Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, Google, Xiaomi... Those are names that likely spring to mind when you think about smartphones. Sony perhaps won't be the first company that most people consider in that regard. However, the company is still beavering away on its own phones and it plans to keep doing so for the foreseeable future.

Sony has struck a multi-year deal with Qualcomm to use Snapdragon platforms to power its handsets. This is an extension of an existing agreement between the two sides. Qualcomm chipsets will be used in Sony's upcoming premium devices, along with high- and mid-tier smartphones.

Sony revealed the awkwardly named Xperia 1 V just last month. The smartphone runs on the Snapdragon 8 Gen2 Mobile Platform and it's geared toward photographers and vloggers. Those are relatively niche use cases, though Sony is able to tap into its camera technology in the aim of helping users capture high-quality photos and video. The Xperia 1 V can be used as a monitor for compatible Sony Alpha cameras, for one thing. Still, Sony continues to command a premium for its high-end Xperia smartphones — the 1 V starts at $1,400.

The company also showed off the mid-range Xperia 10 V for the first time in May. It boasts a Snapdragon 695 chipset and a 60Hz, 1080p OLED display. Sony started selling the phone in Europe this month for £399 or €449 (around $500).

Google will soon make it easier to interact with PDFs if you have low vision. The company is adding OCR (optical character recognition) technology to Chrome that can convert PDFs to text that makes them more accessible, particularly if you want a screen reader to read them aloud. The tool will also provide image descriptions.

The feature will be available in the "coming months," Google says. The company also plans to expand the functionality beyond Chrome later this year, although it hasn't said which platforms might receive the upgrade. We've asked Google for more details and will let you know if we hear back.

Google

The introduction comes as part of a broader education push that includes app licensing for school Chromebooks and free access to Adobe Express in the US. Administrators will also have tighter control over what students and faculty can access on their Chromebooks — they can ban students from copying and pasting text from certain websites, such as generative AI tools that could help them cheat on tests. Users, meanwhile, will have an easier time turning off their camera or microphone regardless of where they are in Chrome OS.

The read-aloud PDF feature is mainly intended for classrooms, where students with vision issues will have an easier time reading scanned class material or necessary research articles. However, this will also make the internet more accessible for the public at large. It's not uncommon for websites to put terms of service or other important information into PDFs. The upgrade puts that info within reach of more people.

This is a good time to buy a tablet for summer reading or road trip entertainment. Amazon is once more selling Apple's 10.2-inch iPad at a record low price of $250 (normally $329) after an instant $20 discount at checkout. You'll need to buy a 64GB WiFi model to get the full savings, but there are also price drops for some 256GB and cellular variants.

The 10.2-inch iPad may be nearing two years old at this point, but it's still our pick for the best budget Apple tablet even at its official price. It's still reasonably speedy for games and casual tasks, and it's the device to get if you still want a headphone jack or a physical home button. On sale, it's an easy choice — you're getting the core iPad experience at a much lower cost. That could make it a great option for reading in bed, and you might not worry quite so much if your kids are less than gentle with it.

There are reasons you might want to spend more, of course. The 10.9-inch iPad from 2022 offers more screen real estate, brisker performance and a USB-C port, not to mention a front camera better-suited to video calls. With a price gap as large as $200, though, it's harder to justify the newer version unless you absolutely insist on its updated design.

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Bandai Namco knows what to do when it turns anime or manga series into video games. Revealed at Summer Game Fest last week, Sand Land is the latest addition, with a big punchy poster on the show floor in Los Angeles, conveniently right next to an established hitmaker for the publisher, its Naruto (now Boruto) Ultimate Storm fighting series.

Sand Land, though? You may never have heard of it, but don’t let that put you off, because it’s a 2000s comic penned by legendary manga artist, Akira Toriyama. Yes, Dragon Ball creator, Akira Toriyama. The man who created the character designs for Chrono Trigger, Blue Dragon and the Dragon Quest series. And Toriyama’s creations have never looked better.

Sand Land is an action-adventure game where you’ll play as the rambunctious prince of the Devil, capital ‘d’, Beelzebub, as he explores a desert-themed world where water is a rare and costly resource. Demons and humans coexist in this world, with the human Sheriff Rao and the demon Thief accompanying Beelzebub on his adventure to solve the water crisis.

