Amazon’s Prime-exclusive Moto X4 is down to $200 for Prime Day

Amazon has the Prime-exclusive Moto X4 on sale for $199.99, which is $150 lower than it normally sells for. It’s an unlocked phone that is compatible with all major U.S. carriers. It has 32GB of storage inside, and Amazon’s Alexa built-in as well.

Be sure to check out the full review of the Moto X4 from Android Central and grab one for yourself now.

See at Amazon

Under Armour apparel is discounted by up to 40% for Prime Day

I work out.

Amazon is offering up to 40% off a wide variety of Under Armour clothing, shoes, and accessories. There are items for everyone in the family. This Prime Day deal requires a Prime membership, so click here for a free 30-day trial if you need one.

Make sure to click into each individual item if you want to see the full discount.

For example, the pictured Under Armour Men’s Raid 10-inch Shorts are down to $17.99 in a wide range of colors and sizes. That 40% off discount is the steepest this highly-rated item has ever seen.

See at Amazon

Amazon Prime members can save up to 40% on toys from dolls to board games

Time to start stocking the closet for Christmas.

Amazon is offering up to 40% off a wide variety of toys while supplies last. The deals in this sale are exclusively available to Prime members as part of Amazon’s Prime Day. If you’re not a member, you can still get in all of its offers by starting a free 30-day trial.

Some of the great deals include:

• When In Rome: the World’s First Alexa-Powered Board Game for $24.99
• Barbie Styling Head for $15.39
• 4D Cityscape Batman Mini Gotham City Puzzle for $23.93
• Monopoly (Amazon Exclusive) for $13.29
• Power Wheels Thomas & Friends Thomas Train with Track (Amazon Exclusive) for $76.54

Head to the sale page to see the full selection while stock lasts.

See at Amazon

Prime Day brings up to 30% on these popular STEM kids toys

Amazon has a bunch of STEM toys on sale for up to 30% off right now. From the Sphero Mini to wooden block sets there are a bunch of deals in here you’ll want to check out for your kids.

The sale has a number of items in it that would make great gifts, so you could get a jumpstart on your holiday shopping today and be one step ahead come this fall. Some of the discounts include:

• Thames & Kosmos TKx400i Dual-LED Microscope – $34.99 (Was $100)
• Kinetic Sand Folding Sand Box – $20.99 (Was $30)
• The Learning Journey Techno Gears – $13.99 (Was $20)
• ALEX Toys Future Coders Robot Races Coding Skills Kit – $13.27 (Was $20)

Be sure to check out the whole sale and see what else your kids may enjoy!

Best Prime Day Baby Deals: Wipes, Monitors, Formula, Swings & More

Babies grow quickly, and they need lots of clothes, toys, and things to stimulate their minds. All of that can add up super quickly, but if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can easily reap the rewards of Prime Day and save big on tons of baby gear so that your little one can keep healthy and happy, and you don’t have to tear your hair out when you see your empty wallet.

Follow along with us all day as we bring your the best deals on everything baby-related as they go live.

See all the best Prime Day dealsPrime Day Live Chat

All Baby-related Deals

Prime Day has brought a ton of price drops to baby-related gear, and the Thrifter team has gone through each one to make sure that each one listed below is actually a good deal.

Graco Pack n Play Playard

$33.24


$49.48


Save $16

From a place to play to somewhere to sleep, playards are essential to just about every new parent.

Graco Baby Swing

$51.02


$99.99


Save $49

This thing is a life saver, take it from the parent of a 5-month old who would only nap in this.

Graco Baby Products Prime Day Deal

From strollers to car seats to feeding essentials, these deals are great if you have a little one (or a little bun).

These Graco baby products are discounted by 30% or more

Little prices for little ones.

Amazon is offering a selection of Graco baby items for at least 30% off. There’s a ton of variety going on in this sale, so it’s perfect if you’re a parent, expecting, or going to a baby shower any time soon. This Prime Day deal is only valid for Amazon Prime members, so grab a free 30-day trial if you are in need.

For example, the Graco Pack ‘n Play in Carnival is down to only $33.24. This parenting essential has stellar customer reviews and usually sells for around $45.

Check out the entire sale here.

See at Amazon

Nest Hello vs. Ring Pro: Say hello to the new best connected doorbell

Nest Hello, left, and Ring Pro.

And just like that, I have a new favorite video doorbell.

Ring has made quite the name for itself the past couple years thanks to its stable of video doorbells, DIY security cameras — and I’d say some damned good marketing. So good, in fact, that Amazon reportedly scooped up the company for something like $1 billion.

But Nest Hello is here. It’s the first doorbell from the company that brought you the world’s sexiest smart thermostat, with all the back-end power that a Google-owned organization can possibly throw at it.

