Tag Archives: Banking & Budgeting

The best cheap phones for 2024

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It may be fashionable to spend $1,000 on the latest flagship smartphone when they first get released, but it's not necessary. You don't even have to spend $500 today to get a decent handset as there are plenty of options as low as $160 that could fit your needs. But navigating the budget phone market can be tricky; options that look good on paper may not be in practice, and some handsets will end up costing you more when you consider many come with restrictive storage. While we at Engadget spend most of our time testing and reviewing mid- to high-end handsets, we've tested a number of the latest budget-friendly phones on the market to see which are actually worth your money.

What to look for in a cheap phone

For this guide, our top picks cost between $100 and $300. Anything less and you might as well go buy a dumb phone or high-end calculator instead. Since they’re meant to be more affordable than flagship phones and even midrange handsets, budget smartphones involve compromises; the cheaper a device, the lower your expectations around performance and experience should be. For that reason, the best advice I can give is to spend as much as you can afford. In this price range, even $50 or $100 more can get you a dramatically better product.

Second, you should know what you want most from a phone. When buying a budget smartphone, you may need to sacrifice a decent camera for a long-lasting battery or trade a high-resolution display for a faster processor. That’s just what comes with the territory, but knowing your priorities will make it easier to find the right phone.

It’s also worth noting some features can be hard to find on cheap handsets. For instance, you won’t need to search far for a device with all-day battery life — but if you want a great camera, you’re better off shelling out for one of the recommendations in our midrange smartphone guide, which all come in at $600 or less. Wireless charging and waterproofing also aren’t easy to find in this price range and forget about a fast processor. On the bright side, all our recommendations come with headphone jacks, so you won’t need to get wireless headphones.

iOS is also off the table, since the $400 Apple iPhone SE is the most affordable iPhone in the lineup. That leaves Android as the only option. Thankfully, in 2024, there’s little to complain about Google’s OS – and you may even prefer it to iOS. Lastly, keep in mind most Android manufacturers typically offer far less robust software support for their budget devices. In some cases, your new phone may only receive one major software update and a year or two of security patches beyond that. That applies to the OnePlus and Motorola recommendations on our list.

If you’d like to keep your phone for as long as possible, Samsung has the best software policy of any Android manufacturer in the budget space, offering four years of security updates on all of its devices. That said, if software support (or device longevity overall) is your main focus, consider spending a bit more the $500 Google Pixel 7a, which is our favorite midrange smartphone and has planned software updates through mid-2026.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-cheap-phones-130017793.html?src=rss

Android TV’s new Shop tab lets you buy movies from different providers

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Google is about to make it a lot easier for you to buy and rent movies across streamers — for better or worse for your wallet. The company has announced it's adding a Shop tab on Android TV, where you can browse, purchase and store movies.

Though it looks a bit similar, the Shop tab differs from the Android TV's Discover tab in a few ways. Both pages show content from a variety of streaming platforms, but the Discover tab displays recommendations based on your viewing habits, whether or not the titles cost anything to watch. On the other hand, the Shop tab only features content you can, well, shop. Instead of having to click through each app individually, you can see all the movies that are available to rent or buy across the streamers you subscribe to.

The Shop Tab also has a Library section that displays every title you've purchased with your Google account on Google TV devices and its mobile app, Android TV devices and YouTube. Speaking of the Google TV mobile app, you can log in to it on your phone or tablet to download content from your Library for offline access later on. The wait to access this new feature shouldn't be long, as Google reports that the Shop tab will roll out across the US and 23 other countries over the next few weeks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/android-tvs-new-shop-tab-lets-you-buy-movies-from-different-providers-160012505.html?src=rss

Android TV’s new Shop tab lets you buy movies from different providers

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Google is about to make it a lot easier for you to buy and rent movies across streamers — for better or worse for your wallet. The company has announced it's adding a Shop tab on Android TV, where you can browse, purchase and store movies.

