple Stores in the US and Canada. Apple may not pay you as much for your device as it might go for on the public market, but it’s a good option if you just want to flip your tech without a fuss.

If Apple isn’t offering enough for your tech, or if you prefer cash, you can sell it instead. You’ll find passionate people from all over who will likely take interest in your gear if it’s priced well and in good condition (and even if it’s not, so long as it’s priced accordingly).

There are a variety of services where you can go to sell your hardware. These are just a few:

You may want to start with sites such as Flipsy and SellCell, which offer comparisons from a number of different buy-back sites.
If you are selling a tablet, phone, laptop, or certain types of desktops, you can try Swappa, which allows you to either post your device to sell on its site or sell it immediately to one of Swappa’s trade-in partners for less money (but a presumably faster response).
Decluttr buys and sells a variety of refurbished tech. It operates the way many similar trade-in sites do: you go through a questionnaire and get a quote on your device; if you accept the quote, you send in the device. If they find that the device is in the condition stated, you’re paid by direct deposit or PayPal. Decluttr also says it will recycle the original box and charger that came with your device if you choose to send them.
If you’re a frequent Best Buy customer, then it might be worth it to try that store’s trade-in service; you will receive a Best Buy gift card in the amount of your trade-in.
Comparatively, Craigslist doesn’t limit what you want to sell or charge you for listing your items. In fact, for better or worse, it doesn’t hold your hand at all. It will be up to you to arrange the meeting point, negotiate a price, and, finally, decide on how money will be exchanged. This can be stressful, but it can also be super easy and fast. Just make sure that you meet in public places and don’t fall for an offer that seems too good to be true.

Update June 29th, 2023, 10:18AM ET: This article was originally published on January 14th, 2020, and has been updated to reflect a number of changes in trade-in policies and in operating system features.

The AirPods Max are getting left behind, so are new Apple headphones coming this year?

tigaman webdesign — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 18:00:00 +0000

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

It was inevitable that despite their hefty $549 price, Apple’s AirPods Max headphones would eventually start to miss out on the company’s latest software enhancements. Headphones are basically computers now and have evolved into their own platform, so just like with any iPhone or Mac, Apple’s ecosystem tricks and new features increasingly require more powerful silicon and revamped components.

We started to see the swan song for the two-and-a-half-years-old AirPods Max earlier this month at WWDC when Apple announced several new features coming this fall that, in nearly all cases, will exclusively apply to the second-generation AirPods Pro — and no other models. The headlining feature is called “Adaptive Audio,” a new sound mode that intelligently blends noise cancellation and transparency modes based on your surroundings. “You can stay present in your environment while distracting noises are automatically reduced,” Apple’s Ron Huang said during the keynote presentation. Adaptive Audio will generally muffle the outside world, but you’ll clearly hear certain sounds — bike bells, car horns, etc. — that are important for personal safety.

Adaptive Audio builds upon the Adaptive Transparency mode that launched with the second-gen AirPods Pro. On those earbuds, Apple’s passthrough mode can quickly soften ear-piercing sounds like sirens and construction work. The company said this on-device processing was made possible by its H2 chip, which (so far) is only available in the latest AirPods Pro. The AirPods Max have an H1 chip in each ear cup, but apparently, that’s still not enough to make Adaptive Audio happen.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

The first-gen AirPods Max are set to miss out on Apple’s new Adaptive Audio, Personalized Volume, and Conversation Awareness features.

Adaptive Audio promises some unique functionality, and I’m looking forward to testing it. But some of Apple’s other new audio features — again, all exclusive to the newest AirPods Pro — seem inspired by what we’ve seen from the earbud competition.

Personalized Volume is another of those tricks announced at WWDC. Over time, the AirPods Pro will learn your volume preferences in different conditions and automatically try to keep the loudness right where you like it. This is an idea that Google pursued with past Pixel Buds, but the company ditched Adaptive Sound with the Pixel Buds Pro. Apple is very cognizant of hearing health, so I’d wager Personalized Volume will only crank your music up so far.

And then there’s Conversation Awareness, which is a feature I’d argue Sony pioneered before other earbuds adopted the same concept. That said, Apple’s implementation sounds slightly more sophisticated than simply turning down the volume and flipping on transparency mode as soon as you start talking. Conversation Awareness lowers the music, sure, but Apple has said that it can “enhance the voices in front of the user, all while reducing background noise.” There’s a focus on isolating voice frequencies that isn’t present in other approaches to this I’ve tried so far.

But again, the bad news for AirPods Max owners is that none of this new functionality is coming to Apple’s most premium headphones. They’re not being ignored completely; you’ll be able to quickly mute yourself on calls with the digital crown, and Apple has said the sometimes-unpredictable automatic device switching will be much more reliable after this fall’s round of software updates. But the most helpful upgrades aren’t coming. Even small conveniences like the shorter “Siri” activation word — no more “Hey” required — are only for the second-gen AirPods Pro. Ouch.

The AirPods Max have caught on in a big way

Anecdotally, I’ve been seeing the AirPods Max everywhere lately. There are two people wearing them at the coffee shop where I’m writing this. I’m sure much of that momentum is owed to frequent retailer discounts, as it’s very easy to find sales on them at this point. Still, even with a discount, they are typically more expensive than many competitors.

Either way, a lot of the time, they’re being used outdoors on busy city streets. Adaptive Audio would absolutely be a beneficial feature for this product. And why wouldn’t I want Conversation Awareness when wearing them at the office? You’re not going to see many complaints piling up during the summer beta cycle, but once these features roll out to everyone come September, I’d wager more than a few AirPods Max owners will be irked by what they’re missing out on — if they’re even aware of the new features at all.

Will Apple really keep the current model around for another year (or more) and leave them stranded with fewer features compared to the AirPods Pro? Even right now, after hearing the WWDC announcements, I’d feel a bit ripped off walking into an Apple Store and spending $549 on headphones that have nearly hit the wall on new features.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

That Lightning connector is gonna have to go at some point.

Rumors on the next AirPods Max have been few and far between. Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo doesn’t expect anything until the second half of 2024 or even later. That feels… very late. I’m hopeful we’ll see a new version of the company’s noise-canceling headphones this fall alongside the iPhone 15 lineup. The iPhone’s pending transition to USB-C opens the door to an “easy” AirPods Max refresh: Apple could swap out the Lightning port, upgrade the silicon to the more advanced H2 chip, and call it a day. I’d take that over nothing at all. The AirPods Pro are very likely to get a USB-C charging case, and that’ll probably be it until a third-gen set comes along.

But I hope we’ll see something more than that for the AirPods Max. There’s no denying that for all their careful design considerations, Apple’s headphones are heavy and can get fatiguing over time. Hell, we’ve got people getting anxious about denting their heads nowadays. If the company can shave off some of that load, it could result in meaningful improvements to extended comfort. And then there’s the pitiful “case” that offers little in the way of actual protection for the premium cans. That could desperately use a do-over at some point. And as an audio fidelity nerd, I’m still dreaming of the day we get some sort of wireless Apple Lossless support. Not holding my breath for that last one, though. Longer battery life would be nice, seeing as companies like Sennheiser have lapped the playback time of the AirPods Max.

It’s evident that Apple is calculated and deliberate when it comes to new AirPods hardware. The second-gen AirPods Pro look very similar to the originals — much to the chagrin of anyone who’d hoped to see new colors or a fresh design — but offer substantial improvements in sound quality, noise cancellation, transparency, and reliability. They haven’t suffered the crackling/static woes that often plagued the first pair. Noise cancellation quibbles aside, I’ve yet to see any common AirPods Max issues surface since the headphones were released.

Apple is working from a solid (albeit very pricey) foundation. But as with any iPhone that’s come and gone over the years, we’re starting to see that the company’s headphones can only keep up with the latest software enhancements for so long. The open question is how long Apple will wait before bringing the AirPods Max back up to par.

AirPods vs the best wireless headphones for iPhone

tigaman webdesign — Tue, 20 Jun 2023 16:08:11 +0000

Macworld

Wireless headphones are essentially the standard now, with Bluetooth not only being convenient but Apple removing the audio jack on the iPhone range. For most people, the sound quality difference to wired isn’t noticeable anyway.

The market is huge, but here are the best wireless headphones we’ve tested for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Macs. If you do want a wired connection some of these do offer it in addition to Bluetooth, but we also have a round up of the best wired headphones.

And if you’re wondering why the AirPods Max don’t appear on this list, rest assured that we gave them due consideration – but while audio quality is exceptional, their very high price and ill-judged case design kept them out of this competitive chart. Read our in-depth AirPods Max review for a full explanation.

Updated: June 20, 2023 to add Beats Studio Buds +, Technics EAH-AZ60M2, and Denon AH-C830NCW.

Best wireless headphones

1. Sennheiser CX Plus True Wireless

Pros

Stellar bass performance
Secure and comfortable fit
Exceptional and reliable wireless range
AptX Adaptive codec support

Cons

Sub-par audio performance on phone calls
Veiled midrange
Stocky charging case

Best Prices Today:

$118.95 at Adorama $118.95 at Amazon $129.99 at Best Buy

Sennheiser recently updated its popular CX True Wireless earbuds with this new model called the CX Plus, which adds noise cancellation and support for AptX, while still keeping the price down to $179/£129 (in the US it’s discounted to $129.95 right now). The CX Plus has the same rather bulky design as its predecessor – which remains on sale for £119 – but that’s a minor complaint, and the attractive sound quality and effective noise-cancellation features represent great value for money.

The size of the earbuds also means that they have room for a decent size battery, lasting for around eight hours on a single charge. Using noise-cancellation cuts that down by about an hour, but the charging case lets you recharge the earbuds two more times, so you’ll get 21-24 hours of music depending on usage, making the CX Plus a good option for long journeys.

Regular travelers will also appreciate the noise-cancellation features, which do a good job of blocking out background noise. The Sennheiser app provides some simple EQ controls and, as well as the transparency feature provided by many headphones, the app also allows you to create and save sound zones for specific locations, such as the gym or on a train, that have their own customized settings.

The CX Plus supports both Apple’s AAC for Bluetooth, and AptX for Android devices, and sound quality is really good for earbuds in this price range. Blondie’s Rapture kicks off with a crisp, sharp cymbal crash and the CX Plus delivers the song’s catchy bass line with a hip-swaying rhythm. It’s a very precise sound too, catching all the little background details such as the ticking percussion and jangling rhythm guitar. The charging case doesn’t support wireless charging, but that’s an acceptable compromise at this price, and the CX Plus stands out as a really good set of earbuds at a very competitive price.

2. Apple AirPods Pro 2nd-generation

Pros

Fantastic audio quality
Excellent noise cancelling
Best-in-class transparency mode
New charging case features
Better battery life

Cons

You can still buy better-sounding wireless earbuds
No LE Audio, lossless, or hi-res audio
Controls on the stems is still a bad idea

Best Prices Today:

$199.99 at Amazon $224.99 at Adorama $249.00 at Apple

There are a few minor external changes for the second-generation AirPods Pro, but most of the changes are on the inside.

The new model comes with four sets of eartips adding extra small (XS) to the mix – the original AirPods Pro only came with three tips. We found the extra small tips more comfortable, your experience may differ.

The charging case now comes with a small metal lanyard loop – although Apple doesn’t actually sell a lanyard. There are speaker holes a the base of the case that can make a sound if you lose the AirPods while they are in their case.

The original AirPods Pro lacked an easy way to control volume, so the fact that the second-gen model adds the ability to detect up and down swipes on the little flat area of the stem is useful. A swipe up or down changes the volume.

As for what’s inside, the H2 chip in the 2022 AirPods Pro enables Adaptive Transparency, which is an enhancement of the Transparency mode on the original model. As a result of this mode you can choose to hear things that you might need be able to hear in your vicinity, but you won’t be deafened by them. In our tests the AirPods Pro 2 blocked more outside sound than the originals.

We were impressed by how much better the new second-generation AirPods Pro sound compared to the first generation. Clarity and sharpness is improved and bass response is vastly improved. The bridge of the Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic” at 2:30 was just way too much for the old AirPods Pro to handle, but the new model had no trouble keeping up.

The battery life is longer than it was for the original AirPods Pro and you can now use your Apple Watch charger in addition to charging via Lightning and other wireless charging methods.

As with the iPhone 14-series and the 2022 Apple Watches, Bluetooth 5.3 is supported, however, it doesn’t appear that it’s being used for anything in particular right now. Perhaps a software update will bring new features in the future.

Like the originals the AirPods Pro 2 offer Spatial Audio with head tracking, Conversation Boost to amplify speech in the direction you’re facing, one-tap pairing, audio sharing with another pair of AirPods (or Beats), quick switching to other Apple devices your Apple ID is logged into, and hands-free Siri.

