It's not the lowest price we've ever seen on an Apple Watch Series 7, but it's close. Here at Engadget, our sharp-eyed commerce team noticed that Amazon is selling Apple's latest smartwatch for $349, or $50 off the normal starting price. This time around, it's the Product RED and green models specifically that are on sale. Though we've seen the green variant on sale for $10 less, this is the lowest price we've seen on the red edition, if that's the color you happen to have been eyeing.
For the money, you're looking at an entry-level aluminum model with GPS connectivity and a 41mm screen (the smaller of the two sizes, with the larger measuring 45mm). Indeed, it's mostly that slightly larger and therefore more user-friendly display that distinguishes it from the previous-gen Series 6. You'll also appreciate the 33-percent faster charging speeds in your day-to-day use. (Can confirm, as a Series 7 owner myself.)
Otherwise, the Series 7 offers everything we already loved about the Apple Watch, including a wide selection of apps and watchfaces, automatic workout detection and a mix of health and safety features including a heart rate sensor, blood oxygen readings and fall detection.
Caution: Major 'Halo Infinite' story spoilers follow.
There's more to Halo Infinite's story than it appears — unofficially, at least. Windows Centralnotes fans have discovered an unfinished mid-credit cutscene hidden in the game's code. As you can see below, it's not just a throwaway moment, either. If anything, it's a strong hint at what might come next in a story add-on or sequel.
The cutscene shows Esparza, the pilot you meet at the start of Halo Infinite, alerting Master Chief to a friendly UNSC tag. While the short segment is mysterious, some have speculated the tag belongs to a character that wasn't present in the core campaign, such as Commander Palmer or Spartan Locke. You might have a 'new' ally when the story picks up.
It's not clear why 343 Industries left the cutscene code in the official release, or whether the clip reflects what you'll see in future content. We've asked for more information. Whatever the explanation, it's rare to see such potentially important material hiding in files a player could uncover.
Though this year is by no means one to celebrate, there were still some bright spots in the world of tech. It’s with plenty of loathing that we admit this: NFTs somehow won this year. They’ve taken over. Reddit’s day traders also deserve recognition for the way they’ve managed to manifest GameStop’s slogan, “Power to the players.”
Also (and this might be the most painful to acknowledge), the Metaverse (sorta) took off this year. At least in terms of our lexicon, with mentions of the word skyrocketing since Mark Zuckerberg uttered it while announcing plan for a richer VR and AR-focused world. Maybe people were confused between “metaverse” and “multiverse” as in Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?
Besides the things we love to hate, there are some products this year we genuinely liked as well. Apple continued to impress with its M1 chips and, more importantly, gave users a way to repair their own devices (kinda). Google’s first-ever mobile chip powered clever experiences on the latest Pixel phones and showcased the company’s AI and software prowess at a competitive price. As we continue to be bombarded by depressing news every day, it’s worth taking the time to reflect on the wins this year, no matter how tiny.
Noam Galai via Getty Images
NFTs
2021 has not been a quiet year, so NFTs deserve something approaching praise for securing a spot in the highlights reel. NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens, are an attempt to create an immutable digital asset in an environment where such a thing has historically been tricky. For the industry’s proponents, it’s a way of imposing some form of scarcity on digital artifacts that you can’t easily make scarce. Anyone can right-click and save a picture of a monkey wearing sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt after all. But only the person who paid a lot of money for the NFT can go around calling themselves the “owner” of the same. As Nietzche didn’t say, NFTs are the lie agreed upon, suggesting that people respect the owner of the certificated copy of something over everything else.
So far, the biggest and most notable moves in the NFT space have happened in the art market, with pieces being bought and sold for eye-watering numbers. On March 11th, digital artist Beeple sold Everydays: The First 5,000 Days at Christie’s auction house for $69,346,250. Those hefty sums are, in some people’s minds, justified because they believe that NFTs will become the new crypto, with everyone trying to get aboard the bandwagon before it goes big. After all, there are lots of folks who got rich during the Bitcoin boom that want to further enhance their fortunes, while some who were left behind now hope to get in on the ground floor on the next big thing. Others, meanwhile, think that the big craze in NFTs right now is to help folks move large quantities of money around away from the auspices of, you know, regulators.
The NFT market is so awash with speculator cash that it’s normal to have... questions. A recent Harvard Business Review article talks about how commerce can’t work without “clear property rights,” which NFTs help to impose. There’s also the matter of whether NFTs could better enable more reliable and secure ticketing and permission systems? I’ll be honest, I’m personally unconvinced by the argument that NFTs offer rights of ownership, since they don’t necessarily confer upon the buyer the proper rights of ownership.
