Sony recently introduced the Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact, but the company remained mum on the details of a US launch. That changes today, with Sony announcing both US pricing and availability for the Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact. Both phones will be launching on February 7, with the Xperia Z5 priced at $599 and the Z5 Compact priced at $499.

The phones are remarkably similar in specs, with the only changes being in the display, battery and RAM. As a refresher, the Xperia Z5 features a 5.2-inch 1080p TriLuminos display, 3GB of RAM, 2900mAh battery and 23-megapixel rear camera with an Exmor RS sensor and an autofocus speed of just 0.03 seconds. The Xperia Z5 Compact features the same camera, a 4.6-inch 720p TriLuminos display, 2GB of RAM and a 2700mAh battery. Both devices also feature IP65/IP68 dust resistance and waterproofing.

So there you have it, the details on how US customers can get their hands on Sony’s new devices. Are you planning to purchase the Xperia Z5 or Xperia Z5 Compact?

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Welcome back to Android Gaming Weekly, our weekly recap of new game releases. We still plan to cover upcoming releases and games we’re playing, but this column is dedicated to new games that you can start playing right now. Check out our top picks and let us know in the comments section if you have any suggestions for next week’s post.

The Room Three

Description: Welcome to The Room Three, a physical puzzle game within a beautifully tactile world. Lured to a remote island, you must draw upon all your puzzle-solving ability to navigate a series of trials devised by a mysterious figure known only as “The Craftsman”.

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PipSpin

Description:  PipSpin is an arcade action puzzler that will put your brain, reflexes, and thumbs to the test! The controls and rules are simple…tap left or right to maneuver your line to avoid oncoming obstacles. 

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I Have No Mouth

Description: I Have no Mouth, And I Must Scream immerses the player in a frightening post-apocalyptic atmosphere 109 years after a supercomputer named AM has wiped out humanity.

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Super Bit Adventure

Description: Super Bit Adventure is a retro dungeon crawler that is inspired from various old school role playing games. Features: Old school 2D pixel art magnificence, hundreds of items/equipment combinations, dozens of dungeon levels to explore.

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The Incorruptibles

Description: The Incorruptibles is a REAL-TIME STRATEGY game that combines intense combat with a deep, robust crafting system that unlocks powerful heroes. Battle the evil Corrupted, take back the realm & expand your own thriving kingdom!

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Nitro Dash

Description: A very addictive retro arcade racer! Drive, jump from car to car, dash and destroy! Compete with your friends to get the ultimate high score. Keep an eye on your fuel meter and pickup gas if you don’t want to explode!

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RPG Asdivine Menace

Description: Experience immersive two-dimensional battles like never before! Engaging the enemy on the battlefield is as intense as ever! What’s more, cooperative attacks and new limit break skills have taken decimating hordes of enemies while in the throes of battle to an all new level!

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FantasyBeat: RhythmAction RPG

Description:  Follow the rhythm to defeat monsters and save the world! Fantasy Beat is the new rhythm action RPG you have never seen before. Defeat monsters to earn EXP, grow your characters with better equipments and use unique skills of each character to enjoy RPG features.

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Sheep Farm

Description: Ben needs help from the players to run the farm. Feeding the sheep, shearing the sheep, buy new sheep,sell old sheep, restock the sheep feed, grass & medicines are the some of the activities involved in taking care of the sheep.

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Spunge Invaders

Description: From beyond the stars they’ve come to suck us dry! Become the hero and protect the planets precious water. The Spunge Invaders are descending in waves, survive each wave and defeat each Spunge Force to earn rewards.

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Xiaomi is quickly becoming one of the world’s leading smartphone companies, and it has an interesting technique that sees it release different variants of the same core device. Xiaomi is doing that again today with the Redmi Note 3 Snapdragon, a new version of the device that utilizes a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor instead of a MediaTek processor.

WHat’s included in the specs list of this new variant? Xiaomi has outfitted the Redmi Note 3 with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, 1.8GHz hexa-core Snapragon 650 processor, 2GB/3GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB of storage, 16-megapixel rear camera, 5-megapixel front-facing camera and a 4050mAh battery. The Redmi Note 3 also uses that Snapdragon 650 processor to support VoLTE and 4G + networks in China, giving it a leg up over the MediaTek version.

Xiaomi is launching the Redmi Note 3 Snapdragon exclusively in China for ¥999, or about $150 USD. It’s not entirely clear when the device will officially launch, but we wouldn’t expect too long of a wait.

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Amazon Prime has quickly become a commodity for folks who use Amazon’s services often, offering access to movies and shows, cloud storage, music, and, of course, fast and free delivery when buying things from the online retail giant.

The yearly $99 subscription price might be too high for some, though, and so Amazon is known to knock off the price of its service for a limited time to swing a few more subscriptions their way. To that end, Amazon has announced that beginning Friday, January 15, at 9:00 PM PST/12:00 AM EST, one year of Amazon Prime will be available for $73.

The sale ends on Sunday, January 17, at 11:59 PM local time, so you only have a limited time to jump on board if you’ve been considering signing up for Prime.

Amazon’s discounting Prime for a reason: Two Golden Globe wins for its show, Mozart In the Jungle. And for anyone that doesn’t want to sign up for Prime but still wants to check out the show, Amazon will stream the first two seasons for free this weekend only.

Do you plan on subscribing?

