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Showing posts from August, 2015

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Release Date Revealed

Collector's edition comes with Adam Jensen statue.  Square Enix and Eidos Montreal have announced Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will come out February 23. Announced in April, Mankind Divided is the sequel to Deus Ex: Human Revolution, set two years later in 2029 with augmented people separated from normal residents. The stealth action-RPG will continue to examine the societal tensions between the two groups. In addition to the release date, Square Enix unveiled an Augment Your Pre-Order campaign and collector's edition for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The publisher is letting people pick what pre-order bonuses they receive among a handful of different options, with different tiers opening up when higher overall pre-order numbers are hit. For example, the first tier offers three in-game packs, such as a classic pack or enforcer pack, to choose from. And if enough people pre-purchase Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Square Enix is promising to release the game four days early...

PAX 2015: Dragon Age: Inquisition Trespasser Story DLC Announced

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Coming September 8.  Dragon Age: Inquisition's ending is about to be built upon. During a PAX Prime panel, IGN learned more about Trespasser, the upcoming story DLC for BioWare's epic fantasy RPG. According to what was shown, the expansion will detail the fates of the heroes two years after they managed to save the world. More specifically, players will learn new things about the Inquisitor's mark and the Qunari will pose a threat. As an added bonus, the Eluvian mirror will once again make an appearance, and one of Dragon Age: Inquisition's characters makes a dramatic return. This is the third release of story DLC for Dragon Age: Inqisition, the first being Jaws of Hakkon and the second being The Descent. Trespasser will be Dragon Age's final story DLC, and it will release on September 8, 2015. Read IGN's Dragon Age: Inquisition review to learn more about fighting a dark evil and romancing Qunari mercenaries. For more PAX Prime 2015 coverage, ...

PAX 2015: Homefront: The Revolution Feels Like Far Cry, and That's Awesome

West Philadelphia, born and raised.  Homefront: The Revolution feels a lot like recent Far Cry games, and honestly, that’s awesome. In a brief, 15 minute hands-on demo with the 2016 shooter, I was pleasantly surprised to find a sandbox packed with interesting things to do, multiple ways to explore, and some smart systems that really helped pull me into the world and keep me there. My goal was pretty simple – get from point A to point B while trying to not get killed by the patrolling, near-future packs of North Korean soldiers. Aside from standard grunts on the ground, there were drones that patrolled the streets, snipers perched up high forcing me to find alternate routes, and heavy trucks that could tear me down with a machine gun at a moment’s notice. Lucky for me, Homefront gave me the tools to start my own revolution and really even the odds. With a well-timed toss of a device, I could take control of one of the drones and turn it on my enemies. If I didn’t w...

Best Apps and Games of the Week

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These are some of the best apps and games of the week. Swype Swype 2.0 for Android brings with it two new features. The first is a theme store where users can purchase additional themes for the keyboard, including the new Star Trek theme. Second, there is now an emoji drawer, which allows you to pick and choose all the system emoji. Other than that there is also support for two new languages, improved auto-correct, and bug fixes. Price: $0.99 Download: Android Instagram Instagram 7.5 brought with it a major change for those who regularly use the platform. You can now upload images and videos in landscape or portrait orientation and are no longer restricted to the 1:1 square aspect ratio. All you have to do is click a button while picking the image from the gallery and you can upload it in the original aspect ratio (limited to 3:4 vertically). This feature is available on the iOS and Android versions of the app. Price: Free Download: iOS • ...

