When Sonos released its first portable speaker, the Move, four years ago, it was an anomaly. Previously, the company had looked down on Bluetooth as low-quality and unreliable, and all of the speakers it sold required a power outlet. The Move, on the other hand, used Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and had a 10-hour battery.

In 2023, these tricks have proliferated across the Sonos lineup. The more affordable Roam speaker brought the Move’s feature set to a much smaller device, while recent home speakers like the Era 100 and 300 both support Bluetooth, as well. As such, the recently-announced Move 2 doesn’t suggest a new direction for future Sonos products — it simply brings the company’s latest tech and design cues to an existing product.

And, as usual, it’s more expensive — at $449, it’s the same price as the Era 300, which is capable of spatial audio playback. It’s also more expensive than buying an Era 100 and a Roam. Given how Sonos has changed since the original Move, I’ve been trying to figure out what place — if any — the Move 2 has in the company’s lineup.

What hasn’t changed

At first glance, the Move 2 looks nearly identical to its predecessor. It’s a chunky and rather heavy speaker, weighing just over 6.5 pounds, and it’s noticeably bigger than the Era 100. That said, it’s identical in size and weight to the original Move, despite having redesigned internals. Given the speaker’s size and weight, I still see its potential use cases the same as four years ago: you can lug it around the house with the built-in handle and get loud, quality sound anywhere, or bring it outside to power a party in the backyard. But it’s clearly not a speaker you’ll take with you anywhere, like the tiny Roam, which you can tuck in a bag and mostly forget about.

As before, and like all other Sonos speakers, the Move 2 can stream audio over your Wi-Fi network from dozens of services through the Sonos app. If you have other speakers, you can stream the same music to all of them at once, or play different things on each. If you have two Move 2 speakers, you can set up a stereo pair. And for when there’s no Wi-Fi, the Move 2 has Bluetooth.

The Move 2 also has built-in microphones so you can command the speaker with either Alexa or Sonos’ own voice assistant. These also let the speaker automatically tune audio output to optimize sound quality. This auto Trueplay feature first arrived on the Move four years ago and is now available on many of the company’s products. In my experience, it definitely improves the speaker’s output, so I always turn it on. It’s particularly useful on a portable speaker that is constantly used in different spots.

Finally, the Move 2 is built to withstand the elements; its IP56 rating means it is dust- and water-resistant. You can’t actually drop it into a body of water (unlike the smaller Roam, which can survive a dip in the pool), but it’s just fine getting hosed down. It can also withstand a wide temperature range — Sonos said the first Move worked between 14 degrees F and up to 131 degrees F (-10 to 55 Celsius) and confirmed that the Move 2 has the same weather resistance as the original. That’s not something most people will need to worry about, but the Move 2 should survive a night outside in the winter if you forget to bring it in.

Photo by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

What’s new

While you’d be forgiven for mistaking the Move 2 for the original, there are some significant changes on the inside (and some subtle ones on the outside). The speaker’s top touch controls have been redesigned to match the layout Sonos introduced earlier this year with the Era 100 and 300. Flanking the play / pause button are track forward and back buttons. Previously, you had to double-tap the play button to skip songs, and this is definitely easier. The volume controls are now a slider, but you can also tap the left or right side of the volume area for little adjustments. Finally, there’s a button to mute the speaker’s microphones. And for extra security, there’s also a physical switch on the back of the speaker that cuts power to the mics entirely.

There’s also a USB-C port in the back that can be used for charging or, with the right dongle, as a line-in jack. I hooked the Move 2up to my turntable with no issues, same as I did with the Era 100 and 300. My slight annoyance at needing a dongle is more than tempered by having this option at all — a year ago, only the $550 Sonos Five speaker had line-in, and now it’s available on most of the music-focused speakers Sonos sells.

Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

Oh yeah, and the Move 2 comes in olive green in addition to black and white!

