Posts with «technology & electronics» label

The best Amazon Prime Day deals for 2023

Amazon Prime Day is back this year with a bunch of new deals to consider. There are thousands of deals to sift through during Amazon's two-day shopping event, and in the tech space in particular, it can be difficult to know what's actually a good value and which devices are worth spending your hard earned cash on. Engadget is here to help — we've culled Amazon's site to pick out the best Prime Day deals on gadgets we could find, and many of our favorites are on sale this year. Here are the best Amazon Prime Day deals for 2023.

Apple AirPods Pro

Apple's second-generation AirPods Pro are on sale for $199 for Prime Day. These buds are a huge improvement over their predecessors, offering improved sound quality, ANC and transparency mode. We still consider these to be the best earbuds for iPhone users thanks to their Apple-specific features like quick pairing and switching and hands-free Siri.

Apple AirPods (3rd Generation)

Apple's third-generation AirPods are back down to the lowest price we've seen them for Prime Day — going to $140 from $169. The 17 percent discount is just another reason to buy these AirPods, with a slew of features updating them from their predecessor. The third-gen AirPods come with personalized spatial audio, up to six hours of continuous listening time, and 30 hours of use with the charging case. Plus, they're great for working out — or a nice frolic in the rain — with the AirPods and the charging case being sweat and water-resistant.

Apple AirPods (2nd Generation)

The latest AirPods might have a few extra bells and whistles, but the second-generation Apple AirPods are a great choice for $90. They're currently $39 off their sticker price of $129 for Prime Day, the lowest we've seen them in a while. This model mirrors its successor in having an H1 chip, Siri, automatic switching between devices and a lightning charging case. The biggest consideration is battery life, with these AirPods offering five hours of uninterrupted use and over 24 hours with the charging case. If you're looking for AirPods for your commute or walks, the $50 price difference makes the second-gen AirPods a solid option.

Apple Watch Series 8

The Apple Watch Series 8 is the brand’s latest flagship wearable and usually sells for $399 for the 41mm GPS model. Prime Day brings it down to $280, which is $120 off its regular price. The Series 8 is our top pick in our guide to smartwatches because it combines detailed health and fitness tracking with seamless iPhone integration. New features include temperature sensors, ECG and blood oxygen readings, crash detection, and improved sleep metrics. The upcoming WatchOS 10 will bump the utility even more with widgets plus expanded health, fitness and mindfulness features.

Apple Watch SE

The Apple Watch SE is a great option for anyone who wants to try out the brand's wearables without spending too much. Plus, with a 20 percent discount for Prime Day, it's down from $250 to $200 — enough to buy a great Apple watch accessory to go with it. The second-generation Apple Watch SE has many of the same beloved features of the Series 8, including crash detection, water resistance, heart-rate monitoring and notifications. The 40mm watch face is available in Midnight, Silver and Starlight. 

Apple 10.9-inch iPad

The latest 64GB Apple iPad is touting a 15 percent discount this Prime Day, bringing it from $449 to $380. This is the lowest we've seen it and a good $20 lower than the 10th-generation iPad's typical sale price. The 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display model comes with 4K video, a 12MP Wide camera, 5G connectivity and a USB-C connector. It also uses an A14 Bionic and is compatible with the first-generation Apple Pencil. If you want a device with more storage, the 256GB Apple iPad is also on sale — dropping to $530 from $599.  

Apple 10.2-inch iPad

Apple's 9th-generation iPad is down to $249, which a record low. It’s the budget pick in our guide to the best iPads. Though it doesn’t have the thin bezels and as much accessory support as our favorite, the iPad Air, it's the most affordable way to snag an iPad. It’s a great couch companion that performs well for casual browsing, binge streaming and light gaming. The latest (10th) generation of Apple’s standard iPad in the 64GB size is down to $379 after a $70 discount, which is another record low. It’s got a slightly larger screen and a newer chip (though not Apple’s own M-series silicon). The latest gen also ditches the home button, which is nice, but does away with the headphone jack, which isn’t as great.

Apple MacBook Air (15.3-inch)

The 15.3-inch version of Apple’s MacBook Air M2 is down to $1,399 for a configuration with 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. That’s a modest $50 drop from its usual price on Amazon, but the notebook only just arrived last month, and it's $100 less than buying from Apple directly. The M2 Air is the top pick in our guide to the best laptops, and we gave it a review score of 96 in June. It checks just about all the requisite boxes for a mainstream notebook, with a thin and light design, bright and accurate display, comfortable keyboard, long-lasting battery, and more than enough performance for everyday use. This 15-inch model has all the same benefits of the prior 13-inch model, but adds a more powerful speaker system and slightly upgraded GPU alongside the bigger screen.

Sony WH-1000XM5

Our current favorite pair of wireless headphones, Sony's WH-1000XM5 are down to $328 for Prime Day. It's the total package that combines great audio quality with excellent ANC and a comfy fit to make a pair of headphones you'll be able to wear all day long if you wish. It also supports multipoint connectivity and a 30-hour battery life.

Bose QuietComfort 45

The Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones have dropped to a new low of $199 for Prime Day, which is a whopping $130 off their usual price. These cans earned a spot in our best wireless headphone guide thanks to their comfortable, if a little dated, design, excellent ANC and balanced audio.

Google Pixel Buds Pro

Google's flagship wireless earbuds, the Pixel Buds Pro, are down to $133 for Prime Day, a new all-time low. Google took all of the lessons it learned when making previous earbuds and got a lot of things right with the Pixel Buds Pro. These will be great for Android users who want buds with punchy bass, good ANC, reliable touch controls and wireless charging.

Anker Soundcore Space A40

The Soundcore Space A40 was already our favorite pair of wireless earbuds for those on a budget, and now it’s even more affordable at $55. The Space A40 provides the kind of performance and features you’d expect from true wireless earbuds that cost twice as much: strong ANC, a small and light design, a warm sound that’s enjoyable out of the box but customizable through a companion app, a transparency mode, wireless charging, solid battery life around eight hours per charge and the ability to connect to two devices at once. It can’t auto-pause music when you remove an earbud, nor can it fully match the best premium pairs when it comes to ANC strength, sound quality or mic clarity. But it’s not far off, and it’s way easier on the wallet.

Amazon Kindle

The standard Kindle is already Amazon’s most affordable ereader and Prime Day drops it down to $65 from its usual $100 price tag, which is a new all-time low. This latest model saw a lot of improvements when it was updated in 2022. Capacity was doubled to 16GB and the screen resolution jumped up to 300 ppi for much clearer text. We named it the best budget option in our ereader guide because its perfect entry point to reading and borrowing ebooks and audiobooks.

Kindle Paperwhite

The Kindle Paperwhite has a bigger screen and a few extra features over the standard Kindle and is now $90, which is $50 off its $140 MSRP. An adjustable warm front light makes it easier on your eyes at night and the waterproof feature means you can read by the pool or in the bath. The price applies to the 8GB version. If you want more storage, you can grab the 16GB-capacity model for $95.

Kobo Clara 2E

The Kobo Clara 2E is now $120 instead of $140. It’s our top pick in our ereader guide and doesn’t often go on sale. We like the textured back, crisp text and responsive touch controls. It’s also waterproof, ad-free and has a comfortable warm light for night reading. The Kobo store has millions of books and is easy to navigate and the Clara 2E makes it easy to borrow ebooks from your local library.

