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Samsung just provided availability details for a full range of new TVs as part of its Unbox & Discover event. These include Neo QLED 8K models, Neo QLED 4K models and various OLED boxes. Many of these TVs were originally teased at CES, but now preorders are actually open for consumers looking for a new way to watch that upcoming Star Wars show.

Samsung calls the NEO QLED QN900D the “slimmest, most premium 8K TV to ever hit the market.” It’s got everything you can think of, including AI to upscale content to 8K. This should lure in curious, yet wary, consumers into the world of 8K televisions. Most content providers lack native 8K streaming options, which can be a major bummer. Samsung’s AI Upscaling Pro feature can also upscale HD / SD media into 4K.

Another algorithmic feature, Real Depth Enhancer Pro, helps boost the contrast between the foreground and background, which should make fast-paced content like F1 races easier to follow. The TVs also include Samsung’s Gaming Hub, Dolby Atmos audio and support for Wi-FI 6E. Finally, it boasts the company’s proprietary Infinity Air design language, which ensures that the image reaches all edges for increased immersion. The 8K QLED QN900D is available in 65-inch, 75-inch and 85-inch versions, with prices starting at $5,000. Yeah, they aren’t cheap.

The 8K NEO QLED QN800D models are slightly cheaper, starting at $3,500. These TVs are still plenty capable, with the same AI upscaling features found in the QN900D. As a matter of fact, it’s got nearly everything found with its more expensive sibling, including Dolby Atmos audio, the same depth enhancing tech, Samsung’s Gaming Hub and more. The QN800D, however, isn’t quite as slim and it doesn’t feature the Infinity Air edge-to-edge design. The refresh rate maxes out at 165Hz, compared to 240Hz with the QN900D. It’s also available in 65-inch, 75-inch and 85-inch models.

There are also a pair of Neo QLED 4K sets that boast much of the same tech, with some limitations. The QN90D and QN85D offer AI upscaling, but only to 4K, for obvious reasons. They include the same entertainment software, including Samsung’s Gaming Hub, and feature Dolby Atmos audio. The primary difference between the two is that the QN90D boasts a 144Hz refresh rate, while the QN85D maxes out at 120Hz. These sets range in size from 43 inches all the way to 98 inches, with prices starting at $1,400.

Finally, there are the OLED TVs. The S95D and S90D both offer pristine OLED panels, AI upscaling to 4K, depth-enhancing tech, a host of smart features and Dolby Atmos audio, among other tools. There are some subtle differences between the two models. The S95D features the company’s HDR Pro technology, while the S90D includes HDR+. Generally speaking, HDR Pro sets are brighter, which leads to a richer and more natural contrast. The S95D is available in sizes up to 77 inches, with prices starting at $2,600. The S90D is available in sizes up to 65 inches, with prices starting at $2,000. All of the above TVs are available right now for preorder.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-bunch-of-new-samsung-tvs-are-finally-available-for-preorder-from-8k-qled-models-to-77-inch-oleds-150036534.html?src=rss 

I vividly remember Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone on January 9, 2007, a device he dubbed a touchscreen iPod, mobile phone and “internet communicator” all in one product. I immediately looked at my Motorola Razr with a burning sense of hatred. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, it’s pretty easy to say the iPhone launch was the most transformative event in the last 20 years of consumer technology. Even though the original model was lacking in a lot of important ways, its impact was so immediate and monumental that the history of consumer technology was instantly split into two eras: PreiPhone and Post iPhone.

Take the personal computer revolution, for example. Moving room-sized computers from research institutes into something a regular person could buy and use in their home was undoubtedly a huge advance, but there were multiple inflection points in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s that helped usher in modern computing. The trinity of the Apple II, Tandy TRS-80 and Commodore PET 2001 in the ’70s represented the first wave, followed by the rise of the IBM PC and Macintosh in the ’80s. Things really took hold in the ’90s with the dominance of Microsoft Windows; the arrival of Windows 95 was a particularly transformative moment. In more recent history, the laptop became a viable and then dominant in the late ’90s and 2000s, which changed how most people think about computing. These were all events that moved the personal computing marketplace forward, but it’s hard to say one was more important than the others. It was more of a gradual rise and fall of various technologies that brought us to the modern era.

