KB-Technologies

Raspberry Pi is celebrating four years since the launch of their first Raspberry Pi computer. The company has also announced the new Raspberry Pi 3. The new model has two major changes. The SoC has been upgraded to a new Broadcom BCM2837 with a 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU that is 50-60% faster than the Raspberry Pi 2 and about 10x than the original Raspberry Pi. The other major change is the inclusion of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, which means you no longer have to deal with additional cables just to get it online. Best of all, the Raspberry Pi 3 is priced at $35, same as the Raspberry Pi 2, which, along with the first generation model, will continue to be sold. Source

Google has posted a new Android advertisement on its YouTube channel. Its moto is "be together, not the same" and animated rock, paper, and scissors help deliver the message. Here is the commercial itself. Two months ago Google had a similar ad under the same moto. It's called Android Fingerprints and here it is, if you need a refresh: Via

HTC already announced what the Vive VR headset is going to cost you in the US at launch (which is $799, in case you missed it). Now the company has also revealed what the device will set you back in other regions of the world. The company has listed all the regions that will be getting the device, most of which are European countries. In those regions, including countries like Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden, the Vive will be sold at €899. In Australia, the Vive is priced at US $899. In Canada it is CAD 1149, in UK it is £689, in China it is CNY 6,888, and in Japan it is JPY 111,999. You can get the full list in the link below. Source

If you recall, Microsoft was offering a $50 discount on its Band 2 fitness wearable until February 20. However, if for some reason you failed to take advantage of that promo, here's a new deal: the device is now officially available for $174.99. Yes, the new deal is an even better one, as the total discount in this case comes out to be $75 - Microsoft usually sells the wearable for $249.99. The promo runs through March 26 9pm PST, and is available for purchases made through online as well as retail Microsoft stores in the US. Aside from Microsoft, third party retailer Best Buy also has the device listed for $174.99. Source (Microsoft US) | Best Buy

The Microsoft Lumia 640 has received yet another price cut in the United States, where retailers including Best Buy and Walmart are now selling the device for $29.99. The model on offer (color option: black) is available via AT&T's GoPhone prepaid service. A quick look at the Microsoft's US Store website reveals that the Redmond, Washington-based company is offering the black-colored AT&T variant for $29, but sadly the handset is currently out of stock. If you recall, an official price cut earlier this month saw the device coming down to $49. For those who aren't already aware, the phone is in the list of Lumia devices that are set to receive the Windows 10 Mobile update - in fact, T-Mobile Poland already started rolling out the update to Lumia 640 units on its network last month. Source (Best Buy) | Walmart | Windows US Store

These are some of the best apps and games of this week. Spark Spark is a beautiful and powerful email app for the iPhone, which is now available on the iPad. The app makes good use of the iPad's big display, with multiple panes, including an additional bar on the left with shortcuts for your calendars, attachments, inboxes, etc. There is also a Watch app now, and a sync feature that syncs mail between your iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. iOS Photofy Photofy is an image editing app for iOS that is now also available on Android. Although there are many photo editing apps out there, Photofy is tastefully designed. The main feature, among the usual editing options, is the ton of template texts in beautiful fonts that you can place on your images. Or if you want, you can type out your own. The app is free but with an in-app purchase you can access all the templates and filters. iOS • Android Peach Peach is a new social network similar ...

The Huawei P9 hasn't exactly been the best kept secret, with images detailing its dual-camera setup dating as far back as October. Schematics of the smartphone came out last month followed by full-color renders, but it is only now that we get to see the P8 successor out and about. The couple of live images serve to confirm the arrangement on the back with the pair of lenses sharing a single glass panel in one, and then seemingly separate ones in the other. The dual-LED flash and possibly a laser autofocus window are both revealed, and a fingerprint sensor is where we've come to expect it from Huawei. However, the phone is fitted in a case on both occasions, so design details have been kept from prying eyes. Alleged Huawei P9 live images Not so with the other leak, which allegedly shows the P9's outer frame in the latex-clad hands of an engineer/assembly worker. Controls and ports placement checks out with existing P9 cases, so we are likely looking at...

