The keyword for the iPhone 16e seems to be "compromise." In this episode, Devindra chats with Cherlynn about her iPhone 16e review and try to figure out who this phone is actually for. Also, they dive into Amazon's Alexa event, where we finally learned more about the company's AI-powered voice assistant. Alexa seems useful, but can we trust it? Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News! Framework unveils a cheap 2-in-1 laptop and a…modular desktop? Devindra: This week, it's the iPhone 16e, which Cherlynn has reviewed. We're going to get her full thoughts on that thing. And also, Amazon held an AI event this week. We expected a lot of devices, but they spent 75 minutes talking about Alexa plus, which is the AI powered Alexa. Cherlynn: we expected a lot of devices. Cherlynn: one, at least one it's been a while. Devindra: Mr. Panos Panay was there, the father of the service and no devices, just him talking about AI. Cherlynn: Oh, and stay tuned at the end of this episode. Uh, I, we included an interview that I did with, um, the vice president of Alexa to talk more about the new Alexa plus. Devindra: Anyway, folks, if you're enjoying the show, please be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes or your podcaster of choice, leave us a review on iTunes and drop us an email at podcast@engadget.com. You can also join us on our live [00:01:00] stream on Thursday mornings, typically around 11 a. m. Um, you'll see our faces. Sometimes we'll do Q& A and show off devices as well. This week, uh, Sherilyn has the iPhone 16e, which is the least, um, impressive thing to show off. It's just like, Hey, you have an iPhone from 10 years ago, five, a while ago, Devindra: last, was there a single camera back iPhone? Cherlynn: Oh God, before that was 11. So, you know, it's like a flashback. So let's talk about this thing, Sherlynn. And I checked out your review. First of all, you gave it a really, um, I think serviceable score. Your title is what's your acceptable compromise. And really when we were talking about it last week, it really was like compromise seemed like the key word. The thing we kept coming back to was like just one camera, no mag safe, no fast wireless charging. What are your overall thoughts on this thing? Cherlynn: I mean, so that headline is like all thanks to our EIC, Aaron [00:02:00]Souppouris, because I was like, where, where do I go from here? How do I, so, so he's right. It is like, instead of what's in your wallet, it's like, what are you willing to take out your wallet? I'll tell you the story. So yesterday I was at the Amazon devices and services event where there were no devices and A bunch of other reporters had gathered and we were all like, you know, the, like, review's going up soon, right?

Devindra: We are here what is this, the beginning of night one of CES officially? Devindra: guess we have already suffered through basically day minus one. Devindra: One thing I want our listeners to understand is that we have already seen a lot of things we kind of know where the CES is headed. And, I think this is a cursed show Cherlynn. How do you feel about that? Yeah, I think I mean, Devindra, I'll let you speak to your situation, but we've had team members who have fallen deathly ill. We have also, like, people who have completely had to miss their flights, international flights. It's been quite Engadget team, but we have a really, really good team of people. Everyone's got great attitudes and, like, our spirits are high. You want to just get the stuff going.

This week, Microsoft started rolling out the Windows 11 2024 update, but it quickly became clear that the company was far more eager to unveil new features for its Copilot AI and Copilot AI PCs. In this episode, Devindra and Cherlynn chat about Microsoft's current AI priorities, and what it means for people with older PCs. Also, we discuss the death of HoloLens and Microsoft giving up on AR as Meta, Apple and even Snap build for an augmented reality future. Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News! Tech debt led to Sonos' disastrous app relaunch, will they be able to win users back? Google is making Gmail summaries more useful and adding a "happening soon" tab to your inbox – 41:11 Harvard students hack together facial recognition for Meta's smart glasses that instantly doxes strangers – 44:00 ...

Devindra: because like you could just always just take a photo of something and be like, yeah, that's how we wonder if it's going to Cherlynn: be a ram hog.

