Verizon is offering up to $300 in credit when you trade in your old phone
Verizon Wireless has launched another one of its trade-in promotion offers. Customers can bring in their older phone and get up to $300 in credit toward the purchase of a new phone.
The offer is for customers who are switching to Verizon, or current ones who are either upgrading or adding a new line to their service. The deal even includes older phones that have a cracked screen. Verizon says:
Trading in your phone is simple. The fastest way to score these savings is by visiting a Verizon store with on-the-spot credit for your trade-in. At Verizon stores, you can receive the immediate value when you trade in your smartphone in good, working condition and apply that value immediately as a down payment toward your new smartphone. Or you can also enjoy a Verizon account credit or gift card.
The trade-in can also be completed online at Verizon’s website. The new phones that are eligible to be purchased with the trade in credit include the HTC 10, LG G5, Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy S7 edge, Samsung Galaxy Note 5, Motorola Droid Turbo 2 or Motorola Maxx 2. The offer will be available for a “limited time” but no specific deadline was revealed.
Sprint customers now can pay for Amazon Prime through their bill, get first 60 days free
Sprint has announced that customers can now sign up for Amazon Prime service through Sprint. This will allow customers to pay for the service on their Sprint bill for $10.99 per month.
From Sprint:
Sprint, the exclusive wireless retailer of Amazon Prime, offers customers the convenience of adding Amazon Prime to their monthly wireless bill for just $10.99. AND…for the month of July, customers can enjoy all the benefits of Amazon Prime on us (for 60 days). After that, they can continue with the monthly service or cancel at any time.
Customers wishing to add Prime to their Sprint bill can head over to Sprint’s Prime site, call 1-(800)-SPRINT1, or head to a Sprint store to sign up. You’ll get an activation link in a text message, which you’ll need to click to finish the process.
Sprint is also the official wireless retailer of Amazon Prime Day, a sales event during which Amazon will offer Prime members deals on a wide variety of products. Prime Day will take place on July 12.
Sony Xperia X Performance review: 80% of a great phone
Sony’s new line of smartphones gets a spec boost in the Xperia X Performance, but do a few tweaks to the formula justify its $699 cost?
The quick take
The Sony Xperia X Performance is a good phone, but it not only fails to justify its $150 premium over its cheaper counterpart, it also falls down as a flagship, too. Too few improvements over the Z5 series, and some frustrating screen responsiveness issues, have us asking how, after so long, Sony still can’t get it right.
The Good
- Great performance in apps and games
- Nice daylight photo capabilities
- Excellent stereo sound output
- Waterproof metal chassis is one hand-friendly
The Bad
- Stupefying screen responsiveness issues
- Slow camera startup and occasional shutter stutter
- Too similar to the Z5
- Can’t justify its $150 price increase over Xperia X
Fighting to justify a price
Sony Xperia X Performance Full review
Sony’s had an interesting few years in the mobile space. Since 2013, the company released a new Z-series product every eight months or so, iterating on what has become a relatively safe, austere design ethic. When the series arrived at its fifth version (the Japan-only Z4 notwithstanding) in 2015, it became apparent there wasn’t much innovation left to extract from, as the company claimed, “the best of Sony.”
That’s why, when the Xperia X and its Performance counterpart were unveiled at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, I was at once let down and cautiously optimistic about Sony’s commitment to improvement. Let down because at first glance the new series resembled its predecessors in too many ways; optimistic because Sony claimed that it was breaking ties with its past.
The reality is somewhere in the middle: while the Xperia X, and its X Performance counterpart, are in some ways marked improvements in Sony’s mobile narrative, they are also regressions in a couple important ways. And when the more expensive of the two arrives at a price point equivalent to some of the best products on the market, its existence becomes harder to justify.
About this review
I (Daniel Bader) am writing this review after using the Canadian model of the Sony Xperia X Performance (F8131) for two weeks in the Greater Toronto area. I used the phone primarily on Bell’s LTE network, but popped in my personal Rogers SIM card for a time.
