New iPhones tend to be rather boring. Not the pricey Pro models that get most of the fancy new features –- I’m talking about the regular versions that are ideal for most of us. Apple has historically taken a trickle-down approach to its mainline phone, adding components and features from the previous year’s Pros as part of the annual update. That’s primarily what we’re dealing with on the iPhone 15, which starts at $799. However, the combination of those hand-me-downs, a revamped camera and the switch to USB-C make this year’s regular iPhone a worthy upgrade.

Design

Apple hasn’t made sweeping changes to the “regular” iPhone design in years, opting instead for subtle tweaks that only a careful observer will notice. For the iPhone 15, the company kept the aircraft-grade aluminum frame but gave it a more contoured edge. For this reason, the new model is more pleasant to hold, but you’ll only enjoy that if you aren’t using a case.

Apple also made a significant tweak to the back of the iPhone 15, choosing “color-infused” glass with a matte finish that it says is a first for smartphones. The issue for me here is the colors. Apple’s selection of black, blue, green, yellow and pink lack the pop of previous iPhone generations and are quite pastel in real life.

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

This isn’t a problem if you’re a fan of those shades, but they’re not for me. They’re muted to the point I thought I still had a protective covering on the back of the phone. There’s no white, gold or silver option, so you’re only left with the black – that’s really more of a dark gray – if you want something less Easter-y. The iPhone 15 is just as durable and water-resistant as its predecessor, so there’s no upgrades there. You’ll still get a Ceramic Shield display up front for added protection and an overall IP68 rating.

If a distinguishing factor on the iPhone 14 was the lack of a SIM tray, this year you’ll want to venture to the bottom edge. Apple has finally made the change to USB-C, a slightly larger and more pill-shaped port than its Lightning jack. Of course, there’s still no SIM tray as last year’s model ushered in the era of the eSIM, making transferring your number to a new phone much easier and giving you the option for multiple lines on the same device.

Display

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

Apple’s decision to not upgrade the iPhone 14’s display last year was disappointing, and while the company didn’t go as far as I’d like on the iPhone 15, there are some worthwhile changes. There’s a new Super Retina XDR display that offers 2,556 x 1,179 at 460 ppi on the iPhone 15 (2,796 x 1,290 on the 15 Plus). That’s not much different from the iPhone 14, which also had a Super Retina XDR panel. But, Apple now offers 2,000 nits of peak brightness and 1,600 nits of peak HDR brightness – both increases over the previous model. Colors continue to be rich and you’ll get plenty of crisp detail, none of which is surprising.

Unfortunately, we’re still saddled with a 60Hz refresh rate on the iPhone 15s; the higher refresh rate is once again reserved for the Pros. Unless you’ve used a phone with a 120Hz display, you can probably live without it, but it’s worth noting that other companies have given their base model phones a higher rate. The Pixel 8, for example, has a 120Hz display, as does the Galaxy S23. And as my colleague Cherlynn Low pointed out last year, when you go from a Pro model iPhone to the “regular” version, the choppiness of the display becomes apparent when scrolling. Of course, the always-on display is limited to the iPhone 15 Pros, too, so you don’t get ever-present time, widgets and wallpapers on the iPhone 15.

The biggest change to the display is the Dynamic Island. This particular feature debuted on the iPhone 14 Pro last year, when Apple replaced the notch with the handy, informative area around the front-facing camera. Just like it does on the Pro models, Dynamic Island on the iPhone 15 provides easy access to alerts, Live Activities and apps that are running in the background.

When music is playing, you’ll see tiny album art and either an audio waveform or an icon for where the audio is broadcast (HomePod, speaker, etc.). Press and hold and you’ll get playback controls similar to what you typically see on the lock screen – only docked at the top of the display. Live Activities can show you things like flight statuses or Lyft arrival times, and Apple says its dedicated API will allow developers to expand how their apps harness the Dynamic Island. Coming from my iPhone 14 I’ve enjoyed having the extra info or controls always just a long press away. It’s one of this year’s trickle-down features that makes life easier.

Cameras

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

One of the biggest changes on the iPhone 15 is the new camera. Apple has replaced the 12-megapixel dual-camera with a 48-megapixel setup and quad-pixel sensor. The company said that its photonic engine combines the low-light performance of 12MP images with large quad pixels with the detail of a 48MP version composed of individual pixels. The result, and the default setting, is a 24MP image with increased clarity and better shots in dim lighting. There’s also a new 2x optical-quality telephoto preset, so the iPhone 15 now has three preselected zoom options.

The headline feature of the new camera is portraits in regular photo mode. The iPhone 15 now captures depth information whenever it detects humans, cats or dogs “prominently” in the frame. This allows you to apply the portrait mode effect afterwards with the editing tools in the Photos app. You no longer have to select it before shooting. An “f” icon will appear whenever the camera is capturing depth and tapping it will allow you to preview and activate portrait mode before you shoot. For photos you’ve already taken, opening the editor will show you an obvious portrait button for all shots where depth info is stored. There’s also a shortcut to activate portrait mode for compatible images when you’re viewing a single photo, so you don’t have to jump into the full edit view.

It’s nice to be able to apply or remove the portrait effect later on from certain shots. Whether you add the effect in edits or while shooting, the results are pretty consistent. Apple’s portrait mode struggles at times with the edges of faces, so there were some pictures where my ears or my beard were blurry. But overall, photos taken with the effect enabled and those with it applied afterward look the same.

Most photos from the iPhone 15 weren’t obviously different from those taken with the iPhone 14. Low-light shots from this year’s model are slightly warmer and more detailed as it handles things like the glare from street lights better. That’s likely due to the way the iPhone 15 combines 12MP and 48MP images. On well-lit or outdoor photos though, it’s hard to distinguish between stills from the two phones without peeking at the metadata or zooming in to see that the iPhone 15 is better with things like hair and textures.

You’ll want to use those new 48MP shots via the HEIF MAX mode sparingly though, opting for these means increased file size and will quickly eat up your phone's storage. 12MP low-light images are around 1MB each, 24MP stills clock in at about 2.5MB and the 48MP photos are around 5.5MB. So, when shooting at maximum quality, your snaps will be just over double that of the default setting. Thankfully, Apple gives you one-tap access to HEIF MAX on the main camera UI, but you’ll have to enable resolution control in the camera settings to see it in the top right corner.

Performance and battery life

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

Another hand-me-down the iPhone 15 received from last year's Pro is the A16 Bionic. The chip powers all of the “advanced features,” including Dynamic Island, increased outdoor display brightness and the 48MP main camera. Additionally, the A16 Bionic packs a six-core CPU that uses 20 percent less power than the A15 Bionic on the iPhone 14 and a five-core GPU with 50-percent more memory bandwidth than the previous combo. Lastly, the A16 Bionic’s 16-core neural engine is the extra oomph behind features like the updated portrait mode, live voicemail and better autocorrect.

During everyday use, the iPhone 15 performed quickly and smoothly, handling all of the tasks I threw at it without a stutter. That’s doing a mix of Instagram, Gmail, Apple Music, calls, texts and some YouTube TV streaming – all with an Apple Watch connected. The only time I noticed the phone running warm was whenever I was multitasking while streaming video or live TV via picture-in-picture. Even then, the iPhone 15 never got too hot to handle.

Apple has given the iPhone 15 a second-gen Ultra Wideband chip that powers Precision Finding. What’s more, the company has expanded it to Find My friends, so you can get pinpoint directions to someone for the times you might be in a dense crowd. You’ll have to share your location with each other, which can be disabled at any time, and Find My can notify the friend you’re looking for them. I haven’t been able to test this with a fellow iPhone 15 user yet, but having just been to a music festival I can see it replacing the constant barrage of “Where are you?” texts.

In addition to Find My, Apple continues to offer safety features like satellite-powered roadside assistance and emergency SOS, which it introduced last year. The company is making those services free for two years with iPhone 15 so you can still contact AAA via text when you’re out of reach of a cellular signal. Like the previous models, theiPhone 15 also features car crash detection and can also notify your emergency contacts from the Health app. Crash detection also works with emergency SOS via satellite, so it will still contact first responders if there’s no cellular or Wi-Fi connection available. Thankfully, I haven’t had the opportunity to try these. They’re items I’m happy to have, but hope I never use.