Read our full

Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation) review

3. Beats Studio Buds+

Pros

Fun transparent design (other colors are available)
Improved ANC and sound quality
Good battery life
Priced well

Cons

Don’t sound as good as AirPods Pro
Missing a few Apple ecosystem features
No wireless charging

Best Prices Today:

$169.95 at Amazon $169.99 at Adorama $169.99 at Apple

We felt that the original Beats Studio Buds outclassed AirPods Pro in several ways but lacked some Apple-specific features. 2023’s new Beats Studio Buds + improve on the originals.

The Beats Studio Buds + beats Apple in terms of color choices with its retro frosted transparent plastic for both the buds and case. They are available in black and ivory too.

The charging case is a bit larger than that of AirPods or AirPods Pro. There’s a USB-C charge port, but no wireless charging.

The buds are average in size and fit and come with four sizes of eartips, so it’s easy to get a good seal, although in our testing we did lose the seal a couple of times while working out at the gym.

There are actual physical buttons on the side of each earbud, which we found to be easier to use than Apple’s “squeeze the stem” AirPods control system.

Beats says that these earbuds offer 1.6x better noise canceling and 2x better transparency than their predecessors. They still don’t match the AirPods Pro, but they are priced closer to the standard AirPods, which don’t even offer those features. The transparency feature isn’t adaptive.

These second-gen earbuds offer improved ventilation and bigger batteries than the predecessors (battery life is rated at six hours with ANC, or nine without). Sound quality is also better than that of the previous generation thanks to new microphones and transducers. They sound better than 3rd-gen AirPods, but the 2nd-gen AirPods Pro deliver an overall superior audio experience all around.

Some Beats products use Apple’s own headphone chips, but the Beats Studio Buds + do not. Because they lack Apple’s H1 or H2 chip, they miss out on many of the features of Apple’s ecosystem. Hands-free “Hey Siri” is there, as is instant pairing with your iPhone and support for the Find My app. But you don’t get instant switching between Apple devices, support for spatial audio with video, personalized spatial audio, Conversation Boost, or the in-ear detection that pauses playback if you take an earbud out. Instead, these buds support some Android features including Google Fast Pair, Audio Switch, and Find My Device. Surprising from a company owned by Apple.

I enjoyed the design and usability of these Beats earbuds, and I’d take them over the AirPods any day, but I still find the latest AirPods Pro easier to recommend.

Read our full

Beats Studio Buds+ review

4. Logitech Zone True Wireless

Pros

Connects via Bluetooth or USB wireless adaptor
Weather-resistant design, and two carrying cases
Certified for use with Zoom, Teams, Google Meet
Active noise cancellation with ambient mode

Cons

Expensive
Large earbuds may not suit everyone

Best Prices Today:

$212.99 at Best Buy $224.00 at Lenovo $224.99 at Dell Home

Logitech’s Zone True Wireless earbuds are even more expensive than Apple’s AirPods Pro, but they’re absolutely loaded with useful features, and there’s a particular emphasis on remote working as well as simply listening to music.

Available in black or pink, the Zone earbuds make a great impression straight out of the box, as they arrive in a sturdy charging case that includes a little lanyard to help keep them safe. The earbuds are also rated IP68 for resistance to water and dust, so they’ll be ideal for running in the park or working out at the gym, and the outer section of the earbuds is covered with a mesh fabric to reduce wind noise during voice calls. Logitech even includes an additional padded carrying case, with room to hold the charging case and cables, so you can keep the entire kit safe when you’re travelling.

I often have trouble getting earbuds to stay in place, and I was initially a little worried about the rather chunky design of the Zone earbuds, but they did fit more firmly than I expected and Logitech provides three sets of ear-tips in different sizes to help get a comfortable fit. The size of the earbuds also means that each earbud is able to house a 12mm driver, as well as three microphones to help with active noise-cancellation (ANC).

Even the Logi Tune app impresses with its extensive range of features – starting with the fact that it’s available for Mac and Windows as well as iOS and Android, so you can use it to set up the earbuds when you’re preparing for a video call at work. The noise-cancellation features include an ambient mode that lets you hear some of the background noise around you if required. You can pair the earbuds with two devices at the same time and then quickly switch between devices as required, and there’s a five-band equalizer for fine-tuning the sound quality. The Zone is also certified for use with Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet for video calls.

But, of course, none of those features would matter if the Zone didn’t deliver on sound quality. You’ve actually got two options here, as the Zone can be used as a conventional set of Bluetooth earbuds with your mobile devices, but also includes a USB wireless transmitter that can be used with Macs and PCs to provide greater range and reliability than Bluetooth. The sound quality is very good in both modes, and the Zone does well to dig right down to the gravelly rumble of Leonard Cohen’s voice on You Want It Darker. There’s a taut, rhythmic sound to the song’s slinky bass guitar too, but it still keeps an eye on lighter details, such as the crisp tap on the snares.

Battery life is good too, providing 10 hours when listening to music with noise-cancellation turned off, or six hours when using noise-cancellation. The battery life is a bit lower for talk-time on video and voice calls, but still lasts for six hours without noise-cancellation or five hours with noise-cancellation, which should be more than enough for most work-related calls. The charging case also lets you fully charge the earbuds two more times, and there’s a QuickCharge feature that gives you one hour of battery life after just five minutes of charging time. There’s a USB-C connector on the case for charging, but it also supports Qi wireless charging too. Alternatively, if you’re a die-hard lover of wired headphones, then Logitech is planning to release a wired version of the Zone soon as well.

5. Denon AH-C830NCW

Pros

Good sound quality
Competitive price
Effective noise-cancellation
Three full charges from carrying case

Cons

No wireless charging
No app
Modest battery life

It’s pretty obvious that Denon’s AH-C830NCW earbuds have been inspired by Apple’s AirPods, complete with the little ‘stem’ that sticks down from your ear when you’re wearing them. However, the AH-C830NCW is a much more affordable option, as it offers features and sound quality that rival the more expensive AirPods Pro for a very competitive price of just £139/$159.

Despite the low price, the little earbuds feel quite solidly built, and they’re rated IPX4 for water resistance so they’ll be able to survive a spot of rain when you’re jogging around the local park. Denon also includes three sets of ear-tips in different sizes to help you get a good fit.

The earbuds support the same AAC codec as the AirPods for Bluetooth audio, and the sound quality is very good for such an affordable set of earbuds. There’s a clear, delicate tone to the electronic chimes and soprano vocals on Max Richter’s The Waves, and the earbuds balance the complex arrangement very well as the strings and horns of Richter’s orchestra weave around each other and build to a tremendous crescendo. They can handle some more upbeat workout music too, with a nice gritty guitar sound and ticking percussion on Sing Along by Sturgill Simpson.

The noise-cancellation features work well too. The earbuds do a good job of blocking both the deep rumble of an aircraft engine and the more varied background sounds found in a typical airport setting. The low price does involve some compromises, though. There’s no app for the AH-C830NCW so we found ourselves having to pour over the manual in order to memorize the various finger-tapping combinations needed to adjust noise cancellation and other settings. The charging case doesn’t support wireless charging either, so it can only be charged via its USB-C port. Battery life is fairly modest at around five hours when using noise-cancellation, but you can charge the earbuds three more times using the charging case for a total of 20 hours with noise-cancellation.

6. Bowers & Wilkins PI5

Pros

Excellent sound quality
Good specs for the price
Three eartip sizes

Cons

Chunky design
Battery life isn’t excellent
Lacks EQ customisation

Best Prices Today:

$119.00 at Amazon

Bowers & Wilkins has a long history of producing high quality headphones and speakers, and the attractive sound quality provided by its PI5 wireless earbuds doesn’t disappoint. Available in black or white, the PI5 also includes active noise-cancellation and a wireless charging case for a price of $249/£199 that makes it an excellent alternative to the AirPods Pro.

Admittedly, the chunky design of the earbuds may not suit everyone, but B&W includes three sizes of eartips to help you get a good fit, and the earbuds have an IP54 rating for water and dust resistance, so they’re sturdy enough to cope with life outdoors.

Sound quality is excellent, and the PI5 supports both Apple’s AAC and AptX for Bluetooth audio, so they’ll be a good option for non-Apple devices too. There’s a terrific, relaxed feel to the opening guitar riff on The Rolling Stones’ Start Me Up, and the PI5 perfectly catches Charlie Watts’ precise, unfussy drumming. But switch to Prime Evil by The Orb, and the PI5 digs really deep to deliver the dance track’s sinister bass effects with an impressively slinky rhythm. The noise-cancellation features work well too, doing a good job of blocking out background noise without making any noticeable different to the sound quality. And, like most headphones these days, they also provide an ‘ambient’ mode that allows you to listen out for background sounds when you need to.

Battery life could, perhaps, be a little better, lasting for 4.5 hours when using noise-cancellation. However, that’s similar to the more expensive AirPods Pro, and the wireless charging case allows you to charge the earbuds three more times when you’re away from home.

7. Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II

Pros

Excellent sound quality
Excellent Noise cancelling
Aware mode

Cons

Doesn’t support Hi-Res audio
No wireless charging
Can only attach to one device at a time

Best Prices Today:

$299.00 at Amazon $299.00 at Best Buy $299.00 at Lenovo

If you have the budget for them, and it’s awesome sound and class-leading noise cancellation that you are looking for, the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 are a great choice.

Bass was well represented, and all instruments audible in the tracks we listened to. This is where spending more on earbuds pays off as they have drivers that can properly separate different tracks.

Active noise cancellation worked so well that we won’t hear any outside noise – so luckily there’s Aware Mode: tap and hold either earbud to allow ambient sound in. That works in conjunction with ActiveSense, which detects louder sounds and reduces them, so you won’t be deafened by an ambulance passing in the street.

You control play/pause with a tap. To skip forward and back track with two or three. Volume is controlled by sliding up and down.

However, there are a few things that let the QuietComfort Earbuds 2 down. They aren’t all that comfortable if you have small ears. There are three sizes of wingtip and ear tip in the box so you can get the best possible fit though, so it might be ok for you.

Another big disadvantage is that you can only be connected to one Bluetooth source at a time, unlike AirPods.

They do not support high resolution audio codecs such as LDAC or FLAC, and there is no spatial audio support either. But they do support SBC and AAC to cover all modern consumer Bluetooth devices.

Read our full

Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II review

8. Apple AirPods 3rd-generation

Pros

Shorter stems
Water- and sweat-resistant
Greatly improved sound quality
Longer battery life

Cons

Fit is highly dependent on your personal ear shape
A bit pricey

Best Prices Today:

$179.00 at Apple $179.99 at Adorama $195.93 at Amazon

It seems that the third-generation version of the AirPods has struggled a bit since its launch in 2021, as many people still seem happy to opt for the less expensive second-gen model, which is still on sale for $129/£119.

Admittedly, the AirPods (3rd Generation) are a full $50/£50 more expensive, at $179/£169, but Apple’s argument is that the entirely new design of the third-gen model, and additional features such as wireless charging and improved battery life are worth the extra cost. You can immediately spot the differences between the two models, with the newer AirPods having a shorter stalk, and a more compact earpiece that is slightly angled in order to fit more securely inside your ear. However, they still don’t use silicon eartips that would provide a firmer fit – that’s only an option with the even more expensive AirPods Pro – and I personally found it quite easy to dislodge the AirPods from my ears.

The sound quality is very good, though, thanks to a new custom-designed driver inside the earpieces. This produces a more balanced sound than its predecessor, producing a sinister bass rumble on Billie Eilish’s You Should See Me In A Crown. This model also provides spatial audio and head-tracking for watching films and video too, along with a wireless charging case. Battery life is better too, lasting for six hours on a single charge, or 30 hours in total with the charging case. It’s a shame, though, that the AirPods (3rd Generation) don’t also provide active noise-cancellation (ANC), so if you need that feature then you’ll have to pay even more for the AirPods Pro, at $249/£239, or opt for one of the cheaper rival earbuds that we also review here.

Read our full

Apple AirPods (3rd gen, 2021, MagSafe) review

9. Technics EAH-AZ60M2

Pros

3-way multipoint connections
ANC & Hi-Res support
Good battery life
Seven sets of ear tips

Cons

Slightly uncomfortable fit
More premium AZ80 are much better

Best Prices Today:

$243.74 at Amazon

Taken on their own merits, the Technics EAH-AZ60M2 are a solid pair of true wireless earbuds, and a good option to consider. The offer excellent audio quality, good noise-cancellation, and a decent set of smart features which make these worthy rivals to AirPods.

Available in blue (pictured), black, or white, these are simply designed but attractive. The compact shape doesn’t stick out of your ears much. The case is a bit large, although light, and the lid and hinge feel a touch flimsy.

