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LG mocks Samsung’s Galaxy S6 edge ‘bendgate’

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Samsung may have put out an official rebuttal video for the Galaxy S6 edge ‘bendgate’ problem earlier today, but LG still found it fitting to mock its Korean competitor. A few hours ago, LG’s arm in Jordan tweeted the picture you can see below, accompanied by the following text: “Some curves just make sense. #bendgate”.

So it’s pretty clear that the Galaxy S6 edge is the target of this attack, based on the bend test report published by Square Trade last week. Read more »

Vine for Windows Phone gets updated with new features

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Vine’s official app for Windows Phone 8.1 has received a pretty big update today, which brings it a few new features. First off, you can now import videos from your camera, just by tapping the new icon in the bottom left corner.

You are also able to edit your Vine, rearranging clips or getting rid of those you don’t need. Drafts can be saved too, so later you may pick up from where you left off. Read more »

Microsoft launches Office Lens for iPhone along with preview version for Android

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Today Microsoft has brought its pretty successful Office Lens app from Windows Phone to iOS and Android. Office Lens was initially introduced for the company’s own mobile platform more than a year ago, and Microsoft says it’s now one of the most popular free apps for Windows Phone.

The concept behind it is simple. Office Lens allows you to capture a lot of different things with your smartphone’s camera, then automatically crops and enhances the images and saves them to OneNote or OneDrive. And thanks to optical character recognition, the text inside your captures becomes searchable. The app can even convert images of paper documents into Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, or PDFs for easy editing. Read more »

Skype for Android and iOS gets updated, Skype Qik too

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Today Skype has announced updates for both its main app as well as Skype Qik. Skype itself has been renewed for both Android and iOS, but the former platform gets more new features.

For example, Skype 5.3 for Android gives you a new bubble-style chat layout, similar to the one already employed in the iOS and desktop apps. It also receives support for emoji, so you can express yourself better. Read more »

Google News & Weather for Android gets breaking news notifications and recommendations

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Today Google has launched the latest update to the oft-forgotten News & Weather app for Android. This started life as little more than a widget built into Android, but then got released in the Play Store last year. Since that point, it’s received quite a few big updates, this latest one probably among the biggest yet.

This app is slowly but surely growing up into an interesting source for news, though Google has another app for that purpose – Play Newsstand. Read more »

Moto X is $140 cheaper for one day only

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It might be April Fools’ Day today, but this is no joke. Motorola has decided to run another price-cutting promo for the Moto X on this occasion, and you’re now able to save $140 if you purchase the device.

It normally starts at $499.99, but if you order one now it will start at $359.99. Obviously we’re talking about buying the Moto X off-contract, as the promo sadly isn’t valid if you get it with a long-term carrier agreement. Read more »

Alcatel OneTouch Watch goes up for pre-order, yours for $149.99

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Today Alcatel has officially started US pre-orders for its first smartwatch, the aptly named OneTouch Watch. The wearable was announced earlier this year, and it’s very affordably priced at $149.99.

That’s a far cry from the Apple Watch, for example, but don’t forget that this doesn’t run Android Wear, Google’s platform for smartwatches. Instead, Alcatel chose to develop its own solution, one that is thankfully compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones. Read more »

Microsoft intros Surface 3 tablet starting at $499, running ‘full’ Windows 8.1

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The Surface Pro 3 has been out for a while now, but it’s quite expensive for the mass-market. So Microsoft decided to unveil the Surface 3 tablet today (sans the “Pro”). This is basically the successor to the Windows RT-powered original Surface and Surface 2, but it no longer runs that little-used iteration of the OS – and it no longer sports an ARM processor.

This time, Microsoft is pairing an Intel Atom x7 with ‘full’ Windows 8.1 (upgradeable for free to Windows 10 when that launches), so the Surface 3 will run any Windows app you throw at it – including the full version of Office, of course. That rectifies what were probably the biggest downsides to the RT-powered Surface tablets of the past. Read more »

Your Google+ photos now show up in Google Drive

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While not relaunched as a separate service (or at least not yet), as has been rumored for a long time now, Google+ Photos has received some neat integration with Google Drive today. In short, your Google+ Photos will now show up in a dedicated place in Google Drive.

A new menu for Photos should show up in Google Drive on iOS, Android, and the Web, as seen in the image above. Read more »

Gmail for Android update enables unified “All inboxes” view, smarter search

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Today Google has announced a new update for its Gmail app for Android. This is supposedly already rolling out, so watch out for the new version (but keep in mind it might be a few days before it reaches you). The new Gmail for Android comes with a few new features, the most important of which is the addition of an “All inboxes” view.

As its moniker implies, this will show you all the email from all your accounts, in a unified view. This will clearly benefit those who have and routinely use multiple email accounts in the Gmail app. Just to clarify, the app did have multiple account support before today, but it did not boast the unified inbox view. Read more »

Windows Phone already has an unofficial Periscope app

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Just yesterday Twitter launched its entrant into the rapidly growing live video streaming app space. It’s called Periscope, and for now it’s only available for iOS. Twitter did promise an Android version, but remained absolutely mum when it comes to Windows Phone.

Not to worry, though, for there is already an unofficial alternative for Microsoft’s mobile platform. Telescope for Periscope has been created by a developer who was eager to use Twitter’s new service on Windows Phone. Read more »

HTC’s first TV ad for the One M9 in the UK reveals that you only have one life

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Now that the One M9 is up for order in the US, HTC decided it would be fit for it to start its marketing campaign for the handset in the UK. Hence, the Taiwanese smartphone maker has released its first TV ad for the One M9 in the UK.

You can see it in its entirety after the break, but let’s just say it focuses on a pretty easy play on the phone’s name. You only have “One” life, get it? Read more »

Vine ups video quality to 720p HD

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Better late than never, as they say – Twitter’s Vine has finally entered the HD age. The service, which lets you create six-second videos that run in a loop, has just announced plans to upgrade the quality of its recordings. Believe it or not, Vine videos have so far been 480p.

Not anymore, though. Expect to see 720p HD videos on Vine (both through the service’s mobile apps for iOS and Android, as well as embeds on websites) “over the coming days”. Above you can see an image that should apparently give you an idea about the quality differences, since it shows the same Vine in 480p on the left and 720p on the right. Read more »

Pebble Time crosses $20 million raised with just a few hours left

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Pebble’s Kickstarter campaign for its Time smartwatch with color e-paper screen quickly became the most funded in history at the beginning of this month. And now, the company has already crossed the $20 million mark of raised funds, with just a few hours to go.

At the time of writing, exactly $20,235,088 has been pledged for the Pebble Time by more than 78,000 eager backers on the crowdfunding site. This comes after the $14 million mark was reached in only one week. Read more »

Twitter launches Periscope live video streaming app for iOS

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Today Twitter has officially outed its competitor for media darling Meerkat, a live video streaming app that’s gotten a lot of coverage recently. Twitter’s version of this is called Periscope, and is now available for iOS. An Android app is reportedly in the works, but no launch timeline has been given.

Like Meerkat, Periscope is a live video streaming app that’s easy to use. When you start broadcasting, your followers will immediately be notified, and they can comment and send you ‘hearts’ in real-time (these seem to be Periscope’s version of Facebook’s Likes). Read more »