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

The change to USB-C is a welcome one, albeit long overdue. In addition to giving you a more universal connection consistent with iPad and Mac, you can charge your Apple Watch, AirPods and other compatible devices with the iPhone 15. This came in handy a few times when my Apple Watch Series 7 was running on fumes. It has also been nice to top up my AirPods Pro while in transit if I forgot to charge them before leaving the house. Plus, it’s been nice to remove one cable from my travel stash.

The disappointing thing about USB-C is that Apple has limited data transfers to USB 2.0 speeds of 480 Mbps. I can’t see a scenario where you would use your phone for transporting lots of files, but the low speed does hamper things like transferring data to a new phone. As expensive as the base iPhone is, a faster connection here would be nice.

In terms of battery life, Apple’s claims of “all day” use still hold true. After a day that started at 7AM, the iPhone 15 still had 28 percent left when I plugged it in just before 1AM, with some moderately heavy Instagram scrolling between 8PM and midnight. Even at a music festival where I was constantly using the phone, I never went below 25-30 percent. That’s over three days of running low-power mode for more than 15 hours while shooting a mix of Instagram Stories, photos and video. And in both scenarios, I had an Apple Watch and a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor connected and constantly in use.

Apple says a 20W power adapter can charge the iPhone 15 in about 30 minutes. The phone also supports MagSafe wireless charging with compatible accessories. Despite the shift to USB-C, nothing has changed from the iPhone 14, so if you were hoping for faster charging, that’s not happening (yet, anyway).

Wrap-up

With the iPhone 15, Apple offers enough to make this year’s device a worthwhile upgrade. That’s not always the case, and it certainly wasn’t last year. However, the revamped camera works well, offering higher-quality shots when you need them, and Dynamic Island is genuinely useful. USB-C, even though it’s limited, is a welcome addition too. And since you’re likely going to slap a case on the thing anyway, you can probably live with Apple’s color chemistry experiment if those hues don’t quite excite you. And while it's nice that the iPhone 15 is a more significant upgrade than we've gotten in years, here's hoping that a complete overhaul is coming soon.

New iPhones tend to be rather boring. Not the pricey Pro models that get most of the fancy new features — I’m talking about the regular versions that are ideal for most of us. Apple has historically taken a trickle-down approach to its mainline phone, adding components and features from the previous year’s Pros as part of the annual update. That’s primarily what we’re dealing with on the iPhone 15, which starts at $799. However, the combination of those hand-me-downs, a revamped camera and the switch to USB-C make this year’s regular iPhone a worthy upgrade.

Design

Apple hasn’t made sweeping changes to the “regular” iPhone design in years, opting instead for subtle tweaks that only a careful observer will notice. For the iPhone 15, the company kept the aircraft-grade aluminum frame but gave it a more contoured edge. For this reason, the new model is more pleasant to hold, but you’ll only enjoy that if you aren’t using a case.

Apple also made a significant tweak to the back of the iPhone 15, choosing “color-infused” glass with a matte finish that it says is a first for smartphones. The issue for me here is the colors. Apple’s selection of black, blue, green, yellow and pink lack the pop of previous iPhone generations and are quite pastel in real life.

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

This isn’t a problem if you’re a fan of those shades, but they’re not for me. They’re muted to the point I thought I still had a protective covering on the back of the phone. There’s no white, gold or silver option, so you’re only left with the black – that’s really more of a dark gray – if you want something less Easter-y. The iPhone 15 is just as durable and water-resistant as its predecessor, so there’s no upgrades there. You’ll still get a Ceramic Shield display up front for added protection and an overall IP68 rating.

If a distinguishing factor on the iPhone 14 was the lack of a SIM tray, this year you’ll want to venture to the bottom edge. Apple has finally made the change to USB-C, a slightly larger and more pill-shaped port than its Lightning jack. Of course, there’s still no SIM tray as last year’s model ushered in the era of the eSIM, making transferring your number to a new phone much easier and giving you the option for multiple lines on the same device.

Display

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

Apple’s decision to not upgrade the iPhone 14’s display last year was disappointing, and while the company didn’t go as far as I’d like on the iPhone 15, there are some worthwhile changes. There’s a new Super Retina XDR display that offers 2,556 x 1,179 at 460 ppi on the iPhone 15 (2,796 x 1,290 on the 15 Plus). That’s not much different from the iPhone 14, which also had a Super Retina XDR panel. But, Apple now offers 2,000 nits of peak brightness and 1,600 nits of peak HDR brightness – both increases over the previous model. Colors continue to be rich and you’ll get plenty of crisp detail, none of which is surprising.

Unfortunately, we’re still saddled with a 60Hz refresh rate on the iPhone 15s; the higher refresh rate is once again reserved for the Pros. Unless you’ve used a phone with a 120Hz display, you can probably live without it, but it’s worth noting that other companies have given their base model phones a higher rate. The Pixel 8, for example, has a 120Hz display, as does the Galaxy S23. And as my colleague Cherlynn Low pointed out last year, when you go from a Pro model iPhone to the “regular” version, the choppiness of the display becomes apparent when scrolling. Of course, the always-on display is limited to the iPhone 15 Pros, too, so you don’t get ever-present time, widgets and wallpapers on the iPhone 15.

The biggest change to the display is the Dynamic Island. This particular feature debuted on the iPhone 14 Pro last year, when Apple replaced the notch with the handy, informative area around the front-facing camera. Just like it does on the Pro models, Dynamic Island on the iPhone 15 provides easy access to alerts, Live Activities and apps that are running in the background.

When music is playing, you’ll see tiny album art and either an audio waveform or an icon for where the audio is broadcast (HomePod, speaker, etc.). Press and hold and you’ll get playback controls similar to what you typically see on the lock screen – only docked at the top of the display. Live Activities can show you things like flight statuses or Lyft arrival times, and Apple says its dedicated API will allow developers to expand how their apps harness the Dynamic Island. Coming from my iPhone 14 I’ve enjoyed having the extra info or controls always just a long press away. It’s one of this year’s trickle-down features that makes life easier.

Cameras

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

One of the biggest changes on the iPhone 15 is the new camera. Apple has replaced the 12-megapixel dual-camera with a 48-megapixel setup and quad-pixel sensor. The company said that its photonic engine combines the low-light performance of 12MP images with large quad pixels with the detail of a 48MP version composed of individual pixels. The result, and the default setting, is a 24MP image with increased clarity and better shots in dim lighting. There’s also a new 2x optical-quality telephoto preset, so the iPhone 15 now has three preselected zoom options.

The headline feature of the new camera is portraits in regular photo mode. The iPhone 15 now captures depth information whenever it detects humans, cats or dogs “prominently” in the frame. This allows you to apply the portrait mode effect afterwards with the editing tools in the Photos app. You no longer have to select it before shooting. An “f” icon will appear whenever the camera is capturing depth and tapping it will allow you to preview and activate portrait mode before you shoot. For photos you’ve already taken, opening the editor will show you an obvious portrait button for all shots where depth info is stored. There’s also a shortcut to activate portrait mode for compatible images when you’re viewing a single photo, so you don’t have to jump into the full edit view.

It’s nice to be able to apply or remove the portrait effect later on from certain shots. Whether you add the effect in edits or while shooting, the results are pretty consistent. Apple’s portrait mode struggles at times with the edges of faces, so there were some pictures where my ears or my beard were blurry. But overall, photos taken with the effect enabled and those with it applied afterward look the same.

Most photos from the iPhone 15 weren’t obviously different from those taken with the iPhone 14. Low-light shots from this year’s model are slightly warmer and more detailed as it handles things like the glare from street lights better. That’s likely due to the way the iPhone 15 combines 12MP and 48MP images. On well-lit or outdoor photos though, it’s hard to distinguish between stills from the two phones without peeking at the metadata or zooming in to see that the iPhone 15 is better with things like hair and textures.

You’ll want to use those new 48MP shots via the HEIF MAX mode sparingly though, opting for these means increased file size and will quickly eat up your phone's storage. 12MP low-light images are around 1MB each, 24MP stills clock in at about 2.5MB and the 48MP photos are around 5.5MB. So, when shooting at maximum quality, your snaps will be just over double that of the default setting. Thankfully, Apple gives you one-tap access to HEIF MAX on the main camera UI, but you’ll have to enable resolution control in the camera settings to see it in the top right corner.