Samsung has increased its smartphone SoC share, and it's now in the Top 5 application processors designers in the world. Thanks to its Exynos expansion to the mid and low tier smartphones, the Exynos chips shipped in 2015 were about 500 million units or about 15% of the total shipped Samsung smartphones. Qualcomm keeps the leading spot, followed by Apple's solutions while the third spot is occupied by the MT silicones offered by MediaTek. Samsung's Exynos platform has now ensured the maker the fourth spot, pushing down Spredtrum at the fifth place. With the new Samsung Galaxy S7 series and other upcoming Samsung smartphones in 2016, there is a good chance Samsung solidifies and even improves its standing. Source • Via

The Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro is apparently nearing official status if benchmark listings are any indication. After it was spotted on GFXBench earlier this month, the upgraded variant of Samsung's 6-incher has now made its way to AnTuTu, confirming the key upgrades over the vanilla A9 (2016). For one, the 13MP primary camera gets a bump to 16MP, so the A9 Pro won't have the same sensor as the rest of the A (2016) lineup. You'd also be getting higher-res selfies than on the regular A9 - 8MP vs. 5MP. Befitting the Pro moniker, RAM is also a gig more, at 4GB. Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro on Antutu The rest is all the same as the Galaxy A9, meaning a Snapdragon 652 chipset and 32GB of storage. The older GFXBench listing put screen size at 5.5 inches, but we all know how benchmarks can get that particular bit wrong. We'd say that 6 inches is the safe bet here, even if AnTuTu stays mum on the matter. Source | Via

Xiaomi announced its newest flagship - the Mi 5 - at MWC last week. The device is all set to go on sale in China starting March 1 - tomorrow. In case you're wondering how many people have registered for tomorrow's sale, the figure stands at over 14 million. This was revealed by the Chinese company itself. That's quite impressive, and is even said to be a new record for the company as the milestone was achieved in less than a week after the $300 handset was unveiled. As for the sale, it begins 10AM China time, and will see the company offering only the white color variants of the 3GB/32GB and 3GB/64GB models. There's currently no word on when other versions, including the higher-end ceramic back variant will be available for purchase. Via

Oppo has released a new teaser that confirms the existence of the rumored R9 smartphone. It seems to be a camera-centric device given that the Chinese text in the teaser translates as "This time, it is worth and other '9' point. #OPPO New camera phone R9 #." Sadly nothing else was revealed, but given that the Chinese company has finally confirmed the handset, we expect to see more teasers and leaks in the coming days. A leak last year suggested that the device looks almost identical to the iPhone 6s Plus. Specs-wise, from what all has been rumored until now, the Oppo R9 will be powered by a Snapdragon 820 SoC and sport a 6-inch (1440 x 2560 pixel resolution) display. It will come with 3GB or 4GB RAM and 64GB of expandable internal memory. In terms of camera, the handset will feature 21MP rear unit and a 13MP front shooter. Packing in a 3,700 mAh battery, the R9 will run Android 6.0 Marshmallow out-of-the-box. Via

While Samsung's newest flagships - the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge - are officially scheduled to go on sale starting March 11, looks like a few lucky people in the US will have their pre-orders delivered before that date. One of the country's "big four" carriers, T-Mobile, has already started shipping the pre-orders - many of those who pre-ordered the device(s) are getting their shipment notifications. Last year too, a few lucky ones got their T-Mobile Galaxy S6 pre-orders delivered before time. In case you missed, the South Korean company's mobile chief Koh Dong-jin recently revealed that the Galaxy S7 flagship will be available in 60 countries in the first wave of its global launch. Via 1

  Introduction The Jaybird X2 is a pair of wireless Bluetooth earphones designed for fitness enthusiasts. The headset is the successor to the company's Jaybird BlueBuds X. In reality, the two models aren't all that different, but that's not such a bad thing as the BlueBuds X is one of highest rated Bluetooth earphones around. The premise is simple; the X2 is a headset designed primarily to be worn while working out and as such has a very minimal footprint and try to get out of your way as much as possible. In that pursuit, they have all the electronics built within the speaker enclosures themselves, while also being sweat-resistant and designed not to pop out while you're running. Oh, and you can take calls on them easily. But you could have gotten all that from their website. Let's see what the headset is like in real life. Design The design of the X2 is nearly identical to that of the original BlueBuds X. It's a roughly two feet l...

