Mobile And Tech. World

HTC offers free $100 Jabra Move headphones with One A9 for one day only Did you miss the $400 HTC One A9 deal? Well, like Bill Murray you get a do-over on Groundhog Day. Well, not quite - today (until 9 PM Pacific Time) you can have the One A9 plus a Jabra Move headset for $500. You don't even have to ask, this is US only. The headset itself - a pair of Bluetooth headphones with up to 8 hours of playback time - costs $100, so it's kind of like the HTC One A9 costs $400. Kind of. You could have bought it at $400 and then picked any $100 headset you like. And since HTC is on the topic of repeat promotions, the following day it will cut its RE action camera back down to $80 as it was back in December. That's still pricey, considering it was $50 in October . This is a one-day promotion too

World’s most valuable company is no longer Apple Alphabet just released its Q4 2015 earnings today which shot the stock prices of both Stock A and Stock C up to about $750-$780. Alphabet is now the most valuable company in the world, surpassing Apple’s position in the ranks. With Apple’s earning beginning to show plateauing over earnings from the year before, Google stole the show, showing great numbers of growth. Investors are going crazy buying more stock which drove the pr...ice up this afternoon. Alphabet’s Year-over-Year revenues are increasing, which means its growth is actually growing exponentially. Revenues went up 24% from the 12% the year before. The majority of Google’s revenue is from ads, and while the number of ad clicks have gone up 31%, the cost per click has gone down 13 percent. Don’t be fooled. This means the company still made more money on ads! During the sales call, the company also announced that it has more than 1 billion active monthly Gmail users. Google now joins Facebook and What’s App who also have more than 1 billion active monthly users worldwide. See more

Snapchat is aiming for sports fans with live score overlays for NBA games Snapchat is one of those odd social app experiments that often confuse their very own user base, let alone newcomers. What started out as a fairly clever "no traces left behind" picture chat, has since exploded into a wild mess of often puzzling user content, specially crafted multimedia experiences within the Discover feature , as well as, more recently, a sprawling video sharing community . Amidst all... this, there seems to be only one unifying trend striving for revenue and lots of it. Be it from paid ad content, or sponsored video "lenses" or even paid replays of snaps , Snapchat has been doing everything in its power to back up estimates for the company's enormous market value. Now, it seems, the playful white ghost has shifted its priorities towards sports fans and is striving to become the de facto social platform for sharing sports events and experiences. The newest effort to this end is a special score filter made available to users attending certain NBA contests. The overlay provides live scores for the game you are currently at. The feature is available at every NBA arena and some other matches. It might sound like an incredibly silly concept, but, oddly enough, it appears to be working. Just last week, Live Score geofilters saw 20 million views, gathered on content from 51 NBA games. At this point, we can't decide if the Snapchat team is just incredibly lucky, or full of brilliant social experts, as this new feature could very well open the way to a whole new stream or ad revenue. And Basketball is not the only sport Snapchat is going after. It has been working with NFL to produce Live Story compilations for major games, as well as to offer fans the aforementioned Live Score filters. And with the US Super Bowl coming up, it is anybody's guess just how far Snapchat will manage to take its new trick. See more

SwiftKey updated for Marshmallow, adds new emoji Popular Android keyboard SwiftKey has been updated for Android 6.0 Marshmallow. One of the major changes, something users may have been looking forward to, is the inclusion of new emoji, that were added to Android in the latest 6.0.1 update. Of course, the new emoji will only be available to those on the latest version of Android, and updating SwiftKey won't magically add them to your Lollipop or even 6.0 devices. Other changes include support for inputting currency for Russia, Argentina, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Germany, Canada & Australia, bug fixes, and performance updates. The update is now available on the Play Store.

