Technologies
9 hidden Amazon perks other than Prime shipping and video to save money now
You know the big ones: Prime Video, Prime Music and Prime’s free shipping. But there’s a ton of Amazon features that you might not know about and will want to start using ASAP to save some cash.

Amazon has made a name for itself as the supplier of just about anything. But in addition to two-day and even same-day shipping for Amazon Prime members, the trillion-dollar tech titan has dozens of other services just a few clicks away from the homepage. Some, like Amazon Prime Video and Prime Music, make headlines. Others tend to get buried in the vastness of Amazon’s super site. We’re here to help uncover the best of the bunch.
Amazon expanded its reach during the pandemic — with visits increasing 37% from February 2020 to January 2021 — as it pushed new programs, including Amazon Sidewalk, the auto-on broadband-sharing program for Amazon Echo speakers and Ring devices. But its shopping services continue to be its bread and butter.
For avid Amazon shoppers, a heap of lesser known features can score you big perks if you know where to look, including steep discounts on expensive items and free books. We’ve scouted Amazon’s jungle of services to find the most useful (and surprising) Amazon programs that you can use today.
Read more: Amazon Prime Video: The 25 best films to see this week
1. Free reading with Prime Reading and Kindle Unlimited
Prime Reading is your own personal lending library that comes with a Prime membership. With a rotating selection of over 2,500 books and magazines, you can access Prime Reading with the Kindle app on your desktop or portable device or your Kindle e-reader. This Amazon service also lets you share titles with members of your household. Some books in Prime Reading come with Audible narrations so you can multitask while you listen.
Prime Reading also includes First Reads, which gives members a sneak peek at books before they’re released to the general public.
Kindle Unlimited is a $10-a-month subscription service separate from an Amazon Prime account. It gives you unlimited access to more than 1 million ebooks and up to three magazine subscriptions on a Kindle device or Kindle app.
2. Trade in used devices to redeem gift cards and shop preowned, discounted products
Amazon is boarding the train to sustainability station, and it’s something you can directly benefit from. With Amazon Trade-In, you can send back your used electronics in exchange for Amazon gift cards. Make sure to check on the eligibility of each product — some trade-in options are only available for a limited time.
Amazon Renewed gives you access to products that may have been opened but unused by their original owners, or were refurbished. Amazon assures that these preowned items work and look like new, coming with the Amazon Renewed Guarantee. A variety of products and brands are available, even from premium names like Apple and Vitamix.
3. Shop Amazon’s Warehouse items at a discount
Amazon Warehouse resells millions of like-new or preowned items that have been returned by customers. Some of the products only had their boxes opened by original purchasers before they were sent back, unused, so they’re sold again at a discount. While there’s no regular manufacturing warranty on these products, they are backed by Amazon’s 30-day return policy and 90-day renewed item return policy.
To read more about how you can get the most out of Amazon Warehouse, check out our guide on shopping for the best deals on Amazon Warehouse.
4. Find discounts on overstock in Amazon Outlet
Just like a brick-and-mortar outlet store, but without the gas money. The Amazon Outlet features overstocked items and other products at a discounted price. Like at an outlet, you can find premium brands, items under $10 and products ranging from home furniture and clothing to books and pet supplies. It’s a good place to stay within a budget while being the first owner, unlike some items in the Amazon Warehouse.
Keep in mind that although the online shopping experience is convenient, just like an outlet, the best deals sometimes take some sifting to find. Luckily, you can do it from the couch.
5. Discover limited-time offers with Lightning Deals
Amazon’s Lightning Deals are a promotion where a product or service is on sale for a short period of time or until it’s sold out. You can find them all throughout the site, but especially on Prime Day and in Today’s Deals. On Prime Day, Lightning Deals are only for Prime members.
There is one lightning deal per customer until the promotion ends or all the deals are claimed by other shoppers. You can join a waitlist for a deal, but keep in mind that these discounts are extremely time-sensitive, so grab them fast. Unless refreshing the page over and over is your thing, these deals aren’t necessarily the tool to find something specific because of their fleeting nature and limited availability.