These issues are, however, going to be worked out over the next few years, and it will only be when the speculation has died down that we’ll see if NFTs have any residual worth. And, hey, not every deeply-technical cryptographic ownership record gets their own SNL sketch shortly after they broke into the mainstream, do they.
— Daniel Cooper
The Metaverse
Mark Zuckerberg didn't invent the term, but by rebadging Facebook as "Meta," he helped kick off a wave of interest in the metaverse. While it was originally a dystopian view of cyberspace via Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, the metaverse now represents the next big online goldrush. You can think of it as the logical step forward from the mobile internet, a world where our online experiences can easily transition between multiple devices. And eventually, it could be something we interact with via AR and VR glasses.
To be clear, we still don't have an exact idea of what the metaverse will be. The Meta renaming could easily be seen as a way for Zuckerberg to avoid his responsibilities as the leader of a fundamentally broken social media company. But other companies have been exploring this idea for years: Microsoft's HoloLens has proven to be surprisingly useful for commercial and front-line workers, and it's also core to Mesh, the company's ambitious solution for virtual meetings. The Borg-like Google Glass was widely ridiculed, but its failure hasn't stopped Google from thinking about its role in the metaverse, either.
Maybe it'll take a killer new device, like Apple's fabled AR glasses, to bring the metaverse into focus. Or maybe it'll go the way of wearables — a category of devices that's useful for some people, but not necessarily essential for everyone. Either way, it's something that will forever be tied to 2021.
— Devindra Hardawar
Home fitness tech is here to stay
As the pandemic kept many of us indoors and out of gyms, companies like Peloton, Apple, Tonal and even Amazon were able to pull us into new fitness habits and equipment.
Apple
Meanwhile, major fitness studios and gyms like Equinox, Soulcycle, OrangeTheory and F45 have modulated (while some created from scratch) their online services. Many companies expanded replayable class options or added live lessons, leaderboards and more in a bid to keep members fit – and keep those membership dues coming in.
COVID-19 offered a chance to shift our workout habits and reduce gym costs. Why pay $50 for a high-intensity interval training gym membership when I can track myself in Apple’s Fitness Plus classes, SharePlay with my friends and jump in my own shower, all for just $10 a month?
Of course, the comparison isn’t oranges for oranges, and despite cheerleading Peloton trainers and form corrections from gym coaches over video livestreams, it’s very hard to get the degree of attention gained from in-person training. That’s likely one reason why at-home exercise injuries have never been higher. The Wall Street Journal reported that emergency room visits after home workouts increased by more than 48% from the end of 2019 through the end of 2020, according to a survey by Medicare Advantage.
However, just like traditional gyms did when the pandemic first hit, these businesses have to figure out how to hold onto their customers.
Tonal
Tonal is a ‘Peloton for weight training' product that Engadget tested back in 2018. When our usual bench-press machines and squat racks were locked inside gyms over the last year and a half, Tonal saw demand for its resistance-training system rocket. Sales grew more than eight times year-over-year. In a bid to hold onto these new customers, the company recently introduced live classes for Tonal owners, with direct feedback from coaches and classes reportedly calibrated for each user.
Meanwhile, Peloton, arguably the most recognizable at-home fitness company, faces more competition from (and litigation with) rivals and a tougher business outlook. After a rough earnings report in November, the company said it didn’t expect to be profitable again until 2023. Worse, its Bike was involved in the death of an important character in the Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That. But the company has plans (and cheeky responses). It’s integrated into many corporate fitness plans, launched its first exercise game, announced a fitness camera for strength training and finally — added a pause button.
The challenge will be keeping many of us from returning to our old gyms, cycling commutes, or our old, less healthy habits when things eventually return to normal.
— Mat Smith
Apple takes baby steps toward the right to repair
Apple continued to impress the industry with its M1 Pro and M1 Max chips this year, putting them in new MacBooks that garnered rave reviews. And though the iPhone 13 Pro is just catching up to Android phones with its 120Hz screen, it's an undeniably good device with solid cameras and excellent performance. The Apple Watch Series 7 isn't much different from its predecessor, barring its larger display, but it's still the best smartwatch around. Plus, Apple TV+ gained much more credibility in 2021 with the giant pile of awards its original series Ted Lasso brought home.
But the biggest thing that Apple did this year was to start selling DIY iPhone and Mac repair kits to consumers. After it was discovered Face ID on an iPhone 13 would stop working if a third party replaced its screen, the company first issued a software fix for this specific issue and announced the repair kits shortly after. The move was hailed by activists as a victory for the right-to-repair movement, given the company’s history of making it obnoxiously difficult for you to get your Apple products fixed by anyone else.
