If you missed the chance to buy the 2022 iPad when it was $30 off, don’t worry: the tablet has hit a new all-time low price on Amazon. After an 11 percent discount, the base 64GB model of the 10th-generation iPad is $399. All four colorways – blue, pink, silver and yellow – are part of the promotion. Amazon has also discounted select 256GB models by $50.
The 2022 iPad features several upgrades over its dated predecessor, but a higher price and a few odd design choices make it harder to recommend without caveats. Apple redesigned its entry-level tablet to give it thinner bezels, a bigger display and USB-C charging. It’s also the first iPad to include a landscape-oriented front-facing camera, a feature that makes the tablet more useful for video chatting. The 2022 model’s A14 Bionic processor is also a highlight. But then there’s the fact Apple’s latest tablet is $120 more expensive than its 9th-generation counterpart and only supports the first-generation Apple Pencil. At a more affordable $399, however, it’s easier to overlook some of those flaws.
Google is starting to test end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in Messages for RCS group chats on Android. Some users who are enrolled in the Messages open beta program will gain access in the coming weeks ahead of a broader rollout. The company said during its I/O 2022 developer conference that an E2EE beta for group chats would be available by the end of this year.
The move comes 18 months after Google Messages started offering E2EE for one-on-one conversations to shield chats from prying eyes. It started testing E2EE in Messages in November 2020, so it may be several months before the privacy feature is enabled for all group chats.
Engadget
Many carriers and phone manufacturers have gotten on board with RCS over the last several years to offer features such as high-quality photos and videos, read receipts and E2EE. The 30-year-old SMS format doesn't support any of those. Still, there's one company that's continuing to turn its nose up at RCS — Apple, which is staying cozy inside the walled garden of iMessage.
Google has been publicly pleading with Apple to adopt RCS but so far those efforts haven't proven fruitful. In September, Apple CEO Tim Cook jokingly suggested that iOS users who are having trouble sending videos to a loved one with an Android device should just buy them an iPhone.
Nevertheless, Google has been trying to improve iOS and Android messaging interoperability, and it made another attempt to get Apple onboard with RCS in a blog post. "Today, all of the major mobile carriers and manufacturers have adopted RCS as the standard — except for Apple," Messages group product manager Neena Budhiraja wrote. "Apple refuses to adopt RCS and continues to rely on SMS when people with iPhones message people with Android phones, which means their texting is stuck in the 1990s."
Still, there are companies that are working on ways to make iMessage accessible on other devices. Just this week, the developers of an app called Sunbird claim to have gotten iMessage to work on Android.
You no longer need others to use the same phone OS to share your digital car keys. Google has added car key sharing to Pixel devices, making cross-platform swaps available in an early form. If you're using an iPhone running iOS 16.1, you can send keys stored in Wallet to a Pixel through communications apps like Mail, Messages and WhatsApp. Pixel users share their car access through Android's wallet app.
Google plans to expand sharing to more phones using Android 12 or newer. Only a handful of car makers currently support digital car keys, including BMW and Hyundai brands that include Genesis and Kia. Some cars may require that you activate through a physical key or code, while others might ask you to start the process through the vehicle's infotainment screen.
Note that this isn't the same as the remote or proximity-based lock controls you get from companies like Tesla — this treats your phone like a physical key that requires getting close to the door. On phones with ultra-wideband, such as many recent iPhones and larger Galaxy S21/S22 models, you can unlock your car without taking the phone out of your pocket or using a smartwatch.
Companies across the industry, including Apple and Google, are hoping to make a publicly available standard for digital car key sharing. While there's no timeline for when this might happen, the appeal is clear. You could lend your car to a friend for the weekend regardless of the phone they use, and without handing over a fob. That could be crucial as car ownership declines and people are more likely to borrow vehicles than rent or use ridesharing services.
Apple’s iPad lineup is both more interesting and more complicated than it’s been in years. After October’s launch of the 10th-generation iPad and the M2-powered iPad Pro, Apple now sells three tablets in the 11-inch range that pack broadly similar designs but have key differences when it comes to internal components and accessory support. Last year’s 10.2-inch iPad remains on sale, but seemingly targets a different market than its “next-generation” successor of the same name. The iPad mini is still doing its thing, too.
If you’re confused about which to buy, you’re not alone. The decision isn’t as cut-and-dry as it has been in the past, so we’re here to break down the pros and cons, detail how they compare to each other and help make your decision a bit easier.