6. Back up photos and videos with Amazon Photos
Amazon’s online shoebox for photos and videos offers secure and unlimited full-resolution photo storage plus 5 GB of video for Prime members. To use this feature, you can choose to manually or automatically upload media in the Amazon Photos app. You can personalize the displays on Amazon devices like Fire TV, Echo Show and Fire tablets as long as you have the app. There are also ways to create keepsakes using the pictures you upload, such as custom cards and prints.
With the Family Vault perk, up to five family members can share in the same plan. If you want more beyond what Prime offers, there are paid plans available. If you choose to switch — which can be done anytime — there is a 100GB option for $2 per month and 1TB plan for $7 per month.
7. Share Prime benefits with Amazon Household
Sharing is caring, and Amazon Household lets you divvy up Prime benefits and digital content with others. Using Household, share your Prime account with:
- Up to two adults (aged 18 and over), each with their own Amazon account. Adults can manage accounts of teens and children.
- Up to four teens (ages 13 through 17). Teens can have their own Amazon login to shop with parent approval and stream content.
- Up to four children (children can’t shop on Amazon).
8. Shop exclusive discounted Whole Foods hauls
Healthy shopping can rack up the number at the bottom of the receipt. But if you enter your email address, phone number or scan the QR code on your Whole Foods Market app at checkout during your next grocery haul, Prime members receive discounts on select products.
Blue tags indicate sales exclusive to Prime members, while yellow tags mean an extra 10% off of an item already on sale. This gets you discounts on weekly best-sellers, including produce, packaged goods and beauty products, but note that it excludes alcohol. The few cents saved on items may seem insignificant individually, but savings do add up at the end of the shopping trip.
Also, if you don’t want to make the trip across town, Amazon offers two-hour delivery of groceries for free, as long as you meet the minimum purchase amount. But if you don’t mind the drive, there are also one-hour pickup windows depending on your location — just remember to check in with the Amazon app to see if you need to enter the store.
9. Build a wish list with Prime’s wedding registry
If the big day is coming up, Amazon’s wedding registry can get a gift wish list set up for everything from daily essentials to group presents. Amazon can help you cover all the gifting bases, and that makes it a convenient option for you and your wedding guests.
The registry includes lists of editors’ picks and best sellers to help you sort through Amazon’s options, while the browsing feature can inspire new ideas or highlight something you may have forgotten about. You can also buy any item that’s left on the registry for 20% off — which can be returned within 180 days if you decide you don’t like it.
For more, here are our picks for the best Alexa devices and which e-reader is right for you.
Technologies
Motorola’s New 2025 Razr Line Gets a High-End $1,300 Ultra Phone
Technologies
Motorola’s $1,300 Razr Ultra Adds Luxury to the 2025 Foldable Phone Line
The new three-tier Razr series comes with Motorola’s biggest AI push yet. One of the flip phones even has a wooden back like the old Moto X from a decade ago.

Motorola’s hoping that good things can come in threes for its newly announced Razr 2025 line. Specifically, there are three Razr models, with a $1,300 Ultra edition debuting alongside updated versions of the base $700 Razr and the $1,000 Razr Plus.
I spent a little time with the new Motorola Razr phones, and it was hard to notice their differences side by side. The design tweaks and spec changes between the three are slight. I found it easy to mix up the Plus and Ultra models when they’re folded shut, as they both have a 4-inch cover screen. The base Razr uses a 3.6-inch cover display adorned with a colorful bezel. Unfolded, all three phones look tall because each has an interior screen with a narrow aspect ratio compared to a regular smartphone. The Ultra folds out to an expansive 7-inch display, while the Razr and Razr Plus have slightly smaller 6.9-inch screens.