Samsung Pro Plus microSD

The top pick in our best microSD cards guide, Samsung's Pro Plus in 256GB is on sale for $20 right now. It had some of the best overall speeds of any of the microSD cards we tested, and it has all of the important ratings that a good card should have: U3, V30 and A2. It'll be a great pick for your tablet, smartphone or Nintendo Switch, and it comes with a full-sized adapter in case you need to use it with a camera or connect it to your computer.

Samsung Evo Select microSD

Samsung's Evo Select microSD card has dropped to $10 for Prime Day. It's a step behind the top pick in our microSD card guide, mostly due to its slower sequential write speeds, but it's argubly the best value microSD card you can get right now.

Samsung T7 Shield

The Samsung T7 Shield SSD has been discounted to $75 for Prime Day. The T7 series as a whole includes some of our favorite SSDs, and the Shield is the most durable of the bunch. The portable drive has an IP65 rating for water and dust resistance, and it can withstand drops from up to 10 feet high. On top of that, its 1,050/1,000 MB/s read/write speeds should be enough for most people's needs.

Samsung 980 Pro

Samsung's 980 Pro SSD has dropped to $50 for Prime Day. It's another good option for the PS5, especially since you can spring for a model with an included heatsink if you want. The 980 Pro has read speeds up to 7,000 MB/s and reliable thermal controls.

Crucial MX500

Crucial's MX500 internal drive has been discounted to $48 for Prime Day. It has sequential read speeds of 560MB/s and a standard 2.5-inch design that should make it easy to swap in for your desktop's or laptop's used-up drive.

Amazon Echo Dot

Amazon has knocked the price of the latest Echo Dot down to $23, which is more than half off its normal price. It’s one of the best smart speakers you can get right now thanks to its orb-like design, surprisingly good sound quality for its size and handy Alexa integration. The newest Echo Dots can also act as Eero WiFi boosters, adding up to 1,000 square feet of coverage to your existing Eero system. If you’re looking for something even more affordable, the new Echo Pop is down to $18 right now as well.

Amazon Echo Show 5

The latest Echo Show 5 is half off and down to a record low of $45. The Show 5 has been one of the best smart displays available for quite some time, and it’ll be particularly good for anyone who wants an Alexa-capable smart display that won’t take up a lot of space. It also makes for a good alarm clock thanks to its sunrise alarm and tap-to-snooze features. The newest model has a faster processor, improved sound quality and an additional microphone for better Alexa performance.

Amazon Fire Max 11

Amazon's recently released Fire Max 11 tablet is on sale for $150 for Prime Day. It's the best discount we've seen since the Amazon's most powerful tablet launched in May. The slab has an 11-inch 2000 x 1200 touchscreen, an octa-core processor, 4GB of RAM, up to 128GB of built-in storage and up to 14 hours of battery life. It can also work with a detachable keyboard and stylus, so you could use it like a 2-in-1 laptop.

Samsung S95B

The 65-inch Samsung S95B is on sale for $1,598, matching its all-time low. Typically, this highly-rated set has cost an extra $100 to $200 in recent months.

The S95B’s QD-OLED panel combines OLED tech with a quantum dot layer, allowing it to deliver high contrast and wide viewing angles without sacrificing as much as typical OLED TVs in terms of brightness and color saturation. This means it should provide a rich image even in brighter rooms. It can also play up to 4K 120Hz, which is handy for the PS5 or Xbox Series X, but like all Samsung TVs, it doesn’t support Dolby Vision HDR.

The S95B is a 2022 model, so it’s on the way out in favor of the new S95C. The latter supports a faster 144Hz refresh rate and runs its ports through an external box, which makes the design thinner. Other reviewerssay it can get a bit brighter, too. But the S95 currently costs $2,298 and $2,298 for a 55- and 65-inch model, respectively, and its upgrades don’t appear to be massive enough to justify that extra cost for most. If you’re in the market for a premium TV, the S95B should remain the better value while it’s still available.

Samsung The Frame smart TV

Samsung’s 55-inch The Frame TV is down to $988, which is a new low and about $450 off its typical street price. The Frame is a TV for those willing to trade some picture quality for classy aesthetics, as it’s designed to look like a piece of art you can mount against a wall. When you aren’t watching something, you can use it to display artwork and photos. A few pieces come included, while others are sold with a subscription. The Frame’s QLED panel lacks local dimming, so its contrast and HDR performance can’t really compete with the best options in its price range. It only has one HDMI 2.1 port, too. But the image is still far from poor, and its design does well to blend into a wall, as we’ve professed before.

Roku Streaming Stick 4K

Roku's Streaming Stick 4K is down to $35 for Prime Day, or $15 off its usual price. It's our favorite streaming device at the moment because it packs a ton of features into an affordable package. It streams 4K, HDR content with Dolby Vision, and it supports AirPlay 2 and private listening with headphones.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is on sale for $25, which is $30 below its list price and $10 lower than the usual sale price we’ve seen over the course of the year. This is Amazon’s fastest streaming stick, and its remote comes with Alexa baked in. It supports the major HDR standards in Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HDR10+, and like the rest of the Fire TV lineup, it works with just about all of the necessary streaming apps. Unlike the standard Fire TV Stick 4K, it also has a WiFi 6 radio, though you’ll need a compatible router and an unusually fast internet connection to ever see any advantage from that.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Lite

We call the Fire TV Stick Lite the best budget pick in our guide to the best streaming devices. It’s essentially the same as the standard Fire TV Stick, only its remote lacks built-in volume and TV controls. It can’t output Dolby Atmos audio to a compatible sound system, either. It makes up for all of this by being extremely affordable, and Prime Day has only furthered that: you can pick it up for $15, which is a 50 percent discount.

Meta Quest 2 + $50 gift card

Amazon includes a free $50 gift card when you buy the Meta Quest 2 VR headset for Prime Day, so your total for the bundle will be $299. This is the best VR headset for most people right now thanks to its relatively affordable price, cordless and comfortable design, fast-switching LCD screens, 90Hz refresh rate and solid motion controllers.

$100 Xbox gift card

You can pick up a $100 Xbox digital gift card for only $90 right now at Amazon. This is a solid deal since you're getting $10 for free, and you can use this gift card towards digital game downloads, game add-ons and even memberships. It's also worth noting that deals on this gift card are hard to come by — this is the best price we've seen since the holiday shopping season last year.

Google Pixel 7a

The Google Pixel 7a is on sale for $449 right now, or $50 off its usual rate and an all-time low. This is the best midrange phone you can get right now thanks to its speedy Tensor G2 chip, smooth 90Hz display and support for wireless charging. The 7a also has solid cameras and an IP67 water-resistant design.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra has dropped to a record-low price of $950 for Prime Day, and the rest of the lineup is on sale, too. The Ultra in particular is the best Android smartphone you can get right now thanks to its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, big, bold 120Hz display, built-in S Pen and excellent main camera.

Nest WiFi Pro - 3 Pack

The Google Nest WiFi Pro three-pack gives you all the same technology as the pair but with a wider range. With three routers, you can access WiFi across 6,600 square feet. At 25 percent off, the trio is $300, making each Nest WiFi Pro only $100 — it's a steal considering they typically retail for $200 each. As for color, get them all in Snow or get a mix of Snow, Fog and Linen.

TP-Link Deco XE75 mesh WiFi system

The best mesh WiFi system out right now, TP Link's Deco XE75, is down to a record low of $320 for Prime Day. While this set doesn't have one stand-out feature that puts it above the competition, it does a great job balancing power and usability. It has an easy setup process, an equally easy-to-use mobile app and it provides a stable and fast WiFi network that will cover most homes well. This is the best price we've seen on the three-pack that usually costs $450.