Of the six iPad models currently on sale, the iPad Air is the closest to being universally appealing. We gave it a review score of 90 earlier this year: It has the same elegant and comfortable design language as the iPad Pro while costing less, with a bright, sharp and accurate 10.9-inch display surrounded by thin bezels and flat edges. It comes with a USB-C port, similar to what you’d find on a MacBook and many other non-iPhone devices, and while it’s not a Thunderbolt connection as on theiPad Pro, simply being able to charge the Air with the same cable you use with your other gadgets is a plus.
Apple refreshed the Air earlier this year with its M1 system-on-a-chip, which is the same silicon found in the entry-level MacBook Air. This isn’t Apple’s newest SoC, but it’s still more than powerful enough for virtually any task you can throw at it, and an increasing number of iPadOS features are exclusive to M-series chips.
The iPad Air is also compatible with Apple’s best accessories, including the second-generation Pencil stylus and the (excellent) Magic Keyboard, just like the 11-inch iPad Pro. These add a good bit of cost to the bottom line, but for digital artists or frequent typers, they’re there.
The middle of Apple’s iPad lineup is a bit congested. If you need more than the Air’s default 64GB of storage, you might as well step up to the 11-inch iPad Pro, which starts at 128GB and packs a better 120 Hz display and M2 chip for not much more than a higher-capacity Air. (The display on the 2021 iPad Pro is better, too.) The new 10.9-inch iPad isn’t bad, either, but with its non-laminated display and lacking accessory support, it’s a harder sell unless you see it on deep discount. Still, while it’s not cheap, the iPad Air is Apple’s best blend of price and performance for most.
Best budget: iPad (9th generation)
If you can’t afford the Air, or if you just don’t use your tablet heavily enough to warrant spending that much, it’s perfectly safe to get the 9th-gen iPad instead. Starting at $329 for a 64GB model — and regularly available for less than $300 — it’s by far the most wallet-friendly way into iPadOS. While its hardware is an obvious step down from the models above, it’s still more than capable for the essentials.
We gave the 9th-gen iPad a review score of 86 last year. This is the only “current” iPad to follow Apple’s older design language: It’s just a tiny bit thicker and heavier than the 10th-gen iPad and iPad Air, but its wider bezels mean there’s only enough room for a 10.2-inch display. Like the 10th-gen iPad, that screen isn't laminated and more susceptible to glare, though it’s just as sharp. There’s a Home button located on the bottom bezel that also houses a Touch ID fingerprint scanner, and the device charges via Lightning port rather than USB-C. Its speakers don’t sound as nice, either, but it’s the only iPad to still have a headphone jack, and its 12MP front camera is fine (though, it’s not landscape-oriented as on the 10th-gen iPad).
The 9th-gen iPad runs on Apple’s A13 Bionic, which is the same SoC used in 2019’s iPhone 11 series. It won’t be as fluid or futureproof as the M1, but it’s plenty quick for casual tasks. In terms of first-party accessories, the tablet supports Apple's Smart Keyboard and first-gen Pencil stylus. Those are less convenient than the company’s newer options, but they’re at least there.
In the end, it’s all about the price. The 9th-gen iPad is the most affordable model in Apple’s lineup, and those savings go a long way toward papering over its issues.
Best for one-handed use: iPad mini
The iPad mini is exactly what it sounds like: the small iPad. It’s easily the shortest (7.69x5.3x0.25 inches) and lightest (0.65 pounds for the WiFi model) of every current iPad, with an 8.3-inch display that’s more comfortable to operate with one hand.
We gave the iPad mini a review score of 89 last year. Its design follows closely after that of the iPad Air: squared-off edges, thin bezels, no Home button, a Touch ID sensor in the power button, stereo speakers, solid cameras and a USB-C port. Its display is technically sharper, but otherwise gives you the same max brightness, lamination, anti-reflective coating and wide color gamut. It doesn’t have a “Smart Connector” to hook up Apple-made keyboards, but it does support the second-gen Apple Pencil.
The mini runs on Apple’s A15 Bionic SoC, the same as the one in 2021’s iPhone 13 phones. This is technically faster than the chip inside the 10th-gen iPad and, again, more than powerful enough for most tasks, though it’s a step behind the laptop-grade M1 or M2.
The mini has an MSRP of $499 for the 64GB model and $649 for the 256GB model. That’s a lot, though in recent months we’ve seen both SKUs available online for up to $100 less. If you specifically want a smaller tablet — whether it’s to easily stuff in a bag, use with one hand or treat like a high-end e-reader — this is the only option Apple sells, and the best tablet in its size range, period.