At SGF 2023 last week, I played a 15-minute demo that showcased a few parts of the game, including melee combat, exploration and two vehicles: a tank and, er, a golf cart. The demo kicked off with the trio fleeing a desert dragon, and after having steered the cart away from relentless attacks, the gang eventually had to cast off their supplies of water to escape.

Apparently, this is a beat-for-beat replication of how Sand Land plays out in the manga, and you can expect the game to follow the same storyline beats. That’s sometimes frustrating for games where you already know the story. For example, I know who dies in Dragon Ball’s Frieza saga, so it’s not a surprise when it happens in one of the several Dragon Ball video games. With Sand Land, however, many of us will be hearing the tale for the first time.

During my demo, the game split into two play styles. You’ll explore the desert, outposts, and towns with your vehicles but also set out on foot when you need to brawl with someone or interact with things appropriately. Bandai Namco has teased that you can customize vehicles within the game, adding different weaponry and components to improve performance or offer tactical advantages. I loved using the armor-piercing rounds. Sure, they had a low fire rate, but they obliterated almost anything. Vehicle controls are simple enough but vary depending on the type and whether they feature weapons or not. Don’t forget: my first Sand Land vehicle was a golf cart. There was no artillery option.

Bandai Namco

When not rolling around in a tank (which can be repaired if it takes damage), Beelzebub himself can go toe-to-toe with enemies in melee combat. He has a mix of weak attacks, dodge rolls and super attacks that will charge up as you battle enemies. If it sounds a bit… simple, well, it is. Bandai Namco isn’t reinventing the wheel here. More moves and support characters could help deepen the combat sections, so I’ll hold judgment for now, but it’s also worth remembering that this game is likely aimed at gamers younger than I. You will only ever control Beelzebub himself, but both of his aforementioned companions will eventually be able to assist in fights, although this wasn’t apparent in my demo.

The highlight of this early demo was confronting a gang of bandits. They gave off a mild Ginew Force vibe, which I wasn’t mad about. Each wielded different weapons and attacked differently, offering a nice opportunity to test out little devil’s combos, sending enemies high with a punch, only to jump up and slam them back to the ground.

Ensuring even these secondary characters are interesting is proof that, hopefully, the developers are ensuring Toriyama’s characters, and his offbeat humor and charm, make it onto consoles.

While there are some questionable lip-sync moments (at this point, all the voiceovers are Japanese), this generation of consoles and PCs offer more than enough power to replicate Toriyama’s detailed drawings. I gawped at the tank during my playthrough just because it looked so good. Imagine how long I’d stare at a tank I customized myself.

Sand Land will launch on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!

Owlet and its baby monitoring devices are back in the good graces of the FDA. The company received clearance from the US regulator for its product BabySat, a medical-grade pulse-ox monitor designed as a wireless “sock” for newborns and babies. The win comes after the FDA ordered the Utah-based biotech company to stop selling its smart sock almost 18 months ago.

The FDA objection was based on the fact that the wearable had the capacity to relay a live display of a baby’s heart rate and oxygen levels, which is critical data that a doctor should interpret, especially in vulnerable populations. The tumultuous approval demonstrates “our technology is medical-grade,” Kurt Workman, Owlet CEO and co-founder said of the company's path to getting FDA approval. “We conducted several side-by-side accuracy comparisons to hospital monitors and that demonstrated Owlet is accurate." The device can alert a provider if any metrics are out of range, which can help to diagnose and prevent complications.

Owlet stripped out the blood oxygen and pulse tracking features and returned to the market just a few months later with the Dream Sock. The $299 wearable is available direct from the company and through a number of other retailers without a prescription, but it lacks the advanced features that set it apart from the rest of its rivals. Instead, it’s a pretty straightforward sleep tracker.

BabySat, on the other hand, is a prescription device. It integrates medical-grade pulse oximetry technology into a discreet wearable. It’s a noninvasive tool to measure how well oxygen is circulating to extremities in babies from 1 to 18 months.

Without a prescription, a rival medical-grade device can not be readily found on the market, given that BabySat is the first device of its kind to receive FDA approval. Creating a treatment plan with a doctor is especially valuable and useful to the parents of babies that have been diagnosed with heart defects or chronic conditions. If a newborn or baby does present with persistent low oxygen levels, quick intervention by medical professionals is needed to prevent life-threatening complications.

