Eliana Willis

Kerry Wan/ZDNETPixel phones have an excellent reputation for smart software, but battery life has been a common complaint with Google’s smartphones. Thankfully, that same smart software is now improving battery life and longevity, though many features aren’t set up for maximum endurance out of the box. I’ve found that a handful of features can dramatically improve how long your Pixel lasts, both in a single day and over the long haul.Also: I’ve owned every Google Pixel flagship phone since the first – here’s why 2025 will be differentHere are the battery tweaks I rely on with my Pixel, and how you can set them up for the best results.1. Use Battery Saver and Extreme Battery Saver modes More

SOPA Images / Contributor / Getty Images ZDNET’s key takeaways AT&T’s $177 million settlement is for data breaches in 2019 and 2024. Claim up to $5,000 (first breach) and $2,500 (Snowflake hack), or both. File claim by Nov. 18, 2025, either online or by mail. If you’re a current or former AT&T customer, here’s some […] More

ZDNETZDNET’s key takeaways:Grok 4 is now accessible by default for unpaid xAI usersRestrictions around the “limited” free access period are unclear.The move appears to be an effort to attract more paying users.Elon Musk’s AI start-up xAI has made its latest model, Grok 4, available to all users — both paid and unpaid. Grok now automatically opens in Auto mode for users of the chatbot’s free tier, meaning the system automatically determines whether or not a given query needs Grok 4’s advanced reasoning capabilities, or if a more limited model will be up to the job (a similar approach to what OpenAI’s new GPT-5 model aims to do). Users can also manually select “Fast” mode, which generates responses more quickly using Grok 3, or “Expert” mode, which exclusively uses Grok 4, taking more time to come up with higher-quality responses.Also: GPT-5 bombed my coding tests, but redeemed itself with code analysisThe company announced the “limited” release in an X post on Sunday, though it didn’t specify the number of messages that unpaid users could exchange with the chatbot over a given time period or any other restrictions.”For a limited time, we are rolling out generous usage limits so you can explore Grok 4’s full potential,” the post read.Even Grok 4 itself was uncertain about the rules. “Exact limits for Grok-4’s free tier are unclear, as xAI hasn’t publicly detailed them, and they may vary by region or account type,” the chatbot wrote when I asked about the limits of the free access period. “To be safe, expect around five to 10 messages per 12 hours with Grok-4 on the free tier, but you might hit the limit sooner if you use complex queries or during peak times.”When xAI unveiled Grok 4 last month, Musk described it as “the world’s most powerful AI model,” claiming it outperformed frontier models like Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro and OpenAI’s 4o on several key benchmarks, including Humanity’s Last Exam.Also: How Google’s Genie 3 could change AI video – and let you build your own interactive worldsSubscriptions to Grok’s subscription tiers, SuperGrok and SuperGrok Heavy, still cost $30 per month and $300 per month, respectively.Covering the high costs of AIBy temporarily making Grok 4 available to all users, xAI appears to be angling in part to get its new model into the hands of as many people as possible — a tactic ZDNET senior editor Sabrina Ortiz has been tracking. A percentage of those people may be impressed enough by the new model’s abilities that, when they hit the limits of the free access window, they’ll decide that it’s worth upgrading to a paid subscription. xAI also plans to introduce ads into Grok’s responses to help pay for the high costs of running and refining the model, the Financial Times reported Thursday.Also: You can try Gemini Live in your favorite Google apps now, and it blew me awayMusk announced in another X post Sunday that xAI users can now “long press” — holding down on an icon for longer than just the usual quick tap of the thumb — on any image to pull up an option to turn it into a video using AI. This could also ultimately be a play to draw in advertisers: Amazon recently debuted a similar AI-powered text-to-video feature. Grok 4 vs. GPT-5The temporary release of Grok 4 to unpaid users comes just days after OpenAI — with whom Musk has long had a very public squabble — released GPT-5 to all users at once, a new approach for the company. Also: GPT-5 bombed my coding tests, but redeemed itself with code analysisAs of Monday, GPT-5 occupied the top spot in multiple critical categories (including text-generation, vision, and coding) on LMArena, an online platform where users can rate and compare the performance of large language models. OpenAI’s o3 model also defeated Grok 4 in the final round of Google Game Arena’s chess tournament last week. You can watch models duke it out here.Grok 4, however, outperformed GPT-5 by a hair in the ARC-AGI-2 — a test designed to gauge AI models’ high-level reasoning capabilities — though at a much higher cost ($2.17 per task versus $0.73 per task). Artificial Intelligence More

