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T-Mobile Walks Back Forced Plan Migration, Won’t Make People Switch Plans After All

If you have an old T-Mobile plan you’ll still be able to keep it, without calling into customer support.

T-Mobile caused a bit of a stir earlier this month when a leak revealed it planned to move people from older, cheaper plans to pricier ones starting with their November bill cycle. On Wednesday, the carrier officially walked back the changes with CEO Mike Sievert confirming that they would not happen. 

«We tend to do tests and pilots of things quite a bit to try to figure out what’s the right answer,» Sievert said on a company earnings call, in response to a question about industry pricing and how it could raise its average revenues per user, a key industry metric. «In this case, we had a test sell to try to understand customer interest in, and acceptance of, migrating off old legacy rate plans to something that’s higher value, for them and for us.» 

Sievert noted that the company was doing training around this test and said it wasn’t planned to be a «broad, national thing.» In its statement confirming the leak, the company told CNET earlier this month that the notices it was sending out was going to «a small number» of its users, but the carrier never clarified what a «small number» actually meant and didn’t respond to that question when asked. 

At the time, the carrier said that the switch would generally see customers pay «an increase of approximately $10 per line» per month. 

Read more: Best unlimited data plans

With the «plenty of feedback» the company received following the leak, Sievert said that T-Mobile has learned that this «particular test sell isn’t something that our customers are going to love.» He mentioned that no migrations of plans have actually rolled out. 

As for what will happen going forward, the carrier will continue to do tests and pilots for different changes, Mike Katz, T-Mobile’s president of marketing, strategy and products, said on the call. 

«I would expect to see more of those kinds of tests from us because it’s been a consistent practice throughout the entire ‘un-carrier’ journey so that we get it right for the experience for our customers,» Katz said. 

«We remain very interested in rationalizing our legacy rate plans,» added Sievert. «So we’re going to stay at it,» reiterating that getting users to switch plans will «probably» require the carrier to «do something different» than this test indicated. 

Technologies

Amazon Is Pulling Support for Kindles From 2012 or Earlier. What to Do Now

If there’s a book you’ve been waiting to read on your old Kindle device, make sure you download it before May 20.

That Kindle device you’ve been holding onto for 15 years now has an expiration date, as Amazon will end support for Kindle models from 2012 or earlier on May 20. An Australian Kindle user first reported the change before Amazon confirmed the news to PCMag and said it will soon email users in the US. 

The books that you already downloaded on your Kindle device won’t disappear after next month, but you won’t be able to connect to the network to buy, borrow or download new ones. 

If you still have a book that you want to finish reading on one of these devices, make sure that you don’t deregister the device or do a factory reset. In the email shared by an Australian user on Reddit, Amazon says if you deregister or reset the device, you won’t be able to re-register the device or use it at all afterward. 

A representative for Amazon has not yet responded to a request to comment from CNET. 

The company also included a promo code in the email for 20% off select new Kindle devices and an ebook credit that’s added to your account after you purchase a new device. However, there’s no word on whether this discount is limited to Australia or if a version will be offered to US users. 

Switching devices

Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier will lose the ability to download books after May 20. The devices that will be affected are: 

  • Kindle 1st and 2nd Generation 
  • Kindle DX and DX Graphite
  • Kindle Keyboard
  • Kindle 4
  • Kindle Touch
  • Kindle 5
  • Kindle Paperwhite 1st Generation

The first-generation model for Kindle was released in 2007, and e-readers have improved a bit in the time since. Amazon told Engadget that fewer than 3% of its users still use these old devices. 

In the email to customers, the company said users will still be able to access their Kindle library and the Kindle store using the Android, iOS or desktop app. You can still read and download books by using the Kindle app on your phone or PC. 

If this service loss feels like a good time to move on from the Kindle world, there are other e-reader options. Calibre is a free, open-source ebook manager that offers a range of features, like reading and organizing ebooks from multiple sources, as well as downloading news articles and websites.

If you’re looking for a newer Kindle model or a different reading tablet, check out the CNET list for this year’s best e-readers. 

