If you were wondering how well the Android Wear platform was doing in terms of sales, well, wonder no more. Well known analyst house Canalys has the answer. In 2014, 720,000 smartwatches running Google’s wearable platform were sold.

That’s not much. A grand total of 4.6 million “smart wearable bands” were shipped last year, according to the same source. Read more »

We’ve been hit by a ton of leaks about HTC’s next flagship smartphone lately, but so far official-looking press renders have not surfaced. Fret not, though, for that doesn’t mean we have nothing to look at. On the contrary. Thankfully someone decided to take all the recent leaks and rumors about the One (M9) and use that information to create some very nice looking renders of what could end up being the successor to the One (M8) from last year.

These aren’t official, nor are they leaked. They’re just exploring what the phone might look like, based on what we’ve heard about it so far (and what we’ve seen). Read more »

The Flipboard app is pretty popular on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone, and now the magazine-like news reading experience has finally received a Web version too. Flipboard for the desktop is here now, already accessible at Flipboard.com.

So far Flipboard has prefered to remain a mobile-only offering, but the time was apparently right for it to move to the Web too. This has to do with the Web itself having evolved recently, a consequence of that being that now Flipboard is confident that it can offer its “print-like aesthetic” in this space too. Read more »

If you’d like more online storage, but don’t want to pay for it, this will surely suit you well. Microsoft is currently offering 100GB of OneDrive storage space for free for two years. All you need to do is sign up for Bing Rewards – which is also free. The one catch? This is US-only.

Here’s how it works. If you have Microsoft account, you log in and then head to the Bing Rewards Dashboard. If you haven’t signed up for Bing Rewards before, you’ll see a “Join Now” link. Click that, then choose “Try it now for free”. After you see the “Welcome to Bing Rewards” page, go to “Earn and explore”, then click on “Free storage”, and finally choose “Get my storage”. That’s it. Read more »

Mere hours ago Sony took the wraps off the new Xperia E4, and now the company is giving you the chance to win one. All you have to do is participate in Sony’s special competition, which is taking place on its Facebook page.

You have to answer a maximum of seven questions. The first one is up now, and for each answer you get one ticket for the draw. To win you’ll need to have answered at least one question correctly. Sharing the contest with friends also looks set to bring you some additional chances to win. Read more »

According to a new rumor on the matter, Microsoft is targeting June as the month during which Windows 10 will be “released to manufacturing” (RTM). Once it hits RTM, the OS will be finalized, with no additions coming in after that point. The RTM process refers to Microsoft giving the finalized OS bits to its partners – some of which build computers running the software, and others who actually write those Windows DVDs people still apparently buy.

Obviously this is a rumor and nothing more at this point. So it could turn out to be just a figment of someone’s imagination. Even if this info is accurate now, timelines are known to slip when it comes to software, keep that in mind. It would make sense for Microsoft to do things this way, though, as an RTM in June would ensure we’ll see actual devices running Windows 10 being offered for sale in time for the “back to school” season. Read more »

LG has teamed up with Google to offer future buyers of the G3 a free VR headset. This is based on Google’s Cardboard contraption unveiled last year at the search giant’s developer conference. However, LG has tweaked things a bit.

First off, this iteration seems to be made out of plastic, and not actual cardboard. Next up, it features cutouts for the G3′s rear-facing power and volume buttons, as well as its 1W speaker. Read more »

After having introduced us to a few new smartphone lines (A, E, and J so far), Samsung is apparently looking to use some new brands for its upcoming tablets too. According to a new rumor, we’ll soon see the Galaxy Tab A and Galaxy Tab A Plus lines on the market.

Though if you were expecting some high-end beasts, we’re sorry to disappoint. These will allegedly be nothing more than midrange offerings, perhaps meant to succeed the Galaxy Tab 4 line (of which the 10.1-inch tablet is pictured above). That said, the new devices will boast some intriguing features nevertheless. Read more »

Swatch is officially getting ready to jump into the smartwatch game. According to Nick Hayek, the Swiss company’s CEO, Swatch will release its first smartwatch within the next three months. This will probably ensure that its offering will compete head-on with the Apple Watch, at least for headlines if nothing else – since they’re both due to be out at around the same time.

Swatch is looking to one-up Apple by creating a smartwatch that does not need to be charged. This intriguing prospect has unfortunately not been detailed further, but we assume the device may feature a battery that you simply swap out after a period of use – just like normal watches. Read more »

The Paper app for iPad, made by the folks at FiftyThree, has today gone 100% free. Previously, you were able to install the app without paying, but you had to shell out $0.99 for each of the following tools: Draw, Sketch, Outline, Write, Color, and Mixer.

From today on these become free, which essentially means you can use the whole app for free. The decision to stop charging for the tools in the app probably means FiftyThree now expects to make enough money to stay afloat simply from sales of its Pencil stylus. Read more »

It’s not surprising that Google’s Chromecast HDMI streaming stick has been quite successful. After all it’s cheap and relatively easy to use, and it can instantly make your TV smarter than it was. Today though we get the first glimpse of just how successful the Chromecast was, at least during last year.

That’s because for the first time ever Google has shared some sales numbers with the media. According to a report out of South Korea, the search giant’s arm in that country has revealed that 10 million Chromecasts were sold globally in 2014. Read more »

On March 1 Samsung is set to unveil its next flagship smartphone, which it will probably call the Galaxy S6. This is obviously one of the most hotly anticipated devices of the year, and because of that we’ve heard a lot of rumors about it recently. Some of them have even brought us pictures of such things as the phone’s metal frame. And now someone has decided to use all the information in the most recent rumors and leaks to create a few renders of what the Galaxy S6 might end up looking like.

So do keep in mind that these aren’t leaked images actually depicting the handset. Instead, they are renders that were created to give us an idea about its design, assuming of course that the rumors would pan out. Read more »

Here’s something that bloatware haters are going to, well, hate. OnePlus has just announced that the next over-the-air update for its One smartphone will come with the SwiftKey keyboard preinstalled. This means that people who would like to try that app but for some reason haven’t yet downloaded it from the Play Store will now get to do just that.

On the other hand, if you don’t like SwiftKey, you’ll now have to live with it on your OnePlus One, since there probably won’t be an easy way to uninstall it. At least it won’t be selected as the default input method – those who want to try it will have to enable it from the dedicated Settings menu first. Read more »

Xiaomi is going after the iPhone 6 Plus with its Mi Note and Mi Note Pro phablets, that’s clear. The Chinese company obviously thinks its offerings are superior to Apple’s, and it’s now put out a new video meant to drive that point home.

In it, we can see Xiaomi President and co-founder Bin Lin musing about how his company has a patented new solution which ensures there are no protruding cameras on its phones’ backs. Read more »

The latest Nokia product for Windows Phone to lose the Nokia branding is the app formerly known as Nokia Conference. From now on, it will live on as Join Conference. The name change has been made official through its latest update, which is now up for grabs in the Windows Phone app store.

The new name isn’t the only change, however. Join Conference has received support for Cortana, which means you can now simply say “join conference” and Cortana will do its magic for you. Read more »