Though it looks a bit similar, the Shop tab differs from the Android TV's Discover tab in a few ways. Both pages show content from a variety of streaming platforms, but the Discover tab displays recommendations based on your viewing habits, whether or not the titles cost anything to watch. On the other hand, the Shop tab only features content you can, well, shop. Instead of having to click through each app individually, you can see all the movies that are available to rent or buy across the streamers you subscribe to.

The Shop Tab also has a Library section that displays every title you've purchased with your Google account on Google TV devices and its mobile app, Android TV devices and YouTube. Speaking of the Google TV mobile app, you can log in to it on your phone or tablet to download content from your Library for offline access later on. The wait to access this new feature shouldn't be long, as Google reports that the Shop tab will roll out across the US and 23 other countries over the next few weeks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/android-tvs-new-shop-tab-lets-you-buy-movies-from-different-providers-160012505.html?src=rss

The best budget gaming laptops for 2024

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Almost everything geared towards gamers has a premium attached to it, but it is possible to get a capable rig without draining your bank account. Today, you can find plenty of affordable gaming notebooks that have solid performance and hit decent frame rates in modern games. Besides, not everyone needs a NVIDIA RTX 4080 GPU or a blazing fast 500Hz screen to begin with. Cheaper machines are best for high school or college students who don’t have a ton of cash to spare but still want a solid gaming experience from a machine that could even pull double-duty as their daily driver. These laptops are also good options for younger gamers, who, in our view, may not be ready for the responsibility of a premium, $2,000 notebook. After testing a number of gaming laptops, these are our favorites that all come in under $1,250.

What is a budget gaming laptop?

To get a high-end gaming experience, you can easily spend $5,000 on a fully tricked-out notebook like the Razer Blade 18. But when it comes to the best budget gaming laptops, we're focusing on the other end of the pricing spectrum: laptops under $1,000. It used to be tough to find a decent gaming option at that price point but, as PC prices have fallen, they no longer seem like unicorns.

Stepping up a bit to systems between $1,000 and $2,000 puts you firmly in mid-range territory, which is beyond the scope of this guide. Still, it's worth keeping an eye out for sales that can push those PCs below $1,000. Be sure to check out our guide to the best gaming laptops for a general overview of what to look out for in these more expensive systems.

Are cheap gaming laptops worth it?

Cheap gaming laptops are definitely worth it if you’re trying to save money and are being realistic about what you can get at this price range. You can expect to find Intel and AMD's latest (but not greatest) CPUs, as well as entry-level GPUs like NVIDIA's RTX 3050. Budget models are also typically paired with 1080p screens running at 120Hz or beyond. There are some exceptions though: Dell's G16 (currently discounted to $900) is notable for its 16-inch quad HD+ screen.

Many cheap gaming laptops also skimp on specs like RAM and storage. We'd recommend getting at least 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Modern games need a decent chunk of memory to run, and they also tend to be large, so you wouldn't be able to fit much alongside Windows 11 on a 256B SSD. You might be tempted to jump on one of those dirt-cheap gaming laptop deals from Walmart or Best Buy, but it's just not worth it if you're stuck with 8GB of RAM or a tiny SSD.

As for build quality, expect to find more plastic than metal on budget systems. Still, the best cheap gaming laptops we're recommending should be sturdy enough to last a few years. Affordable systems will also be heavier and thicker than mid-range and premium models, and they typically don't have great battery life. These are worthwhile trade offs if you're looking to save money, though, and even the priciest gaming laptops struggle with battery life.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-budget-gaming-laptop-130004199.html?src=rss

The best budget laptops for 2024

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Yes, you can get a good laptop without spending thousands of dollars. Not everyone wants (or needs) to spend a boatload on their next notebook, and depending on how you plan on using it, you might be better off with a cheap laptop anyway. As with most affordable tech, the key in getting the right machine for you is understanding what you need your laptop to do and the sacrifices you can make to save a bit of cash. Best of all, you may find that you don’t need to sacrifice as much as you thought to get a good laptop at a great price. We’ve tested a bunch of budget-friendly laptops to find our top picks and gather buying advice that can guide you to the right machine for you.