The device ran Android 6.0.1 on Build number 35.0.A.1.227 for the entirety, with a (disappointing) April 1, 2016 security patch.
 |
5.63 in143mm |  |
| 2.78 in70.5mm | 0.34 in8.6mm |
- Display:
- 5.0-inch Full HD
- IPS LCD Display
- 1920×1080 resolution (441ppi)
- Camera:
- 23MP, ƒ/2.0 lens
- 13MP front camera
- Battery:
- 2700 mAh capacity
- Quick Charge 2.0
- Chips:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor
- Dual-core 2.2GHz, Dual-core 1.6Ghz
- 3GB RAM
- 32GB internal storage
- microSD slot
Same difference
Sony Xperia X Performance Hardware
Last year, when Sony replaced its so-called OmniBalance power button with a flat, sunken key that doubled as a fingerprint sensor, there was a palpable sense of rightness in the decision. That the Xperia X Performance maintains that legacy is no surprise, but Sony’s decision to keep all but a few elements of the Z series in tact is — and disappointing.
(A quick note: the U.S. version of the Sony Xperia X Performance doesn’t include a fingerprint sensor in the power button, for reasons both confusing to us and irrelevant to users who miss out on one of the phone’s best features.)
Compact though it is — the metallic chassis more than resembles the Xperia Z5 Compact — the 5-inch display approaches the edges on the vertical side but leaves plenty of room on the horizontal. Thankfully, Sony decided to use the area on top of the 2700 mAh to expand the cavities in both front-facing speakers, resulting in some of the best external sound I’ve heard on a smartphone outside of HTC’s products.
The right side reinforces Sony’s “if it ain’t broke” mentality, recalling every Z-series product with the centered power button above an elongated volume rocker and dual-step camera shutter. I suppose I should be grateful for the camera shutter, but as you’ll see later, its efficacy is marred by software that cares little for cooperating.
While the phone’s IPS panel is great, the phone’s touch sensor is not. In fact, it’s the X Performance’s biggest fault.
And while the phone’s frame is metal, as is the back, whose hairline brushed texture differentiates it from the staid aluminum of the Xperia X, the sides are a smooth plastic, which elegantly meet the curved glass of the 1080p screen.
I concur with Mr. Dobie in saying that I don’t begrudge Sony sticking to a 1920×1080 pixel panel for the X series; it is not only one of the best I’ve seen on a smartphone, but at 441ppi it is sufficiently sharp to meet even the most demanding of critics. Moreover, the screen gets bright — really bright — which is fantastic for outdoor visibility.
But here’s the thing: while the IPS LCD panel is great, the phone’s touch sensor is not. In fact, it’s the X Performance’s biggest fault. When I began using the phone, I tapped out a few messages to some friends and discovered the screen couldn’t keep up. I changed keyboards, from the default SwiftKey to Google Keyboard, with identical results. I descended pages in Chrome, realizing the phone didn’t always register my light taps to stop scrolling. I did the same for Twitter, with identical results.
In app after app, I discovered the X Performance failed to register light taps. I went back to the Xperia X and noticed a similar trend. I asked Andrew Martonik, who received the X Performance a week after me, who corroborated my findings.
Now, touch sensitivity is a, well, sensitive topic. Some people mash their keyboards; others very deliberately tap to stop a scrolling web page. Those people should be fine with the X Performance, but this is an issue I haven’t experienced so overtly since the poor touch performance on the Nexus One back in 2010. For the way I use my phone, the X Performance quickly became an exercise in frustration. While I found more success switching to gliding, that I couldn’t confidently type consistently marred the experience of using the Xperia X Performance. What’s unclear is whether the X Performance could avert this disaster on a larger scale with a software update, or if the touch sensor is inherently flawed. (Sony has been mute on the topic so far.)