MWC is a truly amazing event not only for the sea of tech announcements that take place at the venue but also for the amazing experiences the Barcelona gatherings provide every year. We really feel blessed to be able to see the show floor for ourselves, and while we take pride in reporting on the news and informing you on all the novelties in the tech world, our work doesn't really convey the true experience at MWC. We could have tried to convey our personal impressions, but we thought it would be more fitting to the GSMArena spirit to show you around the event floor and Barcelona itself in a short 4K timelapse video. We hope you like our quick timelapse and be sure to leave us you comments and suggestions about our MWC coverage this year.

Popular mobile messaging service WhatsApp has announced that it will be ending support for all versions of BlackBerry OS - including BlackBerry 10 - by the end of 2016. Other platforms that will be removed from WhatsApp's support list include Nokia S40, Nokia Symbian S60, Android 2.1, Android 2.2, and Windows Phone 7.1. WhatsApp says it wants to focus on platforms that the vast majority of people use. "While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don't offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app's features in the future," the company said in a blog post. "If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone before the end of 2016 to continue using WhatsApp." Source

The 64GB variant of Axon's ZTE Pro smartphone has received a price cut in the United States, where B&H Photo is currently selling the model for $323.95. Those purchasing the device from the retailer will also get a gift card worth $50. ZTE is officially selling the 64GB version for around $380 in the country, meaning B&H photo is offering over $50 direct discount, which coupled with the included gift card takes the total discount figure to over $100. Available color options include silver, gold, and blue. Amazon also has the device listed for around $325, but the blue color variant is currently out of stock. Source (B&H) | Amazon | ZTE

Motorola started rolling out the Moto X Pure Edition Marshmallow update back in December last year. Now, a couple of months after that, the first Android 6.0 factory image for the device has been made available for download. The image carries a build number of MPH24.49-18_18, and to download it you need to first request access to a Google Drive folder, something which you can only do after logging in with a Motorola or Google account (head to the Source link below). In case you missed, the Moto X Pure Edition has also started receiving the latest Android security update which brings up the handset's security patch level to February 1, 2016. Source | Via

Senior XDA member Gorgtech performed a hard modification to his warranty-less Nexus 5 and 7 so decided to do the same to his Nexus 6P whose warranty was voided as well. An XDA thread shows the tedious and difficult disassembly of the Nexus 6P, starting with carefully heating and removing the camera glass, which takes a steady hand and lots of patience. Gorgtech then removes the entire rear panel which looks even more difficult than the camera hump’s glass. Once the more problematic parts were out of the way, screws and clips hold the boards in place. The post shows you where to add thermal paste to improve the cooling ability of the Nexus 6P, ultimately reducing the amount of thermal throttling of the roaring Snapdragon 810 chip. Head over to the XDA thread if you’re feeling indubitably adventurous. I’ve repaired and ruined a bunch of devices in my day, but I will not likely try such a modification. Maybe if I still have the phone after my factory wa...

You may already know that Samsung is throwing in a free Gear VR headset with every Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge pre-order, regardless of market. However, US carrier Verizon has managed to best even this offer. If you pre-order either of Samsung's newest flagship smartphones, Big Red will give you a free Gear VR or a free Gear S2 smartwatch. This is great news for people who aren't that much into VR at this point, and who consider a smartwatch a much more useful gift in such a circumstance. It's also worth pointing out that the Gear S2 has a higher retail value compared to the VR headset. To take advantage of this promo, you need to pre-order the S7 or S7 edge from Verizon and get it on device payments before March 18. Then you register your new device at this website by March 31. After verification of the offer claim, you will receive your free Gear S2 or Gear VR in around 4 to 6 weeks. Source | Via

