The Room series is one of the most celebrated in mobile and the latest installment, The Room 3, is available on Android today for $4.99.

For those unfamiliar with the series, it involves solving a series of elaborate puzzle boxes, but a description really can’t do it justice. The detail of the puzzles and the well-realized atmosphere of the games are a big part of their success. These would be excellent games whether on mobile or not, but the tactile experience of probing to solve the puzzles on a touchscreen means they are perfectly suited to mobile.

I just downloaded the game myself, so I can’t personally speak to what Fireproof Games has done to up the ante for the third installment, but reviews of the iOS version (available since November) indicate that the game is both more expansive than the previous offerings, with about 6-8 hours of gameplay to reach the end and multiple endings possible.

There is a storyline that carries through the games, so if you haven’t played the previous games, you should snatch them up The Room for 99 cents and The Room 2 for $1.99 before trying your hand at the newest release.

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Stop everything you’re doing, jump on Twitter and get ready to hit the follow button: Android Wear is officially on Twitter.

What, exactly, took so long for Android Wear to finally get a Twitter account of its very own? Who knows. And what, exactly, will the account be used for? Who knows. We know it will involve “fashion, fitness & fun,” which is all we need to get us on board.

Check out Android Wear’s first tweet below.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Launch time.

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While the number of smartphones and tablets supporting microSD expansion has been dwindling, the prices of said storage continue to plummet. We are hoping to see something of a resurgence in the microSD department with the addition of adoptable storage in Marshmallow making them considerably more precious again.

So if you are still blessed that has a device with a microSD slot or are looking to stock up in preparation for getting one again, this deal on the PNY 128GB high speed microSD card is solid. $34.99 is the cheapest we have seen it on Amazon (it typically hovers around $49.99) and one of lowest prices we’ve seen anywhere.

I’ve been waiting on a deal to boost the storage on my 16GB NVIDIA Shield TV, which had turned into a bit of a juggling act, but Marshmallow is arriving just in time.

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The big four US carriers hog most of the attention, but it’s important to remember that there are plenty of smaller carriers and prepaid options as well. AT&T GoPhone is one of the more notable prepaid options from (you guessed it) AT&T, offering customers an affordable prepaid option.

This past Friday, GoPhone bumped up the 4G data offerings on two of its plans, allowing customers to get a bit more data for the same price. The $45 plan has had its data amount boosted to 2GB from the previous 1.5GB allotment. The $60 plan has increased from 4GB of 4G data to 5GB. Both plans still include unlimited talk and text.

The increases may be small, but they allow customers to get a bit more bang for their buck, which is what most prepaid customers are looking for. Check out more at the source link below.

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As we inch our way closer to the inevitable unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge in February, there’s still a lot of confusion regarding the specifications of the two phones. We’ve seen conflicting specs sheets from multiple rumors, but a new screenshot from an AnTuTu benchmark test may finally clear things up for us. If the screenshot is real, the SM-G935A (Samsung Galaxy S7 edge) in question is equipped with a 5.1-inch 2560×1440 display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and its Adreno 530 GPU, 12-megapixel main camera, 5-megapixel front-facing camera, 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage.

The main difference between the screenshot and previous rumors is the size of the phone’s display. Multiple rumors have claimed that the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge would feature a 5.2-inch or a 5.5-inch display. We’ve even seen technical diagrams of the phone that “confirm” these claims. Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing which rumors are correct and which are not. We do know that Samsung is working on a few different variations of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, so it’s understandable that there’s a lot of confusion regarding screen sizes.

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Xiaomi has spent the last couple of years building a name for itself, and a large part of that has come from putting powerful specs in devices with low price points. The Xiaomi Redmi 3 is the company’s latest example of that. It offers specs such as a 5-inch 720p display and octa-core Snapdragon processor for the equivalent of just over $100 USD.

Diving into the specs, you’ll find a 5-inch 720p display, octa-core Snapdragon 616 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage plus a microSD card slot, 13-megapixel rear camera, 5-megapixel front-facing camera, 4100mAh battery with fast charging capability and dual-SIM card slots, though one of them doubles as the microSD card port. On the software side, the Redmi 3 runs MIUI 7, though the base Android version is unclear.

All of that comes at a price of just RMB 699, or about $106 USD. That price gives the Redmi 3 far more bang for your buck than nearly any other smartphone. The downside of the matter is that, for now, Xiaomi is only launching the Redmi 3 in China. Nonetheless, we’ll be sure to keep you informed if the company decides to expand availability to other countries as well.