What to look for in a budget laptop

First, we at Engadget consider anything under $1,000 to be “budget” in the laptop space. The reason for this is twofold: even the most affordable flagship laptops typically start at $1,000 or more, and if you go dramatically lower than that (say, $500 or less), that’s where you’ll really start to see compromises in performance. You’ll typically find the best balance of power and price in the $500 to $1,000 range. But in this guide, we’ll cover top picks at a wide range of prices — there are a number of excellent options on the low and high end of the budget spectrum.

Arguably the biggest thing to look for in a cheap laptop is a decent spec sheet. You might be able to find configuration options with the latest generation CPU chipsets, or you may have to go for one that has a slightly older processor. We recommend trying to find a notebook with the most up-to-date internals as possible, but know that if you pick a machine with a CPU that’s one generation behind, it probably will not significantly affect performance.

Along with processors, you should also consider the amount of memory and storage you need in a daily driver. For the former, we recommend laptops with at least 8GB of RAM; anything with less than that will have a hard time multitasking and managing all those browser tabs. The latter is a bit more personal: how much onboard storage you need really depends on how many apps, files, photos, documents and more you will save locally. As a general rule of thumb, try to go for a laptop that has at least a 256GB SSD (this only goes for macOS and Windows machines, as Chromebooks are a bit different). That should give you enough space for programs and files, plus room for future operating system updates.

After determining the best performance you can get while sticking to your budget, it’s also worth examining a few different design aspects. We recommend picking a machine with a mostly metal body, a screen that has at least a 1080p resolution and a keyboard and trackpad area that’s relatively spacious. Any affordable laptop worth purchasing will have a built-in webcam, but most of them top out at 720p. A few of the latest models have 1080p webcams, but you may want to consider a standalone peripheral if you spend a ton of time on Zoom meetings.

Be sure to check out the port situation as well. Many laptops closer to $1,000 will have fewer ports than their more affordable counterparts (as counterintuitive as that may seem). You’ll find at least one or two USB-C ports on the newest machines, which means you may need a separate dongle if you frequently have to connect to SD cards.

A note about refurbished laptops

Refurbished laptops are another option to consider if you need a new machine and don’t want to spend a ton of money. Buying refurbished tech can be tricky if you’re unfamiliar with a brand’s or merchant’s policies surrounding what they classify as “refurbished.” But it’s not impossible — for laptops, we recommend going directly to the manufacturer for refurbished devices. Apple, Dell and Microsoft all have official refurbishment processes that their devices go through before they’re put back on the market that verifies the machines work properly and are in good condition. Third-party retailers like Amazon and Walmart also have their own refurbishment programs for laptops and other gadgets as well.

The best cheap laptops of 2024

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-budget-laptop-150038435.html?src=rss

The best budget laptops for 2024

Posted on by

Yes, you can get a good laptop without spending thousands of dollars. Not everyone wants (or needs) to spend a boatload on their next notebook, and depending on how you plan on using it, you might be better off with a cheap laptop anyway. As with most affordable tech, the key in getting the right machine for you is understanding what you need your laptop to do and the sacrifices you can make to save a bit of cash. Best of all, you may find that you don’t need to sacrifice as much as you thought to get a good laptop at a great price. We’ve tested a bunch of budget-friendly laptops to find our top picks and gather buying advice that can guide you to the right machine for you.

What to look for in a budget laptop

First, we at Engadget consider anything under $1,000 to be “budget” in the laptop space. The reason for this is twofold: even the most affordable flagship laptops typically start at $1,000 or more, and if you go dramatically lower than that (say, $500 or less), that’s where you’ll really start to see compromises in performance. You’ll typically find the best balance of power and price in the $500 to $1,000 range. But in this guide, we’ll cover top picks at a wide range of prices — there are a number of excellent options on the low and high end of the budget spectrum.

Arguably the biggest thing to look for in a cheap laptop is a decent spec sheet. You might be able to find configuration options with the latest generation CPU chipsets, or you may have to go for one that has a slightly older processor. We recommend trying to find a notebook with the most up-to-date internals as possible, but know that if you pick a machine with a CPU that’s one generation behind, it probably will not significantly affect performance.