Leaked press image of Moto 360’s successor confirms two different sizes

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Alleged press renders of Moto 360’s upcoming successor made the round on Twitter, courtesy of @evleaks . Motorola’s next smartwatch is expected to debut during IFA in Berlin this week. The leaked images of the smartwatch confirm past reports that the wearable device will be available in two sizes. The smartwatch will also have a new location of its sole physical button - a 2 o’clock as opposed to three in the first generation. The second-generation Moto 360 has a already made a number of unscheduled appearances in the flesh. Depending on its size, the smartwatch will feature two different battery sizes - 270mAh and 375mAh. Source

LG Urbane Watch Luxe is a smartwatch dressed in 23-karat gold

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LG just unveiled its Watch Urbane Luxe smartwatch - its answer to the Apple Watch Edition. It sports 23-karat gold finish coupled with an alligator leather strap. LG didn't pull this one off by itself and has partnered with jewelry company REEDS Jewelers. The packaging oozes premium, too, with the watch shipping in a piano-gloss lacquer case. LG Urbane Luxe official photos The clasp has been changed from the original Watch Urbane and for the Luxe edition LG has chosen a deployment clasp. The result is a less bulky look, while the 50 separate steps used for the creation of the alligator leather band will sure make you feel exclusive. LG has produced only 500 Watch Urbane Luxe smartwatches and each will be engraved with its own serial number. Initial availability is limited to the USA and the cost is $1,200. The Watch Urbane Luxe will be on display at IFA, so expect us to tell you first hand how it feels.

Sony is trying to crowdfund a new premium smartwatch

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Crowdfunding and peculiar tech just seems to be a match made in heaven. A quick browse through Kickstarter or Indiegogo can reveal a tidal wave of innovation, but sadly, most of the really ambitious gadgets never really make it to production. However, when dealing with the likes of Sony, there is certainly a lot more confidence in the air. The tech giant has apparently listed a new premium smartwatch concept on its own crowd funding platform – First Flight. The watch aims to combine smart wearable functionality with and exquisite premium design and from the looks of it is a truly visually stunning accessory. It is dubbed "Wena", which stands for "wear electronics naturally" and the moniker is quite fitting. The watch part of the device employs a traditional, mechanical design with a high-end clockwork. It comes in two varieties – a "Chronograph" model, which has three separate dials and hands for hours minutes and seconds and a ...

LG's new SmartThinQ Sensor makes traditional home appliances smart

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LG has developed a gadget works with traditional home appliances and helps you track and control them remotely. Dubbed SmartThinQ Sensor , the device will be showcased at the upcoming IFA event in Berlin next week. The device is capable of sensing feedback such as vibration and temperature, and sending useful related information to the SmartThinQ app installed on smartphones. "For example, attaching the sensor to a normal washing machine door transforms the washer into a smart appliance that informs the user when the laundry cycle is complete," LG said in a press release. "Attach the SmartThingQ Sensor to a refrigerator and it will send a notification to a connected smartphone when a particular food item is about to expire." The SmartThinQ Sensor also lets you remotely control certain appliances like air conditioners, something which you can do with the same SmartThinQ app. In addition to the sensor, LG will also showcase an AllJoyn -compatib...

Hands-on video of Xperia Z5 leaks, confirms rumored specs

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Sony is expected to launch the new Xperia Z5 series of devices this week, which comprises of the Xperia Z5, X5 Compact, and Z5 Premium. We have heard rumored specifications of these devices in the past. Now, in a leaked hands-on video, Marketing Director of Sony Mobile France talks about the devices and what you can expect. Since the video is in French, we had to piece together translations from many of the French speaking readers who replied to the original post. From that we gather that the Xperia Z5 Premium will have a 5.5-inch 4K UHD display, the first of its kind on the market, while the Z5 will have a 5.2-inch 1080p display. All three phones will have a 23 megapixel camera on the back, with 'fastest autofocus on the market' with focusing speed of 0.03 seconds and improved low light performance over the previous Xperia flagship. You can now also choose the resolution in the Superior Auto mode between 8 megapixels (16:9), 20 megapixels (16:9), and 2...

