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Edifier ES20 review: a palm-sized masterclass in Bluetooth speakers

by admin October 1, 2025

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Edifier ES20: two-minute review

I’ll be honest, the Edifier ES20 took me off guard. This super-small Bluetooth speaker is powered by a 6W driver and is less than 10cm in height and width. But it really does punch above its weight. And not only sonically – also in terms of its looks, feature-set, and battery life.

Yep, this tiny, square-shaped model impressed me in almost every area. Let’s start where it matters most: audio quality. Largely due to its physical limitations, the Edifier ES20 isn’t capable of deep rippling bass or ultra-imposing loudness, but there’s still a lot to love. Bass response is rapid and impressively deep, but mids never feel obscured, while instruments in the treble range come through sounding controlled, yet expressive.

OK, the Edifier ES20 only makes use of the SBC codec – a lot of the best Bluetooth speakers would offer AAC, and maybe LDAC for good measure. But still, I was impressed with the clarity of my favorite tracks. If you want a more nuanced listen, you could pair a second ES20 up for stereo sound.

Another area the ES20 impressed me in was the looks department. It has a retro vibe to it, similar to models like the Marshall Willen II, or speakers from Klipsch. I’m a big fan of that, and when you pair its classy aesthetic with appealing (and customizable) ambient lights, this thing really has it all.

There’s even more to love, though. 15 hours of playtime is very solid – that’s a couple more hours than a lot of rivals in this weight class can offer. In addition, I was a fan of the ES20’s modest price point, especially in the UK and Australia – for reference, it’s $89.99 / £49.99 / AU$99.99.

Just generally, it has everything you’d want from a model like this. It’s compact, light, IP67 dust and waterproof rated, and great-sounding. There are some small imperfections worth noting, though. Firstly, the sound of the ES20 is noticeably compressed at peak volumes, especially when you crank things up all the way to 100%. That’s common for small speakers, and I’d recommend getting a larger model anyway if loudness is your aim – the Bose SoundLink Flex Gen 2 is a still-compact but significantly more powerful pick.

Another thing is that the ES20’s EQ options are seriously lacking. There are four modes: Music; Gaming; Movies; and Outdoor. I don’t think that having a single ‘Music’ calibration is enough – especially when there’s no custom option and the modes that are here sound a little too similar to one another.

Still, it’s important to look at the bigger picture. And that tells me that the Edifier ES20 is an excellent small-sized speaker that really nails it where it matters. Sure, the EQ options are lacking, but the default tuning sounds plenty good enough. Tie that together with luxurious looks, a generous helping of battery life, and wonderful waterproofing, and the Edifier ES20 is easy to recommend.

(Image credit: Future)

Edifier ES20 at Amazon for $89.99

Edifier ES20 review: price and release date

$89.99 / £49.99 / AU$99.99
Launched in June 2025

The Edifier ES20 was launched in June 2025 as part of Edifier’s new ‘ES’ range. That apparently stands for ‘Elegant’ and ‘Superb’, or ‘Edifier Sound’. Anyway, enough of that! This speaker has a list price of $89.99 / £49.99 / AU$99.99, meaning it’s a fair bit more pricey in the US, compared to other territories – more on that later. You can purchase the ES20 in either black or white.

Edifier ES20 review: specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Drivers

1x 43mm full-range driver

Dimensions

3.6 x 3.7 x 2 inches / 90.4 x 93.7 x 49.7mm

Weight

0.7lbs / 326g

Connectivity

Bluetooth 5.4

Battery life

15 hours

Waterproofing

IP67

(Image credit: Future)

Edifier ES20 review: features

Effective hands-free mic with noise cancelling tech
Attractive and personalizable ambient lighting
Weak EQ options

The Edifier ES20 offers a fairly hearty helping of features considering it’s a small, affordable Bluetooth speaker.

First of all, you get multi-point connectivity, if you want to link multiple devices to your speaker. In addition, you can pair two ES20 models together and unlock stereo audio, if you’re looking for a more nuanced and powerful audio presentation.

There’s also an inbuilt microphone – something you won’t see in all Bluetooth speakers nowadays. Edifier described it as a “high sensitivity” mic, which harnesses the power of noise cancellation for clear, hands-free calling. And largely, I’d say that’s exactly what you get. My voice sounded clear, even when I stood quite far from the speaker – though there was some noticeable sibilance.

Perhaps the most interesting feature, though, is the speaker’s customizable ambient lighting. Using the Edifier ConneX app, you can pick from a range of lighting options, including: Breathing; Rainbow; Static; Glittering and Colorful; or Emergency Light. This visual aspect only enhances immersion into your music, and the option to personalize aspects like light modulation rate, brightness, and the displayed colors, is a nice touch.

If you do make use of the ambient lighting – it can be disabled entirely, if you’d prefer – it will drain the speaker’s battery at a more rapid rate. Speaking of, you get up to 15 hours of playtime from the ES20, which is pretty good, actually. That’s more than rivals like the JBL Clip 5 and the LG xboom Go XG2T can dream of.

This lil’ fella’s on a roll so far… but I’m gonna have to burst its bubble a bit. And that’s down to one thing in particular – EQ options. There are four here: Music; Gaming; Movies; and Outdoor. Unfortunately, I wasn’t hearing a whole lot of difference between these. On top of that, there’s no custom multi-band equalizer to make use of – something I would have appreciated, personally. This isn’t a totally crushing miss – largely thanks to the ES20’s impressive audio output…

(Image credit: Future)

Edifier ES20 review: sound quality

Punchy, rapid bass response
Controlled treble, well-balanced mids
Some distortion at peak volume and no fancy audio codecs

Yes, I was very impressed with the Edifier ES20’s sonic performance – especially given its incredibly compact build. It’s powered by a 43mm full-range driver, makes use of a 55mm passive radiator, and has a maximum power output of 6W. That doesn’t sound like a lot – but this small speaker is more mighty than you may expect.

When bumping Burning Down by Dimmish, the rapid, thumping bass was replicated responsively and impactfully. Sure, the ES20 couldn’t quite match the depth you’d expect from some of the best party speakers, but that’s to be expected due to its physical limitations. With the ES20, you’re not putting up with the ‘boomy’, muddy low-frequency performance of many budget competitors – it’s punchy, as Edifier claims.

In addition, Burning Down showcased the controlled yet expressive nature of the ES20’s treble output. Higher-pitched percussion wasn’t overly forward in the mix, and it never sounded tinny or harsh, even at mid-to-high volume levels. Instead, it was tonally accurate, disciplined, and clean.

I’d say the ES20 certainly has a warm sound signature, really leaning into that ‘mightier than it looks’ angle. But even still, bass isn’t overbearing, meaning that in tracks like Each Time You Pray by Ned Doheny, I was still treated to clear, well-balanced vocals and neatly defined acoustic guitar.

You won’t get the most nuanced, detailed listen in the world, especially if you’re only using one ES20 rather than two – which can be used in stereo mode. For instance, in Minute by Minute by The Doobie Brothers, I wasn’t wowed by next-level instrument separation between the groovy bass, synths, and McDonald’s iconic vocals. The speaker also uses the most basic SBC Bluetooth audio codec, so don’t expect to see LDAC or aptX support.

Then again, it’s important to emphasize that this is a very small model – so you can’t expect the most expansive soundstage or the effortlessly layered sound you’d uncover on premium, larger models.