Along with processors, you should also consider the amount of memory and storage you need in a daily driver. For the former, we recommend laptops with at least 8GB of RAM; anything with less than that will have a hard time multitasking and managing all those browser tabs. The latter is a bit more personal: how much onboard storage you need really depends on how many apps, files, photos, documents and more you will save locally. As a general rule of thumb, try to go for a laptop that has at least a 256GB SSD (this only goes for macOS and Windows machines, as Chromebooks are a bit different). That should give you enough space for programs and files, plus room for future operating system updates.

After determining the best performance you can get while sticking to your budget, it’s also worth examining a few different design aspects. We recommend picking a machine with a mostly metal body, a screen that has at least a 1080p resolution and a keyboard and trackpad area that’s relatively spacious. Any affordable laptop worth purchasing will have a built-in webcam, but most of them top out at 720p. A few of the latest models have 1080p webcams, but you may want to consider a standalone peripheral if you spend a ton of time on Zoom meetings.

Be sure to check out the port situation as well. Many laptops closer to $1,000 will have fewer ports than their more affordable counterparts (as counterintuitive as that may seem). You’ll find at least one or two USB-C ports on the newest machines, which means you may need a separate dongle if you frequently have to connect to SD cards.

A note about refurbished laptops

Refurbished laptops are another option to consider if you need a new machine and don’t want to spend a ton of money. Buying refurbished tech can be tricky if you’re unfamiliar with a brand’s or merchant’s policies surrounding what they classify as “refurbished.” But it’s not impossible — for laptops, we recommend going directly to the manufacturer for refurbished devices. Apple, Dell and Microsoft all have official refurbishment processes that their devices go through before they’re put back on the market that verifies the machines work properly and are in good condition. Third-party retailers like Amazon and Walmart also have their own refurbishment programs for laptops and other gadgets as well.

The best cheap laptops of 2024

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-budget-laptop-150038435.html?src=rss

Venmo will soon have accounts for teenagers, with no-fee debit card and ATM access

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Parents with teenagers have a new option for managing their kids' spending money: Venmo has announced a feature it calls Venmo Teen Accounts. This lets parents create accounts for minors aged 13 to 17. It comes with a Venmo Teen Debit Card, which gives parents or guardians an insight into spending, lets them send money and allows them to manage privacy settings.

According to Venmo, over 50 percent of parents are interested in using apps to help their children learn about money. The company also claims that over 45 percent of Gen Z want to have a conversation with an adult about managing personal finances. The Venmo Teen Account should hopefully bridge that gap for many parents or guardians out there.

Venmo says that the Venmo Teen Account has no monthly fees and that the debit card will have no-fee cash withdrawals at ATMs. Of course, the account will be able to send and receive money from family and friends. Parents and guardians will be able to see friends list, transaction history, account balance, and be able to manage the debit card’s PIN, lock and unlock it and block users from interacting with the account.

And since it’s separate from the parent or guardian’s account, teens will be able to independently track their own spending and learn financial responsibility. Venmo says that teen accounts will be eligible for direct deposit, which is great for those with part-time jobs.

Signing up for a teen account is pretty straightforward. Parents or guardians will need to sign into their personal Venmo account and tap Me > (Your Name) > Create a teen account. From there, you’ll need to add a name, address, and date of birth, and choose a debit card style from a selection of a few colors.

Venmo Teen Accounts will be rolling out to select users in June of 2023 and will be available on a wider scale in the weeks following.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/venmo-rolls-out-teen-accounts-with-no-fee-debit-card-and-atm-access-120038618.html?src=rss

Get three months of Hulu for only $6 starting today

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Hulu’s offering a steep discount in honor of the completely made-up holiday National Streaming Day. Until May 27th, new and returning subscribers can nab three months of the streamer’s ad-supported plan for $6, breaking down to $2 per month. These plans typically cost $8 each month, or $24 for three months, so this is nothing to sneeze at.

Normally these types of deals are just used to lure in new customers and are unavailable to returning subscribers, but this one breaks the mold so long as you canceled over a month ago. Of course, you have to be okay with watching a few ads every now and again, but this is a full subscription with access to the streamer’s entire library of content, including forthcoming seasons of The Bear and the recently-revived Futurama.

