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Amazon Prime Day 2018 will be July 16: What to know about 36 hours of deals
Facebook shutters the teen app it just bought
Why you should care about Samsung's newest Android tablet that was just leaked

Amazon Prime Day 2018 will be July 16: What to know about 36 hours of deals

Posted: 02 Jul 2018 10:21 PM PDT

Amazon Prime Day doesn't exactly qualify as a national holiday, but it does come every year. And it's widely celebrated. And there are presents, kind of. Hmmm. This year, it will take place in less than two weeks.

In case you've been living off-planet for the last three years, let's take a look at Amazon's "holiday of savings" and what you can expect this time around.

What is Prime Day?

Back in 2015, Amazon celebrated its 20th anniversary with a full day of discounts -- not just on Amazon-branded products, but on tens of thousands of other items as well. It was moderately successful -- OK, it was wildly popular -- despite some hiccups.

prime-day-2017 — Last year, Prime Day took place on July 11. This year's date is still TBD.
Amazon

In the years since, Amazon has worked to make more products and more inventory available (so items wouldn't sell out in minutes) and simplify the means of finding sale items.

When is Prime Day?

July 16. It was just announced and, get ready for this, this year it expands to 36 hours (!) and goes global. Australia, Singapore, Netherlands and Luxembourg join the Prime Day fun this year.

In years past, Prime Day has fallen sometime in mid-July. Last year, for example, it was July 11 -- though in 2017 it actually started the day before and lasted a total of 30 hours. (It's kind of like the way Black Friday now starts on Thanksgiving Day or even earlier.) "Prime Day Plus," anyone?

Who can shop on Prime Day?

True to its name, Prime Day is for Amazon Prime subscribers only. If you're not a paid member, you can't take advantage of the deals. Note, thought, that Prime Day is merely one of several advantages of being an Amazon Prime member.

As you may have heard, the company recently raised its annual Prime rate to $119. That's now the price for newcomers; existing customers will start paying the higher price as of June 16. Ah, but will Prime Day bring a Prime subscription deal? Read on.

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What kinds of deals can I expect?

There's little question that Prime Day will bring deals on many, if not most, of Amazon's branded products: Fire TV ($70 at Amazon.com) devices, Fire tablets, Kindle e-readers and of course every Echo.

Beyond that, look for a Black Friday-style assortment of deals in pretty much every category. There will undoubtedly be a few standouts -- in 2017, Amazon offered sweet deals on a Motorola Moto G5 Plus ($225 at Amazon.com) phone and a 55-inch 4K TV with built-in Fire TV, for example -- but don't get too carried away: Many of the discounts are no better than what you'll find in the average Amazon Gold Box daily deals.

Speaking of which...

How do I know if a deal is really a deal?

On the internet, every day is Black Friday -- and Cyber Monday, and Prime Day. That means you should approach every deal with a little bit of skepticism -- or at least a little bit of research.

One great place to start: CamelCamelCamel, the site that tracks Amazon price histories. (It can also notify you when Amazon products go on sale; here's how to use it to track Amazon Echo deals.)

Before you pull the trigger on any Prime Day deal, copy the URL, paste it into CamelCamelCamel's search field and check the results. You may discover that the product has indeed been priced lower in the past, and therefore may be again.

At the same time, consider using a browser plug-in such as Honey, which can instantly inform you if any third-party sellers have the same product for a lower price (which doesn't happen often, but it's worth checking).

Finally, be sure to check other sites. Best Buy, Walmart and other major stores may well trot out their own answers to Prime Day, offering loss-leader pricing on popular items.

How can I shop on Prime Day if I'm not a Prime subscriber?

As noted, you can't -- but you might be able to game the system a little bit. For starters, if you've never subscribed before, you can get a free one-month Amazon Prime trial. Sign up sometime in early July and you'll be able to shop Prime Day during the trial period.

Amazon Prime Free Trial

It's even better if you're a student: Amazon has partnered with Sprint to offer college students a free six-month trial.