It’s also possible that I am being overly, well, sensitive to this whole thing and that its screen sensitivity will go unnoticed by Sony’s customers — but I’m willing to bet it won’t.
Around back, the X Performance’s camera neither protrudes nor draws attention to itself, which is a nice change of pace from the rest of the big players in the industry, but the single LED flash is disappointingly perfunctory. More on the camera below.
The specs contained inside is where the X Performance is supposed to differentiate itself. With a quad-core Snapdragon 820 — currently Qualcomm’s fastest chip, and the same one found in the Samsung Galaxy S7, LG G5, and HTC 10 — the Performance has ample room to breathe. In fact, as Alex noted in his review of the Xperia X, even the much slower Snapdragon 650 is sufficiently capable of powering Android 6.0 with a 1080p display.
So why covet the more powerful chip? While apps and games certainly load faster and perform better, much of the difference can be seen in the speed at which the camera app loads and takes pictures. Sony still has a long way to go to compete with Samsung and HTC when it comes to the camera loading times — the speed at which you go from black screen to shutter — but the X Performance is notably faster than the X in this regard. The Snapdragon 820 also has a best-in-class image signal processor that improves overall photo quality by reducing noise, especially in low light, and anticipating hand shake to offset motion blur. Unfortunately, without optical image stabilization, Sony’s excellent 23MP sensor is still subject to the whims of physics, but the X Performance takes great photos at least some of the time.
So subtle
Xperia X Performance Software
It’s clear that, like many other OEMs, Sony is moving away from software differentiation in favor of a simplified launcher and Material Design flourishes in its apps.
But Sony has not taken hints from the likes of HTC in reducing the number of apps it pre-installs on its devices. To wit, the Xperia X Performance arrives replete with (admittedly well-designed) takes on the gallery, video player, music player, email client, news aggregator, weather app, fitness app, sketching app, movie maker, and Shazam clone. (A few like to pop up promotional notifications as well.) In all, aside from the essentials like the phone and contacts app, there were 14 Sony-built apps preloaded on the X Performance, and a couple others, like Amazon Shopping and AVG Protection antivirus, that were tacked on for additional revenue.
Defying appearances of a lightweight experience, Sony’s version of Android occupies nearly 12GB of the phone’s 32GB of internal storage
I can’t really begrudge Sony for wanting to outfit its customers with the best experiences, but there is just too much in the way of superfluous and unnecessary software here for my liking. Apps like Movie Creator and Sketch are inherently not well suited for a 5-inch canvas, and should have stayed on the Play Store as opt-in experiences.
Defying appearances of a lightweight experience, Sony’s version of Android occupies nearly 12GB of the phone’s 32GB of internal storage, a gross misuse of important user resources. Some of these assets can be found in the form of themes, four of which are included on the phone, with many more available on Sony’s haphazardly stocked and of-dubious-quality Xperia Theme store.
The company’s launcher has stolen one of the better features from the iPhone in the ability to swipe down on an unused portion of the homescreen to quickly search for and open apps. While Sony does use this as an opportunity to suggest likely-sponsored apps, I found it an effortless and intuitive way to quickly bypass the folder/app drawer dichotomy. Elsewhere, the multitasking menu, notification shade, and quick settings are all reminiscent of stock Android Marshmallow, which I dare say is a good call.
As it tends to, Sony’s bundled a confusing array of audio options that are thankfully not necessary to enjoy the phone’s excellent aural output, but present for those who want to tweak. A feature taken from the company’s new Walkman line, DSEE HX, upconverts music to “near Hi-Res Audio quality” by interpreting in real time and filling in the frequency gaps in most modern compressed audio streams. Another, ClearAudio+, automatically equalizes and normalizes music played from either the headphone jack or front-facing speakers. I found that neither setting dramatically improved the quality of a typical 320kbps Spotify stream.
