Google has issued an update for its Hangouts app on iOS. The latest version of the popular messaging service allows you to place free voice calls as long as you live in the US and Canada.

The app uses your Google Voice number for both outgoing and incoming calls. Calls outside the two countries work too, albeit for a fee. Read more »

ASUS announced its latest convertible tablet at this year’s IFA in Berlin and it’s called the Transformer Pad TF701T. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that ASUS has dropped the Infinity moniker and has chosen a simpler naming scheme for its premium tablet.

Just like its predecessor, the Transformer Pad rocks a 10.1″ IPS display. Unlike it, however, it’s an IGZO panel, which promises richer, more accurate colors and improved brightness. It’s also featuring a higher, 2560 x 1600 pixel, resolution which results in a pixel density of 300ppi. Read more »

Apple is set to unveil the iPad 5 and iPad mini 2 tablets next Tuesday and both are set to feature Apple’s TouchID sensor. According to analyst Amit Daryanani over at RBC Capital Markets, the iPad mini 2 is going to be the much better seller of the two, beating its bigger brother 2:1.

More precisely, he expects the second-generation iPad mini to take 65 percent slice of all Apple tablet sales leaving 35 percent to the 9.7″ iPad 5. The more portable iPad is rumored to pack a high resolution Retina display and thus be called the Retina iPad mini. Read more »

Google has released a new image teasing the upcoming launch of Android 4.4 KitKat. Accompanied by the text “Everybody dance now!, the image hints that we should expect Google to spill out all the beans of the latest Android release any day now.

As it’s been the case with every major Android update so far, Google will bring a new Nexus device to go with 4.4 KitKat. The search giant is all but guaranteed to launch the Nexus 5 at its event later this month. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy Round has been unboxed in front of the camera to reveal what it has to offer in terms of accessories. In the case of the South Korean version of the phone it turns out that’s quite a lot.

As Italian tech site WebTrek reveals, Samsung has packed the Galaxy Round with two batteries, wireless battery charging pad, as well as the usual headphones with replacement tips, a USB 3.0 cable and a charger. Read more »

Earlier this month it was discovered that the TouchID fingerprint home button of the iPhone 5s fits perfectly into the leaked front cases of the yet unofficial iPad 5. Now, thanks to a leaked photo, the TouchID sensor on the iPad 5 is everything but confirmed.

Naturally, the fingerprint sensor will work the same way as it does on the iPhone 5s, but hopefully Apple has worked out more and better ways for the TouchID feature to be encompassed into the OS. Read more »

Microsoft announced the Windows Phone 8 GDR3 update yesterday and many got excited over the news for the addition of a third column of Live Tiles on the Start screen. As it turns out, however, the third column will only be available for Windows Phone devices packing a display of full HD resolution.

As a result, all current WP8 smartphones, including the Lumia 1020 flagship, will be limited to a two-column Start menu only. Devices with lower resolution also follow suit. Read more »

Samsung is proud of choosing the AMOLED technology for the screens of it flagship devices. So much so that the company has made an app dubbed OLED World which has a sole purpose to showcase the superiority of OLED displays.

It does this by displaying beautiful photos taken by renowned photofraphers such as Ashley Vincent, Hougaard Malan, Kwon O Chul and Satoshi Kuribayashi. Read more »

Now that the HTC One Max is finally official, the company has outed a quick first look of the device highlighting its key features.

Naturally, the video also showcases the phablet from quite a few angles giving you a better idea of what it looks like. Read more »

Oppo is seeking ten creative individuals to participate in its latest N1 Pioneer program. The initiative allows you to purchase the Oppo N1 for just $99 as long as you are willing to share your photos and experiences with Oppo fans around the world.

Set to start from today, the Oppo Pioneer program will remain open for two weeks. Read more »

The Google Search mobile app is a powerful tool and now the company has made it even better by adding a tip calculator to its laundry list of features.

The tip calculator can be initiated by either a voice command or typing for example “What’s the tip for X dollars” and a special interface will pop up prompting you to fill in the details of the order. In order for Google to return you the exact tip amount, you’ll have to input the total bill, adjust the tip percentage and split the check among the people you’re out with. Read more »

Sony launched the Xperia Z1 Mini (Z1 f) exclusively on the NTT DoCoMo network in Japan yesterday and its Snapdragon 800 chipset with quad-core Krait 400 CPU makes us feel all fizzy inside.

With such specs, the Z1 Mini seems to be a result of our quest for a high-end compact Android smartphone, which we started a while ago. It seems Sony has listened and we’re now going to see just how fast the Xperia Z1 Mini really is thanks to some benchmark results that have surfaced today.

The benchmark test in question is AnTuTu and the result it shows are quite intriguing. Read more »

Mozilla has just announced the release of the Firefox OS 1.1. The latest version of the open source OS brings a lot of new features and improvements that were missing on the initial release.

The most notable new feature is the new adaptive app search. It’s placed prominently at the front and center of the Firefox OS 1.1 and returns a list of web apps and sites based on the search query. Read more »

Skype has launched an update for its Android app today bringing it to version 4.4. The main thing the company has reworked is the tablet interface, which now focuses on conversations.

The user interface made specially for tablets now displays the user’s most recent calls and chats. However, looks aren’t the only thing that has been improved, as the latest version of Skype also boasts significant performance boost. Read more »

Nokia is holding a competition offering you a chance to win a trip to Puerto Rico with National Geographic photographer Stephen Alvarez while throwing in a free Lumia 1020. In order to boost the quality of the entries, the Finns have decided to throw in a quick blog post listing five tips for taking awesome landscape photos.

The first advice Nokia gives is to carefully plan the photo you’re going to take. Keep in mind the weather conditions, know the best vantage points, get extra batteries and also get the right clothing.

Nokia also advises to be aware of the perfect times to shoot the particular place you’ve chosen. The latter is also closely related to the second advice – wait for the “Golden hour.” Read more »