Technologies

My Favorite Motorola Phone in 2023 Is on Sale for $400

Commentary: The Lenovo ThinkPhone surprised me with its elegant design and top-notch hardware. It’s a steal at $300 off.

If you want a phone for less than $500 that isn’t used or refurbished, there are two main options.

The first is to consider a phone that was made to be affordable, of which there are plenty from the likes of Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus and Google. These phones typically have a lot to offer for their price, such as great battery life, 5G support and a processor that isn’t the fastest but is still powerful enough for mundane daily tasks (i.e. scrolling through social media, texting, video chats, etc.). But to keep the price down, these cheaper phones come with compromises including lower-resolution screens that aren’t very bright, cameras that take just OK photos and plastic designs.

Read more: Best Phones of 2024

The other option is to find a more expensive phone that came out last year, or even two years ago, for a discount. The Lenovo ThinkPhone by Motorola, currently priced at $400, is a great example. I can almost hear you asking: «Wait, Lenovo makes phones?» They did this year, and it’s one of my favorite phones I tested in 2023.

The ThinkPhone was a good deal at its original price of $700, but it’s definitely worth buying with a $300 discount.

As the name suggests, the ThinkPhone is a collaboration between Motorola and its parent company, Lenovo. It has a similar design as Lenovo’s popular ThinkPad laptop lineup, right down to the signature red hardware button for triggering software shortcuts. It has impressive hardware for $400 that includes 256GB of storage (most sub-$500 phones only have half that capacity), a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus processor (two generations old but still powerful) and a lovely 6.6-inch 144Hz display (a higher refresh rate than most phones).

It also supports 68-watt fast charging and ships with the required wall plug. That alone makes the ThinkPhone stand out; phones from Samsung and Apple take longer to charge and don’t include the power adapter in the box. In my tests, the ThinkPhone went from an empty battery to 92% in 30 minutes, making it one of the fastest-charging phones sold in the US. For perspective, the $799 iPhone 15 only added 53% in the same amount of time.

But it’s the ThinkPhone’s harmonious design that made it stand out in 2023. Smartphone hardware, especially in the sub-$500 range, has moved away from being an expression of style and design and has instead become an aluminum or plastic housing for a rectangular glass screen. A phone’s color and camera bump shape are usually their most distinctive aspects.

The ThinkPhone’s design is a bit more ambitious. It’s refined and mature, replicating the ThinkPad’s buttoned-down corporate look. The diagonal aramid fiber weave inlay on the back gives it a sophisticated finish and feels great to the touch. The hardware and lightly customized Android 13 software feel like a single cohesive design. It’s the kind of thing a lot of reviewers, including myself, usually credit Apple with. I should note that Motorola and Lenovo commit to three years of major OS updates and four years of security updates.

The ThinkPhone by Motorola badge on the back of the phone

I spoke with Sudhir Chadaga, global lead of Motorola for business, about the ThinkPhone this past summer. He said the phone’s design took time to find.

«We wanted to make a statement that the ThinkPhone should be the best companion to your PC,» said Chadaga on a video call. «It’s not just that they need to look like each other; they need to work well together.»

Besides being a solid Android phone, the ThinkPhone has a number of nifty shortcuts and cross-platform utilities with Windows. The cross functionality isn’t limited to Lenovo ThinkPads; the ThinkPhone can work with most recent Windows computers.

ThinkPhone by Motorola next to a ThinkPad laptop

You can connect it to PCs, monitors and TVs. For example, I copied and pasted text and photos from the phone to a PC laptop and used the ThinkPhone’s 50-megapixel main rear camera for a video call I took on the ThinkPad. The video quality looked much clearer than the laptop’s built-in webcam.

Those integrations between Android and Windows are the result of customers, and even Lenovo staff, wanting a better experience between their laptops and phones. Chadaga tells me many of his employees frequently file expenses on the road, which can be a clunky experience that often involves emailed photos of receipts. He wondered if there was an easier way.

«Android and Windows haven’t always played well together,» said Jerry Paradise, vice president of global commercial portfolio and product management at Lenovo. «Customers were always saying, ‘You guys really need to do a ThinkPhone.'»

Clearly, the ThinkPhone made a good impression on me. But I should mention some of the drawbacks, and the first are the cameras. For $700, these cameras take decent photos, but they struggle in low light. If you’re buying this for $400, the ThinkPhone’s cameras are good compared with most other cheap phones.