Blink Mini 2-pack

A two-pack of Blink Mini security cameras is on sale for $34 for Prime Day. That's only $4 more than we saw it during the holiday shopping season last year. While these cameras are wired, they have most of the same features as the standard wireless Blink cameras including 1080p video recordings and support for two-way talk and motion alerts.

Fitbit Charge 5

The Fitbit Charge 5 is our favorite overall tracker, and is currently $100 or $50 off its usual price. Fitness trackers aren’t as fully featured as smartwatches, but that typically means they have a longer battery life and cost a little less. We like the Charge 5 for its comprehensive activity tracking and health monitoring that comes in a thin profile with a multi-day battery life. It also pairs with both Apple and Android phones.

Razer Huntsman Mini

The compact Razer Huntsman Mini is down to $70 for a model with either Clicky Purple or Linear Red opto-mechanical switches. Neither deal is quite an all-time low, but the two models have usually retailed in the $80 to $100 range over the last few months. The Huntsman Mini is the top pick in our guide to the best 60 percent keyboards, as its keys are pleasant and consistently responsive for gaming. The whole thing feels well-built, with quality PBT keycaps and RGB lighting on a per-key basis. Each key can be programmed through macros as well. The switches here aren’t ideal for those who like a springy and more tactile, though, and the ultracompact design won’t be for everyone.

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for the best Amazon 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.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-amazon-prime-day-deals-2023-203017990.html?src=rss

Meta now lets you make video calls using a cartoon avatar

It’s an open secret that not many people actually like video calling, unless you’re meeting a baby for the first time or something. Who wants to comb their hair just to answer the phone? Meta has answered our prayers and delivered a toolset that brings cartoon avatars to the world of video conferencing.

The company frames this as a “third option” that rests between an audio-only call and a full video call. You can participate in video conversations, but it’ll be your avatar that the other participants see, leaving you free to wear a luxuriating face mask or to lay in the squalor of an unkempt apartment. The feature’s available now for Messenger and Instagram users.

Meta’s been steadily placing the focus on its avatar-creation system, recently announcing that users have made over a billion of the lil cartoon scamps. The avatar creator allows for a near-perfect digital simulacrum of your actual face and body. The system was originally created for use in VR applications but has since moved to smartphones and the like.

It’s worth noting that the avatar creator lets you attach some legs to your digital self, but these legs won’t show up when making video calls (sorry, digital foot fetishists.) Meta says it’s constantly working to improve the avatar creation system, with more realistic and textured animations coming in the future. Also, there’s no rule that says your digital avatar has to look like you, so feel free to video call your friends as a talking llama.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-now-lets-you-make-video-calls-using-a-cartoon-avatar-183821816.html?src=rss

The best Prime Day deals you can get at Walmart and other retailers

For any number of reasons, some people might not want to shop at Amazon, regardless of how low Prime Day discounts go. So it’s good news that the sale prompts other retailers, including Walmart, Target and B&H Photo to also offering some pretty strong deals of their own — some of which match or beat those at Amazon. We’re also seeing sales on devices the super e-retailer doesn’t typically carry, like the Google Nest Hub and the Apple HomePod. Here are the best anti-Prime Day sales from outlets that aren’t Amazon.

Sony WH-1000XM5

Our current favorite wireless headphones are Sony's WH-1000XM5 and Amazon has them for $328, which is an all-time low and a $70 discount. B&H Photo has matched that price. These cans are the total package, combining excellent audio quality with good ANC and a comfortable fit, even if you wear them all day — which you can thanks to their 30-hour battery life.

Apple AirPods Pro

Apple's second-generation AirPods Pro are going for $199 during Amazon’s sale, but both Walmart and Verizon have matched that price. This generation is a big improvement over the previous buds, with better sound quality, improved active noise cancellation and the best transparency mode of the buds we’ve tried. Engadget named them the best earbuds for iPhone users because they have a good battery life, a case with wireless charging and solid integration with Siri.

Google Nest Hub (2nd gen)

As Amazon tends to favor its Echo smart displays on its site, you typically can’t get Google’s Nest Hub on the site. It’s the top pick in Engadget’s guide to smart displays and right now you can get it from Walmart for $55. It’s also on sale for the same price at Target and directly from Google. It has a seven-inch screen housed within an unobtrusive exterior that will fit in with most people’s home decor. It provides all the smart display perks like watching YouTube, accessing the Google Assistant and controlling your smart home devices. It works particularly well as a monitor for your smart cams and doorbells too. Keep in mind that it lacks a camera, which is good for privacy, but makes video calls impossible.

MacBook Air (M2, 13-inch)

B&H Photo has the base model of Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Air on sale for $949 which is a $150 discount and cheaper than we've ever seen it on Amazon. That applies to all four colorways with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. We gave the ultraportable an impressive 96 in our review, calling it a “near-perfect Mac.” It has a Liquid Retina display, a quad speaker array and a battery that lasted over 16 hours in our video rundown tests.

iRobot Roomba 694

Walmart is selling the iRobot Roomba 694 for $199, which is the same as Amazon’s price. You can also get the robovac directly from iRobot for $200. Of all the models we’ve tried, this is our favorite budget option because it combines strong suction with an easy-to-understand companion app. We also like its minimalist yet attractive design which is nice for something that will be roaming around your home regularly.

Apple Watch Series 8

The 41mm, GPS model of the Apple Watch Series 8 usually sells for $399 and Amazon is selling it for $280 for Prime Members right now. Walmart brought the price down to $329, which isn't as good of a discount, but you don't need to be a member of anything to get it. This smartwatch is our overall top pick in our guide because it combines health and fitness tracking with excellent iPhone integration. This latest generation packs a slew of new sensors that can detect your temperature, give ECG and blood oxygen readings and give improved sleep metrics. The upcoming WatchOS 10 will take advantage of many of those sensors to give you even more insight into your everyday health.

Apple 10.2-inch iPad

Apple's 9th-generation iPad is down to $250 at Amazon which is a record low. Walmart is selling it for $279. This is the previous generation of the standard iPad and the budget pick in our guide to the best iPads. It’s a great couch companion for casual browsing, binge streaming and light gaming. 

The latest (10th) generation iPad in the 64GB size is down to $380 at Amazon for Prime Members only, but Best Buy is offering it for $399. This latest generation slate has a slightly larger screen and a newer chip (though not Apple’s own M-series silicon). It also does away with the home button but, unfortunately, Apple also decided to remove the headphone jack.

Apple HomePod

You can’t usually buy Apple’s HomePod smart speakers on Amazon, so they’re not part of Prime Day discounts. However, you can get the new HomePod from B&H Photo right now for $289. We reviewed the new generation of the speaker upon its debut early this year and liked the design, good sound quality and quick Siri responses. It’s also adept at integrating compatible smart home controls. They also have the smaller HomePod mini for $95.

Bose QuietComfort 45

The Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones have dropped to a new low of $199 for Prime Members during Amazon’s sale. If you don't feel like joining Amazon's club, you can get them for $229 from Walmart or directly from Bose. That's still a decent $100 off their usual price. These cans earned a spot in our best wireless headphone guide thanks to their comfortable, if a little dated, design, excellent ANC and balanced audio.

Google Pixel 7a

The Google Pixel 7a is on sale for $449 for Amazon’s sale. That’s $50 off its usual rate and an all-time low. If you’d rather get it directly from Google, it’s going for the same price at their store. This is the best midrange phone you can get right now thanks to its speedy Tensor G2 chip, smooth 90Hz display and support for wireless charging. The 7a also has solid cameras and an IP67 water-resistant design.