Performance and battery life

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

Another hand-me-down the iPhone 15 received from last year's Pro is the A16 Bionic. The chip powers all of the “advanced features,” including Dynamic Island, increased outdoor display brightness and the 48MP main camera. Additionally, the A16 Bionic packs a six-core CPU that uses 20 percent less power than the A15 Bionic on the iPhone 14 and a five-core GPU with 50-percent more memory bandwidth than the previous combo. Lastly, the A16 Bionic’s 16-core neural engine is the extra oomph behind features like the updated portrait mode, live voicemail and better autocorrect.

During everyday use, the iPhone 15 performed quickly and smoothly, handling all of the tasks I threw at it without a stutter. That’s doing a mix of Instagram, Gmail, Apple Music, calls, texts and some YouTube TV streaming – all with an Apple Watch connected. The only time I noticed the phone running warm was whenever I was multitasking while streaming video or live TV via picture-in-picture. Even then, the iPhone 15 never got too hot to handle.

Apple has given the iPhone 15 a second-gen Ultra Wideband chip that powers Precision Finding. What’s more, the company has expanded it to Find My friends, so you can get pinpoint directions to someone for the times you might be in a dense crowd. You’ll have to share your location with each other, which can be disabled at any time, and Find My can notify the friend you’re looking for them. I haven’t been able to test this with a fellow iPhone 15 user yet, but having just been to a music festival I can see it replacing the constant barrage of “Where are you?” texts.

In addition to Find My, Apple continues to offer safety features like satellite-powered roadside assistance and emergency SOS, which it introduced last year. The company is making those services free for two years with iPhone 15 so you can still contact AAA via text when you’re out of reach of a cellular signal. Like the previous models, theiPhone 15 also features car crash detection and can also notify your emergency contacts from the Health app. Crash detection also works with emergency SOS via satellite, so it will still contact first responders if there’s no cellular or Wi-Fi connection available. Thankfully, I haven’t had the opportunity to try these. They’re items I’m happy to have, but hope I never use.

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

The change to USB-C is a welcome one, albeit long overdue. In addition to giving you a more universal connection consistent with iPad and Mac, you can charge your Apple Watch, AirPods and other compatible devices with the iPhone 15. This came in handy a few times when my Apple Watch Series 7 was running on fumes. It has also been nice to top up my AirPods Pro while in transit if I forgot to charge them before leaving the house. Plus, it’s been nice to remove one cable from my travel stash.

The disappointing thing about USB-C is that Apple has limited data transfers to USB 2.0 speeds of 480 Mbps. I can’t see a scenario where you would use your phone for transporting lots of files, but the low speed does hamper things like transferring data to a new phone. As expensive as the base iPhone is, a faster connection here would be nice.

In terms of battery life, Apple’s claims of “all day” use still hold true. After a day that started at 7AM, the iPhone 15 still had 28 percent left when I plugged it in just before 1AM, with some moderately heavy Instagram scrolling between 8PM and midnight. Even at a music festival where I was constantly using the phone, I never went below 25-30 percent. That’s over three days of running low-power mode for more than 15 hours while shooting a mix of Instagram Stories, photos and video. And in both scenarios, I had an Apple Watch and a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor connected and constantly in use.

Apple says a 20W power adapter can charge the iPhone 15 in about 30 minutes. The phone also supports MagSafe wireless charging with compatible accessories. Despite the shift to USB-C, nothing has changed from the iPhone 14, so if you were hoping for faster charging, that’s not happening (yet, anyway).

Wrap-up

With the iPhone 15, Apple offers enough to make this year’s device a worthwhile upgrade. That’s not always the case, and it certainly wasn’t last year. However, the revamped camera works well, offering higher-quality shots when you need them, and Dynamic Island is genuinely useful. USB-C, even though it’s limited, is a welcome addition too. And since you’re likely going to slap a case on the thing anyway, you can probably live with Apple’s color chemistry experiment if those hues don’t quite excite you. And while it's nice that the iPhone 15 is a more significant upgrade than we've gotten in years, here's hoping that a complete overhaul is coming soon.

The Meta Quest 3 proves that the Meta Ques 2 was just an impossibly good deal. When that VR headset arrived for just $300 three years ago, it was the perfect gateway to VR for most people. You didn't need to hook it up to anything, you just flipped it on and stepped into virtual reality. But then Meta raised the price to $400 last year, and the entire VR industry just started to feel very stale.

It's no wonder the $1,500 Meta Quest Pro completely flopped – VR was already struggling, and few people actually needed something so expensive.

The $500 Quest 3 likely won't tempt over as many VR newcomers as the Quest 2, but it's still a solid step forward for Meta. It has all of the upgrades you'd expect, and it also has full color mixed reality cameras, which let you use VR apps alongside a view of the real world. Squint a bit, and you can almost see what Apple is going for with the Vision Pro (though with far less fidelity).

Despite all those improvements though, the Quest 3 makes me marvel even more at what Meta accomplished with the Quest 2, which is still available at its original $299 price. That headset is still the best VR entry point for newbies, though I wish it were a bit cheaper by now. The Quest 3, meanwhile, is the logical upgrade once you've caught the VR bug.

Here's what makes it special: It's significantly thinner and lighter than the Quest 2, thanks to a new set of pancake lenses. Those also help to produce a sharper image from the new displays, which deliver 2,064 by 2,208 pixels per eye. That's even better than the PlayStation VR 2, which wowed us earlier this year.

The Quest 3 is also running Qualcomm's new Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip, which offers double the GPU power of the Quest 2, according to Meta. Up front, there are two full color cameras for mixed reality, along with a depth sensor in the middle to help map your space and avoid obstacles. That's notable, since it was a feature Meta completely dropped from the Quest Pro. When it comes to storage, you’ve got your choice between the 128GB $500 model and a 512GB option for $650.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Now for what the Quest 3 doesn't have: There's no face or eye tracking, or cameras on the controllers like the Quest Pro. Though, at least they've lost the annoying rings from the Quest 2 gamepads. I don't think you'll miss any of the Quest Pro's features – they're potentially cool, but developers haven’t really taken advantage of them.

Meta already proved it can make a solid standalone VR headset, but can it really bring mixed reality to everyone? That seems to be the driving force behind the Quest 3. Apple's Vision Pro showed us a genuinely promising vision of spatial computing, one where the digital and physical worlds can comfortably coexist. But that thing also costs $3,499. Trying to accomplish something similar for a fraction of the price seems impossible.

The Quest 3's attempt at mixed reality is far from perfect – the color cameras deliver a fuzzy and pixelated view of the world, as if you're in a drug-fueled haze. But it’s still pretty useful. A double tap on the side of the Quest 3 is all it takes to flip between immersive VR and the real world.

That's something I ended up using frequently to check on text and Slack messages, grab information from my computer, and chat with people around me. Doing any of those things in the past would have required either completely removing the headset, or flipping up the visor.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

The Quest 3 also goes beyond just letting you see the real world: You can also do some basic mixed reality multi-tasking. You can arrange up to three windowed Quest apps, like WhatsApp and the Quest Store, on a translucent virtual tray that sits in front of you. Even better, you can move that tray anywhere in your space. That's not something I’d use a lot, but the fact that I could create this environment, anchor it to a specific point in the real world, and walk around it simply blew me away.

It also helps that the Quest 3 makes every virtual element look incredibly sharp. Looking at WhatsApp chats in the headset was no different than on my gaming monitor. Meta still has to work on actually making the Quest's apps more useful though: I could only reply to WhatsApp chats by awkwardly pecking away at the Quest’s virtual keyboard, leaving voice messages or attaching media from the headset. (Let's just hope that tabletop virtual keyboard that Mark Zuckerberg showed off actually becomes a reality.)

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

The Quest 3 also marks the first time I’ve genuinely enjoyed using Meta’s finger tracking. It was an intriguing feature when it arrived on the original Quest, but it wasn’t alway accurate, so I preferred using the Quest’s controllers instead. Now, thanks to the depth sensor and full color cameras, the Quest 3 does a far better job at recognizing every finger gesture. I found myself letting my controllers rest far more often, since it was so easy to navigate through apps by swiping and virtually pointing.

Now given just how well the Quest 2 excelled at being a standalone VR headset, I wasn’t very surprised that the Quest 3 was even better. Everything loaded faster thanks to its increased RAM. The controllers felt far more precise, especially for games that demanded accuracy, like the upcoming Samba de Amigo and the VR mainstay Beat Saber.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

The Quest 3’s higher resolution display also makes games look far better than the Quest 2, but I was more impressed by the handful of titles that were optimized for its faster hardware. Red Matter 2 practically looked like a full-fledged PC VR title, thanks to its incredibly detailed textures and character models. The Kurzgesagt game, Out of Scale, made me feel like I was living inside of one of its gorgeously animated YouTube videos .

