Here's a quick PSA for anyone who has had their eye on Apple's 10.9-inch iPad: the tablet is back on sale for $399 at Amazon, Target and Best Buy. For reference, Apple normally sells this entry-level 64GB model for $449, though the device's average street price on Amazon has hovered closer to $430 since it launched last October. Either way, this deal matches the all-time low we first saw over the holidays last year. Just note that, as of this writing, a few colors are out of stock at Amazon and Target.
We gave the 10.9-inch iPad a review score of 85 this past October. It offers a more modern design than the cheaper 10.2-inch iPad, with flatter edges, thinner bezels, a Touch ID button and a USB-C port, much like you'd find on the pricier iPad Air or iPad Pro. It packs a roomier display than the 10.2-inch model despite being slightly shorter and lighter. Its A14 Bionic chip is still plenty powerful for media consumption, light work and other everyday tasks, and it still gets the usual 10-ish hours of battery life. And perhaps most conveniently, it's the only iPad whose front-facing camera is located along the landscape edge of the tablet, which is a much more natural position for video calls.
There are a few quirks to consider, though. Unlike the iPad Air, the 10.9-inch iPad's display isn't laminated, so it can feel like you're interacting with an image below the glass rather than directly touching what's on screen. It also lacks an anti-reflective coating, so it's a little more prone to glare. It only works with the original Apple Pencil, not the vastly improved second-gen stylus. Nor does it support the same Magic Keyboard as the iPad Air or iPad Pro; instead, it uses its own accessory called the Magic Keyboard Folio that, while good, isn't as stable on your lap. It also lacks a headphone jack.
As we note in our iPad buying guide, if you can afford to step up to the iPad Air, that is the better option overall. And if you just want a competent iPad for the lowest price possible, the 10.2-inch model is likely a better value. That said, the 10.9-inch iPad is still a fine middle ground for those willing to pay a bit more for a nicer-feeling tablet, and this discount should make its sacrifices a little easier to accept.
OnePlus is finally ready to take the wraps off its first tablet, and it's just different enough that it might be worth considering in a sea of Android slates. The OnePlus Pad revolves around an 11.6-inch display with an unusual 7:5 aspect ratio and a speedy 144Hz refresh rate — this might be your pick if you're a gamer or avid reader. The design also stands out with an easier-to-grip "2.5D" edge and a central camera hump you're less likely to cover with your fingers.
Some technical details aren't available as we write this, but the OnePlus Pad will be reasonably quick thanks to MediaTek's Dimensity 9000 chip and up to 12GB of RAM. Battery life might be healthy, too. The 9,510mAh power pack reportedly offers up to 14.5 hours of video playback, and 67W SuperVOOC fast charging can top up the tablet in 80 minutes. Dolby Atmos, meanwhile, promises cinematic audio.
You won't have to hunt for accessories, either. The OnePlus Pad will ship with a pen (the Stylo) and a magnetic keyboard. The software will be familiar, although there are some appreciated touches if you also have a OnePlus phone. The Pad can easily use a handset as a cellular data hotspot, for instance.
Don't expect to buy one right away. Release dates and pricing for the OnePlus Pad will be available in the "coming weeks," the company says. As such, it's too early to say if this represents a good value compared to the Galaxy Tabs and iPads that dominate the higher-end tablet space.
OnePlus
Not that OnePlus is leaning solely on a tablet. The company has introduced the OnePlus Buds Pro 2, the expected sequel to its 2021 wireless earbuds. They're some of the first earbuds to support Android 13's official spatial audio implementation with compatible content, such as Disney+ and YouTube videos. If you have a OnePlus 11, you can expect Dolby Atmos support with head tracking.
Regardless of how you listen, audio quality is also a focus — complete with an unusual collaboration. OnePlus claims a studio-like sound thanks to dual drivers (with an 11mm woofer and 6mm tweeter) developed with help from Dynaudio, and LHDC 4.0 Bluetooth audio that's close to wired fidelity. And if the usual custom equalizers aren't enough to fine-tune the characteristics, composer Hans Zimmer has created his own EQ, Soundscape, to emphasize the brighter tones and wider soundstages of movie soundtracks. Improved active noise cancellation (particularly for human voices) and lower-latency Bluetooth 5.3 LE are also available, and a 10-minute charge is enough to deliver 10 hours of listening (39 hours total with the case).
The Buds Pro 2 will be available in the US on February 16th for $179 (£179 in the UK). It's evident OnePlus is hoping to match or undercut competing products like the Pixel Buds Pro and second-gen AirPods Pro.
