YouTube Red ad-free subscription service is now live in US

As promised, Google has launched the YouTube Red ad-free subscription service in the United States. Although it's priced at $9.99 a month, it comes with a one-month free trial so you can get a taste of it before you start paying for it. For those who aren't aware, the new service - aside from being ad-free - also lets you save videos on your mobile for viewing offline, as well as supports background playback. Google has also promised that YouTube Red will soon feature new original shows and movies made by "some of YouTube's biggest creators." Also what's worth mentioning is that the service comes bundled with Google Play Music - conversely, those already subscribed to Play Music will also get access to YouTube Red for no additional...

Xbox One Kinect bundle and Kinect for Xbox One receive price cuts

Microsoft has announced a limited-period price cut for both Xbox One Kinect bundle and standalone Kinect for Xbox One units. While the price of the former has been dropped by $100, the latter has received a $50 price cut. The Xbox One with Kinect bundle - which includes 500GB Xbox One console, Kinect sensor, Xbox One wireless controller, as well as full game downloads of Dance Central Spotlight, Kinect Sports Rivals, and Zoo Tycoon full - is now available in the US, Canada, and Mexico for $399, CAD 449, and MXN 7,999, respectively. On the other hand, Standalone Kinect for Xbox One units are now selling in these countries for $99, CAD 109, and MXN 1,999, respectively. There is, however, no information on how long the promotion will last, so those interested should act...

Alleged Samsung Galaxy A5 successor passes Bluetooth SIG certification

Over a week after its showed up on Zauba, a website which tracks India's import and export, the Samsung device - which is alleged to be the successor to last year's Galaxy A5 smartphone - has received Bluetooth certification from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). Keep in mind that the reason the new handset is being said to be the sequel to the Galaxy A5 is its model number, which is SM-510F - the A5, in comparison, carries a model number of SM-A500. From what is known till now, the SM-510F will sport a a 5.2-inch display, compared to the 5-inch screen the A5 features. And the certification now reveals that the device will support Bluetooth version...

Huawei is working on Marshmallow beta for Honor 7, out in a few weeks

Huawei recently unveiled the list of its devices that are going to be upgraded to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. At the time, the Chinese company said the first rollouts could happen in November, and now it's reiterated just that - but with a twist. The first Huawei device to get a taste of Marshmallow is apparently going to be the Honor 7. That's because, according to Huawei marketing exec Xi Zhao, a beta release of the Marshmallow update for the Honor 7 will be out soon. In a matter of weeks, actually. Perhaps around four weeks, as it turns out. So by the end of November if you own an Honor 7 you might be able to test the latest version of Android on it. Of course this being a beta, it could come with bugs and whatnot, but at least Huawei is trying to be faster than it used to be when it comes to software updates. However, we don't know whether such beta releases are planned for other Huawei smartphones. Nor do we know when a final build of Android 6.0 will reach the Honor 7, though we wouldn't bet on it coming this...

Samsung Exynos 8890 for Galaxy S7 to hit mass production in December

According to new reports out of its home country of South Korea, Samsung is set to start mass producing the Exynos 8890 chipset for the Galaxy S7 at some point in December. This SoC, also known by its codenames M1 or Mongoose, is going to be the first Samsung-made one to feature custom CPU cores. The Korean company will not be using ARM designs anymore, like it has so far for every single one of its past Exynos chips. Going with custom cores is significant because at the moment only Intel, Apple, Qualcomm, AMD, and ARM have their own CPU designs in the semiconductor market. So Samsung's going to be in good company in this regard. And apparently this will allow it to reduce costs, better optimize the chips for its smartphones, as well as gain a competitive edge in the market. The Galaxy S7 could in fact have three different chipset variations inside, each model being sold in certain markets only. One of those will be the Exynos 8890, while another is set to be Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 820. Source 1 (in Korean) • Source 2 | Via 1 • Via...