Quest 3 owners will still have access to the hundreds of games that also work on the Quest 2, but it’s nice to see some new titles arriving alongside fresh hardware. It doesn’t look like anything will be exclusive to Quest 3 yet, but that could easily change down the line. For now, I’d expect new games will have an extra layer of polish, while the Quest 2 will get a more basic experience.

I didn't get to try First Encounters, the Quest 3 mixed reality tutorial that was shown off during our initial preview, but I'm hoping more developers start building similar experiences for the Quest 3. There are a handful of truly "mixed reality" titles already, like Zombies Noir and Figmin XR, but they're mostly just interesting experiments instead of anything truly groundbreaking. There's room for the Quest 3 to deliver the sort of reality-bending experiences initially promised devices like the Magic Leap and HoloLens. 

After testing the Quest 3 for a week, I’ve noticed something surprising: It’s the first headset that doesn’t make me feel trapped while using it. Since the real world is easily accessible, I feel far more comfortable sitting and enjoying a movie on Netflix, or a 360-degree video on YouTube. And thanks to its lighter frame and additional room for glasses, I can also play VR games far longer than I used to.

I only wish the Quest 3’s battery life lasted longer. Depending on what you’re doing, it can go for two to three hours, just like the Quest 2. At least you can still use it while charging the headset though, and it also stays powered when connected to a PC for beefier experiences, like Google Earth VR.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

If you’ve seen my PlayStation VR 2 review, you’ll know I’m pretty ambivalent about the state of VR at the moment. The headsets are getting better, but the games and industry just feels stagnant. The Meta Quest 3, at the very least, seems like a better option for VR newcomers than the $550 PlayStation VR 2. It’s pricey, but it delivers solid VR without a PlayStation 5. While it’s no Vision Pro, the Quest 3’s stab at mixed reality makes it a headset you’ll likely use long after your VR honeymoon is over.

And if a $500 headset is too expensive, I’m sure you can find a used Quest 2 for a steal.

Cops use all sorts of tech to track individuals — facial recognition comes to mind, as does mimicking cell phone towers to get pings or mobile data tracking. But some people are finding ways to use technology to listen back. Bluetooth signals might reveal where police are and when they are and when devices like body cams or Tasers are activated.

“It’s be really weird if you had your volume turned all the way up and all of your devices are just screaming, right?,” Alan “Nullagent” Meekins, cofounder of Bluetooth tracking platform RFParty, said. “But that’s really what you’re doing in these wireless spectrums, they’re just constantly shouting.”

All Bluetooth devices have a unique 64 bit identifier called a MAC address. Often a chunk of that address is composed of an Organizational Unique Identifier (OUI), essentially a way for a device to say who it's made by. A look at the IoT devices that are used by many police forces led Meekins and his cofounder Roger “RekcahDam” Hicks to Axon, a company best known for Tasers. Modern police kits are overflowing with Bluetooth-enabled tech (often also made by Axon), from the aforementioned Tasers and body cams, to in-vehicle laptops. Even the gun holsters supplied to some cops send a Bluetooth ping when a sidearm is unholstered. By just reading company documentation, they were able to find the OUI.

A Bluetooth identifier seems trivial, but it could reveal a lot of information about where cops are and what they’re up to, like when their body cams are recording or they turn on the sirens to respond to a call. “There's the signal that is sent when a police officer basically thinks something's recording worthy, if that's the case, people can document that, detect that and there won't be any question whether or not hey, there's a body cam or there wasn't body cam,” Meekins told Engadget. It’s a way to potentially determine whether certain evidence exists so that it can be produced more quickly in a records request — something police often "slow walk" Meekins said. As people run RFParty, the app will collect historical data. In the case of body cams, if the device begins recording, it typically sends a Bluetooth signal out to other devices. If a cop turns on a camera (or Taser or other IoT device), someone running the app could collect this data to record details about the incident.

It's similar to radio waves: if you have the equipment to get past the music and news stations into the bands used by emergency response personnel (and once you know the language and codes to make sense of whats being broadcast there) you can listen in on cop radios to hear about arrests and where police might be patrolling.

An Axon spokesperson confirmed that the company uses Bluetooth capabilities for pairing in-car systems with mobile apps, and for its camera recording devices. Using Bluetooth connectivity helps with "ensuring that incidents are captured and that devices are connected to maximize visibility," the spokesperson said. "Axon is working on additional measures and improvements to address concerns of tracking our devices over time. Specifically, rotation of unique BLE device addresses (known as MAC addresses) that can specifically identify our devices, and removing the need for including serial numbers in Bluetooth broadcasts to reduce the ability to track a specific device over time."

No features in RFParty are designed specifically to track police, it’s a general Bluetooth scanning service, similar to existing services like Wigle.net or nRF Connect. But some of what's displayed on its maps includes common Internet of Things devices used by police, including body cams. Anecdotally, users are already using RFParty for police tracking purposes.

“We have all this technology that there's certain people who understand it, and can exploit it. But you know, most people can't and I think there needs to be more knowledge given out,” Hicks told Engadget. In a talk at DefCon 31 this past August, Meekins showed what the Axon OUI is and privately provided a live demo to me of how a knowledgeable RFParty user could leverage that information.

Of course, having that historical data handy for accountability purposes requires people to be running RFParty in the vicinity of potential abuses of police power, and it's unlikely the app will become popular on a scale where that data will be available for almost any such incident. Still, when cops have the power to use technology against nearly anyone, it's interesting to see the tables turned.

According to Reuters, OpenAI is exploring making its own artificial intelligence chips, even looking into an acquisition. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously blamed GPU shortages for users’ concerns regarding the company API’s speed and reliability, leading to these moves. OpenAI using its own chips could reduce its costs too. Based on analysis by Bernstein Research, each ChatGPT query costs the company around four cents.

At the moment, NVIDIA controls the market for chips that power AI applications. The Microsoft supercomputer OpenAI used to develop its technology, for instance, uses 10,000 NVIDIA GPUs. Microsoft, OpenAI’s biggest backer, has been working on its own AI chip since 2019.

— Mat Smith

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Hitting the Books: NASA’s Kathy Sullivan and advances in orbital personal hygiene

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NASA will reveal on Wednesday what OSIRIS-REx brought back from asteroid Bennu

A first look at its asteroid sample.

NASA/Keegan Barber

NASA will give the public a look at the asteroid sample brought back to Earth by its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. A livestream of the reveal is set for 11 AM ET on Wednesday, October 11. OSIRIS-REx grabbed its sample from Bennu back in 2020, then spent a year-and-a-half observing the asteroid before returning to Earth in May 2021. “The very best ‘problem’ to have is that there is so much material, it’s taking longer than we expected to collect it,” said Christopher Snead, NASA’s deputy OSIRIS-REx curation lead.

Continue reading.

Atari is releasing a new cartridge for its 46-year-old 2600 console

Save Mary never hit store shelves.

Atari just announced pre-orders for a physical cartridge of the company’s once-ubiquitous 2600 console. The game, Save Mary, was developed during the console’s golden years, before being shelved when the 2600 went the way of the dodo. If you want to play it, you don’t need to dust down your old 2600. Conveniently, Atari sells an upgraded version of the console, called the 2600+. What a relief.

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X tests three paid subscription tiers

It looks like this will determine how many ads you see.

Bloomberg reports that X is testing a trio of subscription tiers to help solve its financial woes. Details are scant, but these paid subscription options are likely to impact the number of ads you might see when using the platform. It looks like it’ll break down into Basic, Standard and Plus. Basic users will continue to see the regular number of ads, while standard users will see half, equivalent to what folks who pay $8 each month get at the moment. Plus users will see no ads whatsoever, for however much that might cost.

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Engadget Podcast: Google’s Pixel 8 phones and Pixel Watch 2

And Samsung launched even more devices.

Engadget

This week, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with Engadget’s Sam Rutherford about everything from the Made by Google event. That includes the Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel Watch 2. We give Google credit for leaning on AI long before it was trendy, but we wonder if the Pixel 8 Pro’s temperature sensor will actually be useful.

Listen here.