The interconnectivity between the phone and PCs worked well most of the time, but there were times (such as when I had the ThinkPhone’s screen on a ThinkPad display) when I experienced an occasional lag.

In terms of software support, Motorola and Lenovo still fall behind Samsung, which offers four years of major OS updates, and Google, which offers seven years for the new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.

While Chadaga and Paradise praised the ThinkPhone for business-minded users, it’s also a splendid Android phone. You may not care about having a phone that syncs to your PC or lets you use Microsoft Teams at the press of a button. But the ThinkPhone’s speedy charging, iconic design and otherwise high-quality hardware still makes it a worthwhile phone.

With its $300 discount, the ThinkPhone is the best $400 phone you can buy right now. The question now: How long will it remain at this price?

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Jan. 24 #692

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Jan. 24, No. 692.

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

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is one of those where the answers only make sense in pairs. There are six answers to find, and each of them matches up with one of the other answers. Some of them are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: A work of art.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: On museum walls.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

FINS, FINE, FINES, GARB, BOAT, GATES, GATES, FIST, RATE, RATS, STAR, PAINT, SILL, SPAT

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

STARRY, NIGHT, WATER, LILIES, BOATING, PARTY

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is FAMOUSPAINTING. To find it, start with the F that’s four letters down on the far-left vertical row, and wind up, across, and then down.

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Toughest Strands puzzles

Here are some of the Strands topics I’ve found to be the toughest.

#1: Dated slang. Maybe you didn’t even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.

#2: Thar she blows! I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT.

#3: Off the hook. Again, it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK.

Technologies

San Diego Comic-Con Draws a Line: No AI Art Allowed at 2026 Event

The long-running fan convention is banning AI-created works from its popular art show.

Like Sarah Connor in The Terminator, San Diego Comic-Con is fighting back against AI. The prestigious, long-running pop culture convention has banned all artwork created by artificial intelligence from the 2026 Comic-Con art show. Rules posted on the Comic-Con website now state that AI-generated art won’t be shown in any form.

«Material created by Artificial Intelligence (AI) either partially or wholly, is not allowed in the art show. If there are questions, the Art Show Coordinator will be the sole judge of acceptability,» the website reads.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

A representative for San Diego Comic-Con did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the past, the convention allowed participants to display AI artwork, provided it was clearly marked as such and wasn’t sold. But now, those artists can’t even bring it through the door. The rule change is a response to artist-led pushback, according to a 404 Media report. San Diego Comic-Con is one of the world’s most famous pop culture conventions, uniting comics, movies, television, gaming, cosplay and collectibles.

Jim Zub, writer for the Conan the Barbarian and Dungeons and Dragons comic book series, told CNET he supports Comic-Con’s decision and hopes other conventions will follow their lead.

«Hundreds of thousands of people attend San Diego Comic-Con each year, and the excitement that generates isn’t because they’re eager to meet a computer spitting out homogenized slop,» Zub said.

Zub, who’s also an artist, is scheduled to appear at Comic-Con in 2026.

Entertaining AI

The use of generative AI in comic book and pop culture art has generated controversy in recent years as AI programs have become more skilled at imitating creators.

A central focus of the 2023 actor’s strike involved backlash against the use of AI in movies and television. The issue has continued to roil Hollywood, as actors, special effects designers, and other film workers see the technology as a threat, while some movie studios view AI as a way to reduce production costs.

Netflix has already begun using AI-generated imagery in at least one series, Argentine sci-fi show El Eternauta. CEO Ted Sarandos praised the technology during a 2025 earnings call.

«We remain convinced that AI represents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper,» Sarandos said at the time.

AI is also an issue in the video game industry, with publishers facing swift backlash whenever fans discover AI was used in a game. The Indie Game Awards rescinded two awards for the hit RPG, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, after they found out that AI-made placeholder assets were included when the game launched. The game developer quickly patched the assets out.

While the movie and video game industries appear to have mixed views on using AI, Comic-Con has taken a firm stance, at least for now.

«Artists, writers, actors and other creatives gather and celebrate the popular arts in person because the people part of the equation is what matters most,» Zub said.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Jan. 24

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Jan. 24.

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’s a long one, as per usual on Saturday. 1-Down made me awfully hungry! Read on. 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.