Owlet anticipates the product will be available in the US by the end of this year. The company declined to disclose pricing information for BabySat but did say that insurance options, including reimbursements and HSA/FSA eligibility, will likely be available at launch.

From mattresses to scales, it’s commonplace now for even the most basic products to be app-connected. Electric toothbrushes are one of the more curious entries in the “smart” device space. But, smart or not, toothbrushes serve one purpose: cleaning your teeth. The American Dental Association says both powered and manual brushes will effectively do just that, as long as you brush twice a day, for two minutes each, with a soft-bristled brush and fluoride toothpaste.

People who find it easy to hit those marks can probably save themselves the money, but others might benefit from the encouragement provided by advanced brushes. We wanted to test out some of these fancy electric toothbrushes to see just how useful their smarts are. After testing multiple brushes for a few weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that they aren’t a necessity for everyone, but they could benefit certain folks — particularly those who respond to the gamification of their daily habits.

What to look for in a smart electric toothbrush

Apps

For our purposes, any brush that communicates with a companion smartphone app is one we consider “smart.” Nearly all such apps track your brushing duration and frequency, and can do so whether you have the app open or not. The apps present historical data in graphs, calendars and other easy-to-digest visualizations. Most apps also let you set goals, access tips on better habits and reorder brush heads directly from the manufacturer.

More advanced devices let you adjust the settings and modes within the app and also guide you through brushing sessions with real-time feedback on where the brush is in your mouth. Other apps grant real-life rewards, such as gift cards, for keeping up consistent habits. Teledentistry is even part of the Quip app’s repertoire.

Most people will probably get the most out of the visualization offered by the tracking and history features. I found it satisfying to see a long string of properly executed morning and night brushing sessions, like I had hit some sort of personal milestone. The apps also make it easy to auto-ship brush heads, which could help ensure you replace them more regularly. The ADA recommends getting new bristles every three or four months and I, for one, am terrible at remembering to do that.

At first, I liked brushing along with the apps that were capable of visualizing my movements, but the novelty wore off after a week or so. Stopping to go find my phone just added another step, and I’d always end up sucked into the new notification abyss before I’d remember, oh yeah, I was going to brush my teeth. While the apps’ simple progress tracking is great, the added goals and awards lost their power to motivate me after a few weeks. Many of us are already setting countless objectives for ourselves; worrying about one more virtual award felt like homework for a class I didn’t have to take.

The timer feature is what ultimately helped me brush better. My impulse is to put down the brush after about 45 seconds, which is nowhere near the ideal time. To use that you don’t even need the app though, as all smart brushes include a timer in the brush itself.

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Brush mechanics

Whether they’re round or rectangular, all the brush heads vibrate, producing tens of thousands of movements per minute. All the handles emit haptic shakes and pauses to tell you to move to another section of teeth and when your session is done. Most of these electric toothbrushes have batteries that last a few weeks on a charge, or in the case of the non-rechargeable Quip, a few months on a set of disposable cells.

Advanced brushes, usually ones that cost more than $200, also include internal sensors that can detect the orientation of the brush in your mouth as well as the movement and pressure you apply. The brushes use that info to warn you if you’re pushing too hard, moving too fast or missing certain areas, with feedback in the form of lights, vibrations or in-app communication. Some brushes even have tiny, built-in screens that can give you a lot of the same info as an app, such as mode selection, timer duration and simple session assessments, so you don’t have to keep your phone beside you.

Price

A manual toothbrush from your local CVS will run you $4; smart electric toothbrushes can cost between $50 and $400 — quite the price jump. Even the least expensive smart brush offers app-based data tracking, plus haptic feedback and sonic vibrations from the brush itself. More expensive versions incorporate features like specialized heads, LED screens and internal sensors such as gyroscopes — all of which push up the price.

Best overall: Oral-B iO Series 7

Including manual and electric models, Oral-B makes around 75 different toothbrushes. Their latest and most advanced iO Series includes a whopping seven different models — with another on the way. Most of the iO series came out in 2020, which means the iO Series 9 isn’t a newer iteration of the iO Series 5, it’s just a more tricked out brush. The iO Series 7 has a good combination of app features and brush capabilities, and at $200, it sits in the middle of the smart electric toothbrush price spectrum

While using the iO Series 7, an internal gyroscope and accelerometer detects where the brush is in your mouth. If you use the app to guide a session, a 3D illustration of your teeth gradually turns from blue to white as you clean different areas. I was impressed by how accurately it detected exactly where I was brushing, especially since I can’t stick to one area for too long before moving on to the next. But by the end of two minutes, it had pointed me to areas I’d missed and left me with teeth that felt noticeably cleaner.

