A couple weeks ago, I decided to impulse-buy a Samsung Galaxy Note9 phone. Although I'm still happy with my Pixel 2 XL, it's been a while since I've used a Samsung phone for an extended period. I figured it'd be useful for research purposes, and that I might be able to pitch a few stories around it as well.

But instead of buying a new Note9 at its suggested retail price of $1,000, I took a chance on a site called Swappa, which ostensibly connects people who want to sell their electronics with people who want to buy them. Think of it like eBay, but without live auctions and with lots of helpful sorting tools for finding the exact device model you want. A few days and $600 later, I received a Note9 that was virtually indistinguishable from a new version.

Swappa isn't the only place where you can buy the latest (or almost-latest) smartphones for cheap. Poking around the internet, you'll find a cottage industry of sellers offering refurbished or like-new phones for far less than retail price. Backmarket and Smarter specialize in turning around refurbished phones, while mom-and-pop resale shops abound on sites like eBay and Amazon. Even my Note9 didn't come from an individual user, but rather from a Texas-based LLC called Maroon Mobile, which sells dozens of other phones on the site.

With Android phones in particular, you don't have to wait long for deep discounts. My Note9, for instance, launched less than seven months ago, and its prices are now being driven down by Samsung's recently-launched Galaxy S10+. (The latter phone is only a slight improvement over the Note9, and lacks the Note's signature stylus for writing and sketching.) Meanwhile, you can get Google's five-month-old Pixel 3 in "Mint" condition on Swappa for as little as $535, which is $265 off the retail price. The latest iPhones aren't as readily available, but you can get an iPhone X in excellent condition for $724 from Backmarket, or $769 from Apple itself.

Before you go shopping for a used or refurbished phone, though, it helps to keep a few things in mind:

Conditions: Refurbishers tend to offer phones in a range of conditions. I suggest avoiding anything that isn't mint or like-new, since you can't see what scratches or blemishes you might otherwise get when ordering a phone in worse shape. And pay attention to the fine print; some resellers, such as Gazelle, note that even their top-tier refurbished phones might have imperfections.

Accessories: Some resellers don't include the phone's original accessories, such as the charger or headphones. Others will throw in a generic charger in lieu of the original, and in most cases, the original box and packaging won't be included. Forgoing the phone's original accessories can help you save more money, but always read the seller's description so you know what you're getting.

Waterproofing: The process of refurbishing a phone can leave it less waterproof than a brand-new model. Used phones shouldn't have that problem, but their waterproofing ability may also be decreased if they've suffered any wear and tear.

Warranties: The biggest caveat of all with used and refurbished phones is that you won't necessarily get a one-year warranty, like the kind that comes standard with new phones. Sellers of used phones may have some warranty coverage left over from the original purchase, while refurbishers such as Backmarket and Smarter offer their own warranties--typically six months for the former and 12 months for the latter. You may be able to insure your purchase with extra warranty coverage, but obviously that'll put a dent in your savings. There's no right or wrong answer for how long of a warranty to seek; it's just a matter of how you're willing to pay to minimize the risk of a manufacturing defect.

The latest smartphones are a lot more expensive than they used to be, with both Apple and Samsung pushing prices up to $1,000 or more for their flagships. Buying a like-new or refurbished phone can bring those prices down to saner levels. And as Backmarket notes, it's a little friendlier to the environment as well.

Got more questions about buying a used or refurbished phone? Get in touch by replying to this email.
 

How many times have you tried to look up a recipe online, only to be subjected to the chef's entire life story before you get to the actual cooking instructions? Thanks to this recent Twitter post, I learned about a Chrome extension called Recipe Filter, which skips the filler on recipe blogs and takes you straight to important stuff. Just head to the extension page and click "Add to Chrome" to install it. The same extension is also available for Mozilla Firefox, on both the desktop and Android versions.

(As for why so many recipes have stories, some people like reading them and chefs say they enjoy writing them, but they also admit the longform introductions help give them more Google juice.)
 

Dropbox's new device limits:** Dropbox is putting the squeeze on free users of its online storage service, allowing only three devices at a time to sync files. If you've already installed Dropbox on more than three devices, they'll continue to sync, but soon you won't be able to add new devices without removing old ones. To install Dropbox on a new device after exceeding the limit, you'll have to deauthorize one of your other devices through the Security section of Dropbox's online settings.