Motorola’s also using the new Razr line to showcase Moto AI and fashionable materials like Alcantara fabric. The new lineup marks Motorola’s largest push into AI — cleverly named Moto AI. Motorola has partnerships with Perplexity, Meta’s Llama AI, Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini.
It’s quite an aggressive push to expand both Motorola’s Razr line and its AI ambitions, but it makes a lot of sense since Apple, Google and Samsung have also expanded their AI plans while releasing flagship phones at different prices. During a press preview event, Motorola noted that 25% of its Razr customers upgraded from an iPhone. Having a third higher-end Razr option should appeal stronger to customers abandoning the iPhone Pro Max. The Razr Ultra could also tempt someone considering the $1,300 Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. While AI features still aren’t the main appeal for customers, the expanded suite of Moto AI tools makes this year’s Razrs more competitive against Apple and Samsung’s AI offerings.
However, the 2025 Motorola Razr line has a noticeable disadvantage against competing foldable phones: they will receive only three years of major software upgrades and four years of security updates. Compared with Google and Samsung’s seven-year commitment to both, it’s about half as long. But with that expectation set, there are a lot of unique design elements to the new Razr line that make it stand out from other phone makers. And that’s worth keeping in mind too.
Motorola’s new Razr line will go on preorder May 7 ahead of a May 15 release date.
Motorola Razr Ultra
The Motorola Razr Ultra is the newest and most powerful member of the family. It has the same Snapdragon 8 Elite chip found in other flagship phones like the OnePlus 13 and Xiaomi 15 Ultra. It also has a wood back option — known as Pantone Mountain Trail. The Razr Ultra is the first Motorola phone to get a wooden back since the Moto X line from a decade ago.
My favorite model, though, is the Pantone Scarab, which is made from velvety black Alcantara fabric — think faux suede or micro suede. The Ultra also comes in magenta-like Pantone Cabaret and Pantone Rio Red.
The phone supports 68-watt wired charging, which is faster than most other flagships, and 30-watt wireless charging. The Ultra also has three 50-megapixel cameras, with a wide and ultrawide lenses on the back and the selfie camera on the interior display.
That 7-inch interior display looks tall and could be a two-handed device for many people when unfolded. The Ultra model I tested did not have an internet connection, but I could easily see how the wider space would be useful for gaming and movie-watching.
On the other hand, the 4-inch cover display feels just right for quick texts and photography. I almost want this smaller display to be a hair taller, as its wider ratio makes it more challenging for viewing content. Both displays have an adaptive refresh rate of up to 165Hz, which makes animations, gameplay play and scrolling social feeds look ridiculously smooth.
The Ultra also has 16GB of memory and comes with either 512GB or 1TB of storage.
Motorola Razr Plus (2025)
Motorola’s Razr Plus gets a smaller revamp compared with last year’s model, and it has many of the same specs from the 2024 version (which earned it a CNET Editor’s Choice award). It has the same Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 processor, 6.9-inch interior screen, 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage. Cameras are also similar. There’s a 50-megapixel wide camera and a 50-megapixel telephoto on the cover display and a 32-megapixel selfie camera on the interior screen.
The Razr Plus gets a few new hardware enhancements that are coming to all three phones. It has a new titanium-reinforced hinge that Motorola says will help its extend its lifespan: 35% more folds than last year’s model. The Razr Plus has IP48 protection for submersion in up to 1.5 meters of water for 30 minutes. This makes the phone, along with the other 2025 Razr models, one of the only foldables that has some level of dust resistance.
The Plus is available in three colors: Pantone Mocha Mousse, Midnight Blue and Hot Pink.
Motorola Razr (2025)
Motorola’s standard Razr also got a small spec bump compared with last year’s standard Razr. It does move up to MediaTek’s Dimensity 7400X processor, which is slightly newer than the 7300 included in the 2024 model. It also keeps the 3.6-inch 90Hz cover display and the 6.9-inch 120Hz interior screen.
Cameras are also largely similar: a 50-megapixel main camera and a 13-megapixel ultrawide on the cover screen and a 32-megapixel selfie camera on the interior display.