Lenovo announces 6.8-inch PHAB Plus in China

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Lenovo has announced the PHAB Plus in China, 6.8-inch monstrosity that is more tablet than smartphone. The phone is being launched on China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile for now for CNY 2,599 ($407). The PHAB Plus has a 6.8-inch 1920x1080 display, Snapdragon 615 processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage, dual SIM support, 13 megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash, 5 megapixel front camera, LTE, 3,500mAh battery, and Android 5.0 with Vibe UI on top. Source

Galaxy J1 Ace featuring Super AMOLED display appears

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Samsung has launched a new budget-friendly smartpone in India, although there hasn't yet been an official announcement for the same. Dubbed Galaxy J1 Ace (J110H), the device carries a price tag of INR 6,400 ($96), and is available for purchase from offline retailers in the country. Specs-wise, the handset is powered by a 1.3 GHz dual-core processor, and sports a 4.3-inch (480 x 800 pixels) Super AMOLED display. It comes with 512MB RAM and 4GB expandable internal memory, and packs a 1,800 mAh battery. In terms of camera, the Galaxy J1 Ace features a 5MP rear unit and 2MP front shooter. Measuring 130.1 x 67.6 x 9.5 mm and weighing in at 128g, it offers dual-SIM support and runs Android 4.4 (KitKat) out of the box. Connectivity options include 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS, while color options include black and white.

Motorola Bounce: a 5.43-inch flagship with QHD screen, S810, chipset

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It seems that Motorola is working on a more powerful, more compact version of its current flagship, the Moto X Style. Codenamed Motorola Bounce, the new phone is reportedly set for a December unveiling. It will have a 5.43" QHD screen (X Style is 5.7" QHD, X Play is 5.5" 1080p). It will also be powered by a Snapdragon 810 chipset (Style and Play are 808 and 615 respectively) that will be paired to 3GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB of built-in storage. The Motorola Bounce will allegedly come with Moto's 21MP camera (presumably with 2160p video) and a 5MP selfie camera. The whole thing is powered by a bigger battery, 3,760mAh (that's 760mAh more than the X Style). A "shatterproof" label suggests a MIL-STD rating (IP ratings only measure dust and water resistance). Source

Google starts displaying home services ads in its search results

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Last month, after Google confirmed that it's hiring a portion of cleaning start-up Homejoy’s staff, there were reports that the search giant is building a technology to allow online users to easily connect with local professionals. Looks like the feature has started rolling out. Now when you search for terms like "plumber" or "lock repair," Google displays a sponsored result box at the top containing listings for these services. These listings, as you can see in the screen-shot above, include information such as contact number, rating, location, picture of the service provider (or representative), as well as details of the service being provided. Although these are paid ads, the professionals/businesses are pre-screened by Google, which conducts license, insurance, as well as background and performance checks before qualifying them. As of now, the feature only works if you're searching for plumbers, handymen, locksmiths, and house cl...

Huawei Watch makes brief appearance on Amazon, could launch next week

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While we already know that the Huawei Watch could soon be launched in the United States, it now looks like that's going to happen as early as next week - the smartwatch made a brief appearance on Amazon, revealing that it'll be available for purchase starting September 2. The listing - which has since been removed - also revealed that depending on the price and style, the wearable will cost in the range of $349 to $799, with the former being the price tag of the variant with stainless steel body and black leather strap, while the latter being the cost of the gold-plated model. Another important detail that was revealed was that the smartwatch will not only work with Android devices but also with iOS devices running OS version 8.2 or up. Via 1 | Via 2

Another Lenovo executive spotted wearing next-gen Moto 360

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After Lenovo's senior vice president Chen Xudong, another company executive has been spotted wearing the next-gen Moto 360. Dillon Ye, Vice-President-Smartphone Business Lead of Asia Pacific at Lenovo, was wearing the timepiece at the unveiling of the company's Vibe Shot smartphone in Indonesia. He confirmed that the wearable indeed is the Moto 360 successor, and also revealed that the device will be launched before the end of the year. For those who aren't already aware, the next-gen Moto 360 is expected to come in two sizes: one with a 270mAh battery (model name 360S), while other with a 375mAh battery (model name 360L). This compares with the current Moto 360, which has a 320mAh battery. There have already been several leaked images showing the next-gen Moto 360 on people wrists.