Google Nest Hub Max

The Google Nest Hub Max is going for $190 at Walmart instead of the usual $229. The smart display is the runner up pick in our guide to those devices. It’s got a larger screen than the standard Nest Hub, adds a camera for video calls and offers a nifty gestures function that lets you control media with hand movements.

Samsung Pro Plus microSD

The top pick in our best microSD cards guide is Samsung's Pro Plus 256GB, which is on sale for $20 at Amazon, and B&H Photo is selling it for the exact same price. It had some of the best sequential write speeds of any of the microSD cards we tested, and the best random read/write speeds. It’s rated U3, V30 and A2, aka, the faster ratings most people are looking for, and will work great to add space to your tablet, Nintendo Switch or a smartphone. It even comes with an adapter to fit SD slots.

Samsung T7 Shield

The 1TB version of Samsung’s T7 Shield SSD is down to $75 for Prime Day and Samsung has matched that price on its own storefront. You can snag the same deal from B&H Photo as well. The T7 series is among our favorite SSDs and the Shield model wraps the drive in a tough casing with an IP65 rating for water and dust resistance and the ability to withstand drops from up to 10 feet high. The 1,050/1,000 MB/s read/write speeds should be enough for most of your external storage needs.

Crucial MX500

The Crucial MX500 internal SSD in the 500GB size is down to $35 at Amazon, but the same price can be had from B&H Photo, or directly from Crucial. Other capacity models are on sale too. The sequential read speeds hit 560MB/s and the standard 2.5-inch design should make it easy to add in to your desktop or laptop's slot.

Instant Vortex Plus

The Instant Vortex Plus is the top pick in our air fryer guide and you can get it for $100 right now at Walmart and directly from Instant Brands, which matches Amazon's price. It's great for crisping up a lot of different foods and the "ClearCook" window lets you see your food while it's cooking. The OdorEase technology does a decent job keeping food smells from getting overpowering and reduces overall smokiness.

Google Chromecast 4K

The Google Chromecast 4K dongle is the runner up in our Engadget guide to streaming devices and earned an 86 in our review, in which we praised the Google Assistant integration and the excellent remote. It’s on sale for $40 at Target, Walmart and directly from Google, which is $10 off.

Roku Streaming Stick 4K

Amazon is selling Roku's Streaming Stick 4K for $35 this Prime Day but you can get the same discount directly from Roku. Or you can save a dollar extra at Walmart, which has it for $34. We named it our favorite streaming device in our streamers guide because it can stream in 4K, supports HDR content with Dolby Vision along with AirPlay 2 and Roku makes one of the easiest smart TV interfaces.

Corsair MP600 Pro LPX

Corsair MP600 Pro LPX drive is the top pick in our guide to the best PS5 SSDs. Amazon is selling the 1TB model for $68 and Walmart has matched that price. Or you can get it directly from Corsair. We think it’s a good drive for your console because it has fast read speeds of up to 7,100MB/s, it comes with a pre-installed heatsink and it's protected by a five-year warranty. Plus, it's typically affordable, especially when it’s down to this price.

Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II

We think the QuietComfort Earbuds II offer the best active noise cancellation of the buds we tested for our guide. Amazon is selling them for $249 — but only for Prime members. You can grab them from Walmart or directly from Bose for the same price, no membership required. If you want to fully block out the world as you listen to music or podcasts, these buds with their comfortable fit and good sound quality are the way to go.

Google Pixel 7 Pro

We named the Google Pixel 7 Pro the smartphone with the best camera on the market in our guide. Prime Day has it for $649 for Prime members, which is a massive $250 discount. Unlocked 128GB models from Target or from Google’s store are just $100 off, down to $799. Still a decent savings if you don't want to shop from Amazon. In our review, we also praised the bright screen that pumps out deep blacks and lively colors, and the software that makes phone calls less of a hassle.

Google Nest WiFi Pro 6E

In Engadget’s recent review of Google’s Nest WiFi Pro 6E, we called the mesh WiFi system more approachable than its competitors because it’s easy to use, simple to set up using your phone, and doesn’t cost as much as other systems. Prime Day dropped it to $300 for a three-pack which is $100 off the list price but you can get it from the Google Store for the same price.

TP-Link Deco XE75 WiFi 6E mesh system

A two-pack of TP-Link's XE75 WiFi 6E mesh router system is on sale for $210 for Prime Day instead of $300 or you can snag it for the same price from Tp-Link. It's our current favorite mesh WiFi setup because it's a reliable system that balances power with user-friendliness.

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for the best Amazon 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.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-walmart-prime-day-deals-you-can-get-161136179.html?src=rss

Intel will stop making its own NUC mini PCs

Intel is bowing out of making its own mini PCs. The chip designer has confirmed to Engadget that it's ending its "direct investment" in its Next Unit of Compute (NUC) business. Instead, the company will rethink its approach to help partners foster the NUC PC market. The firm will honor its existing commitments, including support for NUC systems already in customers' hands.

The company doesn't explain why it's ending production of first-party NUC machines. However, there's little doubt the company is reeling from a bleak computer market prompted by both a rough economy and the early pandemic surge in sales. Intel's revenue has plunged by more than a third in the past two quarters, and its PC-oriented Client Computing Group has been one of the worst-hit divisions. As ServeTheHomenotes, a move like this lets Intel offload a non-essential business and focus on making chips. The company sold its server business to MiTAC earlier this year.

Intel launched the first NUC in 2013 as a tiny, barebones PC kit meant to showcase both the latest processors as well as the possibilities for compact desktops. Over time, they evolved into more complete systems with robust performance and, in some later incarnations, dedicated GPUs. You could use them at home, but they also had a following in business — they were useful for compute clusters and other situations where size and simplicity mattered.

The NUC faced a number of challenges, however. While some models were better-suited to gaming and other demanding tasks, it became a challenge to stuff increasingly power-hungry CPUs and GPUs into compact cases. Intel also faced increasingly stiff competition. In the home market, the Mac mini is arguably the best-known mini computer. At work, brands like Dell and Lenovo offer more flexible configurations and stronger support for the corporate crowd. Simply put, there's not as much reason for the NUC to exist as there was a decade ago.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/intel-will-stop-making-its-own-nuc-mini-pcs-154527920.html?src=rss

Nothing Phone 2 comes to the US on July 17th for $599

Nothing has finally unveiled the Phone 2 after plenty of teasers, and it's likely what you're looking for if you thought the Phone 1 was underpowered — or if you simply couldn't buy the earlier model where you live. The new device offers performance much closer to a flagship thanks to a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip versus the mid-tier 778G+ from last year's hardware. While that's still not cutting edge, the company claims it's 80 percent faster. It enables 4K video at 60 frames per second, too, and RAW HDR photography captures eight frames (and thus more overall scene detail) instead of three frames like its predecessor.

Accordingly, Nothing says it has upgraded the Phone 2's camera quality. The updated 50MP primary and 50MP ultra-wide rear cams now have 2X "super-res" digital zoom, object tracking and other imaging updates. The front camera, meanwhile, jumps from a 16MP sensor to 32MP. As with some competitors, there's now an "Action Mode" to deliver extra-stable video recording.