Of course, Apple could still do better — activists say the company’s plans could be more comprehensive, for example. But this is a major reversal of policy that shows the company is opening up, ever so slightly. Last year, it allowed users to set third-party browsers and email apps as their default on iPhones and iPads. This year, it introduced FaceTime on the web as a means to allow PC and Android users to join calls that they had previously been excluded from. The company may never fully embrace integrating different ecosystems into its walled garden, but it seems they’re at least listening to what people want and taking small steps towards giving users what they deserve.
— Cherlynn Low
Gamestop
At the start of 2021, Gamestop’s share price was $17.25. As of this writing, it’s $136.88. This year has been so long that it’s easy to forget many things that happened in January, including the Reddit-driven short squeeze that pushed Gamestop’s stock price to as high as $500 at its peak. Despite subsequent criticism, calls for better regulation, a congressional hearing on what happened and multiple class-action lawsuits having been filed against parties like brokering app Robinhood, here we are 12 months later with the company’s stock still higher than it’s ever been before 2021.
This year, in possibly the most 2021 combination of words ever, GameStop announced it’s working on an NFT platform based on Ethereum. It also signed a lease for a new 530,000 square-foot fulfilment center in Nevada and opened a new customer care center in Florida. It made $1.18 billion in the second quarter compared to $942 million in the same period in 2020. That could partly be due to the fact that Sony and Microsoft launched their consoles after the second quarter in 2020. Basically, 2021 has been a great year for GameStop, and not just for its business.
Discovery+ is even working on a documentary (narrated by “Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort) on the entire fiasco titled GameStop:The Wall Street Hijack. Nine other films based on these events are reportedly in the works, according to Vulture. Gamestop wasn’t the only company that Reddit’s day traders flocked to in their nostalgia-driven frenzy, either. Companies like BlackBerry and AMC also saw their share prices surge, with the latter’s stock jumping 480 percent at its peak. GameStop’s slogan uncannily sums up the situation: “Power to the players.”
— C.L.
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget
Windows 11
If you had told me in January that Microsoft had its Windows 10 successor primed and ready for release by the end of the year, I would have laughed in your face. But Windows 11 is actually here, and it's a pretty solid step forward aesthetically (despite some clunky usability issues). I'd bet even Microsoft was surprised it managed to make that happen.
Windows 11 rose from the ashes of Windows 10X, an OS variant that was originally supposed to focus on dual-screen devices, but was eventually canceled in May. That would explain why Windows 11 feels more like a fresh coat of paint on its predecessor. But despite that inauspicious start, it's still a worthwhile update: there's more of an emphasis on security, and the facelift brings some Mac-like pleasantries into the typically stark world of Windows.
It's not a complete success — upgrading is an annoying process if you've got a self-built PC, and very old computers won't be able to upgrade at all (at least, not without going through a manual ISO installation). But at the very least, Microsoft managed to keep most of what made Windows 10 such a successful operating system, while also delivering a more mindful experience for PC users.
— D. H.
David Imel for Engadget
Google Pixel 6 Pro
The Pixel 6 Pro is my favorite Pixel yet. Yes, I wish Google offered a smaller handset in its latest flagship series, but that complaint aside, there’s plenty to love. The company’s first-ever mobile chip Tensor powers the phone’s impressive AI features like live translation in messages and captions, as well as smarter voice typing features.
Most of all, I adore the Pixel 6 Pro’s cameras. If I’m headed out somewhere that I have the slightest sense might warrant some sort of picture-taking, I make sure to bring the 6 Pro with me. Its portrait mode, which I abuse for my food photos, is superior to every other phone I’ve used, and frankly, I’m partial to Google’s colors and clarity.
Plus, bonus features like Magic Eraser, Face Unblur and Action Pan give me the option to add fun effects or clean up my shots. Everyone I’ve taken pictures of has been impressed by the quality. Of course, the Pixel 6 is not without its flaws. Setting aside my complaint about its size, the Pixel 6 Pro also has a finicky in-screen fingerprint sensor. Google has also had to issue several fixes in recent weeks to address bugs that themselves were caused by over the air updates. Still, as a showcase for Google’s strengths in software and AI, the Pixel 6 Pro fully delivers. Best of all, it does so for hundreds of dollars less than rival flagships.
— C.L.
Samsung foldables
In an admittedly niche industry, Samsung has pulled far ahead. Sure, it was one of the first to try its hand at foldables, but it's also arguably the last one standing. The foldable phone race really kicked off when relative unknown Royole showed off the first working prototype at CES 2019. Soon after, Huawei and Samsung announced their own devices. The original Mate X and Galaxy Fold made the rounds at various press events after, but only Samsung eventually sold its first-gen foldable to the general public (outside of China, anyway).
David Imel for Engadget
Motorola jumped on the trend, capitalizing on the sheer nostalgia value of its Razr Flip phone. Alas, all these initial attempts were doomed to fail. Foldables, it turns out, with their soft, vulnerable displays and damage-prone hinges, are hard to nail. Worse, the Razr Flip's screen just felt weird and flimsy, and its hinge would make a cracking sound when you open or close the phone.