Android 5.1.1 seeding for European Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (SM-N910F)

There's been a lot of angry users complaining about the way Samsung's treated the last generation top-end phablet, the Galaxy Note 4, in terms of updates. While that's the way users are, and updates can never come soon enough, Samsung did take its time with releasing the latest OS version to the last-gen Note. The rollout started nearly two months ago with a soak test on the SM-N910C version in Russia. Sprint followed suit and released the firmware for the "P" version early this month, and reports out of Poland confirmed that the update for the "C" variant is spreading to more territories. As of now Android 5.1.1 is also being seeded to the SM-N910F version, or the European one. So far, it's been spotted in Sweden over-the-air and is also available via KIES. The build version is labelled N910FXXU1COH4, it's dated August 12, and comes it at a huge 1.8GB. In other news, the Galaxy Note 8.0 two-and-a-half-year-old tablet with a st...

Blackberry Venice live unit pictured, packs an 18MP OIS camera

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It was about time the BlackBerry Venice followed the numerous leaks with a live appearance and today's the day. The Canadian company's foray into the Android realm is apparently imminent, now that a working device has shown up, in this case in the hands of the folks over at Techrum . While we already had a general idea how the smartphone would look, we're now treated to detailed (well, 0.5MP, but still) images of several key features. And what's the single most revered Blackberry feature, if not the hardware QWERTY keyboard? Only here, it's hidden behind the display and slides out of obscurity only when needed. Sure, you'll be provided an on-screen one for less intense typing. In a departure from tradition, the power button has been moved to the left side. In all fairness it would have been ridiculously out of place on the top plate of a tall, slider-type device. That spot has now been reserved for the SIM and microSD slots. Hands-on wit...

Leaked iPhone 6s front panel shows slot for larger front camera, Taptic Engine components

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According to the latest leaked images obtained by 9to5Mac, the iPhone 6s will allegedly have a larger FaceTime camera. The current camera on the iPhone 6 has a resolution of 1.2 megapixels. With a bigger sensor, Apple could either go with a higher resolution or keep the current resolution and get better image quality from larger pixel size. Another thing discovered from the images is the screen component that will be responsible for the haptic feedback for the new Force Touch feature on the iPhone 6s. Apple calls it the Taptic Engine on the new MacBook and it should have the same name on the iPhone, and basically cause the screen to vibrate when you Force Touch it, so it would seem like you pressed a button. We have reported in the past on rumors of the back camera getting a resolution bump to 12 megapixel and adding support for 4K video, and the front camera getting a selfie flash, which is essentially the screen flashing white while taking a photo. The iP...

HITMAN - World Premiere 'Showstopper' Playthrough

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Razer Announces Wildcat Xbox One Controller

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Designed with eSports in mind.  Razer has just announced its latest Xbox One controller, called the Razer Wildcat. It'll be available worldwide in October of this year for $150 / €180. The Wildcat weighs in at 0.57 lbs without the cable, which is 25 percent lighter than other tournament grade controllers, and is approximately 4.17 inches long, 6.14 inches wide, and 2.60 inches high. Its list of features includes: a 4-button quick control panel, additional triggers and bumpers, optional rubber palm grips and grip caps for its analog sticks, 3.5 mm audio port for headphones and a mic, a braided fiber cable, and a carrying case.The highlight of the Razer Wildcat is its additional, remappable buttons and control panel, which lets users set custom profiles similar to gaming mice created by Razer and other gaming hardware companies.

Dishonored Definitive Edition Review

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 Revenge Served Lukewarm  When I reviewed Dishonored back in 2012, I gave it a 9.2 ("Amazing"), concluding that: “It's a shame that Dishonored's story isn't greater than the sum of its decidedly memorable parts, but its gameplay absolutely is. Each mission is built as an elaborate network of choices for players to explore, and the same can be said for Corvo himself. Each player's selection of powers, perks and other upgrades will inform how they see and interact with this world, and no two play-throughs will be exactly the same. Dishonored is a game you'll talk with your friends about, and that you'll want to play multiple times. In this game there are always other paths to be taken and other challenges to conquer, and that's a refreshing thing indeed.” Dishonored Definitive Edition incorporates the superb original game, the three pieces of subsequent DLC, and some additional in-...