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Qualcomm is a big name in mobile processing, but Samsung is another company that’s done great work in the field. While Samsung has its own Exynos line of processors, it has also formed partnerships with many companies, including Qualcomm. One result of that partnership is that Samsung will be manufacturing Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 820 processor.

The reasoning behind the deal is simple. Samsung recently introduced a new 14nm LPP (low-power-plus) process for creating its processors, which allows for a speed increase of 15% while still improving power efficiency by 15%. As such, Qualcomm is having Samsung create the Snapdragon 820 processor in order to take advantage of those benefits.

The Snapdragon 820 processor is expected to arrive in devices within the first half of 2016. It will be used both in mobile devices as well as IoT (Internet of Things) connected devices.

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Now before you get too crazy with your plotting, the deal is restricted to peripherals and accessories and is limited to one item per customer. If you are looking to score a new PC from Razer, they will have some at 30% off, but all of these deals are “while supplies last,” so you are going to need to be there right when things kick off.

This deal is restricted to those with a Razer ID that are members of Razer Insider, so if you haven’t already ticked those boxes, you’ll need to sign up for both before they will issue you your unique discount code. Hit the source link at the end of the post for instructions on how to do so at Razer’s site.

While Razer isn’t a mobile-focused company by any stretch of the imagination, they do have a number of products that Android fans can appreciate, particularly at 50% off. I’ll let you go ahead and do your own shopping over there, but for Android fans, a couple items to look at are the Razer Serval Bluetooth game controller and the Razer Leviathan Mini Bluetooth Speaker.

I’ll warn you that you can find many of Razer’s products for around 50% off on a typical day on the web, so do a quick search if something catches your eye to make sure it’s really a great deal. Also, you should focus on items that are over $98, as you need to clear $49 on the final order to qualify for free shipping.

The deal kicks off at different times depending on where you are. In the U.S. and Canada it begins at 8 PM Central time on Thursday the 14th, the Asia Pacific region starts at 10 a.m. SGT on Friday the 15th, and Europe at 10 a.m. CET on Friday the 15th.

Congratulations to Razer on yet another win at CES this year and happy deal hunting. Let us know if you manage to score anything awesome.

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Cricket Wireless doesn’t make it into our new lineup on a regular basis, but the company has just launched a new promotion which is discounting the HTC Desire 520 and Motorola Moto E. If you activate a new line with Cricket, you can get the HTC Desire 520 for $19.99 and the Motorola Moto E for just $9.99. No, that’s not a joke.

Neither phone is amazing, but they’re definitely worth their new $19.99 and $9.99 price tags. But Cricket’s promotional pricing will not last long. If you plan on picking one up, you’ll need to make your purchase within the next week as both phone will go back to their regular prices on January 21. Let us know if you plan on picking up the HTC Desire 520 or Moto E from Cricket before the promotion expires.

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If you feel like you can get by without the “magic slot” and whatever else LG has up its sleeve with the LG G5, then this deal on the LG G4 is one to consider.

At $349.95 this is around $70 less than you typically see an unlocked G4 and $100 less than you’ll find it at B&H most days. This comes with the black leather back, but as you may remember the G4 is one of the few holdouts with a removable back so you can swap that out pretty cheaply if you like.

The device is brand new and factory unlocked and will work just fine on US Cellular (where it originates), AT&T and for the most part T-Mobile. LTE will be good to go on both T-Mobile and AT&T, but T-Mo users in areas that have been re-farmed with 1900MHz will have to make do with HSPA+.

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Even though Google Plus may not be the largest social network on the planet, Google works very hard to keep the service polished and up-to-date. Today, Google is beginning to push out a new update to the Google+ Android app that includes some new tweaks and whole host of user-requested fixes. There’s a fair amount of minor things to cover, so we’ll dive right in.

• Within the Google+ app, the bottom tab bar will auto-hide itself while you’re scrolling, allowing more visibility of content.
• If you’re scrolling through the Home stream, you can now switch to different screen within the app and when you come back to your Home stream, it will remember your position.
• The search bar has been improved, now offering auto-complete suggestions while you’re typing.
• If you don’t have any communities or collections, the app will now prompt you to add one, further helping new users to explore Google+.
• 69 bugs have been fixed.
• 14 accessibility issues have been addressed.

While it’s not a significant overhaul, this new update shows that Google is continuing to listen to customer feedback and is responding in a way that addresses user concerns. The team also reminded customers that it will continue to listen to feedback and push out updates based on it, so keep letting them know what you think should be changed.

The update has begun rolling out today, but it may take a few days to arrive, so sit tight until it arrives for you.

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Virtual reality is beginning to go mainstream, with more and more people showing a strong interest in upcoming products like the Oculus Rift. Other companies, such as Samsung, HTC and Sony, have all taken the leap into developing their own VR products. One company that has been surprisingly quiet in the field is Google, which hasn’t shown substantial movement away from its extraordinarily simple Google Cardboard VR headset.

As of yesterday, though, it appears that Google is getting serious about virtual reality. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, has moved a key executive, Clay Bavor, into a new role as head of virtual reality at Google. In addition, there is now a dedicated virtual reality office within Google that encompasses the existing Google Cardboard team.

Google’s move to create a VR department is unsurprising, considering that Facebook now owns Oculus and other companies are jumping into VR left and right. Nonetheless, Google could have some work to do if it hopes to catch up with the first wave of VR products hitting the market. While Google has been fairly secretive about its future VR projects, it could have something in the works that could surprise us.

We’ll keep you informed of Google’s future moves with VR.

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