Acer has already showcased the Liquid Jade Primo a few times - at IFA last year, then at CES and at MWC. Yet now after many months of talking about it, the company finally seems intent on actually launching the handset running Windows 10 Mobile. The Jade Primo's release should happen next month. In the meantime, its maker has created a new promo video for the device, one that clearly positions the Jade Primo as a workhorse. That means businesses might be the primary intended customers for this smartphone, which is a trend we're seeing more and more of in the world of Windows 10 Mobile (most recently with the Microsoft Lumia 650 and the HP Elite x3, for example). Bottom line, the Jade Primo will help you get work done, especially thanks to its support for the Continuum feature in Windows 10. As a quick reminder, the phone comes with a 5.5-inch 1080p touchscreen, a 21 MP rear camera with dual-LED flash, an 8 MP secondary cam, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 808 c...

Inbox, Google's pretty radical reinterpretation of the Gmail interface, is getting an update over the next week or so. And it's all about making its snooze functionality work better for more people. The snooze menu has also received a redesign of sorts. First off, you'll be able to choose from two new snooze times when you want to put certain things off for a while - "later this week" and "this weekend". These have apparently been highly requested through the Inbox feedback process, and they should decrease the use of custom-set snooze times. Finally, you can now choose what your "weekend" days actually are, similarly to how you can set your preferred morning time to receive emails. This is easy and straightforward to set up, as you can see in the second screenshot above, and should work well with the custom snooze time of "this weekend" of course. It's also clearly going to be extremely useful for those who...

The smaller and more mid-range of the two Nexus smartphones unveiled last year is now cheaper than it's ever been. One seller on eBay is offering brand new, unlocked LG Nexus 5X units (with 16GB of storage) for just $269.99. That's $10 less than what was asked for the phone in another promotional offer earlier this month, also on eBay. And the $269.99 price will save you $30 compared to Google's official pricing for the device. If you're interested, keep in mind that there's apparently a limited amount of units up for grabs at this price, so better hurry if you want to pick one up. The white model is sold out already, so you can only choose from the Carbon and Quartz hues. Shipping is free, and done from New Hampshire, which means you shouldn't get a sales tax no matter where you are in the US. Via

Following a celebrity-only release last year, Facebook's live video streaming feature went out to all iOS users starting in January. And now the time has finally come for the exact same thing to roll out to Facebook users with Android devices. The social networks has announced that live video streaming should become available to all Android users in the US within the next week. After that, the functionality will be rolled out to other countries, though no exact time frames have been mentioned. As for iOS users, live video streaming on Facebook is already a possibility for those in 30 countries, and the global rollout is continuing. Once you get the new feature, if you want to use it just tap "What's on your mind?" at the top of News Feed and select the Live Video icon. Before going live, you can enter a quick description and select who gets to see your broadcast. During your live session, you see how many people are watching, the names of frie...

Xiaomi traditionally serves the Asian market, but there's talk that the new Xiaomi Mi 5 will be its first phone to officially launch internationally. Sony, meanwhile, said the Xperia X Performance will definitely launch in Asia while its European availability is still being sussed out. Both phones stick to the 5" 1080p format (the Mi 5 is 5.15", but close enough). They bring powerful Snapdragon 820 chipsets and a heavy focus on camera - 16MP OIS for the Xiaomi, 23MP for the Sony. The Xperia X Performance is waterproof (only one in the current X lineup) and features Sony's traditional front-facing stereo speakers. This model has an option for a beautiful brushed metal back. The Xiaomi Mi 5 comes with a glass/metal build as standard, but the premium Pro model will use ceramics and have a roomy 128GB storage option (there's no microSD slot here). Both companies stepped up their design game, but spotty availability may hamper their growth. ...