Similarly, Sony’s outfitted the X Performance with a vast array of display settings, including its mainstay X-Reality for mobile algorithms that improve the quality of photos and videos when viewed or played through its first-party apps. These are, as above, subtle changes that most people either won’t notice or take the time to appreciate. They’ll just hear great audio and view vivid images.
Here’s what I think: If Sony really wanted to use the X line to split from the deleterious abundance of options in its Z series, it should have merely incorporated these algorithms into the core operating system and removed the user from the equation altogether. As it stands, the X line is shaping up to be just as bloated as its forebears, which will (in addition to its insane price) harm its mass appeal. Samsung is a good example of a company that learned its lesson between generations by explicitly simplifying its software, emphasizing only those features it truly believes users will want to both download, and use.
Sharp, at times
Sony Xperia X Performance Cameras
If you want the best camera on an Android phone, especially one in the $500+ range, look elsewhere. While the quality is marginably improved over the regular Xperia X, thanks to differences in the image signal processing between the Snapdragon 650 and 820, you’re getting pretty close to the same experience.
As with much of the X Performance, the camera experience is nearly great but is marred by a couple of glaring issues.
As in years past, the 23MP Exmor RS sensor is of high quality, but fails to impress in low light situations. In sunlight, though, I was able to take some pretty great photos, with sharp, fast focus and ample detail. In low light, however, the lack of optical image stabilization forces Sony’s camera app to raise the light sensitivity (ISO) to undesirable levels in order to keep shutter speed apace with its subjects.
Let’s put this into real-world terms: I attended a wedding this past weekend, and used the Xperia X Performance as my primary camera. Since it was at a botanical garden, I was able to snap some lovely nature photos, and some great portraits, all of which came out superbly thanks to Sony’s relatively intelligent Superior Auto mode. But once we went indoors and the lights dimmed, the X Performance balked at any attempt I made to capture even the slowest-moving of humans, maxing its shutter at a woeful 1/8 despite ratcheting the ISO to above 2000.
While optical image stabilization doesn’t solve for fast-moving subjects, it does account for hand shake, and usually leads to better photos in general. Sony’s stubborn refusal to outfit even its flagship products with such a module borders on idiocy at this point, as practically every other OEM, from Samsung to HTC to LG, OnePlus and Huawei, have figured this out (the Nexus 6P being the one major exception).
As with much of the X Performance, the camera experience is nearly great, but, photo quality aside, is marred by a couple of glaring issues. The camera app doesn’t load quickly enough, and the shutter often stumbles on its first capture, which is usually of the most critical subject. And mirroring its predecessors, the app’s manual mode is woefully understocked, with no ability to set shutter speed or focus. For a phone that wants to sell itself on the efficacy of its camera experience, it stumbles far too often.
One big change from the Z5 series is the 13MP front-facing camera, which is indeed one of the better sensors I’ve tried. It’s also paired with a fairly wide f2.0 lens that meets all of the important criteria for social engagements: quick focus; room for more than two people without stretching; and smile shutter.
Good, not great
Xperia X Performance Battery life
With a slightly larger 2700 mAh cell than its X counterpart, the X Performance offers merely average battery life. After using the phone as my daily driver for two weeks, I would end some days with upwards of 30% left in the tank, while on others I would contend with having to charge by 3 p.m. The Snapdragon 820 seems to be more efficient than the 810 found in the Z5, but I also think that phone’s 2900 mAh was probably the right size, and I would have taken a slightly thicker chassis to benefit from an extra 10% of battery capacity.
Thankfully, the phone supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 standard, which promises to charge it from dead to full in under 90 minutes. That said, some sort of fast charging support is table stakes for phones half this price. You’d also think that including a quick charger in the box would be table stakes … but the Canadian model doesn’t have one (the U.S. model does, though.)
The Bottom Line
Should you buy the Sony Xperia X Performance? Probably not
Let’s take a look at what we have. A phone with at least one critical flaw that could possibly be solved with a software update. A phone that, were it $200 cheaper, would still have trouble standing out amidst a sea of affordable and compelling Android devices. A phone that misses its opportunity to really capitalize on Sony’s glowing reputation for making the industry’s best phone camera sensors. A phone that insists on offering the same number of vexing and acronym-heavy audiovisual features as its predecessors.