And yes, it wouldn't be a OnePlus announcement without teasing future hardware. The brand is hinting at plans to unveil both its first mechanical keyboard, the OnePlus Featuring Keyboard 81 Pro (a team-up with Keychron. below) and the OnePlus 11 Concept, a still-mysterious prototype phone with "imaginative" design and "industry-first" features. You won't hear more about these in earnest until Mobile World Congress in late February.
Last year’s OnePlus 10 Pro is set to be replaced by the OnePlus 11. There won’t be a OnePlus 11 Pro, and there wasn’t a regular OnePlus 10. Things could be more straightforward, but what are you going to do? Barring any spinoffs, this is OnePlus’ flagship phone, the focus of all its attention, development budget and everything else. Leaks meant we knew what the OnePlus 11 would look like long before it was officially unveiled. It has everything we loved about OnePlus in the past: a powerful, high-end processor, a vivid screen and (after a brief diversion) a competitive price tag ($699).
The OnePlus 11 launches the same week as a trio of phones from Samsung, the dominant Android phone player. The 2023 Galaxy S series has phones that are both bigger and smaller, pricier and cheaper, than OnePlus’ newest phone. Fortunately, this new flagship has one trick to stand out from Samsung’s new lineup: incredibly fast 100-watt charging.
Design
Mat Smith/Engadget
OnePlus has made some changes to the design. The company drew inspiration from sports cars (it has collaborated with McLaren in the past) and swiss watches. This apparently led to a unibody slab with a stainless steel camera array. There are some fine details in the camera glass which gives it a little bit of a watch aesthetic, but it’s basically just another giant camera pop-out. The metal bezel protrudes slightly more than the glass, which should help avoid scratches. Initially, I thought it was a little too big and ostentatious, but it’s roughly equivalent to the unit on the iPhone 14 Pro – and the Pixel 7 Pro’s Cyclops camera bar is arguably even flashier.
The OnePlus 11 also answered the pleas of the OnePlus faithful by reintroducing its Alert Slider. If you haven’t seen it on previous phones, it’s a metal slider just above the power button on the right edge that swaps between silent, ring and vibrate modes. OnePlus claimed in previous years that the removal was due to space demands inside the phones and that the slider would make a return, so the company has at least fulfilled that promise to its fans. For the rest of us, I’m not sure we need it. Then again, I’m the kind of person that keeps my phone on silent pretty much all the time.
The phone comes in glossy gray-green (Eternal Green) and sparkling black (Titan Black) color options. I thought the black finish would have a gritty, 3D-printed feel to it, but it’s closer to slate – somehow smooth and grippy at the same time. I don’t understand the physics of it either. Meanwhile, the green version is a lot like last year’s phones. The shiny finish is unfortunately a canvas for all your fingerprints and smudges.
The OnePlus 11 has a gorgeous 6.7-inch 2,048 × 1,080 OLED screen that can reach up to 120Hz refresh rates. Once again, there’s an LTPO panel that can now dip low at 1Hz when the always-on display (AOD) is on. OnePlus claims that, compared with typical 30Hz AODs, OnePlus 11’s 1Hz AOD consumes 30 percent less power. Of course, it’s not using much power to begin with as an AOD, but could lead to a little more battery life in the long run, even if it’s not represented in our typical battery rundown tests. Aside from the upgraded AOD capabilities, this screen is otherwise identical to the OnePlus 10 Pro – which isn’t a bad thing. It’s another area where OnePlus often goes toe-to-toe with the best smartphones out there, despite typically costing hundreds of dollars less.
Camera
Mat Smith/Engadget
The OnePlus 11’s primary camera is a new 50-megapixel sensor, with a f/1.8 aperture. It sounds similar to the OnePlus 10 Pro’s main camera, but uses a bigger 1/1.56-inch sensor. This works alongside a 115-degree ultrawide 48MP camera that pulls double-duty for macro shots.
This time, OnePlus’ flagship has a 32MP telephoto camera, up from a measly 8MP on its predecessor. However, optical zoom tops out at 2x, while the lower-res OnePlus 10 Pro could punch in at up to 3.2x optical zoom. It’s an unusual change to make. Which is the better solution? While I didn’t have last year’s OnePlus 10 Pro to compare directly with the OnePlus 11, the images didn’t seem as muted as I remember. Of course, they weren’t as magnified, but given the higher-resolution, I can always crop in without ruining the results too much. It’s pretty much a manual digital zoom, cropping like this, but you benefit from a better sensor before you crop away the excess megapixels.
Mat Smith/Engadget
The OnePlus 11’s camera array, what it calls its third-generation Hasselblad Camera, is improved, and still comes with some addictive filters for stills and video. However, It doesn’t quite reach the pinnacle of smartphone photography, led by the Galaxy S22 Ultra, iPhone 14 Pro and Pixel 7 Pro, though.