After a slew of reports of broken review units, Samsung returned with updated iterations of the Fold. It also released the Flip series, a smaller, Razr-like version that received its share of early complaints. Yet, today, Samsung not only continues to produce these foldables, but at cheaper prices, too. The Z series is now in its third generation, and Samsung said it shipped four times more foldables in 2021 than in 2020. While Huawei also unveiled a third version this year, its foldables haven’t been available in most places outside of China. We've also yet to see a new version of the Razr this year, although Motorola did roll out a 5G-capable update in 2020 that we never got to test. Companies like Oppo and Xiaomi have also unveiled their own foldables recently, but they’re relatively new to the game.
By bringing the price of the Z Flip 3 down to a more competitive $999 while continuing to improve the durability and usefulness of its products, Samsung has shown it may be the only company with the resources and expertise to continue to deliver foldable phones, even if they may never gain mainstream popularity.
When Apple announced the upgraded MacBook Pro earlier this fall, the common refrain was that the company was finally giving its customers what they asked for. But while the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro updates represent the most obvious case of Apple owning up to (and rectifying) past mistakes, the company has actually been on this course for the last few years. And at the end of 2021, Apple has just about finished replacing some of its most problematic designs.
Reviews of the new MacBook Pro are almost universally positive (aside from the high price points), but it’s still worth recapping just what a big change these laptops represent from their predecessors. Both of the new sizes are thicker and noticeably heavier than the models they replace; for a company that showed an almost fanatical obsession with thin-and-light design over the last decade, it’s a major about-face. But the older, 4-pound, 15-inch MacBook Pro often had trouble staying cool under heavy processor loads, a problem that couldn’t be solved without increasing the laptop’s size and weight. It’s as if Apple remembered it already has the MacBook Air, and that the people buying a Pro are willing to lug around a bit of extra weight for a more capable machine.
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget
Apple arguably started moving in this direction with a mid-cycle refresh a few years ago. In 2019, the company started banishing the unreliable and uncomfortable butterfly keyboard for a significantly improved scissor-switch model. That revised keyboard arrived on the first 16-inch MacBook Pro. Along with the new keyboard, that laptop was a third of a pound heavier, and larger in every dimension than its predecessor.
That was the first indication that Apple was willing to fix some of the ill-fated decisions it made with the MacBook Pro lineup, which brings us to this fall’s refresh. Users still had a laundry list of things they wanted changing, and Apple largely delivered. The new models brought back the SD card slot and HDMI port that the company removed in 2016. The MagSafe charging port, one of Apple’s smartest innovations, also made a comeback. Finally, Apple replaced the Touch Bar with a standard row of function keys.
Of course, Apple only deserves so much credit for fixing self-inflicted wounds. But it feels like the company has a much clearer vision of what the people shelling out (at least) $2,000 for a MacBook Pro actually want. And beyond simply fixing earlier mistakes, the Apple-built M1 Pro and M1 Max processors offer massive performance gains and better battery life. Add in an outstanding new display and excellent keyboard and MacBook Pro buyers have a lot to look forward to. The fact that these computers are thicker and heavier than the ones they replace will barely be a consideration for most, especially since bigger laptops have space for things like extra ports, larger batteries and better cooling systems.
David Imel for Engadget
While the MacBook Pro is the obvious example of Apple giving the people what they want this year, it’s not the only one. Take the iPhone 13 launch. The company once again released two standard models and two “Pro” models, just as it did in 2020. In most ways, these phones were iterative updates over the 12 series — but all four phones have significantly better battery life than their predecessors. Improving longevity is an obvious way to make customers happy, but it’s still good news that Apple quickly identified the weak spot with the iPhone 12 lineup and fixed it. Perhaps not coincidentally, all iPhone 13 models are also all a little heavier than last year’s. (They're also imperceptibly thicker, at .30 inches vs. .29 for the iPhone 12.)
Again, though, there’s some recent precedence for Apple putting battery life over a thin-at-all-costs design. 2018’s iPhone XR was a cheaper and slightly less elegant version of the flagship iPhone XS — but its larger screen and thicker body left room for a battery that smoked the “superior” XS. So, in 2019, Apple made the iPhone 11 Pro bigger than the XS it replaced, but it also vastly improved battery life. It was particularly surprising to see Apple make a bigger iPhone after chasing thinness at all costs for so long, but it was definitely welcome. The company finally seems to realize that an impossibly thin device that constantly needs to be charged doesn’t make for a good user experience.