HTC clearly wants to set a good example in the way it's dealing with software updates for the One A9 . Perhaps the company got "inspired" by Apple in more ways than just the handset's looks. The update to Android 6.0.1 is already out for the A9 units that have been sold unlocked, and now it's time for the same software to roll out to devices bought from Sprint. The carrier has announced the release of software version 1.57.651.1 for the One A9. This brings with it the 6.0.1 i...teration of Android (which includes many new emojis), but also battery life improvements, enhanced camera features, the addition of Wi-Fi calling functionality, as well as some "system enhancements". The over-the-air update should already be on its way, but if your phone hasn't yet notified you about it, just be patient as these things are generally staged and can take a few days to make it to all devices out there. If you're impatient, you can head to the Source link below and download the 1.86GB RUU file which will load the software on your handset through your PC (if you have HTC Sync Manager installed). See more

Happy Republic Day 2016

Apple acknowledges issue with iPhone 6s battery percentage indicator There seems to be an issue with the battery indicator on the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus , which prevents the battery indicator from reducing proportionately with the actual charge of the battery, thereby suggesting you have more power left than you actually do. Apple is aware of the problem and has suggested a simple fix for it. It seems the issue is caused by the device time settings, so moving between timezones causes the battery meter to malfunction. The fix is to either restart the phone or check if the clock is set to update automatically through the settings. A more permanent fix should be rolled out in the next iOS update.

Xiaomi slashes Mi Pad price in India The Xiaomi Mi Pad tablet has received an official price cut in India - its price has been slashed by INR 2,000, which is around $30 at current exchange rates. The news was announced by the Chinese company in a Tweet. Previously available for INR 12,999 (around $190) in the country, the Mi Pad will now set you back INR 10,999 (around $160). Online retailer Flipkart as well as Mi.com are now selling the tablet at the new discounted rate. Launched in India back in March last year, the Mi Pad comes with a 7.9-inch (2048x1536 pixel resolution) IPS display, NVIDIA Tegra K1 SoC, 2GB/16GB memory configuration, 8 MP rear camera, and 6,700mAh battery. It runs MIUI 6 on top of Android KitKat. It's successor - the Mi Pad 2 , which was launched in November - is yet to arrive in India.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 with Snapdragon 650 announced Back in November, Xiaomi announced the Redmi Note 3 , which was the company's first smartphone with a fingerprint sensor and a full-metal body. Today, the company announced a different variant of the phone, with a couple of improvements. The model announced today varies in two ways. One, it replaces the MediaTek Helio X10 chipset with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 with a 64-bit 1.8GHz hexa-core CPU, Adreno 510 GPU, integrate...d X8 LTE with Cat 7 speeds and support for VoLTE. The device works on all mobile carriers in China and has 4G+ network support. The other change is the switch from a 13 megapixel camera on the back to 16 megapixels with f2.0 aperture and phase detection autofocus. Most of the other specifications remain the same, with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, 2GB RAM on the 16GB model and 3GB on the 32GB model, and 4,050mAh battery. The 16GB model is priced at RMB 999 ($151). The 32GB pricing will be announced later. If you're reading this in India, then you'll be glad to know that the phone is also coming soon to the Indian market. Pricing and availability information isn't available yet but Xiaomi has started the Redmi Note 3 Explorer challenge in India, where 100 chosen Mi fans will get the phone if they complete the 100 missions. More details will be released later. See more

iPhone shipments estimated at 55M for March quarter, first YoY decline since 2007 launch Investment firm Piper Jaffrey has adjusted its estimate for Apple's current quarter iPhone shipments. Down 12%, the projected figure for the quarter ending in March (Q2 2016 by US policy) is now 55 million units shipped, as opposed to the previous 62.5 million units. The number, if it proves correct, will mark the first year-on-year decline in iPhone shipments since the launch of the orig...inal iPhone in 2007. To be fair, even the initial estimate was dangerously close to the 61.2M units shipped in the same period last year, itself a massive increase over the 43.7M from 2014. Piper Jaffrey's forecast for Q3 (ending in June), has gotten its due cut as well, from 48.5M to 45M units shipped. The analysts' revision is a result of persisting rumors from Apple supply chain companies, stating that Cupertino has been reducing part orders. While previously insisting that a single supplier's reduced orders aren't indicative of overall shipments, the investment firm has been forced to reconsider, after cumulative reports from multiple suppliers. The numbers result in revenue expectations around the $55.8 billion mark, come the Q2 report. For Q1 the company projects a revenue of about $77 billion, based on 75 million iPhones, 5.8 million Macs, 17.5 million iPads, and 6 millions Watches shipped. See more