The iO Series 7 has five different brushing modes, including Gum Health, Sensitive and Daily Clean. I mostly stuck to that last one, but when my six-year-old wanted to try it, I swapped in a new brush head and used the Sensitive setting, which worked great for him. The fact that it made a kindergartener want to brush his teeth might be worth the price right there.

The app accurately tracked unguided sessions, too, adding the time and duration to my stats whenever I synced the brush with my phone. Even without the app, the built-in LED screen on the handle provides a good amount of info, giving you mode selection and displaying a timer as you brush. Haptic shakes let you know when to switch to another quadrant of your mouth.

A ring of light at the base of the brush head will flash red if you’re pushing too hard and glows green when you’re using the correct amount of pressure. At the end of a session, you’ll get a smiley face on the display if you went the whole two minutes, got good coverage and didn’t push too hard. You’ll get a smiley with stars for eyes if you really nailed it.

Oral-B’s top-end iO Series 9 is nearly identical to the Series 7 but costs $100 more. The pricier version comes with a full color LED screen, two extra modes (Tongue Clean and Super Sensitive) and adds another element to app-guided brushing, showing dots that you gradually erase as you brush. Both devices have hard travel cases, but the one for the Series 9 also acts as a charging case. Those are small luxuries that I don’t think justify the price bump though, especially considering the Series 7 did a great job getting my teeth cleaner than they’ve ever felt outside of a trip to the dentist.

Best budget: Quip Smart Electric Toothbrush

If proper motivation stands between you and better dental health, Quip’s Smart Electric Toothbrush might be all you need. It costs $50 if you opt for the brush head subscription or $55 without it. Either way, that’s significantly cheaper than many other smart toothbrushes. The vibrations aren’t as intense as our top pick, nor are the internal sensors as precise, but the app is loaded with ways to track your teeth cleaning and inspire you to do it more often.

One of those is through gamified awards granted for simple achievements like completing 50 sessions or brushing twice a day, three days in a row. It also awards points for good habits, which can be redeemed for real-world perks like discounts on Quip products and $5 Target or Walmart e-gift cards. With its relatively reasonable price and IRL rewards system, Quip’s smart brush might make a nice option for parents who want to help their kids brush better and more often. It’s also handy that the Quip app allows you to pair more than one brush per account, so you can track the whole family’s dental hygiene — something you can’t do with either Oral-B or Philips.

Quip divides sessions into 30 second segments and gives the handle an extra buzz when it's time to move to the next quadrant. A run lasts for the gold-standard two minutes and the sonic vibrations help clean better than the same strokes with a manual brush. The app gives you feedback on coverage, strokes per minute and average back-and-forth movement, providing tips for improvement with each session tracked. Like with fitness apps, seeing your trends and history can be motivating in itself. Combined with virtual achievements and real-world rewards, the Quip might be enough for some people to reach that two-minute, twice-per-day goal without the high price or flashy features.

Honorable mention: Philips Sonicare 9900

I don’t much care for things marketed as “luxe,” but I have to admit I really enjoyed using the $380 Philips Sonicare 9900. Don’t get me wrong, that’s an insane price to pay for a toothbrush. Before I started working on this guide, my daily driver was a $2.29 job I got from Trader Joe’s — and I’d like to add that I’ve only had one adult cavity (which I blame on the charcoal toothpaste fad).

With its sleek design and “premium materials,” the 9900 made me feel like some overly monied influencer doing a #GRWM (get ready with me) routine. The faux leather and gold travel case looks like a cross between a jewelry gift box and an expensive clutch — complete with a cute little strap. The brush itself has a pearlized finish and a decidedly smooth feel.

The app has a clean layout with a detailed history of your past brushing sessions. If you really want to see how consistently you apply the correct amount of pressure, you can. The app is also fairly accurate in identifying areas of your mouth that you skipped or didn’t focus on enough. As for the actual brushing experience, I love the brush head. The bristles are soft and the thin neck is super comfortable to close your mouth around, which helps prevent spillage. I also enjoyed the brush mechanics. Instead of scrubbing back and forth like some commoner, you simply guide the bristles around the surfaces of your teeth, letting the vibrations do the work for you. It took a little getting used to, with the app cautioning me: “don’t scrub!” but once I had it down, it offered the autonomous functionality you’d expect from such an expensive device.