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETEvery new Google email account comes with 15GB of free storage — a solid offer at no cost. However, that space can fill up fast, especially since it also covers files in Google Drive and Google Photos.If your inbox is cluttered with unread newsletters and sneaky spam, there’s a way to clean house without losing important messages. With the right approach, you can preserve what matters while giving yourself a fresh start.Also: Gmail is making it a whole lot easier to clean out your inbox on AndroidThere is always the option of manually cleaning out your Gmail inbox or downloading some material to your local drive. What a pain, though, right? And, chances are, you’ll only eliminate so much junk before those gigabytes start stacking up again.I should note that Google offers a way to pay for more storage by upgrading to a Google One account. The “Basic” plan costs $24 per year for 100GB. The free solution, however, lies in taking a few steps to back up your essential files and reset your data capacity.1. Back up your files, at least temporarilyIf you’re going through this process, you’re likely serious about retaining emails that could span years. So, as an added safety measure, it’s a good practice to back up your emails on your computer or an external hard drive before transferring them back into the cloud.Also: 6 hidden Android features every user should know – and how they make life easierTo do this, go to Google Takeout and select “Google Photos” and/or “Drive” as the products you wish to export, then follow the prompts. (Once you’ve completed the transfer, you can delete and free up your hard disk drive (HDD) for other uses.) Be aware that this process can take a while, depending on your quantity of emails and number of gigabytes. To give you an idea, CNET’s Jason Chun used Google Takeout with a test Gmail account that held about 75,000 emails, and this wholesale download took around two hours to complete.2. Prepare to transfer your Gmails to a new email accountNow that you’ve saved a copy of your emails, it’s time to transfer them. To do this:Log into your original Gmail account and click the gear icon in the top right corner. Then click “See all settings.”Select the Forwarding POP/IMAP tab. Then select the option “Enable POP for all mail.” (POP stands for Post Office Protocol).You’ll have several options under “When messages are accessed with POP.” Select delete Gmail’s copy to automatically delete the emails from your original account after the transfer.Select “Save changes.”3. Create a second (archive) account and transfer your messagesAt this point, you can create your new account and transfer all your messages there: To create a new inbox-zero Gmail account, go here. This new one will serve as your archive account. Log into your new archive account, click the gear icon in the top right, and select “See all settings.” Select the Accounts and Import tab at the top. Then select “Add a mail account” next to “Check mail from other accounts.”In the pop-up window, enter the name of your original Gmail account, then select “Next.” Select “Import emails from my other account (POP3),” and then select “Next” again. 6. Enter the password of your original Gmail account.Also: Notion Mail offers AI perks – but skips a few crucial Notion featuresNote that you might also need to whip up a temporary Google app password to sync the accounts. So, if your original Gmail account password doesn’t work at this step, visit https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords to create a temporary 16-digit passcode.Simply create a name for the password, such as “Email Transfer,” then hit “Create.” A pop-up window with your new 16-digit passcode will display. Here, you should jot it down or take a screenshot until you can discard this password. Google will only show it to you once! 7. Once you’ve synced your accounts, find Port and select “995.” 8. Next, you’ll want to check three boxes:  9. Finally, select “Add account.” More