But the mobile phone market was completely reshaped by the iPhone, even if it took a few years for the effects to play out. Companies like BlackBerry, Palm and Nokia clung to the pre-iPhone conception of a smartphone for too long, focusing on business users and physical keyboards and not materially improving the software experience. Those companies are gone or irrelevant to mainstream consumers now. Palm’s introduction of its own webOS and Microsoft’s purchase of Nokia to push Windows Phone forward were reasonable efforts to challenge the iPhone, but they were far too little, too late. Hardware and software quality was hit or miss in both cases, but the main issue was that developers never embraced either platform, largely because consumers adopted iPhone and Android so quickly. The best iPhone apps usually never hit those devices, leading to inevitable doom.

On the other hand, Google and Samsung went all-in on Android almost immediately and quickly reaped the rewards of having an alternative to the iPhone. Android had enough similarities to iOS while also offering enough differentiation to capture a new part of the market. That’s particularly true internationally, where the massive variety of price points and devices was a huge advantage in markets where most people were priced out of Apple’s products. And given that Android arrived just a few months after Apple launched the iPhone App Store meant developers quickly started writing apps for both platforms, giving Android the support it needed. Essentially, everyone either followed in Apple’s footsteps or quickly went extinct.

It goes without saying that the iPhone reshaped a number of other businesses as well. The late aughts were awash with single-function gadgets, from obvious things like digital cameras, portable gaming devices and the iPod. (Also consider what phones have done to watches, paper calendars, lists and address books.) In the Post iPhone Era, consumer-grade digital cameras and portable music players are extremely niche — the iPhone’s camera is more than good enough for most people, and the iPhone itself quickly cannibalized the iPod.

Portable gaming systems are enjoying a bit of a resurgence, but the popularity of games on a phone that anyone can pick up and play is unmatched. If Nintendo’s Wii made its mark by offering casual gaming, the iPhone and the App Store quickly took that concept on the go. Both Call of Duty Mobile and Candy Crush Saga have peaked at about 500 million players, while Minecraft is the top-selling game of all time, with 300 million copies sold. Most AAA blockbuster titles don’t crack 50 million copies sold.

Moving from that Razr to an iPhone was a breath of fresh air. Watching YouTube and movies I had purchased via iTunes transformed my plane rides or commutes. Being able to browse real web pages and use a solid enough email client on the go made me more productive (and began my crippling information addiction). The “touchscreen iPod” felt like a futuristic and intuitive way to navigate my music library. It took until the iPhone 4 in 2010 for Apple to really focus on camera and image quality, but that didn’t stop people from shooting tons of photos and uploading them to Facebook. Even 2009’s iPhone 3GS took respectable enough snapshots and videos that my photo library started growing exponentially, and I’m glad to have a lot of those old, grainy shots from my late 20s.

And about a year after the first iPhone, the App Store blew open the doors on what was possible. Games, productivity tools, better messaging apps, social media, streaming music and everything else we associate with a modern smartphone quickly burst forth. Some people didn’t really consider the first iPhone a “smartphone” since you couldn’t install third-party apps, and Apple wisely saw the writing on the wall and fixed that glaring omission.

Whether all of the changes that followed the iPhone’s rise are a good thing is debatable. Having near-unlimited access to the internet at all times often feels like more than we can handle, and smartphones have enabled all kinds of digital abuse. Our privacy has gone out the window as these devices log vast amounts of data about our movements and desires and spending habits and search histories on behalf of the biggest companies in the world, who monetize it and try to keep us addicted. Steve Jobs almost certainly did not have all of this in mind when he pulled the iPhone out of his pocket in 2007, and the technology advanced so quickly we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into.

The ramifications of all this will take decades to fully play out, and to some degree, many of us are already pulling back from the “always connected, sharing everything” mindset the iPhone enabled. The specter of government regulation, at least from the EU, coming for companies like Apple and Google is impossible to ignore, though it’s hard to imagine much happening to loosen their dominance in the near term. Regardless of what changes, there’s no doubt we live in a world where, thanks to the iPhone, the most important computer in people’s lives is the one in their pocket.

To celebrate Engadget’s 20th anniversary, we’re taking a look back at the products and services that have changed the industry since March 2, 2004.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-iphone-changed-tech-overnight-almost-20-years-later-nothing-else-has-come-close-140041198.html?src=rss 

This spring, clean your gadgets. Clean your tech. Be less gross in 2024. It’s one of my aims. Alongside our anniversary stories this month, we’re also in a spring-cleaning frame of mind. We’re cleaning AirPods and digitally decluttering the PC. (And if you’re physically decluttering, how about making a bit of money simultaneously?)