Devil's Third Review

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Cycle of violence  Devil’s Third opens with such promise. There’s a momentary glint of intelligent commentary on the detached nature of modern war, a slow downward camera pan through a Guantanamo Bay under siege, and a somewhat indulgent solo drum performance by our hero, Ivan, as we’re treated to sepia-washed flashbacks of a history that still haunts him. The thing is, it’s all a ruse. Devil’s Third isn’t thoughtful, subtle, or even entertaining. It’s the kind of soulless, perfunctory action game I fear people judging the medium of video games by. That initial glimmer of hope flickered out quickly once I actually took control of Ivan and started doing the only thing he can do: murder fools in a comically graphic fashion with a limited, uninteresting set of abilities. To its credit, Devil’s Third melds melee and gunplay fairly effectively but neither is varied or even immediately satisfying enough to sustain any level of excitement. Simple doesn’t have to be ba...

Just Cause 3 to be Localized in Arabic

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Avalanche Studio's chaotic shooter to receive a complete Arabic makeover. Square Enix today announced that its open-world shooter, Just Cause 3, will be fully localized into Arabic. This means that the game will not only feature menus and subtitles in Arabic, but also include Arabic voice overs as well. "We here at Avalanche Studios are incredibly excited to bring Just Cause 3 to Arabic gamers everywhere.” said Roland Lesterlin, Game Director of Just Cause 3. “We want to ensure each translation brings the same level of talent and attention we give our English version. We can't wait for a whole new community of fans to get into our over-the-top action adventure sandbox." Just Cause 3 releases on December 1, 2015 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. We will be bringing you a lot more from the game in the coming months, but until then check out the first Arabic trailer below:  

Chrome will soon defer playback of background autoplay media and block flash ads

Your Chrome browsing experience is about to get a lot better and far less annoying thanks to these two new features that are coming soon. The first is deferred playback of autoplay media for background tabs. Right now, if you open a tab in the background that has autoplay media, it will start playing in the background when the page finishes loading, and you then have to hunt for the tab and silence whatever is playing. With this feature, Chrome will wait until the tab is in the foreground to start playing autoplay media, thus causing less annoyance and also using fewer resources for background tabs. The second feature is where Chrome will automatically pause Flash ads and other non-essential Flash content on the page. Soon, Flash ads will have a gray box asking the user explicit permission to play them. Google advises ad partners to switch to using HTML5 ads, as they use fewer resources to run than Flash content. Source 1 • Source 2

Instagram 7.5 brings support for landscape and portrait images and videos

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Ever since its inception, Instagram has always allowed clicking and uploading images (and later videos) in the 1:1 square aspect ratio. Like Twitter's 140 character limit, it was a part of the platform's appeal, or a drawback, depending upon how you chose to look at it. Off late, a lot of people had begun uploading non-square images to Instagram using image editing tools to add whitespace to the sides. Clearly people don't seem fond of Instagram's aspect ratio limitation anymore and are willing to use odd hacks to upload a non-square image, even if it made their images look terrible. So Instagram finally caved in and decided to add support for landscape and portrait aspect ratios. Once you update to the new version 7.5 build on iOS and Android, you will get a button while choosing the image to switch to the original aspect ratio of the image instead of cropping it to 1:1, after which you can then proceed to edit the image as usual. This also works ...

AMD Radeon R9 Nano packs the power of R9 Fury X in mini-ITX form-factor

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AMD has announced the new R9 Radeon R9 Nano, a compact graphics card designed for mini-ITX motherboards and cases. But despite its diminutive size, the card packs the same internals as AMD's current flagship, the R9 Fury X. The R9 Nano has the same Fiji GPU from the Fury X based on the GCN 1.2 architecture with 4096 stream processors, 256 texture units, and 64 ROPs with a 4096-bit memory bus width, thanks to AMD's new 4GB HBM RAM. Compared to the R9 Fury X, the R9 Nano is clocked slightly lower at 1000MHz instead of 1050MHz, but has a considerably lower TDP of 175W compared to Fury X's 275W. The reference card has three DisplayPorts and one HDMI and requires a single 8-pin power socket. Due to the lower clock speed and lower TDP, it's unlikely the R9 Nano will be just as powerful as Fury X in actual gaming, but it should be close, which is still great considering the Fury X is a powerful card and the R9 Nano is positively tiny in comparison. The c...