Ultimately, there are two big changes that define the Move 2: an improved battery and all new speaker components. Sonos says that the Move 2 should last for “up to 24 hours” — and it seemed to blow past that in my testing. I had the speaker playing music over Wi-Fi for 22 hours and 50 minutes when I went to bed, and the speaker still had a whopping 46 percent of its battery left. When I checked in again 10 hours later, the battery was depleted, so it died sometime between those check-ins. But it’s safe to say you should get the 24 hours Sonos promises and more. That’s more than double the old Move, and more than sufficient for a speaker like this. I’m still testing the Move’s battery and will try and be awake when it dies next time so I can get a better handle on just how long it lasts.

Sonos again included a charging “ring” that you can just place the Move 2 in to power it up. It’s an elegant solution that requires no fiddling with cables. At first, I considered that it might be good to have two of them around the house, but honestly the battery lasts so long that I didn’t find it necessary to set up two “home base” spots. And you can charge it via USB-C, too. It’s not as clean and aesthetically pleasing as using the charging ring, but useful in a pinch.

The new speaker components seem to be inspired by the Era 100. Like that speaker, there are two angled tweeters to provide a semblance of stereo sound, as well as one midwoofer. The original Move, on the other hand, had a single downward-firing tweeter and a midwoofer. Thanks to the two tweeters, the Move 2 is technically a stereo speaker — but as with the Era 100, it’s nothing like the stereo separation you get from a pair of speakers. The fact that there’s no left-right balance control in the app for the Move 2 indicates that there’s only so much true separation between the two channels here, a fact of life given how close together the two tweeters are.

My go-to track for testing these stereo capabilities is “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service, and the ping-ponging electronic intro and hard-panned vocals that jump between the left and right channels still more or less sounded like they were coming from a single spot. There’s a little space between them, but it doesn’t sound all that different from playing the song through the mono Sonos One speaker.

That quibble aside, the two tweeters in the Move 2 provide improved clarity over the original. It’s a clear, well-balanced speaker that faithfully reproduces sound across all ranges of the spectrum. Bass is prominent but not overdone, and the high end is distinct and detailed, especially compared to the original Move, which could get muddier than I liked. The Move 2 replicated the intricate details in delicate albums like Daughter’s Stereo Mind Game and End, the latest from Explosions in the Sky, and dance floor tracks like Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now” and Tove Lo’s “No One Dies From Love” had plenty of low end power.

It’s also a very loud speaker – inside the house, I never really needed to turn it above 50 percent, except when I simply wanted to hear what it could do. Going much above 70 percent gets downright startling. But as with the old Move, Sonos gave this speaker extra oomph for outdoor spaces where sound dissipates much easier.

The main issue with the Move 2 is that you still sacrifice sound quality for portability. The Move 2 costs $449, the same price as the Era 300. That speaker has four tweeters and two woofers and can play back audio in Dolby Atmos. The whole spatial audio experience can be hit-or-miss depending on the quality of the mix, but even without that, there’s no doubt in my mind that the Era 300 is a more capable speaker.

Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

Another way you could spend that $449 would be to get an Era 100 ($249) and Roam ($179). That gets you an indoor speaker that sounds just as good as the Move 2 plus a portable speaker that’s much smaller and easier to take with you. To be clear, the Move 2 is far more powerful than the Roam, with better sound quality and the volume to fill a large outdoor space. The Roam, on the other hand, is for portable, personal use. It comes down to what you think you’ll need more: portability or power.

Despite my feelings that the Move 2 is somewhat of a niche device, a quick look at the market shows there are plenty of competing products with similar price points and features. Speakers like the JBL Boombox 3, Ultimate Ears Hyperboom and Bose Portable Smart Speaker all offer similar feature sets to the Move 2, and the Move 2’s vastly improved battery life means it should fare better than the earlier device in these comparisons.

Photo by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

Wrap up

Due to its price and size, the Move 2 isn’t the ideal portable speaker for everyone. But that’s OK, because it does succeed as a speaker that you can rely on for high-quality and seriously loud audio. It’s well-suited to being your main speaker inside the house as well as something you can take to the porch or backyard to power a party. And while it won’t comfortably slip into a backpack, it should make a good road trip companion. I could definitely see tossing it in the car and bringing it on my summer vacation with me.