The result? I now have a new favorite doorbell.

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Tale of the tape

Why Nest Hello wins

Installation is a wash. Nest Hello and Ring Pro install with nearly identical processes. You’ll need a low-voltage doorbell system already in place — because how else would you get power to the thing, right? And if you’re handy and basic home improvement wiring stuff, you can get either doorbell up and running in about 20 minutes or so. (Maybe a tad longer — I’ve installed a half-dozen of these things at this point and have gotten pretty quick about it.)

In terms of pure looks, Nest wins out. Both doorbells are the only ones I haven’t looked at with a sense of disgust — seriously, there are some bad video doorbells out there — but Nest is just a sexier piece of hardware, hands down.

But it’s in the operation where things really stand out.

Most important, it’s the camera. Nest Hello has some HDR processing, and it’s readily apparent. My covered front porch tends to be backlit a lot, and Nest Hello handles that much better than Ring Pro.

Then there are the notifications. Ring is pretty aggressive with them, though it does have an excellent (new) snooze functionality. But Nest Hello wins out with facial recognition. It sees a face, you give it a name, and then you get smart notifications, telling you who’s at the door.

Ring Pro is pretty darn good. Nest Hello is better.

Ring has optional chimes, so you can hear notifications throughout a home. Nest Hello can use any of the three Google Home speakers. That means a $29 Google Home Mini can do that much more. And if someone the doorbell recognizes rings the bell, it’ll announce them by name. Which is ridiculously cool.

Then there’s the connection. I don’t know if it’s the difference between Ring Pro being an 802.11n device and Nest Hello being 802.11ac-compatible, or if it’s some other server magic from a Google-owned company, but Nest Hello hasn’t suffered from anywhere near the lag or outright disconnections that Ring Pro has.

Ring wins out in terms of subscription service, at least as far as price is concerned. Just $3 a month (or $30 a year) stores recorded events (motion, rings, and live viewing) for 60 days. Nest Aware starts $5 a month (or $50 a year) and gives you five days of recording. That’s five days of continuous recording, though. Not just events.

The bottom line

I’ve used every doorbell Ring has produced. At the time of this writing, I’ve had Nest Hello for a week. And while I still say ecosystem wins out — if you have a bunch of Ring equipment already, stay with a Ring doorbell — Nest Hello wins the head to head competition.

See at Nest

Best Amazon Prime Day Deals

Samsung SmartThings Home Monitoring Kit

$99.99


$199.99


Save $100

This kit comes with the essential SmartThings Hub, along with two Multipurpose sensors, a motion sensor and an outlet at its lowest price ever.

Harry Potter 8-film Collection 4K UHD

$79.99


$155.74


Save $76

Prepare for Fantastic Beasts 2 with over $50 off this Harry Potter set which comprises the original eight films of the series.

Asus FX503VD 15.6-inch powerful gaming laptop

$729.00


$925.00


Save $196

We’ve never seen this laptop drop this low even during last year’s Black Friday.

LifeStraw Personal Water Filter

$9.99


$16.89


Save $7

This product can filter 4,000 liters with proper use and maintenance, with the ability to remove 99.999999% of waterborne bacteria.

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• Everyday Essentials
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• Entertainment
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Microsoft Recommends All Customers Upgrade to Skype 8 With Skype 7 Set to Be Sunset in September

Microsoft today highlighted Skype 8 and recommended that customers upgrade to the new software as the company plans to retire Skype 7, aka Skype classic, later this year.

Skype 8 includes free HD video and screensharing calls with up to 24 people, reaction options for messages in conversations and @mentions to get someone’s attention in a group chat, a chat media gallery for viewing photos and links, customizable themes, a notification panel, and options to share photos, videos, and files over Skype that are up to 300MB in size.

In the future, Microsoft plans to add additional features that include read receipts, private conversations with end-to-end encryption, call recording, profile invites, and group links for initiating a call with multiple people. Skype 8 features are also rolling out on the iPad starting today.

Microsoft is encouraging all Skype users to update to the new 8.0 version of the software as earlier versions of Skype will stop working on September 1, 2018. Microsoft says it is discontinuing older versions of Skype in order to provide the best possible Skype experience with no quality or reliability issues.

Note: A previous version of this post listed the 8.0 update as new, due to the fact that Microsoft published a blog post announcing it as new this morning. Our readers have pointed out that Skype 8 has been available for some time, with 8.25 listed as the current version of the software.

Tags: Skype, Microsoft
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Review: Belkin’s Boost Up Wireless Charging Stand and Pad Feature 7.5W Speeds and Quality Designs, but Price is High

Belkin was one of the first companies to come out with a faster 7.5W wireless charger for the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus after wireless charging launched, and the company has now had time to create a second round of wireless chargers with a more refined design.

Released this spring, the $60 Belkin Boost Up Bold Wireless Charging Pad and the $70 Belkin Boost Up Wireless Charging Stand are Belkin’s newest wireless chargers designed for the iPhone, offering up the same 7.5W charging capability in a better package.

Both of these chargers are 7.5W, which means they’re able to charge an iPhone with Qi wireless charging capabilities at a faster speed than traditional 5W chargers. I tested Belkin’s two new chargers with an iPhone drained to 1 percent, and both charged up to right around 40 percent after an hour, which is in line with other summertime 7.5W charging speeds that I’ve seen.

Belkin advertises these chargers as 10W, but 7.5W is the maximum charging speed for iPhones. So if you have a Samsung device or something else that also charges via Qi and can charge at a faster speed, Belkin’s charging pad and stand can charge those electronics at their maximum charging speed too.

Wireless charging speeds can vary quite a bit depending on factors like temperature, so you’re not always going to see a lot of difference between 5W and 7.5W chargers as explained in our wireless charging guide.

For example, the original Belkin charger I have can charge my iPhone to about 46-48 percent in an hour during the wintertime (when it’s ~65 degrees), but those speeds drop when the ambient temperature is higher in my apartment in the summer and I see a smaller difference between 5W and 7.5W.

In general, I’ve found it’s better to use a 7.5W charger to eke out every bit of speed that you can, but on the whole, there’s not going to be a huge difference between 5W charging speeds and 7.5W charging speeds, and bells and whistles like fans and power management options (Belkin claims optimized performance via “premium shielding” and “precision resistors”) don’t seem to make a noticeable difference.

With performance not drastically different between wireless chargers – and to be clear, Belkin’s are charging at 7.5W – choosing a charger comes down to factors like price point and design. Belkin’s not going to win in the former category, but when it comes to design, these are well thought out.

Belkin’s Boost Up Bold Wireless Charging Pad

The Belkin Boost Up Bold Wireless Charging Pad is similar to the original Belkin Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad sold at Apple retail stores in that it offers the same simple, round shape, but it’s smaller, which makes it easier to use.

I’ve used an original Belkin Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad on my nightstand for months, and it’s been a frustrating experience just because it’s so large. Finding the sweet spot on the charger to get my iPhone X to charge is one of my absolute least favorite late night activities, and with a smaller area for the Bold Charging Pad, I am able to get my iPhone X situated in the dark much more quickly.

New charging pad on left, old charging pad on right
Belkin sells the Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad in pink, black, or white, and each is made from plastic and rubber. At the base, there’s a rubber bottom to keep the Charging Pad in place on a desk or a nightstand, and there’s a matching rubber ring at the top to prevent the iPhone from slipping when it’s placed on the charger.

The rest of the top of the charger is a soft, smooth material that has a subtle Belkin logo, and all in all, it’s a clean, attractive charger with no obvious branding.

The side of the Charging Pad is made from a shinier plastic that goes well with the matte top, and an unobtrusive LED at the side comes on when the iPhone is in the right spot, which lets you confirm that it’s being charged. I like the soft light that’s included on the charger – it’s not overly bright while providing me with charging status at a glance.

This same LED will light up if a foreign object like keys or coins are placed on the charger that could potentially affect wireless charging speeds.

At the back of the Charging Pad, there’s a single hole for the power source. All 7.5W chargers need ~18W+ power adapters to charge at maximum speeds, so Belkin has included its own 22.5W adapter. The adapter has a rather large power brick for a wireless charger, which may be of concern if you have limited plug space. It otherwise has a long 1.5m cord that can reach a power strip underneath a desk.

Belkin’s Boost Up Wireless Charging Stand

Belkin’s Boost Up Wireless Charging Stand, available in black or white, is the first stand-style wireless charging device that Belkin has designed for the iPhone. Rather than laying flat, the iPhone sits upright in Belkin’s Charging Stand in either portrait or landscape orientation.

Design wise, the Charging Stand looks similar to the Boost Up Bold Charging Pad, but with a plastic frame to hold it upright. The charging surface of the stand is just a bit larger than the pad’s surface, but the overall footprint is larger because of the design of the frame.

The frame extends several inches behind the charger and about an inch in front of it to provide stability. Each portion of the stand that makes contact with a desk or a nightstand is covered in a grippy rubber material to keep it in place, while the front of the stand and the charging portion are both covered in a soft, smooth silicone-style material.

An iPhone can either rest on the bottom of the stand’s frame while in Portrait orientation, or lay across the top of the frame while in landscape orientation. While the iPhone isn’t going to go anywhere on its own, it’s not as stable as a flat design just because the iPhone is in an upright position. That said, though, the design of the frame means that it’s not going to move from slight bumps.

There are two LEDs on the Charging Stand’s surface, one visible when the iPhone is in portrait orientation and one visible when it’s in landscape orientation. These use the same soft light as the Charging Pad, providing a way for you to tell if your device is charging without a glaringly bright LED drawing your eye at night.

The Boost Up Wireless Charging Stand ships with the same 22.5W adapter and power cord that comes with the Charging Pad.

Though the Charging Stand has a larger footprint than the Wireless Charging Pad and other similar flat wireless charging options, I liked that it was impossible to place my iPhone in the wrong spot. That made it perfect for nightstand use, because I can just drop my iPhone in place without needing to worry that it’s not getting power overnight.

I was also able to glance over and unlock it with Face ID in some situations without even picking up the iPhone, just because of its upright position.

It would be nice if Belkin had made the stand adjustable in some way to let people change the angle of the iPhone if desired, but by default, it’s in an ideal position for movie watching in landscape mode if you also want your Charging Stand to double as a regular stand.

Bottom Line

At $60 for the Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad and $70 for the Boost Up Wireless Charging Stand, Belkin is charging a lot more than some other companies. At this point, you can get a 7.5W charger for $20 to $40 from Amazon. Not all of those are Apple certified, of course, which is worth noting.

Belkin does have Apple approval for its wireless chargers, and both the pad and the stand come with the Belkin Connected Equipment Warranty. Belkin says if your device is damaged by an electrical charge while properly connected to the charger, it will repair or replace it up to a value of $2,500. I don’t know of anyone who has had an iPhone damaged by a wireless charger, but I guess it could happen.

Clear Apple certification is one benefit of the Wireless Charging Pad and the Wireless Charging Stand, but design is another. Most of the cheap chargers on Amazon all look and function the same. Belkin’s Wireless Charging Stand, though, offers a unique, hassle-free design that looks nice on a desk and provides the convenience of not having to fuss with positioning.

The Wireless Charging Pad isn’t quite as unique looking, but it features a solid build with grippiness in all the right places, along with a size that isn’t overwhelming to also make for easier positioning.

These chargers aren’t going to be for everyone because there are much cheaper options on the market, but for customers who want the peace of mind of Apple certification or more thoughtful design elements, the Belkin Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad and the Boost Up Wireless Charging Stand may be worth paying a premium for.

How to Buy

You can buy the Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad ($60) and the Boost Up Wireless Charging Stand ($70) from the Belkin website.

Note: Belkin provided MacRumors with a Boost Up Wireless Charging Pad and a Boost Up Wireless Charging Stand for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

Tags: Belkin, wireless charging
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Apple Seeds Fourth Beta of macOS 10.14 Mojave to Developers

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming macOS Mojave update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after releasing the third beta and more than a month after introducing the software at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

macOS Mojave introduces a new method of installing software updates, so after you’ve installed the appropriate profile from the Apple Developer Center, additional betas can be downloaded clicking on the Apple in the menu bar, choosing “About This Mac” and clicking “Software Update.” Alternatively, open System Preferences and choose the “Software Update” icon.

Today’s beta is available for the 2018 MacBook Pro, so those who have purchased one of Apple’s machines can now try it with macOS Mojave.

The macOS Mojave update brings a long-awaited systemwide Dark Mode, with Mojave users able to choose between a light theme or the new dark theme, which changes the color of the dock, menu bar, apps, and other elements. Dark Mode is accompanied by Dynamic Desktops, aka wallpapers that subtly change throughout the day.

Stacks, a new desktop organization system, keeps all of your desktop files neat and organized, while Finder has been enhanced with a Gallery View, a Sidebar, a revamped Quick Look option and Quick Actions, so you can do more in the Finder window than ever before.

Screenshots can now be edited using Markup tools and a new management options that also allow for easy screen recording, while Continuity camera, a new feature, allows you to import photos and document scans directly from an iPhone or iPad to the Mac.

The Apple News, Stocks, Home, and Voice Memos apps have been ported from iOS to macOS as part of a multiyear project Apple is working on to make it easier to bring iOS apps to Macs, and Apple has introduced several new privacy protections to keep your data safer than ever.

Apple is also making it harder for websites to track you with a range of new Safari tools, and it’s also easier to make and store secure, hard-to-guess passwords for each and every website.

Apple has added an entirely revamped Mac App Store to macOS Mojave that makes it easier to discover apps with a featured section and specific categories for games, creative apps, productivity apps, apps for developers, and more.

macOS Mojave is available to developers and public beta testers to work out bugs and other issues ahead of an upcoming fall public release.

Related Roundup: macOS Mojave
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