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ Ant-Man limited edition launches in China

A few months ago Samsung launched the Galaxy S6 edge Iron Man limited edition in partnership with Marvel, and it was pretty exciting for fans of that particular superhero. The Iron Man edition had a special look, with red front and back and a gold metal frame. There was also a bundled wireless charger that was arc reactor-themed, as well as a custom theme on the phone and an Avengers box. Most of those things are not to be found on the new Galaxy S6 edge+ Ant-Man limited edition that launched in China today. In fact, the only things that are different here than with the vanilla S6 edge+ are the box, a protective case that is bundled with the phone, and possibly a custom Ant-Man theme on the handset. The case is a nice touch, but going with a custom color scheme for the phone itself, like with the Iron Man edition of the smaller S6 edge, would have been welcome (not to mention a custom designed wireless charger). The box and the case both have the Ant-Man vibe, of course. If you're in China and are interested in this limited edition phone, know you'll need to pay CNY 5,888 to get one, which is around $925 or €848 at the current exchange rates. Not cheap, then. Source (in Chinese) |...

Google Play Games update enables gameplay recording

Not long ago Google announced the availability of Android gameplay recording through its YouTube Gaming app, and starting today you have another way to do that. See, the latest version of the Google Play Games app lets you easily record gameplay too. You simply open it, select any game you want to play, and then tap the record button. The resolution choices for capturing your gameplay are 720p and 480p. You also have the option of adding video of yourself playing and commenting, via the front-facing camera and microphone. After you're done, it's possible to edit the video, then upload it to YouTube. Gameplay recording will be out in the US and UK first, over the coming days. More countries will get the new feature "soon after", according to Google. Source |...

Huawei schedules November 5 event for Kirin 950 chipset announcement

Huawei's next top of the line Kirin chipset is all set to become official on November 5, at a special event. The Chinese company is sending out invites for the gathering to media outlets in the country, and they look like the image you can see to the left. There's no doubt that this event will be all about a Kirin chipset, even if its exact model isn't mentioned in the material. Many months of rumors however have pegged this as being the Kirin 950, which we've even seen getting benchmarked back in August. Now it looks like Huawei is done tuning it, and is ready to announce the Kirin 950. The source of the event invite image says the SoC's CPU will feature Cortex-A72 cores, Cat.10 LTE connectivity, and will be made on TSMC's 16nm FinFET process. That aforementioned benchmark gave us a fuller picture. The Kirin 950 will come with an octa-core CPU. Four of those cores will indeed by Cortex-A72, ARM's newest high-performing design. These cores will be clocked at up to 2.4 GHz. The other four will be Cortex-A57 cores, while the GPU is a Mali-T880. The chipset supports LPDDR4 RAM. With such specs, it's not surprising that the Kirin 950 received higher benchmark scores than Samsung's Exynos 7420, which is inside all four of its 2015 flagships. Source (in Chinese) |...

HTC One A9 review: Rejuvenation

HTC One A9 is not just a phone, it's a corporate rejuvenation. A9 is the boost HTC needs to swim out of the murky waters and claim its piece on the market. HTC may have outed a few very capable phones this year, but it needs a game changer, a statement that the king is still alive and kicking...

Verizon to start offering HTC One A9 in December

While HTC has already confirmed that its latest flagship smartphone One A9 will be compatible with Verizon's network, there has been no information on when the carrier would start offering the device. However, that was until now, as HTC has revealed that users will be able to order the handset from Big Red in the month of December. The revelation came in the form of a mention on the Taiwanese company's US website. The One A9 is now up for preorder in the US, where most carriers, including AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Cricket, and MetroPCS are offering it. The device is currently priced at $399.99, but will be available for $499.99 beginning November...

Buy an LG V10 in the US, get a free 200GB microSD card, a second battery, and a charging cradle

Closely emulating something that it's already done for the G4 earlier this year, LG now has a new promotion running for people in the US. If you buy an LG V10 until November 15, you'll get three free items: a 200GB microSD card, a second battery, and a battery charging cradle - an approximate retail value of $319.97. To be eligible, you can purchase the V10 from a carrier such as AT&T or T-Mobile, or an authorized retailer - which basically means Amazon, Best Buy, or "carrier authorized retailers reselling operator services" according to the promo's terms and conditions. You have until November 30 to redeem your free items, after which you should allow 4-6 weeks for shipping. The LG V10 is already up for pre-order at both AT&T and...