For the first time ever Apple will be streaming the iPhone event on Windows

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Remember how most of the Apple events were streamed live, but only on Mac OS X and iOS? Well, this is about to change. Yesterday Apple announced it will be holding a press conference on September 9, where it will be announcing the next generation iPhones - the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. As tradition goes, the event will happen in San Francisco on September 9 at 10AM local time. Digging a bit into the Apple's official website reveals the event's placeholder for the live streaming. And there we can find this text: "Requirements: Live streaming uses Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) technology. HLS requires an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with Safari on iOS 7.0 or later, a Mac with Safari 6.0.5 or later on OS X v10.8.5 or later, or a PC with Edge on Windows 10. Streaming via Apple TV requires a second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 6.2 or later." It seems Apple will be streaming the event on Windows as well. There are some limit...

Extract the S Pen from the Galaxy Note5 while preserving detection (video)

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We know you didn't listen to all the people screaming at you not to insert the S Pen of the Samsung Galaxy Note5 backwards, not to mention read the manual, which clearly states you shouldn't. Fret not, as there is apparently a simple solution, which can save your precious pen detection feature. That is, unless you've already managed to take the stylus out, in which case you're likely past the point of no return. Shown in the video below, the fix uses a piece of paper inserted parallel to the stuck S Pen, wraps around it and shields the detection lever as you're pulling the stylus out. Now, while that will preserve the tiny plastic detection lever, its unclear what you need to do of the S Pen's head gets properly jammed in the other lever deeper down, which is meant to keep the stylus firmly inside. Perhaps, another piece of paper on the other side might help. Via | Image source

New reports of 12MP iPhone 6s with 4K video recording arrive

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Rumors agree that with the iPhone 6s generation Apple will upgrade the camera that hasn’t seen a major improvement since the iPhone 4S in 2011. The new shooter will have a 12MP sensor (or perhaps 13MP with the extra used for digital stabilization) and will record 2160p video. The new Apple A9 chipset will feature improved ISP for better image processing with hints of a top-notch HDR mode. The selfie camera, which may get a 5MP sensor, will reportedly use a white screen in lieu of LED flash on the front (a trick LG did with the LG G Pro 2, some apps do it too). The new camera will enable slow-mo selfies at 720p apparently and better video recording overall (current iPhones are stuck at 1.2MP/720p). The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will be unveiled on September 9 and we have our fingers crossed for more base storage (thinking about 4K video in 16GB storage makes us wince).

Dutch iPhone 6s and 6s Plus prices leaked, still the same

The Apple iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will be unveiled on September 9 and pre-orders may start as early as September 11. The Netherlands will skip that process by the looks of it, new info suggests that the iPhone duo will go directly to stores no September 25 (perhaps a week after other Euro markets like Germany and France). Techtastic.nl has gotten hold of pricing information for Dutch carriers (KPN, T-Mobile and Vodafone). It suggests that the rumored Rose Gold version of the 6s generation won't pan out, leaving the standard Silver, Space Gray and Gold options. Here's the pricing, which is the same as the current pricing for the outgoing iPhone 6 duo. The only real surprise is that the cheapest models still come with 16GB of storage (that's what, a minute of 4K video?). iPhone 6s iPhone 6s Plus 16GB €699 €799 64GB €799 €899 128GB €899 €999  

Samsung Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic pass through the FCC

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Samsung has been teasing the Gear S2 smartwatch for weeks now. The company is clearly very proud of its first wearable with a round touchscreen, so much so that one of its executives has already shown us what it looks like on his wrist. As we get closer to September 3, which is when the big announcement will take place at IFA in Berlin, we're now seeing two models of the Gear S2 passing through the FCC. The US regulatory agency has certified both the Samsung SM-R720 and the SM-R732. According to past leaks and rumors, the former of those will be sold as the Gear S2, while the latter is due to get the Gear S2 Classic moniker. The FCC process has revealed that both of these will come with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi built-in, but neither will also sport mobile data connectivity. That's apparently going to be reserved for a third variation of Samsung's first round smartwatch. Previous leaks have suggested that the Gear S2 will come with a 360x360 AMOLED touchscreen...