Amazon Prime Student Offer

Finally, be on the lookout for a Prime subscription deal in the week or two leading up to Prime Day. Although it's questionable whether Amazon would offer such a deal so soon after enacting a rate increase, Prime Day's very existence is to help attract new subscribers. Thus, something like an $89 rate for new subscribers wouldn't be unthinkable.

This piece was originally published May 22. And has been updated with details, leaks and more as news comes in.

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Facebook shutters the teen app it just bought

Posted: 03 Jul 2018 07:08 AM PDT

Here's why quitting Facebook is so hard

Facebook is shutting down three apps, including a teen app called tbh, which it bought about eight months ago.

In a blog post, the social network said it would shutter the tbh, Hello and Moves apps due to "low usage." Facebook will delete user data from the apps within 90 days.

"We know some people are still using these apps and will be disappointed," the company said in a blog post late Monday. "But we need to prioritize our work so we don't spread ourselves too thin."

Facebook acquired tbh -- which stands for the popular texting acronym "to be honest" -- for an undisclosed sum last October. The app let users participate in anonymous polls and give positive feedback to friends. It initially was widely popular among teens. Over 5 million people downloaded the app in a matter of weeks.

Following the deal, tbh's four co-creators Nikita Bier, Erik Hazzard, Kyle Zaragoza, and Nicolas Ducdodon joined Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters. A company spokesperson said the team will stay on at Facebook and work on other products.

Meanwhile, Facebook (FB) launched Hello in 2015 for Android users in the US, Brazil and Nigeria. It allowed users to combine contact details on their phone with information from Facebook. Facebook said the app will shut down in "a few weeks."

In 2014, the company bought fitness app Moves, which tracks activities like walking and running. The app will be shuttered at the end of July.

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Why you should care about Samsung's newest Android tablet that was just leaked

Posted: 03 Jul 2018 04:45 AM PDT

The Galaxy Note 9 announcement is about a month away, which is a lot earlier than regular new Note announcements, but the handset isn’t Samsung’s only new Android device. The company is expected to unveil a brand new tablet at IFA 2018 in early September, the Galaxy Tab S4, or Samsung’s latest answer to Apple’s iPad.

A press render for the Galaxy Tab S4 has just leaked, revealing the device will pack a variety of novel features, some of them not seen on competing products.

Obtained by Android Headlines, the image below shows a device that reminds us of the Galaxy Tab S3 (top image) that the company unveiled at MWC 2017 — that’s the year when Samsung had to postpone the Galaxy S8 launch on account of its Note 7 battery problem.  At the same time, the Tab S4 is nothing like its predecessor, featuring a bunch of design improvements that might make it even more appealing.

The most noticeable change concerns the screen. The bezels have been significantly reduced to accommodate more screen real estate. It’s likely we’re looking at a 10.5-inch screen rather than 9.7-inch. If that size seems familiar, that’s because one of Apple’s iPad Pro models has a 10.5-inch display.

Image Source: Android Headlines

What’s interesting about the Tab S4 is that Samsung killed the home button, to shrink down those bezels. That means there won’t be a fingerprint sensor embedded in it, and one isn’t found on the back, according to the render.

Has Samsung placed the sensor under the screen? That would be a remarkable thing to do, but it seems highly unlikely to see it happen this year. Samsung is rumored to place fingerprint sensors under screens next year at the earliest, starting with the Galaxy S10. On the other hand, while Android device makers do sell handsets with in-display fingerprint sensors, we have not seen one on a tablet. Samsung might want to be the first to try it.

Android Headlines notes that the new Tab S4 tablet does feature cameras that would make iris unlock possible. Iris unlock is also available on high-end Galaxy S and Note models, and should not be confused with face unlock.

When it comes to specs, the Galaxy Tab S4 is expected to deliver 2017-grade high-end Android smartphone specs, including a Snapdragon 835 chip, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and Android 8.1 Oreo. Interestingly, the tablet is rumored to work with Samsung Dex accessories, just like the most recent Galaxy S and Note phones.

Launch and pricing details have not been leaked, so we’ll probably have to wait for IFA 2018 to find out more.

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