When I look at the X Performance, I don’t see a series that breaks away from its Z predecessor. I see evidence of a company that knows how to make 80% of a great smartphone and no idea where the other 20% is hiding.
Where to buy the Sony Xperia X Performance
You can buy the Sony Xperia X Performance from several retailers online in the U.S., as well as in Canada.
See at B&H Photo
See at BestBuy
See at Amazon
Sony is resurrecting its robots for a full financial recovery
Sony is back in the robotics race. The consumer company gave us AIBO, one of the most popular “entertainment” robotic dogs, in the late ’90s. But due to heavy losses and a corporate restructure in 2006, the canine bot and all related AI efforts were scaled back. Now a decade later, as the company powers through its financial troubles, it is renewing its commitment to consumer robots and artificial intelligence. This week, CEO Kazuo Hirai announced that Sony has re-established a corporate arm dedicated to robotics. While he didn’t spell out the nature of the bots that will be rolled out, he mentioned that they will be “capable of forming an emotional bond with customers.”
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Hirai also mentioned that the robotics strategy will follow the company’s “recurring” products theme, which indicates a repeat purchasing model that brings consumers back for more. While the electronics company is banking on its hardware strengths, they also invested in an American AI startup called Cogitai that is dedicated to developing smart systems that can continually learn from their own experiences in the world.
Sidewalk Labs’ smart city kiosks go way beyond free WiFi
The details of an ambitious plan from Google’s sister company Sidewalk Labs to create entire “smart neighborhoods” just got a little clearer. According to Sidewalk Labs’ pitch deck, which was obtained by Recode this week, the plan goes far beyond those free WiFi kiosks that are already on the streets of New York City. The kiosks will monitor everything from bike and pedestrian traffic to air quality and street noise.
“The Kiosk sensor platform will help address complex issues where real-time ground truth is needed,” one document read. “Understanding and measuring traffic congestion, identifying dangerous situations like gas leaks, monitoring air quality, and identifying quality of life issues like idling trucks.”
In addition to monitoring environmental factors like humidity and temperature, a bank of air pollutant sensors will also monitor particulates, ozone, carbon monoxide and other harmful chemicals in the air. Two other sensor banks will measure “Natural and Manmade Behavior” by tracking street vibrations, sound levels, magnetics fields and entire spectrums of visible, UV and infrared light. Finally, the “City Activity” sensors will not only be able to measure pedestrian traffic, it will also look for security threats like abandoned packages. While free gigabit WiFi on the streets sounds like a win for everyone’s data plan, it also comes at a cost: the kiosks will also be able to track wireless devices as they pass by, although it will most likely be anonymized.
The LinkNYC kiosks — about 200 of which have already been deployed — offer some of these features, but they lack the complete suite of sensors that Sidewalk Labs believes will give cities a better picture of how their citizens work and move around. (LinkNYC is not directly a Sidewalk Labs project, it is part of a consortium connected to Sidewalk Labs.) As the company explained it to Smart City Challenge winner Columbus, Ohio, “Each Kiosk includes data analytics [that would allow Columbus to] better understand the urban environment via environmental sensors and machine learning algorithms that integrate numerous data sources.”
In one such example provided by the documents, data collected from traffic cameras and passing devices could be used to re-calculate travel times in Google Maps — think Waze, but with data on the municipal level. In the end, however, it’s up to each city to decide which sensors they want included in the devices. While many have obvious practical uses, Recode also points out there are some significant costs involved. Although the Sidewalk Labs pitch offers to provide the kiosks for free, there’s still installation, setup and maintenance fees. All told, 100 “free” kiosks are expected to costs a city around $4.5 million in the first year.