Both music and podcasts come through very clearly on the ES20, and unless you push the volume up to 90-100%, you won’t be subjected to distortion or overly compressed audio. That’s about as much as you can ask for from a sub-$90 / £50 / AU$100 speaker of this stature!

(Image credit: Future)

Edifier ES20 review: design

Gorgeous retro-style design
Fantastic protection against the elements
Attractive lighting

The Edifier ES20 is an absolute beauty, and looks much more luxurious than its modest price tag would suggest.

It’s got an almost Marshall-style retro look to it, with an appealing speaker grille protecting the driver, and a faux leather material used for the outer casing and button controls. Yep, there’s nothing about this that screams cheap. You can scoop it up in either Black or White – we went for the latter, but both compliment the speaker’s classy looks brilliantly.

On top of this, the reverse side of the speaker has ambient lighting, which can illuminate a wall behind it, for example, adding a bit of visual flare to your listening experiences. As I mentioned earlier, the lights are highly customizable through the Edifier ConneX app, and if you’d prefer to have them off, you can.

This model’s not only a pretty face, though, it’s also highly practical. Firstly, it’s very small, coming in at less than 10cm wide and tall, and just over 300g in weight. It also comes with a fabric carry strap, so you can easily attach it to a backpack, for example.

Crucially, it’s also very well protected against the elements, thanks to its IP67 rating. That means it’s plenty dustproof, but can also be submerged in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes. Not bad, is it?

Combine all of this with well-sized on-board controls, small rubber feet for added stability, and a handy LED light strip to indicate battery life, and the ES20 nails it in every way.

(Image credit: Future)

Edifier ES20 review: value

Pricing a little inconsistent across territories
But regardless, you’ll get plenty of bang for your buck
Rivals are playing in a similar ballpark, price-wise

The Edifier ES20 isn’t all too expensive, even considering its small size. Actually, I have been tempted to refer to it as ‘cheap’ once or twice in my review, had it not been for its US pricing.

See, the ES20 comes in at £49.99 in the UK and AU$99.99 – fairly even pricing across the territories using current exchange rates. But in the US, this model costs $89.99, which isn’t so proportional. This may be down to the tariffs imposed by the US government earlier in 2025, but still, it means the ES 20 is more mid-priced, than cheap, for a speaker this small.

After all, a top-class rival like the JBL Clip 5 has a list price of $79.95 (£59.99 / AU$89.95), but can often be found for under $60 now. Still, its most similar competitor, the Marshall Willen II will generally cost more than $100, so you’re still not overpaying for the ES20 – it’s just that you’re getting even more bang for your buck outside of the US!

Speaking of, this speaker has qualities that far outstrip a range of competitors in its price and weight class. It offers genuinely punchy, largely distortion-free sound, gorgeous looks, and plenty of playtime. Combine that with its IP67 rating and ambient lights, and you’re looking at awesome value for money.

(Image credit: Future)

Should I buy the Edifier ES20?

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Features

Ambient light options, multi-speaker pairing, good mic and battery life, but EQ options a little lacking.

4.5/5

Sound quality

Punchy, clear audio with a bass-forward sound signature, SBC only and some compression at peak loudness.

4/5

Design

Gorgeous retro looks, amazing waterproofing, appealing lighting.

5/5

Value

Despite slightly disproportionate US pricing, remains affordable and has plenty of quality.

4.5/5

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Edifier ES20 review: also consider

Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell – Column 0

Edifier ES20

JBL Clip 5

Ultimate Ears Miniroll

Price

$89.99 / £49.99 / AU$99.99

$79.95 / £59.99 / $89.95

$79 / £69 / AU$99

Drivers

1x 43mm full-range driver

1x Integrated class D digital amplifier

46.8mm active driver

Dimensions

3.6 x 3.7 x 2 inches / 90.4 x 93.7 x 49.7mm

3.4 x 5.3 x 1.8 inches / 86 x 134.5 x 46 mm

4.8 x 4.1 x 1.9 inches / 122 x 105 x 48mm

Weight

0.7lbs / 326g

0.6lbs / 285g

0.6lbs / 279g

Connectivity

Bluetooth 5.4

Bluetooth 5.3

Battery life

15 hours

12 hours

Waterproofing

IP67

How I tested the Edifier ES20

(Image credit: Future)

Tested over the course of one week
Mainly used in the music testing space at Future Labs
Predominantly tested using Tidal

I spent hours with the Edifier ES20, during which time I listened to music, tuned into podcasts, and took a couple of phone calls. I exhausted all of the ES20’s features, tried all of its light customization options, and tried listening at various distances and angles.

For the most part, I used the ES20 in our music testing room at Future Labs. Here, I went through the TechRadar testing playlist, which features tracks from a range of genres. I also listened to songs from my personal library – mainly via Tidal, but sometimes on Spotify.

More generally, I’ve reviewed dozens of speakers, headphones, earbuds, soundbars, and more here at TechRadar, where I have a particular focus on audio-visual technology. I’ve tested most of the ES20’s competition, so I know what it takes for a speaker to stand out in a highly convoluted market.

First reviewed: September 2025
Read more about how we test

Edifier ES20: Price Comparison

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

A hand reaches out for a device in Nine Sol's hidden horror game.

Product Reviews

One of last year’s best Metroidvanias, Nine Sols, currently has an entirely different first-person horror game tucked inside its Steam betas

by admin October 1, 2025

Look, I know we’re all playing Silksong, but if I could direct your attention to a slightly different Metroidvania for a moment—Nine Sols, Red Candle’s first and only action foray, was one of my favourite videogames from 2024, period. Contributor Abbie Stone waxed lyrical about it back in June of that year, but for some baffling reason I didn’t get Yi-pilled until May. We all make mistakes.

Something weird is happening with it, though: At the time of writing, if you have Nine Sols installed and enter “shanhaiarchive” into its beta tab (found in Steam’s properties) you can download and play an entirely separate game. Unfortunately, I have a frail constitution that makes me deathly allergic to jumpscares (or ‘a coward’, if you’re boring) so I’ll be showing you a playthrough shared to YouTube courtesy of Shadowking.

Nine Sols ARG Game No Commentary (INCLUDES SECRET ENDING) – YouTube

Watch On

What I can provide is context. This entire ARG started back in September 10, with a video dubbed “Dark Legacy of the Sun Tribe” posted to the game’s YouTube channel. This official creepypasta is reminiscent of SCP informational videos, and asks viewers to inspect their hands to see if they might be descended from “the four-fingered ones.”

That’s a direct reference to Nine Sols’ characters. All of which, including the human-like “apemen”, have four fingers. The rest of the video follows an archaeologist following the traces of Xu Fu (a real-world alchemist and explorer) who lived in 255 BC, and didn’t return from his second jaunt to seek the Elixir of Life—which the video references.

I’m about to get into spoiler territory for Nine Sols, by the way: Choosing Xu Fu is super interesting, as most of the events of Nine Sols center around the Solarians attempting to find a cure for the Tianhuo virus. Including—and this relates to the ARG stuff shown above—an alternate reality called the Soulscape, where Solarians could rest as they tried to reverse their grim fate.

In Red Candle’s video, the archaeologist vanishes under mysterious circumstances, obsessed with an ancient city called Penglai—the name of the Solariian’s home planet from the game.