We're just a couple days away from Amazon's October Prime Day sale, which kicks off on Tuesday and goes through Wednesday. Prime Big Deal Days is the company's second site-wide sale of 2023 and there are already plenty of early deals to be found. You'll need a Prime membership for some, but other discounts are open to everyone. We'll be rounding up the best of what's out there on October 10 and 11, but in the meantime, you can get a jump on a few sales that are already live. This week's best tech deals include lots of Amazon devices like Echo speakers, Echo Show smart displays, Blink cameras, Ring doorbells and the Kindle Kids ereader. As for non-Amazon gadgets, we're seeing strong prices on JBL speakers, Samsung microSD cards and an Anker 5-in-1 USB-C hub.  

Apple AirPods Pro (USB-C)

pple recently released a new model of the AirPods Pro with a USB-C charging case, improved dust resistance and lossless audio support with the upcoming Vision Pro headset. They're on sale for $199, which is $50 off their usual price and the same low we've seen for the Lightning version. We consider the AirPods Pros the best wireless earphones for those who use an iPhone or lots of Apple devices. They deliver excellent noise cancellation, a pleasingly warm sound profile, a variety of Apple-specific features such as hands-free Siri, quick pairing and switching between Apple devices, and Find My device tracking. With a recent update, they've also gained a useful "Adaptive Audio" mode that blends the pair's ANC and transparency modes dynamically based on your surroundings. The AirPods Pro with the original Lightning charging case are also on sale for the same price. 

Amazon Echo Dot + Kasa Smart Plug Mini

As part of a big Echo speaker sale, the latest Echo Dot is down to $23, and you can get a bundle with the small smart speaker and a Kasa Smart Plug Mini for just $1 more. Considering the Echo Dot is one of our favorite smart speakers and the Kasa smart plug earned a spot on our list of best smart plugs, this is a great bundle for anyone who wants to smarten up their home while sticking to their budget. Also included in this sale are the Echo Pop for $18 and the full-sized Echo for $55.

If you'd like to add a little Star Wars whimsy to your Echo, you can get your speaker in a bundle that throws in Darth Vader, Stormtrooper or Grogu stands. The sets are between 30 and 49 percent off their full price.  

Amazon Echo Show 5

A number of Amazon’s smart displays are on sale ahead of October Prime Day, and that includes the Echo Show 5 for $40. It’s the smallest smart display in the company’s lineup at 5.5 inches, which helps it work well as a sort of smart alarm clock. It has strong audio quality and a sunrise alarm feature, and this updated model included a faster processor and an additional mic for improved Alexa responsiveness. The Echo Show 8 (previous-gen) and the Echo Show 10 are also included in this sale, and there’s a bundle that pairs the Echo Show 5 with a Philips Hue Smart Color Bulb for $42.

Amazon Echo Show 15

The Echo Show 15 is 33 percent off right now and down to a near record-low of $185. It’s the biggest smart display in Amazon’s lineup, with a 15.6-inch touchscreen that you can sit on a countertop or mount on a wall, and it supports both portrait and landscape orientation. In addition to showing widgets like sticky notes, calendar views and more, the Show 15 has Fire TV technology built in, so you can treat it like a mini TV and stream your favorite shows and movies. And when you’re not actively using the display, you can use it to display pictures using the Photo Frame feature.

EarFun Air Pro 3

EarFun's Air Pro 3 noise-canceling earphones are down to $60 with a $20 on-page coupon. That's not an all-time low but still $20 off the device's typical selling price. This is the runner-up pick in our guide to the best budget earbuds. The EarFun Free 2S, our "best under $50" pick in that guide, are also on sale for $36 with a 10 percent coupon.

Amazon Echo Buds (2023)

Prime members can get the latest Amazon Echo Buds for $35, which is $15 off and an all-time low. This is another pick in our guide to the best budget wireless earbuds. Specifically, the Echo Buds should appeal to those who prefer a more open design, one that lets in outside noise but doesn’t insert directly into your ear canal. They can sound solid for the price with a bit of EQ tweaking, and they support features we don’t often see for less than $50, such as wear detection and multipoint connectivity. They also have Alexa baked in, natch. Their IPX2 sweat-resistance rating isn’t enough for workouts, and their five-ish hours of battery life is just average, but they’re worth a look if you’re on a tight budget and hate the feel of traditional in-ear headphones. We gave them a score of 77 earlier this year.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic 

Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy Watch 6 Classic alongside the standard Galaxy Watch 6 during its Unpacked event in July. We were particularly delighted by its rotating bezel mechanism, which makes navigating Samsung's One UI a bit more convenient. We call the Watch 6 series the best Android options for most people in our smartwatch buying guide; compared to the standard model, the Classic is pricier and heavier, but it has a larger display and a more premium stainless steel frame along with that rotating bezel. Right now the watch is seeing a modest eight percent discount, bringing it down to $369 instead of its usual $400. It's not a huge dip, but it's still the biggest price drop we've seen for the wearable to date.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is $300 off ahead of Amazon's October Prime Day sale at $1,500. This matches the price it hit a few weeks back for Labor Day. This deal applies to the base model with 256GB of storage; the 512GB model, meanwhile, is down to $1,620 from its usual $1,920. We gave the 7.6-inch Z Fold 5 a score of 86 in our review and named it the best foldable for multitasking in our smartphone buying guide. Overall we were impressed by its speedy performance, handy multitasking gestures and improved hinge, which helps eliminates any air gap when the phone is folded. Our biggest concern is its sky-high price, which this discount makes a little less of an issue.  

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is on sale as well, with the base 256GB model $100 off at $900. That phone got an Engadget review score of 88 and is currently the top flip-style foldable pick in our guide to the best smartphones. 

Amazon Kindle Scribe

Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is 22 percent off right now and down to $265. Unlike the deal we saw last month, you don’t have to be a Prime member to get this sale price. The Scribe is one of the best e-ink tablets on the market right now, and it’ll be best for those that want an easy-to-use ereader that also lets you jot down notes as you read. Users can create notebooks on the Scribe to organize their handwritten musings, though only a handful of titles in the Kindle store are considered “write-on” books that allow you to take notes directly in the margins. We gave the Kindle Scribe a review score of 85 last year. 

Amazon Kindle Kids

Amazon's Kindle Kids is now on sale for $80, which is five dollars more than it went for during July's Prime sale. As far as the device goes, it's the same as the standard Kindle but comes with a cover, a two-year warranty and a year-long subscription to Amazon Kids+, which gives access to kid-appropriate ebooks. With that subscription, you can also use the parent dashboard to check up on your kid's reading progress, add books or set bedtimes. 

Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite

A handful of Fire TV devices have been discounted before Amazon's upcoming sale, including the Fire TV Stick Lite down to $18. It may be the most limited streaming dongle in Amazon’s lineup, but for smaller or secondary TVs, it offers 1080p streaming and a useful voice remote. If you’re willing to spend more for a Fire TV streamer that doubles as an Alexa speaker, you can also snag the Fire TV Cube for a low of $110.

JBL Charge 5 speaker

Two models of JBL Bluetooth speakers are on sale ahead of the October Prime sale, including the Charge 5, which is down to $130 instead of $180. That's about $10 more than the lowest it's gone for, but still a $50 discount on one of our recommended mid-range speakers. It has a separate tweeter and dual bass radiators plus it's water-resistant and has a 20-hour battery life. You can also use it to recharge your phone via USB-C in a pinch.

Anker 332 USB-C Hub

Anker's 332 USB-C Hub is down to $16 with a $2 on-page coupon, which is roughly $9 off its typical street price. As laptops get sleeker, ports disappear, but this 5-in-1 hub can add a 4K HDMI port, two USB-A ports, and either one or two additional USB-C ports (depending on whether you need one for power delivery) back to your device. That means you'll have more space to connect a mouse, keyboard, flash drive, webcam or what have you.

Amazon Smart Thermostat

Amazon’s Smart Thermostat has dropped to its best price of the year at $56. Note that this sale price is for the model without a C-wire adapter, so you’ll have to make sure your system has a C-wire in order for the thermostat to work. Smart thermostats like this can help you save on energy costs by giving you more granular control over your heating and cooling system. You can use Amazon's companion app to control your home’s temperature from anywhere, or ask Alexa to turn the temperature up or down as you please.