Huawei teases multifunction fingerprint sensor on the Mate 7S

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Huawei is set to unveil its next phablet on September 2 at IFA in Berlin. And although there's still some confusion as to what it will be called (Mate 7S or just Mate S), it's clear that it's going to be a very important device for the Chinese company. Today Huawei head honcho Richard Yu has started a countdown of sorts on his official Weibo account, alongside which he posted what we can only assume is the first of a series of teaser images. So since at this point we're five days away from the event, we're told that the Mate 7S will come with a five-function fingerprint scanner. All of these things will fit in its 1 square cm footprint. One of those is obvious (unlocking the phone), but for the other features we're left guessing. Mobile payments could be one function, while using the sensor to lock certain content (such as images, videos, even contacts and messages) might be another. We'll find out for sure next week.

Google Nexus 8 tablet dummy shows up in photos

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Most of the talk around Google's devices now revolves around the Android Marshmallow pioneers - the LG Nexus 5 (2015) and Huawei Nexus 6. The two are rumored to see the light of day on September 29, but they may be joined by another surprise release. A couple of new photos, originating in China, claim to depict an upcoming Nexus 8 tablet, or at least a dummy unit of it. Photographed next to a ruler, the slate measures just about 200mm in length (with perspective roughly accounted for), which is the proper height for a 4:3 8-incher. And now that we've seen Google make the move to the more squarish aspect ratio with the Nexus 9, it's only natural for the company to continue the trend. Alleged photos and specs of the Google Nexus 8 The second photo gives a detailed look at one of the corners, and it seems the Nexus 8 will have a metal frame. Chamfered towards the end, it reveals what is likely a speaker grille, but it's hard to tell which exactly corn...

Apple iPhone 6s cases suggest Rose gold color option and no Sapphire crystal

Apple has the launch of the new generation iPhones set for September 9, and by the looks of it we may be seeing a Rose Gold color option for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. However, it doesn't seem to be quite the same candy tint from a previous leak. The speculation is fueled by the fact that case manufacturer Spigen has typically made cases in the same colors as the iPhones themselves. Already put up on Amazon and in stock, the cases for Apple's next-gen smartphones come in Black, Gunmetal, Champagne Gold, and Rose Gold. Another observation by one of our readers is that the cases are compatible with both the upcoming iPhone 6s and the existing iPhone 6. That points to identical dimensions and thus eliminates the possibility for a Sapphire crystal front, we would assume, as the new material would have called for a slight increase in thickness. Meanwhile, it has almost been set in stone that the iPhone 6s will come with a 12MP camera and 4K video recording. Force to...

Mad Max Is 1080p on Xbox One and PS4, Map Isn’t Finite

The post-apocalyptic land has no end.  Avalanche Studios' post-apocalyptic, open-world game, Mad Max , will run at 1080p on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Senior producer John Fuller confirmed the resolution details in a  GamingBolt interview , along with information about the game’s map size. “There are no finite limits to the map… in other words, there is no ‘one side’,” he said when asked how long it’ll take to traverse the map. “You can continue driving into The Big Nothing until you get bored or killed.” “Our tech can support enormous worlds but it is always a case of balancing the density of content and travel distances so that the player feels they are in a rich world.” You can learn more about Mad Max with IGN’s latest preview and its multiple-choice trailer  before it launches this September on PC , PS4 and Xbox One. The special edition of the upcoming Mad Max game includes a copy of Mad Max: Fury Road on Blu-ray, along with bonus DLC a...