Best for power users: iPad Pro 12.9-inch
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro exists in something of its own realm within Apple’s tablet lineup. It starts at $1,099 for 128GB of storage, which is $100 more than the M1 MacBook Air. That’s well beyond what anyone needs to pay to do the vast majority of iPad things, and quite a chunk of change for a platform that still has issues with laptop-style productivity. But the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is the best pure piece of tablet hardware that Apple makes.
We gave the latest iPad Pro a review score of 87 in November. The display here can get brighter than the Air’s, and it has a 120 Hz refresh rate (the Air is limited to 60 Hz). The 12.9-inch Pro’s display is more of an upgrade than the 11-inch model, though, as it’s the only iPad to use mini-LED backlighting, which can deliver higher peak brightness, improved contrast and a generally more realistic image. Beyond that, the Pro runs on Apple’s new M2 SoC, which isn’t a huge upgrade over the M1 in real-world use but offers more performance overhead going forward. The iPad Pro has the same 12MP rear camera as the Air, but adds a 10MP ultrawide lens and an LED flash (plus a LIDAR scanner for AR apps). The 12MP front cameras, meanwhile, can take shots in portrait mode.
Beyond that, the Pro has a faster Thunderbolt USB-C port, more robust speakers and Face ID support. With its latest refresh, it can now recognize when an Apple Pencil is hovering above the display and preview would-be inputs. There are more storage options, going all the way up to 2TB, with the 1TB and 2TB models doubling the RAM from 8GB to 16GB (at a super high cost). And it works with all of Apple’s best accessories.
It’s a powerhouse, and if you do want to use an iPad more heavily for work, the roomier display on the 12.9-inch Pro should make it the most amenable option for all-day, laptop-style use. You’ll want to add a keyboard to get the most out of that, but if you’re spending this much on an iPad to begin with, that may not be as big of a deal.
Like the iPad mini, this is very much a niche device. It’s prohibitively expensive, and its hulking size makes it less portable than other iPads. Certain creatives have made it work as a laptop replacement, but for most, iPadOS still makes multitasking and other computer-y tasks more convoluted than they’d be on a similarly priced MacBook. It’s only a minor upgrade over last year’s model, too. Still, as a tablet, the 12.9-inch Pro is deeply powerful.
Whether you know someone who just got an iPad Pro or you want to experiment with using the premium tablet as a laptop in the new year, Apple's Magic Keyboard is one of the best typing solutions out there. However, like most first-party Apple accessories, it'll cost you. But now you can get the 12.9-inch model for $100 less than usual from Amazon — the online retailer has the white keyboard for $250, which is the lowest price we've seen it.
There are a number of other keyboard options out there for all iPad models, but the Magic Keyboard is, without a doubt, the most luxurious. The 12.9-inch model on sale attaches magnetically to the back of the iPad Pro, keeping the tablet "hovering" above and slightly behind the keys and trackpad. The accessory feeds data to the iPad via the rear smart connector, and that also means that you don't have to worry about charging it separately or pairing it via Bluetooth to the tablet like you would with many other third-party keyboards. We found the Magic Keyboard to be pretty sturdy, and it provides an excellent typing experience. Somewhat surprisingly, the trackpad wasn't as cumbersome to scroll with as we thought it might be (since it's much wider than it is tall) and it provides much more precise control than you'd ever get with the iPad's touchscreen alone.
Overall, the Magic Keyboard is one of the best iPad accessories if you really want to get work done on your iPad Pro. With the advancements Apple has made in recent years with iPadOS, it is feasible to use the company's tablets (especially the iPad Pros) as laptop replacements, and the Magic Keyboard will go a long way to making the tablet feel even more like a traditional laptop.
But we'd be remiss if we didn't point out a few of the accessory's flaws. The Magic Keyboard provides limited range of motion for the iPad — roughly 90 to 130 degrees — which is much less than you'd get from a standard laptop. It's also not the slimmest solution and, while it gets close to replicating the feeling of working on a laptop, it's not exactly the same. Plus, the Magic Keyboard adds a lot to the cost of an already expensive gadget. In this case, you probably already spent $1,000 or more on a 12.9-inch iPad Pro — adding another $350 to that is a big ask. But it's at least a bit easier to stomach when you can get the Magic Keyboard at a discount.
If you weren't able to grab Apple's 2022 iPad on Black Friday, don't worry: It's on sale right now for an even cheaper price. You can get the blue and the silver variants of the 64GB WiFi-only iPad right now for only $419 on Amazon, which is $30 less than retail. The yellow version of the tablet isn't quite that cheap, but you can still get it for the device's Black Friday price of $426. Those aren't quite all-time lows for the 10th-gen iPad, but you're not constricted by a time limit or by the need for a Prime subscription this time.
