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Total Wireless deal knocks $300 off iPhone 16e — here's how to get it

Total Wireless deal knocks $300 off iPhone 16e — here's how to get it

Tom's Guide30-06-2025
The holiday weekend is almost here and if you're shopping for a budget phone, Total Wireless is offering a killer 4th of July sale on Apple's iPhone 16e.
For a limited time, Total Wireless has the iPhone 16e on sale for $299. You'll need to opt for a Total 5G+ plan and switch from a carrier to get this price, but it's the best iPhone 16e deal I've seen to date.
Priced at $599, the iPhone 16e is Apple's newest iPhone. Although it's pricier than the $429 iPhone SE (2022), the iPhone 16e packs a stronger punch. You get a larger 6.1-inch OLED display (2532 x 1170), A18 CPU, 128GB of storage, 12MP (f/1.9) front camera, and a 48MP rear camera with 2x in-sensor zoom (f/1.6). Additionally, the iPhone 16e supports Apple Intelligence. In our iPhone 16e review, we said it's a new breed of iPhone taking some of the best parts about a modern iPhone, but offering them at slightly lower cost. Select a 2-month 5G or 2-month Total 5G+ plan and switch from a competing carrier to get this deal.
Total Wireless is one of the best prepaid phone plans we've tested. It's part of Verizon's portfolio of prepaid brands and we especially like it for its budget-friendly family plans.
The iPhone 16e costs $170 more than the iPhone SE (2022), which started at $429. However, the iPhone 16e sports a much larger 6.1-inch display and faster A18 chipset. (It's the same CPU powering the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus).
Other noteworthy upgrades include a Face ID notch and a full-screen design with gesture-based navigation. Unfortunately, there's no Dynamic Island nor is there a Camera Control key, but the iPhone 16e does have an Action button like the iPhone 16.
Another added bonus is that it supports iOS 18 features, including Apple Intelligence. That means you don't have to spend $799 or more to get a modern iPhone experience. At today's lower price of $299, it's a killer deal.
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I swapped my Apple Watch Series 10 for a Google Pixel Watch 3 — here's what I liked and disliked
I swapped my Apple Watch Series 10 for a Google Pixel Watch 3 — here's what I liked and disliked

Tom's Guide

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  • Tom's Guide

I swapped my Apple Watch Series 10 for a Google Pixel Watch 3 — here's what I liked and disliked