Samsung begins Samsung Pay closed beta testing in the US

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Samsung Pay will officially launch on September 28 in the USA, but some Samsung users will be able to try it out right now. Samsung has just announced the closed beta test of Pay for the US market. Samsung Pay has been available in Korea for a week now and it's proven very popular and useful. More than 80,000 people signed in their cards on Samsung Pay. Samsung surely hopes for the same high interest in the USA and it is now organizing a closed beta test a month before the official launch. If you own a Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+ or Note5, you can opt to be a beta-tester and eventually you may be chosen. If you are interested in trying out the Samsung Pay before launch, just head over this place for opt-in. Samsung Pay supports Visa, MasterCard, Bank of America, and US Bank Visa cards. All major US carriers except for Verizon will be natively supporting Samsung Pay. Verizon is yet to decide whether to participate or not. Source | Via

Smaller version of next-gen Moto 360 gets compared to last year's model

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Motorola still hasn't announced its follow-up to last year's Moto 360, but if we go by the amount of leaks we're seeing about the next-gen smartwatch, that should happen soon. Until it does, though, pictures showing this year's Moto 360 keep on leaking. A few days ago we saw the 2015 Moto 360 on people's wrists in the Chicago area, and now someone in China has gotten hold of the smaller version of the smartwatch. This is shown in the image above by itself, but it also gets compared to the original 360 in the shot below. This leak pretty much confirms the hypothesis that Motorola is working on two sizes for its new wearable, emulating Apple's deeds in this space. We first heard that something like this would happen earlier this month. The small variant of this year's Motorola smartwatch will apparently be called Moto 360S, while the larger one (which should sport the same screen size as its predecessor) will go by Moto 360L it seems. And y...

Archos Diamond Tab becomes official with 4G LTE support

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Archos likes diamonds, or so it would seem judging by the French company's latest announcements. A couple of days ago we saw the Diamond S smartphone being introduced, and today it's time for a Diamond-branded tablet to become official. We're talking about the Archos Diamond Tab. This iPad Mini competitor (based on its size) comes with built-in 4G LTE support and an affordable price. It has a 7.9-inch 2,048x1,536 IPS touchscreen, a 5 MP rear camera, a 2 MP front-facing unit, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable storage, and a 4,800 mAh battery. It's powered by MediaTek's MT8752 64-bit chipset boasting a 1.7 GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU. Cat.4 LTE is in, with theoretical peak download speeds of up to 150Mbps, and you also get Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. The tablet runs Android 5.1 Lollipop. Its dimensions are 202 x 134 x 7.8 mm, and it weighs 360g. The Archos Diamond Tab will become available in October for £179, which is not a bad price at all con...

In a first, over a billion people logged onto Facebook in a single day

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This past Monday was special for Facebook as the social network saw over a billion people using it on that day, something that has happened for the first time in the company's history. The statistic was revealed by none other than Mark Zuckerberg himself. "We just passed an important milestone. For the first time ever, one billion people used Facebook in a single day," the CEO said in a Facebook post. "On Monday, 1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family." While Facebook has already achieved 1 billion monthly active users milestone, having the same number of people using the service in a single day is much more significant. According to official statistics, the social network had an average of 968 million daily active users and 1.49 billion monthly active users last month.

Obi Worldphone SF1 and SJ1.5: affordable Androids, premium design

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John Sculley – former CEO of Pepsi and Apple – has gotten into the Android-phone game. The new company, Obi Worldphone, which aims to offer premium-designed phones to developing markets. Both are dual-SIM and cost between $130 and $250. The Worldphones will launch in Vietnam, India, Tukey, Pakistan, South Africa, Nigeria, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates (and others) soon. Obi Worldphone SF1 The higher end of the two phones, it has a 5" IPS screen with 1080p resolution. A "signature floating glass display" gives the front a distinct look (it's Gorilla Glass 4, by the way). The Obi Worldphone SF1 runs Android 5.0.2 customized with the Obi Lifespeed user interface. The software is powered by a Snapdragon 615 chipset with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. That's the $200 version, for $250 you can have 3GB RAM and 32GB storage (both have microSD slots). The phone boasts fast Cat. 4 LTE connectivity (it takes one micro and one nanoSIM)...