The first few times using the 9900, however, nearly broke the fairytale spell. The vibrations are intense. I didn’t realize you were supposed to put the brush in your mouth before you turned it on, and the shaking flung my toothpaste clean off even when I shoved it down into the bristles. Once I finally got it right, I brushed for the full two minutes and afterwards felt like I had just gone to the dentist — not because my mouth felt clean (though it did), but because my lips were numb like I’d been given Novocain. After setting the brush to the lowest vibration setting, I was able to appreciate it fully without losing sensation in my lips. Maybe I should have expected that much power in a nearly $400 toothbrush, but it took me by surprise.

UK broadcaster Sky has unveiled a webcam device called Sky Live designed to add features like watch parties with friends, fitness and gaming features, the company announced. It attaches magnetically to the top of the company's Sky Glass smart TVs via USB-C and HDMI, and supports motion tracking for games and workouts, along with video calls, group chats and more.

"Sky Live makes your TV much more than just a TV, by introducing new entertainment experiences for the heart of your home," said Sky global chief product officer Fraser Stirling in a statement. "Get active with motion control games, work out with body tracking technology, video call on the big screen and watch TV with loved ones – even from afar. And [with] our powerful Entertainment OS ecosystem, it will keep getting better with every update."

The 12-megapixel webcam looks a bit like a mini Xbox One Kinect, with a rectangular design and lens on the right. Video is captured at up to 4K with an ultrawide 106-degree field of view (equivalent to a 14mm lens in 35mm camera terms). It has a white status LED, four microphones on top and a privacy button that turns it off (but no privacy shutter). There's an auto-framing feature to keep you in the center of the shot, along with background noise suppression to ensure you're heard during noisy broadcasts.

A key feature pitched by Sky (owned by Comcast since 2018) is called "Watch Together," letting you do watch parties with up to 11 other households remotely. Friends' video feeds appear to the right of the main feed and it works with all live channels and Sky's own on-demand programs — but not Netflix or other third-party streaming services. Playback is supposed to be synchronized among all call participants, so you shouldn't hear your friends cheering before you actually see a goal scored.

On top of looking like one, Sky Live also acts like a Kinect. It comes with a Mvmnt fitness app offering 130 interactive workouts, with the motion control tech tracking and your form, reps and more. It also supports motion-controlled games like Fruit Ninja and an multiplayer version of Monopoly controlled with the TV's remote. You can make Zoom calls, with participants shown in full HD and centered in the frame thanks to the auto-tracking feature. 

Sky Live requires a Sky Glass smart TV to work and costs £290 ($370) as a standalone purchase, £6 per month over 48 months, or £12 per month on a 24-month contract. Sky is also offering introductory discounts if purchased with a Smart Glass TV. Th latter, launched back in 2021, comes in 43-, 55- and 65-inch version and starts at around £14 per month. 

The following article contains spoilers for “Ad Astra per Aspera.”

Prequels, especially for well-known properties, are straightjackets which limit their own storytelling possibilities. Dramatic license is hampered by the fact the audience often knows where these characters (and storylines) end up. And any violence to the extant narrative can jar viewers who likely know what’s going on now contradicts what they’ve already seen. Until now, Strange New Worlds has navigated this issue well, making a virtue of its well-known conclusion.

“A Quality of Mercy” deftly played with the fact Pike will eventually get his near-fatal dose of radiation. The episode served to make the tragic nature of his character both a benefit and a burden, making it compelling in the process. In comparison, “Ad Astra per Aspera,” serves as an indictment of prequels, exposing the limits of what it can say, and do. Much as it presents a world that’s hopeful of change, long-term viewers know that optimism is misplaced.

That’s not to say the episode is bad, because it’s another confidently told, if lightweight, tale in a series that knows it works in that register. It helps that Star Trek wears the tropes of courtroom drama so well, since they’re both prone to a melodramatic exploration of The Big Issues(™). The subtext here is sufficiently broad that there’s a multitude of readings it’ll accept without too much stretching. And there’s at least one actually funny comedy moment where we, once again, see how much more fun Spock is when he’s played as a goofball.