Apple gave the 2022 iPad a redesign to set it apart from its previous base tablets and bring its looks closer to the iPad Air and the iPad Pro. The tech giant removed the Home button and moved its Touch ID to the lock button. Its bezels are thinner, its display is bigger and its front-facing camera has been moved to the landscape border. Another big change is that the device now comes with a USB-C charging port instead of a Lightning port like previous models.
The tablet is powered by an A14 Bionic chip, and while it's a modest upgrade from last year's A13, it does improve the device's performance. When we reviewed the device, we also found that its battery life met or exceeded the 10-hour estimate Apple provides for every iPad: It lasted 11 hours and 45 minutes when we used it to play movies purchased from the iTunes Store.
It's unclear when the tablet's price will go back to retail, but this is a great chance to purchase one for the coming holiday season either for yourself or as a gift.
We’ve talked a few times about the appeal of capable digital styluses and e-ink note-taking. Surely, it’s the perfect study tool? This time, Amazon tries it out. The Kindle Scribe, at $340, is costlier than a basic e-ink reader, but it has stylus input, high latency and a few more tricks.
This is Amazon’s first Kindle that supports stylus input, and according to Engadget’s Cherlynn Low, it offers an excellent reading and writing experience. There’s definitely room for improvement, though: Don’t expect handwriting-to-text conversion or sophisticated note-taking and syncing tools, like we’ve seen on other (usually more expensive) devices with stylus input.
This isn’t a Galaxy S22 Ultra or an iPad Pro, but it’s e-ink, sensitive to your chicken scratches and a different Kindle for Amazon. We’ve only really seen niche e-ink tablets until now. If you’re intrigued, check out our full review.
– Mat Smith
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It’s December, so all your streaming services are very eager to tell you which artists, songs and albums you listened to most in 2022, (it’s probably Beyoncé.) While Apple and YouTube Music already rolled out their annual nostalgia wrap-ups, Spotify's 2022 installment of Wrapped debuts today. The company likes to put a new spin on its personalized top lists each year, and this one is no different. A new feature called Your Listening Personality offers some insight into what the music you stream says about your taste. Spotify’s invented 16 listening personality types, including The Replayer, The Specialist, The Adventurer and The Fanclubber. Why yes, we are all insufferable.
The price of a Starlink satellite terminal has almost doubled in Ukraine, jumping from the equivalent of $385 to about $700, according to The Financial Times. The monthly rate isn't as expensive as it once was (as high as $100), but it's crept up from $60 to $75. It's not known if prices have also jumped for the Ukrainian government, which gets Starlink from a variety of sources that include SpaceX itself, foreign governments and even crowdsourcing. Ukraine's cellular networks are apparently buckling under the strain of Russian attacks on the country's electrical grid. In some cases, Starlink is the only way for locals to reach the internet.
Its Unpacked event is expected to take place in San Francisco.
Samsung will unveil its Galaxy S23 devices in the US in the first week of February 2023, according to news outlet Korea JoongAng Daily, which cites an anonymous company executive. And we’ve heard other corroborating reports. While Samsung has yet to formally announce an Unpacked event for the Galaxy S23, the timeline reported by the publications is consistent with the previous flagships' launch dates. Samsung revealed its Galaxy S22 phones on February 9th earlier this year.
What can you expect? Maybe the next Galaxy S series ditches Samsung’s in-house Exynos chips and goes all in on Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips. Some unofficial renders also suggest Samsung may get rid of the camera bump.
Its governor said the Chinese government is using TikTok to 'manipulate the American people.'
Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, has signed an executive order prohibiting government employees, agencies and contractors from downloading and using TikTok on state-owned devices. In her office's announcement, Noem said she issued the order due to growing security concerns the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been using the social media app to gather information from American users and leveraging it to manipulate them. The order also prohibits government personnel from visiting the TikTok website on browsers.
US officials have long been raising security concerns about TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. In 2020, then-President Trump attempted to block TikTok and WeChat in the US – which didn't quite go anywhere.
When I turned 10, I was finally allowed to own a pen. At school, that was when we moved from pencils to ink, and our parents were told to get us all-new stationery. That was also the year we learned to write in cursive, because we were finally big kids and cursive writing meant we could… sign checks, I guess.
I don’t know about kids these days, but physically writing notes in pen and paper is a huge part of how I learned things and organized my thoughts. It probably had something to do with the fact that my mom trained my brother and I to use “mind maps” as study tools, too. When I start planning a trip or a big project, I instinctively reach for a notepad and a pen. That’s why writing on a tablet that mimics this experience holds so much appeal for me (and probably a lot of people around my age or older).
