LG G4 hands-on

The LG G4 is finally and officially here. Now that we got the full scoop, it seems that LG's next flagship smartphone is all about three things - design, display and camera. The LG G4 body is slightly curved and comes with an optional leather back for some extra flair; there's a new IPS Quantum display for improved color accuracy and the camera has a new lens with improved OIS, wider aperture, a new Color Spectrum Sensor for more accurate white balance and a new manual mode.

The new LG G4 is closely related to the LG G Flex2 - to the extent we're not quite sure which one is the flagship. We see again a curved body design, though the curvature is much more subtle. The screen size is the same, but the G4 comes with a much higher resolution.

The camera on the G4 is better too, but then the Snapdragon 808 chipset is a step down. This leaves it a bit unclear as to which device is the flagship, though the LG G4 certainly has the more recognizable brand name thanks to the success of its predecessor.

Galaxy Tab A with S Pen launched in Samsung’s home country of South Korea

Samsung has launched the Galaxy Tab A with S Pen in South Korea. While the tablet is available in both 9.7 and 8 inch variants, only the former has been launched. It will, however, be available in both WiFi and LTE flavors.

Specs-wise, the device is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and sports a 1024×768 pixels display. It comes with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage (which can be expanded up to 128GB using a microSD card), and packs in a 6000mAh battery. In terms of camera, the tablet features a 5MP rear unit and a 2MP front shooter. It runs Android 5.0 Lollipop and comes pre-loaded with Microsoft apps.

Apple rejecting Apple Watch apps that just tell time

One of the notable things about the Apple Watch is that it does not support third party watch faces. Although there’s a whole bunch of them that come pre-installed and you can customize them further, you can’t actually download more.

Although an SDK will be coming later this year, certain developers have been trying to find a loophole by creating apps that do nothing but show a custom watch face. Obviously, Apple is having none of that anarchy.

Google Now integration arrives for 70 more Android apps

Google Now support is now available for 70 more Android applications. The search giant rolled out deep integration with third-party apps to the already mighty personal assistant back in January.

The newly integrated applications include popular news outlets, various offering for foodies, and fitness apps among others. Each app will deliver relevant information to users, as well as allow them to perform tasks via a dedicated Google Now card.

Angry Birds now out for Tizen

The Angry Birds franchise is seemingly everywhere you look these days, but one place it wasn’t present up until this point was Samsung’s Tizen OS. That all changes now with the launch of Angry Birds on Tizen.

The game can be downloaded from the Tizen Store, which can be found on the Samsung Z1 – the only smartphone running Tizen at the moment.

Motorola takes a dig at the G4, says it had leather firs

It’s official, the LG G4 is here! Just minutes ago, the flagship was unveiled and it pretty much delivers on all of its promises. Naturally, the genuine leather stitched back remained the center of attention throughout a large chunk of the presentation and LG really made it clear that the G4 comes with its own unique styling, or does it?

Motorola was quick to take a shot at the new handset and its leather-covered back options, by posting a photo of the Moto X and the Motorola 360, both featuring leather. At any other point in time, such a post would have been glanced over as a simple reminder of all the options the company’s Moto Maker customization service offers, but it the current context, it leaves no mystery as to Motorola’s intentions to mock LG.

However, it is definitely true that Motorola has had a “genuine Horween leather” option “since 2014″, so, as they say – “Shots have been fired!”. Your move, LG.

Samsung is collaborating with top brands and artists to work on its first round smartwatch

Samsung’s next smart wearable has been on our radar for quite some time now. Rumors about the gadget have been abundant, but not much is yet known about the smartwatch. Luckily, a few days ago, Samsung brought attention to the wearable and confirmed that it will, indeed, feature a round screen.

This is a first for the Korean tech giant, who appears to be aiming high with its next creation. According to industry sources Samsung has teamed up with quite a few famous artists and fashion brands in order to make the watch – codenamed Orbis, as perfect as possible.

Apple Watch with Sapphire crystal twice as reflective as the iPhone 6

Being one of the hottest pieces of tech out there at the moment, the Apple Watch was unlikely to go under DisplayMate‘s radar. The imaging diagnostics specialists took a 42mm Apple Watch with Sapphire glass and compared it with an iPhone 6.

The smartphone’s display is covered with what Apple calls Ion-X glass, which is similar to Gorilla glass, and is found of the more affordable Watch Sport.

Samsung Galaxy E7 review

In a bid to bring the A series' new-found premium design language to the masses, Samsung's E-lineup has managed to maintain the same looks. Lower-grade hardware and entirely plastic build have helped keep the price down, but if you don't look too hard it's still an upmarket smartphone.

The design aesthetic of the E7 is unmistakably Samsung - a mix of the Galaxy A7 and the Galaxy S flagships before the Galaxy S6 came along.

The metal frame of the A7 has been replaced by plastic, emulating the looks, but not exactly the feel. On the other hand, the rounded corners are more of a throwback to the S5 than the sharper A7 styling.

LG G Watch no longer on sale, however is being replaced by the G Watch Urbane

One of the first Android Wear devices (the other being the Samsung Gear Live) is no longer being sold. The device is no longer visible on the Play Store in any of the regions. Since Samsung already pulled the Gear Live from certain markets, they now have no Android Device category available on the Play Store.