Michael Gibson/Paramount+

Number One is preparing to stand trial for fraudulently entering Starfleet despite its ban on genetic modification. She’s thinking about her childhood, where her parents worry about taking her to a doctor and therefore exposing her status. Captain Batel (Melanie Scrofano) – who for some reason is now a member of Starfleet’s legal corps – offers a plea bargain with a dishonorable discharge, something Number One recoils at.

Pike, refusing to passively accept his friend’s fate, jets off to meet Neera (Yetide Badaki), an Illyrian lawyer and former friend of Number One, who has until now refused their pleas for help. His refusal to take no for an answer, and the lure of a high-profile case with which to stick it to the Federation, is enough to convince her to sign up. What follows is the usual courtroom drama, focusing on what prompted Number One to sign up to an organization that hates her.

We learn Number One was inspired to sign up to Starfleet because of the visible diversity of its crews. But that isn’t enough to win until Neera finds the contradiction between the Federation’s fine words, its goals, and its laws. It’s a subtle, pointed, critique of what Darren Franich dubbed the “California liberal paradox” in his essay on Star Trek: Insurrection. (And Star Trek is nothing if not a creature of Californian values.) He says that those people may wish “everyone to live comfortably, but would secretly prefer that most people live comfortably someplace else.”

But the court finds Number One not guilty, and she’s allowed to return to active duty on the Enterprise. At the happy ever after reunion in the transporter room, Neera says that while the case affected just one person, it’s a “start.” She adds that Number One’s visibility as an Illyrian (second) in command of a starship will help turn people’s hearts and minds toward her cause. It’s a hopeful ending, and one that suggests Number One’s story will kickstart a process of change and growth that will eventually see these prejudices and legal blocks go away.

Michael Gibson/Paramount+

The issue with that ending, and how hopefully it’s portrayed, is that long-time Star Trek viewers know it doesn’t happen. Any hearts and minds that would be changed in this process would be a minority given that – from this point in Trek history – things won’t change. Chronologically, we have “Space Seed,” The Wrath of Khan, “Dr. Bashir, I Presume” and “Statistical Probabilities” as affirmations of the status quo. At least a century later, people with genetic modifications remain – in Trek’s narrative – unable to serve in its premier military, scientific and exploratory branch.

It lends the episode a tragic quality that isn’t reflected in its presentation, but one that adds a layer of depth for dedicated viewers. Perhaps what I’m describing as a limit of its storytelling is really a smart commentary on how hard it is to bend the arc of history toward justice. In fact, I think I’ve just talked myself around, this is a wonderfully pointed exploration of this stuff, bravo Dana Horgan and Valerie Weiss.

A new decision from Meta's Oversight Board reiterates Facebook's continual role as a platform for dangerous election rhetoric. The Board reversed Meta's initial decision to leave public a video posted in January that called for insurrectionist actions in Brazil following the inauguration of its new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Lula took office on January 1st, and two days later, a user posted the video of a prominent Brazilian general — and supporter of the former president Jair Bolsonaro — telling people to "hit the streets" and "go to the National Congress … [and the] Supreme Court." Portugese text overlaid the video stating, "Come to Brasília! Let's Storm it! Let's besiege the three powers." Three Powers Plaza sits in the Brazilian capital and is home to the Congress, Supreme Court and the presidential offices.

Meta had previously acknowledged the risk of civil and election-centric unrest in Brazil, first labeling the country a "Temporary High-Risk Location" in September 2022 and then extending it to late February of this year. Yet, when an initial user reported the video, a moderator didn't find it in violation of Meta's policies — a second moderator agreed following an appeal. Seven moderators in total reviewed reports from four individuals between January 3rd and 4th, but none found an issue with the video. An accompanying caption for the video called for a "besiege" of Brazil's Congress as a last-ditch effort. Five days after the video arrived on Facebook, hundreds of protesters broke into the three governmental buildings and set fires, broke windows and assaulted police officers. 

The next day Meta called the riots a "violating event" and claimed to have "been removing content calling for people to take up arms or forcibly invade Congress, the Presidential palace and other federal buildings." Yet, the video remained on Facebook until January 20th, when Meta removed the post following the Oversight Board's choice to shortlist its review into it. Moderators should categorize a post as violating Meta's rules when it calls for forced entry into a high-risk place (like a government building) in a temporary high-risk location (as Brazil was at the time). Meta stated that leaving up the video with a military official calling for an insurrection was an "error." 