An impressive selection of seven silicone eartips in various sizes is included, meaning you’re all-but guaranteed to find a comfortable fit for your ears that block outside noise.

They sound great, with a rich, open soundscape with impressive range. Bass is solid. You can use the accompanying Audio Connect app to tweak the earbuds’ EQ settings. buds also support Hi-Res audio using the LDAC codec, but this doesn’t work on iPhones at all, unfortunately.

The active noise cancellation (ANC) is good, but it couldn’t stand up to the rigors of the London Underground or other especially noisy environments. There’s also an ambient mode so you can listen to your surroundings. The AZ60M2 are capable of connecting to up to three devices simultaneously.

There’s also an IPX4 rating, meaning the buds (though not case) can withstand rain, sweat, and other splashes of liquid.

Read our full

Technics EAH-AZ60M2 review

10. Sennheiser Momentum Free (aka HD1 Free)

Pros

Outstanding sound quality
Comfortable to wear
User scupltable EQ
USB-C charging

Cons

Not ideal for those with smaller ears
touch controls aren’t always responsive
Expensive
Frequent connectivity issues

Best Prices Today:

$175.19 at Amazon

Sennheiser releases quite frequent updates for its Momentum range of headphones, and the latest addition to the range is the Momentum Free, priced in the UK at £170 and available in the US for around $200 under the name HD1 Free.

The company claims the Momentum Free is its most compact set of Bluetooth headphones, weighing just under 40g, and with only a short neckband connecting the two earpieces.

They don’t cut any corners, though, including a three-button remote control and microphone for voice calls. There are some clever touches too, such as the magnetic earpieces that cling together over your neck in order to keep them safe when they’re not being used. The headphones support standard Bluetooth, AptX and Apple’s AAC format, so they’re a good choice for both iOS and Android devices.

Battery life is around six hours, which isn’t too bad for such a compact set of headphones. It’s shame, though, that Sennheiser couldn’t stretch to a charging case.

Sound quality is excellent, though, with the trademark Sennheiser sound that combines rich, warm vocals with plenty of detail. The bass response is good too, with the frequency range starting at 15Hz, a little lower than many small in-ear headphones. We were also pleased to see that Sennheiser includes no less than four different sizes of ear-tips, to help you get a firm, comfortable fit.

11. Sony WF-1000XM4

Pros

Excellent ANC features
Great sound
Good battery life

Cons

Rather bulky

Best Prices Today:

$198.00 at Amazon

These Sony earbuds are exceptional. They offer great battery life and charge quickly. You’ll also find excellent active noise cancelling that not only removes unwanted sound, but also uses AI to change the mode and level depending on your location and what you are doing.

There’s a choice of black or silver earbuds, both with a gold trim. They fit comfortably, although they might feel a bit bulky if you have small ears. There are three ear tip sizes in the box and we found the smallest to be sufficiently comfortable.

If you remove the buds from your ear playback will pause. The sides of the earbuds are touch-sensitive. Alexa and Google’s assistants are supported.

The 6mm drivers and Sony’s Integrated Processor V1 working together to create superb sound. Active noise cancelling is joined by other smart features including Ambient Sound Control and wind reduction. These can be tuned to different locations and activities. Thanks to the Speak-to-Chat feature the headphones detect if you are taking and pause the music. You’ll also find LDAC support for Hi-Res Audio Wireless as well as 360 Reality Audio spatial audio, which is Sony’s spatial audio technology for a surround sound experience.

There is a new Sony WH-1000XM5.

12. Cambridge Audio Melomania 1

Pros

Good battery life
Small and light
Secure and comfortable fit

Cons

Easy to press buttons accidentally
Lack noise cancelling

Wireless earbuds, as you probably know, are all the rage but not everyone can afford a pair of AirPods let alone the AirPods Pro. Luckily there are cheaper alternatives around and Cambridge Audio has put together a rather attractive pair.

The Melomania 1 have a reasonable MSRP of $139/£119, but can easily be found for under $100/£100 putting them into budget range, despite being extremely high quality.

These earbuds are very small and light, a simple bullet shape makes them unusual, but they fit very securely and comfortably. An IPX5 rating means they are splash and sweat resistant, so they won’t break if you get caught in a shower.

The compact size also means a very small charging case so these are super portable. The case has decent magnets to hold the earbuds in and a set of LEDs on the front to indicate battery level.

Despite the small size, the Melomania 1 have very strong battery life. The earbuds can last up to nine hours on their own and the case can charge them another four times, resulting in a whopping total of 45 hours.

Physical buttons on each earbud may be preferable to some users compared to touch-sensitive ones. They are easy to press accidentally when putting the headphones in or adjusting them but once in place means you don’t ram them into your ear canal. There’s plenty of control but you’ll have to learn all the different button presses for.

Microphones mean you can use the Melomania 1 for phone calls and for using Siri.

All of this would be pretty pointless if the sound quality wasn’t good, but you can rely on a company like Cambridge Audio. 5.8mm drivers are enhanced by graphene and there’s Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity along with both AAC and aptX codecs.

The sound is clear and spacious with plenty of bass and mid-range and enough top-end to keep things bright. The tuning is well balanced so the earbuds sound good for a wide range of content.

You will struggle to find better true wireless earbuds at this price. The only thing missing is noise cancelling.

Read our full

Cambridge Audio Melomania 1 review

13. PistonBuds Pro

Pros

Low price
Active noise cancellation
Four eartips

Cons

Bass is a little exaggerated
Doesn’t completely block background noise

Best Prices Today:

$59.99 at Amazon

Earbuds that include active noise cancellation (ANC) tend to cost at least $125/£100 – or $249/£239, in the case of Apple’s AirPods Pro – but the new PistonBuds Pro from 1More provide ANC for just $69.99/£64.99. They don’t stop there either, as the oddly-named little earbuds pack in plenty of other useful features too.

The compact earbuds are provided with four sizes of eartips, so most people should be able to get a good fit, and they’re rated IPX5 for water-resistance so they’re well suited to outdoor use during the soggy summer festival months. You can turn ANC on or off simply by pressing and holding the button on either earbud, and there’s a ‘transparency’ mode that allows you to listen out for people or other sounds around you. Admittedly, it’s not the most powerful noise-cancellation we’ve heard – it tends to dim background noise down, rather than blocking it altogether – but it’s still a handy option for when you’re out and about during the day.

Sound quality is good for such a low-cost set of earbuds, with support for Apple’s AAC Bluetooth codec. It’s not the loudest set of earbuds we’ve come across, but the bass has a nice thump to it – some people might find it a bit exaggerated, but the app provides presets for both boosting and reducing the bass, so the PistonBuds Pro will be particularly good for dance music, and a cheaper alternative to both the AirPods and Beats ranges.

Battery life is good too, at five hours with ANC turned on, or seven hours without ANC, and the charging case lets you charge the earbuds three more times when you’re travelling.

14. Beats Flex

Pros

Good sound quality
Low price
Hard to lose

Cons

No charging case
Not rated for water resistance

Best Prices Today:

$39.99 at Best Buy $69.99 at Apple $79.95 at Amazon

Buying Beats headphones used to mean splashing the cash but that’s no longer the case and the Beats Flex are the cheapest ones yet at just £49.99/$49.99.

These are colourful – unless you get the black ones – neckbuds that keep things simple for those unable to drop hundreds on a pair of headphones. Apart from black, they are available in Yuzu Yellow, Smoke Grey and Flame Blue.

While wireless earbuds are the booming part of the market, neckbuds shouldn’t be underestimated. The design means that you won’t lose an earbud if it falls out and you can simply leave them having around your neck when they’re not in use.

Like many others, the two earbuds contain magnets so they snap together when you’re not using them. The band is made from a sturdy material called Nitinol and a control module on the left-hand side provides volume and playback controls, as well as a mic for voice calls.

At just 18.6g total, the Beats Flex are good if you do plan to go running or similar. Note that they don’t offer any official IP waterproof rating, although the rubber-like build should keep out splashes.

As you would expect, pairing them with Apple products is a breeze and you can also use the Audio Sharing option to stream your music to a friend who has a compatible set of AirPods or Beats headphones.

With 12 hours of battery life, they last longer than wireless earbuds and a ‘fast fuel’ feature means you can get 1.5 hours of playback from a 10-minute charge over USB-C.

The low price doesn’t mean bad sound either and “The deep bass on Bad Guy by Billie Eilish has a firm, rhythmic pulse that drives the song forward. There’s a nice crisp sound to the finger-snaps that punctuate the song, and the Flex really captures the shrug-of-the-shoulders tone as Billy pronounces “duh…” halfway through. There’s plenty of detail, too, as the Flex picks up all the multi-layered harmonies on Queen’s Somebody To Love.

The Flex can even handle more delicate classical sounds, capturing the sad, mournful tone of the cello and violin as they slowly weave through the air on Max Richter’s On The Nature Of Daylight.”

Read our full

Beats Flex review

How to choose wireless headphones

There are a few factors to consider before you hit that buy button.

Type

Wireless headphones typically fall into three main categories:

Over-ear headphones: Big, chunky models that completely cover your ears seem to be something of a fashion statement at the moment – even if they do make you look like a Cyberman – and the size of these headphones means there’s plenty of room inside them for large drivers that provide expansive, detailed sound.

On-ear headphones: If you want something a little more compact, that you can take off and slip into a backpack when you’re travelling, then smaller on-ear headphones that just rest on the outside of the ear are a good choice.

In-ear headphones: But, of course, mobile tech is all about portability, so many people prefer lightweight, in-ear headphones that they can wear all day long, or simply shove into a pocket when they’re not needed.

Battery life

This is crucial, and many in-ear sports headphones have tiny batteries that help to keep the weight down but may only last for a few hours. That might be fine if you just want to listen to some music while you’re working out, but won’t be much use on a long journey by train or plane.

However, some in-ear headphones, such as Apple’s AirPods, also include a charging case that can top up the battery, so that’s something you should check on before buying any in-ear headphones.

Larger on-ear and over-ear headphones have room for more powerful batteries, and can often last all day on a single charge. Many also provide a wired option so that you can still use them like ordinary wired headphones when the battery runs down, which is ideal for people who spend a lot of time travelling.

Noise cancelling

Some headphones are specifically designed for people who travel a lot or use headphones in noisy conditions and provide active noise-cancelling (ANC) option that helps to block out background noise on trains and planes – although this can add quite a lot to the overall price of the headphones.

Note this isn’t to be confused with passive noise isolation (or often referred to as cancelling), which is just the way physically having headphones in/on blocks sound – like putting earplugs or ear defenders on.

Sound quality

We’d always recommend trying out any new headphones in a store or showroom whenever possible, but that’s not always practical with so many new headphones competing for your attention.

So we’ve tested a selection of Bluetooth headphones that provide great sound quality to help you get started.

Compatibility

All the headphones here will work excellently with the latest iPhone models. It’s typical for them to support Apple’s preferred AAC codec, although some will have others too like aptX which is handy if you want to also use them with other devices like Android phones.

It’s also worth noting that all Bluetooth headphones mentioned in this article are compatible with the Apple Watch – perfect when going for a run.

Apple Inc, Computer Accessories, Home Audio, iPhone

Here’s How Web Apps Work in macOS Sonoma

tigaman webdesign — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 12:41:29 +0000

In macOS Sonoma, currently in beta, you can create individual web apps for any website that you frequent in Safari, and have them sit beside other apps in your Dock. Let’s take a closer look at how it all works by turning MacRumors.com into a virtual Mac app as an example.

In macOS Sonoma, any website viewed in Safari can be turned into a web app, thanks to a new “Add to Dock” option in the File menu. In other words, no work is required on the part of web developers to make a site web app compatible, although there are some elements of web apps that developers can have control over (see below).

How to Turn MacRumors into a Web App

In macOS Sonoma developer beta, navigate to MacRumors.com in Safari.

Choose File -> Add to Dock in the menu bar.

If you want, you can change the MacRumors icon by clicking it in the Add to Dock window. You can also edit the web app’s name using the title field – “MacRumors” is more succinct, for example.

Click the blue Add button.

You will now see the MacRumors web app sitting in your Dock, ready for use independently of Safari. The web app works with Mission Control and Stage Manager just like any app, and can also be opened via Launchpad or Spotlight Search.

On opening the web app, you’ll notice its window includes a simplified toolbar with navigation buttons (note: Website developers can control whether these are shown). As you can see in the image, the MacRumors theme color for the site blends into the toolbar for a more seamless look.

In terms of navigation, the scope of the web app is dictated by the host of the webpage – in this case www.macrumors.com – so you can navigate anywhere within the MacRumors website, but if you click a link outside of the host page, such as the MacRumors Forums, which is separately hosted at forums.macrumors.com, this will open the linked webpage in Safari. Therefore, if you are a frequenter of both the MacRumors website and the MacRumors Forums, you should create separate web apps for each.