The G Watch was the first and by far the simplest of all the Android Wear devices. It really was a matchbox shaped device with little to no design flair. It looked like it was designed in the lunch break. It was good enough if you absolutely wanted an Android Wear device and would be okay with the cheapest one available (which is why I have one as well) but it wasn’t something you’d buy because it looked cool.

Best Buy now accepting Apple Pay in-app, in-store support coming later this year

US consumer electronics chain Best Buy has updated its official iOS app with support for Apple Pay, allowing customers to pay for purchased items using Apple’s mobile payments service. All its US stores will begin accepting Apple Pay later this year, the company said.

“Today’s consumers have many different ways to spend their money and we want to give our customers as many options as possible in how they pay for goods and services at Best Buy,” the company said in a press release.

Tencent announces OS for smartwatches, VR headsets, game consoles and TVs

A fashionable trend among multi-billion tech companies is to launch their own OS. The latest to join the fray is Tencent, the company best known for QQ and WeChat, which updated its TencentOS with a version to run on smartwatches, TV sets, VR headsets, game consoles and other Internet-connected devices.

Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo and Qualcomm have partnered with Tencent to work on TOS+ devices.

LG Watch Urbane arrives in the Google Store

As promised, the Android Wear-toting LG Watch Urbane smartwatch made its way to the Google Store in the United States. Earlier today, the wearable device became available to order in the United Kingdom via the online retailer Clove.

LG’s high-end smartwatch is priced at $349 and will leave the warehouse by May 8. The wearable device is available to order in silver with black leather band, and gold with brown leather strap.

Instagram adds three new filters, emoji hashtags

Today Instagram announced the latest update for its mobile app for both iOS and Android. The new release should become available by the end of the day in the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store. It sports three brand new filters.

This comes after the Facebook-owned service previously added five new filters back in December of last year. The new entrants this time around are called Lark, Reyes, and Juno. According to Instagram, these are “modern, subtle filters” which brighten and enhance your photos in “refined, beautiful ways”.

Facebook Messenger gets video calling

Following the introduction of voice calling a while back, as well as other features such as sending money to friends, Facebook Messenger now supports video calls as well. The new functionality will become available today for people using the Messenger app on iOS and Android.

Video calls only work from a phone to another phone, but they do work even if the person you’re calling is on a different platform – so iOS to Android or Android to iOS, no problem.

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge has the best smartphone camera ever tested by DxOMark

Move over, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and even Samsung Galaxy Note 4. The new king of DxOMark is the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge – and, by extension, the Galaxy S6, since these two handsets share the same camera and internals (except the screen).

Today DxOMark has published the results of its testing of Samsung’s newest flagship and, more specifically, its camera. The S6 edge got an overall score of 86. That makes it the best performing smartphone camera ever tested by DxOMark.

Samsung Gear 2 spotted running Android Wear

Even though the smartwatch niche is still pretty much in its infancy, Samsung has managed to already go through quite a few wearable gadgets. Some of you might remember the Gear 2. It came out back when the craze for curved displays was only beginning and is essentially a souped-up version of the original Galaxy gear, complete with camera and more number-crunching power. It was also one of the company’s first ambassadors for the Tizen OS.

One eager developer on XDA, unsatisfied with Samsung’s new OS, has managed to run Android Wear on the device. True fan dedication can go a long way, especially in a community like XDA. According to the creator of the port, it took him four months to get the device to boot into Google’s wearable platform and it is still pretty much a proof of concept.

Apple Watch found to be getting scratched easily

Ever picked up an old iPod with a stainless steel back and noticed how the back looks like it was dragged across town? Looks like Apple is using the same stainless steel on the Apple Watch because users have started noticing scratches on it within days of owning it.

Several people are reporting their stainless steel Apple Watch is picking up scratches within days or even hours of using it. The image above is by Michael Kukielka, a.k.a. The DetroitBORG on YouTube, who got scratches on his watch within 24 hours.

Microsoft releases a new ‘contacts+message backup’ app for Windows Phone 8.1 users

Microsoft has released an app that enables you to make backup of all your contacts and messages and store it in your phone’s SD card. Appropriately dubbed contacts+message backup, the app is compatible with Windows Phone 8.1 devices.

After installation, you can access the app by heading to Settings on your phone – it doesn’t appear in your regular list of installed apps. The backup it creates is stored in a folder named backup+restore.

Google Glass version 2.0 said to be coming soon, version 3.0 being planned

Just over a month after chairman Eric Schmidt made it clear that Google isn’t giving up on Google Glass, Massimo Vian, CEO of Italian eyewear manufacturer Luxottica, has said that the next iteration of the high-tech eyewear is coming out soon.

Speaking at the company’s general meeting in Milan, Italy, Vian also revealed that while the version 2.0 is currently being worked on, version 3.0 is also in the planning stages. “In Google, there are some second thoughts on how to interpret version 3 [of the eyewear],” he said. “What you saw was version 1. We’re now working on version 2, which is in preparation.”