There are some more conspicuous changes. You can expect a larger 6.7-inch, 120Hz LTPO OLED (if still 1080p) screen with a higher 1,600-nit peak brightness and thinner bezels. There's a tapered "2.5D" glass back. And yes, the signature Glyph lighting on the back is more advanced. In addition to more LED segments, you can create different lighting sequences for every contact and notification type. You can also have persistent lights for must-see notifications, and some lights now double as progress trackers for delivery and ride hailing services like Uber.

Nothing

Software plays a considerably more important role. Where the first model only had a few modest customizations, Nothing OS 2.0 on the Phone 2 lets you tweak considerably more. You can now have multiple home screens with custom color themes, grid sizes and app labels. You'll likewise find customizable folders, and a more advanced widget set includes shortcuts to quick settings. Those widgets are available on the lock screen as well.

The Phone 2 is billed as longer-lasting thanks to its 4,700mAh battery, and you'll get a complete charge in 55 minutes. The 15W wireless charging and 5W reverse wireless charging aren't surprising, but they're not always present in this upper-midrange phone segment.

Crucially, the Nothing Phone 2 will be priced right when it arrives in North America. It will be available in the US and Canada on July 17th at 4AM Eastern starting at $599 (and an oddly high $929 CAD) for a version with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Pay $699 ($999 CAD) and you'll get 12GB of RAM with 256GB of storage, while the top-end 12GB/512GB configuration sells for $799 ($1,099 CAD). Pre-orders are available now, and there will be early sales on July 13th through physical "Nothing Drops" in New York City (69 Gansevoort Street) and London (4 Peter Street).

There's no mention of North American carrier deals as of this writing, so this sequel might not be as easy to find as more mainstream offerings. However, the launch in the region remains a big deal. The Phone 2 significantly expands the audience for Nothing's handsets, and provides fresh competition to bang-for-the-buck phones like Google's similarly-priced Pixel 7.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nothing-phone-2-comes-to-the-us-on-july-17th-for-599-153012499.html?src=rss

The best Google Prime Day deals on Pixel phones, Nest gadgets and more

Happy Amazon Prime Day to all who celebrate. It's no secret that visiting Amazon during these sales can be a bit of an overwhelming experience, even when looking at a single brand. With that in mind, we've combed through Google's Prime Day deals and found the best ones, from phones to doorbells, for you to shop. While Amazon and Google haven't always played nicely with each other over the past few years, it's possible to pick up some Google devices at the online retailer — and Prime Day has discounted a number of our favorites.

Pixel 7 Pro

The Google Pixel 7 Pro is the elite option in the Pixel phone family, and it's touting a hefty discount for Prime Day. It's 28 percent off right now, dropping to $899 from $649. Its 6.7-inch screen has a Smooth Display up to 120 Hz, a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and up to 1,000 nits (HDR) and 1,500 nits at peak brightness. The Pixel 7 Pro's adaptive Battery can last for 24 hours or even up to 72 hours if your phone is in Extreme Battery Saver mode. Additional features include a 12MP ultrawide camera with autofocus and a 48MP Quad Bayer PD telephoto camera. Plus, the Pixel 7 Pro has a 512 GB option and 12 GB of RAM, unlike its fellow Pixel phones. 

Pixel 7

The Google Pixel 7 is $100 off, dropping from $599 to $499. For $150 less, the Google Pixel 7 is a cheaper but respectable alternative to its Pro counterpart. Its 6.3-inch display has a 20:9 aspect ratio, up to 1,000 nits (HDR) and 1,400 nits at peak brightness, and the same scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass Victus as the Pro. The Google Pixel 7 also matches up in battery length and standard features like a Titan M2 security chip, photo and face unblur, Magic Eraser and stereo speakers. It has 8 GB of RAM and comes in 125GB or 256GB models. 

Pixel 7a

The Google Pixel 7a might be less discounted than the classic Google Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Pro, but it's still the least expensive phone of the trio. It's $50 off thanks to Prime Day sales dropping it from $499 to $449 — a new record low. Google's Pixel 7a has the same battery life, aspect ratio, scratch-resistant glass and standard features as the Pixel 7. It's a tad smaller with a 6.1-inch display and a 13MP ultrawide rear camera. In our review, we felt like the Pixel 7a was just a slightly cheaper and slimmer version of the Pixel 7, so it might be worth saving $50 and choosing it over the classic model.

Pixel Watch

The Google Pixel Watch finally came out last fall after about a decade of waiting. If you've kept holding off on making the leap to it, now might be the time: The Google Pixel Watch is $250, down from $350 as part of Amazon's Prime Day sales. The watch combines Samsung and Fitbit technology into a clean, beautiful design. 

Nest Thermostat

If you're looking to save money on the air conditioning bill this summer, then the Google Nest Thermostat is a good option. The smart device learns your routines and creates a heating and cooling schedule around them. Google designed the Nest Thermostat to look for energy-saving opportunities, and it provides you with tips and information on your usage. Right now, its 35 percent off, bringing its price to $85 from $130.

Nest Security Cam Indoor

The Google Nest Security Camera Indoor is 30 percent off for Prime Day, bringing its price to $70 from $100. The camera is a good option for checking in on your house while on vacation or even peeking in on your dog while at work. You can review up to three hours of video history with night vision for free from anywhere and see up to 60 days with a Nest Aware subscription. Google's Nest Security Camera Indoor also has a mic and listening device, along with the option for notifications direct to your phone. 

Nest Cam Outdoor

The Google Nest Cam is more versatile, working indoors or outdoors, and its slightly higher price reflects that. It's $120 for Prime Day, a 33 percent discount from its usual price of $180. It comes with a wall plate to mount on an outdoor wall and is battery-powered for outdoor convenience.

Nest Doorbell 

Take the guesswork out of who's at the front door with the Google Nest Doorbell. For a Prime Day price of $120 (down from $180), you can see and speak to the person at your door, whether from inside your house as you rush to grab shoes or while away. It works with batteries, or you can wire it to your existing doorbell.Nest WiFi Pro - 2 Pack

Google's Nest WiFi Pro is only a few weeks old, but it's already undergoing a major sale. Prime Day deals have brought the price of a Snow-colored two-pack down to $220 from $300 — a 27 percent discount. The Pro is one of the cheapest WiFi 6E devices available right now, and we found it both easy to set up and to use. The only downside of the WiFi upgrade is that it's not compatible with any Google or Nest WiFi hardware you already have.

Nest WiFi Pro - 3 Pack

The Google Nest WiFi Pro three-pack gives you all the same technology as the pair but with a wider range. With three routers, you can access WiFi across 6,600 square feet. At 25 percent off, the trio is $300, making each Nest WiFi Pro only $100 — it's a steal considering they typically retail for $200 each. As for color, get them all in Snow or get a mix of Snow, Fog and Linen.

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for the best Amazon 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.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-google-prime-day-deals-on-pixel-phones-nest-gadgets-and-more-140049153.html?src=rss

The best gaming deals for Amazon Prime Day 2023

Amazon Prime Day has brought several discounts on gaming gear we like, from mice and keyboards to laptops and headsets. If you've been looking to build out your gaming rig, now's a great time to pick up a few much-needed accessories, or even a bigger investment like a gaming laptop from the models that are on sale. We’ve compiled the best Prime Day gaming deals we can find below, including accessories from Razer, Logitech, SteelSeries, HyperX and more.