Web developers have the ability to refine the scope of a web app to a specific path on their site if they wish. For example, MacRumors could theoretically provide a facility to make web apps dedicated to navigating only how-to articles or guides. This is something MacRumors may implement in the future.

Website Logins and Notifications

By default, Safari copies a website’s cookies to its web app. So if you create a MacRumors Forums web app and you were logged into your account at the time, you will remain logged in inside the web app. Even if you weren’t logged in, you can do so within the web app with minimal effort, since Apple has integrated support for Password and Passkey AutoFill.

If a website already supports web push notifications – as MacRumors does – and you have signed up to them, you will receive web app push notifications that display the corresponding MacRumors icon, giving you more context than a standard Safari notification and icon would.

The web app icon in the Dock will also show a badge when a notification is received. Web app notifications are silent by default, although developers can change them to play a sound. However, the end decision over sound and icon badges is left to the user in System Settings -> Notifications.

Web apps also respect Focus modes, so you can include or exclude them from allowed notifications based on what you’re doing. Lastly, with privacy in mind, Apple has added options to control web apps’ access to camera, microphone, and location in System Settings -> Privacy & Security, just like for native apps.

For those who wish to delve further into macOS Sonoma, it is currently available to download as a developer beta, although caution is warranted, as beta versions can be unstable and buggy. For those willing to wait, the official public release is expected to land in the fall.

Related Roundup: macOS Sonoma

This article, "Here's How Web Apps Work in macOS Sonoma" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple finally made a TV

tigaman webdesign — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 19:34:19 +0000

One way to think about the Vision Pro is as a portable, resizable TV. | Image: Apple

From a purely technical perspective, I had the same experience using the new Apple Vision Pro that most others who have tried it seem to. This headset is remarkably polished for a first-generation product: its screen looks much better; the field of view is much wider; and the gesture control is much more natural than any other headset on the market. The Vision Pro did get a little heavy on my face after a while, and obviously, all we’ve seen so far are controlled demos in a controlled situation, but there’s no doubt this is a remarkable piece of hardware.

Which brings up the other, much more interesting question: what is this thing for? Apple has a few answers: it’s for taking super-immersive videos of your kid’s birthday; it’s for adding more monitors to your office setup; it’s for staring at a 3D human heart while it beats quietly in your living room.

But I have a different theory: it’s a TV. At least at first, the best thing this headset will do is play movies and shows. And while Apple may have big ideas about immersive content and new formats for watching things, that’s all going to take a while to really catch on. But being able to fire up Netflix and watch it on a huge virtual screen? That’s going to be ready right away. For all its potential and Apple’s lofty rhetoric, the Vision Pro is a television — and an extremely Apple-y one at that.

I should say: I don’t think this is the TV Steve Jobs was talking about when he famously told author Walter Isaacson that he’d “finally cracked” the future of TV. I also don’t think this is the TV that analyst Gene Munster spent years predicting would come and never did. Apple may yet make a big screen that sits in your living room. But for the company that is forever trying to push the boundaries of what technology does and how you interact with it, the Vision Pro feels much more in keeping with Apple’s vision. Instead of one TV, one size, in one place, Apple proposes a world in which you have infinite TVs, of all sizes, everywhere, all the time.

Back in 2015, around the time Apple began working on headset projects that would ultimately lead to the Vision Pro, it was widely reported that Apple had shelved its plans to build a TV set. The reason was simple enough: it wanted to ship a high-resolution display and integrate cameras so you could make video calls but couldn’t figure out how to make that both compelling and inexpensive enough to win in the ruthless TV market. Back then, Munster wrote, “We incorrectly assumed that a combination of Siri, FaceTime, a TV app store, and PrimeSense based motion control could be compelling enough as a unique feature set for the device.”

Sound familiar? Eight years later, the Vision Pro puts all those things back together. The headset market gave Apple a chance to do the same thing a different way. The headset business isn’t mature and cost-sensitive — it’s so new that Apple could get away with charging a fortune for its device. High-resolution displays and video conferencing, in this case, turned out to be massive competitive advantages. All the things Apple wanted its TV to do, it could just pour into a face computer, and it would instantly seem more innovative. And that seems to be almost exactly what happened.

One of the first things Apple showed me in my Vision Pro demo was a clip from Avatar: The Way of Water, and to my eyes, the 3D footage looked almost — but not quite — as good as it did in a theater. (3D content works so well in the headset because it’s just simulated depth on the two screens in front of your eyes.) By default, the movie played on a screen floating in front of my face, about three-quarters the size of the wall in front of me. I could move or resize the window, bring it closer to my face, or plant it farther away in the room. And if I hit a button in the Apple TV app for visionOS, it launched “cinema mode,” which put the movie on a big theater-like screen and blacked out all of my surroundings.

The whole “see your movies in a virtual theater!” is not a new idea, of course. It’s a staple demo of a lot of headsets. Netflix’s app for the Meta Quest lets you watch movies on a big virtual screen in a cozy virtual cabin living room, Bigscreen built a whole digital cineplex, and platforms from Prime Video and Peacock to Starz and Pluto TV have their own apps for VR.

Image: Apple

Even non-optimized stuff can still be more immersive on the Vision Pro.

Many of Apple’s other demos felt familiar, too. I saw an ultrawide clip of an NBA game, shot from just above the backboard; a soccer game from atop the goal; some rhinos being cool; and a brief moment of Alicia Keys singing in a recording studio with such a wide field of view that I could turn my head and look at the whole band and space. These are the sorts of things you see on lots of headsets, as their makers search for ways to make content that can only be experienced in virtual and augmented reality.

There wasn’t much in the Vision Pro’s entertainment offerings I hadn’t seen before. But the Vision Pro is just… better. Thanks to the 4K screen in each eye, the low-latency eye tracking, and the much wider field of view, watching movies on Apple’s headset after trying the Quests and HoloLenses of the world is like going from a standard-def TV to a 4K set. Everything is suddenly considerably sharper and more detailed. (All those pixels are also, obviously, a big part of the reason the Vision Pro will cost $3,500.) You might not get spatial audio from most content in the Vision Pro, but even the built-in stereo audio sounds pretty good. For the first time, I felt like I might actually watch a game from that backboard angle, and it didn’t feel like I was watching Alicia Keys through a screen door.

As a portable viewing device, the Vision Pro is better than anything I’ve ever tried. I can absolutely see why it might appeal to frequent fliers or those who don’t have a TV in every room. Where it will struggle is in the places you already have TVs. Are you going to go through all the work of putting on and booting up your headset when you can turn on your TV with a single button click? How many times will the two-hour battery life mean you miss the climax of a movie before you stop using it altogether? What do you do with external devices like game consoles, which are crucial to the TV experience? What will happen when you’re watching something on your headset and someone wanders into the room, plops down on the couch, and wants to watch with you?

Generally speaking, people watch the most convenient thing in the most convenient way — which is why you might sometimes find yourself sitting on the couch in front of your beautiful big-screen TV watching YouTube on your phone. Nothing about strapping a headset to your face is convenient, which makes the quality bar even higher.

We’re many months away from the Vision Pro shipping, and there will be these and many other questions to answer in that time. Streaming platforms will have to decide if they want to go all in and create new immersive spaces for their apps or if they’ll just ship lightly adapted iPad apps like so many other things on the Vision Pro. Apple will surely use Apple TV Plus as a way to push that envelope, but in the early days of visionOS, I wouldn’t bet on many other streamers devoting huge resources to such a niche product.

So far, Apple hasn’t done a particularly good job of explaining why the Vision Pro is worth your $3,499 or why you might wear it for hours a day. We also don’t know anything about how it will work outside of Apple’s very specific, very controlled demos. But there’s no question that Apple just built its first TV: a screen that can be almost any size, go almost anywhere, and play almost anything.

Way back in 2016, when Mark Zuckerberg first explained his vision for virtual and augmented reality, he used TVs to help explain his vision. “A lot of things that we think about as physical objects today, like a TV for displaying an image, will actually just be $1 apps in an AR app store,” he said. So much of his vision — the glasses-like gadgets, the virtual worlds, the lifelike avatars — still feels far away. But a half-hour with the Vision Pro convinced me that I might be ditching my TV set a bit sooner than I thought.

Augmented reality needs an iPhone moment

tigaman webdesign — Sun, 04 Jun 2023 13:45:00 +0000

Apple turned the iPod into a status symbol. A headset might be a taller order. | Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

‘This is the single greatest thing that could happen to this industry.’

As Apple prepares its long-rumored jump into augmented reality on Monday, doubts have shadowed every step of the way. There are reports of frequent changes in direction and skepticism inside Apple’s ranks. The device has allegedly been hard to manufacture and required numerous compromises. The process has taken years longer than Apple expected. And at a rumored $3,000, even Apple reportedly expects slow short-term sales.

But among AR professionals, the mood is jubilant. “This is the single greatest thing that could happen to this industry,” says Jay Wright, CEO of VR / AR collaboration platform Campfire 3D. “Whether you make hardware or software. We’re excited about it.”

Building on positive reviews from industry trailblazers like Palmer Luckey, AR hardware and software makers say Apple can finally validate a decade of attempts to take the technology mainstream. Some of this optimism is driven by Apple’s rumored specs, including a lightweight design and a supposedly extraordinarily high-spec screen.

Proponents point to Apple’s history of entering a market once other companies have laid the groundwork, as it did with phones. But much of it can be summed up in two statements: Apple can sell hardware, and Apple is cool.

@verge

Apple is widely expected to reveal the headset, potentially called the “Reality Pro,” at WWDC, which kicks off on June 5th. #Apple #WWDC #AppleHeadset #Tech #TechTok

♬ original sound – The Verge

No tech category needs Apple’s “it just works” promise more than AR. (This format is sometimes called “mixed reality” or “XR,” just to underscore how muddled the consumer pitch is.) Pure consumer VR — while a small market — has coalesced around relatively popular genres like fitness apps, a few common storefronts like SteamVR and the Quest store, and a widely used controller scheme.

AR has no such guarantees.

Its hardware is wildly varied, ranging from bulky headsets with sophisticated tracking to smart glasses that do little more than show alerts. Its software is often geared toward hyper-specialized business uses. There’s no settled consensus on control schemes.

Based on numerous leaks, Apple’s headset uses what’s called “passthrough” AR. It features high-resolution screens and is capable of running full VR applications, but it’s also studded by cameras that can pass through a high-resolution image of the real world — according to rumors, you’ll hit a “reality dial” to switch between AR and VR. That means it can offer the illusion of a real world with virtual objects overlaid on it.

Passthrough avoids some of the problems that AR glasses like Magic Leap and Microsoft HoloLens face, like translucent virtual objects and a limited field of view. Meta, the biggest player in consumer headsets, chose the style for its Quest Pro design last year. But the Quest Pro had a grainy, washed-out video feed and offered limited practical applications for its AR mode. A virtual office, for instance, required a convoluted syncing process with your Mac or PC. And Meta has generally focused on the lower end of the VR and AR market — it’s also including passthrough as a selling point on the upcoming $499 Quest 3.

By contrast, multiple people speculated that Apple’s headset could be like the Tesla Roadster: a flashy, expensive sports car that sold people on the concept of electric vehicles. “Apple makes devices in a way that are actually useful and comfortable to people and make people care about it,” says Jacob Loewenstein, SVP of 3D social platform Spatial, which has appeared on numerous AR and VR devices.

The exact uses of Apple’s rumored tech aren’t known yet. CEO Tim Cook has said AR is for “communication” and “connection,” and it will reportedly feature FaceTime capability that can render a person’s face and body. It’s said to also offer access to iPad apps, games, entertainment via Apple’s TV app, and a version of Apple Fitness Plus. “One of the reasons why I think Apple is immensely successful in many of their ventures is they’re not just launching a device, they’re launching an ecosystem,” says Gartner analyst Tuong Nguyen, who covers the VR / AR market. “It’s that combination of different applications applied to different use cases for different users — that is the ‘killer app.’”

Apple reportedly isn’t expecting a large early market for the device — it’s revised its expectations downward to under a million units a year, compared to 200 million or more iPhones. Still, despite the device’s rumored cost, some predict a gold rush of app designers trying to replicate the success of early iPhone developers. “I’ve been like, wait, why am I not making some goofy version of some application that everyone likes — like, being one of the first to-do apps on the Apple headset?” says Gabe Baker, VP of browser-based VR collaboration platform Frame. “There’s going to be so much garbage out there, and there’s going to be some cool stuff, too — it’s going to be a fun time.”