As for that hidden horror game, which tasks you with attempting to “save Yuuki Wu”, the architectural style is really familiar. It sees you waking up in what looks like a Solarian ruin. Notably, you’re a human with the right amount of fingers with modern clothes—however, completing it sees a screen that states “simulation complete, thank you for your computing power.”

Again, this is all Soulscape-adjacent. However, completing the game with your Steam name set to “Yuuki Wu” reveals, as spotted by the very same Shadowking on the game’s Reddit, an alternate ending.

In this one, you put on a Soulscape headset and are transported into a village as a four-fingered apeman in front of a similar temple—where Shadowking finds gravestones with the names “Kuafu” and “Shennong” written on them, two NPCs from Nine Sols. Eventually, you’re digitally shunted into another room, reaching out to a Mystic Nymph trapped in some kind of engine.

In the original game, the Mystic Nymph was a little scouting drone made by protagonist Yi, and given to Shuanshuan just before the game’s true ending, wherein the surviving apemen and Kuafu make it to a “Pale Blue Planet”—likely, as this ARG confirms, what would become our present-day Earth.

Oh and, lastly, there was a stream tallying up players’ scores to fill a progress bar, depicting someone (presumably Yuuki) lying on a hospital bed as the number went up. The stream was live for about 11 hours.

If I had to take a guess at what this all means, I’d wager that Yuuki is someone trapped in a Soulscape somehow—in the base Nine Sols games, being in a Soulscape for too long could drive you mad, or make you dependent on it—and they’re harvesting “computational power” from the brains of explorers in a bid to escape. In Nine Sols, this is why the Solarians had Apemen captive in a fake village, to harvest their brains for similar computational power.

As for why? Haven’t the foggiest, but if Red Candle Games is hinting at its next title, it may well be set in the Nine Sols universe. Whether the studio will make another banger sekiro-like or go back to its usual horror stylings, though? It’s hard to say. I’m personally hoping for the latter, because Nine Sols has some of my favourite brawls in the genre.

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Growing Old Is Nothing New for Humans. So Why Are We So Bad at It Now?

by admin October 1, 2025

Aging is inevitable, but it hasn’t always looked the same throughout the long history of humankind. That’s one of the core premises behind Michael Gurven’s just-released new book, Seven Decades: How We Evolved to Live Longer.

Gurven is an anthropologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who has spent much of his career studying and living alongside communities like the Tsimané of South America, indigenous groups who largely subsist off a combination of farming small crops, hunting, and gathering. Though these people have increasingly started to come into contact with the modern world, they still provide a glimpse into humanity’s past prior to widespread industrialization.

Building off his and others’ work with today’s subsistence communities, Gurven makes the compelling case that while the typical lifespan of the average person today has greatly expanded and our health has generally improved, there’s nothing particularly new about human longevity itself. Older people have always existed, even in past eras when survival was much more perilous than it is today. Moreover, he adds, there’s plenty we can learn about how best to grow older in our modern times by studying how our ancestors did it so many eons ago.

Gizmodo spoke to Gurven about his decision to not address longevity drugs, the most common misconceptions about aging, and how groups like the Tsimané might better help us better appreciate our elders. The following conversation has been lightly edited for grammar and clarity.

Ed Cara, Gizmodo: I think many people who pick up a book about aging would expect to read about the breakthroughs around the corner that will supposedly and significantly prolong our lives. What made you want to focus more on the evolution of human aging?

Michael Gurven: Thanks for asking that, because I always worry that the first question I’m gonna get is exactly that: “What are the secrets? What are the hidden gems?”

Everything’s about the potential of where we can end up—the power of regenerative medicine and technology. But I wanted to actually kind of look back in order to look forward. One of the premises of the book is that longevity is not something that is so incredibly recent, but that it’s built into our DNA. It’s built into our biology. We’ve already accomplished the potential for longevity.

And because of that, I see a different type of optimism. There’s this scare over the silver tsunami and everything that goes along with the global population aging. I wanted to point out that this is not a new type of problem. It’s not that there were never old people and now all of a sudden there are tons of old people. So I wanted to give a history of understanding that we have already lived with older people as part of our population.

And I wanted to argue that rather than longevity being a consequence of our success as a species, the causal arrows may actually be in the opposite direction. That we’ve been a very successful species because of our potential for longevity.

We’ve solved problems before, and we can solve this one moving forward, but it’s not going to be a problem that’s going to be solved just with new technology and improvements in molecular medicine. There are lessons to be learned here by appreciating our natural history.

Gizmodo: Your book covers many different aspects and attitudes about how people today age now compared to the past. What would you say are some of the biggest misconceptions about human longevity and aging?

Gurven: The biggest one is just a misunderstanding of what life expectancy is in general.

When people say that life expectancy was much shorter in the past and maybe even as low as the 30s, that doesn’t mean everyone lived to age 30 and then died. Even with shorter life expectancies, you can have people who are much longer-lived than that, because it’s an average. And because we used to have lots of deaths early in life, that basically lowers that average.

Gizmodo: Conversely, are there ways that people can romanticize the past and how we lived and died back prior to industrialization?

Gurven: Everyone looks to hunter-gatherers, and they see what they want to see. Either they see the hellish landscape of “all against all” and how life was really awful, or some people see a very romantic scenario, where everyone was vegetarian and hugging trees and in tune with nature, that kind of thing.

So actually paying attention to how hunter-gatherers live is an important kind of lesson that I’m trying to convey, with firsthand experience having worked and lived with these kinds of groups. Which of those myths are somewhat off base, and which ones might actually be true?

Gizmodo: Getting to that, what are some of the things that we’ve learned from studying longevity and elder members in communities like the Tsimané?

Gurven: One thing, which maybe goes along with the thinking that no one really lived that long, is just the idea that so many diseases of aging we take for granted are just going to befall us no matter what, because it’s hard to think of aging without thinking about heart disease and dementia and those kinds of things. But the very fact is that in these fairly high mortality populations [like the Tsimané], you don’t see those kinds of diseases, and it’s not because no one is living to those ages when those diseases typically manifest. Even when we follow people from age 40 onwards, we can see that people are not developing heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, or diabetes.

So that’s like a really important kind of lesson because that tells us there’s so much to learn about these diseases, which are our major sources of mortality in the industrialized world.

We already know that if you don’t smoke, are physically active, maintain a reasonable weight, and eat well, you can live a healthier life. But when you can see that at a whole population level, where almost an entire population can live without heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s, that’s pretty amazing. And so it does demonstrate that these big risk factors—the smoking, physical inactivity, excess weight, etcetera—account for the vast majority of deaths from noncommunicable diseases, which is over half the deaths, basically, that we experience today; it demonstrates that those deaths are actually preventable with things that whole populations are already doing.

I also think there are just broader lessons about what older people are doing and their expectations. There’s no formal retirement at age 65 or at any age in hunter-gatherers. There’s no expectation that you now have a life of leisure; you know, pick your cruise. And so, I certainly like the idea that, with this kind of growth mindset, learning is a lifelong process, right? And aging is not just the reverse of growth. It’s not just decline; there’s continued growth.

It doesn’t mean that everyone just keeps doing the exact same thing until they die. In fact, there are great shifts in what men and women tend to do in these societies. But the important point, kind of zooming out, is that they stay relevant, they stay engaged, and they stay involved.