The battery and speaker upgrades make it a worthy improvement over its predecessor, as well, though I am disappointed to see Sonos raise the price yet again on one of its products. But if you’re looking for one speaker that can cover as many bases as possible, the Move 2 fits the bill — and it’ll be that much more useful if you have other Sonos products to pair it with.

Amazon Prime Day came and went in July, but Amazon’s not done with its membership-only sales events for 2023. The company just announced that it will hold “Prime Big Deal Days,” another Prime Day of sorts, on October 10 and 11, mirroring what it did during the same month last year. Engadget will be surfacing all of the best tech deals we can find during the event – both on Amazon and elsewhere – but there are some important things to know ahead of time so you can get exactly what you want out of October Prime Day.

When is Prime Big Deal Days?

Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days will take place starting on Tuesday, October 10 and will run through the end of the day on Wednesday, October 11.

Just like classic Prime Day, you’ll have to be a Prime subscriber to take advantage of most of the savings you’ll find on Amazon during the sale period. The company still offers a 30-day free trial to new Prime subscribers, so you can start your free trial ahead of the event to participate.

If you don’t pay for Prime and have no intention of doing so, you should still check out Amazon on October Prime Day for sales that are available to all shoppers. Plus, other retailers like Walmart, Best Buy and Target will likely have their own competing Prime Day sales during that time frame, too.

October Prime Day deals

"Prime Day" is actually two days long, and that’s the pattern Amazon has followed for the past few years with all of its Prime-exclusive sale events. However, the company also usually pushes out early Prime Day deals ahead of the event itself. We expect to see early access Prime Day deals this October, too.

Be they early Prime Day deals or day-of sales, Amazon gadgets are almost guaranteed to be discounted during Prime Big Deal Days. You can safely bet on things like Echo speakers, Kindle e-readers and Fire TV devices to be on sale for Prime Day. And with this event being in October, it’s very likely that Amazon will use this Prime Day almost as an early Black Friday deal event for Prime subscribers: paying for Prime may get you Black Friday pricing on Amazon devices (and other gear) one month in advance.

Make no mistake, Amazon gadgets will not be the only items discounted on Prime Day. You’ll find clothes, shoes, household items, appliances, accessories and more on sale, but here at Engadget, we’ll naturally be focusing on electronics. We expect this October Prime Day to be like July’s, in that it will bring big discounts on headphones, earbuds, laptops, gaming accessories, SSDs and microSD cards, robot vacuums and more.

It’s also worth mentioning the types of deals we expect to see during October Prime Day. Some deals will be live for the entire 48 hours of the event, while others will be day one- or day two-only sales. Those are the hardest to predict, since Amazon usually does not give any indication how long a given sale will last. Our recommendation is to buy the things you’re most keen on as soon as you see them drop in price – that will ensure you get it while the discount is available, and while the item is still in stock.

You can also expect to see some “Lightning deals” happen during Prime Day. Thankfully, these are usually clearly labeled with the amount of time remaining to grab the sale price noted on the product page. In our experience, only a handful of these flash deals are actually worth your money — but if you see something that’s been on your wishlist drop in price for the next few hours, it’s in your best interest to grab it immediately.

How to prep for October Prime Day

We’ve alluded to this already, but it’s best to go into Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days as prepared as possible. That means knowing exactly what you want to look for so you stay focused and avoid distractions. This is especially important for October Prime Day — Amazon used this event last year as an unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season, so if you want to get some of your gift buying done early, you’ll want to stay focused. The whole of Amazon.com will be overwhelming on Prime Day, so the less time you spend aimlessly browsing, the more your wallet will thank you later.