In its decision, the Oversight Board said it was "deeply concerned" that Meta's moderators had continually found the video not to violate its policies. The Board recommended that Meta finally "develop a framework for evaluating its election integrity efforts. This includes creating and sharing metrics for successful election integrity efforts, including those related to Meta's enforcement of its content policies and its approach to ads." It also called on the company to expand its protocols when evaluating if content causes harm in high-risk events.

The Oversight Board has operated since 2020 as an independently funded entity to which individuals can appeal content visibility decisions. It has the power to permit or remove Facebook and Instagram content with statements outlining its rationale accompanying each decision. The Board currently has 22 members (a report claims it will eventually be 40), including Nighat Dad, founder of the Digital Rights Foundation, and Ronaldo Lemos, a Rio De Janiero State University's Law School professor.

Meta has served as a home for right-wing conspiracy theorists and organizers, with at least 650,000 posts arguing against Joe Biden's victory shared on Facebook between Election Day 2020 in the US and the January 6th, 2021 insurrection. The social media platform had enacted some safety features after misinformation spread had spread across it around the 2016 Election, but it continued to do so, and ahead of the 2022 midterms and Brazil's general election, Meta quietly rolled back many of its safeguards.

As the unromantic name implies, TP-Link’s Deco XE75 AXE5400 is one of the company’s many, many routers. A trio of plain cylinders standing 6.7-inches tall, they mirror the lack of excitement in its name, but as the saying goes, let’s not judge a book by its deeply unsexy cover. Hiding inside is a mesh of extreme quality that, despite a few rough edges, offers a great mix of power and affordability. If you’re confident in your ability to work your way through an admin panel or two, then this might be the mesh for you.

Hardware

I’ve already mentioned that the XE75 comprises a series of nondescript-looking cylinders which aren’t the prettiest mesh units. They certainly look like WiFi equipment, unlike many of the others on the market, which look like paperweights designed by Henry Moore. Unless you’re living in a minimalist’s paradise, they’ll hopefully blend into your decor with no fuss.

On the back of each node are three gigabit ethernet ports, one of which you’ll need to hook the primary mode up to your modem. You can also use the ports to run ethernet backhaul, if your house is (or will be) suitably-equipped. In 2023, when it can sometimes feel like wired ethernet is becoming a niche proposition, having three ports per node feels like luxury. And I don’t think many users will gripe over a lack of a 2.5 Gbps port which is a bit excessive, even these days.

One of the first choices you’ll need to make is how you’ll use the 6GHz band, which is reserved as backhaul by default. You can leave it like this or, if you have a plethora of WiFi 6-enabled devices already, you can run it dynamically. Like I said in the mesh WiFi buyer’s guide, using the 6GHz band for backhaul makes sense for now since so few phones, laptops and tablets can access that band directly at the moment.

TP-Link says its “AI-driven mesh” will learn which devices get faster speed from which nodes and prioritize those connections accordingly. Once each of your devices is connected to the mesh, you should hope to see your speed and reliability improve as it learns your usage.

Installation

Deco XE75 was easy to get set up, taking just 16 minutes from when I pulled the plastic film from the box to finish. Download the Deco companion app, set up a TP-Link account and you’ll then be guided through the short setup process. You just need to plug the first node in, tell the app if you have any ISP-specific needs, give your network a name and password and you’re off at the races.

Once done, the app will tell you to turn on the other nodes in the set and wait as they connect to the existing mesh. You’ll also need to assign each node a name based on their locations in your home. My phone pinged several times in quick succession after this as all the gadgets in my home joined the network. The degree of seamlessness and ease of setup was more or less perfect.

That is, except for one minor real-world annoyance that I feel compelled to flag — the length of the power cables for the UK models I’ve been testing. A lot of mesh products ask users to place nodes in visible, prominent locations, rather than hidden behind furniture, to avoid interference. That’s harder to do, however, if your power cable is just 57 inches long, a small but noticeable bit shorter than the other products I’m testing. To the point where I couldn’t put one module in my usual location at the top of a bookcase because the cable didn’t stretch that far. In this case, that module had to go on my top shelf, rather than above it. It’s a specific and possibly niche complaint but worth mentioning in case you have an unforgiving room layout.