Apple has an ambivalent relationship with web developers, who form a niche but notable subset of the AR / VR industry. Safari has badly lagged at supporting WebXR, a common standard for browser-based immersive experiences, on iOS. But the browser is reportedly launching on its headset, which will put web-based AR in the spotlight. “We’re cautiously optimistic that Apple will actually make Safari a viable application on their upcoming hardware,” says Baker. “Meta has shown that the web browser can actually be a vehicle for high quality immersive content, hands-down, and I think Apple will want that on their headset.”

The iPhone’s decade-plus dominance has demonstrated plenty of downsides to “it just works.” Apple has mastered the walled garden, and many app developers who work inside it aren’t happy with the results. It’s spent years fighting some prominent developers like Epic and Match Group in court, and others have testified in Congress about having their apps locked down and undercut by Apple’s own copycats.

But for AR and VR developers, the alternative to an Apple walled garden may be a desert. Many apps — particularly non-gaming ones — have pivoted onto more conventional computing devices as one headset after another has failed to capture a consumer market. A key exception has been Meta, which has defied expectations with its Quest 2 for VR. That’s raised the opposite problem: a system where some developers and regulators worry Meta could monopolize the nascent industry, and some competing hardware companies have expressed irritation at the Quest’s rock-bottom, ad-subsidized prices.

“I think the other thing that’s compelling is the arms race that it starts between Meta and Apple. We’ve never really had these two titans go head to head before on a new platform,” says Loewenstein. And even for hardware makers, Apple’s entry isn’t necessarily a bad thing — the AR glasses market is small enough that any new attention to the space is welcome.

Despite the excitement inside the industry, Apple is still pushing into a field that has bested some of the biggest companies in tech. Google and Microsoft have both debuted AR headsets with flashy consumer-friendly applications (in Microsoft’s case, an AR edition of Minecraft) only to end up with a far less ambitious enterprise-focused product. So has the lavishly funded startup Magic Leap.

Moreover, few people seem to think passthrough AR is an endpoint for the medium. As Nguyen points out, a passthrough headset poses basic safety risks compared to a more glasses-like system: if its video feed stutters or goes dark, it temporarily blinds the user. That makes it risky to use outside a controlled home or office environment. “I see the Apple device as being a replacement of my iMac,” says Nima Shams, VP at DigiLens, a longtime maker of optics for glasses-style headsets. “I don’t see the device being a replacement of my iPhone.” Apple has reportedly been working on a transparent, non-passthrough headset, too — but it’s not what anyone expects to see on Monday.

There are pragmatic reasons to believe Apple’s better positioned than these companies. For one thing, the tech has matured significantly since Google started testing Glass in 2012, Microsoft announced HoloLens in 2015, and Magic Leap revealed its first product in 2018. For another, Apple has a consumer hardware track record that virtually no other company can match. That includes not only carefully produced industrial design and interfaces like trackpads but, in recent years, its own fairly powerful chips. “If we were facing rumors of a similar headset made by someone not Apple, I don’t think it would be all that successful,” says IDC research manager Jitesh Ubrani. “Apple has huge scale, huge developer support, huge consumer support — and no one else comes even close to that.”

But the most emotionally compelling argument is simply that Apple can make even weird-looking products — like AirPods, compared to everything from Q-tips to sperm — socially acceptable. As Loewenstein puts it, “the key has always been very, very simple: is this thing useful? Is this thing comfortable? And is this thing cool?” Meta has demonstrated VR’s value for games, but the company’s uncoolness is a running joke, from the famous picture of an MWC audience strapped into headsets to CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s much-maligned legless avatar. “I think Apple has the cool factor.”

And if it doesn’t? Well, if you’ve stuck around the world of consumer AR for this long, you can probably handle disappointment.

The feature-rich Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 is $35 off

tigaman webdesign — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 16:20:00 +0000

It lacks a share button, but the Elite Series 2 makes up for it with a whole lot of customizable options. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

The Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 is down to one of its lowest prices: $144.99 ($35 off) at Amazon and direct from Microsoft. In the past, it was common for this premium gamepad to fall as low as $140, but since that’s become much less frequent, this second-best price is a welcome treat.

Microsoft’s flagship controller for Xbox Series X / S consoles and the PC may have had its share of quality issues, but it remains our fave if you value a pad with handy functions like four optional rear paddles, software fine-tuning, and swappable D-pad and thumbsticks. It also has a built-in battery that charges via USB-C, which is a nice upgrade over the AA batteries that standard Xbox controllers still use to this day. And while the Elite Series 2 Core version offers the same premium build for less, you probably want all of the accessories that are included with the proper Elite Series 2. Otherwise, you have to spend more buying the case, sticks, and paddles in a separate accessory pack. Read our review.

It already feels like summer in some areas, but if you need to play catch-up on your spring cleaning. it helps to have an assistant like a robovac. The Roborock S7 Plus is on sale for $699.98 ($250 off) at Amazon when you click the on-page coupon. Not only can the S7 handle most of the vacuuming for you but it also has a built-in mop, and the Plus configuration comes with an auto-emptying docking station. It’s our top pick for hybrid vacuum / mop combo units, and while it doesn’t have AI obstacle avoidance, it does support keep-out zones (so you can carve out spots in your home that any robovac is going to struggle with). It’s a bot with a lot of features, and today’s deal is just $20 off the mark from its lowest price of all time.

Apple’s WWDC 2023 conference is just four days away. And while there’s talk of new Macs debuting on Monday, if you’re okay with not being on the cutting edge, you can save some money and get an exceptional laptop from 2021 for about $900 off. Adorama is selling the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and expanded 32GB of RAM for $1,999.99. This one comes with the base 512GB SSD storage, 10-core CPU / 16-core GPU, and all the niceties of the revamped Macs like MagSafe and plenty of built-in ports, along with double the RAM for more headroom when doing creative tasks like video editing or motion graphics. Also, let’s not forget that the usual base model of 16-inch MacBook Pros starts at $2,499, and this one is $500 cheaper than that. Read our review.

That MacBook may have a bunch of excellent ports, but many of us aren’t so lucky. If you’re afflicted with a limited number of ports on your laptop, then check out the Anker 555 8-in-1 USB-C hub, which is on sale for $63.74 (about $11 off) at Amazon.

The Anker 555 has enough connectivity to satiate the port hunger of most users, including two 10Gbps USB-C ports (one of which can deliver 85W of power), two 10Gbps USB-A ports, SD and microSD slots, an ethernet port, and a 4K-capable HDMI-out. There may be less expensive hubs out there, but many of them cheap out on USB speed or don’t support a full 60Hz at 4K resolution. In addition, most hubs more capable than this will require an external power source, and that’s no fun when you’re on the move.

Thirsty for more Thursday deals?

The base two-pack of Philips Hue Play Light Bars is on sale for $98 (about $61 off) at Amazon. The colorful smart lights are designed to accentuate your TV or desk space and can turn all kinds of colors. Of course, if you want it to sync with what’s on your screen, you either need a pricey HDMI box or a compatible Samsung TV with a paid app.
If you’re currently pouring hours into Tears of the Kingdom, you can get the Hero’s Edition of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild-Creating a Champion for $59.99 ($40 off) at Amazon. It’s from the last game, sure, but the combination of lore and art book is a nice addition to any Zelda collection — complete with a fold-up map and glass replica or a spirit orb.
One of our favorite pet accessories, the ChomChom pet hair remover, is selling for $19.99 ($12 off) at Amazon. You’ll both love and be horrified by how much hair it picks up on your couch, bed, and other soft furniture.
If you own the Canon EOS R mirrorless system, B&H Photo has a wide-ranging sale on various lenses when you use code CANONSAVEBIG at checkout. The deals range from the “nifty-fifty” Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM for $99 ($100 off MSRP) to the Canon RF 24mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM for $399 ($200 off MSRP). Also, the last-gen Canon EOS R6 is the lone camera body receiving this discount, dropping to $1,599 ($700 off MSRP).

Apple Watch widgets sound great, but hopefully Live Activities come, too

tigaman webdesign — Fri, 26 May 2023 17:02:18 +0000

Glancing at notifications has always been a big part of the , but there’s a new kind of notification that isn’t really on the Apple Watch. Live Activities, the new notification type designed for frequent updates, debuted on iOS 16 for all iPhone lock screens and iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island. Live Activity alerts are fantastic on the phone, but they amplify just how out of date data can be on the watch.

more…

The post Apple Watch widgets sound great, but hopefully Live Activities come, too appeared first on 9to5Mac.

How to fix Wi-Fi on Mac

tigaman webdesign — Fri, 26 May 2023 13:18:23 +0000

Macworld

Welcome to our Mac Wi-Fi troubleshooting guide, which offers fixes for situations where Wi-Fi isn’t working, your Mac refuses to connect to the internet, you MacBook won’t connect to Wi-Fi but other devices will, or your wireless signal strength is poor.

There are three main reasons why Wi-Fi stops working: there’s a problem with your router, your internet provider’s network is down, or there’s an issue with your own Wi-Fi network. Less commonly, there may be an issue with the macOS software you’re running. We cover all these scenarios in this article.

We have various steps to work through below, we’ve started with the ones that will hopefully fix your Wi-Fi problem quickly, but you might like to try a few of the latter tips if you have no luck.

In this article we cover the tips for fixing Mac Wi-Fi issues. We also address problems with a weak Wi-Fi signal in a separate article here: How to improve your Wi-Fi signal.

What to do when your Wi-Fi is not working

Work through the troubleshooting steps below to fix your Mac Wi-Fi problems.

Turn it off and on again

Restarting can fix many things.

Foundry

Restart the app: If Safari, or any browser, stops working the first thing to do is quit and restart the browser.
Restart the router: To establish whether the problem lies with your router turn it off and on again. To properly powercycle your router you need to disconnect it from power for about 30 seconds, then plug it in and turn it back on.
Restart the Mac: It’s also a good idea to turn your Mac off and on again.
Restart Wi-Fi: If there’s still an issue after you’ve rebooted your Mac, try turning the Wi-Fi off and then waiting a few seconds before turning it back on again to force it to scan for available networks again. To turn Wi-Fi off and on again click on the Wi-Fi logo in the menu at the top right of your Mac and switch the slide from blue to gray (or in older versions of the macOS select Turn Wi-Fi Off.)

You should also check that it’s not a problem with the website you are trying to access. Can you access Google? You could run a Ping test to see if there is a problem with the connection to a website you are accessing. Read about running Ping on a Mac here.

Check Apple’s software

If you have just updated your Mac and the Wi-Fi stops working it may be the update that’s responsible.

Apple

Unfortunately, sometimes the reason why you can’t connect to Wi-Fi is Apple’s operating system. In the past Mac users have encountered Wi-Fi problems after updating their Macs to a new version of macOS. Have you recently updated your Mac? Are other Mac users also experiencing issues with their Wi-Fi connection?

This was a big issue in 2015 with the original version of El Capitan (macOS 10.11). Following the update, many users found their Macs could no longer connect to their wireless network. Apple issued an update to the software, but this wasn’t an easy fix for MacBook Air owners who could only connect to the web via Wi-Fi due to the lack of an Ethernet port (unless they had an adapter). When we encountered this problem we had to update our Mac to a new version of macOS while sharing the internet connection from our iPhone.

If it’s a software update you need you could hotspot from your iPhone and connect to the internet that way. Just be careful about going over your data allowance! (Read our tips for sticking to your data allocation on your iPhone here.)

You may also experience problems with Wi-Fi if you are running a beta version of macOS. We had a lot of trouble with Wi-Fi dropping when we were running the High Sierra beta, for example.

Check with your provider

Use a service like Downdetector to see if it’s just you.

Foundry

It is possible that the problem is more widespread, are other people in your area also experiencing issues? Is your landline phone down too? Try Downdetector to see if other people are having the same problem.

If the problem is at the provider’s end, there’s not much you can do about it beyond complaining–and you should absolutely do that. Hopefully they will be able to rectify the issue quickly.

Even if other parts of their network aren’t down, it might still be the provider’s problem or it could be a problem with your phone line. For example, if your broadband relies on cables then there could be a problem with the cabling to your house; if your web connection often cuts out during bad weather it may be because water is interfering with the cables.

Disconnect Bluetooth

Disconnecting Bluetooth has worked for some people.

Foundry

Still no luck? Try disconnecting Bluetooth. This is a fix that has worked for some people.

If you are running a recent version of macOS the Bluetooth options are in Control Centre, which is accessed by clicking on the switch icon in the menu at the top of the screen.

Click on the Bluetooth icon and you’ll see an option to turn it off.

If you have an older version of macOS, click the Bluetooth icon at the top right (the runic B next to the Wi-Fi icon) and select Turn Bluetooth Off.

Forget the network

Forget the network and then reconnect.

Foundry

You may find that forcing your device to forget the network can help.