WhatsApp for BlackBerry 10 updated with voice calling feature

Less than a week after it was rolled out to iPhone users, the WhatsApp voice calling feature has been officially made available to all BlackBerry 10 users, too. The update is currently live, and is available through BlackBerry World.

The update, which bumps the application to version 2.12.1.2, also includes several other bug fixes and improvements, including the ability to instantly search for individual messages (as well as chats and contacts), improved font scaling, and custom ringtone selection.

It’s worth mentioning that the feature first arrived on Android last month, and the company recently confirmed that efforts are underway to bring the feature to Windows Phone also.

Google made it easy to send directions to your Android phone from your desktop

You can now easily send directions from your desktop to your Android smartphone. Google added the nifty functionality to its desktop search.

Activating the feature is as easy as it gets. You simply type “send directions” in Google Search and a Google Maps box for entering start and end location will display on top of the results.

Yahoo’s Project Index to take on Siri, Google Now and Cortana

Ever since Apple introduced the personal digital assistant Siri, almost every software company is working on their own version to compete with it. Google armed its Android platform with Google Now and Microsoft is actively working on Cortana for Windows platform.

Now Yahoo has decided to throw its hat into the ring with its own virtual assistant project dubbed Index. Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s CEO, shared the details stating about Yahoo’s intention to join the war between the personal digital assistants for mobiles.

Twitter introduces Highlights, a twice-daily summary of what’s most relevant to you

Twitter has introduced a new feature which the company claims allows you to catch up with the stuff that is most relevant to you. Dubbed Highlights, the feature offers a twice-daily digest of the best Tweets, which are delivered to you via push notification.

“While your home timeline is a great place to browse through and engage with Tweets, we know it can be challenging to find the time to get through everything,” the microblogging company said in a blog post.

New rumor states that the Galaxy Tab S2 will be Samsung’s thinnest tablet to date

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 has been popping up in the rumor mill quite frequently during the past few months. This is only natural, as the continuation of the company’s famous Galaxy Tab S line was bound to see the light of day sooner or later.

This being said, we do have some idea of what to expect from the upcoming device and one of the most prevailing rumors has been that the tablet will be thinner than an iPad Air 2. A new rumor, courtesy of OnLeaks might just prove that the Galaxy Tab S2 is exceptionally thin.

Over 800 million people in nine countries benefiting from Internet.org, says Zuckerberg

Facebook’s Internet.org initiative, which aims to bring affordable Internet to the 5 billion people in the world who otherwise can’t access it, has already benefited 800 million people in nine countries, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

“We’ve now made free basic Internet services available to more than 800 million people in nine countries, including just in this quarter, launching in India, Colombia, Ghana, Guatemala, and the Philippines,” Zuckerberg revealed during the company’s Q1 earnings call, adding that over 7 million people, who weren’t connected to the Internet before, now get online using Internet.org. “And this year, we expect to connect even more people,” he said.

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Nikon Coolpix S2800 20.1 MP Point and Shoot Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom (Silver)

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LG Watch Urbane will arrive in the Google Store next week

LG will start selling the Watch Urbane this week in South Korea and will make it available in 13 different countries through the Google Store. Those 13 markets include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain, UK and the United States.

Google announced that LG Watch Urbane will be the first Android Wear smartwatch to ship with the latest version of the OS. The Watch Urbane features a circular P-OLED display with 320×320 pixels, Snapdragon 400 SoC, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and 410 mAh battery.

LG will announce pricing of the Watch Urbane locally when it becomes available.

Facebook launches Hello, a new dialer and contacts app for Android

Facebook Home may not have been a success at all, but the social network isn’t ready to give up on the idea of replacing built-in functionality on Android with its own apps. Case in point – today Facebook has launched a new app called Hello. This is basically an alternative dialer app for Android, and it’s already up for grabs in the Google Play Store (though it seems to be geo-restricted, so you may not be able to download it depending on where you are).

Hello combines a dialer with an interface for viewing contacts, along with easy call blocking and seamless search for people and places. The search part feels especially well tailored for queries relating to businesses. You just need to type a few letters of the name, and if that business has a Facebook page you’ll then be able to call it with one tap (if it has a phone number listed on Facebook itself, of course).

Microsoft adds video streaming support in OneDrive for Android

Microsoft appears to be more active in keeping its official apps updated on the Android platform than iOS. The company’s cloud computing service driving OneDrive app for Android has just got a nifty update.

The new update enables Video Streaming in the OneDrive app and one does not have to leave the app to open another one to watch the videos.

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Micromax Canvas Spark Q380 Specifications

NETWORK Technology
GSM / HSPA
LAUNCH Announced 2015, April
Status Coming soon. Exp. release 2015, April
BODY Dimensions 8.5 mm thickness
Weight 134 g (4.73 oz)
SIM Dual SIM (Micro-SIM, dual stand-by)
DISPLAY Type IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 4.7 inches
Resolution 540 x 960 pixels (~234 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 3
PLATFORM OS Android OS, v5.0 (Lollipop)
Chipset Mediatek MT6582M
CPU Quad-core 1.3 GHz
GPU Mali-400