Another good example is Apple's significant change of heart around product repairs. Specifically, Apple announced plans to sell repair parts and instructions to customers who want to fix their iPhones themselves, a victory for anyone who felt they should be able to pop open their iPhone and put in a new battery or fix a broken display. While right-to-repair groups said there's still more Apple can do in this area, they nonetheless hailed it as a major step forward from the completely closed nature of its products, the vast majority of which haven't been user-serviceable before. Apple is starting with the iPhone, but said it will roll out some self-repair tools and parts for M1-based Macs in 2022, as well. The threat of government regulation may have played a big role in this new initiative, but the end result is still good for consumers.
Apple is even having a little more fun with its products than it has in a while. Take the M1-powered iMac, for example. I wish that it had more ports and, considering the price, it should have more RAM and storage — but the wide variety of colors Apple chose is just great. I’m dying for these colorways to come to a redesigned MacBook Air (fingers crossed for the spring). The three new hues in the HomePod mini lineup are another good example of Apple realizing that hardware you place in your home doesn’t just have to be gray or silver.
While the new MacBook Pro is a huge step forward for those who want serious power on the go, Apple still hasn’t given professionals the full desktop-class computers they need. Because Apple is in the middle of its transition to Apple Silicon, the larger iMac and Mac Pro machines are hard to recommend right now. Hopefully, Apple will bring the power of the M1 Pro and M1 Max to a larger iMac and a new Mac Pro tower in 2022. If they can wrap up this last bit of the transition next year, Mac buyers will be covered at all points of the company’s product lineup. It’s been way too long since we could say that.
The new Switch OLED is out, and it’s a real beaut. It has a larger 7-inch screen, longer battery life and a few other welcome design improvements to its handheld gaming mode. I was impressed when I reviewed it back in October, and it’s been flying off store shelves since its release. It’s so hard to get one right now, in fact, that you may have to go to eBay to snag one before the holidays. But if you do have one — congrats! Now you probably want to make the most of your new system, and there are a few accessories that will go a long way toward making the Switch OLED a truly stellar console.
SanDisk microSD card
SanDisk
With only 64GB of on-board storage, you’re going to want to get a microSD for your Switch OLED to store downloaded games, save files and screenshots. And with the redesigned slot it’s easier than ever to put it in or take it out of the system, too. You can use pretty much any microSD card with your Nintendo Switch, but the Nintendo-branded ones from SanDisk are solid, and you can get a 256GB model at a pretty affordable rate right now. They’ve been specifically tested with the system so you know they’ll work seamlessly.
With the improved stand on the back of the OLED Switch it’s now a lot easier to play in tabletop mode. But you’re still dealing with the same old Joy-Cons, which might be a bit too small for players with larger hands. In that case you’ll want to upgrade to a more pro-level gamepad. And yes, there is Nintendo’s Pro Controller, which is still the best choice for your Switch overall if you can get one, but 8Bitdo’s Pro 2 is also great, not to mention incredibly flexible; you can use it with your Android device, as well as a PC or Mac desktop. And it’s $20 cheaper than the Nintendo-made option.
While the official Pro Controller and the Pro 2 are nicely full-featured gamepads, one thing they aren’t is small. That makes a big difference on the go when you don’t have a lot of space in your bag but need something just a bit bigger than the Joy-Cons to play with. In that case I recommend the 8Bitdo Lite, which offers up two d-pads and an extra set of directional buttons, perfect for 2D gaming. It’s color-coded to match the Switch Lite, but that doesn’t mean it’s not also a solid companion for your Switch OLED.
When you need a Pro-style controller but don’t have space for a Pro-style controller, PowerA has you covered with its Enhanced Nano gamepad. It looks a lot like the official Switch Pro controller thanks to its grips, shoulder buttons and matte black coloring, but it’s two-thirds the size and includes a set of back buttons you can program to suit your needs. It’s easy enough to tuck away in your bag for a gaming emergency, and it’s affordable, too.
Recently, Nintendo pushed out a firmware update that lets you use any Bluetooth headset natively with your Switch, which is fantastic if you already own a wireless gaming headset. But if you don’t have one, or find it a little too bulky, I’m still going to recommend the Arctis 1 from SteelSeries as a good option for the Switch. It sounds great, is super comfortable and stylish, and the included USB-C dongle is still easier than connecting to the console via Bluetooth. At $100, it’s also reasonably priced for a gaming headset.
Like the Arctis 1, the Barracuda X uses a USB-C dongle to connect to your console. Unlike the Arctis, though, it comes in assorted colors like quartz pink and white, the latter of which matches the Switch OLED’s panda-colored Joy-Cons. Aside from that, it’s just as solid as the Arctis 1, with 40mm drivers and a super light but sturdy design that feels and looks great on your noggin.