The OnePlus 11 seems to do its best work on landscape and street photography. There’s a Pro mode again, so you can dabble in RAW editing, but I was more than happy with the JPGs. The OnePlus 11 also features an AI Highlight video mode. The phone uses image processing to maintain even levels of exposure when recording video and shifting between areas of different lighting. I tested it out on a sunny afternoon, on a bridge, but I didn’t see too many tangible benefits to overexposure. It works a little better when you’re filming in a mostly dark situation, but, oddly, this is meant to be the standout software feature for this year’s OnePlus flagship – it’s not particularly remarkable.
Performance and battery life
Mat Smith/Engadget
The OnePlus 11 has the de facto top Android processor: the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It’s powerful, sure, but the bigger benefits might come through longer battery life. According to the chip maker, its new Adreno GPU can offer up to 45 percent better power efficiency.
OnePlus software doesn’t appear to have changed much since the OnePlus 10 Pro. OnePlus claims its HyperBoost Gaming Engine uses machine learning (and Qualcomm’s latest processor) to balance performance and battery drain. The caveat here is that it’s only compatible with major mobile titles like Genshin Impact. It’s also hard to tell whether it offers a discernible impact on games, when so many other phones are similarly specced and offer a similar experience.
The OnePlus phone series typically offers decent battery life. So it’s no surprise that the OnePlus 11 clocked almost 20 hours on our video rundown test. Although the battery icon seemed a little ‘sticky’ around 100 percent after playing video for a good two hours. The only phones that beat that are the company’s own OnePlus 10T and the iPhone 14 Pro.
While that’s great, the speed that OnePlus 11 can charge is even more impressive. 100W charging is here – the kind of wattage we get with laptops. There’s a compatible charger in the box, thankfully, but it’s proprietary tech, so you'll need this specific charger, this cable and OnePlus’ latest phone to hit those heady charging speeds. OnePlus says it takes 25 minutes to reach a full charge from empty, and in practice, that’s been accurate.
The ability to plug my phone in for a brief stint (roughly ten minutes) and have it top up 50 percent is magical. However, there’s no wireless charging. It’s not a deal breaker for me but it’s definitely something to note as missing from a flagship phone. I’d take these heady charging speeds over wireless charging any day.
Wrap-up
Mat Smith/Engadget
The OnePlus 11 has a great screen (again), incredibly fast-charging (again) and cameras that are better than its predecessors. However, the supercharge speeds seem to be the only unique thing that the OnePlus 11 brings to the table. But is that enough to make you want to upgrade from an older phone, or choose a OnePlus over the competition?
At $699, with 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage, that’s $100 less than last year’s flagship. It’s a much better deal than its predecessor – and this could be a deciding factor. The OnePlus 11 sits between midrange devices, like the Pixel 6a, and premium phones including Google’s Pixel 7 and Samsung’s Galaxy S23 series. In many ways, you get the best of both, but against the dominance of other phone makers, it needs to do more to distinguish itself.
This is your chance to grab one (or some) of Amazon's Echo Show displays at a discount if you've been planning to buy any of them. Several models of the smart display are currently on sale, and Amazon is even offering most of them for almost half their original price. You can get the second-generation Echo Show 5 released in 2021 for $45 or 47 percent less than its retail price of $85. And, yes, all its available colors — Charcoal, Deep Sea Blue and Glacier White — are being sold at that price. Even the version for kids, which comes with parental controls, one-year free access to Amazon's Kids+ service, and a two-year worry-free guarantee, is available for $45 right now. The Echo Show 5 for kids will typically set you back $95.
We gave the Echo Show 5 a score of 85 in our review and recommended it for those who want an alarm clock for their nightstand. It also has great sound quality for its size, and it lets you snooze your alarm by tapping the top part of the device.
If you're looking for a smart display for your living room or kitchen, however, the Echo Show 8 may be a better fit. It's currently on sale for $75, which is 42 percent less than its retail price of $130. The device, available in Charcoal and Glacier White, has an 8-inch HD touchscreen and a 13-megapixel camera, making it a better option for video calls. In comparison, the Echo Show 5 has a 5.5-inch screen and a 2-megapixel camera. We found Echo Show 8's audio to be superior to its smaller sibling's, as well.
Finally, in case you'd rather have a wall-mountable smart display, the Echo Show 15 is also on sale for $225, or $55 less than retail. It has a 15.6-inch full HD screen surrounded by a white bezel. Since the whole device is housed in a black metal frame, it could look like a painting or a large picture frame if you use it to display artwork or photos. The device's large screen real estate also means you can display widgets and see various information at a glance.
