Tech Talk

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge We found the best cameras for your budget and needs Even with the ability to take excellent photos with our phones and instantly share them across the world, there’s something magical about the old-school instant camera. With just a click of a button, you can capture a moment in a photo that you can see and touch almost immediately. Images captured by an instant camera aren’t as pristine or perfect as modern digital cameras, but their soft images and imperfections are often a big part of the allure. Yet not all instant cameras are the same, and some of them are better suited for different needs and budgets. That’s why we tested some of the most popular instant cameras on the market from brands like Fujifilm, Polaroid, and Kodak. All of the models featured in our best instant camera guide here are enjoyable to use, but each offers a different set of features at a different price point. As a result, some are more appropriate for a

Thanks, I hate it. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge Apple released the iOS 16 beta 5 today and with it comes the long-awaited return of battery percentage to the status bar. Unfortunately, it’s ugly as hell and unreadable to boot. Previously, battery percentage appeared to the left of the battery icon. However, Apple removed it starting with the iPhone X because there wasn’t enough space to cram it in thanks to the notch. To find out battery percentage, you currently have to swipe down to Control Center. In iOS 16, Apple’s “solved” that issue by having the figure appear within the battery icon. (If you’ve updated to the latest version of the beta and don’t see it, that’s because it’s not enabled by default. To turn it on, you have to go to the Battery menu in Settings and flip on the Battery Percentage toggle. The option also appears to be unavailable on the iPhone 11, iPhone 12 mini, and iPhone 13 mini. This might change with future beta releases, but them’s the breaks for

You can get a great smartphone at this price, whether you want an iPhone, a 90Hz screen, or 5G support You can expect a lot from a midrange phone these days. Apple, Samsung, and Google all offer devices with many of the core features of their pricier phones, like top-of-the-line processors, weatherproofing, and software support for five or more years. You can’t have everything, of course, but $400 or $500 goes a long way. There are great options for $300 and under, too. You can find a bright, high-definition OLED screen or a built-in stylus or a battery that lasts for days. If you can hone in on the one or two features that are most important to you and you’re willing to compromise elsewhere, you can get a phone that suits your needs for half the price of a flagship. What compromises can you expect from a budget phone? Some combination of the following: slower processors, less storage, and lousier cameras than flagship phones, almost across the board. Many have lower-resolution scre

We are beginning to live in a world where AI can genuinely do some incredible things, and I’m not just talking about DALL-E’s ability to produce uncanny original art on command . If you’ve ever experienced a shitty Blu-ray and wished someone could just upscale the DVDs for a better transfer, there is genuinely an AI app for that sort of thing. Two, in fact! ExtremeTech managing editor Joel Hruska knows a thing or two about that, having spent the last two and a half years attempting to remaster Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager using these continually evolving tools. And this past week, he wrote a 16,000-word explainer chock full of video samples and image comparison sliders to share it all with you. It’s like a state-of-the-state-of-the-art when it comes to this tech, and a free class, all rolled into one. If you saw his work with Star Trek or the video game cutscenes I shared last year or are staring at a pile of old home movies and wondering “Should I do t

We're quickly closing in on this year's Labor Day sales, with only a few weeks left until a wide range of retailers kick off the biggest sales event this side of Black Friday. Walmart, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Lowe's are just a few of the big names we're expecting big things from this Labor Day - which falls on Monday, September 5th for 2022.  Whether you're going to be shopping home appliances, furniture, mattresses, and grills or TVs, laptops, and tech, we'll have all the best deals right here on this page as soon as they land. While it's still early days yet, we're in full preparation mode here at TechRadar updating this page with everything you need to know about the upcoming Memorial Day sales, including what types of products you'll find on sale and who has the best deals on the big day. The majority of this information can be found just below in our FAQ section, which covers all the basic questions you may have. Just below that, you'l

Last fall during Gamescom, Take-Two studio Firaxis Games announced a new turn-based tactical RPG from the XCOM team called Marvel’s Midnight Suns . Taking place on the “darker side of the Marvel Universe,” and pitting well-known heroes like Iron Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Blade, Captain America, and Captain Marvel against Lilith, a supernatural villain, it was originally scheduled for release in March before being pushed back until October 7th. Along with reporting Q1 2023 earnings , today the publisher announced another delay without many specific details on when the game will be released. Also, the game now appears to have a split release strategy, with PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X / S, and PC versions due before the end of March next year (when Take-Two rolls over its fiscal calendar), while PS4, Xbox One, and Switch editions have a “TBA” release date. In a statement announcing the news given to Polygon , the company said “We have made the decision to move back the launch