Two simple things you can do ahead of Prime Day are make a list and bookmark a price tracker. For the former, take note of the most important items you want to pick up on Prime Day. You can either do this the old-fashioned way on a sticky note, or you can use Amazon’s wish list feature. For the latter, add the items you want to buy on Prime Day to your wish list (or, even better, make a dedicated wishlist with only your Prime Day or holiday gifting desirables) and return to that list during the event. Not only will you have everything you want all in one place, but you’ll also be able to see which of those items are cheaper on Prime Day than they were when you originally added them.

As for the price tracker, sites like CamelCamelCamel let you monitor the price of specific items on Amazon. You can check out price history charts and you can make your own price-drop alerts, receiving emails when something you want gets a discount. CamelCamelCamel also has some browser extensions you can download so you don’t have to navigate away from an Amazon product page to check its price history.

We know that not everyone – not even every Prime member – will be flocking to Amazon during Prime Big Deal Days. Whether you find such blatant displays of consumerism off putting or you simply don’t want to give Amazon more of your money, there are plenty of reasons why you might be skipping this all together. But that doesn’t mean you have to skip all of the sales that will be happening during that same time. Especially with it being so close to the holidays, retailers like Walmart, Target, Best Buy and others will most likely have competing Prime Day sales and we expect many of them will match the discounted prices you’ll find on Amazon. We recommend checking them out if you want to cross some items off your holiday shopping list for less, without spending money on Amazon.

Engadget will be covering October Prime Day in full, so if you have a lot of tech on your to-buy list, be sure to check back here on Prime Day for the best tech sales we could find. We’ll be sure to include gadgets from across the board – from headphones to robot vacuums to gaming gear – plus the best “anti-Prime Day” deals you can find from other retailers. You can also follow the @EngadgetDeals Twitter account and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter to stay up to date on the latest discounts. The volume of deals will be daunting, but we sift through them all and pick out the best ones to make Prime Day a bit easier for you.

Apple is prepping a software update for the three-year-old iPhone 12s after French regulators alleged the phone exceeds proper radiation levels. France stopped selling the smartphone after recommendations from the country’s radiation watchdog (ANFR).

The software update won’t adjust radiation levels but will “accommodate the protocol used by French regulators.” (I am not sure how that works, either.) Apple believes the software patch will be enough to allow the iPhone 12s to sail through future radiation tests, saying it looks forward “to the iPhone 12 continuing to be available in France.”

Belgium and Denmark don’t have the same worries as France. Belgian minister for digitalization, Mathieu Michel, said local tests were “reassuring” and recommended against a suspension on sales. Denmark’s Safety Authority followed suit, suggesting it had no concerns regarding the iPhone 12’s radiation levels.

— Mat Smith

​​

The biggest stories you might have missed

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Amazon’s Echo Pop smart speaker drops to $23

The Morning After: The iPhone 15 kills off Lightning. Plus, AI-generated Coke

The week’s biggest news meets Engadget’s lens.

Engadget

Our spin-off video series continues to let Mat do his thing, whether that’s throwing his iPhone at the camera, complaining about ’00s movies or writing about himself in third person. Our short-but-sweet edition this week covers iPhone 15, the return of movie rentals (kind of), and Sony’s Aibo dogs getting a second chance. There’s a new video every Saturday morning.

Watch it here.

Spider-Man 2 is following Sony’s sequel playbook

A two-hour demo showed off new tricks.

Sony

How do you outdo a well-received open-world game with its sequel? Engadget’s Nathan Ingraham played two hours of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 at a press event earlier this week, and it seems the answer is go bigger. That’s the same tactic used by Sony’s cadre of development teams for The Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War.

Because the world of New York in this game is almost twice as big as the original, with the addition of Brooklyn and Queens, finding new ways for players to get around was a major focus for developer Insomniac. Enter the web wings, a tool for gliding around the city, catching wind tunnels and updrafts that sling you at high speed. It’s not meant to replace the core web-slinging mechanic but augment it. And gliding seems to be the new having a horse in video game trends.

Continue reading.

Meta starts testing Horizon Worlds on mobile and the web

A small number of mobile and web users can now access Meta’s metaverse.