Logitech G Pro X Superlight

The Logitech G Pro X Superlight is back down to an all-time low of $105, which is about $35 off its average going rate. This is a high-end wireless mouse whose praises we’ve sung in the past. It’s sturdily built and wonderfully light at roughly 63g, and its mostly ambidextrous shape should be suitable for most hand sizes. Performance is exceptional across the board, and while it lacks RGB lighting, it won’t look gaudy in an office setting. To be clear, the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro – which isn't notably discounted for Prime Day – remains our favorite premium model, as it lasts longer on a charge and uses USB-C instead of the microUSB port found here. Still, the G Pro X Superlight is a fine choice for enthusiasts.

Logitech G305 Lightspeed

The Logitech G305 Lightspeed is a budget wireless gaming mouse we highlight in our buying guide, and it’s down to $30 for Prime Day. While that’s a few bucks more than the lowest price we’ve seen, it’s about $10 less than the mouse’s usual going rate. The G305 is on the smaller side, but its symmetrical design doesn’t feel particularly cheap and should accommodate most claw and fingertip grippers. For the money, its sensor performance is great. It does require a single AA battery for power, so it isn’t the lightest option at roughly 100g, but Logitech says it can last up to 250 hours before needing a change.

Samsung Evo Select

The 512GB Samsung Evo Select is available for $30, which is a new all-time low. Typically, we’ve seen this microSD card go for $10 or $15 more in recent months. The Evo Select is the “best value” pick in our guide to the best microSD cards: It’s certainly not the fastest card we’ve tested, but it’s a great buy for expanding the storage of a Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch. Both of thosesystems are limited to official UHS-I bus speeds, so game launch and load times are virtually identical across microSD cards so long as your card meets a certain threshold (which the Evo Select does). What you mainly want is lots of storage space for a little amount of money. At this price, the Evo Select provides that.

If you need more space, the 1TB SanDisk Ultra is also worth a shout at $80, which is an all-time low. This card is slower than the Evo Select, which is already a budget model, so it may be a little too sluggish to install games for comfort. But $80 for 1TB is a fantastic value.

The top pick in our microSD card guide, Samsung’s Pro Plus, is a bit pricier but still down to all-time lows of $20 for 256GB and $40 for 512GB. While this won’t be any faster to launch Switch or Steam Deck games than the Evo Select, its superior random and sequential write speeds should make it a little quicker for installing games or copying files to the card.

Samsung 980 Pro

The 1TB Samsung 980 Pro SSD is down to $50, which is its lowest price ever and about $25 off its average street price as of late. This isn’t Samsung’s fastest SSD – that’d be the 990 Pro – but we highlight it here because it meets Sony’s requirements for expanding the PS5’s storage. You’ll want to grab a heatsink to go with it, but you can do that and still pay less than what it’d cost to buy the variant that comes with a heatsink pre-installed.

Logitech G535

The Logitech G535 is on sale for $80, which is the second-best price we’ve tracked outside of a very brief dip below $50 last month. Normally, it costs around $100. The G535 is an honorable mention in our guide to the best gaming headsets: It’s light and airy at 236g, and while it can make mid-range details sound thin, it has an agreeable and relatively well-balanced sound overall. The included boom mic is just OK, however, and the closed-back design doesn’t block much outside noise. Still, finding a good wireless gaming headset for less than $100 is difficult, and the G535 gets close enough.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is another honorable mention in our gaming headset guide, and it’s down to $199 for Prime Day. This is an all-time low for both the Xbox and PlayStation/PC models; each typically goes for about $40 more on average. This is a premium, well-padded headset that’s comfy to wear over long sessions. Its retractable mic is great, and it comes with a DAC that lets you adjust the headset’s EQ and game/chat audio mix on the fly. It does well to reproduce bass and mid-range sounds, too, though it can be harsh in the treble, and it doesn’t sound as spacious as an open-back pair like the Astro A40, our top pick, which isn’t any cheaper than usual for Prime Day. Still, if you have money to burn on a gaming headset and prioritize comfort and mic quality, this isn’t a bad choice.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7X

The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7X, meanwhile, is available for $150, which is the lowest price we’ve seen and about $25 below its usual street price. We note the Arctis Nova 7X in our gaming headset guide as a worthy wireless option for Xbox owners. Its mic quality is solid, albeit worse than the pricier Nova Pro, and it’s comfy to wear over time, with cloth earpads that don’t clamp down too hard. It has a bass-forward sound profile, so explosions and other effects carry a real sense of oomph, though a dip in the treble can make in-game dialogue sound underemphasized. The pair can connect over Bluetooth or a 3.5mm cable in addition to its wireless dongle, though, plus it can last more than 30 hours on a charge.

Razer Huntsman Mini

The compact Razer Huntsman Mini is down to $70 for a model with either Clicky Purple or Linear Red opto-mechanical switches. Neither deal is quite an all-time low, but the two models have usually retailed in the $80 to $100 range over the last few months. The Huntsman Mini is the top pick in our guide to the best 60 percent keyboards, as its keys are pleasant and consistently responsive for gaming. The whole thing feels well-built, with quality PBT keycaps and RGB lighting on a per-key basis. Each key can be programmed through macros as well. The switches here aren’t ideal for those who like a springy and more tactile, though, and the ultracompact design won’t be for everyone.

HyperX Alloy Origins 60

The HyperX Alloy Origins 60 is the runner up in our 60 percent keyboard guide, and it’s on sale for $60. That’s about $20 off the usual price for this model with HyperX’s Aqua switches. The Aqua resembles a Cherry MX Brown (albeit slightly faster), so this deal should appeal to those who want a small gaming keyboard with a more tactile feel than the Huntsman Mini. The board itself has a sturdy aluminum chassis that should hold up well to rough keystrokes over time, plus it puts its secondary arrow keys in a natural spot at the bottom right of the deck. It offers PBT keycaps, per-key RGB lighting and macro-programmable keys as well, though the use of metal does make it relatively heavy.

SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL

The SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL is on sale for $132, which is a new low and $58 off the tenkeyless gaming keyboard’s list price. While we haven’t reviewed the Apex Pro TKL ourselves, it has received consistentlyhighmarkselsewhere for its robust build quality, PBT keycaps, per-key backlighting and deeply adjustable OmniPoint 2.0 switches. The latter allows you to customize the actuation point of each individual key in increments of 0.1mm, within a range of 0.2mm-3.8mm. You can make each keystroke super fast for gaming or raise the travel distance and make everything less sensitive when you want to type. This is also one of the few tenkeyless keyboards that comes with a wrist rest.

A few other variants of the Apex Pro are discounted, too, including the wireless TKL model for $174, the full-size Apex Pro for $134 and the 60 percent Apex Pro Mini for $176. The first two of those are down to all-time lows, but note that the full-size model uses cheaper ABS keycaps. These are pricey and relatively niche keyboards either way, but if you think you’d benefit from the customization, they’re at least a little more affordable now.

The Asus ROG Azoth is another highlyratedcompactkeyboard with enthusiast-level features like a gasket-mounted design for softer typing and a hot-swappable PCB. It’s available for $195 with a $15 coupon, which is a serious chunk of change for a wireless keyboard but $50 less than usual.

Logitech G915 TKL

The Logitech G915 TKL is down to $150 for a model with tactile switches, which matches the keyboard's lowest price and comes in about $45 below its usual price. If you want a numpad, the full-size G915 Lightspeed with linear switches is roughly $60 off at $170. The G915 is worth considering if you specifically want a wireless keyboard with low-profile typing experience. While its flatter keys may not feel as smooth as the best full-height keyboards, they’re fast, and the metal frame is noticeably slim. The cheaper ABS keycaps and limited macro functionality are disappointing at this price, but you do get dedicated media controls, per-key RGB lighting and 30 hours of battery life with the backlight at max brightness. You can read our 2020 write-up for more details.