This week has felt like a month worth of news, now that we've wrapped up Apple's WWDC 2024 and Summer Game Fest in LA. In this episode, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss their final thoughts on Apple Intelligence and the company's upcoming software, and they chat about some of our coverage highlights from the pseudo-E3 Game Fest. Also, we dive into X making likes private (what is Elon hiding?!) and the news around Sony buying the Alamo Drafthouse theater chain. Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News! Summer Games Fest highlights: Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, LEGO Horizon Adventures, and an Assassin's Creed finally set in Japan – 25:06 X makes users' likes private – 40:27 Devindra: We are back from Apple's WWDC, and we have thoughts. And I feel like, It's just one of those whirlwind things. Both Trillin and I got back in from California yesterday. After recording this, I still feel like my body doesn't know, like, where I'm in, Trillin, or what time zone. I don't know how you feel. Cherlynn: I went to the gym at 8 a. m. Devindra: I like how you fit in the humble brag there. We're also going to be talking about Summer Game Fest, folks. We weren't there for that and I was trying to get Jess Condit on, but she's super busy still writing up stuff from that. So we have got a lot of coverage around that and there's some stories I want to highlight that Engadget has done. Also some games that looks pretty cool. Also joining us this morning is podcast producer Ben Ellman, who I'm sure has thoughts on Apple and the game stuff. And [00:01:00] as always, folks, if you're enjoying the show, please be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes or your podcast or of choice, leave us a review in iTunes. I would love to answer some reader questions. You can also typically join us Thursday mornings around 10 30 a. m. It's just like about scheduling, but that's about the time you can carve out in your schedule for us. You could see us on video. Sometimes we'll demo gadgets and We'll just have a great Q and a session too. I do want to point out if you're just listening to this episode, we did do a bonus episode at Apple's campus and it actually turned out pretty well because for Lynn and I were like right outside the, was it the Mac cafe or cafe Mac? But we were outdoors surrounded by traffic and other noise, but it actually ended up sounding pretty good.

There was no new Apple hardware at WWDC 2024, but Apple still had tons of news around AI and its upcoming operating systems. In this bonus episode, Cherlynn and Devindra brave the California heat to discuss Apple Intelligence and how it's different than other AI solutions. And they dive into other new features they're looking forward to, like the iPhone mirroring in macOS Sequoia and iPadOS 18's surprisingly cool Calculator app. Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News! This is Devindra here, and we are live at Apple Park. Cherlynn and I are in the middle of covering Apple's WWDC conference. Cherlynn: We are, I feel quite zen right now, because even though I have a lot more meetings coming up, we are seated outside, it's nice out, and even though it's really hot, it's not dying.

We're gearing up to cover Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) next week! In this episode, Cherlynn and Devindra dive into everything they expect at WWDC: Tons of AI announcements; more on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15; and hopefully some improvements for Vision Pro and visionOS. In addition, we chat about what we expect to see at Summer Game Fest and demonstrate how we used an AI editing tool to clear up some awful podcast audio. Devindra also talks with Justin Samuels, the founder of Render ATL, about why he started a massive tech conference in Atlanta. Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News! Humane AI warns users its battery case "may pose a fire risk" – 34:36 Welcome back to the Engadget podcast. This week we are getting ready for WWDC 2024 happening in a couple of days.

With pre-orders for the Apple Vision Pro headset opening this week, the company is getting ready to launch one of its most significant products ever. It announced this morning an "entertainment format pioneered by Apple" called Apple Immersive Video, as well as new viewing environments in the Disney app featuring scenes from the studio's beloved franchises like the Avengers and Star Wars. We already got hands-on once back at WWDC when the headset was first announced, but two of our editors, Dana Wollman and Cherlynn Low, had a chance to go back and revisit the device (and Dana's case, experience it anew). Since we've already walked you through some of the basic UI elements in our earlier piece, we decided to focus on some of the more recently added features, including Apple Immersive Video, the new Disney environments, a built-in "Encounter Dinosaurs" experience, as well as the floating keyboard, which didn't work for us when we first tried the device in June of last year. Here, too, we wanted to really get at what it actually feels like to use the device, from the frustrating to the joyful to the unintentionally eerie.

We made it to 200 episodes folks! Remember, that was a pre-pandemic, pre-generative AI world! We also highlight a few guest interviews worth revisiting, like our chats with Bill Nye and Ann Druyan. As for recent news, we quickly recap the OpenAI drama around Sam Altman's ouster, discuss Google's new Gemini AI platform, and chat about the revelation that governments are spying on our push notifications. Cherlynn also details her experience with Apple's Personal Voice feature for iPhones and gives us a demo of her AI-generated digital voice.

It's been a busy few weeks here at Engadget. In addition to celebrating the holidays, ringing in the New Year and prepping for next week's virtual CES, we've kept reviewing all the new gadgets and components that we can get our hands on. We start off with the long-awaited Apple AirPods Max headphones and, more recently, the Amazon Echo Frames which are now finally available. We also checked out Sony's portable A7C camera, HP's Reverb G2 mixed reality headset, NVIDIA's RTX 3060 Ti and the flexible Hologram Electronics Microcosm effects pedal. Long-rumored and quietly revealed last month, the AirPods Max are high-end, over-ear headphones constructed from aluminum and metal and available in five colors.