In macOS Ventura or later

Go to System Settings.
Click on Wi-Fi.
Either click Details beside the network you are connected to, and then choose Forget This Network, or beside a network you want to forget click on the … and choose Forget This Network.

In macOS Monterey of earlier

Go to System Preferences > Network.
Select Wi-Fi and then click Advanced.
Select the network you wish to forget, press the (-) and agree to Remove.

Once you’ve done this your Mac and other devices using your iCloud Keychain will not join that network.

Now try connecting to that network again, adding the password when requested.

Keep your router cool and check it’s location

Don’t hide your router in a cupboard.

Thomas Newton / Foundry

If things still don’t work, check your router isn’t overheating. Don’t cover it up or hide it away where there isn’t adequate ventilation, because if it gets too hot it won’t work as well.

Another thing to check is your router’s location. You will get a better signal if it’s not on or near any large metal surfaces – so don’t sit it on a filing cabinet, for example, and don’t put it right next to a radiator.

Move your laptop closer to your router and see if you get a signal from there. If it turns out the signal is fine when you’re right next to the router, it’s likely that something in your house or office is causing interference.

If it is time to upgrade your router check out our favorite routers in our round up of the Best routers for Mac.

Find out if something is blocking the signal from your router

Microwaves: heat your food and stop your streaming.

There are lots of reasons why the signal strength can be weaker in certain locations and not others. For example, thick walls in old houses can make getting a signal in one corner of the house impossible.

If there is a lot of metal in the building that can also cause issues with your Wi-Fi, so it might be worth checking what materials were used in the construction of your property.

You can use an app called NetSpot (free edition, or there’s a $49 Home version) to analyze the Wi-Fi signal in your building. Move your Mac around and chart the signal strength in various locations to get an idea of where the signal is stronger and where’s it’s weak.

Alternatively the problem may be other electrical devices, such as fans, motors, microwaves and wireless phones. Does your Wi-Fi drop at the same time as you use the microwave? Because they’re both using radio waves you can get interference when you turn your microwave on.

Try to position your router far away from these devices and don’t use the microwave at the same time as an important conference call.

Use Apple’s Wireless Diagnostics

Apple has built in tools that can help.

Apple has a free tool in macOS that can help you identify the issue. The Wireless Diagnostics app can analyse your network and indicate what is wrong and how you might be able to fix it.

There are two simple ways to access Wireless Diagnostics on a Mac. Either press and hold Alt/Option and click on the Wi-Fi icon in the menu and click on Open Wireless Diagnostics, or search for it by name using Spotlight (Cmd + spacebar).

Open Wireless Diagnostics.
Click Continue and wait while your Mac runs diagnostics.
Even if the Mac doesn’t find anything wrong click on Monitor my Wi-Fi connection to get it to assess your wireless connection for connectivity failures.
Run this for a while and then click Continue when you want to stop monitoring. You can add more information about the router in the next screens.
Click on Continue again and the tool will start to create a diagnostics report (this can take a few minutes).
This diagnostics report might include useful information to share with your service provider.
Once the report is generated locate it in the /var/tmp folder. To reach this open Finder and click on Go and paste in /var/tmp.
You can forward the report to anyone who might need it.

Unfortunately the information offered here probably won’t mean much to the average Mac user. However there are more useful tools to be found in Wireless Diagnostics, such as the one discussed below.

Use Wireless Diagnostics to look for drop offs

You can monitor your Wi-Fi connection to see when you your Wi-Fi drops.

You can also get an idea of whether other devices are causing your signal to drop by using the Wireless Diagnostics utility.

To generate a graph like the one shown above, follow these steps:

Open Wireless Diagnostics. Either search for it by name using Spotlight (Cmd + spacebar), or hold Option/Alt and click on the Wi-Fi icon at the top right of the screen, then select Open Wireless Diagnostics.
Before you click Continue to run a report, go to the menu and click on Window > Performance (or hit Alt + Cmd + 5).

This will generate three graphs that will tell you about the transmission rate, signal quality, and signal and noise levels. If you monitor this for a few hours you may be able to identify whether there is a problem.

The top graph displays the data rate of your wireless network in Mbps. The level of the graph will be dictated by your router and other equipment you have connected to it. The important thing, in troubleshooting terms, is that the rate is reasonably consistent. If you are seeing dips in the data rate, or a complete drop-off, it indicates that there is a problem.

The middle graph, labelled Quality, displays the ratio of signal to noise over time. Ideally, it should be a straightish line with small spikes. If you notice frequent dips in the line, it’s likely that something is interfering with your Wi-Fi signal.

The bottom graph, labelled Signal, displays both the signal strength and measured noise. Both are shown as dBM, or Decibel-milliwatts, a commonly used unit of the absolute power of radio signals. A reliable signal should have a signal strength of somewhere between -60 and -10dBm and a noise level below -75dBm. The narrower the gap between the two lines on the graph, the more unreliable the signal is likely to be.

If you notice sudden increases in noise, try to identify when and why they occur. Does it happen, for example, when a wireless phone handset is in use, or when a microwave is switched on? If you identify that a particular appliance is interfering with the signal, move the router away from the appliance that’s causing the problem.

You could also try varying the height of the router as well as its horizontal position to see if that has any effect on the reception when the interfering gadget is in use.

10.

Extend your Wi-Fi reach

You might like to get a Wi-Fi extender if your network isn’t reaching every corner of your house.

Linksys

If you have identified the problem as being an issue with the signal strength in certain parts of your building we recommend getting a Wi-Fi extender or investing in a mesh network. We have a round up of Mesh routers where we recommend the Linksys Velop AX4200 which you can buy from Apple U.S. for $249.95 or Apple U.K. for £259.95. A cheaper option is the D-Link E15 Eagle Pro range extender, which is available for $64.99 (currently $54.99) at Amazon U.S. and at at Amazon U.K for £70 (currently £32.99).

When you set up the Wi-Fi extender make sure you change the SSID (Wi-Fi name) and password of the new device so it’s the same as your current wireless router and modem, to enable your Mac to pick whichever device is offering the better connection without you having to switch and enter a new password.

11.

Check the competition

There are apps that can offer you information about the other networks in your area that might be competing.

Your Wi-Fi connection may also be suffering because of other networks nearby, sharing the radio waves with you–particularly if you’re in a built-up area.

You can see what the other Wi-Fi networks near you are by clicking on the Wi-Fi icon in the menu and choosing Other Networks. This will tell you if there are a lot of WiFi networks near you.

To find out what channels all those competing routers are using open Apple’s Wireless Diagnostics app again and click on Window in the menu. Next click on Scan.

This shows you information about the kind of router people near you are using and it also shows the RSSI – which is the Received Signal Strength Indicator. The RSSI for your own router should be better than the competition.

To find out more about the other traffic is in your area your could try the WiFi Explorer app ($19.99/£19.99).

WiFi Explorer will help you see what other networks are in your area. It provides a lot more information than you normally see in the list of available networks on your Mac, such as the network name (SSID), BSSID, vendor, country code, channel, band, security configuration, supported data rates, number of streams, and more.

12.

Choose a unique network name

Give your network a good name – and don’t hide it.

Now you have seen these different Wi-Fi networks, make sure you configure your Wi-Fi network with a unique name so that it doesn’t conflict with the names of other nearby networks.

You also shouldn’t hide your network, this may sound like it would protect your network from someone who might try to hack in to it, or a neighbor who might be able to guess your password, but your devices may take longer to find a hidden network and hackers will have other ways to find it anyway.

13.

Switch bands and change your Wi-Fi channel

You can tweak the settings on your router to improve your network.

Routers do a good job of selecting channels automatically, based on what else is operating nearby. If, however, you notice that your router is operating on the same channel as another router nearby, or you think you might benefit from switching to something better suited to your surroundings you might want to consider changing it manually.

You could go some way to counter competition from other Wi-Fi networks by changing the band you are using and channel you’re on.

There are three bands of Wi-Fi available and your router will either use the 2.4GHz band, the 5GHz band, the 6GHz band, or all of them. The 5GHz and 6GHz bands offer more bandwidth than the 2.4GHz band and is less susceptible to interference because other domestic appliances don’t use that frequency, however, because the 2.4GHz band uses a lower frequency it can get through thick walls and other objects.

If you have a new 6GHz router it uses the 1200MHz wide Wi-Fi spectrum, which is much larger than the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrums. It also adds seven 160 MHz channels to the mix. You can only take advantage of these with a Wi-Fi 6E router. See: What Wi-Fi 6E means for Apple’s new Macs and the iPhone 15.

If your problem could be solved by using the 5GHz or 6GHz bands – and they are available to you – follow these steps:

How to switch to the 5GHz or 6GHz band

To use the 5GHz or 6GHz band on your dual-band router you’ll need to separate the 2.4GHz and 5GHz/6GHz networks on your router (check its manual to find out how) and give them different names.

Click the Wireless Options button at the bottom of the window and click the box next to ‘5GHz network name’. Now give it a different name.

Once you’ve separated the 2.4GHz and 5GHz/6GHz networks, you need to tell your Mac and iOS devices to join 5GHz/6GHz in preference to 2.4GHz.

In macOS Ventura or later open System Settings and click on Wi-Fi. Select the 5GHz/6GHz network and connect to it. Right click on the 5GHz/6GHz network and make sure Auto-Join is on. Deselect Auto-Join on the 2.4GHz network.
In macOS Monterey or earlier go to the Network pane in System Preferences and click on Wi-Fi. Choose the Advanced button and drag the 5GHz/6GHz network to the top of the list.
On an iOS device, tap on Settings, then Wi-Fi. Tap on the ‘i’ next to the 2.4GHz network, and slide ‘Auto-Join’ to off.

We have a tutorial about How to switch to 5GHz on a Mac here.

How to change the channel in the 2.4GHz band

If your router is too old to offer 5GHz or 6GHz, or the 2.4GHz band is better suited to the thick walled building you live in, you could try changing the channel.

There are 13 channels on the 2.4GHz bands of which all but 1, 6 and 11 overlap. You’d be wise to pick a channel as far away from the one your neighbours use if possible.

The steps you need to follow to change the channel on your router will depend on your router software. To access your router software you need to know the IP address of your router. Most routers have an IP address of http://192.168.0.1 or http://192.168.1.1.

Open your web browser and type the IP address into the address bar and press enter. This will bring up your router software. Look for the channel information and log into your router to change it.

Don’t just move it to the next available channel, however. Channel frequencies overlap, meaning that narrowband routers use five channels concurrently and wideband routers use seven. So, if you manually change channels, make sure you move at least five or seven channels away from the one your router is currently operating on.

As you make changes, keep monitoring the graphs in Wireless Diagnostics so you can see which ones make a significant difference to signal quality.

Alternately you could configure your Wi-Fi network channel to Automatic so that it selects the best channel to use.

14.

Run Apple Diagnostics

Run Apple Diagnostics to look for problems.

If you still haven’t solved your Wi-Fi worries you could use Apple Diagnostics to check for Wi-Fi or network issues.

To do so follow these steps:

Disconnect all external devices (except the keyboard and screen).
Shut down the Mac, then turn it on while pressing and holding D.
When you see the screen asking you to choose your language do so, then watch as the progress bar indicates that your Mac is being assessed. This takes 2-3 minutes.
If problems are identified, Apple Diagnostics will suggest solutions.

15.

Reset your SMC, PRAM or NVRAM

Resetting the SMC might be able to cure things.

IDG

Reset the PRAM and the SMC (System Management Controller) is worth a try. This process is covered here: How to reset your Mac’s NVRAM, PRAM, and SMC.

16.

Change the DNS setting for your network

If you feel confident try changing the DNS settings.

Changing your DNS settings is also recommended, but like resetting SMC, PRAM and NVRAM it’s not for beginners.

You need to start by deleting your Wi-Fi preference files, but we advise you to back them up first!

Find the Wi-Fi preferences by opening the Finder and choosing Go > Go To Folder and typing: /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/
In this window locate the following files and drag them to clearly labelled backup folder on your Desktop:
com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
com.apple.network.identification.plist
com.apple.wifi.message-tracer.plist
NetworkInterfaces.plist
preferences.plist
Reboot the Mac.
Turn on Wi-Fi and see if it works.
If Wi-Fi doesn’t work you need to create a new Wi-Fi network location, adding custom MTU and DNS details.
Before you do this, quit any apps that might be using Wi-Fi or the network.
Go to System Preferences > Network and choose Wi-Fi. Click on the menu beside Location and choose Edit Locations, click the + to create a new location and name it something memorable. Click Done.
Join the Wi-Fi network, using your usual router password.
Click on Advanced and under the TCP/IP tab choose Renew DHCP Lease. Go to the DNS tab and add 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 to the DNS Servers list. (Those are the Google DNS, which are generally the fastest options, but you can add something else if you prefer.)
Choose Hardware and Configure Manually.
Change MTU to Custom and set it to 1453, click OK and Apply.