Razer Blade laptops

A configuration of the Razer Blade 15 with a Core i7-12800H processor, GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU, 240Hz QHD display, 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD is down to $1,923 for Prime Day. That’s about $375 off its usual street price in recent months. We gave the Blade 15 a review score of 86 last year, and we currently recommend it as a premium pick in our guide to the best gaming laptops. This config is a 2022 model – the latest version is largely a spec bump – but it’ll still be powerful enough to play most modern games at high settings and frame rates, particularly with DLSS. The main reason to pay the premium for any Blade laptop, though, is because it packs that power in a slim and premium-feeling aluminum design. Just note that it can run hot, and that its battery life is fairly short.

If you want a larger 17-inch display, a version of the Blade 17 with similar specs is available for $2,000. The smaller Blade 14, meanwhile, is more modestly discounted at $2,300 for a 2022 config with a Ryzen 9 6900HX, RTX 3080 Ti and 165Hz display.

Acer Nitro 5

The Acer Nitro 5 is the runner up pick in our guide to the best budget gaming laptops, and right now a configuration with a Core i5-12500H, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, 144Hz 1080p display, 16GB of RAM and 512GB is available for $780. That’s a new low and roughly $120 off this model’s typical street price. This is a chunky plastic machine, and you’ll need to ratchet down the settings in certain games to hit a decent frame rate. But getting a 144Hz display and enough power to keep up with modern games is a plus at this price. As an affordable yet competent entry point to PC gaming, it’s a fine value.

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for the best Amazon 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.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-prime-day-gaming-deals-132537938.html?src=rss

Samsung adds an 83-inch set to its 'affordable' OLED TV lineup

Samsung widened its OLED TV range early this year, but it didn't include any sets larger than 77 inches — you still had to turn elsewhere if you wanted a bigger set. That won't be an issue after today. The company has introduced an 83-inch model to its relatively affordable S90C series. The 4K screen shares the smaller models' 144Hz QD-OLED panel technology, AI-powered HDR mapping, Dolby Atmos support, soundbar syncing and "lite" object tracking audio.

As with other S90C variants, you only miss a few features compared to the top-end S95C. You won't get the slightly better display, external connection box or almost-flush wall mounting, and you'll want the S95C if you insist on more advanced built-in speakers with full object tracking. In that sense, the S90C is a sweet-spot offering that delivers nearly all of the experience for considerably less money.

The 83-inch S90C is available now for $5,400. That's significantly more than the 77-inch TV's normal $3,600 price. There's no S95C equivalent as we write this, though, so this is your only choice from Samsung if you want OLED's deep blacks and vivid picture while insisting on the largest display possible.

The catch, of course, is that Samsung doesn't exist in a vacuum. LG already has very large OLED sets, and this year's 83-inch C3 officially sells for $5,300. It includes Dolby Vision HDR support you won't find on Samsung TVs, for that matter. You'll want the S90C if you prefer Samsung's interface and specific feature bundle.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-adds-an-83-inch-set-to-its-affordable-oled-tv-lineup-130045890.html?src=rss

The best fitness tech for college students

Fitness is (thankfully) no longer about attaining some aesthetic ideal. It helps us sleep better, have more energy and avoid burnout — salutary things for all humans, but particularly for college students. Engadget staffers include workout fiends, avid cyclists, a Judo blackbelt and a certified marathon coach, so we’ve reviewed and covered a wide expanse of fitness tech. For this guide, we’re calling out gear that makes the most sense for students who need help improving their overall health without gobbling up too much time, space or money.

Fitbit Charge 5

Smartwatches are basically tiny computers on your wrist, which can be overkill when all you want to do is track your runs and heart rate. Fitness trackers are cheaper, have longer lasting batteries and tend to be lighter on your wrist. Our current favorite is the Fitbit Charge 5 thanks to its thin design that still boasts a full-color OLED display. It has an EDA sensor to keep tabs on your stress levels and on-board GPS tracking for runs, hikes and bike rides without your phone present. Plus, it can last for over two days on a charge with the always-on display enabled and five days with it off, so if you forget to charge it between classes and late-night cram sessions, it’s no big deal.

Apple Watch Series 8

If you do want a tiny computer on your wrist, we think the Apple Watch Series 8 has the best blend of fitness-centered features and smartwatch utility. It’s currently our favorite smartwatch and has sensors to track your heart rate, sleep, ovulation and EKG measurements. The Workout app has countless modes and will soon include more advanced cycling workouts.

Our deputy editor Cherlynn Low tried out the Series 8 for a week when it first came out and called it a “superb watch” with “excellent health and fitness tools.” Plus, it puts all of your iPhone’s alerts on your wrist, so you’ll never miss an important email from a professor or a reminder to finish your paper that’s due tomorrow. At nearly $400, it’s an expensive investment but one that will last. My Apple Watch 4 is still going strong and will even be eligible for the upcoming WatchOS 10 update this fall, five years after it was released.

Of course, if you don’t use an iPhone, an Apple Watch doesn’t make a lot of sense. For Android users, we recommend the Galaxy Watch 5 from Samsung because it’s a reliable wearable with comprehensive fitness and smart capabilities that rival Apple’s smartwatch.

Eufy Smart Scale P2 Pro

Getting healthy is not about the number on a scale, but you can use that number as one way to monitor your progress towards your fitness goals. One of our favorite smart scales on the market, the Smart Scale P2 Pro by Eufy tracks not just pounds and kilos, but also your heart rate, BMI, and muscle and bone mass. It can even detect things like your basal metabolic rate and offers a bevy of stats and data in its companion app. Despite being one of the more feature-rich scales we tested, the P2 Pro typically comes in around $80, which should make it affordable for students on a budget.

Theragun Mini

This gadget shows up in many of our gift guides because it’s such an excellent self care item. After a hard workout, the Theragun Mini can ease some soreness. Our UK bureau chief, Mat Smith, who does five HIIT and/or weight training classes per week, finds that it works nearly as well as Theragun’s much pricier Elite flagship percussive therapy gun. The triangle shape of the Mini is small enough to control with one hand so you can easily direct the massage. While it’s not exactly quiet, Theragun’s latest motors tamp down the noise a bit so you’ll annoy your roommates slightly less when you put it to work.

TriggerPoint Foam Massage Ball

Mat is also a fan of TriggerPoint’s Foam Massage Ball and recommends it in his fitness recovery guide. The rigid balls can be used nearly anywhere you feel tight or sore. You can stick them on a yoga mat and roll over them to target places on your shoulders and glutes, or roll them between your back and the wall to ease tightness. They come in different sizes and firmness levels as well: the smaller ones are better for the muscles like your calves, and the larger versions are best used for bigger areas like your hips. Since they’re more compact than foam rollers, they should be easy to stash in cramped apartment closets or dorm room storage spaces.

Hatch Restore 2

With sleep and health being so intertwined, I’d be remiss not to mention the Hatch Restore 2 here. I tested it for many weeks and found it helped me get to sleep faster and woke me up more gently than any alarm I’ve used. It’s a sleep machine and sunrise alarm in one, relying on a vast library of original content to help you get better rest. The sleep stories are relaxing and the ambient music is perfect for nodding off to. A variety of white, pink and brown noises can play all night if you want them to, and there’s even motivational morning stretches and talks to get you going. The caveat is the price: it’s $200 for the unit and $5 each month for the membership — but if a new living situation, noisy roommates or the stress of coursework has you struggling to get a good night’s sleep, it could be worth it.