Pink Sony Xperia Z5 is now official The rumored pink color variant of the Sony Xperia Z5 has been made official by the company. Sony was already teasing a pink Xperia device for the last few days, and we were expecting it to be the Z5. "The new variant uses the same frosted glass finish as the existing phones and combines this with a light dusky pink color palette designed to provide a natural complement to the existing green, white and black options," the Japanese company said in a blog post. While Sony said the new variant will be available for purchase starting next month, there was no word on how much it will cost. The company also didn't explicitly reveal the handset's launch markets, so we expect it to be available in all the regions where the Z5 line-up is already available.

All 2016 Moto devices will have fingerprint scanners, Lenovo exec says Despite basically pioneering the concept of a smartphone with a built-in fingerprint scanner with the Atrix 4G back in 2011, Motorola hasn't been quick to jump back on this train last year, when such sensors have been featured in pretty much every high-end Android device. That will change in 2016, however. Chen Xudong, SVP of Lenovo and president for Lenovo China and Asia Pacific, has revealed that all Mot...o-branded handsets launching this year will have fingerprint sensors. That's a 180-degree change from the Lenovo subsidiary's recent antics, and it will surely be welcomed by the brand's fans. The Lenovo exec has shared an additional detail about the Moto portfolio for 2016: there will be no more phones launching with screens smaller than 5 inches. So we assume there won't be a new Moto E this year. The Moto brand will mostly be used for higher-end offerings from this point forward, while the budget devices will generally bear Lenovo's Vibe moniker. In total, between the two brands, no more than 15 models will be launched in 2016. Finally, Chen Xudong stressed that Google services will "definitely" re-enter China before the end of the year. This means that the Play Store might finally battle it out over there with the dozens of local app stores for Android, while staple Google properties such as Gmail and Maps could once again be openly used by people living in the mainland. See more

TP-Link outs three Android smartphones - Neffos C5L, C5, and C5 Max Neffos is the new brand established by TP-Link for its first entries in the smartphone market. The Neffos C5L, Neffos C5, and Neffos C5 Max by TP-Link are the first three smartphones aiming to carry the flag for the brand. All three Neffos smartphones run on Android 5.1 Lollipop, skinned with lightweight-looking proprietary launcher. The Neffos C5L is the smallest entry of all - it has 4.5" FWVGA display and ...runs on the Snapdragon 210 chip (4x Cortex-A7 at 1.1GHz, Adreno 304, 1GB RAM). While the hardware doesn't sound impressive, it should be more than enough for a sub-HD smartphone. The other C5L key features include 8GB expandable storage, 8MP main snapper, a 2MP selfie lens, LTE connectivity and a 2,000 mAh battery. Neffos C5 comes with a bigger 5" 720p IPS LCD and utilizes the MT6735 chip (4x Cortex-A53 at 1.3GHz, Mali-T720 MP2 GPU, 2GB RAM). IT packs 16GB of expandable storage, LTE connectivity, an 8MP rear camera, a 5MP selfie snapper, and a 2,200 mAh battery. Finally, the Neffos C5 Max packs a 5.5" 1080p IPS LC and ticks on the MT6753 chip (8x Cortex-A53 at 1.3GHz, Mali-T720 MP3 GPU, 2GB RAM). The rest of the highlighted specs include 16 gigs of expandable storage, LTE connectivity, a 13MP main shooter and a 5MP selfie snapper, plus a beefy 3,045 mAh battery. All three Neffos phones will be launched in Pearl White and Dark Gray paintjobs. Detailed pricing and availability is yet to be announced. See more