Amazon Fire HD 8

Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet has dropped to $60 as part of a larger tablet sale ahead of Prime Big Deal Days. That’s only $5 more than it was during Prime Day in July. We recommend this slab for those who want a cheap tablet they can give to their kids or use for basic media consumption. This model comes with 32GB of storage, but you can expand that space up to 1TB using a microSD card. Performance isn't especially fast, and Amazon's Fire OS is relatively limited — it lacks Google apps, for one — but the whole thing is comfortable and can last more than 10 hours on a charge. If you want a higher-end Fire tablet, the Fire Max 11 is on sale for a low of $150, though that's a good chunk of change to spend on a Fire OS device. 

Blink security cameras

A range of Blink 3rd- and 4th-gen security cameras are also on sale. These deals are particularly noteworthy for including the 4th-gen Outdoor cameras, as those were just announced at the end of August. A three-pack of those new cameras is half off at $135, and there are a bunch of bundles available as well: a two-pack with a Blink Mini for $100, a three-pack with a Blink Video Doorbell for $165, a whole home bundle for $102 and many more. These wireless security cameras aren't the most advanced things around, but they still offer two years of rated battery life, motion and audio alerts, two-way talk and night vision.

Google Nest Cam (Battery)

A slew of Google Nest home security devices are on sale at Amazon right now, including the Nest Cam with batteries that can go inside or outside your home. The list price is $180 but it's down to $120 ahead of October's Prime Day. It works with smart speakers and displays enabled with Alexa or the Google Assistant and the rechargeable unit can go for up to seven months, depending on the level of activity it picks up. The weather-resistant build and magnetic mount should let you install it on most surfaces. It sends live alerts to your phone and will even allow for on-demand check-ins without a subscription, though it only stores the last three hours for free. For six months of stored footage, you'll need a Nest Aware membership.  

October's Prime sale is looking like a good time to save on smart home security as a bunch of cameras and doorbells from Arlo are also on sale right now. We've had good experiences with Arlo's equipment in the past. 

Ring Video Doorbells

There’s a massive Ring sale going on now, which includes the wired Ring Video Doorbell on sale for $35. As the name suggests, you’ll have to hardwire it to your home during installation. If you’d prefer a model that runs on a rechargeable battery, consider the standard Ring Video Doorbell, which is down to $55. The sale also includes Ring Stick Up cameras for inside the home, as well as various Ring Alarm bundles.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Kids

A few Kindle Essentials Bundles have been discounted for Prime members ahead of the October Prime sale, including this Kids model on sale for $143. It contains a Kindle Paperwhite Kids ereader with a cover, screen protector, power adapter, two-year warranty and one-year subscription to Amazon's Kids+ content service. The Kids+ subscription gives access to a selection of child-appropriate ebooks and audiobooks; just remember that the membership will automatically renew after the first year.

Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro

Amazon's Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is the top recommendation for kids in our tablet buying guide. It has a list price of $200 and often sells for $140, but this early Prime Big Deal Days offer drops it down to an all-time low of $120. The tablet comes with a protective case that also serves as a stand and handle, plus a two-year warranty and a year's subscription to Amazon Kids+ service. It comes with a fairly robust selection of parental controls as well.

iRobot Roomba j7+ Combo

As part of an Amazon Early Prime Deal iRobot promotion, the iRobot Roomba j7+ Combo is on sale for $799, which is a $300 savings. This is the vac we named the best robot vacuum and mop combo in our guide. It's an expensive unit for sure, but we found it automatically knows where to mop versus where to vacuum, which other combo units make you dictate manually. It'll also automatically empty its dry debris, though you'll still need to fill and empty the water tank. As with many iRobots we've tested, we appreciate the obstacle avoidance and strong suction power.   

Amazon Music Unlimited

If you've never subscribed to Amazon Music Unlimited, you can now get three months of the music streaming service for free. If you're an Amazon Prime member who has never subscribed, that jumps to four months. Music Unlimited usually comes with a one-month free trial and goes for $11 a month — or $10 if you use Prime — so this deal saves you either $22 or $30. We highlight Music Unlimited in our guide to the best music streaming services: Its UI and music discovery features aren't as robust as Apple Music or Spotify, but it offers a large library in CD streaming quality and a wide podcast selection. Naturally, it also works well with Echo speakers and other Amazon devices. Note that your subscription will be set to auto-renew by default, so you'll have to manually cancel if you're just looking to snag a few months of music streaming at no cost.

Eero Pro 6E mesh Wi-Fi system

Amazon has discounted most of its Eero 6 Wi-Fi systems as an early Prime Big Deal Days deal, including the most powerful of the bunch, the Eero Pro 6E. You can pick up one router for $180, or spring for a three-pack for $400, both of which are down to record-low prices. Devices with support for Wi-Fi 6E can connect directly to the Eero’s 6 GHz radio band, and if you get the three-pack, you’ll get up to 6,000 square feet of coverage — more than enough for most homes. These Eeros have a built-in smart home hub as well, so you don’t need to have an extra device if you want to build out an IoT ecosystem in your house.

Samsung Pro Plus

If you need more storage for your Nintendo Switch, GoPro or anything else that accepts microSD cards, the 256GB version of the Samsung Pro Plus with Samsung's USB reader is on sale for $23. We've seen the card alone fall as low as $20, but this is just a dollar above the all-time low for the bundle with the reader, which helps the card get closer to its advertised read and write speeds — up to 180 MB/s and 130 MB/s for reading and writing, respectively — on devices that allow them. Normally, this SKU retails for $25. The Pro Plus is the top pick in our guide to the best microSD cards, as it delivered the fastest sequential write speeds and random performance of any card we tested and comes with a 10-year warranty.

Amazon Fire Omni QLED Series TVs

All sizes of Amazon’s Fire TV Omni QLED Series are on sale ahead of October's sale. The 43-, 50-, 55- and 65-inch models are down to $380, $400, $440 and $590, respectively. Those match or beat the prices we saw for July's Prime Day. The Fire TV Omni QLED sets are best for people who like Amazon’s Fire interface, which is easy enough to figure out, though the OS tends to push you towards Amazon's own content. Beyond that, Fire TVs do well to integrate Alexa with a useful voice remote and hands-free smart home support. If you don't feel like having Alexa listening in, you can turn off the mics with a built-in switch.

Your Fall Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s car experts on must-shop auto-related Prime Day deals and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

Yes, Techtober is in full swing! This week, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with Engadget’s Sam Rutherford about everything from the Made by Google event. That includes the Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel Watch 2. We give Google credit for leaning on AI long before it was trendy, but we wonder if the Pixel 8 Pro’s temperature sensor will actually be useful. Also, we dive into Samsung’s latest FE devices, Apple’s fix for overheating iPhone 15s, and Google’s Chromebook Plus initiative.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

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Topics

• Google announces the Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel Watch 2 and Buds Pro, along with a slew of AI features – 1:05

• Engadget’s first take on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro – 7:15

• Samsung announces new FE devices – 58:51

• Apple says iOS 17 update should fix those hot iPhones – 1:02:45

• Google could be directing users to advertisers using semantic match algorithm – 1:12:33

• Quantum Dot inventors win Nobel Prize – 1:21:11

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• Pop culture picks – 1:25:55

Credits
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Cherlynn Low
Guest: Sam Rutherford
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien

Amazon has the 2023 version of the Samsung Smart Monitor M8 on sale. You can take $200 off the 32-inch display with built-in apps and streaming services, dropping its usual $700 asking price to $500.

The refreshed M8 Smart Monitor is the updated 2023 version of the model that launched at CES 2022. The 32-inch 4K monitor has a 3840 x 2160 resolution with HDR, a 60Hz refresh rate and a maximum 178-degree viewing angle. Like the original, this 2023 model comes with built-in apps and internet of things (IoT) control features. You can stream from services like Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, but it also includes Microsoft Office 365 apps for when you want to get work done without connecting to a PC.

When it’s time to hook it up to your computer, it includes a USB-C cable, and it has built-in ports for USB-C, HDMI and USB-A. It even ships with software to access and control your PC remotely, making it much more versatile on its own than standard monitors. And if you own a Samsung mobile device, you can use the company’s DeX software to transform the phone or tablet into a faux desktop computer.

