Technologies

Score the Google Pixel 9A for Just $449, Back to Its All-Time Low

Grab one of our favorite budget-friendly phones at an even better price this Prime Day.

Ready to upgrade to a new phone? Now is the perfect time to take the leap. The Google Pixel 9A just dropped back down to its all-time lowest price. It has a lot to offer, which is why it’s among the best Pixel phones on the market and our favorite Android phone for the value.

If you’re looking for a Pixel 9A deals to save you some cash on your upgrade, there are several options out there. But for an unlocked model that doesn’t lock you into a multi-year contract Amazon has a Prime Day deal you won’t want to miss. Right now the already-affordable Pixel 9A has been slashed to just $449. That’s a $50 savings and a return to the lowest price we’ve seen on this model. Not a fan of Amazon? This deal is also available at Best Buy and directly from the Google Store.

There have been some design changes with the Pixel 9A, but change doesn’t have to be bad. Some highlights are its bright screen and solid camera performance. It has a lower RAM than the baseline Pixel 9, but it has the same display size, processor and AI features. It’s also worth noting that this particular phone lacks Satellite SOS connectivity, which is available on the rest of the Pixel 9 lineup. We have a breakdown to help you compare the 9A with the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro.

CNET expert Patrick Holland also found the Pixel 9A cameras to be the clear winner against Apple’s budget phone, the iPhone 16E, in large part to its three camera setup featuring a wide, ultrawide and selfie cam. He noted that, «the Pixel 9A really pushes the dynamic range in its images. The phone captures more details in the shadows but really aggressively brightens them too.»

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In his review, Patrick Holland also observed that, «the Pixel 9A’s 5,100-mAh battery is the largest on any Pixel phone. But compared with the Pixel 8A, it also has a bigger screen that maxes out at 2,700-nits brightness, a more powerful processor and onboard AI processing. The result is just an OK battery life that was almost the same as last year’s Pixel 8A. Typically, I got around a single day’s use on a charge.»

That probably works for a lot of buyers, but you can decide which specs are the most important to splurge on. That said, at under $500 you’ll get a lot of value for the price — especially in the age of impending tariffs.

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Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

Why this deal matters

For a budget-friendly phone, Google’s Pixel 9A has a lot to offer. We love the phone at full price, so nabbing it for under $450 is a great deal. It’s currently back down to the lowest price we’ve found on this model so far, and we don’t anticipate it will drop lower any time soon. With AI features, solid camera performance and plenty of other goodies, this phone is packed with value. But this deal could end at any time, so we recommend making your purchase soon to lock in this low price.

Technologies

You Can Now Watch Mini Dramas on TikTok’s Standalone ‘PineDrama’ App

Single Dad Hunt, Cohabitating Romance and other bite-size sugar fixes have earned their own app.

TikTok looks like it’s doubling down on the «pine» in its mini dramas with the new PineDrama app, now available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play. It’s free, likely until the company has amassed a large enough content library worth paying for.

At the moment, everything looks like romantic potboilers, but since microdramas are popular and getting more so even as I type, that’s bound to change. You’ve probably seen microdramas and the various apps with which you watch them in your social media ads — they’re short movies or TV shows that last one or two minutes per episode.

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The PineDrama app is fairly basic. There’s a central Home screen with your feed and trending videos, along with access to your history and all videos. Discover offers just slightly larger thumbnails for browsing all or trending videos. Inbox is for system and new follower notifications, and a Profile view shows you your favorites, how many people you’re following, and your followers and likes.

Though a standalone app, PineDrama uses the main TikTok sign-in system, so you still need a TikTok account to access it. Given that the content looks a little like what’s available in the TikTok app, anyone who wants to use PineDrama probably has an account anyway.

Personally, I’m not a fan of miniseries. I’ve never been able to read comics until they’ve been collected into volumes, and can’t stream shows until an entire season — sometimes every season — is out. (None of which makes sense, given I’ve got the attention span of a cat in a room full of laser pointers.)

But sometimes you need a dopamine hit, and PineDrama lets you watch every single episode sequentially. And viewing just the first frame of each is kind of mesmerizing: From kiss to post-coital to packing a suitcase in just three swipes.

We reached out to TikTok for comment, but didn’t immediately hear back.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Jan. 17

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Jan. 17.

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? You’ll have to know your regional food specialties in order to solve 8-Across. Read on for all 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.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: «It’s just so-so»
Answer: MEH

4A clue: «Impression, Sunrise» painter
Answer: MONET

6A clue: Ca on the periodic table
Answer: CALCIUM

8A clue: City that’s famous for its lemon pepper wings
Answer: ATLANTA

9A clue: Reality show episode in which cast members gather again to bicker
Answer: REUNION

10A clue: Common wall coverings in a dorm room
Answer: POSTERS

11A clue: Boxing bout enders, for short
Answer: KOS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Snail, clam or squid
Answer: MOLLUSK

2D clue: 2021 Disney movie with the hit song «We Don’t Talk About Bruno»
Answer: ENCANTO

3D clue: Tushes
Answer: HEINIES

4D clue: San ___, city between San Francisco and Palo Alto
Answer: MATEO

5D clue: Private teacher
Answer: TUTOR

6D clue: Complain
Answer: CARP

7D clue: «Dogs are a ___ best friend»
Answer: MANS

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Technologies

ChatGPT Ads Coming Soon for Free and New $8 Go Tier Users

OpenAI says that it won’t serve ads based on sensitive topics like mental health or politics.

OpenAI has announced that it’s testing ads for its free tier and new $8-per-month Go memberships, and the ads will be based on a user’s current conversation.

OpenAI says the ads will be clearly marked and appear at the bottom of ChatGPT answers «when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation.»

Meanwhile, the company says the new Go tier enables 10 times as many messages, file uploads, and image creations as the free tier, and also remembers more details about you over time. The new $8 Go tier joins ChatGPT Plus at $ 20 per month and ChatGPT Pro at $ 200 per month.

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The company says it won’t show ads on «sensitive or regulated topics like health, mental health or politics.» It also said it won’t show ads to users who tell the chatbot they are under 18 or to users the system predicts are minors. Furthermore, the company says it will keep individual conversations private from advertisers and never sell user data to advertisers.

The company also says that users can turn off personalization and can clear the data used for ads at any time.

Last week, OpenAI announced a new ChatGPT Health service, which enables users to upload their health data. However, privacy experts warned that the company wasn’t covered by a health provider’s privacy protections.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)