The Switch OLED’s screen is beautiful enough that you’ll definitely want to give it an extra layer of protection. Because it’s slightly larger than the screen on the standard Switch, you’ll need to make sure you get a screen protector that’s specifically made for the OLED model, and I also recommend a tempered glass kitl because it’s more durable than plastic. The iVolver screen protector costs $10 for a pack of four, so it’s super affordable, and your system will still fit nicely in the dock when you slide it in for a charge.
If your Switch lives in your bag or backpack, it'll be useful to keep a battery pack with you for whenever you run out of juice. Most of Anker's high-capacity power packs will charge up the Switch, but we like this PowerCore+ bundle that includes a 26,800mAh power bank, a USB-C to C port and a 60W adapter, the latter of which enables fast charging. While it's on the expensive side, you're getting all the pieces you need to speedily recharge on the go and the system works with smartphones, tablets and laptops, too, so it's a true multipurpose accessory.
The Switch Pro might be a premium-level system but you don’t have to spend big bucks to protect it. The Amazon Basics Carrying Case is my preferred method for toting my Switch around, and it fits the Switch OLED just fine. There’s also a nice-sized pocket for carrying around cords and other accessories, and a panel with slots for 10 Switch game cards that’s padded on the other side to protect your screen. And, on a personal note, the outside is super fun to cover with stickers.
If you’re the type who likes to take your entire system to places like say, a friend’s house or a gaming convention like PAX, the large case from Amazon Basics is an easy and affordable way to carry the whole kit and caboodle. It can fit the new dock, the system, a controller and all the cabling you need, snug and tidy. It even comes in some snazzy colors like neon yellow or red, to match your Joy-Cons or a favorite outfit.
Like many Apple products, the Apple Watch can be extremely simple to start using — but that simplicity hides a surprising level of depth and customization. If you just received an Apple Watch, there’s a lot to do to make sure you’re getting the most out of your new wearable. Let us guide you through that process, from initial setup to optimizing everything it can do.
Setup
Of course, the first thing you’ll want to do is pair your Apple Watch with your iPhone. Even if you have a cellular-capable Apple Watch, an iPhone is required for setting up and managing the device. Fortunately, this process is extremely straightforward — after powering on the Apple Watch, just place it near an unlocked iPhone and you’ll get a prompt to set the device up. During this process, your iPhone will walk you through the initial pairing as well as signing in with your Apple ID, assigning a passcode to your Watch, setting up things like Siri and Apple Pay, and deciding if you want to transfer your compatible apps to the Watch. I recommend against transferring all your apps automatically this first time, as the Watch is a lot more useful when you curate it with only what you need.
A few features you definitely should set up are fall detection and emergency SOS. The latter lets you quickly place a call to local emergency services by pressing and holding the side button, while fall detection uses the Watch’s accelerometers and other sensors to, well, detect if you’ve taken a bad spill. It’ll initiate an emergency SOS call automatically if it detects a fall and doesn’t detect you moving. Before making that call, the Watch will try its best to get your attention via a notification, a vibration and an audible alarm.
The fun part: tweaking apps and notifications
Engadget
Once you have the basics set up, it’s time to make the Apple Watch your own. By default, the Apple Watch mirrors all notifications that go to your phone. But I’ve found the Watch to be much more useful with a bit of curation. In the iPhone Watch app, you can customize notifications for all of Apple’s first-party apps, or turn them off entirely. For example, the Activity app notifications panel lets you choose whether or not you want reminders to stand every hour, or notifications when your friends share activity milestones with you and so forth.
Third-party apps don’t have the same granularity, but you can turn them off so they won’t ping your Watch. For things that aren’t particularly time-sensitive (say, updates from Google Photos, or if you don’t want the Apple News app overloading your wrist), feel free to turn them off. They’ll still hit your iPhone, and you can always enable them again later.
The iPhone Watch app also lets you pick which specific apps from your iPhone will be installed on the Apple Watch. I think this is more useful than just letting the Watch install every single compatible app, because that might mean you have a few dozen apps to sift through on your Watch to see if they’re useful or not. Instead, I prefer going through the list and deciding if there’s a benefit to having these apps on my wrist. In the case of apps like Google Maps or Ecobee for controlling my thermostat, it’s a definite yes. But things like Etsy or Bank of America don’t exactly make a ton of sense on a Watch. And if you ever change your mind, you can remove an app from the Watch app or by long-pressing it in grid view and deleting it – just keep in mind that this will remove the app from your Watch but not from your iPhone.
That said, I have been surprised at what some developers have envisioned for the Apple Watch. Take the notes app Bear, for example. I often use it to make grocery lists, and checklists show up great on the Apple Watch. So if there’s an app on your phone that you consider essential, give it a shot on the Watch.