The Smart Monitor M8’s IoT hub lets you control smart home products through SmartThings, performing tasks like changing your home’s lighting or temperature straight from the display. It includes a detachable SlimFit Cam, which records in full HD and has face tracking for video calls. It also has Alexa for voice control, perhaps sparing you the cost of buying an Echo speaker for that room.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

We're getting close to the start of Prime Big Deal Days, Amazon's second site-wide sale of 2023. While the October Prime sale doesn't officially happen until October 10 and 11, there are already plenty of early deals to be found. For some of them, you'll need to have a Prime membership, but others are open to anyone. We'll be rounding up the best of what's out there starting on Tuesday, but in the meantime, you can get a jump on the discounts that are already live. This week's best tech deals include lots of Amazon devices like Echo speakers and displays, Blink cameras, Ring doorbells and the Kindle Scribe. As for non-Amazon gadgets, we're seeing lows on Tile Trackers, Samsung's Smart Monitor M8 and an Anker 5-in-1 hub.  

Apple AirPods Pro

The AirPods Pro with the Lightning charging case is on sale for $199, which is $50 off their usual price. We consider the AirPods Pros the best wireless earphones for those who use an iPhone or lots of Apple devices. They still deliver excellent noise cancellation, a pleasingly warm sound profile and a variety of Apple-specific features such as hands-free Siri access, Find My device tracking and quick pairing and switching between iPhones, iPads and MacBooks. With a recent update, they've also gained a useful "Adaptive Audio" mode that blends the pair's ANC and transparency modes dynamically based on your surroundings.

EarFun Air Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Earbuds

EarFun Air Pro 3 noise cancelling earbuds are down to $56 as part of an Amazon Lightning Deal — so they won't last long. These are the runner-up pick in our guide to the best budget earbuds, in which Engadget's Jeff Dunn tested a wide range of wireless buds under $100 to come up with the best sound for the most value. The EarFun Free 2S are also seeing a Lightning deal and are down to $34. These are our pick for the best wireless earbuds under $50, and now they're well below that mark. 

Galaxy Watch 6 Classic 

Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, along with the standard Watch 6 during their Unpacked event in July. We were particularly delighted by the return of the spinning bezel, which was missing from the previous generation watch. The Galaxy Watch Classic version is the one with the bezel and it's currently seeing a modest, 8 percent discount, bringing it down to $369 instead of the full-price $400. It's not a huge dip, but still the biggest discount we've tracked so far. 

Amazon Echo Dot + Kasa Smart Plug Mini

As part of a big Echo speaker sale, the Echo Dot is down to just $23, and you can get a bundle with the small smart speaker and a Kasa Smart Plug Mini for just $1 more. Considering the Echo Dot is one of our favorite smart speakers and the Kasa smart plug earned a spot on our list of best smart plugs, this is a great bundle for anyone who wants to smarten up their home while sticking to their budget. Also included in this sale are the Echo Pop for $18 and the full-sized Echo for $55.

Amazon Echo Show 5

A number of Amazon’s smart displays are on sale ahead of October Prime Day, and that includes the Echo Show 5 for $40. It’s the smallest smart display in the company’s lineup, which is part of what makes it a solid smart alarm clock. It has strong audio quality and a sunrise alarm feature, and this updated model has a faster processor and an additional mic for improved Alexa responsiveness. The Echo Show 8 (previous-gen) and the Echo Show 10 are also included in this sale, and there’s even a bundle that pairs the Echo Show 5 with a Philips Hue Smart Color Bulb for $42.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is $300 less than usual ahead of October's Prime sale. This matches the price it hit a few weeks back for Labor Day. The latest foldable from Samsung has a list price of $1,800 for the 256GB model, but is now down to $1,500. If you want the larger, 512GB capacity model, that's down to $1,620 instead of $1,920. We gave the Z Fold 5 a score of 86 in our review, and even named it the best foldable for multitasking in our smartphone guide. Overall we were impressed by the faster processing power, the handy multitasking gestures available in the settings, and the Flex Hinge that eliminates the gap when the phone is folded. Our biggest concern was the price, which this discount makes a little less of an issue.  

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is on sale too. The base model with 256GB of storage has dropped from $1,000 to $900, which isn't as low as it went a couple weeks ago. That phone got an Engadget review score of 88 and named it the best flip-style foldable. 

Echo Show 15

The Echo Show 15 is 33 percent off right now and down to a near record-low of $185. It’s the biggest smart display in Amazon’s lineup, with a 15.6-inch touchscreen that you can sit on a countertop or mount on a wall, and it supports both portrait and landscape orientation. In addition to showing widgets like sticky notes, calendar views and more, the Show 15 has Fire TV technology built in, so you can treat it like a mini TV and stream your favorite shows and movies. And when you’re not actively using the display, you can use it to display pictures using the Photo Frame feature.

Kindle Scribe

Amazon’s Kindle Scribe is 22 percent off right now and down to $265, and unlike the deal we saw last week, you don’t have to be a Prime member to get this sale price. The Scribe is one of the best E-Ink tablets on the market right now, and it’ll be best for those that want an easy to use ereader that also lets you jot down notes as you read. Users can create notebooks on the Scribe to organize their handwritten musings and some titles in the Kindle store are considered “write-on” books, which means you can take notes directly in the margins, so to speak.

Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite

A handful of Fire TV devices have been discounted before Prime Day, including the Fire TV Stick Lite that’s now only $18. It may be the most limited streaming dongle in Amazon’s lineup, but it’s hard to beat HD streaming and an included voice remote for less than $20. If you’re willing to spend a bit more, you can snag the previous-gen Fire TV Stick 4K for $23 or the Fire TV Cube for $110.

Anker 5-in1 hub

Anker's 332 USB-C hub is back down to its all-time low of $18, which is a solid 49 percent discount. As laptops get sleeker, ports disappear, and this 5-in1 can give you a 4K HDMI port, two USB-A ports, and either one or two additional USB-C ports (depending on whether you're using one to deliver power your laptop). Wired mice and keyboards, flash drives, webcams and more will now have something to plug into.  

Samung Smart Monitor M8

Samsung's Smart Monitor M8 went on sale back in July for $100 off. Now it's a full $200 off the list price, making it $500. This is the updated version of the monitor Samsung launched at CES in 2022 and it combines a monitor, smart TV and SmartThings smart home hub into one. That means you can stream Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ like a smart TV, but it can also handle productivity tasks without the need for a separate computer as it comes with Microsoft 365 programs like Word and Excel. 

Amazon smart thermostat

Amazon’s smart thermostat has dropped to its best price of the year, only $56, in a new early Prime Day deal. Note that this sale price is for the model that does not come with a C-wire adapter, so you’ll have to make sure your system has a C-wire in order for the thermostat to work with it. Smart thermostats like this one can help you save on energy costs by giving you a better way to control your heating and cooling system. You can use the companion app to control your home’s temperature from anywhere, or ask Alexa to turn the temperature up or down as you please.

Amazon Fire HD 8

Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet has dropped to $60 as part of a larger tablet sale ahead of Prime Big Deal Days. That’s only $5 more than it was during Prime Day in July, and we recommend this slab for those who want a cheap tablet they can give to their kids, use as a couch device and the like. You can choose a model that has 32GB or 64GB of storage, and you can expand the amount of space on the tablet using a microSD card. It also has decent performance and a long, 13-hour battery life. If you prefer to get the best of what Amazon has to offer in the tablet space, pick up the Fire Max 11 tablet, which is on sale for a record low of $150 right now.

Blink security cameras

Blink 3rd- and 4th-gen security cameras have been discounted ahead of October Prime Day. These deals are particularly noteworthy for the 4th-gen Outdoor cameras since they were just announced at the end of August. A three-pack of those new cameras is half off and down to $135, and there are a bunch of bundles available as well: a two-pack with a Blink Mini for $100, a three-pack with a Video Doorbell for $165, a whole home bundle for $102 and many more. These security cameras are convenient because they are wireless and have two-year battery lives, plus they support motion and audio alerts, two-way talk and night vision.

Ring Video Doorbells

There’s a massive Ring sale going on now in the lead up to October Prime Day in which you can pick up one of the video doorbells for as low as $35. The Ring Video Doorbell Wired is 46 percent off and down to $35, and as the name suggests, you’ll have to hardwire it to your home during installation. There are a few Ring doorbells available at this point, so if you’d prefer one that runs on a rechargeable battery, consider the standard Ring Video Doorbell, which is down to $55 at the moment. This sale also includes Ring Stick Up cameras that can be placed inside the home, as well as various Ring Alarm bundles.

