God help us, Donald Trump plans to sell a phone

Donald Trump is launching a cellular brand called Trump Mobile. The newly formed company, which was announced today by Donald Trump Jr., will sell a single wireless plan called “The 47 Plan,” which offers unlimited talk and texting, as well as unlimited data that throttles speeds after the first 20GB each month. The Trump Mobile plan is a white-label plan built on an existing mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) called Liberty Mobile. The company also plans to sell “The T1 Phone,” a gold-accented smartphone that it says will be manufactured in the United States.

During the announcement event for Trump Mobile held at Trump Tower in New York City, Donald Trump Jr. said they were building something for “people who have been underserved,” and to “make sure that real Americans could get true value from their mobile carriers.” Trump Mobile’s only plan will cost $47.45 per month, which is roughly double that of equivalent offerings at other low-cost carriers like Mint Mobile and Boost Mobile. Liberty Mobile, the MVNO behind Trump Mobile, offers plans starting at $20 per month. Customers will be able to use their own devices with a Trump Mobile SIM card.

The plan will supposedly include a telemedicine service powered by Doctegrity, which will allow subscribers to access medical and behavioral health services through the third-party provider. The plan is also said to include roadside assistance provided by Drive America and mobile device protection by Omega Mobile Care.

Details on The T1 Phone are sparse, though some specs are listed on the website. The phone is said to sport a 6.8” AMOLED screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate, a rear three-camera setup with a 50MP main camera, and 2MP “depth sensor” and macro cameras, a fingerprint sensor and “AI Face Unlock,” and a “5000mAh long life camera,” which we presume was intended to describe the battery. The phone is said to run on Android 15. Oh, and it costs $499, which is both more than what it’s likely worth, and casts doubt on its manufacturing claims. Recall that estimates for American-made iPhone were in the ballpark of $1,500. Who knows if it will ever see the light of day, but if it does, maybe this piece of Trump-branded merch will be free of obvious spelling errors.

Donald Trump’s various licensing ventures have proved lucrative for the sitting president. In his latest financial disclosure, Trump disclosed over $50 million in income from token sales related to his crypto venture with World Liberty Financial. The disclosure also listed incomes of $2.8 million from Trump Watches, $2.5 million from Trump Sneakers and Fragrances, $1.3 million from the Greenwood Bible and $1.16 million from his NFTs.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/god-help-us-donald-trump-plans-to-sell-a-phone-155830965.html?src=rss 

Patreon is raising its fees for new creators this summer

After August 4, creators setting up a paid membership page on Patreon will have to pay a 10 percent fee on their earnings under the platform’s new standard plan. While Patreon currently offers Pro and Premium plans, which carry fees of 8 percent and 12 percent of creators’ income, respectively, it’s merging the two into a single option moving forward. The price increase only applies to creators publishing a new page; Patreon says it will continue to honor the lower Pro rate for anyone who has locked it in by August 4.

Once the change is in place, things will also get a bit cheaper for creators who were operating under the Premium (12 percent) plan. Rather than continuing to pay 12 percent, Premium creators will be shifted to a custom “Pro + merch” plan that will come with an 11 percent fee. If they remove the merch option, the fee will drop to 8 percent.

Patreon also says it’s increasing the amount of free storage it’ll provide for creators using Patreon Video. While it previously said it would provide storage for up to 100 hours of video across the account’s lifetime and charge for anything beyond that, Patreon now says it will begin offering 100 hours of video per month for free later this summer. The move comes shortly after the platform teased new tools including a built-in livestreaming feature, Live Video. Patreon began tests of Live Video among select creators this spring, with plans for a summer rollout.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/patreon-is-raising-its-fees-for-new-creators-this-summer-161546739.html?src=rss 

Our favorite power bank for iPhones is 20 percent off right now

I test a lot of batteries and I find myself drawn to the ones that do a little extra, like offering built-in cables, magnetic charging, onboard displays or, in this case, a handy kickstand that lets you view your phone as it recharges. Anker’s MagGo 10,000mAh power bank is the one we recommend for iPhones in our guide to the best power banks. Right now, it’s 20 percent off, bringing the $90 brick down to $72. That’s not the lowest price we’ve seen — it dipped below $60 for Black Friday last year — but this is the best deal we’ve seen since then. 

In my test with an iPhone 15, the bank’s 10,000mAh capacity charged the handset from near-dead to full and had enough juice left over for an additional 70 percent refill. It was fairly speedy too, getting the phone up to 85 percent in about 90 minutes. The kickstand is sturdy and the magnets hold the phone firmly. Though that compatibility is restricted to MagSafe iPhones (iPhone 12 and newer), the USB-C port on the side means you can charge other devices with a wired connection. It even comes with a USB-C to C cable. 

A digital display on the side tells you how much charge the battery has left as well as how much wattage is funneling to your device as you charge. It comes in five colors: white, black, blue, green and pink, all of which are on sale. You can get the same deal directly from Anker with an auto-applied code. Of course, the battery may dip lower for Amazon’s Prime Day sale that’s expected in July, but even without a further discount, this is still a good deal on a capable portable charger.  