If you own an iPhone and you're fully locked into the Apple ecosystem, then it's hard to look past choosing the Apple Watch as your smartwatch. Whether it's our top smartwatch pick or the number one smartwatch choice for women, it's a tough one to beat. There are other great smartwatches outside of the Apple Watch, including the Google Pixel Watch 3. It's our favourite Android smartwatch and is proof that great Wear OS smartwatches exist. So what would happen if you swapped Apple Watch for Google Pixel Watch to dish out those phone notifications, let you make payments from the wrist, or let the music play sans smartphone? That's exactly what we did to find out if Google's best is a good enough alternative to the Apple Watch Series 10. Here's what we liked and disliked as we did smartwatch swapsies. If there's one area in general I think Wear OS smartwatches struggle in comparison to the Apple Watch, it's with the native fitness and health tracking support. It's generally good in parts, but lacks as a package. That's where the Pixel Watch 3 differs, and that's mainly down to the strong Fitbit integration, which essentially takes care of monitoring daily step counts, motivating you to keep moving during the day, and offers the kind of metrics and insights that are both glanceable and actually useful to pay attention to. A few features stand out particularly on the Pixel Watch. One is sleep tracking, which Fitbit has had quite a head start on Apple, both with tracking and with the level of metrics it can offer. Apple's sleep tracking support is pretty solid, but in contrast to what you get on the Pixel Watch, the presentation of data on and off the watch is a bit slicker. Readiness scores are another feature that's a win for Google over Apple. It's a good example of a metric that's powered by reliable tracking of heart rate and sleep. Once calibrated, these scores can offer a simple heads-up of whether you should work out or take a rest day. Currently, Apple doesn't offer a similar readiness-type score that is a great feature for fitness newbies and more experienced fitness lovers. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. The Google Pixel Watch 3 is hardly a battery powerhouse, especially compared to other Wear OS smartwatches like the OnePlus Watch 3 and many of Mobvoi's dual-display-toting TicWatches. It does manage to squeeze out a little bit more battery than the Apple Watch Series 10, based on my testing time. The raw numbers state the Pixel Watch 3 can last up to 24 hours with the screen set to always-on, or you can switch to the Battery Saver mode to get up to 36 hours. The Apple Watch Series 10 lasts 18 hours, and really will if you keep the screen on at all times. Granted, it's a pretty rapid charger, but it doesn't negate that you definitely do end up having to think about the battery. Especially if you're taking it to bed to track your sleep. While the Pixel Watch 3 isn't immune to similar concerns, it's definitely slightly less of one compared to Apple's smartwatch. Like Apple, it does try to remedy that with some pretty rapid charging support. Apple's smartwatch has remained square since the original Watch and seems unlikely to shift from that angular look. While there's no shortage of round smartwatches, I'd say that the Pixel Watch 3's round look stands out for the right reasons. For starters, it comes in two different sizes, which is great news whether you like a smartwatch to dominate on the wrist or you prefer something that lives a little smaller, letting you strap on additional wristwear alongside it. You're getting a fully circular case design in either a polished or matte aluminium finish, an elegant watch crown, and a bright AMOLED display, and it has those deep black levels you associate with a high-quality colour screen. Combine all of that and you get something that's sleek and really does set it apart from other smartwatches. You certainly can't accuse the Google Pixel Watch 3 of aping the look of the Apple Watch Series 10 or other Apple Watches, and while Apple also gets plenty of things right with its design, so does Google with its own. Apple beats Google when it comes to tracking your exercise. Quite simply, if you want a smartwatch that can closely match the performance of a dedicated sports watch, it's not the Pixel Watch 3 you'll want on your wrist. Take GPS performance, or the fact that it doesn't offer the latest dual-band GPS technology that now appears on a whole host of smartwatches, some of which cost less than the Pixel Watch 3. If you look at the supported sports tracking profiles, there's simply more on offer with Apple's smartwatch. Take swimming as an example, where the Pixel Watch 3 only supports tracking pool swims, while Apple's will track your movements in the open water and do a really good job of it. If you're heading outside to track workouts, Apple gives you maps to view. Some of that mapping is available out of the box, with a host of apps in the App Store that are capable of extending that to other sports. That extensive third-party training and fitness app support gives Apple the upper hand to enhance its sports tracking capabilities. It also has the advantage of letting you pair external fitness accessories like a heart rate monitor, which you cannot do on the Pixel Watch 3. Yes, there's certainly enough on the Pixel Watch to track workouts and offer a satisfactory level of performance as well as a good array of metrics. The Apple Watch Series 10 is a much better performer across most, if not all, fronts. Having Fitbit take care of most of the Pixel Watch 3's fitness and health tracking was a smart move, but you will need to shell out more money, either on a monthly or annual basis, to get the most complete Fitbit experience. Thankfully, features like daily readiness scores, core activity tracking, and health metrics are available in the free version of the Fitbit App. The biggest features you're going to miss out on by not paying up for Premium are the extra analysis offered for sleep and stress data. You also miss out on Fitbit's workout videos and audio-based training sessions, but I'd say that richer sleep and stress insights are the things that most users will most appreciate having access to. Yes, I did like the fact that the Pixel Watch 3 (the larger 45mm version) has a better battery than the Apple Watch Series 10, but it's not by a huge amount. 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iOS 26 public beta is here — 5 settings you need to change first
iOS 26 public beta is here — 5 settings you need to change first

Tom's Guide

timean hour ago

  • Tom's Guide

iOS 26 public beta is here — 5 settings you need to change first

Now that the iOS 26 public beta is available, more people can preview Apple's latest mobile software ahead of its final release later this fall. I've been using the iOS 26 beta ever since it was released shortly after WWDC 2025, and if you've already hit that install button for the public beta, you're in store for a big surprise. There's obviously a lot of buzz around the big makeover that Apple's implementing, but not all the new changes and additions make for a more meaningful experience. That's why I want to share the settings I think you need to change first soon after installing the iOS 26 public beta. Of course, Apple could continue to change stuff with subsequent public beta updates. But for now, you'll get more out of the experience by adjusting these settings. As much as Liquid Glass adds depth and separation with its new material design, there are instances when Liquid Glass looks messy. Case in point, when you access Control Center and how the transparency of the interface makes it look too confusing. Just take a look at the shot above! In order to make Liquid Glass more suitable, I recommend enabling the setting for reduce transparency to make Liquid Glass less transparent — and it's quite easy. Just got the general Settings menu, select Accessibility, then Display & Text Size, and finally hit the toggle for Reduce Transparency. Once it's enabled, you'll see how Liquid Glass elements around the interface will have more of an opaque appearance instead of being transparent. Whether you're for or against the new Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 series, you might notice after installing the iOS 26 public beta that its behavior has changed. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. While pressing on the button launches the camera app, the other Camera Control gestures could be disabled. I'm referring to the two-press gesture used to switch between the various modes. You'll want to restore it back to its original setting by enabling the setting for Camera Control adjustments. Simply navigate to general Settings, then proceed to Camera. From here, select Camera Control and enable the toggle for Camera Adjustments under Controls. In addition to reenabling all of the Camera Control adjustments, you can also customize the gestures and the hierarchy of the controls. Shortly after I installed the iOS 26 developers beta, I noticed my battery life taking a big hit on my iPhone 16 Pro Max. I'm not really surprised by this, seeing that battery saving optimizations are a work in progress with any beta software. However, there's one setting that will help out with exactly this. It's the new "adaptive power" mode in iOS 26 that aims to extend the battery life of your compatible iPhone. There are optimizations with this mode that helps to extend your iPhone's battery life by doing things such as lowering the screen brightness — or 'allowing some activities to take a little longer.' You can enable adaptive power mode by going into Settings, Battery, and then Power Mode. There's a toggle for adaptive power that you select to enable it. Apple changes the look of Safari with the iOS 26 public beta, namely the toolbar and tabs. The look with the default setting makes the toolbar appear as minimalist as they come, with it almost disappearing when you begin to scroll web sites. I prefer the Safari toolbar to be a bit more prominent, which is why you'll want to change the setting to change its layout. You can do this quickly by going into the Settings, then scroll down to Apps. Once there, you'll have to scroll all the way down until you see Safari (or just type Safari into the search box), and then find the section for 'tabs' halfway down the page. You have three options: compact, bottom, and top. The iOS 26 public beta defaults to compact, but I'd suggest changing it to top if you bottom to make the toolbar a bit bigger so that it's easier to see. This one may not be as pressing, but I know it's something that annoys me because when I go into my photo library, I want to see everything — including the screenshots I capture. With iOS 26, the Photos app gets another redesign, but I've noticed that screenshots aren't shown under my photo library. Instead, they're populated within the Screenshots folder under the collections tab, but I also want to see them in the main library. You can easily get them to show up by tapping on the filter icon on the top right indicated by the three horizontal lines icon, then tap on View Options, and finally press on screenshots to show there's a checkmark on it. Now, all of your screenshots will show up under the library in addition to the screenshots folder. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.