When Twitter introduced its curated “For You” tab at the start of this year, the feature shipped with an oversight. If you closed the Twitter app or web client after switching to the platform’s reverse chronological “Following” timeline, both would default back to the For You feed after you came back. At the end of January, Twitter took an initial step to address that oversight, tweaking the web client to remember the tab you left off at before closing your tabs. At the time, the company said a similar fix was “coming soon” for Android and iOS. That fix is now available.
This is live for Android and iOS!
Update to the latest version of the app so that “For you” and “Following” will default to whichever tab you had open last. https://t.co/GB1TxWJoOm
Today’s change won’t bring back Twitter’s old “twinkle” button, but it does let you stick to your preferred timeline. And if you primarily use Twitter to follow real-world events, it should make it easier to use the app for that purpose. Notably, the change to Twitter's interface coincides with the company's recent decision to cut off third-party clients. That move led to apps like Tweetbot shutting down, leaving the official client the only way to access Twitter.
Apple's App Store policies require that the Chrome browser on iOS uses the WebKit engine rather than the usual Blink, but that isn't stopping Google from indulging in a "what if" scenario. The Register has noticed that Google recently started work on an experiment that would port Blink to iOS. The project is limited to the stripped-down "content_shell" app rather than Chrome, and the Chromium team working on the effort stresses that it's not a "shippable product." It's only meant to test graphics and input performance, the company says.
In a statement, a Google spokesperson told Engadget the Blink port is only a "prototype" that's part of a larger open source initiative. It won't be available to the public, and the company will "continue to abide" by Apple's rules.
It's not clear why Google wants to test Blink on iOS in the first place, though. If Apple's policies stay firm, Google won't be allowed to release any Blink-based software. Only those experienced enough to compile and run content_shell may get a taste of the experience.
The timing may not be coincidental, though. The US government wants Apple and Google to open up their platforms, giving users ways to install apps that aren't governed by first-party store policies. Rumors have also swirled that Apple may allow third-party app stores on iOS to please European regulators. If Apple ever loosens its approach, Google's head start on porting Blink could help it switch Chrome's web engine relatively quickly.
A change like that could shake up browser competition on iOS. Apple's WebKit requirement theoretically aids security by limiting the avenues for web exploits, but it also gives third-party browsers fewer ways to stand out — they can't use custom engines that might be faster or more feature-laden than Apple's Safari. As on Android or the desktop, an alternative browser would offer more than just a different interface.
Sony is preparing to release its next-gen virtual reality headset for PlayStation 5 on February 22nd. While there have been suggestions that demand for $550 PlayStation VR2 isn't quite what the company expected, Sony has tried to assuage fans' concerns and answer any lingering questions they might have in a lengthy FAQ.
The company reiterated that players will have more than 30 games to choose from during the launch window, which it defines as the first month. Among those are Horizon Call of the Mountain(a VR spin-off of the Horizon games), and VR modes for Resident Evil Village and Gran Turismo 7, which will both be free for folks who already own those games.
Users won't automatically be able to play games from the original PS VR on PS VR2. As Sony explains, "PS VR2 is designed to deliver a truly next-generation VR experience, with advanced features such as haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, inside-out tracking, eye tracking and more. Due to this new approach to playing games in PS VR2, PS VR games are not compatible with PS VR2." However, several developers have created PS VR2 versions of existing games and some are offering free upgrades.
Meanwhile, Sony says there are more than 100 games in development for PS VR2. Physical disc editions of some games will be available.
There are three main ways you can use PS VR2, but it'll be important to check the compatibility for each game. That's especially true if you don't have enough free space for the roomscale mode, which requires a minimum play area of two square meters (6 ft 7 in × 6 ft 7 in). The standing and sitting modes require a play area of one square meter (3 ft 4 in × 3 ft 4 in), but you'll need to make sure you have enough space to move your arms and the Sense controllers around. You can set up virtual boundaries and receive warnings from your headset when you get close to the edge.
Unlike with PS VR, you don't need to plug in a camera to your PS5 to use PS VR2. You can, however, film yourself while playing by connecting a PS5 HD Camera. There's the option to broadcast your footage as well. Although the PS5 only supports one headset at a time, friends and family who are in the room with you can watch what you're doing in-game in a 2D format on your TV.
There's a cinematic mode that allows users to view non-VR content from their PS5 while wearing the headset, which could come in handy if someone wants to use the TV for something else. The downside is that you won't be playing 2D games or watching media in 4K. Cinematic mode is limited to a resolution of 1080p with HDR, although the refresh rate will max out at 120Hz.
