Technologies

Motorola Edge 70 Is Ultrathin in Design, but Super Big on Battery

The new phone packs a battery capacity that outdoes the iPhone Air and Galaxy S25 Edge.

A new ultrathin phone has arrived on the scene. On Wednesday, Motorola unveiled the Edge 70. It’s slightly thicker than the iPhone Air and Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, but it also features a significantly larger battery capacity.

The announcement confirms earlier leaks about Motorola, which is entering a challenging market for ultrathins. Sales for the slim iPhone Air have reportedly been weak, and Samsung may consider ditching thin phones altogether due to declining interest in the Galaxy S25 Edge.

European consumers will have first crack at the Edge 70, as will phone shoppers in China (where it’s branded as the X70 Air). Motorola did not specify when it will be available in the US.

Typically, international phone models come with higher-end features, such as better cameras, more powerful processors and premium materials. The US edition of the Edge is often a more midrange phone. A look at the international model, however, does provide a hint about the eventual US-bound Edge.

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Motorola Edge 70 weight and battery life

The Edge 70 is 5.99mm thick and weighs about 159 grams. For comparison, the iPhone Air measures 5.6mm thick at 165 grams, while the Samsung S25 Edge is 5.8mm thick and weighs 163 grams.

It’s among the lighter phones in Motorola’s Edge line: The 2025 model released in the US weighed in at 181 grams, although it also included an additional telephoto camera. The 2023 US model comes closer at 168 grams.

Motorola’s model surpasses its competitors in terms of battery capacity. The Edge 70 features a 4,800-mAh battery, compared to the Galaxy S25 Edge’s 3,900-mAh battery and the iPhone Air’s 3,149-mAh battery. Motorola’s battery is also built from silicon-carbon, which has a higher energy density than the traditional lithium-ion batteries used by its rivals.

Edge 70 owners can watch 29 straight hours of video with a full charge, Motorola says, and 38 hours of mixed usage. As for recharging, the device supports 68-watt fast-wired charging, compared with 25 watts for both the Galaxy S25 Edge and iPhone Air. It also supports 15-watt wireless charging.

Motorola Edge 70 cameras

The Edge 70 has three high-resolution cameras:

A 50-megapixel main camera with 4K video recording
A 50-megapixel ultrawide, which doubles as a macro lens with a 120-degree field of view
A 50-megapixel front camera

It also has a dedicated 3-in-1 light sensor for light sensitivity and exposure.

AI assistance

The Edge 70 comes with Moto AI, an array of AI tools integrated into Motorola phones. Among the AI features is Next Move, which first appeared on Motorola’s Razr phone line. This feature provides proactive suggestions based on the content on the screen.

The phone also features other Moto AI capabilities introduced with the Razr and showcased on the 2025 Edge, including Playlist Studio, Catch Me Up for summarizing notifications, and Pay Attention, as well as the Remember This feature for saving information.

Resistance to water and dust

The Motorola Edge has IP68 and IP69 ratings for protection against dust and water intrusion. That is comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, Apple iPhone 16 series, and Google Pixel 10 series, all of which have IP68 ratings.

There are three colors available: pantone bronze green, pantone lily pad, pantone gadget gray.

How ‘in’ is thin?

CNET phone expert Abrar Al-Heeti says she started as a thin-phone skeptic but was sold on the concept after reviewing the Oppo Find N5, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge and the iPhone Air.

«It’s refreshing to use something that feels innovative, and I’m surprised at how much more comfortable it is to use a lightweight phone,» Al-Heeti said. «With all the thin phones I’ve tested, it’s that feather-light feel that stands out to me.»

However, it remains unclear whether ultrathin phones will have lasting appeal. There are trade-offs to slimmer phones, such as shorter battery life and reduced camera capabilities.

«The challenge for phone makers is to limit those compromises, so that thin phones can be more appealing to a wider range of people,» said Al-Heeti.

Technologies

If You Were ‘Tricked’ Into an Amazon Prime Subscription, You Should Have Been Paid by Today

Amazon is paying $1.5 billion to people who mistakenly subscribed to Prime, and the first round of payments are due today.

Amazon Prime provides a lot of valuable benefits to its members, but the company’s registration practices for its premium subscription from 2019 to 2025 led to many customers accidentally subscribing to a service they didn’t want.

Amazon is now paying the price for that deception — the US Federal Trade Commission levied a massive $2.5 billion settlement on the company for its subscription tactics.