Watch faces
Another occasionally-overlooked part of the Apple Watch experience are watch faces. Since this is literally what you’ll see every time you raise your wrist, I think it’s worth finding ones that fit your personal style. While there are no third-party faces, the Apple Watch has more than 30 built-in options that are endlessly customizable. We’re talking about a huge variety of colors, different typefaces and watch face styles, complications (small slices of info like weather, date, or music controls) and much more. You can have a simple digital time display with nothing else, or an info-dense face with eight different complications or anything in between.
You can set up new faces on the Watch directly — but as with most in-depth features, it’s easier to do this on the iPhone. The Face Gallery shows every available face, along with multiple examples of how they can be customized. You can use those as a jumping off point to make your own creations. Once you’ve curated your favorites, you can simply swipe through them on the Watch itself when you want to mix things up. If you long press on a face, you can edit it directly on your Watch too, which is handy when you want to just change the color quickly to better match your outfit.
If you’re using an Apple Watch Series 5, 6 or 7, you can also decide whether you want to activate the always-on display. You can find this option in the settings app, under “Display & Brightness.” If you’re after maximum battery life, turn this off, but most people will probably prefer it on. New watches can still get a full day of use while using the always-on feature, but once your watch ages a bit and battery performance degrades, you might want to learn to live without it.
Fitness tracking
One of the biggest Apple Watch selling points is its fitness-tracking features. Whether or not you actively exercise on a regular basis, the Watch will track your steps and activity level, and use that data to track your daily movement via three rings that you’re encouraged to close. The “move” ring is how many active calories you burn in a day, the “exercise” ring tracks activity at or above a brisk walk, and the “stand” ring tracks whether or not you get up and move for a minute or two each hour of the day.
When you set up your Apple Watch, it’ll suggest daily goals for each of these, and the Activity app (or the Fitness app on your iPhone) will show how close you are to hitting them. If you’ve never used an Apple Watch before, it’s fine to just go with the defaults — every week, you’ll get a recap of how you did and it’ll even suggest bumping up your Move number if you’re easily surpassing it. The exercise and stand options default to 30 minutes per day and 12 hours per day, but those too can be adjusted.
For extra motivation, the Fitness app lets you connect with other friends who use an Apple Watch and see how much progress they’re making against their three rings. Naturally, you can use this information to taunt them about their couch-potato habits, but you can also challenge them to informal competitions. You earn points based on the percentage you close each of your rings every day, and the person with the most points after a week wins. It’s pretty casual, but it’s also a fun way to stay motivated.
If you want to track a specific workout, like a run, walk, or weight-training session you do that in the “workout” app. There, you’ll find the many different types of workouts that the Watch can track. If you already have a favorite way to track exercise on your phone, though, chances are you can find it for the Apple Watch too. Nike Run Club, MapMyRun, Peloton and others all have Watch apps that let you track workouts using the wearable’s sensors. Also, a lot of apps can now connect with the Health app on your iPhone. It’s a database of all your activity and workout data from your Watch, so you might be able to easily sync workout data from there into your service of choice. As with most things Apple Watch, it’ll just take a bit of playing around to see what works best for you.
Music
One of my favorite things about the Apple Watch is that it can stream music and podcasts – not just from Apple’s services but others like Spotify and Pandora as well. You’ll need a cellular-capable Watch to stream music without your phone, but the good news is that Apple Music, Spotify and Pandora all allow you to save music directly on the Watch as well. Regardless of whether you spring for the cellular model or not, there’s a way to listen to tunes and leave your phone behind.
If you’re an Apple Music user, you’ll manage downloaded music through the Watch app on your iPhone. Pop that open and go to the “Music” section and you’ll see a big button to add songs to your watch. There’s also a setting that’ll automatically download albums and playlists you’ve listened to recently – turn that on and you’ll always have some music on your wrist.
It’s easy to choose specific albums or playlists you want saved, too. Just hit the big plus button and you’ll see your Apple Music library. From there, just navigate to what you want, hit another plus button and it’ll be downloaded to your Watch. Note that music only transfers when your Watch is charging, so you’ll need to take it off your wrist to sync.
If you’re using Spotify, just navigate to an album, playlist or podcast on your phone and tap the three dots icon – you’ll see an option to “download to Apple Watch” there. Then, on your watch, there’s a clearly-marked “downloads” section where you can play content without a connection.
Experiment, experiment, experiment!
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Like many Apple products, the Apple Watch has a lot of functionality and hidden complexity beneath its user-friendly surface. But I’ve found that the Watch hides a lot of features, so it’s worth checking out the built-in Tips app for suggestions on what you can do. Without a guide like that, you’ll probably never realize that clicking the side button twice summons Apple Pay, or that you can display the grid of icons in a list if you prefer. Chances are good you’re not going to irrevocably mess something up, so tap and swipe and scroll and dig into the settings.