Gizmodo: What do you hope people most take away from this book—those reaching their elder years as well as those who have grandparents or other older people in their lives?

Gurven: I hope to inspire, kind of a new type of optimism. Not an optimism that’s just based on maximizing our lives, our longevity, or even our health span. I mean, those things are critical, and I’m glad that there are other books and other people working on that. But what I’m trying to get is people thinking at a deeper level about where we’re at now and where we’re headed in the next couple decades.

There are no medical solutions that are going to make 85-year-olds biologically like 35-year-olds, right? And so realistically, in the next couple decades, I’m hoping that people get newly inspired about how to rethink elderhood and respectfully think about our older adults as elders, realizing that we have something to learn from them, that there’s a place for them, and that it’s not just a service to those elders, but that we all benefit from having them in our lives.

Part of the looking back in this book is to show all the different ways that we’ve already done this throughout our evolutionary history.

Seven Decades: How We Evolved to Live Longer is being published by Princeton University Press and is available online or in hardcover.

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

A Journey Into the Heart of Labubu

by admin October 1, 2025

The day after I failed to secure a Labubu from Pop Mart’s original store, I decide to console myself with a visit to Pop Land, the company’s 10-acre theme park in central Beijing—and perhaps the clearest sign that it intends to come for Disney’s lunch. (“Our art toys are like Disney’s movies,” Wang says in A Company One of a Kind. “They use movies to reach consumers, cultivate fans, and build IP and fan communities. We do it through art toys.”)

Pop Land is about 1 percent the size of Universal Studios in Beijing and Shanghai’s Disneyland, but unlike other theme parks, it sits right by the consulate district and a few subway stops away from Beijing’s most populous business areas. It’s in a city green space, which meant that Pop Mart wasn’t allowed to move even a single tree. Instead, the company renovated an abandoned building on the property and named it Molly’s Castle. A leafy area became Labubu Adventure Forest, though it looks much brighter and more kid-friendly than Lung’s original depiction. At one end of the forest, actors put on a “Warriors Training Camp” in full-size Labubu suits.

I stop for lunch at the park’s restaurant, on the third floor of Molly’s Castle. The minute I’m seated at a table and inform the waitress I came alone, she puts a 23-inch-tall plush doll in the chair opposite me. My dining buddy is Zimomo, the male chief of the Labubu clan in the original children’s book and one of the rarest Pop Mart products sold. Throughout my lunch, other Pop Land visitors keep coming over to ask whether I bought the Zimomo doll myself and if they can take a picture of it. I feel like I’m dining with a celebrity.

Dining with Zimomo, a chieftain from the original Story of Puca book.

Video: Zeyi Yang

At the table next to me is a mother with her young daughter. I ask what brought them here. The mom tells me that her daughter, who’s turning 4 in less than a month, found and fell in love with Labubu through watching videos on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. She thought about buying two Zimomo dolls for her daughter, but they cost $200 each on the resale market, so she’s still debating. Just the day before, she saw on social media that a friend’s daughter had a Labubu-themed birthday party, where the room was stuffed with dozens of rare Labubus. She shows me videos of the party on her phone. “Her mom paid a lot to get these,” she says.

Since I began my own Labubu hunt, I’ve known the option exists to go to a reseller, often referred to in China by the slang term huangniu (literally “yellow ox”). I heard from Dong, a Pop Mart customer since 2018 in Shanghai, that many huangniu he knows use bots that monitor social media for restock announcements and grab new merchandise the millisecond it drops. Dong has paid a small amount to join group chats where huangniu release early information. He calls himself a fenniu now—between a fan and a huangniu. He has already collected most of the Labubu products ever released, so he’s only buying new ones to sell to other fans for a profit. (Which, to me, sounds like he is a huangniu.)

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

The best cheap Windows laptops for 2025

by admin October 1, 2025

Not everyone needs a super-expensive, top-of-the-line laptop, and the good news is you don’t have to break the bank to get a solid machine. Whether you’re a student, a casual user or just looking for an affordable device for everyday tasks, there are plenty of great options out there. The trick is finding the best cheap Windows laptop that balances performance, build quality and battery life without making too many compromises.

If you’re in the very particular bind of needing to upgrade your machine before Windows 10 support ends in October, don’t fret. The machines listed below will serve you well for basic tasks, but we also put together a whole list of the best Windows laptops to replace your aging machine that includes higher price-point options.

What to look for in a budget-friendly Windows laptop

While you can do a lot even when spending little on a Windows laptop, you must set your expectations accordingly. The biggest downside when purchasing a budget laptop (of any kind, really) is limited power. You’ll want to carefully consider a few specs, the most important among them being the processor (CPU). Many Windows laptops under $500 run on Intel Celeron or Pentium chipsets, but you can find some with Core i3/i5 and AMD Ryzen 3/5 CPUs at the higher end of the price spectrum.

We recommend getting the most powerful CPU you can afford because it will dictate how fast the computer will feel overall. Memory (RAM) is also important because, the more you have, the easier it will be for the laptop to manage things like a dozen browser tabs while you edit a Word document and stream music in the background.

When it comes to storage, consider how much you want to save locally. If you primarily work in Google Docs or save most things in the cloud, you may not need a machine with a ton of onboard storage. Just remember that your digital space will also be taken up by apps, so it may be worth getting a little extra storage than you think you need if you know you’ll be downloading big programs. A final side note: solid state drives (SSDs) are ubiquitous at this point, not to mention faster and more efficient than hard drives (HDDs), so we recommend getting a laptop with that type of storage.

As for screens, there’s a healthy mix of HD (720p resolution) and FHD (1080p) options in this price range and we recommend springing for a notebook with a 1080p display if you can. Touchscreens aren’t as common in the budget space as standard panels, but you’ll only really miss one if you get a 2-in-1 laptop.

Before we get to our recommended specs for a cheap Windows laptop, it’s worth mentioning that Microsoft clearly lays out the true minimum requirements for any Windows 11 machine. Those include a 1GHz or faster processor that includes two or more cores, at least 4GB of RAM and 64GB of available storage space. That’s the bare minimum to run Windows 11; we recommend giving yourself some wiggle room by choosing a machine that will perform well now and for years to come.

Specs to look for in an affordable Windows laptop

CPU: Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 processors, at minimum
Storage: At least 128GB SSD
Screen: At least 1080p FHD

It’s essential to prioritize what’s important to you. But at the lower end of the budget, a good laptop may not offer everything you need, whereas a great one might. Although most machines come with features like Bluetooth, built-in Wi-Fi and additional ports, you might find not all of them come with the specifics you require, like an SD card slot, webcam, charger, and so on. Be sure to check the spec list of any laptop you’re considering before you buy, especially if you need specific connectors and capabilities.

See Also:

As for Copilot+, don’t expect to see much of it on truly affordable Windows laptops just yet. Microsoft’s AI features and Copilot assistant require certain specs to run, namely a powerful neural processing unit (NPU), 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Currently, the cheapest Copilot+ AI PCs will run you about $700, so if you’re willing to pay more for those perks, check out our best laptops guide for more options.

If you’re looking for either a gaming laptop or a “Windows on Arm” laptop, both categories will require you to spend more money than we’re discussing here.

