While the Amazon Echo has garnered quite a bit of praise ever since its launch as an invite-only curiosity in November of 2014, it will likely come as a surprise to many when the Echo appears as the central focus of Amazon’s first Super Bowl ad next month.

Amazon released a teaser for the ad today, featuring Alec Baldwin and Dan Marino planning a Super Bowl party and the Echo chiming in with some helpful advice.

The teaser definitely fails to highlight the actual utility of the Echo for me, so hopefully Amazon figures out how to shoehorn a little more into the real ad if they are trying to convince folks to take another look. One of the convenient features of the Echo is keeping a list for you, so putting a smartphone in Marino’s hands with the list from the Echo as it updates would make a lot more sense to me.

Amazon has shown its dedication to the Echo with continuous updates and increased functionality over the last year, and rumors of a portable Echo seem to reaffirm that dedication, but putting the little black speaker front and center in a Super Bowl ad is the clearest sign yet that Amazon views the Echo as a crucial part of its ecosystem.

What do you think of the teaser ad? Can Amazon can sell the Super Bowl audience on the Echo?

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Thanks to our compatriots at TmoNews, we gave you the heads up on this deal yesterday and, just as predicted, the deal is now live.

New and existing customers on Simple Choice plans are eligible for this offer, with the caveat that you have to buy both smartphones from the same manufacturer, so no mixing your LG G4 with a Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+. You can apply the deal on up to 6 devices and can purchase through either an installment plan or pay for the devices outright.

The full list of eligible devices include:

• Samsung Galaxy S6
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
• Samsung Galaxy Note 5
• LG G4
• LG V10
• Some Apple devices too, apparently. Not that any of you care.

The deal is available either in-store or by calling 1-877-413-5903. There’s on way to access it online, unfortunately.

T-Mobile didn’t give an end date for the deal, only that it is a limited time offer, so if you want to take advantage I would recommend doing it sometime this week.

Anyone planning to take T-Mobile up on this deal?

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If you live and Europe and were planning to buy a new phone, we highly recommend checking out the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P. Between now and February 16, Google is offering a €80 discount on the Nexus 5X and a €100 discount on the larger Nexus 6P, regardless of the phone’s storage capacity. Those with money to spare could pick up the 128GB Nexus 6P for €749. If you’re on a tight budget, you can always get your hands on the 16GB Nexus 5X for €349.

Even with the discounted prices, both phones are still priced higher than they are in the US, but you do need to take into consideration that the listed price includes VAT (value added tax) which typically sits at about 20% in most European countries.

If you happen to already own either of the phone, please leave a comment below and let prospective buyers know what they should expect from the phone you own.

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While deals on the Nexus 5X are becoming increasingly common, this remains the lowest price we have seen (ignoring bundled items anyway), and it is the first time we have seen it his this price on Amazon, which I know is basically the only place that many of us shop at this point.

Unfortunately there is no matching discount on the 32GB model, but they do have both the black 16GB and the white 16GB model available. The 16GB Mint Nexus 5X is also part of the deal, but won’t ship for 2-5 weeks.

We still have mixed feelings on the Nexus 5X overall, but below $300 it is an easy recommendation for those that want to stick to a budget but don’t want to give up regular Android updates.

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T-Mobile is kicking off the new year with an alleged buy one, get one half off sale for a bunch of eligible smartphones. This sale will start tomorrow, January 27 according to the tip provided to TmoNews.

When you buy an eligible device, you can get the same price or cheaper device for 50% off, which is quite a bit considering the high price of high-end smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy S6, Samsung Galaxy S6 edge, Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+, Samsung Galaxy Note 5, LG G4, LG V10, iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPhone 6s Plus are all eligible.

The offer can be redeemed with installation plans or paying the full price of the smartphone by new and existing customers. You can’t mix manufacturers, so you’ll have to get two of the same brand phone, though you can mix models. Both devices need to have active lines. And the cheaper device will be the one discounted, which is always the case.

Though it’s unconfirmed so far, hopefully this is the case. You can get some sweet savings on new phones, right before all the new smartphones are announced in February.