Meta has announced Super Rumble, the first game out of its in-house studio Ouro Interactive, is now available to a small number of mobile users through the Meta Quest app on Android. It’s also making its way to the app on iOS devices in the coming weeks. When Meta launched the first-person shooter, it said Super Rumble would be one of the first worlds available when its new app came out. It also said the game will feature cross-platform play on mobile, the web or a VR headset.

Continue reading.

Engadget Podcast: iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9 hands-on

We also dive into our review of Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6.

This week, Cherlynn gives us her on-the-ground thoughts from Apple’s iPhone 15 launch event. It turns out the iPhone 15 Pro’s titanium case is noticeably lighter. (Which we hope was the point.) Engadget’s Malek Saleh also joins to discuss her review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 and Dyson’s ridiculous Zone air filter mask/headphones.

Listen here

Amazon is having a second sale this fall exclusively for Prime members as it did last year, and though we knew it was happening in October, we didn't yet have an exact date. Now, Amazon has announced that the sale will happen on October 11 and 12, and even gave it a new name: Prime Big Deal Days. 

As ever, Prime Day gives members access to thousands of deals, so many folks wait for the sale to get the best possible deals on pricey products like laptops, phones, memory cards, cameras and more. Knowing that, Amazon uses the event as a way to boost sales and, more importantly, Prime subscriber numbers. At the same time, some select deals are available to non-Prime members as well. 

Amazon detailed a few early deals on Amazon devices and more. You can save up to 65 per cent on a three-pack of eero Pro Mesh Wi-Fi, select Fire TV devices, Kindles and more. Amazon is promising a $15 credit to Prime members who download its Photos app and upload their first photo, between now and October 7. You'll also find deals on Prime Video, a longer free trial of Amazon Music and more. 

Last year's October Prime Day saw a plethora of deals on devices ranging from Sony's WH-1000XM5 ANC headphones to the MacBook Air to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 to Roomba 694 robot vacuum. You might not see quite as many deals as on the main Prime Day (held this year on July 11 and 12), but I was glad I waited to purchase items like memory cards and storage. It's also a good way to grab some Christmas presents cheap and avoid the rush. 

Besides electronics, the sale is likely to cover clothes, shoes, household items, appliances. If you're looking for some savings, it's best to get ready by making lists and bookmarking a price tracker. For more on how to prepare for Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days, check out our post on the subject. 

Amazon is having a second sale this fall exclusively for Prime members as it did last year, and though we knew it was happening in October, we didn't yet have an exact date. Now, Amazon has announced that the sale will happen on October 10 and 11, and even gave it a new name: Prime Big Deal Days. 

As ever, Prime Day gives members access to thousands of deals, so many folks wait for the sale to get the best possible deals on pricey products like laptops, phones, memory cards, cameras and more. Knowing that, Amazon uses the event as a way to boost sales and, more importantly, Prime subscriber numbers. At the same time, some select deals are available to non-Prime members as well. 

Amazon detailed a few early deals on Amazon devices and more. You can save up to 65 per cent on a three-pack of eero Pro Mesh Wi-Fi, select Fire TV devices, Kindles and more. Amazon is promising a $15 credit to Prime members who download its Photos app and upload their first photo, between now and October 7. You'll also find deals on Prime Video, a longer free trial of Amazon Music and more. 

Last year's October Prime Day saw a plethora of deals on devices ranging from Sony's WH-1000XM5 ANC headphones to the MacBook Air to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 to Roomba 694 robot vacuum. It's also a good way to grab some Christmas presents cheap and avoid the rush. 

Besides electronics, the sale is likely to cover clothes, shoes, household items, appliances. If you're looking for some savings, it's best to get ready by making lists and bookmarking a price tracker. For more on how to prepare for Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days, check out our post on the subject. 

Last week, Unity dropped a bomb on developers with a new runtime fee on its game engine that would be charged each time a title is installed — summed up by one developer as an "abysmally catastrophic decision." Now, the company appears to be backtracking, promising changes to the policy that will be revealed shortly.