Though you can get a decent stylus experience on an iPad, Surface or Galaxy device, e-ink tablets typically last a lot longer and offer a more paper-like reading experience with no glare or blue light hurting your eyes. They also typically don’t come with distracting apps or notifications to interrupt your work. So when Amazon announced the Kindle Scribe would be its first e-reader that would support stylus input, I was intrigued. The Kindle series are probably the most popular e-ink readers in the US, and they could make digital note taking much more accessible to a mainstream audience.
At $340, however, the Scribe is the most expensive Kindle. For that premium, you’ll get a bigger 10.2-inch screen with the same 300ppi pixel density, a front light with 35 LEDs, an included Basic Pen and at least 16GB of storage. You can sync your notes to the Kindle app to view them without the tablet. But while e-readers never fully replaced books, the Scribe might just offer a better experience than an actual pen and notepad.
Design and hardware
Like most Kindles, the Scribe is marvelously thin and light. At just 0.22 inches thick, this is one of the slimmest e-readers around, and I actually worried it might break when I left it in the flimsy purse I threw into an overhead compartment during my Thanksgiving flight to San Francisco. Luckily, with the case that Amazon sent along, the Scribe not only survived being tossed around with heavy suitcases, it also held up when I accidentally sat on it. (Yes, I’m a monster who’s too rough with gadgets.)
More importantly, at just 433 grams or 0.95 pounds, the Scribe was light enough for long periods of reading. It’s just a hair lighter than the M1 iPad Air, which weighs 1.02 pounds, and thanks to a generous bezel on the long side, the Scribe is easy to hold with one hand without accidentally triggering the touchscreen. Because the display rotates to all orientations, you can use this with your right or left hand.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Unlike the Oasis or some e-reader models by Kobo, the Scribe doesn’t have physical buttons for page turning. There’s just a single power button on the edge next to the USB-C charging socket. It’s also worth noting that, again, unlike the Oasis and Paperwhite models, the Scribe is not water-resistant.
As a notebook
In many ways, the Scribe offers a better experience than actual pen and paper. I never run out of paper or ink or have to sharpen a pencil. Erasing my mistakes is effortless, I don’t have to deal with cleaning up eraser dust, and I never end up with ink or lead stains on my hands. Amazon’s palm rejection here is almost perfect, other than when I drag it across the screen, which turned the page. That didn’t happen often enough to be annoying, and I quickly learned to not move my palm when resting it on the display.
I loved the sheer smoothness of writing on the Scribe. The latency is nearly zero, and the instant I placed the nib on the screen, it left a mark. Thanks to the screen’s matte finish and responsiveness, drawing on the Scribe felt just as natural as the real thing. The Premium Pen that Amazon sent with our review unit has a shortcut button and dedicated eraser at the top. Flipping the pen over to undo mistakes felt natural, but more importantly it was just as smooth as inking. Of course, since it’s a much larger target than the stylus’ nib, the eraser isn’t as precise, but the deleted marks on the screen fade in a satisfying way.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
The one thing that took away from the Scribe being a full replica of a notepad is its screen refreshing. When you erase something, it slowly fades away and when it’s just about gone, the display refreshes itself quite jarringly. It’s a small quirk, but can definitely catch you off guard.
Just like pen and paper, the Scribe is limited. You can’t edit your notes on a phone or laptop after writing them. You can view them, sure, but because Amazon syncs them to the Kindle app as image files, you can’t make changes to them. You can export them as PDFs to another device and use a third-party editor to tweak your notes, but at that point you might as well use Evernote or Samsung Notes.
Amazon’s software doesn’t offer this function though, and compared to competing note-taking apps for iOS, Android and Windows, the Scribe’s features are very rudimentary. It doesn’t even do handwriting recognition to convert your scrawl to machine-readable text, meaning it also can’t index anything you’ve jotted down so you can search your notes by keywords later.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Still, that doesn’t mean the device isn’t a delight. I loved using the Scribe as a notepad for my many lists. You can start notebooks using various backgrounds — a simple lined pattern, or checkboxes to keep track of tasks or shopping items. I spent my week or so with the Scribe organizing my holiday shopping lists, planning a family vacation, drawing tropical fruits that my friends haven’t heard of and refamiliarizing myself with writing the Japanese alphabet (hiragana). I felt more productive and organized when I had the Scribe with me, and almost lost when I needed to jot down a thought and it wasn’t by my side.