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In an interview with The Telegraph, HTC CEO Cher Wang confirmed that the company’s Vive virtual reality headset will finally be available for consumer pre-order on February 29th. (Prepare for an abundance of “Leap” jokes.) Wider commercial availability will come in April, placing it hot on the heels of the March 28th ship date for Oculus Rift.

This still leaves us with the question of what the Vive will cost when it is up for pre-order. It’s safe to assume that it will be comparable (if not higher) than the $599 price point of the Oculus Rift, otherwise HTC would be squandering an opportunity to head off some Rift pre-orders by announcing pricing now.

Wang also explained that HTC’s shifting focus to wearables and virtual reality was brought on by heavy competition in the smartphone market from the likes of Apple and Xiaomi (as well as other Chinese manufacturers) that are able to throw dramatically greater resources behind marketing than HTC.

While the VR market is in no way as crowded as the smartphone space, it is hardly an empty field at this point. The Facebook-backed Oculus and the Playstation VR, the latter of which has the advantage of merely requiring a $349 console rather than a ~$1,000 PC, are both considerable rivals.

Time will tell if this bet was the right one for HTC.

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File this one under “We’ll believe it when we see it,” but The Telegraph is reporting that they have information from a “senior industry source” indicating that Apple has acquiesced to pressure from European telecoms and is working on a tool to facilitate transferring data from iOS to Android, akin to the ever popular Move to iOS app that they released last fall.

At the heart of the matter are complaints from the European telecoms operators that Apple is deliberately creating lock-in for customers by making the transfer of data away from the iOS platform too difficult for most users to undertake. Whether you agree with that strategy or not, it’s clear that this is exactly what Apple intends, and the statistics regarding retention and switching to iOS have been repeatedly highlighted by Apple at its events.

This would be an amazing reversal from the Apple of a few years ago if they actually release such a product, regardless of the motivation, but I wouldn’t recommend holding your breath. I simply don’t find it credible that the European telecoms have sufficient sway over Apple to force its hand.

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AT&T hasn’t offered an unlimited data plan to new customers for years now, but starting tomorrow, it’ll begin doing just that.

Beginning January 12, AT&T’s new Unlimited Plan will offer unlimited talk, text, and data for $100 per month. Additional smartphones can be added to the plan at a rate of $40 per month, but AT&T says that it’ll give you the fourth line free (in the form of a bill credit that’ll appear after two months). That means that you can get four smartphones with unlimited data for $180 per month.

The catch is that you’ll need to be a DIRECTV or U-Verse TV subscriber to get this new Unlimited Plan. If you’re not yet a DIRECTV or U-Verse TV user, you can get a TV package starting at $19.99 per month for 24 months. Or if you’re a DIRECTV or U-Verse TV customer but you’re not on AT&T wireless, you can get up to $500 in bill credits when you switch to the Unlimited Plan and get a phone on AT&T Next. AT&T will also knock $10 off your bill every month when you get wireless and TV service.

If you do sign up for AT&T’s Unlimited Plan, you’ll be able to add non-smartphones to it as well. Tablets can be added for $40 per month, but you can also get a 1GB/$10 plan if your tablet doesn’t need unlimited data. Smartwatches and “select connected devices” can be added for $10 per month, while basic and messaging phones can join the plan at a rate of $25 per month.

Considering that it’s been years since AT&T offered unlimited data plans to new customers, it’s kind of exciting to see unlimited data returning to AT&T. Of course, there’s a catch associated with this new plan, which means that some folks that’d like an unlimited data plan on AT&T won’t get this new offering. If you’ve already got DIRECTV or U-Verse TV or are interested in signing up for it, though, you could soon have unlimited data on AT&T, too.

Anyone going to sign up for AT&T’s new unlimited plan?

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Some time ago we caught word via a neighborhood watch group that some crooks were getting clever in our area and stealing things like garage door openers and car registrations. So, I did the obvious thing and started carrying my garage door opener with me but it wasn’t as convenient as it sounded initially. When I got home, I always had to fish around for it in my bag. Or on the weekends when I wasn’t carrying my work bag around with me, I had to remember to get it from my bag and bring it with me. It wasn’t a HUGE issue, but it wasn’t ideal either. What if I could just open and close my garage with my phone? My phone is always on my person and has a security code to get into. Controlling my garage with my phone sounds secure and convenient.

Well, you can control your garage door with your phone and there are several different ways to do it. About a year ago I tried to do it with a bluetooth headset but I could never get it to work. Wink was gracious enough to provide me with the GoControl Smart Garage Door Controller and I have loved it. It requires the Wink Hub and App which I recently reviewed.