BT's EE acquisition gets provisional nod from UK's regulatory

Back in February this year, the British telecommunications giant BT announced its plans to acquire UK's leading mobile carrier EE for $19 billion (£12.5 billion). The deal - which will create a communications giant offering services like broadband, fixed-line, mobile, and TV - has now received a provisional nod from the country's competition watchdog CMA (Competition and Markets Authority). "Having considered all the evidence, the group does not provisionally believe that, in a dynamic and evolving sector, it is more likely than not that BT/EE will be able to use its position to damage competition or the interests of consumers," said John Wotton, who chaired the CMA's inquiry into the deal. There is, however, still one hurdle that the deal needs to clear - competitors Vodafone and TalkTalk are of the view that BT should spin off its Openreach broadband infrastructure service to provide better service and promote healthy competition. CMA is expected to publish a final report in January next...

Samsung shows Gear S2 designer bands

At its IFA 2015 press event, Samsung emphasized the customization options of the Gear S2 and the plethora of designers and partners it has to pull it off. The collaborations include companies like Case-Mate, Casetify, Chow Tai Fook, Incipio, iTFit and SLG Design (also known as TheSom) and now Samsung is showing off what they have done for the Gear S2. Starting with Case-Mate, which will offer leather bands for the Gear S2 and Gear S2 classic. Then, there are the more colorful Casetify straps in five distinctive designs (Dark Marble, Woodland Camouflage, Coral Tribal, Diamond, White Marble). They're made of sweat-resistant thermoplastic polyurethane (try saying that three times fast). Case-Mate bands • Casetify straps Chow Tai Fook bands will be sold in China and Hong Kong and are quite luxurious with diamond accents and 18k gold. iTFit will offers several straps made from NATO materials, which feature woven cloth and are hypoallergenic. Finally, SLG Design and Incipio will also offer straps, some of which look quite cool for our taste. Chow Tai Fook • iTFit • SLG Design This all goes to show the lengths to which Samsung has gone to offer unmatched personalization for its Gear S2 and Gear S2 classic smartwatches. It'll be interesting to see how much these niceties will cost, but we doubt any of them will beat an Apple Watch Edition with an Hermes leather...

18.4" Samsung Galaxy View tablet goes official, weighs 2.65kg

The ginormous tablet that Samsung teased back at IFA 2015 is now official. The Samsung Galaxy View touts a large 18.4" TFT LCD display of 1080p resolution resulting in a pixel density of 123ppi. The Galaxy View comes with a handle for an easy carry, as it weighs 2.65kg and measures 275.8 x 451.8 x 11.9mm. Rubber feet at the bottom keep it from sliding about and the back features a 2-way stand. Samsung says the tablet's 5700mAh can provide up to 8 hours of continuous video playback, although it's pretty clear you won't be going away from a power socket often. You'll be further enjoying the video content with a dual 4W stereo speaker setup. Powering the Galaxy View is an 1.6GHz octa-core CPU and 2GB of RAM, part of the Samsung Exynos 7580 chipset. Internal storage is either 32GB or 64GB and is expandable via the microSD card slot on board. Above the display, there's a 2.1MP camera for video conferencing. The connectivity suite includes Bluetooth 4.1 BLE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac and an LTE model with a nano-SIM slot. The company is shipping the tablet with a Media UX skin on top of Android 5.1 Lollipop and is placing a strong accent on video watching. Samsung hasn't officially revealed pricing and availability information. However, a prematurely online listing from US store Adorama (cached) reveals the Galaxy View US price of...

HTC One M9e launches in China: One M9 with A9's camera

We should abandon our traditional timekeeping measures and just name months after HTC releases. Here's Miss October, aka HTC One M9e. Note the "e," this is different from the original One M9, the M9+, the M9+ Supreme Camera, the One E9, E9+, E9s dual SIM... That I had to type the previous sentence is all that's wrong with HTC's product strategy. And as if things weren't confusing enough, Tmall, where the M9e launched, often calls the handset just "One M9," even though it is not. What it is is a One M9 crossed over with the new A9. No, you don't get the snazzier new design (even though HTC says it will bring the A9 style to One M and Desire phones), but you do get the 13MP OIS camera. Unfortunately, this also means that you're limited to 1080p recording, no 4K. And it's not the chipset this time either, this handset uses the One M9+ chipset - the MediaTek MT6795T Helio X10. That one is perfectly capable of 2160p video, unlike the Snapdragon 617 in the One A9. You don't get 3GB RAM either, just 2GB. And 16GB of storage instead of 32GB. To recap, the HTC One M9e is an M9, but with A9's camera, a parred down M9+ processing power and video capture. There's no secondary camera on the back or laser autofocus, but you do get the UltraPixel selfie camera. The M9e launches with an older Android 5.0 Lollipop styled with HTC Sense, which will run on the 5" 1080p screen. It's a single-SIM phone with an aluminum unibody and a CNY 2,700 price tag ($425/€385). For comparison, Tmall sells the more advanced One M9+ for CNY 2,520. Having launched on Tmall isn't a great indication that it will be available in the west, by the way. Source (in Chinese) |...