For my purposes, the Scribe was perfectly adequate. But for others who might need a more sophisticated note-taking system, Amazon’s device is seriously lacking. A biochemistry professor I spoke to who was keen on using the Scribe to annotate notes and research articles, for example, was disappointed to learn the device didn’t support colors. You can only highlight in grayscale. If you’re looking to create works of art, you won’t find a complete toolkit in Amazon’s app — just a pencil with a few thickness options or a highlighter. And unlike on an iPad, you can’t move portions of your drawings around just by dragging and dropping them with your stylus.
Creating a notebook isn’t the only way you can doodle on the Kindle Scribe, by the way. You can also take down notes when you’re reading an e-book. But it’s not like you can scribble directly onto the words of your e-books. You can use the floating toolbox to create a sticky note, then draw within a designated rectangle. When you close the sticky note, a small symbol appears over the word it was attached to, but otherwise, your scribbles are hidden. No annotating in the margins here.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Like I said, Amazon’s software is rudimentary. Still, if you think about the Scribe primarily as a blank writing pad that replaces all your loose pieces of paper as opposed to a sophisticated notes management system, then it’ll still serve a purpose.
The Pen
A large component of the Scribe experience is the pen. The Premium Pen I received costs $30 more, and adds a dedicated eraser and shortcut button along the edge. Both the Basic and pricier pens snap magnetically to the edge of the Scribe and don’t need to be charged, which is nice. The stylus stays securely attached to the tablet, thanks to the strong magnets, though you can remove it without too much force. I did find the shortcut button on the Premium Pen a little too easy to accidentally trigger, since it’s placed right where my thumb or index finger would rest. I frequently had to remind myself to turn the stylus so I wouldn’t press it by mistake.
Amazon’s Premium Pen is about the same size as an Apple Pencil or Samsung’s larger S Pen for tablets and reminiscent of a real pen. Anecdotally, it actually felt more comfortable than Apple’s stylus, possibly due to a touch of malleability in its body.
As an e-reader
It’s no surprise that the Scribe shines as an e-reader. It may be the biggest Kindle yet, but when I was reading Blackout by Erin Flanagan, words were as crisp and legible as on the smaller entry-level Kindle I’m used to. I appreciated the ability to tweak the display’s color temperature just like I would on other Kindles, and cut down on blue light near my bedtime. The front light made it possible for me to read in a dark airplane cabin, and though the Scribe was easy to see in sunlight, it did have some glare under the harsh overhead lights in our office.
Of course, thanks to the larger canvas, I could see more text on a page and didn’t have to squint. Amazon also offers Large Mode under Display Size so that those with visual impairments can read with greater ease. Other Kindle accessibility features are also available, including the VoiceView screen reader over Bluetooth audio (in English only). You can also adjust the font size, face, line spacing, margins and invert black and white.
The company also introduced a new Send to Kindle for Web tool to make it easier to transfer your personal documents from your computer to your Scribe. Basically, as an e-reader, the Scribe is everything you’ve gotten used to on a Kindle, from the excellent library of available content down to Amazon’s cumbersome interface.
This brings me to my two biggest frustrations with the Scribe, and, spoiler alert, they’re pretty minor complaints. First, I wish Amazon would update its layout to make it easier or faster to switch between notes. To go from my to-do list to my packing list, for example, I have to tap the top of the screen to invoke the navigation bar, hit the Notebooks button to view my notes, then select the list I want. That would be bothersome on a regular touchscreen, not to mention a slowly refreshing e-ink one. If Amazon let me view a carousel of my open notes by swiping from the bottom, perhaps, it might make jumping between them easier.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Secondly, the premium leather cover that Amazon sent with the Scribe folds into a stand, but it’s tricky to figure out how. Obviously you don’t have to buy this case, which is good since it costs an absurd $80. And the interface is slow, but works as expected and is perhaps as good as it gets for e-ink.
The best thing about black-and-white e-readers, though, is their longevity. Amazon says the Scribe will last up to 3 weeks if you write about half an hour a day. While I was concerned to see the battery level drop from 83 to 80 percent during one of my hiragana practice sprees, in my week with the device it’s gone down about 35 percent. I’d say if you weren’t writing continuously for hours, you’d get more out of the Scribe, but at the very least it easily should last you two and a half weeks.
Wrap-up
As a child of the nineties, I’m enamored with the Scribe. Amazon has managed to not only replicate a pen-and-paper experience, but without the associated limitations like running out of ink. Some of my main issues with the Scribe, particularly its lack of editing tools, are possibly solvable by software updates. And indeed, when I asked Amazon about possible handwriting recognition tools in future, a representative indicated that “While we can’t comment on future roadmap features, we are always listening to customer feedback.” So maybe if we all complain loudly enough, the company will add it.