Samsung has announced that it has started rolling out the latest Android security update to its "major flagship models." The update includes patches from both Google and Samsung. What's worth mentioning here is that the South Korean company didn't explicitly mention which of its flagship devices are getting the update, although reports say the list includes the Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6 family, Galaxy Note 4 and Note5, as well as the Tab S and Tab S2. Of the devices mentioned above, the Galaxy Tab S2 has already started receiving the February security update. In addition, handsets from Huawei, Motorola, and BlackBerry, as well as Nexus devices have also received the update. Source

A month after the OxygenOS 2.2.0 update started rolling out to the OnePlus X, the company has pushed out another update that it says includes a hotfix for an image corruption issue with the device's camera. The issue in question has been reported by some users following the last update. The update weighs in at 9.5MB. It's an incremental roll-out, meaning it may take some time before the update hits your device if it hasn't already. "We will try to cover everyone within the next 48 hours," OnePlus said in a post on its official forum. For those who aren't already aware, the last month's OxygenOS 2.2.0 update brought along things like manual mode and save to SD card option in Camera App, USSD bug fix for India. as well as some other changes. Source

Remember the LG H840 which was spotted on GFXBench earlier this month with Snapdragon 652 chipset and 3GB RAM? We initially thought that it could be a 'lite' variant of LG's latest G5 flagship, but turns out it's a special LG G5 model aimed at specific markets. While LG made no mention of an SD652-powered G5 at this year's MWC (where the flagship was unveiled ), it has now come to light such a souped-down variant exists and will be available in Latin America at-least. Confirming that Latin Americans won't officially get the standard SD820 G5, LG's Sales manager for Chile, Cristián Correa, said that the decision was taken based on the feedback they received from several operators in the region as well as keeping in mind the currency appreciation in Latin America. What's more, the LG 360 virtual reality headset - one of G5's friends - will also not be available in the region. Correa cited Latin America's lack of interest in VR a...

The US Court of Appeals has overturned the 2014 verdict of a California federal court that held Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple's smartphone patents and directed the former to pay $119.6 as damages. Apple had dragged Samsung to court alleging that the latter infringed on its "quick links" patent along with two other patents covering the iPhone's slide-to-unlock and auto-correct features. For those who aren't aware, the quick links feature lets devices recognize data such as phone numbers and turn them into clickable links. In its verdict yesterday, the appeals court rejected Apple's allegations saying that Samsung did not infringe on the iphone maker's "quick links" patent as the South Korean company's technology for detection and linking is completely different, and adding that the other two patents cited in the case were invalid. Interestingly, the court observed that it is in fact Apple which has infringed on o...

The highly anticipated Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are expecting to break last year’s initial number of Galaxy S6 units in the first three months following its announcement. A Korean media outlet reports that Samsung is preparing to manufacturer a total of 17.2 million Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge units by April of this year. Samsung is really hoping to break its previous record set by the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge which sold roughly 15.8 million units in its first three months after launch with the second most successful device title held by the Galaxy S4 selling just over 15.2 million units in its initial sale period. Also, the company has reportedly changed its ratio of S7 and S7 edge where the S6 was manufactured 4:1 with the S6 edge constantly in short supply. This time around, Samsung wants to use a 6:4 ratio since it was not able to predict the roaring demand that the S6 edge had last year. Samsung hopes the overwhelming reception to the Galaxy S7’s announcemen...

The American wireless industry has been phasing out the traditional 2 year contract in light of phones coming out more frequently and customers becoming disgruntled at being stuck with a 1-2 year old phone until next year. Sprint hasn’t been doing particularly well in the past few years and continues to lose customers to other carriers. Since then they’ve been downsizing and cutting costs anywhere they could, they even removed Sprint’s own in-house repair centers from several stores in the beginning of the month. Sprint also gave store employees more cleaning duties to cut store maintenance costs. The other 3 major carriers have already gotten rid of new 2 year contracts (unless you have a grandfathered 2 year agreement, you’d still have the option of renewing), so why did Sprint decide to bring back the 2 year contract? Perhaps Sprint is in desperate need of customers that it needs to sell service to every customer it possibly can. The older generation of c...