The Razr (2025) comes in four Pantone-branded colors: Spring Bud (green), Gibraltar Sea Blue, Parfait Pink and Lightest Sky (white).
Moto AI
Moto AI debuted last year on the 2024 Razr and Razr Plus. Motorola will partner with several AI companies to significantly upgrade Moto AI in 2025. Moto AI features can be activated with a dedicated button or by looking and speaking directly at the phone.
Motorola says that Moto AI, along with integrated services like Perplexity, Copilot and Gemin, will complement each other. For instance, Perplexity can help with research-based tasks like vacation planning and will partly power Moto AI’s Next Move feature that offers suggestions based on what’s happening on your screen. Llama AI can summarize notifications for Moto’s Catch Me Up. Moto’s Pay Attention and Remember This are meant to help organize notes, audio transcriptions, contextual photos and screenshots. Other general queries can be fielded by either Copilot or Gemini.
Motorola’s own AI will also pitch in for a variety of photography enhancement features. These include Signature Style for customizing the look of your photos as well as a Group Shot feature that can merge multiple photos together to ensure one where no one is blinking.
Motorola’s earbuds get crystals and Bose
Motorola’s fashion-forward ambitions didn’t stop at just the Pantone-colored Razr line. The company also unveiled the Moto Buds Loop open-style earbuds, which include Swarovski crystals along with a Sound by Bose badge. Pricing and availability weren’t announced yet, but the earbuds look like small earrings and hook across the ear. Motorola says that the open style lets in ambient noise (which can be good for staying alert in public places). The buds have a dual-microphone system and AI for voice calls and reducing background noise.
Motorola Razr (2025) specs vs. Motorola Razr Plus (2025), Motorola Razr Ultra
Motorola Razr (2025) | Motorola Razr Plus (2025) | Motorola Razr Ultra | |
---|---|---|---|
Cover display size, tech, resolution, refresh rate | 3.6-inch pOLED; up to 90Hz variable refresh rate | 4-inch pOLED; 1,272 x 1,080 pixels; up to 165Hz variable refresh rate | 4-inch pOLED; up to 165Hz variable refresh rate |
Internal display size, tech, resolution, refresh rate | 6.9-inch AMOLED; FHD+; up to 120Hz variable refresh rate | 6.9-inch pOLED; FHD+; 2,640 x 1,080 pixels; up to 165Hz variable refresh rate | 7-inch AMOLED; up to 165Hz variable refresh rate |
Pixel density | Cover: 413 ppi; Internal: 413 ppi | Cover: 417 ppi; Internal: 413 ppi | Cover: 417 ppi; 464 ppi |
Dimensions (inches) | Open: 2.91 x 6.74 x 0.29 inches Closed: 2.91 x 3.47 x 0.62 inches | Open: 2.91 x 6.75 x 0.28 inches Closed: 2.91 x 3.47 x 0.6 inches | Open: 2.91 x 6.75 x 0.28 inches Closed: 2.91 x 3.47 x 0.62 inches |
Dimensions (millimeters) | Open: 73.99 x 171.30 x 7.25mm Closed: 73.99 x 88.08 x 15.85mm | Open: 73.99 x 171.42 x 7.09mm Closed: 73.99 x 88.09 x 15.32mm | Open: 73.99 x 171.48 x 7.19mm Closed: 73.99 x 88.12 x 15.69mm |
Weight (grams, ounces) | 188g (6.63 oz) | 189g (6.67 oz) | 199g (7 oz) |
Mobile software | Android 15 | Android 15 | Android 15 |
Cameras | 50-megapixel (wide), 13-megapixel (ultrawide) | 50-megapixel (wide), 50-megapixel telephoto | 50-megapixel (wide), 50-megapixel (ultrawide) |
Internal screen camera | 32-megapixel | 32-megapixel | 50-megapixel |
Video capture | 4K | 4K | 4K |
Processor | MediaTek Dimensity 7400X | Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 | Snapdragon 8 Elite |
RAM/storage | 8GB + 256GB | 12GB + 256GB | 16GB + 512GB, 1TB |
Expandable storage | None | None | None |
Battery | 4500 mAh | 4,000 mAh | 4,700 mAh |
Fingerprint sensor | Side | Side | Side |
Connector | USB-C | USB-C | USB-C |
Headphone jack | None | None | None |