Maria Diaz/ZDNETFew things ruin the joy of watching a good show more than suddenly seeing that rotating asterisk symbol or swirly icon that tells you your TV is buffering. Or maybe it’s stuttering, or altogether freezing. If this is happening on your Roku TV, don’t give up on it just yet.Also: How to disable ACR on your TV (and why doing so makes such a big difference)Like phones and computers, Rokus have caches that accumulate temporary data, which inevitably slows them down over time. There are simple ways to clear up this hidden clutter and get your Roku TV behaving like its normal, healthy self.Here are a few methods to clear your Roku’s cache, improve its speed, and make shows play smoothly again.1. Start by unplugging it More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETThe OnePlus 12 may not be the company’s current flagship model, but it remains a solid device. It boasts top-notch performance from its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform and incredibly fast charging speeds. It’s a more affordable alternative to the OnePlus 13, and now is a great time to buy one because the device is currently on sale.Over at the company’s official store, the 512GB OnePlus 12 More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETFor many people, motion smoothing on TVs is only appropriate for gaming and watching live sports; enthusiasts typically prefer turning off the feature to watch anything else because it can detract from the filmmaker’s original intent, making on-screen images seem artificial or hyper-realistic. This is what’s called the “soap opera effect.” Also: How to turn off ACR on your TV (and why you shouldn’t wait to do it)It’s a perfectly descriptive metaphor that probably requires no explanation. You can see it all too well: the cinematic film should not look like a daytime soap; you shouldn’t feel like you’re on the set with the actors. But it is appealing to feel like you’re in the stadium watching your team with thousands of fans. The soap opera effect makes sense for live sporting event broadcasts. More

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNETZDNET’s key takeawaysOppo Find X8 Ultra performs better than its Samsung rival in almost every scenario.The Galaxy S25 Ultra comes close in ultrawide camera comparison.Oppo’s flagship has unique features like XPAN mode, Hasselblad color science, and Master mode.The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra houses one of the most versatile camera systems on a mainstream phone, thanks to its two telephoto cameras and an ultrawide sensor coupled with a 200MP primary camera.Also: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. OnePlus 13: I compared the best Android phones, and it was very closeBut the Oppo Find X8 Ultra is equally, if not more, versatile. It has bigger sensors on the four 50MP cameras on its back. Plus, the Oppo flagship is paired with a renewed Hasselblad partnership — for extra features like XPAN mode, better Portraits, and Hasselblad Natural Color Solution, re-engineered for mobile. I was confused about which phone to take on my trip to Sweden, so I took both and compared the results, which are… interesting.Comparing the camera specsCategoryOppo Find X8 UltraSamsung Galaxy S25 UltraMain Camera50 MP, f/1.8, 23mm (wide), 1.0″-type sensor, 1.6µm, OIS200 MP, f/1.7, 24mm (wide), 1/1.3″, 0.6µm, OISTelephoto 150 MP, f/2.1, 70mm (periscope), 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, 3x optical zoom, OIS10 MP, f/2.4, 67mm, 1/3.52″, 1.12µm, 3x optical zoom, OISTelephoto 250 MP, f/3.1, 135mm (periscope), 1/1.95″, 0.8µm, 6x optical zoom, OIS50 MP, f/3.4, 111mm (periscope), 1/2.52″, 0.7µm, 5x optical zoom, OISUltrawide Camera50 MP, f/2.0, 15mm, 120˚ FoV, 1/2.75″, 0.64µm50 MP, f/1.9, 120˚ FoV, 1/2.5″, 0.7µm,Oppo and Samsung flagships are some of the best phones of 2025. Both sport four rear cameras, but the Find X8 Ultra houses bigger sensors on three of those. It is led by a 1-inch-type 50MP main sensor, which snaps better quality photos than Samsung’s 200MP primary camera. But it’s the rest of the sensors that help it take the lead. The 10MP 3x optical zoom Samsung telephoto camera stands no chance against Oppo’s 50MP 3x optical zoom supported periscope camera, while it competes closely in ultrawide shots and 50MP secondary 5x (6x on Oppo) periscope zoom photos.Also: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. OnePlus 13: I compared the best Android phones, and it was very closeThere’s no doubt that the Find X8 Ultra has a better camera package than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, thanks to its bigger sensors and Hasselblad color science. But it can also be inconsistent at times, giving the edge to Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra. Here’s how the two compare in my vacation photos.It’s all about the color science More