Best cheap Windows laptops for 2025

The cheap Windows laptop market moves fast, and — unlike nearly all of our other buying guides — we haven’t necessarily tested each specific configuration listed below. However, the combination of these technical specifications and familiar brands represent exactly the sort of entry-level laptops we’d recommend to shoppers in this price range based on our thorough research and expert knowledge.

acer

We’ve tested various versions of the Acer Aspire in the past and found them all to be solid, reliable laptops. This model runs on a Ryzen 3 processor, supports Wi-Fi 6 and its webcam uses noise-reduction technology to improve low-light image quality. It also has improved thermal management, so you can work for longer without any serious slow-downs or heat-ups.

$326 at Amazon

Acer

On the higher end of the affordable price spectrum, this version of the Aspire 5 has a healthy amount of memory and SSD storage, plus a 14-inch IPS display. Its 1080p webcam uses the same noise-reduction technology found in other Acer laptops to improve low-light image quality, and it can employ Acer PurifiedView and AI features to help you put your best face forward on video calls and live streams.

$489 at Amazon

Lenovo

Lenovo’s IdeaPad series offers Windows laptops and Chromebooks, and this model gives you a big 1TB SSD and an engrossing 15.6-inch FHD screen surrounded by ultra-thin bezels. You also have a variety of ports to use as well, including two USB-A, one USB-C and one HDMI port. There’s even an SD card reader for those who still need one to transfer photos and other media.

$498 at Amazon

This HP Pavilion laptop includes a number pad on the keyboard, an HD touchscreen and 1TB of onboard storage. The screen has an anti-glare coating, so it should be easier to see even in direct sunlight, and the built-in webcam clocks in at 720p.

$409 at Amazon

Dell

This 15-inch Dell laptop runs on an Intel Core i5 processor and has plenty of RAM and storage to keep you going for years to come. It also includes a number pad on its keyboard, plus an HDMI port and an SD card reader among its other connections.

$526 at Amazon

What to know about the budget Windows laptop market

The best cheap laptop models change all the time. Unlike more expensive, flagship machines, these notebooks can be updated a couple times each year. That can make it hard to track down a specific model at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart or any other retailer. Also, we’ve seen prices vary widely depending on the configuration and retailer you’re looking at.

You can ensure you’re getting a quality laptop by doing a few things. First and foremost, make sure you get a machine that follows the recommended specs we list above. Also, make sure you’re buying from a reputable retailer, including big-box stores like Walmart, Best Buy and Costco, online shops like Amazon or direct manufacturers like Dell, HP, Lenovo and others. If you have a physical store near you (likely a Best Buy in the US), it’s never a bad idea to go play around with some laptops in person before choosing one.

If you decide to shop online from the likes of Amazon or Walmart, double check the seller of the laptop you’re considering. For example, many items on Amazon are “shipped and sold” by Amazon and those are typically the best options. You’ll see that information on Amazon on the right sidebar on a product page, under the Add to Cart and Buy Now buttons. Third-party sellers are common in the affordable laptop space. Amazon sometimes classifies laptop manufacturers as third-party sellers, so you may see a laptop shipped and sold by HP or Dell — that’s a good thing, since it’s coming directly from the manufacturer.

However, there are other third-party electronics sellers out there. We recommend clicking on the third-party seller’s name on Amazon or Walmart (yes, Walmart has them, too) to see how much positive feedback and how many five-star ratings they’ve received from buyers.

What about Chromebooks and tablets?

You may be inclined to recommend a Chromebook or a tablet to anyone considering a budget Windows laptop computer. Those instincts aren’t wrong, but Chromebooks and tablets aren’t the best buy for everyone. Tablets have the most portability, but they will only work for the most mobile-competent users like kids who have been grabbing smartphones out of their parents’ hands since they’ve been dexterous enough to do so. Tablets can also be just as expensive as some of the cheapest Windows laptops, and that’s without a mouse or keyboard.

Chromebooks are a good alternative for those that basically live in a browser, the trade-off being you must give up the “traditional desktop.” And Chrome OS is a more limited operating system than Windows when it comes to the programs you can install and run.

What Windows laptops do well

What can you realistically accomplish on a cheap Windows laptop? Quite a bit, especially if you’re doing one thing (or a limited number of things) at a time. They’re great for everyday tasks like web browsing, checking email, video streaming and more. All of those things can be done on Chromebooks as well, but Windows laptops have a big advantage in Microsoft Office. While yes, there is a browser based version, the native, desktop apps are considered a must have for many and will run smoothly on even the most bare-bones budget laptop. The only caveat is that you may run into some slowdown on low-powered devices if you’re multitasking or working with large data sets in Excel or a lot of photos and graphics in Powerpoint.

When it comes to specs, a bright spot for Windows laptops is storage. Even the most affordable devices tend to have at least a 128GB solid state drive. That will come in handy if you prefer to keep your most important files saved locally on your laptop’s hard drive. In contrast, cheaper Chromebooks often have less storage because they’re built on the assumption that you’ll save all of your documents in the cloud. Not only is that less convenient when you need to work offline, but it also limits the size of programs and files that you can download. So, Chromebooks aren’t the best for hoarding Netflix shows before a long trip or for use as a gaming laptop.

Windows also has thousands of apps that you can download from its app store. Chromebooks have some Chrome apps, numerous browser extensions and the ability to download Android apps, but quality control is… inconsistent. Android apps, in particular, often haven’t been optimized for Chrome OS, which makes for a wonky user experience. Windows may not have as many apps as Android, but at least the experience is fairly standard across the board.

Windows also gives you the ability to download and use programs from other sources, like direct from the developer. You can run things like Adobe Creative Suite, certain VPNs and programs like GIMP, Audacity and ClipMate on a Windows device, which just isn’t possible on Chrome OS. Chromebooks limit you to the apps and programs in The Play Store and the Chrome Extensions store, reducing any others to unusable, space-sucking icons in your Downloads folder.

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Lego Nintendo Game Boy review: a brick masterpiece just shy of perfection

by admin October 1, 2025

Is there a word that describes the feeling of “I want something to be just a bit better because it’s already so good it only needs one last kick in the pants”?

Because that’s how I feel about the $60 Lego Nintendo Game Boy. It’s better than the fan-made Lego Game Boy that I asked Nintendo to make. It’s even better than I hoped when Lego officially revealed the set. This isn’t just a statue that looks like my original 1989 Game Boy; it’s a joy to build and feels fantastic in the hands. You can press every button, spin every dial, roll the D-pad, and throw a satisfyingly snappy power switch.

Though it doesn’t light up one bit, its lenticular moving images were enough to momentarily surprise friends and family into asking: “Does it actually play games?” The set even has a few hidden Easter eggs.

And yet, I can’t help wanting more.

Let’s do something different for this review: Let’s make it a show and tell. If you’re a video person, start by tapping on my Instagram embed above, or TikTok, or YouTube, or Facebook, or perhaps my Bluesky. If you prefer photos and words, scroll down and I’ll tell you all about it!

Here it is, the photograph I’ve wanted to stage for months: the Lego Nintendo Game Boy next to the pristine 1989 original you might have seen in many a Verge photo before. It was my wife’s childhood Game Boy, though I had one just like it — and Lego designer Carl Merriam absolutely nails the size, shape, and look. It does overcompensate slightly with the Off-On switch and headphone jack labels that are gray instead of molded, three of the four corners of the gray screen bezel are square instead of slightly rounded, and the A and B buttons seem almost pink rather than purple.