The Kindle Scribe’s biggest competition is the Remarkable Tablet, which retails for slightly more than Amazon’s device, though you can find it on sale for less nowadays. It has a slightly larger 10.3 inch screen but comes in noticeably thinner at 4.7mm (or 0.18 inches) thick. ReMarkable offers slightly better syncing and writing software than Amazon, but it pales in comparison to the Kindle as an e-reader.
Artists, designers and serious note-takers also probably want to look elsewhere for a more sophisticated drawing and annotating solution — the iPad and Apple Pencil might be your best bet. But as a combo of an e-reader that can also serve as a basic digital notepad, the Kindle Scribe is surprisingly satisfying.
Elon Musk claims that Apple has “threatened to withhold” Twitter from its app store. According to Musk, the company “won’t tell us why” it has issues with the social network’s app. In subsequent tweets, he railed against Apple’s 30 percent “tax” on in-app purchases and claimed the App Store owner has “censored” other developers. He also said Apple “has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter.” Apple hasn’t yet responded to a request for comment. Musk also hasn’t specified if the company is holding updates to the service or threatening to remove the app from its store altogether.
Apple has strict, if often unevenly enforced, rules that govern the content in apps in its store. You might remember Parler, a “free speech” rival to Twitter, which was removed from the App Store for its lax content moderation rules. The app returned after it rolled out an AI-based moderation system.
Message Yourself lets you send notes, reminders and shopping lists.
As confirmed by TechCrunch, a new feature called Message Yourself is now being rolled out globally to iOS and Android users in the next few weeks. Once you get the update, you'll be able to see yourself at the top of the contacts list when creating new messages. Once you click on that, you'll be able to send yourself notes and reminders. Until now, you could only message yourself by creating a group with just you as a member or by using the apps click to chat feature. Or open your notes app.
The dump includes private phone numbers and email addresses.
Earlier this year, Twitter confirmed an API vulnerability allowed the theft of 5.4 million users’ private user data, but the company said it had "no evidence" it was exploited. Now, all those accounts are exposed on a hacker forum. An additional 1.4 million Twitter profiles for suspended users were reportedly shared privately, and an even larger data dump with the data of "tens of millions" of other users may have come from the same vulnerability. If you're thinking about using two-factor authentication, now would be a good time.
The smartwatch is now more useful for recreational divers.
Apple
Hush Outdoors and Apple have released Oceanic+, effectively giving Ultra owners a recreation-oriented dive computer. The software tracks fundamentals like depth, no-decompression time (a figure used to set duration limits for given depths) and water temperature. The app works without the touchscreen, and you can set compass headings using the action button. Developers have even cranked up the haptic feedback, so you can feel it through a wetsuit.
The Federal Trade Commission and seven states have sued Google and iHeartMedia for running allegedly "deceptive" Pixel 4 ads. Promo ads aired between 2019 and 2020 featured influencers extolling the virtues of phones they reportedly didn't own — Google didn't even supply Pixels before most of the ads were recorded. The FTC wants to bar Google and iHeartMedia from making any future misleading claims about ownership.
Easy to use and with a notable emphasis on design, there are many reasons why Apple devices are so desirable. While we saw some great discounts for Black Friday, many of the brand's best and most recent products are also seeing impressive Cyber Monday discounts. Some of the prices also happen to be the lowest we've seen yet. We've sifted through the deals to find out what's on sale for Cyber Monday (and it's quite a bit). Anyone looking to get or gift Apple Watches, AirPods, iPads, and more, these are the deals to go for. Here are the best Cyber Monday deals on Apple devices for 2022.
AirPods Pro
Released just a few months ago, the AirPods Pro are the second generation of Apple's premium ear buds and deliver a massively improved sound quality with excellent noice cancellation. Amazon has them for just $200, which is $50 less than we saw it for during Prime Day back in October. Our reviewer and audio expert Billy Steele gave them an 88 in our review, saying they have "the best transparency mode you’ll find on earbuds."
The second-gen AirPods have dropped back down to $79 for Cyber Monday, which is half off their usual rate. These buds are a bit old at this point, but you can't beat them this holiday season if you want to pick up a pair of AirPods at the lowest price possible. They have a fit similar to Apple's EarPods of yesteryear, plus they have improved wireless connectivity and decent sound quality.