"We have heard you. We apologize for the confusion and angst the runtime fee policy we announced on Tuesday caused," the company said in a post on X. "We are listening, talking to our team members, community, customers, and partners, and will be making changes to the policy. We will share an update in a couple of days. Thank you for your honest and critical feedback."

News of the fee structure created furor in the developer community, which quickly closed ranks against Unity. "We have never made a public statement before. That is how badly you f—-ed up," wroteSlay the Spire dev Meta Crit. "There is no way Unity talked to a single developer before launching this," added Rami Ismail. In protest, many developers switched off Unity ads, and others were considering a class action lawsuit. 

Unity announced the changes following a difficult couple of years that saw an Apple privacy change cut off much of its ad revenue. Last year, the company's stock price plunged and it initiated layoffs that impacted 8 percent of its staff, or 600 employees. It has also had a controversy around CEO John Riccitiello after he called game makers who don't consider monetization "f—ing idiots." 

Following the initial uproar, Unity attempted to clarify its policies, saying it would only charge for initial installs, charities would be exempt and demos wouldn't count. Owners of subscription services would be required to pay the fee, not developers. 

However, some developers who committed to Unity and its previous pricing structure have said they are still effectively screwed. "Put years and years of work into my pipeline. I did so under a simple per-seat license I am happy to pay. Now while I am close to release they spring something new on me. Not a price increase [but] a fundamental change in how we do business together. I have no options, cannot go back, can only bend and [pay up]," wroteThe Falconer dev Tomas Sala. 

It remains to be seen if Unity's changes will placate developers. "Just be honest, upfront, reliable. We need stability," wrote one developer in response to the company's post.

It's always good to see companies delivering updates and new features to devices long after they've launched. And Roland's TR-8S and TR-6S were already pretty capable to begin with. But with the latest firmware updates they're picking up two huge new additions, including one that that I'm personally quite excited about.

TR-8S 3.0 and TR-6S 2.0 add an ACB model of the CR-78 CompuRhythm and a chromatic TR-808 mode for building basslines. The ability to play an 808 kick chromatically greatly expands the flexibility of the two drum machines. While you could tune drum hits and samples on the to create some melodic elements it wasn't exactly an easy or pleasant experience. This opens up the 8S and 6S well beyond strictly percussion, but does so in a way that seems natural. The 808 emulation was already part of their feature sets. And, especially in the world of hip hop, it's a staple for creating basslines, not just drum grooves. 

The CR-78 emulation is another huge addition. It was the world's first programable drum machine and my personal favorite of Roland’s classic rhythm boxes. In fact, I called out the lack of a CR-78 model in my review of the TR-6S as its one glaring omission. (I'd like to believe I had something to do with the decision, but I know better.) All of the sounds from the hardware are represented, as are most of the original preset rhythms, plus a few new ones. But what's particular exciting is the ability to use the more modern programming features and sound design tools available on the TR-6S and TR-8S to tweak the CR-78 for more modern productions.

In addition to the two new sound engines, the TR-Editor app on Mac and PC is getting an update with some usability tweaks and new compact UI for easier use on small displays. All these updates are available now for free directly from Roland.com. 

Bill Willingham, the creator of the comic book series Fables, says you now own his work, fully and for all time. Willingham has released his work, which served as the basis for Telltale Games' The Wolf Among Us, to public domain — mostly because he can't afford to sue DC Comics. In a lengthy post on his Substack page, the artist went pretty in depth in explaining his beef with the publisher. He said the people he negotiated with 20 years ago had already been replaced by people "of no measurable integrity, who now choose to interpret every facet of [their] contract in ways that only benefit DC Comics and its owner companies."

Based on Willingham's account of what happened, DC would routinely overlook his input on things like artists for covers or formatting for new collections. That's pretty innocuous compared to his other allegations, though, including getting royalties late or DC under-reporting royalties so as not to pay him what he's owed. But the artist said that the company recently went beyond these "mere annoyances" and tried to forcibly take Fables' ownership from him. 