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/our-favorite-power-bank-for-iphones-is-20-percent-off-right-now-163026961.html?src=rss 

WhatsApp has ads now, but only in the Updates tab

It has been a long time coming — seven years since Meta first announced its plan to do so, in fact — but ads are starting to appear in WhatsApp as of Monday. They’ll only be visible on the Updates tab and the company says those who use the app only to chat with family and friends really won’t see any change to their WhatsApp experience. The same goes for two other new features: channel subscriptions and promoted channels. “We’ve been talking about our plans to build a business that does not interrupt your personal chats for years and we believe the Updates tab is the right place for these new features to work,” a company blog post reads.

WhatsApp users will be able to chat to a business that’s using the Status tab to advertise a product or service, according to Meta. The company says it will use some user data for ad targeting, including your device’s language, country or city, channels you follow and how you interact with ads. If you’ve added WhatsApp to Meta’s Accounts Center, the company will use your ad preferences and info from across your Meta accounts. Meta says it won’t sell or share your phone number with marketers. Nor will it tap into your chats, calls and status for ad targeting — those will all still have end-to-end encryption.

The Status tab is valuable screen real estate. Meta says more than 1.5 billion people use it every day. Advertising is still by far the company’s largest stream of revenue so the only really surprising thing about Meta starting to show ads in WhatsApp is that it took so long. After all, the company could probably do with more ways of making enough money to underwrite parts of the business that may take a long time to turn a profit, if they even get to that point.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/whatsapp-has-ads-now-but-only-in-the-updates-tab-144829657.html?src=rss 

There’s a Nintendo Direct for Donkey Kong Bananza on June 18

The Switch 2 is officially out in the wild, but the launch lineup is a bit thin. Mario Kart World is great, of course, but I’m missing a legitimate 3D platformer. That’s where Donkey Kong Bananza comes in. Nintendo has announced a Direct livestream for its next first-party game, scheduled for June 18 at 9AM ET.

It’ll stream live via Nintendo’s official YouTube account. We’ve put an embed below, so feel free to keep this page bookmarked for Wednesday morning. We’ll be watching and will pull out all of the juicy banana-shaped nuggets.

Nintendo promises “roughly 15 minutes of information about the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 game.” That matches the length of the recent Direct that was dedicated to Mario Kart World.

We still don’t know too much about this game, other than the basics. It stars Donkey Kong and he wants to collect gigantic gold bananas because of course he does. The game worlds are destructible, so the goofball gorilla can get his Minecraft on and dig through just about anything.

It has been suggested that any ape-related destruction remains as a permanent part of the map, thanks to the increased power of the Switch 2. The initial trailer also shows some sidescrolling sections inspired by Donkey Kong Country.

This seems like the perfect video game to tide us over until Mario gets his lazy butt away from the racing tracks and back into saving kingdoms. Donkey Kong Bananza will be available on July 17 for Switch 2.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/theres-a-nintendo-direct-for-donkey-kong-bananza-on-june-18-153503678.html?src=rss 

Apple’s Mac Mini M4 is back on sale for $499

There’s no denying that getting a high-quality computer is going to set your finances back a bit. So, when one of them gets discounted we want to scream it from the rooftops. Such is the case today with a solid sale on Apple’s 2024 Mac mini (M4)

Right now, the newest Mac mini is available for $499, down from $599 — a 17 percent discount. The deal, which is only $10 more than it’s all-time low price, gets you 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD storage, but no AppleCare+. You can also opt for the 16GB version with 512GB SSD storage for $719, down from $799. Then there’s the top storage option, which has a 10 percent discount. The Mac mini with 24GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage has dropped to $849 from $999. 

We gave the newest Apple Mac mini a 90 in our review thanks to perks like the impressive speed of its chip (though we did test the M4 Pro). It also offers front USB-C and headphone ports for easy use, along with an overall smaller design. Plus, it’s great that even the base version starts at 16GB of RAM. 

Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-mac-mini-m4-is-back-on-sale-for-499-141523040.html?src=rss 

The OnePlus Nord 5 features a powerful Snapdragon 8 chip

OnePlus just announced the Nord 5 smartphone, a refresh of its popular mid-range handset line. This one includes a flagship Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 chipset by Qualcomm, which should provide plenty of raw power for gaming, multitasking and general use.

There’s an upgraded cooling system here, along with support for LPDDR5X RAM. It features a dual rear camera system and will be available in a pale blue finish that’s officially called “Dry Ice.”

The company says the upgraded specs allow the Nord 5 to really shine when gaming, touting “unparalleled performance in its class” with “robust support for leading mobile games.” It mentioned that the device can run Call of Duty: Mobile natively at 144FPS, with real-time ray tracing.

OnePlus is also releasing a companion phone called the Nord CE5. We don’t know much about this one, other than it’s likely to be a slightly cheaper version of the standard headset.

OnePlus

Both of these phones will feature the company’s newly-announced Plus Key, which replaced the Alert Slider. Users can customize this button to perform a number of tasks, but it’s better known as an instantaneous way to pull up AI tools. The cute lil AI button first appeared with the OnePlus 13s, which launched in Asia earlier this month.

In addition to the Nord 5, the company also announced the OnePlus Buds 4. These high-end earbuds offer ultra-low latency audio for gamers, with dual drivers, support for Hi-Res audio and other bells and whistles. They will be available in both green and dark gray. It also revealed a new smartwatch and a tablet. 

OnePlus

We don’t have pricing or availability information for any of this stuff just yet. The company has a launch event planned for July 8, which should provide us with all of those relevant details.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-oneplus-nord-5-features-a-powerful-snapdragon-8-chip-143206053.html?src=rss 

Generated by Feedzy
Exit mobile version