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Even though it hasn’t done much venturing onto American soil yet, Xiaomi is quickly becoming one of the world’s largest smartphone manufacturers. The company has garnered much attention for creating high-end devices and selling them for comparatively low prices. If you’re a fan of the company, you have a new smartphone to look forward to.

Xiaomi’s own Hugo Barra (formerly VP of Android at Google) has announced via Twitter that Xiaomi will be launching its flagship Mi 5 smartphone on February 24. Barra points out that the Mi 5 will be Xiaomi’s first product launch in 2016 and says that the Mi 5 will be “everything you imagined, and more.”

#Mi5 is almost here! Xiaomi’s first product launch in 2016, on February 24. It's everything you imagined, and more. http://pic.twitter.com/DXGaYZVXCU

— Hugo Barra (@hbarra) January 26, 2016

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Leaks on the Mi 5 have been fairly minimal, but we’ve heard rumors of a 5.2-inch QHD display, Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage and a metal body. It’s also unclear what availability of the Mi 5 will look like. Over the past few years, Xiaomi has kept its devices in China and some surrounding countries, only recently expanding into India. But Xiaomi has stated that it has plans to move internationally, so it is possible that the Mi 5 could be Xiaomi’s first phone to be sold globally.

We’ll keep you posted.

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LG has announced its financial results for both the fourth quarter of 2015 and the full year. In it, the company discusses all the expected stuff for each division, including the divisions for TVs and appliances. But of course, our focus is on the mobile communications division.

It looks like sales in Q4 2015 are unchanged from Q4 2014, but they’re an improvement over Q3 2015. North American sales are improved as well, which aided in the improved quarter sales. LG shipped 59.7 million handsets last year.

In an effort to boost sales, LG revealed its mobile plans for 2016. They includes two flagships along with a value chain of devices. The budget devices are expected, but the second flagship (other than the LG G5) is a mystery. A successor to the LG V10 could be in the works.

It’s good to see LG sales going up, we don’t want to see more Android competitors drop out of the game.

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Manual mode for the camera is a feature every phone enthusiast seems to want. It’s a great feature too, allowing you to adjust many different settings to get the perfect photo auto mode will never allow you to get. Now the OnePlus X is getting an update with manual mode included.

The update brings the device to OxygenOS 2.2.0. Aside from the manual mode, it features:

• Manual mode for Camera App
• Save to SD card option in Camera App
• USSD bug fix for India
• Added dual SIM preferences back in system settings
• OTA App upgrade
• Security patches
• General bug fixes and optimizations

The update will be rolling out slowly, so OnePlus X owners may not get it immediately. Check for updates, and be patient if it’s not available yet. You’ll get it soon.

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Gold is definitely the color du jour for tech gadgets, and Huawei got in on the action with a new Matte Gold edition of the Nexus 6P at CES this year.

Today Best Buy is offering the first discount we have seen on the newest and regally colored Nexus 6P with $50 off the 32GB and 64GB models, bringing them down to $449 and $499, respectively.

The Nexus 5X is seeing its price slashed repeatedly, including a new low price we posted yesterday, but that hasn’t been the case for its big brother, so $50 is a notable discount on the Nexus 6P. The 6P is a fantastic piece of hardware, and while I’m not going to be trading in for the gold model, I can definitely see the appeal.

Anyone planning to pick up a golden Nexus 6P?

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Google does love cards, and its showing off that adoration with brand new “quick answer cards” within its Inbox by Gmail email app.

The latest update, which Google has just announced, is primarily focused on speeding things up when it comes to searching for content within the email app. With the quick answer cards, you’ll be able to search for a specific piece of content — like an address or an online order — and have the most relevant results show up in a card that pops up at the top of the search results. When you get that card, more often than not you’ll be able to tap on a link to gain more information, like tracking information for that online order you’re keeping an eye on.

On top of that, Inbox now has a “Top results” section within search, which will show you emails by relevance. Google’s hoping you won’t have to dig too far into your emails anymore thanks in part to the quick action cards, but if you do, these results should help out.

Inbox by Gmail recently added trip sharing in a previous update, so it’s good to see Google keeping up with new features for its other email app.

Do you prefer to use Inbox?

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