It’s also clearly made of a mosaic of Lego tiles rather than a single smooth surface, but that’s part of the charm: it’s a wonder to realize the Game Boy can be re-created 1:1 out of Lego bricks!

Here, I have both displaying the exact same cutscene from The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. If you’ve never played the original, you may not realize just how specific a moment this is — a bittersweet, heartstring-tugging scene you can only watch once per playthrough, so I had to save my game before a certain quest to get this photo.

Lenticular tech is still rad.

The Lego Game Boy comes with three of these little lenticular panels to make it look like the screen’s turned on and give it a sense of motion. If you tilt the handheld up and down, you can watch Mario jump, see the Nintendo logo fall, or watch the waves and seagulls fly above the Link’s Awakening beach.

But the one thing I don’t understand is printing on a gray background rather than a green one, so the Lego Game Boy’s screen doesn’t look green like the original’s. It feels like a bizarre miss to me.

A closer look at gray versus green:

I threw in an Easter egg of my own.

It’s not the only nit I could pick with the Lego Game Boy’s screen, which is recessed quite a bit more than the original, which in turn makes it even harder to light up than the original (and, like the original, you need an external light source to do that since it didn’t have a light of its own!).

But I don’t blame Lego for that — it’s because Lego’s using a regular Lego window frame and windowpane for the screen instead of creating new custom parts, which make it feel more authentically Lego. I just wish Lego would start protecting its big windowpanes better so they don’t come scratched right out of the box.

You need a lot of light to see the “screen” well.

Comparing the Lego Game Boy to the original from every angle, you can see lots of places where there are slight gaps between the tiles, sure. But you can also see that almost every complex curve and label is represented, and while it weighs a few ounces less than the original, it’s almost the exact same size.

Image slider: volume and contrast wheels, external connector port (though there’s no port underneath Lego’s cover) and the AC adapter jack. No AC adapter label on the Lego version.

That power switch may seem placed too high, but it’s worth it for the satisfying snap of its Technic peg action.

Headphone jack.

You shouldn’t take that for granted, because it’s not easy even for skilled Lego creators to build a dense real-life object to scale with moving parts. As an example, see how much thicker and blockier Lego Masters Australia finalist Nick Lever’s creation is below?

From left to right: Lego’s Game Boy, Nintendo’s Game Boy, and my attempt at Nick Lever’s fan creation.

I still love the Mario hat buttons, though.

BTW, both of the Lego Game Boys can technically squeeze in a real cart, but it stretches the build uncomfortably.

But as the Lego Group showed and told me in 2023, the thing that truly separates a great official Lego set from a fan creation is the incredible amount of thought that goes into making the set playable and fun to build, not just fun once you’re through.

You can get a better sense in my video, but after a certain point the whole set is built out of modular parts. You create a set of springy face buttons that slide into place, a D-pad that drops in, a screen that needs attaching. It contributes to the illusion you’re building electronics instead of just piling bricks together. And there are details you’ll only appreciate if you’ve seen inside — like how the springy Start and Select buttons are actually Lego car tires.

The rubber nub brick under the D-pad makes for a surprisingly good action.

Or how the springy “membrane” under the D-pad and A and B buttons are colored similarly to their real-life counterparts, even though you’ll never see them once it’s closed:

One rubber band makes both buttons springy.

Image: iFixit

Or how there’s a brick-built “speaker” underneath the Lego speaker grille, complete with yellow “wires,” at the lower right-corner of the build:

Image: iFixit

Or how Lego’s Link’s Awakening cartridge even features a “battery backup” for its save games, like the original, while the Mario cartridge appropriately does not.

Button battery!

Not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, since my real cart is the Player’s Choice reprint from 1996.

The Lego cart can technically fit in an original Game Boy cartridge case if you remove the top tile.

It all takes such passion and attention to detail that I have to wonder: why stop short of doing everything you can when you’ve already come this far?

Here’s the back of the Lego Game Boy, and the real Game Boy, showing off one final Easter egg: the “serial number” that’s actually the date the original Game Boy first came out on April 21st, 1989. That part’s great. But it also contains two completely blank spots where the original Game Boy had an info panel with model numbers and regulatory markings, and the US version had a service sticker.

At $60 — I got mine early for $50 at Costco — I can understand why the Lego Nintendo Game Boy doesn’t have light or sound or actually play games just yet. (Fans will make it do all those things before long.) But the top panel is already a printed piece, and the set already comes with a small sticker sheet.

Just like my real copy of Link’s Awakening fixes bugs that Nintendo originally accidentally shipped, might I suggest Lego ship future copies of the Game Boy with greener screens and a few more lines of text?

Photography by Sean Hollister / The Verge

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

I tested Gmail and found it an excellent and reliable platform for business and personal use

by admin October 1, 2025

Why you can trust TechRadar

We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Gmail is the world’s most popular email platform, with a stunning user base of over 1.8 billion. In other words, over 20% of the world’s population uses Gmail in individual or business capacity.

Given that Gmail is free, easy to use, and is operated by Google, the company behind the world’s leading search engine, it’s no surprise that Gmail is very popular. However, does that translate into Gmail being the best email provider for you? What are its features, and how does it fare against competitors? This guide will answer these questions.

I’ve thoroughly reviewed Gmail to help you determine whether it’s the best email platform for your personal or business needs. Read on to learn about Gmail in detail, including its pricing, ease of use, security, and key features.

Google Gmail subscription options:

1 month plan – $0 per month ($0 total cost)

Gmail: Plans and pricing

You can use the personal version of Gmail for free. However, like most things, it’s free up to a certain point. Users have up to 15 GB of free storage for pictures, videos, other documents, and other attachments in their email inbox. If you exceed 15 GB, you’ll either need to delete files to free up more space or pay for additional storage.

Extra Gmail storage requires a Google One subscription, with the lowest tier being $20 annually for 100 GB of storage. Ultimately, Gmail offers excellent storage capacity for free – most users don’t surpass 15 GB, except they’ve used Gmail for a long time or use email much more frequently than others.

Businesses can pay for an advanced version of Gmail via Google Workspace. The business tier increases the cloud storage allocated to each employee, and businesses can create emails attached to their custom domain. It’s the same Gmail interface, but with features designed for business use and a custom domain to give employees a more professional appearance.

Google Workspace plans start from $7 per user per month, which provides 30 GB of storage per account, double the free limit. The Standard plan costs $14 per user per month, providing 2 TB of storage per account. The Plus plan costs $22 per user per month and unlocks 5 TB of storage per account. These plans are reasonably priced, given the massive amount of storage space they provide.

Business plans are limited to 300 users, except for the Enterprise plan which has no limit (Image credit: Google)

Gmail: Features

Sending and receiving emails are the primary features you’ll expect from Gmail. You can compose emails and send them to your desired email addresses. The maximum number of recipients per email is 500 for free accounts and 2,000 for Google Workspace accounts. However, most users aren’t hitting this limit, so I see no issues here.

I like that Gmail lets you send scheduled emails. You don’t always have to send emails immediately after you type them. Instead, you can set the email to send at a specific time. This feature comes in handy in many endeavors, such as sending birthday wishes ahead of time and sending event reminders to colleagues.

In this era of artificial intelligence (AI), Gmail hasn’t been left behind. Google has invested significant resources in incorporating AI features that have made Gmail much more intuitive than before.