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Technologies

Overwatch’s Next Hero Is Sierra, but Does That Mean the Rumors Were Wrong?

The new damage hero joins the roster next week, but lore and gameplay details are still under wraps.

After adding five new heroes in February, Overwatch just gave players another look at the new hero coming in season 2 next week. While we didn’t get gameplay details, the new hero trailer revealed that hero 51 is Sierra, and season 2 will be titled Summit. 

The game dropped its first look at Sierra last week, and a few details in the new artwork seemed to be in line with expectations that she’s an ally of damage hero Ashe. Ashe’s Deadlock Gang is mentioned in the new trailer, although Sierra is working with Overwatch in trying to stop them. We don’t know yet whether Sierra has ties to other Overwatch heroes and factions.

 Alec Dawson, Overwatch’s associate game director, said in February that the next hero would be another damage hero with a «really satisfying skill shot,» which we maybe glimpsed in the trailer when Sierra fires some kind of homing dart onto Emre after he steals something from Watchpoint: Grand Mesa. We also see her use a fully automatic rifle as well as tether to her drone for some aerial maneuvering, which could be hints at the rest of her kit. 

While I do love a good skillshot, I also feel like the game has been struggling with damage hero releases over the past year — particularly heroes who have the ability to quickly eliminate someone out of nowhere. The newest damage heroes Anran and Emre didn’t have this problem, but the previous two, Freja and Vendetta, were consistently banned after release because of their quick time to kill, combined with their ability to consistently surprise enemies. I’m hoping Sierra’s skillshot is less bursty. 

Even before the art was revealed last week, fans had started to speculate that Overwatch’s season 2 hero would be Frankie, a member of Ashe’s Deadlock Gang. She appeared in the Deadlock Rebels novel by Lyndsay Ely, which follows Ashe and the hero now known as Cassidy early in their outlaw careers. In the book, Frankie makes contact with the two characters by sending them a tiny fly-like drone — perhaps a smaller version of the drone in Sierra’s character art. 

The trailer shows Sierra working to stop the Deadlock Gang (who are helping Emre and Freja steal weapons for Talon), but it’s unclear whether Sierra is another character entirely or whether she’s Frankie after taking a different path.

The game’s Reign of Talon season 1 is wrapping up in the next week. The current season kicked off the year-long storyline about Vendetta taking over Talon and also introduced five new heroes into the roster. Devs have promised another new hero each season during the storyline, and today’s hero trailer gives us a few more hints about Sierra. 

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Technologies

Samsung Could Introduce a New Pro Model in the Galaxy S27 Lineup

A report claims Samsung’s expanding its flagship offerings to four phones.

Samsung may add a new Galaxy S27 model to its flagship phone lineup, aiming to compete directly with Apple’s four-model range. The report, from South Korean tech site Electronic Times, says industry insiders expect Samsung to increase the number of high-end flagship models by introducing a «Pro» version that shares similarities with the Ultra handset. 

If launched, the Pro would fall between the Plus and Ultra models. The report states that the display size on the new model hasn’t been finalized, but it will lack the S Pen functionality that has largely defined the Ultra series. It’s expected to share more features with the Ultra than the standard and Plus models, with the Privacy Display introduced with the Galaxy S26 Ultra specifically being called out for the new model. 

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

Samsung actually released a fourth model of its flagship smartphone series in 2025 with Galaxy S25. Called the Galaxy S25 Edge, the ultrathin smartphone was aesthetically pleasing but apparently sold poorly, which may be why there was no release of a Galaxy S26 Edge this year. Switching to a more standard Pro model might be the safer move. 

The expansion of its high-end model may do Samsung some good. As of now, if you want the absolute best Galaxy smartphone available, it’s undoubtedly the Ultra model, which features a massive 6.9-inch display. This matches the current size of the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which is simply too big for some people. The difference here, and this may be the case with the upcoming Galaxy lineup, is that Apple has a smaller Pro model that shares a majority of the features that are available on the Max version. 

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