The majority of the settlement — $1.5 billion — has been earmarked to refund eligible subscribers, with the rest serving as a civil penalty. Amazon is also now legally required to provide a clear, obvious option to decline Prime, making it as easy to leave the service as it is to join.

Amazon isn’t admitting to shady behavior. «Amazon and our executives have always followed the law, and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers,» Mark Blafkin, Amazon senior manager, said in a statement. «We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership, and to offer substantial value for our many millions of loyal Prime members around the world.»

The online retail giant started sending out payments to eligible people in November and was supposed to conclude its initial automatic payments today, Dec. 24. Read on to learn more about Amazon’s settlement and what to do if you think you’re eligible for compensation but didn’t receive a payment.

Why did the FTC fine Amazon?

The FTC filed suit against Amazon, accusing the company of using «dark patterns» to nudge people into Prime subscriptions and then making it too hard to cancel. The FTC maintained Amazon was in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act.

«Specifically, Amazon used manipulative, coercive or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically renewing Prime subscriptions,» the FTC complaint stated.

Who’s eligible for Amazon’s payout?

Amazon’s legal settlement is limited to customers who enrolled in Amazon Prime between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025. It’s also restricted to customers who subscribed to Prime using a «challenged enrollment flow» or who enrolled in Prime through any method but were unsuccessful in canceling their memberships.

The FTC called out specific enrollment pages, including Prime Video enrollment, the Universal Prime Decision page, the Shipping Option Select page and the Single Page Checkout. To qualify for a payout, claimants must also not have used more than 10 Amazon Prime benefits in any 12-month period.

Customers who signed up via those challenged processes and did not use more than three Prime benefits within one year will be paid automatically by Amazon within 90 days. Other eligible Amazon customers will need to file a claim, and Amazon is required to send notices to those people within 30 days of making its automatic payments.

If you are eligible for the automatic payment, you should have received an email from Amazon by today explaining how to claim the money. You can be paid via PayPal or Venmo. If you prefer a paper check, don’t accept the digital payment. The FTC says Amazon will mail you a check that you must cash within 60 days.

How big will the Amazon payments be?

Payouts to eligible Amazon claimants will be limited to a maximum of $51. That amount could be reduced depending on the number of Amazon Prime benefits you used while subscribed to the service. Those benefits include free two-day shipping, watching shows or movies on Prime Video or Whole Foods grocery discounts.

Customers who qualify for the payments should have received them from Nov. 12 to Dec. 24, 2025.If you are eligible for compensation from Amazon but didn’t receive a payout, you’ll need to file a claim after Amazon starts the claim process. The FTC says it will update its Amazon settlement site once that process has begun.

Customers who did not use a challenged sign-up process but instead were unable to cancel their Prime memberships will also need to file claims for payment.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Dec. 25, #458

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Dec. 25, No. 458.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition has a real mix of categories, including one that’s all about a certain famous athlete. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Swing away!

Green group hint: What’s that on your bat?

Blue group hint: Catch the football.

Purple group hint: Lake Placid or Lillehammer.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Baseball bat materials.

Green group: Associated with George Brett.

Blue group: NFL rookie WRs.

Purple group: Olympic ____.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is baseball bat materials. The four answers are aluminum, ash, birch and maple.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with George Brett. The four answers are 5, pine tar, Royals and third base.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is NFL rookie WRs. The four answers are Burden, Egbuka, Golden and McMillan.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Olympic ____. The four answers are Games, rings, torch and village.

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Technologies

Christmas Eve Gaming Crushed as Steam Goes Offline

Services related to the popular game hub seem to slowly be returning as of Wednesday afternoon.

Your Christmas Eve gaming session might not go as planned. Online gaming hub Steam went down on Wednesday. As of about 1:30 pm PT, the Steam store page was once again accessible, so services seemed to be coming back online.

The Steam outage appeared to begin mid-afternoon ET, according to Downdetector, which monitors site outages. (Disclosure: Downdetector is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

A representative for Steam did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As of Wednesday noon PT, Steam’s official X and Bluesky accounts hadn’t posted anything about the outage.

Gamers certainly noticed. «Steam down, Steam down!!!» wrote one Bluesky user.

Others commented on the bad timing just as gamers were enjoying time off or receiving gaming gifts. «‘You got a gift on Steam!’ oh cool ‘Steam is down’ oh cool,» wrote another Bluesky user.