Special features | IP48 rating, dual stereo speakers, 30-watt wired charging, 15-watt wireless charging, 1,700 nit peak brightness on cover display, 3,000 nit peak brightness on main display, 5G. | IP48 rating, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on front, titanium-reinforced hinge, 2,400 peak brightness on cover display; 3,000 nit peak brightness on main display, 5G, Wi-Fi 6/6E, Wi-Fi 7, 45-watt wired charging, 15-watt wireless charging, 5-watt reverse charging. | IP48 rating, 68-watt wired charging, 30-watt wireless charging, 5-watt reverse charging, dual stereo speakers, Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic cover dispaly, 3,000 nits peak brightness on cover display, 4,500 nits peak brightness on main display, 5G. |
US price starts at | $700 | $1,000 | $1,300 |
Technologies
Adobe and LinkedIn Are Teaming Up to Help Creators Verify Images’ Authenticity
The partnership allows the new Adobe content authenticity app to verify that a creator is who they say they are.

Adobe’s next step forward in its content authenticity efforts is here. The Adobe content authenticity app is now in public beta, available for anyone to try. With the app, you can attach content credentials to all your digital images and photos.
Content credentials are a kind of invisible digital signature that’s added after a project is finished. Right now, you can add them to images, with support for videos and audio coming soon. Besides your name, content credentials can include your social media handles, personal website and can disclose any AI usage. You can also use these credentials to signify that you don’t want your work to be used to train AI models.
One of the best parts about the app is that you don’t need a Creative Cloud subscription to use it. So even if you don’t want to pay for Adobe programs, you can quickly sign up for a free Adobe account and use the app to create content credentials and apply them to your digital work.
Creators who post their work online know that it’s all too easy for people to steal, misattribute or erase the original creator from a piece of work. That’s where the new partnership with LinkedIn comes in to give content credentials a little more security.
Currently, LinkedIn offers three types of verifications on its platform: identity, workplace and educational. You likely already have at least one if you’re a semiregular LinkedIn user. You can get a workplace verification by using your work email, or you can get an identity verification using a form of government-issued ID. LinkedIn’s new «Verified on LinkedIn» program will help people use these verifications in other corners of the internet. If you’re verified on LinkedIn, those credentials will appear in your Adobe content credentials account. You’ll also be able to apply your LinkedIn verifications on TrustRadius, G2 and UserTesting.
«Using Verified on LinkedIn, users will be able to use the verifications they’ve completed on LinkedIn to show who they are across the different online platforms they use, boosting trust, confidence and credibility,» Oscar Rodriguez, vice president of trust at LinkedIn, said in a statement.
When you’re inside the content authenticity app, you can batch apply credentials to up to 50 images at a time — a highly requested feature that came out of the private beta, Andy Parsons, senior director of content authenticity at Adobe, told CNET in an interview. You can also use the content credentials app to inspect tags added to other images. The content credential browser extension is also available, if you want the ability to view credentials wherever you scroll online.
Content provenance, or how we know where a piece of content originates, is more important than ever in the age of AI. The content credential app is the result of Adobe’s involvement with a larger group called the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, or C2PA. The group advocates for an open technical standard to help people easily see where an image, video or another piece of content came from. Other members include Google, Meta and OpenAI — all heavyweights in the generative AI market. LinkedIn is now also joining, but its parent company, Microsoft, is a longtime member.
For more, check out our hands-on testing of the new Photoshop iPhone app and the fight between Adobe and creators over the future of AI.
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