We have more information here: Can’t load some websites? Check your DNS server settings.

If you decide that the problem is with your router and cannot fix it, perhaps it’s time to buy a new router. You could have a look at our round up of the Best routers for Mac.

We also have a couple of dedicated articles how to test your internet connection and a guide to what to do if your iPhone keeps dropping your Wi-Fi connection.

We also have advice about how to configure a router for Mac and iPhone here.

Mac, Personal Software

The best phone to buy right now

tigaman webdesign — Mon, 22 May 2023 21:45:10 +0000

Photo Illustration by William Joel / The Verge

Bad news: flagship phones cost a small fortune these days. Good news: we can help you pick the right one and get the most for your money.

Modern flagship smartphones are little engineering marvels. And they should be, since they start around $800 and can cost well over $1,000. They tend to last upwards of four or five years, so the high cost is a little easier to swallow, but it’s still a major purchase for most of us.

To make sure you get the most for your investment, we’ve picked out the best of the best. The phones highlighted below may be pricey, but they deliver excellent daily performance and great cameras and will keep on running well into the foreseeable future.

If you’re looking to spend a little less and still get the best smartphone on a budget, you can find something really good for under $500. For those recommendations, check out our guide to budget smartphones.

Best iPhone for most people

Screen: 6.1-inch 1170p resolution OLED, 60Hz refresh rate / Processor: A15 Bionic Cameras: 12-megapixel f/1.6 main with sensor-shift IS, 12-megapixel ultrawide, 12-megapixel selfie / Battery: not advertised / Charging: wired, 15W wireless MagSafe, 7.5W Qi / Weather-resistance rating: IP68

The iPhone 14 seems like the obvious choice for anyone who needs a new iPhone but doesn’t want to step up to the 14 Pro. But hear me out: the iPhone 13 does almost everything that the 14 does, and it’s $100 cheaper.

Sure, if your carrier is offering you a good trade-in offer or dirt-cheap financing for the 14 or you want the (slight) year-over-year upgrades, then go ahead and get that one. It’s great! But if trade-in deal season is over or you’re paying out of pocket, we think the standard iPhone 13 is the better buy; the $799 14’s improvements are so minor that they’re not worth the extra money. In fact, I traded in my old iPhone 11 for a 13 mini rather than a 14 this year.

By opting for the 13, you don’t miss out on anything as far as the screen or processor is concerned. The iPhone 13 features a 6.1-inch screen with a standard refresh rate — no smooth-scrolling ProMotion here — as does the 14. There’s an A15 Bionic chipset in both phones, and although the 14’s is a slight upgrade with an extra GPU core, they both deliver excellent performance. They’re both MagSafe compatible for wireless charging and IP68-rated for robust water and dust resistance.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

If you aren’t concerned with getting the very latest features, then the iPhone 13 is a great buy in 2023.

Upgrading to the 14 does get you a slightly better camera system, but the improvements are subtle. The ultrawide and front-facing cameras do better in low light compared to the 13, and the main camera features a bigger sensor that’s able to hold on to detail in dim conditions a little better. But for the most part, you have to go looking for these differences in fine details — most people viewing their images at web- and social-media-friendly sizes won’t see what’s changed.

You’ll miss out on a couple of emergency features, too. The 14 includes a new Crash Detection feature that uses specialized sensors to recognize when a car crash has happened and automatically call emergency services. There’s a satellite-based emergency messaging service, too, for when you’re out of cell range. For a small group of people, these services might be worth upgrading for, but they’re likely things that most of us can do without.

From the outside, the iPhone 14 and 13 look almost identical. There are some physical differences to note, though. The first is that you can’t just use an iPhone 13 case on the 14 because the camera bump is a bit bigger. And below the glass and aluminum surface of the iPhone 14, Apple made some changes that enable much easier repairs to the back panel. That means out-of-pocket repairs will likely cost less, and if you’re a DIYer, it’s a much less daunting task to take on yourself.

There are a handful of other interesting new iPhone features this time around, but they’re reserved for the Pro models. If you consider yourself an early adopter or you just want the very best iPhone you can buy right now, it’s worth stepping up to the Pro. But if you’re just looking for a reliable device to get you through your day, take great photos and video, and keep the blue-bubble chat a-flowin’, then the iPhone 13 will serve you just as well as the 14 — for a little less money.

Read our review of the Apple iPhone 13.

Best Android phone for most people

Screen: 6.6-inch 1080p 120Hz OLED / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy / Cameras: 50-megapixel F1.8 main with OIS, 10-megapixel 3x telephoto with OIS, 12-megapixel ultrawide, 12-megapixel selfie / Battery: 4,700mAh / Charging: 45W wired, 15W wireless / Weather resistance: IP68

The S23 Plus is a minor update to its predecessor, but the upgrades are good ones. It still has a large 6.6-inch display with a smooth-scrolling 120Hz top refresh rate, and it’s a lovely screen to use — not as high-res as the Google Pixel 7 Pro’s 1440p display, but it’s top-notch. Some tweaks to the display tech and a bigger 4,700mAh battery give the S23 Plus stronger battery performance than its predecessor, so you can get through a full day of heavy use with a little more wiggle room than the outgoing model afforded.

There’s also a new chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It’s included in all models sold across the globe, and that’s a good thing — it is whip-fast. It handles daily tasks without a problem and heavier tasks like gaming with remarkable ease. Otherwise, there’s a lot that’s familiar about the S23 Plus. It still starts at $999, though the base model now comes with 256GB of built-in storage.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

The S23 Plus includes a big screen and a highly capable Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset.

The rear triple-camera system is also recycled from last year’s model, and for the most part, that’s fine. The 50-megapixel main sensor produces punchy, vibrant 12-megapixel photos by default. Portrait mode photos from either the main sensor or 3x telephoto camera are fantastic, with excellent subject isolation. Outside of portrait mode, the 3x camera looks a lot more average. It’s a shorter focal length than the 5x telephoto on the Pixel 7 Pro, so it’s a bit less useful for distant subjects.

Our least favorite part of a Samsung phone is the out-of-box software experience, as it comes with a lot of duplicate apps to replace or accompany Google’s stock apps like Messages, Google Calendar, and Google Assistant. Unless you’re a Bixby fan, you’ll need to take a little time to de-Samsung the S23 Plus. The Pixel 7 Pro offers a much more streamlined experience right out of the gate. But there’s good news: the phone ships with One UI 5.1 and is slated to receive four more OS platform upgrades and five years of security updates. That means you can keep using the phone safely well into the future and get the most out of your investment.

Read my full review of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus.

Best high-end iPhone

Screen: 6.1-inch (Pro) or 6.7-inch (Pro Max) OLED, 120Hz refresh rate / Processor: A16 Bionic Cameras: 48-megapixel f/1.8 with sensor-shift IS, 12-megapixel 3x telephoto with OIS, 12-megapixel ultrawide, 12-megapixel selfie / Battery: not advertised / Charging: wired, 15W MagSafe wireless, 7.5W Qi / Weather-resistance rating: IP68

For a lot of iPhone owners, this isn’t an upgrade year, especially if you’re coming from a 12 or a 13. But if you do need a new iPhone right now and you want the very best device, then Pro is the way to go. The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max usher in some new ideas from Apple that the standard 14 doesn’t get, like the “Dynamic Island,” a playful mash-up of hardware and software that turns the notch into a shape-shifting status indicator. It’s handy for system-level info, like whether your AirDrop went through, and it’s getting more useful as third party app-makers start to use it. There’s also a new high-resolution camera and an always-on display.

The iPhone 14 Pro, which starts at $999, is the very best iPhone you can buy right now. But it’s a bit of an early adopter special. There’s plenty that’s good but a lot of room for Apple to fine-tune and improve these features over the coming years. If you’re not ready to spend a thousand dollars on the first iteration of a new design, then look at the previous-gen iPhone 13. The standard iPhone 14 is an incremental upgrade over the 13 and doesn’t get you that much more; the 13 is still available and starts at $699. That’s our choice for most people, but the 14 Pro does have a lot to offer.

The 14 Pro comes with a 6.1-inch screen, and the Pro Max has a 6.7-inch screen. They’re both ProMotion displays like the 13 models, with adaptive refresh rates that go up to 120Hz for smooth scrolling and animations. New to this generation is an always-on display: when you lock your phone, the screen dims and drops into a low-power mode, with frame rates as low as 1Hz, but the clock, widgets, and wallpaper all remain visible. This means you can check the time or see if you have notifications without having to wake the display.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The 6.7-inch Pro Max (left) and the 6.1-inch Pro (right) both introduce some worthwhile new features to the iPhone lineup.

The display’s other new trick is, of course, Dynamic Island. Apple took the notch — the area of the screen that houses the front-facing camera and Face ID sensors — and turned it into a pill-shaped cutout that appears to expand dynamically (get it?) to show system indicators and notifications. It’s a handy place to quickly see what your phone is doing, whether it’s playing back music, sending files via AirDrop, or using navigation. It’s nice, but it’s something Apple and third-party developers will keep making more useful over the next few years — definitely not something to upgrade for right now.

The 14 Pro also has a new 48-megapixel main camera, which uses pixel binning to maximize light sensitivity and produce 12-megapixel images. The real-world improvements are subtle, with more fine detail in shadows and in low light, but the differences compared to a standard 12-megapixel sensor in the iPhone 14 are hard to see unless you’re looking really closely. The higher-resolution sensor also enables a 2x telephoto mode that’s essentially a 12-megapixel crop from the middle of the sensor. It’s the new default view for portrait mode, and it’s one that feels like a happy medium between the wide and 3x telephoto that have been the only options on iPhones past.

Outside of the new stuff, there’s a lot that’s familiar. The phone’s battery gets through a moderate day of use, though it seems to run down a little faster than the 13 Pro. The camera may not be the leap forward in photography that Apple claims it is, but it’s still one of the best in the game and records stunning video clips. And the new A16 Bionic chipset handles intensive tasks like gaming without a problem.

Read our full Apple iPhone 14 Pro review.

Best high-end Android phone

Screen: 6.8-inch 1440p 120Hz OLED / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy / Cameras: 200-megapixel main with OIS, 10-megapixel 10x telephoto with OIS, 10-megapixel 3x telephoto with OIS, 12-megapixel ultrawide, 12-megapixel selfie / Battery: 5,000mAh / Charging: 45W wired, 15W wireless / Weather resistance: IP68

The S23 Ultra is Samsung’s kitchen sink flagship phone. It’s a maximalist experience with a built-in stylus, four rear cameras (including two telephotos), a massive 6.8-inch screen, and the top-shelf Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. It’s hard to imagine what you could cram into this device without turning it into a foldable (please turn it into a foldable, Samsung).

All that hardware comes at a high starting price of $1,200, so it’s not our top pick for just anyone looking for a great Android phone. But if you’re looking for the best of the best — particularly if you live in the US where choice is limited — it’s at the very top of our list. The camera system is impressive; portrait mode photos are excellent, and it’s capable of very good images all the way to 30x zoom. There’s a new 200-megapixel main camera sensor at the heart of the rear camera array, and it does a good job of bringing out fine details in both good lighting and low light conditions.

Image: Allison Johnson / The Verge

The Galaxy S23 Ultra stands alone with a maximalist feature set.

The integrated S Pen isn’t new or updated for 2023, but it’s still a nice tool to have at the ready when you need to jot down a quick note. That massive screen is detailed and scrolling is smooth, with a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz all the way down to 1Hz. The sizeable 5,000mAh battery powers it through a day of heavy use, but don’t count on getting a lot more than one day out of it.

Our usual gripes with Samsung software apply here, too, and if anything they’re a little more glaring on such a pricey phone. The phone will happily download a bunch of extra apps you probably don’t want during setup, although you can opt out of a fair chunk of them and hide most of the ones you can’t uninstall. But Samsung’s healthy software support policy is fitting of a $1,200 phone: you’ll get four OS platform upgrades and five years of security updates. Not quite as good as Apple, but among the best on Android.

Read my full Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review.

Best small smartphone

Screen: 5.4-inch 1080p OLED, 60Hz refresh rate / Processor: A15 Bionic Cameras: 12-megapixel f/1.6 main with sensor-shift IS, 12-megapixel ultrawide, 12-megapixel selfie / Battery: not advertised / Charging: wired, 15W MagSafe wireless, 7.5W Qi / Weather-resistance rating: IP68

The iPhone 13 Mini is one of very few small phones on the market with top-tier features and specs; you don’t have to compromise on performance, build quality, or cameras. Apple didn’t announce a new Mini with the 14 series, instead opting for a big-and-bigger approach with the 6.1-inch 14 and 6.7-inch 14 Plus. The 13 Mini is likely your last shot at a small, highly functional iPhone, so get it while you can.