Beats Fit Pro

If you like your AirPods for studying and daily listening but want something designed to handle movement and sweat, check out the Beats Fit Pro. They’re our top recommendation for workout earbuds in our guide thanks to their balanced sound that delivers plenty of hard-hitting, butt-motivating beats. The wing helps them stay in place and they’re surprisingly comfortable, according to our audio expert and senior news editor Billy Steele. Despite being made by Apple, there’s a good amount of support for Android devices as well, but they are a little pricey at $200. For something more budget-friendly, check out the Jabra Elite 4 Active; we recommend them in our workout headphones guide and they usually sell for around $100.

Alo Moves

Being in school can make it tough to fit in a trip to the gym, even if you have one on campus. Fitness apps make it easy to squeeze in a workout wherever it makes sense — most don’t require much beyond a small square of space and maybe a mat. One app we prefer for workouts like yoga, pilates and barre is Alo Moves. It’s a little pricier than others at $20 per month, but offers a huge and ever-updating cache of workouts, with options to choose sessions based on duration, difficulty and intensity. For consistency (and to eliminate decision fatigue), you can try different "series" made up of similar workouts to do over a few days or weeks. Alo Moves also includes meditation classes, which could come in handy when class, or life in general, gets overwhelming.

Apple Fitness+

For those with an iPhone, Apple Fitness+ is a little cheaper than Alo Moves at $10 per month. It also has a wider variety of classes to choose from, with yoga, HIIT, dance, kickboxing and at least eight more categories available. I like to stick with a particular instructor for a while before moving on to someone else. There’s great interplay between the classes and the playlist, no doubt thanks to Apple’s expanding music rights. Class durations range from 5 to 45 minutes, so you can get in a quick workout in between classes or carve out time for longer sessions. You don’t have to have an Apple Watch to use Fitness+ either, but the on-screen, real-time stats like heart rate and burn zones can be pretty motivating.

Strava

Running, hiking and cycling are perfect low-cost, high-return workouts that can actually help you get to know the areas outside your campus. Strava’s app not only tracks your stats, but there’s also a robust social feature that can help keep you motivated, particularly when you challenge others. Our weekend editor, Igor Bonifacic, said using the app helped him realize he was steadily improving as a cyclist — even when it sometimes felt like he wasn’t. Recording your rides and runs is free, as is access to the social network and use of the Beacon safety feature that lets you share your location with another person during your activities. Other features, like goal setting and route planning, require a subscription that’s currently $12 per month or $80 annually.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-fitness-tech-for-college-students-130020316.html?src=rss

The best Amazon Prime Day SSD and storage deals for 2023

Amazon Prime Day is typically a boon for storage deals. Aside from the holiday shopping season, it's one of the best times of the year to pick up a new microSD card for your Nintendo Switch, an SSD for your PS5 or a portable drive to take with you on your next excursion. This year's Prime Day is no exception as many of our favorite SSDs, microSD cards and portable drives have been deeply discounted for the shopping event. We culled the deals to find the best ones on our favorite storage gear — in other words, the best Prime Day SSD, microSD card and portable drive deals you can get.

Samsung Pro Plus microSD card

The top pick in our best microSD cards guide, Samsung's Pro Plus in 256GB is on sale for $20 right now. It had some of the best overall speeds of any of the microSD cards we tested, and it has all of the important ratings that a good card should have: U3, V30 and A2. It'll be a great pick for your tablet, smartphone or Nintendo Switch, and it comes with a full-sized adapter in case you need to use it with a camera or connect it to your computer.

Kingston Canvas Go Plus microSD

Kingston's Canvas Go Plus microSD card has dropped to $23 for Prime Day. It's the runner-up pick in our guide thanks to its solid speeds, U3, V30 and A2 ratings and lifetime warranty.

Samsung Evo Select microSD

Samsung's Evo Select microSD card has dropped to $10 for Prime Day. It's a step behind the top pick in our microSD card guide, mostly due to its slower sequential write speeds, but it's arguably the best value microSD card you can get right now.

SanDisk Nintendo Switch microSD

SanDisk's officially licensed Nintendo Switch microSD card is on sale for $23 for Prime Day. While you don't have to use a licensed card like this in your Nintendo Switch, it's nice to have for die-hard fans and it's an easier buy when discounted like this. We found this card to have fast read/write speeds and we appreciate its lifetime warranty.

Lexar Professional 1066x microSD

The Lexar Professional 1066 microSD card has dropped to $14 for Prime Day. It's a good alternative to our top pick in our microSD card guide, even if its overall speeds are a bit slower.

Samsung T7 Shield

The Samsung T7 Shield SSD has been discounted to $75 for Prime Day. The T7 series as a whole includes some of our favorite SSDs, and the Shield is the most durable of the bunch. The portable drive has an IP65 rating for water and dust resistance, and it can withstand drops from up to 10 feet high. On top of that, its 1,050/1,000 MB/s read/write speeds should be enough for most people's needs.

Samsung T7

The Samsung T7 drive has dropped to $70 for Prime Day. If you don't need the extra protection that the Shield has, the standard T7 is a good option. It has the same read/write speeds as the Shield, and it comes with both a USB-C and USB-A cable in the box, so you'll be able to use it with nearly any gadget you have.

Crucial X8

The Crucial X8 portable drive is on sale for $70 right now. It supports read speeds up to 1,050 MB/s and drop protection from up to 7.5 feet. It also comes with a USB-A adapter for its included USB-C cable, so you can use it with a variety of devices.

Corsair MP600 Pro LPX

The top pick in our best PS5 SSDs guide, the Corsair MP600 Pro LPX drive is on sale for $68 right now. It checks all the boxes you'd want in a good drive for your console: it's fast, with read speeds of up to 7,100MB/s, it comes with a pre-installed heatsink and it's protected by a five-year warranty. Plus, it's not the most expensive drive to begin with, which makes it a great value — especially when on sale like this.

Crucial MX500

Crucial's MX500 internal drive has been discounted to $48 for Prime Day. It has sequential read speeds of 560MB/s and a standard 2.5-inch design that should make it easy to swamp in for your desktop's or laptop's used-up drive.

Crucial P5 Plus

The Crucial P5 Plus SSD is on sale for $54 for Prime Day. It's already our favorite affordable SSD for the PS5, so it's an even better buy when you can get it at a discount. It has read speeds of up to 6,600MB/s and the main downside to it is that you'll need to provide and install your own heatsink to get it to work with Sony's console.

Samsung 980 Pro

Samsung's 980 Pro SSD has dropped to $50 for Prime Day. It's another good option for the PS5, especially since you can spring for a model with an included heatsink if you want. The 980 Pro has read speeds up to 7,000 MB/s and reliable thermal controls.

PNY XLR8

PNY's XLR8 SSD is down to $80 for Prime Day. This model was designed with the PS5 in mind, so it's ready to install with its included heatsink. It supports up to 7,500 MB/s sequential read speeds and it's available in up to 4TB sizes.

WD Black SN850X

WD Black's SN850X is on sale for $128 right now. It has the right read/write speeds to be a good option for the PS5, plus you can get it (or it's slightly slower counterpart, the SN850) with a heatsink included.

Crucial P2

The Crucial P2 SSD has dropped to $62 for Prime Day. It's a solid, affordable option if you're looking for an internal SSD, thanks to its sequential read speeds of up to 2,400 MB/s.

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for the best Amazon 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.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-amazon-prime-day-ssd-and-storage-deals-130006692.html?src=rss