Google has updated its Google app for Android with support for 40 new third-party apps, including Airbnb, Urbanspoon, eBay, Waze, Instacart, Pandora, and The Guardian. This means that you’ll now see lots of new Google Now cards, giving you information that’s helpful to you, right when you need it.

“In the morning, catch up on news of the day with cards from The Guardian. On your commute, Pandora can give you recommendations for music to play, based on what you like, or you can be reminded to complete your daily French lesson on Duolingo,” the search giant said in a blog post. Read more »

AT&T has launched a new limited-time offer that will net you a $100 bill credit on every purchase of a Samsung Galaxy Alpha. However, as with any offer, there are some caveats: the offer is limited only to online orders, and you need to purchase the device through the carrier’s Next program.

For those who aren’t aware, the AT&T Next program allows you to purchase a device with no down payment and then pay for it in monthly installments ranging from $15 to $50 per month depending on the device. Read more »

Tech21 Evo Mesh case is part of the company’s extensive iPhone 6 lineup. The protective cover is made for users who like to keep their smartphone intact without breaking the bank for an all-out rugged solution.

Based in London, Tech21 creates mobile accessories with a science-first approach. The company has been in the business since 2005 and is the first to use shock-absorbing polymers in its products. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy A3 passed our review gauntlet with ease and now its time to take a closer look at the phone’s battery life performance. This is one of the thinnest Android smartphones the company has ever made, so the battery isn’t really huge – 1,900mAh.

However, the phone doesn’t sport battery hungry specifications either. We have a 4.5″ Super AMOLED qHD display and a Snapdragon 410 chipset with a quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU. It all sounds like a classic recipe for a solid battery life, so let’s dig right in and see if this is the case. Read more »

The LEGO Movie Video Game is a video game based on the LEGO Movie (shocking, I know). It’s essentially a top-down isometric action-adventure game based on the story and characters of last year’s successful LEGO Movie.

A version of this game was released on the PC and consoles but is different from the iOS version, which has been made from the ground up for the mobile platform. The gameplay is somewhat similar but it is mostly just cutscenes from the movie interspaced with several short levels featuring the movie’s characters. Read more »

Xiaomi Redmi 2 stopped by recently and we did what as we always do – a thorough hardware and software inspection for our traditional in-depth review. The Redmi 2, unlike its Redmi 1S predecessor, is a dual-SIM device with LTE connectivity, courtesy of the Snapdragon 410 chip inside the newcomer.

The Redmi 2 battery has 10% higher capacity, while the display and overall performance have been kept the same. We are eager to check how the new hardware and MIUI v.6 are doing with the 2,200 mAh battery unit. Read more »

In the last week of January we saw the introduction of a wave of new phones from major players in the industry. Motorola, ZTE, HTC, Asus, Samsung and Meizu outed smartphones to compete in the mid-range and upper mid-range segments.

So now, it’s only logical to ask you which one got your interest most. Motorola outed the Moto G 4G (2015) on Friday, but throughout the week we welcomed the ZTE Blade 6, HTC Desire 526G+, Asus Zenfone C, Samsung Galaxy J1 and Meizu m1 to our database. Read more »

Windows 10, the embodiment of the One Windows concept Microsoft is keen to pursue, appears to be uniting users as well. Our weekly poll results are in, and paint a picture of future success for the Redmond giant.

The all-important new OS carries a lot of weight on its shoulders and needs to succeed if Microsoft is to stand a chance at more than marginal presence in the smartphone world. The dominant position in the desktop market seems stable but shouldn’t be taken for granted. Read more »

The Liberate XLBT are House of Marley’s first wireless headphones. The headset is the bigger brother of the Liberate on-ear model I reviewed recently.

Wireless headphones are becoming increasingly popular, so it is hardly a surprise that House of Marley wants a piece of the action. Hit past the break to find out if the Liberate XLBT headphones are worth your attention and money! Read more »

Most major manufacturers recently rolled out the Android 5.0 Lollipop update to their respective flagships and we were more then eager to test how their performance has changed now that Lollipop is here. The speed comparison will be done on our usual battery of synthetic benchmarks.

So, does Lollipop improve performance or make it worse? Read on to find out. Read more »

WhatsApp’s much requested calling feature has been rumored for a while now but the company has finally flipped the switch on it. One reddit user was able to get the feature activated on his number and it is now rolling out to others as well.

For now it seems WhatsApp is going slow with the rollout, with the only people who have the feature being those who were called by someone who already has the feature. So although it helps to have the latest version of the app installed on your device (for Android users, it’s usually the APK available through the website), you’ll still have to wait for it to roll out to you or someone with the feature to call you. Read more »

The Nexus family is treated like Android royalty and is among the very first devices to get updated to a new software version. That’s great, except the Nexus 7 tablets with mobile data did not get the princely treatment they deserve and their update was delayed.

This affected both the original Nexus 7 and the Nexus 7 (2013). No more though, Google released the factory images for Android 5.0.2 Lollipop for both devices. Read more »

YotaPhone 2 is an innovative smartphone with two displays – a regular 5″ AMOLED screen at the front and a 4.7″ electronic-paper display over at the back. It uses a Snapdragon 801 chip and offers a quite capable 8MP snapper.

We’ve already met the YotaPhone 2 and we confirmed it is indeed a very interesting and unique flagship phone, which can be used and operated in lots of different ways. Saving battery has never been so easy thanks to the rear display and the dedicated monochrome widgets and apps. You can mirror the entire Android OS at the back, but this reduces the e-paper display lifespan and doesn’t saves that much energy. Read more »

Xiaomi Redmi 2 has paid us a visit recently and we took it for a long spin. The Redmi 1S successor has lost some weight and body mass, it brings a 64-bit processor to the table and its dual-SIM capabilities don’t come at the expense of LTE connectivity.

Xiaomi Redmi 2 has the same 4.7″ 720p display as its 1S sibling, but runs on the Snapdragon 410 chipset with a quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A53 processor and Adreno 306 GPU. There is a flavor with 1GB of RAM and 8 gigs of storage, as well as a model with 2GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage. You can pick what suits you best. Read more »

An update to Google Now brought deep integration with third-party apps to the already mighty personal assistant. Initially, there will be 40 apps available as as a source of Google Now cards.

Those 40 new apps include popular titles such as The Guardian, Pandora, Lyft, Shazam, The Economist, and Ebay among others. Read more »