For instance, I enjoyed the Smart Reply feature, which crafts quick, automated responses to emails. The AI system reads your email and suggests quick responses, such as “Well noted, I’ll work on it,” “Here it is,” or “I’ve attached the document here,” among others. The suggested responses are based on the content of the email you’re replying to.

The Smart Reply feature may sound trivial, but it helped me a lot. It gets tiring having to retype mundane responses to personal and work emails – the feature saved me a lot of time here, which I spent creating detailed responses for the emails that needed them.

I also enjoyed the Smart Compose feature, which functions as an AI assistant when typing emails. It can read your mind… just kidding, it can’t. It analyzes the words you’ve already typed and suggests the next words and phrases. It’s right many times, but can be amusingly wrong. The good thing is that you can hit enter whenever it gets the right suggestion and ignore it if the suggestion isn’t right. Smart Compose saved me considerable time when typing emails.

Gmail boasts plenty of features to optimize the user experience (Image credit: Google)

Apart from intuitiveness, security is a key issue when choosing an email platform. Spam attacks have become more sophisticated due to AI tools that have made text generation a breeze. Hence, security is more important than ever, and Gmail delivers well in this criterion.

By default, Gmail has spam filters that analyze incoming emails and rate their likelihood of spam. If found to be spam, an email is automatically sent to the spam folder. From my experience, Gmail’s filters ensnare most spam messages, but some crafty ones occasionally make it through. When I encountered such an email, I immediately blocked the address and deleted their emails.

False positives can also occur. Some legitimate emails, such as password recovery attempts, might be sent to the spam folder, but you can always visit the spam folder and transfer such emails to your main inbox. If you mark an email in the spam folder as “Not Spam,” further emails from that address will land in your main inbox.

Another crucial security feature I liked is “Confidential Mode,” which allowed me to set expiration dates for emails. For instance, I sent an email containing sensitive information to a friend and set it to self-destruct a day after sending. I also set passcodes for specific emails, and the recipient needed this passcode to read the content– I gave them the passcode via SMS and other communication channels.

Likewise, with Confidential Mode, you can prevent recipients from copying, forwarding, or downloading the contents of your email. However, this feature doesn’t prevent users from taking screenshots of the photos and text – it just makes it difficult to transfer the content directly via email, so be careful about the information you send.

Gmail always prompts users to enable two-factor authentication, which adds an extra layer of security to your email account. With this feature enabled, no one can access your account simply by having your Gmail credentials. Logging in also requires a unique one-time PIN sent to your phone number or other Google-linked devices. Without this PIN, no one can log in to your account on a new device.

I advise always enabling two-factor authentication for your Gmail account. This overlooked feature protects you from most malicious attacks. According to Microsoft, two-factor authentication is the antidote to 99.9% of security attacks.

Gmail offers advanced encryption to protect emails during transmission, ensuring they can only be read by the intended recipients. All emails and their attachments are automatically scanned for malware, and any suspicious ones are blocked. Note that the scanning isn’t perfect; some suspicious attachments may slip through, so avoid opening any attachment from an address you aren’t familiar with.

If you’re like me, who frequently sends and receives emails, your inbox can easily get cluttered, and sorting through vast numbers of emails can get tiring. Fortunately, Gmail lets you organize your inbox and make your emails easy to navigate. You can create labels, such as “Work,” “Family,” “Newsletters,” and “Shopping,” and add specific emails to each of them, or automatically label emails based on the sender’s address. Whenever you want to view a specific group of emails, you can simply click on the relevant label.

For example, if you want to read your daily newsletters, you can click on the “Newsletters” label and see the new emails sent from the addresses you’ve previously marked.

Similarly, you can create custom filters to archive, forward, or even delete emails originating from specific addresses. Gmail’s labels and filters help you automate email sorting and reduce the time you spend navigating your messages.

Gmail seamlessly integrates with other Google tools you may be familiar with. For example, you can upload files to Google Drive and attach them to your email by clicking a few buttons. I found this feature handy when sending large files that would have taken a long time for the recipient to download– instead, the recipient could simply access the file online on Google Drive.

Google Meet isn’t the most popular videoconferencing app, but I liked its smooth integration with Gmail. I could start Google Meet calls directly from my Gmail interface and switch back to emails when done, while on the same browser tab.

Other notable integrations include Google Calendar, which allows you to create events from emails and set reminders, and Google Tasks, where you can convert emails directly into tasks on your to-do list.

Gmail: Interface and in use

Gmail’s interface is one of its main strengths. I think the user-friendliness is the main driving force behind Gmail’s popularity, although being affiliated with Google also helps a lot.

I’ve tested many email platforms, and Gmail stands out for its intuitiveness. Everything feels easy to navigate, even as a first-time user. It helps that first-time users don’t have cluttered inboxes that can make navigation more challenging. Yet, even with a packed inbox, I’ve discussed how filters and labels let you simplify navigation.

The features are neatly arranged on the left side of your dashboard, where you can quickly sort through them. You can switch between your main inbox and other folders smoothly. You can sort through spam, trash, sent, scheduled, and other email categories without a hitch. The Compose button is boldly displayed at the top-left corner, and the menu for composing and sending emails is easily understood at a glance.

Gmail’s user-friendly interface makes it easy for even amateur users (Image credit: Google)

You can access Gmail from your web browser or download the app on your desktop (Windows and macOS) or smartphone (iOS and Android). The app works exactly as the website, but has faster loading times and offline access.

Gmail: Support

I’ll rank Google’s support as decent. It’s not the most outstanding, but it isn’t bad either. Users have access to an extensive knowledge base that details all Gmail’s features and provides guidance on troubleshooting common issues.

If you encounter any problems, the knowledge base and official Help Center should be the first places to seek help. Likewise, if you’re a new user who wants to learn the ins and outs of Gmail, the Help Center should be the first place to consult.

Gmail is a free tool, so don’t expect much direct help as a personal user. Google has a support team, but they’re more focused on enterprise customers who pay for Google Workspace and other tools.

For paying Google Workspace subscribers, Google offers decent support. Response times vary according to your plan, but the support team doesn’t take long to reply to email complaints.

Gmail: The competition

Gmail is the most dominant email platform worldwide, but it has no shortage of competitors. Many free email platforms have tried to chip away at Gmail’s market share for a long time, with mixed results. The two rivals I’d like to highlight are Zoho Mail and Proton Mail.

Zoho Mail offers a free version for personal use, just like Gmail. However, this free plan provides just 5 GB of storage, unlike Gmail’s 15 GB. Zoho is more competitive on the business side, with plans that are more affordable than Gmail, although Gmail still offers more storage.

Businesses can subscribe to Zoho Mail for as low as $1 per month per user, while a Google Workspace subscription starts at $6 per month per user. Zoho Mail isn’t as user-friendly as Gmail. In fact, I got confused several times as a new user, but it’s a more affordable email solution for businesses with limited budgets.

Proton Mail is a secure email solution that offers end-to-end encryption, self-destructing messages, password-protected emails, and adherence to robust Swiss privacy laws, among other features. I wouldn’t say it’s more secure than Gmail, as Gmail offers many of the same features optionally. However, Proton Mail is more geared towards privacy and doesn’t have advertisements.

The drawback is that Proton Mail isn’t as intuitive as Gmail, and the free plan is much more limited, e.g., 6 GB storage compared to Gmail’s 15 GB storage. You’ll need a paid plan to enjoy most of Proton Mail’s features.