Though it’s much smaller in size than pretty much every other modern smartphone, the Mini’s 5.4-inch screen is still big enough for text messaging, email, web browsing, apps, video, and games, and if you’re coming from an iPhone 6, 7, or 8, it will feel quite spacious. But it’s also small enough that most adults, even those with small hands, will be able to comfortably reach all of the screen with their thumb. You won’t need a PopSocket on this one.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

The iPhone 13 Mini has all the same cameras and features as its siblings but packs a smaller battery for light users.

One important downside to a smaller phone: the iPhone 13 Mini has a smaller battery that probably won’t last a power user through a whole day without a charge. It’s really designed for someone who isn’t glued to their phone all day. Otherwise, the Mini is the same phone as the iPhone 13: it has the same design, processor, cameras, 5G support, and build quality as the larger model. It’s just smaller and has a smaller price tag — about $100 less.

If you prefer Android, the Asus Zenfone 9 is a good alternative. It’s a little bigger than the 13 Mini, with a 5.9-inch screen, and it doesn’t work on Verizon, but it’s otherwise a very similar proposition: great build quality, top-notch processor, and high-end features like a 120Hz screen are all tucked into a pocket-friendly device.

Read our full Apple iPhone 13 Mini review.

The best phone around $500

Screen: 6.1-inch, 1080p OLED, 90Hz / Processor: Tensor G2 Cameras: 64-megapixel f/1.89 with OIS, 13-megapixel ultrawide, 13-megapixel selfie / Battery: 4,385mAh / Charging: 18W wired, 7.5W wireless / Weather-resistance rating: IP67

At $499, the Pixel 7A is one of the pricier midrange phones you can buy, but the extra features it provides are well worth the money. It offers a nice 6.1-inch OLED with a 90Hz top refresh rate for smooth scrolling — not quite as nice as the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G’s 120Hz screen but a step up from the 6A’s 60Hz display.

Other new features this year include the latest Tensor G2 chipset from Google — the same on the flagship 7 and 7 Pro — with a healthy 8GB of RAM, an updated 64-megapixel main camera, and wireless charging. Factor in the 7A’s hearty IP67 dust and water resistance, its sturdy aluminum frame, and the fact that it continues to offer the best photo quality in the class, and that $499 price tag starts to look like a pretty sweet deal.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

It’s on the pricey side for a midrange phone, but the Pixel 7A is a heck of a good deal for its feature set.

Battery life on the Pixel 7A is just average. It will get through a day of moderate use with a bit left in the tank, but if you add in a battery-draining activity like gaming or an extended video streaming session, you’ll probably need to top it off before the end of the day. Otherwise, the 7A is an easy pick if your budget is modest. It’s scheduled to get three OS upgrades and five years of security patches, so it’s well positioned to go the distance, too.

There are other phones under $500 worth considering, and they’re all covered in our guide to the best inexpensive phones. But if you’re looking for the absolute most you can get from a $500 phone, then look no further than the 7A.

Read my full review of the Google Pixel 7A.

Best flip phone

Screen: 6.7-inch 1080p OLED, 120Hz (main), 1.9-inch OLED (cover) / Processor: Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 Cameras: 12-megapixel f/1.8 main with OIS, 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide, 10-megapixel selfie / Battery: 3,7000mAh / Charging: 25W wired, 15W wireless / Weather-resistance rating: IPX8

When the Galaxy Z Flip 4 is flipped open, you get a big 6.7-inch screen that handles just like the slab-style smartphone you’re used to. But fold it in half, like the flip phones of yore, and you can use its small outer screen to see basic widgets and read notifications. It’s unconventional, but it’s also fun and kinda stylish. It’s a great choice if you’re feeling a little bit adventurous — it’s still the early days for this form factor — and you’d appreciate a way to quickly check info on your phone without having to fully engage with it.

The Flip 4 is the definition of an incremental upgrade, but when you’re talking about a phone that folds in half, that’s still a pretty impressive achievement. It’s the same basic size and shape as the Flip 3, with a slightly slimmer hinge and some squared-off corners. It’s still IPX8 water resistant (no dust resistance, so please don’t take it to the beach), and the cover screen is still a tiny 1.9 inches — big enough to read an email subject line or check the current weather but not big enough to do much more than that.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

The Flip 4 is a modern take on the classic flip phone format.

The inner screen is protected by stronger ultrathin glass than the Flip 3. There’s a non-user-replaceable screen protector in place, as there was on the previous model, but the adhesive that attaches it is stronger this time around. That will hopefully avoid the bubbling problem seen by some owners of previous-gen foldables.

The Flip 4’s cameras are mostly the same as the Flip 3’s, and they’re still a bit behind what you’d expect from your garden-variety flagship phone. There’s a 12-megapixel main camera with slightly bigger pixels than the last one, a 12-megapixel ultrawide, and a 10-megapixel selfie camera. Most other phones priced at $999 will throw in a telephoto lens of some kind, but not the Z Flip 4. Still, it’s a lot of fun taking pictures and recording videos in the phone’s L-shaped Flex mode. (Just try and name another phone that comes with its own built-in kickstand.)

If you’re a Flip 3 owner, there’s nothing about the Flip 4 worth upgrading for. In fact, many of the new software-based features introduced with the 4 are already making their way to the 3. And there are still plenty of ways Samsung could improve on its design: making it slimmer, more durable, and increasing the size of the cover screen, for a start. The Flip 4 offers some valuable refinements over the 3 that make it feel like a more mature product and less of a concept. There are likely significant improvements coming down the line for the Flip series, but right now, it’s undeniably fun and different.

Read my full review of the Galaxy Z Flip 4.

Best folding phone

Screen: 7.6-inch 2176p 120Hz OLED inner screen, 6.2-inch 2316p 120Hz OLED cover screen / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 / Cameras: 50-megapixel F/1.8 main with OIS, 10-megapixel 3x telephoto with OIS, 12-megapixel ultrawide, 10-megapixel selfie (cover screen), four-megapixel under-display selfie (inner screen) / Battery: 4,400mAh / Charging: 25W wired, 15W wireless / Weather resistance: IPX8

The Fold 4 is Samsung’s latest folding phone, and it is a pricey multitasking powerhouse — a phone and a tablet wrapped up in one device. Like the Fold 3 before it, it’s sized like a skinny smartphone that fits in your pocket, but it unfolds to reveal a tablet-sized 7.6-inch display on the inside.

That inside screen makes everything from reading books and browsing the web to watching videos and playing games more enjoyable and immersive. When you’re done using it, just fold it back up and stick it in your pocket just like any other phone. You can use the 6.2-inch outer screen for simpler tasks like you would on a slab-style smartphone, but the big screen is there when you need it. The Fold 4 is undeniably a gadget person’s gadget, best suited for someone who wants to get the absolute most out of their mobile device, cost be damned.

The Fold 4’s outer screen looks and handles like any other slab-style smartphone screen; unfold the device and you’re looking at something quite different. For starters, there’s a non-user-replaceable screen protector glued to the inner display to protect against scratches — the ultrathin glass that allows it to fold is easily damaged without it. The whole device is IPX8-rated, meaning it offers robust water resistance but no dust resistance. Folding phones: not recommended for the beach.

Image: Allison Johnson / The Verge

The Z Fold 4 is pricey, but there’s nothing else quite like it on the market.

On the software side, the Fold 4 provides a lot of ways to get the most out of that big screen. There are new multitasking interface options that make it easy to open apps in multiple windows or use it in an L-shape like a laptop. These features are already becoming available to the Fold 3, so nobody should run out and upgrade from the previous-gen folding phone just for the software improvements.

The Galaxy Fold 4 is just brimming with cameras, including a 3x telephoto zoom lens, upgraded from a 2x zoom on the outgoing model. There are also 12-megapixel standard wide and ultrawide cameras on the rear panel, plus a 10-megapixel selfie camera on the outside and a 4-megapixel under-display camera on the inside. Image quality is on par with the S23 and S23 Plus, including a great portrait mode. You’d get a more powerful set of cameras on the significantly less expensive S23 Ultra, but the Ultra doesn’t fold in half.

The Fold 4 has evolved beyond the early hardware hiccups of the first Fold phones in the series, and it’s a device you could actually use as your daily driver — not just as a cool gadget that stays at home. The refinements over the Fold 3 are minor, like slightly wider aspect ratios on the screens and better adhesive on the non-user-replaceable inner screen protector, but they push the Fold a little closer to the mainstream. With apologies to the also-ran Microsoft Surface Duo 2, there’s just nothing else like it on the market — if you’re willing to pay the very high $1,800 premium.

Read my full Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 review.

Flagship performance for a little less money

Screen: 6.7-inch 1440p 120Hz OLED / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 / Cameras: 50-megapixel F1.8 main with OIS, 48-megapixel ultrawide, 32-megapixel 2x telephoto, 16-megapixel selfie / Battery: 5,000mAh / Charging: 80W wired (100W outside of US) / Weather resistance: IP64

After a little journey of self-discovery, OnePlus has finally come back around to its strength: making not-quite flagship phones that cost less than the high-end devices from Samsung and Google. The OnePlus 11 costs $699, includes a fantastic Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, has an excellent 6.7-inch screen, and comes with a great software support policy with four OS upgrades and five years of security updates. That alone makes it a very competitive option.

However, OnePlus cut a couple of corners to get to that relatively low price. It comes with an IP64 rating for splash resistance, which is less robust than the IP68 rating most devices in this price bracket carry — they can withstand full immersion in water. There’s also no wireless charging, another feature that virtually every other phone over $500 includes. Instead, you get super-fast wired charging: 80W if you’re in the US and 100W elsewhere. That’s enough to fully charge the phone in less than 30 minutes. You have to use the included charger and cable, and they don’t deliver the same speeds as other devices — bummer. But hey! There’s a charger in the box.

Image: Allison Johnson / The Verge

The OnePlus 11 5G performs like a flagship but doesn’t cost quite as much as one.

That’s the bad news. Back to the good news: the OnePlus 11 works on all three major 5G networks in the US right out of the gate — previous devices came with patchy 5G support at launch. The fan-favorite three-stage alert slider is back after taking a hiatus on the OnePlus 10T. And the 1440p OLED offers excellent detail along with smooth scrolling thanks to a 120Hz top refresh rate. It’s a great screen for the price.

The OnePlus 11’s bottom line is that it delivers excellent performance for less than you’d typically pay for a phone with the flagship chipset du jour. If you can live without wireless charging and you’re not concerned about the lack of waterproofing, then you’ll find it’s a great deal.

Read my full OnePlus 11 5G review.

Other good phones

There are a few other devices that didn’t quite make the cut for any of the above categories but are still worth mentioning. The Samsung S23 Plus just edged out the Google Pixel 7 Pro as our pick for the best Android phone for most people. It’s still a great device, and the $899 price tag is attractive (and often marked down). We like its software out-of-the-box better than Samsung’s, and its camera system sometimes outdoes the S23 Plus’ — especially with its longer 5x telephoto lens. But while its custom Tensor G2 chipset is capable, it’s unclear how it will hold up in the long run.

Pixel 6 and 7 owners have also reported their fair share of software bugs and unusual hardware problems. Google seems to be doing the right thing and repairing phones under warranty, and the Pixel series’ frequent updates mean that bugs are usually fixed in a timely manner. Samsung, on the other hand, is pretty much on cruise control with the S23 Plus.

The iPhone 14 Plus is worth considering if you prefer iOS and you like a bigger phone. If the 14 Pro feels like overkill but you want a big screen and a big battery, then the 14 Plus is a good alternative. It costs less than the $1,099 Pro Max, though its $899 price isn’t exactly cheap. But like the iPhone 14, the 14 Plus offers very few appreciable updates over the iPhone 13 and doesn’t quite lend itself to a broad recommendation.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 stands tall — er, small — in a field dominated by huge screens. Its 6.1-inch display makes it a little bigger than the Asus Zenfone 9 and its 5.9-inch screen, but compared to the 6.6-inch-plus screens that are much more common in this category, the Galaxy S23 is your best (maybe only?) option for flagship specs in a reasonably sized phone.

Update May 22nd, 5:45PM ET: Replaced the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G with the Google Pixel 7A as our top pick for under (er, around) $500.

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The best phone to buy right now

Best iPhone for most people

Best Android phone for most people

Best high-end iPhone

Best high-end Android phone

Best small smartphone

The best phone around $500

Read my full review of the Google Pixel 7A.

Best flip phone

Best folding phone

Flagship performance for a little less money

Other good phones

4. Logitech Zone True Wireless