This week, we explain how to clean all your screens without damaging them. And, if we really stretch the spring-cleaning theme to include hygiene and then stretch again to sleep hygiene, here’s some technology to help you get a better rest, too. 

After all that cleaning.

— Mat Smith

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Watch the first human Neuralink patient control a computer with his thoughts

He said the surgery was ‘super easy’.

Elon Musk announced the first human patient had received a Neuralink brain implant as part of the company’s first clinical trial earlier this year. And yesterday, the company briefly live streamed a demo on X of 29-year-old Nolan Arbaugh, who is paralyzed from the neck down, demonstrating the implant by moving a cursor around the screen of a laptop and pausing an on-screen music player. Arbaugh said the implant has allowed him to play chess and Civilization VI.

Watch here.

Meta, Microsoft, X, and Match Group aren’t fans of Apple’s third-party payment rules

They filed a petition supporting Epic Games.

All those big names have joined Epic Games in protesting Apple’s decision to charge a fee for iOS payments made outside of the App Store. The company takes up to a 30 percent cut of App Store purchases. When developers process purchases outside of the App Store, Apple will charge a fee of up to 27 percent. That’s really not much different.

The four companies supporting Epic’s petition claim Apple’s fee on external payments effectively maintains the previous rules. “The Apple Plan comports with neither the letter nor the spirit of this Court’s mandate,” their brief states.

Continue reading.

Peacock’s 2024 Paris Olympics coverage includes enhanced multiview options

You’ll be able to stick with an event you’re into.

Peacock will host more than 5,000 hours of live coverage across the two weeks, including each of the 329 medal events. That’s far more than anyone could possibly watch during the Games, so to help you keep track of several events at once, Peacock is offering several multiview options. On TVs, tablets and desktop browsers (but not phones, sadly), you’ll be able to watch four matches at the same time. With the multiview modes, you can move the screens around, choose the audio track you want to listen to and click through to watch an event in full screen. Another feature, Peacock Live Actions, will help you follow the events you’re most interested in, so you can continue watching the sport on screen even after NBC’s broadcast switches elsewhere.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-our-guide-to-spring-cleaning-your-tech-111507476.html?src=rss 

If you’ve been following the news here on Engadget, you know there are always new smartphones coming out to outshine your old handset and inspire some real gadget FOMO. But once you’ve upgraded, what do you do with your old phone? If it’s still in good working condition, chances are that someone out there is willing to shell out a few bucks for your castoff. And that goes for so much more than just phones since you can always find somewhere to sell your old laptops, game consoles and other electronics for a pretty penny. Learn about all of the places where you can sell your used gadgets below.

Trade-in sites

If you’re looking for the least amount of hassle and easiest way to get money in hand as soon as possible, there are plenty of sites that automate the trade-in process. You’ll select your device from a list, get a quote within minutes and send the device to the company in return for cash in a matter of days.

Decluttr

Decluttr definitely lives up to its name. Not only can you sell phones from a number of manufacturers, including Apple, Samsung and Google, but the site also takes lots of physical media, including CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, video games and books. For devices, you’ll be asked to provide a general assessment of its condition before you’re given a quote immediately. Once you complete your order, the site will send you a free shipping label. Decluttr also will accept handsets as old as the iPhone 7, though it’ll offer you only $14 for a 32GB model in good condition.

uSell

uSell operates as a broker, searching other sites for their best offers on a given device and taking care of the rest. Like most buyback sites, it’s big on iPhones, but you can still sell off other manufacturers’ devices; it really depends on who’s buying them at that point. The selection is a bit of a grab bag — newer phones like the Galaxy S22 aren’t listed, though you can get a quote for the iPhone 15 ($672 for an unlocked, “flawless” 64GB model). Once you complete your order the site will send you a free shipping kit to send in your device, and you can get paid for the item via PayPal, Venmo or an old-fashioned check.

ecoATM

If you don’t want to have to worry about packaging up your old device and mailing it off, or would like to receive your payout right away, there’s always ecoATM. It’s literally all in the name: the company operates automated machines that you place your device into to get it examined, and it pays you out on the spot. It accepts the biggest brands (i.e., Apple, Google and Samsung), along with devices from a wide variety of manufacturers, including LG, Motorola and ZTE. If the machine determines that your device isn’t worth anything at all, you can still use ecoATM to responsibly recycle your old gadget. You’ll find ecoATM kiosks in Walmart and Kroger locations, as well as malls and check-cashing stores across the country.