Gmail: Final verdict

Gmail is an email platform that I recommend any day and at any time, both for personal and business use. I can summarize the reason as “it just works.” Gmail provides the email features you’ll need, even on the free plan.

The paid plans are more expensive than other options, but the intuitiveness and seamless integration with other Google tools make it worthwhile if your business can afford it. Gmail is a solid choice that makes emailing an enjoyable experience.

We’ve also featured the best email clients.

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

CoD: Black Ops 7’s wallhack killstreak is receiving a frenzy of criticism, but isn’t the point of killstreaks that they’re unfair?

by admin October 1, 2025

What is Simp using?! 😱”You think this will be GA’d?” pic.twitter.com/VJUUwAZB8nSeptember 30, 2025

A clip from today’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 event has gone mildly viral, and is attracting the ire of onlookers who seem to feel that Call of Duty has, this time, gone too far with the wacky gadgets and guns.

The clip (embedded above) shows Call of Duty pro Simp using one of Blops 7’s new killstreak rewards, The Gravemaker, a sniper rifle whose wielder can see, and snipe, through solid walls. The go-to joke is that Activision has given up on combating cheaters and decided to just put wallhacking into the game.

I sort of get the indignation, because it doesn’t look fun to be on the receiving end of a bullet that was fired through two layers of concrete by someone you never could’ve seen, but I also sort of don’t get it, because aren’t all Call of Duty killstreaks like that?

How is this less fair than someone calling in an attack helicopter or carpet bombing part of the map? In some of these games you can call in a tactical nuke. A nuclear bomb!

Granted, the specific post I’ve shared is directed at the pro scene—”GA” refers to a “gentlemen’s agreement” not to use certain guns or abilities that have been deemed harmful to competitive play—and maybe this is something the pros will balk at.

To me, though, it just looks like yet another thing better players will kill me with. It appears that you get nine bullets, and so with perfect aim can score nine kills, which is a lot, but other streak rewards can do the same job. Also, Blops 7 will include the usual ‘Cold-Blooded’ perk so that you can hide from thermal optics.

I do agree that killstreaks and scorestreaks are annoying in general. I liked them way back in the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare because they were novel, and there were only a few of them to deal with, but these days I’d welcome streak-free playlists where I don’t have to be bullied by exceptional players who spend a quarter of the match shooting me from a helicopter.

The response here is probably more about vibes than anything: A wallhack sniper rifle is yet another prompt for the Call of Duty-fatigued to declare that they’re throwing in with the Battlefield crowd this year, and EA has smartly been playing up the idea that Battlefield 6 offers a more “grounded” take on modern warfare.

I don’t think Battlefield has ever been something I’d call grounded, but Call of Duty got so loaded up with live service cruft and goofy-ass crossover skins that it wasn’t a hard reputational battle for EA to win—it just had to not give Beavis and Butt-Head starring roles in BF6. Activision has started to change its tune on premium skins, but for the near future, I don’t know that it has much hope of escaping the narrative that CoD jumped the shark.

As Morgan just pointed out, it doesn’t help that Blops 7 hasn’t blown us away so far. I remain a sucker for CoD’s particular style of shooting, so I’ll check it out, but I doubt I’ll be good enough to ever earn this fancy sniper rifle. If I do, I guarantee that some kid will bound around a corner and noscope me before I even get a chance to look down that thermal sight, so you don’t have to worry about OP killstreaks from me, at least.

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Ares’ Set Behavior Was Maybe His Least Weird-Ass Set Behavior

by admin October 1, 2025

Jared Leto is known for a lot of things at this point, but one thing that he’s perhaps very known for is his approach to getting in character on-set. Leto is a tried and true method performer, and his turn as the titular program in the upcoming Tron: Ares was no exception to that process.

Which might mean you’re bracing yourself to hear how Leto could possibly have gotten into method acting for playing a digital warrior made up of code that comes from a computerized alt-world. After all, this is the man who hobbled about on crutches during the production of Morbius—to the point of contributing to the film’s production delays—or showed up to the set of Blade Runner 2049 pretending to be blind.

Or, perhaps most infamously, allegedly sent his Suicide Squad castmates animals (living and dead) and used condoms, among other things. So what could Leto have possibly done to maintain his method cred for Tron?

Turns out, it was significantly less weird than you’d expect: he simply forbade people on set from referring to him by name. Instead, it was Ares or nothing (or Air, if you’re Jeff Bridges, according to a recent interview on the Sirius XM show Literally! with Rob Lowe).

“I do address him as Ares when we’re filming and everybody goes, we get a little bit up. He’s the general walking onto set, which is fine,” Ares director Joachim Rønning recently told Screenrant. “And it’s not uncommon for actors to do it like that. And it works for him. And I think you can feel it in any movie he makes. He’s completely into the character.”

According to Rønning, it was the least he could do to help Leto get into the character of an AI supersoldier. “I know he’s a little wary about talking about his [process], I would say it’s his method,” the director continued. “It’s like, yes, he’s in character for the most part when we did this film, but that’s great. Honestly for me as a director, whatever works, I think he’s one of the best actors in the world.”

Still, considering the lengths that Leto has gone to get into a character in the past, simply asking to go by his role’s name means everyone on the Ares set got off lightly.

Tron: Ares is set to hit theaters October 10.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Everything Amazon Announced Today at Its Fall Hardware Event (2025)

by admin October 1, 2025

Over on the Show models, they now have a 13-megapixel camera for richer details on your video calls, with improved audio quality as well. Amazon says more and more companies are integrating with Alexa+, touting an Oura partnership that lets you ask Alexa about last night’s sleep with data collected from your Oura ring. More integrations are on the way, including the ability to buy movie tickets with Fandango.

All of these Echo devices are available for preorder today.

Alexa+ Is Still in Early Access

Alexa+ was announced back in February and began rolling out in early access by March. Not much is changing about this. Amazon says Alexa+ is now rolling out in the US “during an early access period” and in waves over the coming months. It’ll prioritize Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 device owners in this period, and you can sign up for early access here. The fastest way to access it is to buy one of the new Echo devices announced today.

Alexa+ is an upgrade over the standard Alexa you’re familiar with. Powered by a large language model, it allows you to be more conversational with the assistant. Alexa+ is much faster at answering more topical and contextual questions, correctly answering things like “What’s that popular Soda Pop song?” You can read more here about our experience using it for a week.

Alexa+ is free for Amazon Prime subscribers, but costs $20 a month for everyone else. Amazon says Alexa+ is being integrated into other devices from Sonos, Bose, Samsung, LG, and BMW.

The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft

The Kindle Scribe is a relatively new entry in Amazon’s e-reader ecosystem, but now it’s already in its third generation. And for the third iteration, there are three new 11-inch Kindle Scribe models: Kindle Scribe ($430), Kindle Scribe With Frontlight ($550), and Kindle Scribe Colorsoft ($630). These devices are 5.4 mm thick, which is thinner than the new iPhone Air. They weigh 400 grams and are made from precision-milled aluminum. Panay says they’re 40 percent faster, though he wasn’t specific about what he was comparing them to. When you write, you should experience a reduced latency of under 12 milliseconds.

The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft.

Photograph: Julian-Chokkattu

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Edifier ES20: two-minute review

Edifier ES20 review: price and release date

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Alexa+ Is Still in Early Access

The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft