Technologies

AT&T Offers Up To $1,000 Off New iPhone, Galaxy Upgrades Ahead of The Holidays

AT&T has brought back its «up to $1,000 off» deal just in time for the holiday shopping season.

If you’re on AT&T and have been debating getting a new iPhone or Samsung Galaxy phone this holiday season, you may find yourself with a better deal now even though we’re well past Black Friday. The carrier has upped its promotion for new and upgrading users from $800 off a new Apple or Samsung device to up to $1,000 off, so long as you’re trading in a phone.

You’ll also need to have an unlimited plan to be eligible for the discount, which will be dished out as bill credits over the course of a 36-month installment plan.

AT&T has dabbled with offering up to $1,000 off iPhones before. Most recently, it dangled the discount around the launch of Apple’s new iPhone 14 line before scaling it back down in recent weeks to up to $800 off. For the Galaxy S22 launch in February, AT&T offered up to $800 off the new models so long as you were trading in any older Galaxy S, Galaxy Note or Galaxy Z phone, including those that were broken.

To get $1,000 off a new iPhone the device you are trading into AT&T would need to be valued by the carrier at a minimum of $230. This includes the iPhone 11 Pro Max, 12 line (except the 12 Mini) or 13 line; Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, S22 line, Z Fold 2 or Fold 3; Google’s Pixel 6 Pro and OnePlus’ 10 Pro.

If you have an iPhone XS Max, 11, 11 Pro or 12 Mini you could get up to $800 off. And if you’re trading in one of a variety of Android devices from Samsung (Galaxy S20 and S21 lines, Note 20 line, original Galaxy Fold or Fold 2 and the Z Flip 3 5G), Google (Pixel 5, 5A and 6) or other Android makers like OnePlus and Microsoft, you can also get up to $800 off a new phone so long as AT&T values the trade-in devices to be worth between $130 and $229.

Other devices including the iPhone 8 line, SE (2nd or 3rd gen), X, XR and XS as well as a much wider range of Samsung, LG, Google, Motorola and OnePlus phones can get up to $350 off of a new phone so long as AT&T values those trade-ins to be between $35 and $129.

This deal works for the iPhone 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max though the phone that you are trading in will need to be in «good working condition.» (Read the full terms here.)

For Galaxy phones like the S22 line, Z Flip 4 and Z Fold 4 the carrier is much more lenient. Any device that the carrier values at $35 or more could make you eligible for up to $1,000 off of one of Samsung’s latest handsets. The carrier’s terms for S22 and the Z Flip and Z Fold deals also don’t specify that the phone that you are trading in has to be in «good working condition.»

In either scenario, if you leave AT&T before the 36-month installment is up — or want to unlock your phone to use internationally — you’ll be on the hook for paying off the balance of what’s owed and you’ll forfeit any outstanding credits.

All that said, it still is a surprising post-Black Friday deal from the carrier as the wireless industry at large looks to lure in upgraders and switchers this holiday season.

Verizon has been pushing its recent holiday offer of up to $1,000 off a new phone with trade-in, though that deal requires you to switch to the carrier. If you’re already on Verizon, the company is offering up to $800 off with a trade-in, though for this deal you also would need to be on one of its pricier Play More, Do More, Get More or One Unlimited plans.

Verizon similarly requires you to stay for 36 months, though it will accept even broken or damaged phones so long as they don’t have battery damage.

If you’re on T-Mobile, the carrier is offering up to $800 off Samsung Galaxy phones with trade-in, but only if you’re on or are willing to upgrade to its pricier Magenta Max plan. Those on other plans could save up to $400 with a trade-in, not as generous as AT&T or Verizon’s offers. In fact, most of T-Mobile’s deals right now seem to require adding a new line, switching over from a different carrier or bumping up to Magenta Max.

On the plus side, T-Mobile’s credits are generally over a 24-month period instead of 36 months like AT&T and Verizon so you are not tied to the carrier or a device for three years.

Technologies

Before You Order a $20K Home Robot, There’s Something You Should See

It’s designed to do your chores — with some help from folks behind the curtain.

The robot stands 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighs about as much as a golden retriever and is nearly the price of a brand-new budget car.

This is Neo, the humanoid robot. It’s billed as a personal assistant you can talk to and eventually rely on to handle everyday tasks, including loading your dishwasher and folding your laundry.

Neo doesn’t come cheap: it’ll cost you $20,000. And even then, you’ll still have to train this new home bot, and possibly need a remote assist as well.

If that still sounds enticing, preorders are now open (for $200 down). You’ll be signing up as an early adopter for what Neo’s maker, a California-based company called 1X, is calling a «consumer-ready humanoid.» That’s opposed to other humanoids under development from the likes of Tesla and Figure, which are, for the moment at least, more focused on factory environments.

Neo is a whole order of magnitude different from robot vacuums like those from Roomba, Eufy and Ecovacs, and embodies a long-running sci-fi fantasy of robot maids and butlers doing chores and picking up after us. If this is the future, read on for more of what’s in store.

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What the Neo robot can do around the house

The pitch from 1X is that Neo can do all manner of household chores: fold laundry, run a vacuum, tidy shelves and bring in the groceries. It can open doors, climb stairs and even act as a home entertainment system.

Neo appears to move smoothly, with a soft, almost human-like gait, thanks to 1X’s tendon-driven motor system that gives it gentle motion and impressive strength. The company says it can lift up to 154 pounds and carry 55 pounds, but it is quieter than a refrigerator. It’s covered in soft materials and neutral colors, making it look less intimidating than metallic prototypes from other companies.

The company says Neo has a 4-hour runtime. Its hands are IP68-rated, meaning they’re submersible in water. It can connect via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 5G. For conversation, it has a built-in large language model (LLM), the same sort of AI technology that powers ChatGPT and Gemini.

The primary way to control the Neo robot will be by speaking to it, just as if it were a person.

Still, Neo’s usefulness today depends heavily on how you define useful. The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern got an up-close look at Neo at 1X’s headquarters and found that, at least for now, it’s largely teleoperated, meaning a human often operates it remotely using a virtual-reality headset and controllers.

«I didn’t see Neo do anything autonomously, although the company did share a video of Neo opening a door on its own,» Stern wrote last week. 1X CEO Bernt Børnich reportedly told her that Neo will do most things autonomously in 2026, though he also acknowledged that the quality «may lag at first.»

The company’s FAQ says that if there’s a chore request Neo doesn’t know how to accomplish, you can schedule an expert from 1X to help the robot «learn while getting the job done.»

What you need to know about Neo and privacy

Part of what early adopters are signing up for is to allow Neo to learn from their environment, so that future versions can operate more independently.

That learning process raises questions about privacy and trust. The robot uses a mix of visual, audio and contextual intelligence — meaning it can see, hear and remember interactions with you in your home.

«If you buy this product, it is because you’re OK with that social contract,» Børnich told the Journal. «It’s less about Neo instantly doing your chores and more about you helping Neo learn to do them safely and effectively.»

Neo’s reliance on human operation behind the scenes prompted a response from John Carmack, a computer industry luminary known for his work with VR systems and the lead programmer of classic video games, including Doom and Quake.

«Companies selling the dream of autonomous household humanoid robots today would be better off embracing reality and selling ‘remote operated household help’,» he wrote in a post on the X social network.

1X says it’s taking steps to protect your privacy: Neo listens only when it recognizes it’s being addressed, and its cameras will blur out humans. You can restrict Neo from entering or viewing specific areas of your home, and the robot will never be teleoperated without owner approval, the company says.

But inviting an AI-equipped humanoid to observe your home life isn’t a small step.

The first units are expected to ship to customers in the US in 2026. There is a $499 monthly subscription alternative to the $20,000 full purchase price, although it will be available at an unspecified later date. A broader international rollout is promised for 2027.

Neo’s got a long road ahead of it to live up to the expectations set by Rosie the Robot in The Jetsons way back when. But this is no Hanna-Barbera cartoon. What we’re seeing now is a much more tangible harbinger of change.

Technologies

I Turned Off These 3 iOS Settings and My iPhone Battery Life Tripled

If you want your iPhone battery to last longer, these are the settings you should disable immediately.

Your iPhone is a crucial part of your routine. From staying in touch with friends or family, navigating around traffic snarls and snapping cute photos of your pets, you’re likely using it all day long. However, that can become tricky if your battery is down to low levels before you even leave the office. While phone batteries will degrade over time, it doesn’t mean you need to employ low power mode just to keep your phone from dying.

Your iPhone has a few key settings that are notorious for draining your battery in the background. The good news is, you can turn them off. Instead of watching your battery percentage plummet at the worst possible moment, a few simple tweaks will give you hours of extra life.

Before you even think about buying a new phone, check your Battery Health menu (anything above 80% is decent) and then turn off these three power-hungry settings. It’s the easiest way to make your iPhone battery last longer, starting right now.

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Turn off widgets on your iPhone lock screen

All the widgets on your lock screen force your apps to automatically run in the background, constantly fetching data to update the information the widgets display, like sports scores or the weather. Because these apps are constantly running in the background due to your widgets, that means they continuously drain power.

If you want to help preserve some battery on iOS 18, the best thing to do is simply avoid widgets on your lock screen (and home screen). The easiest way to do this is to switch to another lock screen profile: Press your finger down on your existing lock screen and then swipe around to choose one that doesn’t have any widgets.

If you want to just remove the widgets from your existing lock screen, press down on your lock screen, hit Customize, choose the Lock Screen option, tap on the widget box and then hit the «—« button on each widget to remove them.

Reduce the motion of your iPhone UI

Your iPhone user interface has some fun, sleek animations. There’s the fluid motion of opening and closing apps, and the burst of color that appears when you activate Siri with Apple Intelligence, just to name a couple. These visual tricks help bring the slab of metal and glass in your hand to life. Unfortunately, they can also reduce your phone’s battery life.

If you want subtler animations across iOS, you can enable the Reduce Motion setting. To do this, go to Settings > Accessibility > Motion and toggle on Reduce Motion.

Switch off your iPhone’s keyboard vibration

Surprisingly, the keyboard on the iPhone has never had the ability to vibrate as you type, an addition called «haptic feedback» that was added to iPhones with iOS 16. Instead of just hearing click-clack sounds, haptic feedback gives each key a vibration, providing a more immersive experience as you type. According to Apple, the very same feature may also affect battery life.

According to this Apple support page about the keyboard, haptic feedback «might affect the battery life of your iPhone.» No specifics are given as to how much battery life the keyboard feature drains, but if you want to conserve battery, it’s best to keep this feature disabled.

Fortunately, it is not enabled by default. If you’ve enabled it yourself, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Keyboard Feedback and toggle off Haptic to turn off haptic feedback for your keyboard.

For more tips on iOS, read about how to access your Control Center more easily and why you might want to only charge your iPhone to 95%.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, Nov. 23

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Nov. 23.

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

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It includes a Jimi Hendrix reference, which I appreciated. Read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.