Last November, Asus outed a list of devices that it would update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Unfortunately, no timeline for update rollouts was mentioned at that point. And here we are more than three months later, and Asus has yet to push the new software to any of its wares. The good news is that now we finally have a (very rough) timeline to speak of. Asus will send out Marshmallow updates during the second quarter of this year, so from April to June. The company has revised its list of devices getting the Marshmallow treat, adding three smartphones that weren't in the initial roster. These are the ZenFone Max ZC550KL, the ZenFone 2 Laser ZE551KL, and the ZenFone Zoom ZX551ML. They join the following devices which were already slated to receive the update: PadFone S PF500KL, ZenFone Selfie ZD551KL, ZenFone 2 (ZE550ML and ZE551ML), ZenFone 2 Deluxe ZE551ML, ZenFone 2 Deluxe Special Edition ZE551ML, and ZenFone 2 Laser (ZE500KG, ZE500KL, ZE550KL, ZE600KL, and ZE60...

March is only a few days away now, and that means we're ever closer to Apple's much rumored spring event during which a new 4-inch iPhone is set to become official. Alleged details about this handset have been leaking for a long time, but perhaps the most disputed aspect of it has intriguingly been the name. We've so far heard it could be called iPhone 7c, or the iPhone 6c, or the iPhone 5se. And today a new report claims it will be none of those. Instead, Apple is likely to choose to call it iPhone SE. "SE" will apparently stand for "special edition", if the unnamed sources behind this one are to be believed. If this is true, then it will be interesting to see what a possible successor to the iPhone SE will be called, if there will ever be one. iPhone SE2? iPhone SEs? The New iPhone SE? It's anyone's guess at this point. Anyway, the iPhone SE's pricing will match that of the iPhone 5s (pictured above), it's been...

Chinese smartphone maker vivo is set to announce its much awaited new entrant in its high-end Xplay line on March 1, as the company has already confirmed. Yet it looks like vivo could unveil another device on that occasion, or perhaps just slightly lower-specced version of the Xplay 5. That's because a yet-unofficial vivo smartphone, bearing the model number PD1522A, has been benchmarked using GFXBench, which means a pretty complete list of its specs has been outed. This definitely isn't the Xplay 5, at least not its highest-end iteration if there will be more than one. That will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 chipset, as vivo has acknowledged, and this will be aided by a whopping 6GB of RAM. The PD1522A, on the other hand, has the Snapdragon 652 at the helm, and 'just' 4GB of RAM. So it could be a different device altogether, or the entry-level version of the Xplay 5, as Chinese companies often release multiple iterations of their w...

The LG G5 has now been put up for pre-order in the UK by one online retailer. The handset, which got its grand unveiling last Sunday, has been priced at £539, VAT included. The units being sold are SIM-free and unlocked, as you'd expect from that pricing. Clove , the company that's already listed the G5, says deliveries are due to happen sometime around early April. However, the price isn't 100% official yet, which means it might change between now and then. The store offers the G5 in "titan", silver, or gold, in all cases with 32GB of built-in storage. The phone comes with a 5.3-inch QHD IPS touchscreen, a dual camera system on the back (with 16 MP + 8 MP resolution), an 8 MP selfie snapper, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 SoC running things, 4GB of RAM, and a 2,800 mAh battery. It runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.

The oldest status symbol meets the newest - the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge were announced barely a week ago at the MWC and there's already a company advertising a gilded version. You have a choice of 24K Gold, 18K Rose Gold or Platinum plating. The company, Truly Exquisite, is already taking pre-orders starting at £1,700. If you pre-order, you can expect your S7 or S7 edge 21 days after Samsung officially launches the flagships on March 11. Worldwide shipping is free and there's a 1-year warranty. The gold plated phones will arrive in a "Luxury Wooden Box" and besides the usual accessories and Gear VR headset, the box will contain a free Wireless Charging Pad. Truly Exquisite has committed to donate 5% of its revenues to various charities around the world. Source

Building on the face-blurring capability it introduced back in 2012, YouTube has launched a new tool that lets you blur anything in your video, even if the object in question moves. Dubbed Custom Blurring, the tool is currently only available on the desktop website. "Whether you want to blur sensitive information such as a license plate or cover up a wardrobe malfunction without reshooting an entire scene, the new Custom Blurring tool will let you blur objects throughout your video, right within YouTube," the company said in a blog post. To use the tool, first choose the video you want to edit and then select the Custom Blurring option from the Blurring Effects tab of the Enhancements tool. Once done, select the object you want to blur by drawing a box around it (as shown in the GIF above). "At any time, you can move the blurred area, resize it and choose when the blur starts and stops. There is also a “Lock” option to blur something that doesn’t...