Performance

Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget

After setting up the modules in the usual places in my home, I found that it took about 10 minutes for the connection to stabilize. I had to run a firmware update that caused things to drop out for a further five minutes afterward, but after that, the connection was very stable. A lot of more affordable 6E routers use the 6GHz band as backhaul, and this worked well in my home.

Close to the primary node, speeds hit an average of 270 Mbps down, and in my office two floors away, I was still getting 260 Mbps. Even in my back bedroom with its dreaded signal dead spot, SpeedTest download benchmarks fell to around 220 Mbps. Ping times were similarly consistent, to the point where I reckon a two-point mesh might have sufficed.

The Deco app very clearly shows your network topography, enabling you to quickly see which devices connect to which node. What surprised me is that the hardware in my office preferred the primary node rather than the one that was nearer. I suspect, over time, those connections would shift, but the fact I saw such good performance despite being two floors away was great.

App and controls

The Deco app lays everything out in a friendly, easy-to-parse manner that shouldn’t deter novice users from upgrading. The home screen shows you the network topography, and what devices are connected to each node by default, helping you to feel in control of what’s going on.

If there’s a downside, it’s that the level of control available to you inside each submenu isn’t that deep. View your WiFi settings, for instance, and you’ll be able to change your network name and password or share those details to someone else. But the only other option is to decide if the 6GHz network is used for dedicated backhaul or if you can share it with devices on the network. You can activate a Guest Network on the homescreen, letting you set one up with one press, although I’m less of a fan that it’s password-free by default.

You can scroll the list of what’s connected to the network to see its signal strength, as well as how much data it’s up-and-down-loading at the time. Each device can be assigned to a family member for parental controls, and you can single out a unit for priority on the network. The one downside to this is that TP-Link really struggles to identify each piece of equipment on your network compared to, say, a product from Netgear. So many units were named “iot_device” in the list, that you’ll probably need to take the time to rename them all manually.

In the More sub-menu, you can run tests to optimize your network, set up an IPv6 connection, as well as tweak IP settings. One feature I appreciated was the choice to get a push notification every time a new device joins the network, which appeals to my paranoia.

You can also access your settings through a browser-based client but, as far as I could see, the only difference is it lets you force a firmware upgrade with a local file rather than handling the system online. That’s a fairly niche use, though.

Additional features

Deco does offer smart home integrations, but it’s limited to TP-Link’s own gear and Philips Hue. The only other thing that the company offers is Homeshield, which offers a suite of security features to help keep your WiFi secure. The free Basic tier will scan your network for security threats and offers “robust” parental controls. That includes the ability to block specific websites, set daily usage limits and time-out zones to stop your kids accessing the internet in the middle of the night.

You can also activate content filtering, which will lock down swathes of the web that TP-Link deems unsuitable. That includes Adult Content, Gambling, and Download sites, amongst many others. More problematically, you can block access to sites offering sex and relationship education information, which feels like TP-Link is enabling more harm than good there.

What I will say, despite my objections, is that the suite of options available for free here is a very good mix. Plenty of companies have taken to putting even the most basic parental controls, like time limits and access control, behind their paywalls. The fact the essentials are available here, for free, means the company gets plenty of extra points here.

TP-Link also offers a paid version of Homeshield, which includes more protection against hacks, greater data about what websites users are visiting. This, it says, will guard against “teenager internet addiction (sic),” “IoT Devices Attacks (sic)” and “Cyber Virus Intrusion (sic).” Homeshield Pro costs $5.99 a month, or $55 for a year, although I’m not sure I see enough value in it to encourage anyone to sign up for the extras on offer.

Wrap-up

There’s no single glitzy, attention-grabbing feature that makes the Deco XE75 a must-buy, but what puts it ahead of the competition is its brawn. Nestled inside those cylinders is powerful, reliable hardware that generates a fast and far-reaching network which is reason enough to pick up TP-Link’s system. The app and services offered at no additional cost, squarely tick the “good enough” box.

The one thing the Deco XE75 lacks is polish, both in its app and its services. I wouldn’t suggest this to anyone who would freeze up at the very thought of having to make a decision about something like a backhaul channel. But, if you are prepared to make the effort, then this is certainly the mesh WiFi system for you. It’s fast, reliable, fairly easy to use and I reckon the (cheaper) two-pack will cover all but the biggest of homes.