As someone who uses Dropbox to sync my story drafts across devices, I'm bummed. It's the most dependable cloud storage service I've used, and it's widely supported by mobile document editors and note-taking apps like Editorial, which I use to write on my iPad. At the same, Dropbox's paid plans are on the pricey side, at $99 for 1 TB of storage. Google One (formerly Google Drive) and Apple iCloud provide twice the storage for the same price, along with cheaper plans if you don't need as much storage. Microsoft OneDrive costs $70 per year for 1 TB of storage with an Office 365 subscription included, and you can often find OneDrive subscription cards on eBay for less.

That said, I haven't seen any evidence that Dropbox is enforcing this limit yet, and third-party apps that integrate with Dropbox appear to be exempt. For instance, I'm using a neat Android app called Dropsync to automatically download and upload my documents, yet it doesn't appear to be counting against my limit. With Dropbox now specifying the three-device limit in its support documents, it may just be covering itself ahead of an eventual crackdown.

Facebook's security shadiness: Back in October, I wrote about how Facebook was using people's two-factor authentication phone numbers for ad-targeting purposes. Now, users have discovered that those phone numbers are also searchable, so people can use the numbers to look people up on Facebook. By default, this lookup method is available to anyone. (It's worth taking a minute to change this by visiting your privacy settings and choosing "Friends" or "Friends of Friends" instead.)

Two-factor authentication provides extra security for online accounts by requiring an extra code when you login on a new device. The easiest way to get that code is via text message, and when you provide a phone number for this purpose, most sites have the decency not to use that number in other ways. The broader problem with Facebook's behavior is that it erodes trust in two-factor authentication as a whole, even as it becomes more important to start using.

Fitbits galore: Fitbit is adding more fitness trackers to its lineup, including a $160 smartwatch and a $70 wristband. The watch is called the Fitbit Versa Lite, and is a stripped-down version of the Fitbit Versa that launched roughly a year ago. Unlike the non-Lite version, it doesn't do swim tracking or stair counting, and it can't play music offline, but it still tracks steps, sleep, and heartrate while providing notifications from a phone on its touchscreen.

For basic fitness tracking, the new Fitbit Inspire ($70) and Inspire HR ($100) are both $30 cheaper than the Alta trackers they're replacing. Although they trade the Alta's aluminum casing for plastic, they are swimproof. Fitbit also has a new $70 kids' fitness tracker called the Ace 2, which is swimproof and supposedly good for ages 6 and up.

I've never been a Fitbit user myself, but I've been intrigued by the Versa as a potential low-cost Apple Watch alternative. Still, it's worth noting that the regular Versa was on sale for $150 during Black Friday, so I'd hesitate to pick up the Lite version for more than that, especially if it can't survive a dip in the pool. For more on the finer points of Fitbit's current lineup, CNet has a good breakdown.

Android's new music alarms: Last August, Google added Spotify as an alarm option in Android's official Clock app, letting you wake up to a specific artist, album, or playlist. Now, the app supports Pandora and YouTube Music as well. If any of those apps are installed on your phone, they'll appear as options when you press the alarm sound button under any alarm you've set.

Bear in mind that some Android phones (including Samsung's) come with their own clock apps instead of the one made by Google. You'll have to download Google's from the Play Store if that's the case.
 

Not feeling the idea of a used or refurbished phone? Google is currently taking $200 off all Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL phones, bringing the price to $599 for the smaller model and $699 for the larger one. Both include 64 GB of storage, and you can upgrade to 128 GB for an extra $100.

I spent a lot of time with the Pixels 3 last year, and they're my favorite Android phones to date. Whereas Samsung (and many other Android vendors) tend to throw a lot of superfluous features in your face, the Pixel 3 is more concerned with getting out of your way. Its camera takes excellent photos with no fuss, and being able to squeeze the sides of the phone to summon Google Assistant is a revelation. I also enjoy using the Pixel 3's "Call Screen" feature to decide if I need to answer an unrecognized number.

Google says it'll offer these prices until March 31.