The ad-supported tier, however, doesn’t allow you to download content for offline viewing, so keep that in mind when planning a long summer trip. Also, just like a streaming Cinderella, that $2 carriage reverts to an $8 pumpkin after three months, so mark your calendar and cancel to avoid getting charged.

Hulu is generally considered to be one of the best streaming sites around, with tons of original programming like The Handmaid’s Tale and access to broadcast TV standouts like Abbott Elementary.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/get-three-months-of-hulu-for-only-6-starting-today-163723113.html?src=rss

Google will start purging inactive accounts later this year

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If you have a Google account you haven’t used in a while but want to hang onto, you may want to log back in. The company announced today that it will begin deleting accounts that have been inactive for at least two years. Google frames it as a privacy-enhancing move, but it’s easy to also see it as a cost-cutting measure to free up storage on Google’s servers.

Starting later this year, anyone with an account that’s been inactive for two years will receive an email warning them that it will be deactivated if they don’t log in within 60 days. After deactivation, you’ll have another 60 days to sign in before the company permanently deletes it. So, in total, that’s about four months’ worth of notice to recover your account, which sounds reasonable enough. Google says the earliest it will begin deleting accounts is December 2023.

The company will send warning emails to both the account in danger of being deleted and any recovery emails you added. The deactivation and deletion will apply to everything you use that account for, including Gmail, Drive, Docs, YouTube, Google Photos, Meet and Calendar. It only applies to personal accounts, so work or school emails will be spared the culling.

Although the company’s stated privacy motive may be a convenient way to avoid saying, “We want to save money,” there is some substance to that framing. In addition to not having up-to-date passwords, abandoned accounts are ten times less likely to have two-factor authentication set up, making them more vulnerable to hijacking.

Google has a web tool to simplify avoiding account deletion. The company’s Inactive Account Manager can warn you more frequently about dormant accounts while letting you decide what happens to your data. There, you can choose trusted contacts to alert or even download your account data if it’s in danger of deactivation. And in case it ever does get axed, you can plan ahead by using Google’s age-old Takeout feature that lets you view and export all your data.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-will-start-purging-inactive-accounts-later-this-year-191350823.html?src=rss

Pocket users can now create multiple collections of articles, videos and websites

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Read-it-later service Pocket has unveiled some new features, including the option to create private lists of saved articles, videos and websites. Pocket Lists are only available in the US on the web for now, but the feature will be available globally starting next month and on mobile later this year.

You'll be able to create multiple lists with titles and descriptions. In the near future, you'll have the option to add several items to a list at once and attach notes to help you remember why an item is there. Later this year, Pocket will roll out the option to publish lists and share them with other users.

The Pocket team suggests that you might set up lists for things like recipes, trip planning or simply stuff that puts a smile on your face for whenever you need it. This is a handy update from Pocket, particularly for those who like to keep things organized. You might think of it as a bit like having bookmark folders in Pocket or a different place to save Pinterest-style collections.

Elsewhere, Pocket has built a new version of its iOS app with the aim of rolling out features more rapidly — the plan is to release updates every two weeks. You'll need to be on at least iOS 16 to use the latest app, which offers personalized recommendations and a more streamlined user interface, Pocket says. The My List tab is now called Saves, and it will offer access to features such as search, tagged items, favorites and a way to listen to audio versions of articles all in one place. One other handy update means that you'll be able to swiftly archive items with a swipe.

On Android, there's a very welcome update rolling out today. Pocket will now save log-in credentials for websites you've saved stuff from, so you'll no longer need to sign in every time you visit them. While in article view, you'll be able to move between saved items using Previous and Next buttons.

Pocket, which Mozilla bought back in 2017, added that it has removed some features. The team plans to bring back some of those within a few months, such as the option to highlight articles. Other features are gone for good, however, including the ability to recommend items to other users, which has been removed in favor of lists. To that end, here's hoping Pocket rolls out the option to share lists fairly swiftly.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pocket-users-can-now-create-multiple-collections-of-articles-videos-and-websites-160043227.html?src=rss