Kindle Paperwhite Kids Essentials Bundle

A few Kindle Essentials Bundles have been discounted for Prime members ahead of October Prime Day, including this Kids one that you can pick up for $143. It contains a Kindle Paperwhite Kids ereader along with a cover, a screen protector, a power adapter, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+. That’s basically everything a kid would need to dive into reading on a Kindle while also keeping their new gadget charged and protected at all times. The Kids+ subscription gives them access to age-appropriate ebooks and audiobooks, just remember that the membership will automatically renew after the first year at the full, $3-per-month price.

Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro

Amazon's Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is our recommendation for the best tablet for kids in our guide to those devices. It has a list price of $200 and often sells for $140, but this early Prime deal drops it down to $120, which is its lowest price so far. The tablet comes with a protective case that also serves as a stand and handle. Though if the case proves isn't match enough for rough treatment, it also comes with a two-year warranty. A year's subscription to Amazon Kids+ is also included, which allows kids access to age-appropriate books, shows, songs and audio books. There's also a parent dashboard that offers you more control. 

Tile Slim

One of our favorite Bluetooth trackers, the Tile Slim has dropped to $25 ahead of October Prime Day, which is close to a record-low price. As its name suggests, this tracker is flat and slim like a credit card, making it easy to slip into a wallet or another small pocket so you can keep track of your valuables. Tile’s companion app will show you the last known location of your stuff if you ever misplace it, and you can use your phone to force the tracker to chime so you can find it more quickly if you’re not too far from it.

Amazon Music Unlimited

If you've never subscribed to Amazon Music Unlimited, you can now get three months of the music streaming service for free. If you're an Amazon Prime member who has never subscribed, that jumps to four months. Music Unlimited usually comes with a one-month free trial and goes for $11 a month — or $10 if you use Prime — so this deal saves you either $22 or $30. We highlight Music Unlimited in our guide to the best music streaming services: Its UI and music discovery features aren't as robust as Apple Music or Spotify, but it offers a large library in CD streaming quality and a wide podcast selection. Naturally, it also works well with Echo speakers and other Amazon devices. Note that your subscription will be set to auto-renew by default, so you'll have to manually cancel if you're just looking to snag a few months of music streaming at no cost.

Eero Pro 6E mesh Wi-Fi system

Amazon has discounted most of its Eero 6 Wi-Fi systems as an early Prime Day deal, including the most powerful of the bunch, the Eero Pro 6E. You can pick up one router for $180, or spring for a three-pack for $400, both of which are down to record-low prices. Devices with support for Wi-Fi 6E can connect directly to the Eero’s 6 GHz radio band, and if you get the three-pack, you’ll get up to 6,000 square feet of coverage — more than enough for most homes. These Eeros have a built-in smart home hub as well, so you don’t need to have an extra device if you want to build out an IoT ecosystem in your house.

Samsung Pro Plus

If you need more storage for your Nintendo Switch, GoPro or anything else that accepts microSD cards, the 256GB version of the Samsung Pro Plus with Samsung's USB reader is on sale for $22. We've seen the card alone fall as low as $20, but this matches the all-time low for the bundle with the reader, which helps the card get closer to its advertised read and write speeds — up to 180 MB/s and 130 MB/s for reading and writing, respectively — on devices that allow them. Normally, this SKU retails for $25. The Pro Plus is the top recommendation in our guide to the best microSD cards, as it delivered the fastest sequential write speeds and random performance of any card we tested and comes with a 10-year warranty.

Crucial X6 portable SSD

Amazon has knocked up to 55 percent off Crucial external and internal SSDs, including the 2TB Crucial X6 portable SSD for $102. That’s 49 percent off, though it's about $20 more than it was during Prime Day in July. This drive has read speeds up to 800 MB/s and works with a variety of devices including Mac and Windows laptops, iPads and even some game consoles. It’s also quite small, so it will fit into nearly any bag when you need to take it on the go.

Amazon Fire Omni QLED TVs

All sizes of Amazon’s Fire TV Omni QLED Series are on sale ahead of October's sale. The 43-, 50-, 55- and 65-inch models are down to $380, $400, $440 and $590, respectively. Those match or beat the prices we saw for July's Prime Day. The Fire TV Omni QLED sets are best for people who like Amazon’s Fire interface, which is easy enough to figure out, though the OS tends to push you towards Amazon's own content. Beyond that Fire TVs do a good job of integrating Alexa's helpfulness with a useful voice remote, and hands-free smart home support. And if you don't feel like having Alexa listening in, you can turn off the mics with a built-in switch.

Your Fall Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s car experts on must-shop auto-related Prime Day deals and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

Ancient, vine-draped monuments and towering obelisks protrude from the forest floor, connected by a maze of stone paths and one hyper-speed transit capsule. Statues loom among the monoliths: hooded human figures and mythological beasts surrounded by saintly geometry in gold and turquoise. I’m running down an overgrown platform by the water, sun radiating off the side of my face, trying to find the next puzzle. I take a sharp turn, the shadows shift and my silhouette is suddenly projected in front of me: waist on a slim pivot, hip joints jutting out, sticklike arms. I remember I’m made of metal and wires, and for a brief moment, I’m surprised. I forgot — I’m a robot.

The Talos Principle 2 reintroduces a post-apocalyptic world filled with the puzzles and dreams society left behind, and populates it with a race of machines who simultaneously worship humans and consider themselves to be the natural evolution of humanity. The game’s first quarter, which spans roughly seven hours, offers a beautiful and immersive playground of puzzle solving and philosophical inquiry, and it feels both grander and more cohesive than the original Talos Principle. That game came out in 2014 and featured a lone robot in an AI-powered testing ground. The sequel features an entire society of sentient machines. It also has lots of laser-powered, logic-based spatial puzzles, of course.

Croteam

The Talos Principle 2 is set in a futuristic society of robots, and you’re the 1,000th machine to come off the line. There’s debate among the citizens about whether you should be the final addition to the group, as one of its founders once dictated, and your presence unlocks a new prophecy tied to a mysterious island. Elohim, the AI antagonist of the first game, has calmed down significantly and acts as a caretaker to the robots, gently guiding their sleep cycles with a booming voice.

Each robot has its own personality, and it doesn’t take long for these machines to feel fully human, despite their lack of meat and bones. Developers at Croteam took the time to build out backstories and individual points-of-view for each supporting character, and their conversations and arguments flow seamlessly. The Talos Principle 2 features full voice acting and branching dialogue trees with multiple meaningful responses for players to choose from. It’s not uncommon to see six to eight options in conversations, presenting discrete approaches to heavy prompts about faith, doubt, consciousness, life, death and love. This is a game for curious minds, and the dialogue system supports this with rich character development and high-quality conversational writing.

Croteam

This robot society provides the narrative framework for actual gameplay. On the mysterious, prophesied island players encounter a series of puzzles hidden among humanity’s ruins, much like in the original game. The structures on the island are widespread and vast, but navigation is intuitive, thanks to subtle environmental cues, a compass with waypoints and directions from the other robots on the expedition team. This time around, you’re not alone (no offense, Elohim).

The puzzles themselves are devilish. They start simply, prompting players to divert laser beams into portals of the same color using connector rods, jammers, blocks, pressure pads and fans. As players progress through the riddle rooms, the game introduces new tools, like a drill that can create holes in some walls and an inverter that reverses the laser color, adding unexpected complexity to the puzzles. It’s my firm belief that the best puzzles in video games are ones that appear simple, but have a single, incredibly tricky solution buried beneath layers of almost-there answers. Nothing beats that breakthrough feeling when the entire room suddenly makes sense, the lasers align, and all the right doors slide open. The beginning hours of The Talos Principle 2 effortlessly capture this sensation, again and again.

Tetrominoes are back in the sequel, and they’re big. Not only metaphorically (the robots often theorize about the shapes’ supposed purpose), but also in physical size. I made literal bridges out of building-sized tetrominoes, swapping out pieces and rotating them on a grand scale. While this segment wasn’t particularly challenging, it was satisfying in a new kind of way.

Croteam

In its first quarter, The Talos Principle 2 reproduces the brilliance of the original game and adds to this foundation, expanding its world narratively and mechanically. Philosophical conversations are no longer siloed in read-only terminals, though there are still datasets scattered around the map. The story’s main prompts are instead integrated into gameplay via deep, player-driven conversations with NPCs, and even a little bit of light gossip. The Talos Principle 2 has secrets to discover, personalities to explore and questions to answer — and that’s all on top of being a uniquely fantastic (and optimistic) sci-fi puzzle game.