The second-generation Apple Pencil is back down to a record-low price of $89 for Cyber Monday. There are still a couple of iPads that only work with the first-gen stylus, but most of the higher-end models support this one. We consider it to be the best stylus for the iPad, and we like it for its low latency and built-in magnets that let it attach to the side of your tablet.
Released about two years ago, Apple's AirPods Max, the company's premium (and only) over-ear headphones have gone up and down in price, but this deal is a near-best at $449.With an Engadget review of 84, AirPods Max pair up a sleek design with solid noise cancellation and on-board controls that are a joy to use. At their usual MSRP of $549, they aren't cheap, which makes this Cyber Monday deal a very attractive buy.
We gave the Apple Watch Ultra, Apple's latest and most premium watch, a solid 85 in our review. If you've had your eye on the toughest wearable Apple's ever made, grab it now. Amazon has it for just $739, which is 8 percent off and the lowest it's been since its debut. When we took it on a hike, we had to admire its monster (yet comfortable) build and slew of outdoor-focused features, including a customizable Action button and on-board SOS siren. Of course you also get all of the health and fitness tracking Apple Watches are known for, plus a full three days of battery life on a charge.
The Apple Watch Series 8 came out just one week before the Ultra, making it the latest non-top-tier Apple Watch, and it usually sells for $389. Cyber Monday deals have brought that price down to $349, which means you save $50 on a premium smartwatch that's only a couple months old. In our real world test we called it "superb watch that makes a great multipurpose wearable with excellent health and fitness tools." While it doesn't have the hype of the new Ultra, or the budget appeal of the SE, it's still the best smartwatch around.
In our review back in September, we called the new Apple Watch SE "the best smart watch $250 can buy," awarding it a score of 89. Now that the pre-holiday sale has dropped the price down to $229, Apple's most affordable smartwatch is an even better buy. While the battery doesn't have the same longevity as its Apple Watch siblings, we found it lasted until midnight even with heavy use, and never took more than an hour to refill. We liked its crisp display and snappy responsiveness and found that the health and fitness tracking were on par with the more expensive Series 8.
Apple TV 4K, the brand's third generation set-top streaming device just came out in October and is down to $123.50 for Cyber Monday. It got an enthusiastic score of 94 in our review earning high marks for its zippy speeds, polished interface and glorious picture quality. If you've been thinking about upgrading your existing TV or if you want to turn any display with an HDMI port into a powerful streaming device, this is a the time to snap this up.
Apple's 2022 standard-model iPad is the 10th generation of the multipurpose slate, earning an 85 in our review back in October. We were concerned at the price hike over the previous generation, which brought it to a steep $449. But now that it's going for $419, it's a little bit easier to add the base model iPad to your life (or someone else's). What we did like was the complete redesign, the solid 10-plus hours of battery, and the addition of a landscape-oriented front-facing camera. Note that the iPad standard only works with the first generation of the Apple Pencil.
The latest iPad Pro earned an 87 in our review for its fast and powerful M2 chip and having "one of the best screens Apple has ever made." At the $800 list price, it's steep. But right now Amazon has the premium slate for $60 off the 11-inch and $100 off most storage sizes of the 12.9-inch. Both came out in October of this year, and this is the biggest discount we've seen so far. That's a good opportunity to get one of the best designed tablets on the market, complete with a nine-hour battery life and second-gen Apple Pencil support.
Apple's MacBook Air M2 earned an enthusiastic review score of 96 back in July. Right now it's 13 percent off, bringing it down to $1,049. Our Senior Reporter Devindra Hardawar said this version of the MacBook Air "set a new standard for ultraportables." You get the blazing fast M2 chip and an expansive and engrossing screen, all tucked into a frankly gorgeous, razor-thin computer. One of the only downsides we noted was the high price, but Cyber Monday is fixing that for now.
If you want to save even more and aren't worried about having the latest model, the MacBook Air with the M1 chip is on sale for just $799. We gave it an 94 in our review, calling it a the MacBook for most people when it first hit the scene, especially those looking for a casual computer. The M1 chip will still feel like a big upgrade if you're coming from an aging Intel machine, and we also liked this laptop's lovely display, lack of fan noise and good battery life.
Apple's 14-inch MacBook Pro is a whopping $500 off and down to $2,000 for Cyber Monday. We gave it and the 16-inch model scores of 92 in our review, with appreciation for the fast M1 Pro and Max processors, excellent display and solid battery life.
If you've been thinking about connecting your home with Siri's helpful AI interface, the HomePod mini is on sale for $94 for Cyber Monday. The diminutive home speakers earned an 84 score in our review, thanks to their solid sound quality and Siri's continuing improvements to user interactions.