Liquid Glass arrives on Apple Watch via watchOS 26 beta — here's how to unlock it
Liquid Glass arrives on Apple Watch via watchOS 26 beta — here's how to unlock it

Tom's Guide

time2 hours ago

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Liquid Glass arrives on Apple Watch via watchOS 26 beta — here's how to unlock it

watchOS 26 is officially available for public download, meaning you can check out Apple's next-generation software right now on your own Apple Watch. I'll walk you through the process in eight easy steps. All in, the installation took roughly 45 minutes from start to finish, but your mileage may vary. What makes watchOS 26 so exciting? From an updated "Liquid Glass" interface design to personalized workout tools and the inclusion of Apple's Notes app (finally), there are lots of watchOS 26 features I can't wait to try. But first, is your Apple Watch watchOS 26 beta eligible? Below are the models that can be upgraded to the latest beta software: To download and install watchOS 26 on your compatible Apple Watch, you'll first need to download and install the iOS 26 public beta on your compatible iPhone. iPhone 11 and newer are eligible for the install. I performed it on my iPhone 12 Mini without issue. Need more help? Here's our step-by-step guide to installing iOS 26 beta. Once you've upgraded to the iOS 26 beta on your iPhone, open the Watch app, scroll down, and tap General, followed by Software Updates. Next, select Beta Updates. On the next screen, tap to the right of "watchOS 26 public beta update." This should place a yellow checkmark next to it. Now, tap the back button in the upper left. This will cause the Watch app to return to the prior screen and start checking for updates. The watchOS 26 Beta download screen should appear on the screen after a few seconds. Once it does, go ahead and tap Download and Install. You'll next be prompted to enter your passcode, if applicable, to confirm the download. Once entered, you'll be presented a lengthy set of Terms and Conditions. Read them if you like, or simply tap "agree" to get things started. And now, prepare to wait for the watchOS 26 beta download to complete. Feel free to go make a cup of coffee, take the dog for a walk, or have a hot bath. The 2.6 GB software update took roughly 35 minutes to finish. Note: Make sure you've got a healthy Internet connection before starting the download; I did, and it still took that long. Once downloaded to your device, it's now time to get watchOS 26 beta installed on your Apple Watch, but first, make sure your watch is plugged into a charger and has at least 50% battery. If you're good on the charging front, it's time to tap Install on your iPhone's screen. This will cause your Apple Watch to restart and begin the update. It took about seven minutes for watchOS 26 beta to install on my Apple Watch Series 10. As you wait, pay attention to the circular progress bar around the Apple logo. Once fully filled in, the watch will go black, before you're greeted with... ... a welcome screen! Go ahead and tap Start to take your first dive into watchOS 26 beta. On the following screen, you can choose to take a quick tour of the updated interface, though the buttons and gestures largely remain the same as before. If you do choose to take the tour, follow the button and swiping prompts for a refresher on basic Apple Watch navigation. And with that, you've now got the latest beta software for your Apple Watch fully installed, which means it's time to poke around and experiment with all the new watchOS 26 beta features and design elements, including the new Wrist Flick gesture and live message translations. Expect more how-tos in the coming days on many of these features, in particular, Apple's new Workout Buddy. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Until then, here are some other handy things you can do with your Apple Watch thanks to the last major software rollout, including pausing your Apple Watch Activity Rings, translating languages from your wrist, and global tides tracking for my ocean-lovers.

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