Of course, that cost can be defrayed if the city is willing to allow Sidewalk Labs to install two 55-inch advertising screens on each kiosk. While Sidewalk will foot the bill for the ad space, it also gets to keep 50 percent of the profits. With 100 kiosks, a city stands to make back an estimated $3 million per year in advertising revenue.
Apple Accuses Spotify of ‘Resorting to Rumors and Half-Truths’, Sets Record Straight on App Rejection
Yesterday, Spotify accused Apple of using its App Store approval process as a “weapon to harm competitors” after Apple rejected a Spotify app update, and now Apple has responded to Spotify’s accusations to “set the record straight.”
In a letter to Spotify lawyer Horacio Gutierrez that was shared by BuzzFeed, Apple’s legal head Bruce Sewell says Apple is disappointed with the public attacks and concerned that Spotify is asking for exemptions to rules that apply to all app developers.
There can be no doubt that Spotify has benefited enormously from its association with Apple’s App Store. Since joining the App Store in 2009, Apple’s platform has provided you with over 160 million downloads of your app, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in incremental revenue to Spotify. That’s why we find it troubling that you are asking for exemptions to the rules we apply to all developers and are publicly resorting to rumors and half-truths about our service.
Our guidelines help competition, not hurt it. The fact that we compete has never influenced how Apple treats Spotify or other successful competitors like Google Play Music, Tidal, Amazon Music, Pandora or the numerous other apps on the App Store that distribute digital music.
Sewell goes on to say that Spotify’s belief it should not have to pay to take advantage of the “benefits of Apple’s hard work” is “simply unfair and unreasonable,” pointing out that the App Store rules existed long before Apple Music was introduced. He also points out the new revenue split rules for subscriptions, which will see Apple taking a 15 percent cut from customers who have subscribed to a service for more than a year, instead of a 30 percent cut.
Sewell’s letter to Spotify ends with some clarification on why Spotify’s app was rejected on May 26. Spotify replaced its in-app subscription purchase options with an account sign-up feature Apple says was “clearly intended to circumvent Apple’s in-app purchase rules.”
Apple notified Spotify about the guideline violation and following discussions with Apple, Spotify submitted a new version of the app on June 10 that incorporated the same sign-up feature asking for customer email addresses to be used to invite customers to sign up for a Spotify subscription on the web, which Apple again rejected.
That feature exists only for the purpose of avoiding to having to pay Apple for your use of the App Store by emailing customers within hours, directing them to subscribe to Spotify on its website. A clear violation of the terms every other developer adheres to. […]
There is nothing in Apple’s conduct that “amounts to a violation of applicable antitrust laws.” Far from it. Apple has continued to innovate with lower pricing for our customers, and a new revenue share model for the developers that have helped make us so successful. We understand you want special treatment and protections from competition, but we simply will not do that because we firmly adhere to the principle of treating all developers fairly and equitably.
In Spotify’s own letter, sent to Apple on June 26 but made public yesterday, Spotify accused Apple of causing “grave harm” to its business by rejecting the app update. Spotify said Apple’s aim was to “exclude and diminish the competitiveness of Spotify on iOS,” which “raises serious concerns under both US and EU competition law.”
Sewell’s full letter to Spotify can be read over at BuzzFeed.
Tags: App Store, Spotify, Apple Music
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Amazon adds PBS Kids shows to its children’s lineup
Amazon is always looking to pad its streaming library, and that includes new shows for younger viewers. The company announced today that it’s now the “exclusive subscription streaming home” for a number of PBS Kids series. Shows like Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Wild Kratts, Odd Squad, Dinosaur Train and more are available to Prime members at no extra charge.
While some of those titles were already on Prime, they’re now exclusive to the service as some were also available on Netflix and other streaming options in the past. What’s more, Nature Cat and Ready Jet Go! are now on Prime for the first time. And now that the video service is available as a standalone subscription, parents can opt in during summer break.
Source: Amazon (Business Wire)
Best cheap in-ear headphones to replace your stock earbuds
By Lauren Dragan
This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. Read the full article here.
If we wanted to buy in-ear headphones to replace the earbuds that came with our phone for around the same price, we’d get the AKG Y20U. After researching hundreds of headphones in this price range, seriously considering 244, and testing 108 (68 in the last two rounds, and 40 this round) with our panel of audio experts, we’re confident that the AKG Y20U is the best purchase for the money. The headphones are comfortable, have a one-button universal remote and mic, and sound a lot better than their price tag would lead you to believe.
Who should buy this?
Ever wonder if you could get better sound than the headphones that came with your smartphone without spending much more than it would cost to replace them? Or perhaps your tween is asking you for new earbuds because they lost their latest pair (again). Or maybe you have a pet who is a fan of munching cords. Sometimes you just want a pair of headphones that cost as little as possible but still get the job done. These are those.
If you’re looking for something a little better, check out our $100 in-ear picks; if you want something for the gym, check out our exercise headphones; if you have no clue where to start, read our guide titled Which Headphones Should I Get? to help the process along.
How we chose what to test
Testing is serious business. Our panelist John tackles the third round of contenders. Photo: Lauren Dragan
We began by finding as many positive single reviews by professionals as we could. This started our “to consider” list. Next, we emailed several of our colleagues in the audio industry to ask for their favorites. Then we crowdsourced: Amazon, Best Buy, HeadFi, NewEgg, and others—if there were reviews, we read them. Anything we hadn’t previously tested that was rated four stars (out of five) or better (keeping a careful eye out for trustworthy reviews) got added to the list. Since our original testing, we’ve seriously considered 244 headphones in this category.
We made a final qualification. If a pair of headphones cost more than Apple EarPods, they were required to have a mic and remote option, like the EarPods. Pairs without mic and remote were acceptable at $25 or less. After choosing our contenders, we tested 40 new pairs of headphones in like-priced groups to see which would come out on top.
Our pick
The AKG Y20U were the clear winners in our latest round of testing with the best combination of fit, sound, and convenience for the money. Photo: Michael Hession
The AKG Y20U fit every one of our panelists, sounded great, and cost only $30 at the time of writing. For those paying attention, that’s the same price as a replacement pair of Apple EarPods—and the Y20Us sound vastly superior.
These earphones have more depth to their sound than any of our picks in this category to date. Their boosted bass is pleasant and doesn’t muddy up the mids or overwhelm the highs. You may notice a bit more oomph to an already intense bassline, but you won’t lose detail in the vocals or guitars. Unlike a significant number of headphones we tested, the Y20U’s highs aren’t piercing or sizzling, nor do they make voices insanely sibilant.
The fit is secure and low-profile. Unlike many earbuds that stick straight out from your ear, the Y20U curve slightly and tuck in against your outer ear. This means the tips aren’t bearing the brunt of stabilization, and you won’t need to adjust the Y20U in your ears frequently when you’re walking.
Finally, the Y20U pair has a universal single-button remote/mic, comes with a small coin-purse-style case, and is available in a few fun colors (teal, yellow, and gray).
The best-sounding option with an iOS-compatible remote/mic
If you need a three-button remote/mic, a pair of the Brainwavz Delta is your best option; however, it does come with a few caveats. Photo: Michael Hession
The Brainwavz Delta headphones are a great value for the price. They have a well-balanced sound signature, with a slight bump in the bass in the 60 Hz area and a little treble boost around 2 kHz to 4 kHz to balance that out. This means that you’ll have a clear, robust bassline without losing clarity in lyrics, hi-hat hits, or guitar riffs.
Another major part of why the Brainwavz work so well is their ability to fit various ear sizes and shapes. There were other models we couldn’t even test due to one or more testers not being able to get a good seal. The Deltas come with three pairs of silicone tips and one pair of noise-isolating Comply foam tips, which is a treat in this price range. The Deltas are available in both an Apple and Android three-button option with remote and mic, too.
Though the Brainwavz were highly ranked by our testers, we did receive a number of comments from unhappy readers who’d experienced breakage or static, and even though Brainwavz made some changes in the model’s build, the occasional comment persists. What also holds true, though, is that Brainwavz’s customer service is exemplary, which is worth mentioning.
The best sound for the least money
At this low price, the Panasonic RP-TCM125’s quality is tough to beat. Photo: Michael Hession
If you want to spend the absolute least amount possible and still get quality sound, you can’t beat the Panasonic RP-TCM125 ErgoFit. A former overall pick, the headphones still hold up really well and are now our budget choice. They were the favorite of every panelist in the $13-and-under category. The RP-TCM125 headphones have a nice overall balance with airy, mellow highs and present-but-not-dominating bass. They sound just as good listening to acoustic guitar as they do hip hop and rock. Unlike most competition in this price range, nothing pierces, nothing’s muddy—every frequency plays well with the others. They don’t have the depth of field or bass quality of the AKG pair, but for $13 or so, they’re really great. The RP-TCM125 headphones have a single-button remote and mic and come in a variety of colors, too.
This guide may have been updated by The Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.
Facebook is making it easier to post in multiple languages
Facebook has over 1 billion users around the world but, as you might expect, not all of them speak the same language. This can be an issue if you have friends and family who speak in different lingo. The company has supported multiple languages for several years now, of course, but what if you wanted to write a post that was readable by not only your English-speaking friends, but those who know Spanish and French too? Well, you could soon do that, thanks to a new multilingual composer that Facebook is testing out. With this feature, you can write a single post in multiple languages, while those who read the post will see it in just their preferred language. The feature actually rolled out earlier this year to Page authors, but is now being tested widely across all users.
This is how it works. When you’re writing a post, you’ll see some text asking you if you want the post to appear in another language. Click it, and you can then choose which languages you want from a drop-down list. It’ll then automatically fill out separate messages with the appropriate machine-translated text — the sort that you’d find on Google Translate, for example. You can go with these if you like, but if you’re multilingual and that machine-translation isn’t up to snuff, you can actually go in and fix it up so it reads correctly in those other languages. Doing this also helps teach Facebook’s machine-translation to get better over time.
As for which version of the post your friends will see, that depends on their preferred language. Their preferences are determined not only by their settings but also by which country they happen to be in and by a Language Identification process that figures out what lingo is most commonly used in their posts. So if their posts are mostly in Spanish, they’ll likely see the Spanish post instead of the English one. But if they speak a mix of English and Spanish (or a different language entirely) and it’s difficult to figure out what their preference is, they’ll just see the original text by default, at which point they can use the existing “See Translation” tool to read the translations.
Now, this feature is not available to everyone just yet. It’s just in testing right now, so that the team can work out any remaining kinks. But if you are part of the test group, you’ll find that you can enable the multilingual composer in the language section under settings. It’s desktop-only for now, though the aforementioned viewing experience should be open to all.
Alexa shops for Amazon Prime items so you don’t have to
Amazon’s virtual assistant could already lend a hand with re-ordering items, and now Alexa is a much more helpful shopping companion. Rather than just replenishing items you’ve already purchased or compiling a shopping list, Alexa now searches for new items based on your voice commands. If you’re looking for a new food processor, for example, the virtual assistant will go through Amazon’s Prime product listings to make a suggestion. If you’re happy with what Alexa turned up, you can easily order it without having to use another device.
Alexa uses the payment method you’ve setup for Amazon’s one-click ordering and if you aren’t happy with the item when it arrives, you can always send it back free of charge. The company says the virtual assistant’s new skill allows it to sort through tens of millions of listings based on voice cues from an Echo, Echo Dot, Tap or Fire TV. All you have to do is say “Alexa, order me” whatever you’re after and the software does the rest, as long as you have a Prime membership.