You also won't need a TV to use PS VR2 after the initial setup. So, if you wanted, you could use your PS5 and PS VR2 on the train if you don't mind lugging them around and annoying fellow passengers. You could even take it on a camping trip if you were so inclined.
The FAQ touches on some other key points, including accessibility. All the accessibility features that are available on PS5 will be present on PS VR2, except for the Zoom function. There are parental controls too.
ChatGPT, the automated text generation system from Open, has taken the world by storm in the two months since its public beta release but that time alone in the spotlight is quickly coming to an end. Google announced on Monday that its long-rumored chatbot AI project is real and on the way. It's called Bard.
Bard will serve as an "experimental conversational AI service," per a blog post by Google CEO Sundar Pichai Monday. It's built atop Google's existing Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) platform, which the company has been developing for the past two years.
"Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models," Pichai declared. "It draws on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses." Whether that reliance on the internet results in bigoted or racist behavior, as seemingly every chatbot before it has exhibited, remain to be seen.
The program will not simply be opened to the internet as ChatGPT was. Google is starting with the release of a lightweight version of LaMDA, which requires far lower system requirements than its full-specced brethren, for a select group of trusted users before scaling up from there. "We’ll combine external feedback with our own internal testing to make sure Bard’s responses meet a high bar for quality, safety and groundedness in real-world information," Pichai said. "We’re excited for this phase of testing to help us continue to learn and improve Bard’s quality and speed."
Chatting with internet users is only the next step in Google's larger AI mechanizations. Pichai notes that as user search requests become more complex and nuanced, "you’ll see AI-powered features in Search that distill complex information and multiple perspectives into easy-to-digest formats, so you can quickly understand the big picture and learn more from the web," Pichai said. He added that such features would be rolling out to users "soon." The commercial API running atop LaMDA, dubbed Generative Language API, will begin inviting select developers to explore the system starting next month.
Folks who are in the market for a great smartphone at an excellent price should definitely consider these deals on Google's Pixel 7 lineup. At Amazon, the Pixel 7 is down to $499, which is $150 off the standard price. The Pixel 7 Pro has received an identical discount, as it has dropped to $749.
Over at Best Buy, however, the phones have fallen to $399 and $599, respectively. While those are the best prices we've seen for either phone, they only apply if you choose the "Activate Today" option. You'd need to immediately activate the phone on AT&T, Google Fi, Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon, as Android Police points out. That may not make this option ideal if you use a smaller carrier or want to give a Pixel to someone else.
We scored the Pixel 7 a 90 and the Pixel Pro 7 a 92 in our review. We like the updated design, solid battery life (almost 18 hours in our testing), upgraded software features powered by Android 13 and the 90Hz display of the Pixel 7. On the downside, we felt that Google hadn't improved the general performance despite using a new Tensor G2 chip, while the lack of mmWave 5G support on the base model was disappointing.
Still, there's a ton to like about the Pixel 7. The camera tech, which includes an unblurring tool that even works on old photos from other devices, is excellent and features like audio message transcription are very welcome.
The larger display, better camera system and higher refresh rate of the Pixel 7 Pro might make it worth opting for that model. However, the Pixel 7 devices aren't as powerful as higher-end Android devices and iPhones. Meanwhile, some people might be tempted to wait for the rumored Pixel 7a, but that's not expected until Google I/O in May.
It's a good time to buy a smartwatch if you're committed to improving your fitness this year. Amazon is selling the 41mm GPS Apple Watch Series 8 with a Product Red case and matching Sport Band for $329, or a steep $70 off. That's the best price we've seen for Apple's latest wearable to date, and could make it an easy choice if you're an iPhone user. The latest 40mm GPS Apple Watch SE in Starlight is also discounted to just $219 (normally $249) if you're happy with the essentials.
The Apple Watch Series 8 is a modest update compared to its predecessor, but that still makes it one of the best smartwatches on the market. It's fast with a beautiful display, a wide range of apps and tight integration with the Apple ecosystem. Crash detection can help notify first responders in an emergency, while a temperature sensor can help users tracking their ovulation cycles. This is the smartwatch you want if you're an iPhone owner and value all-round performance.
It's not for everyone. Android users can't even consider it, of course, but you may want a dedicated fitness watch if detailed exercise tracking is vital. You may also want to look at alternatives (including the Apple Watch Ultra) if you want more than a day of battery life with full functionality. For that matter, there's a chance the Apple Watch Series 8 is overkill. If you don't care for an always-on display or advanced health sensors, the second-gen SE offers many of the 8's core features at a considerably lower price.