Microsoft Surface Pro 4: hard to repair, SSD is easy to swap though

The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 put up quite a fight before revealing its secrets to the iFixit team. The screen was held in by glue and two cables. After those were cleared, the motherboard still wasn't accessible though. Inside is a M.2 Samsung SSD, this bodes well for upgradeability. The RAM is soldered onto the motherboard, however, so there's no hope of upgrading. Above all that is a big copper heatsink and an empty space - presumably that's where the fan goes on higher powered models (the Core i3 model doesn't have one). Overall, iFixit gave the Surface Pro 4 a measly 2 out 10 repairability score. The only positive is the swappable SSD, the rest - from the glued down screen to the glued down battery - is very hard to...

Sony in talks with Toshiba to acquire its CMOS sensor business

Sony officially announced the beginning of negotiations with Toshiba to acquire its CMOS image sensor business. Sony is aiming at Toshiba's fabrication facilities, equipment and even the 1,100 employees working on CMOS image sensor engineering and design at the company. If the deal goes through, Sony will have Toshiba's plant in Oita, Japan. This acquisition would put Sony in a position to increase its CMOS image sensors production muscles. It's exactly this area where the company anticipates further market growth. And the company's optimistic forecast isn't unfounded. Sony CMOS sensors are found in Apple, Google, Samsung, Motorola and a plethora of Chinese manufacturers' smartphones. In high-end digital cameras, Nikon also utilizes Sony sensors. For now, financial information on the future deal isn't disclosed. Sony expects negotiations to come to an end by the end of the...

Facebook's new '2G Tuesdays' initiative lets employees experience the service on slow Internet speed

While most developed countries boast of super-fast Internet speeds, majority of people in emerging markets like India and Africa are still stuck with 2G Internet. Aware of the fact that it's the latter where the future growth of the company lies, Facebook has announced an internal initiative that lets company employees experience the social networking service on slow Internet speed. Appropriately dubbed 2G Tuesdays, the initiative allows staffers to get a taste of Facebook on 2G speeds for an hour on each Tuesday of the week. The program, however, is optional. "People are coming online at a staggering rate in emerging markets and in most cases are doing so on mobile via 2G connections," a Facebook spokesperson said. "But on the lower end of 2G networks, it can take about two minutes to download a web page. We need to understand how people use Facebook in different Internet connections in all parts of the world so we can build the best experience for them." Earlier this year, Facebook also launched a slimmed down version of its social networking application. Dubbed Facebook Lite, the app weighs only...

Apple releases new Siri ads starring Jamie Foxx and Bill Hader

It's not rare to see celebrities in Apple's Siri ads. We have seen everyone from Samuel L Jackson, Zooey Deschanel, John Malkovich, and even Martin Scorsese. In the latest commercials, we see Jamie Foxx and Bill Hader in short videos using Siri, which on the new iPhones also works even if the phone isn't connected to a charger. The videos are short and to the point, as Apple commercials usually are, and also amusing, particularly the Bill Hader one. You can watch them...