He mentioned Telltale Games in particular, when he talked about how DC execs allegedly admitted that they believe they could do anything with the property. That's including not protecting the integrity of its stories and characters from third parties — Telltale Games, in other words — that want to radically alter them. Further, he apparently gets no money from DC licensing his work to third parties.

While Willingham knows that he's still bound by his contract with DC and cannot release anything Fables related without the company's consent, he argued in his post that you're not. "[Y]ou have the rights to make your Fables movies, and cartoons, and publish your Fables books, and manufacture your Fables toys, and do anything you want with your property, because it’s your property," he said.

DC, however, has disagreed with Willingham and his interpretation of their contract and copyright law. "The Fables comic books and graphic novels published by DC, and the storylines, characters, and elements therein, are owned by DC and protected under the copyright laws of the United States and throughout the world in accordance with applicable law and are not in the public domain," the company told CBR in a statement. "DC reserves all rights and will take such action as DC deems necessary or appropriate to protect its intellectual property rights."

It's unclear if this development will have any effect on Telltale's The Wolf Among Us 2, which is scheduled for release in 2024. The game was supposed to be available this year, but the developer chose to push back its launch, because it needed time to switch from using Unreal Engine 4 to 5 and that involved changes to personnel and the development process. 

Google will pay $93 million in a settlement it reached with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, resolving allegations that the company’s location-privacy practices violated the state’s consumer protection laws. The California Department of Justice claimed that Google was “collecting, storing, and using their location data” for consumer advertising purposes without informed consent.

The complaint alleges that Google continued to collect consumer data related to a user’s location even when a user turned the “location history” feature off. The company settled similar lawsuits in Arizona and Washington last year for illegally tracking consumers.

In addition to paying $93 million, Google agreed to “deter future misconduct.” This settlement, which won’t really hurt Google’s deep pockets, is important because the tech giant generates the majority of its revenue from advertising and location-based advertising is a critical feature of its advertising platform.

Moving forward, the California AG is asking Google to provide additional transparency about location tracking by providing users with detailed information about location data it collects. The company must also provide disclaimers to users that their location information may be used for ad personalization.

Engadget reached out to Google for comment but didn't receive a response.

Apple is prepping a software update to address alleged radiation concerns regarding the three-year-old iPhone 12s after French regulators alleged that the phone exceeds proper radiation levels. France stopped selling the smartphones after recommendations from the country’s radiation watchdog (ANFR), but Cupertino denies the allegations and seems to place the onus on the European nation’s testing protocols, as reported by Reuters.

To that end, Apple has reiterated that this isn’t a safety concern and notes that the phone was certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with global radiation standards. The software update won’t adjust radiation levels, as that would be a hardware issue, but it will “accommodate the protocol used by French regulators.” So it looks like Apple thinks the software patch will be enough to allow the iPhone 12s to sail through future radiation tests, saying it looks forward “to the iPhone 12 continuing to be available in France.”

France did change its regulations back in 2020. It added consideration for extremities, like hands, when testing for radiation levels and the rate of radio-frequency energy absorbed by the body by using a particular piece of equipment. This is called the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR.) During the country's recently-instituted SAR tests, regulators found that the iPhone 12s exceeded normal levels of energy absorption when holding the phone, despite acing the test when considering the head and body.

Belgium and Denmark have both come to Apple’s aid here, with Belgian minister for digitalization, Mathieu Michel, saying that local tests were “reassuring” and recommending against a suspension on sales. Denmark’s Safety Authority followed suit, suggesting it had no concerns regarding iPhone 12s radiation levels. Industry experts have also weighed in, stating that the findings indicated no risk of burns or heatstroke emanating from the phone’s radiation.

France says Apple’s software fix should be adequate and that they’ll resume testing as soon as it arrives, which was spelled out in a French press release unearthed by TechCrunch. Apple regularly drops software updates for its iPhones, so it should show up in the near future. In the meantime, the company’s focusing its energy away from the three-year-old iPhone 12 and onto the new hotness that is the iPhone 15.