Last year at the Build conference, Microsoft announced what was called Project Astoria, a bridge that will allow developers to port their existing Android apps easily to Windows 10. The feature eventually disappeared from Windows 10 builds that came out after that, which caused some people to wonder what was happening with the feature. Microsoft has now confirmed that it will no longer be working on that. Microsoft stated that the company will instead focus only on the iOS Bridge that allows developers to port their iOS apps to Windows, instead of having one each for iOS and Android as "having two Bridge technologies to bring code from mobile operating systems to Windows was unnecessary, and the choice between them could be confusing." Microsoft also recently acquired the company Xamarin that lets developers write their apps in one language and then customize it for different platforms. Microsoft thinks these two methods, along with the Web Bridge (for p...

With Samsung unveiling its latest and greatest Galaxy S7 and S7 edge and the devices all set to go on sale next month, it shouldn't be surprising that last year's Galaxy flagships have started receiving price cuts. Case in point: Galaxy S6 edge. The edge variant of the Galaxy S7 predecessor is now available in the US for $460 - that's for the unlocked, 128GB gold-colored model. QualityCellz on eBay is selling the device for that price. The model on offer is compatible with both GSM carriers and Verizon. For comparison, Amazon has the 32GB version listed for around $550, while T-Mobile is selling the 128GB variant for $680. In case you missed, the handset also won the "Best Smartphone 2015" at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Source | Via

HTC CEO Cher Wang is confident that the company will make a splash in the smartwatch market with its own offering. She talked about the device in an interview at the just concluded Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. However, she didn't say much except that, "When HTC comes out with a smartwatch, we will turn the industry on its head." CFO Neither Chang, who was also present alongside Wang, said the company still needs to figure out how a smartwatch would fit with other HTC products before launching one. Rumors that HTC is developing a smartwatch first cropped up way back in 2013, with the latest ones suggesting that the wearable device - allegedly dubbed HTC One - will be launched in April this year. Via

Google’s latest security patch is being rolled out to Moto X Pure Edition users soon. The process should take a few days for it to fully roll out and as you know, it’ll be rolled out in random batches of devices. This update will bring up your Android security patch level to February 1, 2016. Also, if you’d like, you can check out Google’s latest overview of what has been patched for February. Via

LG is getting a lot of attention with the latest flagship offering, the LG G5. Therefore, the LG G4 is being heavily discounted and available for your benefit. An eBay seller has brand new, unopened 32GB LG G4s in Metallic Gray going for $300. You can choose between a Verizon branded and AT&T branded device (reminder that Verizon phones do come factory unlocked). These devices also come with the standard 1 year manufacturer’s warranty. The LG G4 was released in April of 2015 and features a 5.5 inch screen with 1440p resolution. It sports a snapdragon 808 hexa-core CPU paired with 3GB of RAM and an Adreno 418 GPU. The G4 was also among the best smartphone cameras available last year. It has a 16MP main sensor with OIS and laser focus with an 8MP front-facing cameras for higher quality selfies. Source

Google has posted a few snapshots of Android Support Library 23.2 including an interesting pair that seems to showcase a Bluetooth connection interface complete with a new UI element - a sandwich menu. This could be a sneak preview of a new setting layout within the next Android N version of the OS or not. But, considering the screencaps showcase the new Day/Night modes in the AppCompact theme and by design the Android Support Library usually works across many Android versions, we are a lot more inclined to believe that Google is simply using an internal app with a Bluetooth menu to showcase the new feature. Hamburger menu in Settings menu Such is the case with the just announced Bottom Sheets feature, which is showcased in the Google Maps app where this new design element is used to show context info. It can also be used to display info that is usually found on pop-ups. New Bottom Sheets demoed in apps It remains seen whether this Hamburger menu will ...