Samsung Galaxy View manual details TV and family sharing skills

Samsung's behemoth 18.4" Galaxy View tablet (or perhaps "all-in-one" is more appropriate) is nearing official status. While you wait you can satisfy your curiosity by reading its user manual, discovered by GalaxyClub.nl. Scrolling through the pages we see some interesting stuff - stereo speakers, an optional SIM slot and GPS. We can't fathom why this could be useful, 18.4" doesn't exactly scream "on the go tablet." Come to think of it, it will probably never leave home Wi-Fi range so the SIM slot is not entirely necessary either. It seems that the main charger will be an old-school round DC jack, the manual explicitly says that you can't use the microUSB port. Quick Charge 2.0 can provide up to 15W, so this must be a power hungry gadget (mostly the screen we're guessing, the chipset doesn't sound like it would need more power). Multi-Window - both split-screen and pop-up views - will be available, the large screen will enable some desktop-level multitasking. And if 18.4" isn't enough, you can mirror the screen on a compatible TV. The Briefing on TV feature will launch automatically at a preset time and display weather, schedule and other info. You can go the other way too and watch TV on the Samsung Galaxy View. There's no info which regions and standards will be supported though. There's a selfie camera (no camera on the back, that would look weird). It's mostly for video calling. Family Square seems to be a family-scale social network, where you can register several phones and share phots with them (and vice versa) and set those photos as a screen saver. Here's the English language manual (PDF) if you want to leaf through it yourself. Via (in...

Motorola Droid Turbo 2's 21MP camera is among the top 5 tested by DxOMark

It's been only a few hours since the Droid Turbo 2 went official, and DxOMark has already done a full analysis of its photographic capabilities. The benchmarking website has given a general score of 84 to the device, placing it at spot number 4 on its charts, behind the Xperia Z5, Galaxy S6 edge, and Nexus 6P. According to DxoMark, for photos the handset offers accurate white balance and generally pleasant color. In good lighting conditions, noise is barely visible and the camera offers "very strong" detail preservation. On the negative side, low-light conditions result in a loss of fine details, with ghosting and other artifacts being visible sometimes. "When flash is used, strong luminance shading and chromatic noise visible in the corners," the analysis said. As for video, stabilization is good, color rendering is pleasant, and details are well preserved. On the negative side, the analysis revealed autofocus instabilities and inconsistent object tracking. Specifically in low light, the autofocus triggers slowly when there's a change in scene. In addition, strong luminance noise and chromatic noise is visible in the corners in low-light...

One-third of new iPhone buyers last quarter were Android switchers

During the company's fourth-quarter earnings call yesterday, Apple's CEO Tim Cook revealed that around 30% of the new iPhone buyers in the quarter were those who switched from handsets running Google's Android operating system. Cook further said that this is a new switching record ever since the company began tracking this information around three years ago. "It's a huge number and we're very proud of it," he said. It was also revealed that only a third of existing iPhone users have upgraded to the newest iPhones till now. It's worth mentioning that Apple has been aggressively courting users of Android-powered devices - last year, the Cupertino-based company launched a dedicated website for them, and the ‘Move to iOS' app introduced in iOS 9 is also aimed at helping Android users switch to...

Some Nexus 6P shipments in US are getting delayed; Google offering $25 cash refund

While some pre-orders for the Huawei-made Nexus 6P smartphone have already started shipping in the US, looks like a number of hopefuls won't be getting the handset until November second week. Many of those who pre-ordered the device are now receiving an email from Google revealing that they won't be getting their Nexus 6Ps until November 7-14. "We're working hard to meet the strong demand we're seeing for the color and memory size you ordered," the company said in the email. To compensate the inconvenience caused by the delay, the Mountain View, California-based company is offering a $25 refund to the affected users, which it says will be processed as soon as their order ships. It's worth mentioning that the device's Canadian launch has also been delayed due to supply...

Apple Pay coming to Canada and Australia by this year's end

Apple's mobile payments service Pay will be rolled out in Canada and Australia by the end of the ongoing year, and will be expanded to countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Spain early next year. This was revealed by CEO Tim Cook during the Cupertino-based company's fourth-quarter earnings call yesterday, saying that Apple wants to expand the service to more "key global markets." It's worth mentioning that the service will initially only be available to the owners of American Express cards. Apple Pay is currently only available in the company's home country of US and the UK, where it was launched back in October and this July, respectively. There is, however, no official confirmation on how many users are currently using the mobile payments service. Source |...

First OTA update for Sony's concept Marshmallow build is now rolling out

Last week Sony started rolling out its concept Marshmallow build to Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact users who had registered for the beta test, and now the build is receiving its first over-the-air (OTA) update. Carrying a build number of MRA58K.Z1.2085, the update brings several new features, including Tap to wake, support for MIDI via USB as well as more bitrates for flac audio content, and an updated keyboard. The update is rolling out slowly, so it might take some time before its hits your device. If you aren't in the know, the beta test is limited to select European countries, including Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Ireland, and...