Amazon

While browsing Amazon listings, it’s likely you’ve come across products marked as “refurbished.” Well, if you’ve ever wondered where those come from, a lot of them likely hail from Amazon’s trade-in program. The company will put its own products, like Kindle ereaders and Fire tablets front and center, but you can also send in phones and gaming products in for an Amazon gift card as well. It’s not great if you want cash, but if you’re looking to upgrade an Amazon device, this option is your best bet, as trading in an older one also nets you a 20 percent discount in addition to the store credit. You’ll need to print out a shipping label, or you can drop off your electronics at select Amazon Locker, Whole Foods or uBreakiFix locations.

Apple

This is a good option if you’re looking to upgrade to a newer Apple device. You can trade in iPhones, iPads, Macs and even Apple Watches. That’s notable as wearables are a category you don’t often see on trade-in sites. Apple will even take your old Android phone if you were thinking of making the switch. The trade-in values are on par with other sites, but you can get a smaller payout in the form of a gift card instead if you’d rather wait before making a new purchase, want to put it toward media purchases or even just use it in an Apple Store. The latter, by the way, also accepts trade-ins in case you’re not comfortable shipping your old but still expensive device.

It’sWorthMore

The nice thing about It’sWorthMore is that its on-site forms handle a larger variety of gadgets than other sites, incorporating companies such as Microsoft, AMD and even GoPro in addition to standards like Apple, Samsung and Google. You’ll answer a few standard questions about your device’s condition and whether you still have the original box — obviously, the more you’ve kept from the original packaging, the better. You’ll then get a ballpark estimate of its worth and a prepaid shipping label to print out. Once your device has been received, you’ll generally get the assessment and payment via check, PayPal, Zelle or a gift card in under 10 days.

BuyBackWorld

The appeal of BuyBackWorld is that device assessment is a streamlined process: Instead of having to answer a barrage of detailed questions for your device you give it a general assessment and let the site handle the rest. Just like with It’sWorthMore, BuyBackWorld will provide a printable shipping label in your confirmation email but, if you don’t have a printer or boxes to pack your device up, you can always have the site send you a free shipping kit, which can handle everything the site takes except desktop computers.

GadgetGone

If you’ve read through the other site descriptions, GadgetGone’s modus operandi should be familiar: To sell a product, you’ll have to answer a few questions about what type of device you have and what condition it’s in, after which the site will generate a prepaid shipping label. At least here you can find brands like OnePlus included among the options, and you can also sell MacBooks and Mac minis here. You can get paid a number of ways, too, including PayPal, virtual VISA card, Amazon and Target gift cards or just good, old-fashioned bank transfer.

Store trade-ins

Sometimes you need your money right now, or just don’t want to trust your device to the vagaries of various shipping companies. There are a few nationwide retailers that accept trade-ins for cash or store credit. Additionally, wireless carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T will all give you credit toward a new phone.

Best Buy

Best Buy also offers trade-ins both by mail and in-store — with more than 1,000 locations, this might be extremely convenient for you. You fill out the form online and bring that to customer service. It’s easy, but there’s one big downside: You can get your payout only via a Best Buy gift card. This is great if you spend a lot of money with them anyway, but not ideal if you need cash.

Target

Target isn’t as well known for its trade-in program, but it’s certainly a welcomed option. With over 1,900 locations across the US, it’s easy enough to bring your unwanted phones, tablets, game consoles, smart speakers and video games to a nearby Target’s electronics department for a quote. They’ll even package it up and ship it off to the processing facility for you. You’ll get a Target gift card via email within a week. If you can’t make it to a store, Target also offers a mail-in option.

GameStop

GameStop is infamous for buying games back at ridiculously low prices and flipping them at near retail, but don’t let that stop you from making some easy cash when you need to quickly clear your closet of old electronics and games. And yes, I said cash: GameStop offers store credit, a Visa prepaid card or actual money if you want to take your bounty elsewhere. For example, you can trade in Super Mario Bros. Wonder for the Switch and get $35 in store credit or $24.50 cash, which isn’t bad when new copies are going for $50 on Amazon. GameStop also accepts phones, tablets and Apple Watches, though the prices aren’t going to match what you’d get from an online trade-in site.