Amazon is giving you the chance to grab some of Apple's latest iPad models at a discount before the year ends. Both the WiFi version and the cellular version of the basic iPad released just this September are now being sold at the lowest prices we've seen for the devices on the website. You can get the 256GB WiFi model for $449, which is $30 lower than its original retail price of $479. If you want a tablet with mobile data, you can get the 2021 iPad with WiFi and cellular for $580 instead — that's $29 less than the device's original price of $609.
The tablet's 64GB model is on sale, as well. You can grab the WiFi-only variant with smaller storage space for $320. While the device isn't exactly deeply discounted, that's still $9 off a tablet you may have been planning to get anyway. The 64GB 2021 iPad with WiFi and cellular connections will set you back $449 on Amazon right now, which is $10 less what it will cost you on the Apple Store itself.
We gave the basic 2021 iPad a score of 86 in our review, where we praised it for being affordable, now made even more so with these deals. While it doesn't come with a big redesign, it has double the storage space of its predecessors. We found its A13 Bionic powerful enough for multitasking standard use cases, like browsing the web, playing games or watching videos, without lagging or showing any kind of significant issue. The device has a new 12-megapixel front-facing camera that's identical to the one found on the more expensive iPad mini, as well.
Speaking of the iPad mini, its 64GB cellular model is also at an all-time low of $629. That's $20 less than the device's retail price, so it may be time to grab one if you've been considering a smaller tablet for your needs. We praised the 2021 iPad mini in our review for its significant redesign, including an all-screen front, TouchID-capable top button, second-generation Apple Pencil support and USB-C charging capability.
Last year, Google introduced an exclusive feature for Pixel devices called "Hold for Me" that can alert you when a business finally picks up your call. However, that function has been temporarily disabled on the Pixel 6 due to a bug in the December update, XDA Developers has reported. Pixel 6 owners may also lose the Call Screening tool that stops robocallers from ringing your phone, Google said in a community post.
"In light of a bug in the December Android update, we are disabling Hold For Me and Call Screening on Pixel 6 devices running on the Android S December QPR release," the company wrote. The issue only affects Pixel 6 phones with the latest December 2021 security update, and not any older devices. If you haven't yet received the update, you should continue to have access to those features.
Hold for Me started as a US exclusive feature but was recently expanded to Canada, as XDA Developers noted. It uses Google's Duplex technology AI to detect when a real person comes on the line to take your call, sparing you the pain of listening to looped elevator music or pre-recorded messages. Google's Call Screening tech also uses Duplex AI tech, which launched with the promise of automatically making restaurant reservations for you.
With features like a bigger screen and faster charging, Apple's Watch Series 7 is a great gift idea — but the $399 price tag could be hard to swallow. However, you can now pick up the 41mm model (in green only) at a new all-time low of $339 at Amazon, for a savings of $60 or 15 percent off.
The Watch Series 7 brings a subtle new design with a larger screen that makes a big difference for readability and control. It's more sporty thanks to new IP6X dust-resistance and improved crack-resistance, and offers faster charging if you tend to use it a lot — even for sleep tracking. As with past models, you get a strong watchOS 8 app ecosystem and solid health features like sleep-tracking and ECG measurements.
It can also monitor your respiration rate while you sleep, and it comes with exclusive watch faces, larger font sizes/buttons and a Qwerty keyboard. The main drawback is with the sleep tracking. Unlike devices from Fitbit and Samsung, the Watch Series 7 can't detect what sleep zone you're in, for one thing. And it won't detect when you've fallen asleep, so you'll need to make sure you have the Sleep Focus mode to log your slumber.
Still, Apple's Watch is the best selling smartwatch by far for good reason, and as the latest model, the Series 7 is the benchmark. With $60 off the price, there's never been a better time to get one.
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Earlier this month, TCL temporarily stopped selling its Google TV televisions because of performance and software problems. Now, it has released a new update that it says has fixed the issue, so the 5-series and 6-series Google-powered TVs are back on sale at Best Buy, 9to5Google has reported.
The update is rolling out to TCL's entire Google TV lineup starting with the 43-inch LED model and going up to the 75-inch Mini-LED QLED and 85-inch LED TVs. "Recent software updates have allowed us to make significant improvements on the stability and speed of the TCL televisions featuring Google TV," the company told 9to5Google in a statement. "With these updates, this product now represents the powerful performance that TCL and Google believe is the future of TV."
TCL unveiled its first 5-series and 6-series Google TV models last year at CES 2021, offering them exclusively at Best Buy in the US. Perhaps as a mea culpa, TCL and Best Buy are offering significant discounts on all the Google TV models now that they're available again The best deal appears to be on the TCL 75-inch 6-series Mini-LED QLED, available at $1,300 instead of $2,300 — a cool $1,000 off.