Consumer to consumer

Sometimes you prefer to cut out the middleman and get a bit more personal — a transaction where you’re selling your device directly to another person instead of letting a faceless site flip it for you as a “refurbished” unit. In those cases, you want a site that’s more user-to-user, though a few will still automate certain bits to make your sale as smooth and secure as possible.

Swappa

Swappa is a marketplace site, which means sellers can set their own price. So if you’re getting rid of a newer phone, this is probably the best way to go — the iPhone 14 fetches around $533, for example. That’s a huge improvement over what you’d get selling through a site like Decluttr, which is offering only $267 for a 128GB unit.

Amazon

When shopping on Amazon, you’ve probably been tempted by some of those marketplace deals in the past and, chances are, if you list an item on there, someone will give your old device a look. Since almost everyone on earth seems to have an Amazon account, your potential customer base is huge, and it costs only $0.99, plus a percentage based on category, to sell an item through the site. The downsides are that Amazon isn’t really optimized for individual sales; you’ll be competing with wholesale companies and even bots that will tweak the price of a product automatically in response to the competition.

eBay

eBay is sort of the Wild West of sales sites, but the biggest advantage is that you can sell anything there and hopefully find a buyer, regardless of how old a product is. Even so, the site has come a long way in the past decade or so, adding structured categories that can help lead customers to your product. For phones, you can search by network, color or storage capacity, and even filter for features like 4K video or fingerprint sensors.

In the end, it still works as it always did: You list a product and set an end date for the listing with a minimum price, or just set a “Buy It Now” price if you don’t want to wait to see how an auction turns out. Chances are you already have an eBay account with a feedback score, so there’s no extra setup required on your part. Your first 250 listings are free every month, and you’ll pay up to 15 percent of the purchase price only if an item sells. The biggest downside is that you’re competing with a lot more sellers, and chances are there’s always someone willing to undercut you on price.

Cash-back comparison

Ultimately, the site you go with should be whatever’s most useful and convenient, but if you just care about how much money you’ll get, we’ve priced out a few recent flagship handsets just to give you an idea of what each site will pay out.

All phone prices are for the lowest storage capacity, usually 128GB, and for devices that are in generally good condition with no cracks or scratches. The prices are for the unlocked models when available, or the carrier where it’s being traded. These prices were valid the day this post was written, but they fluctuate daily or, in the case of sites like Amazon and eBay, hourly.

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Google Pixel 7

Declutter

$361

$268

$153

uSell

$455

N/A

N/A

ecoATM

$275

$185

$55

Verizon

$364

$223

$127

T-Mobile

$315

$210

$115

AT&T

$330

$230

$130

Best Buy

$340

$235

$115

GameStop

$498 credit / $349 cash

$181 credit / $127 cash

N/A

Swappa

$664

$539

$293

Amazon

$578

$460

$229

eBay

$350

$340

$214

BuyBackWorld

$375

$275

$150

It’sWorthMore

$446

$382

$165

GadgetGone

$476

$411

$218

If you were looking to sell some games, we’ve also got a shorter list, because not every site accepts trade-ins. GameStop will offer you more money than what’s listed below if you’re a member of its Elite or Elite Pro programs.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)

Final Fantasy XVI (PS5)

Diablo IV (Xbox)

Decluttr

$20

$16

$18

GameStop

$30 credit / $21 cash

$17 credit / $12 cash

$12 credit / $8 cash

Amazon

$10 trade-in / $45 marketplace

$34 marketplace

$34 marketplace

eBay

$12

$10

$15

Once you’ve picked a site and listed your item, there are a few important things to remember before you ship off your device. At the top of the list is to do a full factory reset before disposing of a phone or laptop (or any other device) containing personal data. That also means turning off “Find My iPhone” and the activation lock on iOS devices. See if you can unlock the phone, too; you’ll actually get more money selling it carrier-free. And finally, make sure you’ve backed up any important data you may have, like contact info, game saves and, of course, photos. Cash is great, but it won’t save your memories.

Images: Mike Blake / Reuters (ecoATM); Alamy (Gamestop); Getty Images for eBay (eBay)

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/where-to-sell-used-electronics.html?src=rss