GoControl Smart Garage Door Controller

The GoControl Smart Garage Door Controller is a connected device that allows you to make your current dumb garage door opener smart. You can monitor and use your current garage door from where ever you have a data connection. It communicates via Z-Wave to your Wink Hub at ranges from 30-50 ft. The device will also act as a Z-Wave repeater in your mesh network. Something to note: The GoControl Garage Door Controller I reviewed has a Linear logo on it. In 2014, Nortek re-branded its Linear security group as the Nortek Security & Control Group, which includes the GoControl product line. So my review unit is a GoControl unit with just different branding than what’s on Wink.com.

Setup was a bit more difficult than I expected because I expected the hardware to replace the physical garage door button in the garage, but it doesn’t. As you can see in the photos, the GoControl Contoller is actually made to be placed near the garage door opener. So, installation takes some preparation and a ladder. It does come with all the instructions needed, but I want you to have the heads up so you know what you’re getting into. The Wink website isn’t that descriptive.

First, I used a piece of cardboard to trace where I needed to drill holes on my garage ceiling. I drilled the ceiling and installed the included drywall screws. I then installed the GoControl Controller in the ceiling and installed the wires in the garage door opener.

The GoControl Controller has some tricks up its sleeve. It comes with a tilt sensor that needs to be physically installed on the door. It’s battery powered unit and tells the GoControl Controller whether your garage door is open or closed. So when you use your Wink App, you can see if your door is currently open or closed and when that last use happened.

Like all the Wink connected products, the Wink App walks you through connecting the GoControl controller to the Wink Hub. You are supposed to have the controller and tilt sensor installed prior to connection to the Wink Hub. When prompted by the Wink Ap, all you need to do is press the pairing button on the side of the GoControl Controller to pair. The GoControl unit LED will then flash three times and beep three times. After that, you’re ready to control your garage door from your phone.

From the Wink App menu, you will now have a category listed as “Garage Doors”. When you select the Garage Doors category, you will then see your connected garage doors. Here you can visually see if your garage door is open or closed and how long ago it was last used thanks to the fancy tilt sensor. To open the garage door you swipe up on the garage door on the app and you swipe down to close. My only complaint with the whole Wink-GoControl Garage Controller experience is this part. Sometimes after the garage door is well open or closed, the visual of the garage door within the Wink app is still updating and doesn’t allow action for some time. I wish it was quicker to update to make it more usable. However, I rarely access my garage door within the Wink App anyway. I created shortcuts within the Wink App to open and close the garage so I can use this function via my Android device home screen.

When you open or close the garage door using the GoControl controller, the controller flashes and beeps for several seconds to notify people around that the garage door will be moving. So, it does take a few seconds longer to open the door compared to the standard buttons. Also, there’s a 30 second waiting period between uses. So if you didn’t mean to open or close your garage door, you have to wait a bit to get the job done. It’s a slight inconvenience but has never really been an issue for me. It’s not something I run into often.

How I use the connected GoControl Smart Garage Door Controller

Unfortunately because the garage may be an easy access to your home and therefore a security risk, there are some home automation tasks where you cannot include the GoControl Garage Door Controller. For example, you cannot add a shortcut to IFTTT that includes opening or closing the garage door. It won’t let you. I tried.

However, there are a couple of great ways the connected garage door can be used:

• I have an “Away Mode” shortcut on my home screen that I can select when I leave my house. It closes my garage door, turns on security notifications, turns off all of the lights, and puts my thermostat in away mode.
• Thanks to the tilt sensor, Wink knows when your garage door is opened or closed and can pay attention to how long it has been open. So, within the settings for the garage door within the Wink App, you can specify if you’d like the Wink App to notify you if it’s been open for longer than a given amount of time. I love this feature. You’ll never forget that you left your garage door open again. Maybe you’ve never done that, but I have.
• Last, this is both a blessing and a curse, but you can access your garage from anywhere you have an internet connection. So, one day my wife walked my son to school and left the keys home because she could. She closed the garage door with her phone. Everything was dandy. Then before she got home her phone died and she was locked out. No biggie. She went to a neighbors home and called me. I opened the garage door from work and everything was still dandy. So a lesson was learned about the downfalls of a connected home, but the upsides are also evident.

The GoControl Smart Garage Door Controller is easily one of my favorite connected devices in my home. I love that I carry my garage door opener with me in my pocket. I love the security that this brings. I love that it notifies me when it’s been open for too long. It’s worked great over a month and I have only one minor complaint about the update speed of the app. The device can be picked up on Wink.com alone for $100 or in a “comfort and convenience” bundle that comes with the Wink Hub, a connected thermostat, and a connected light bulb for $277. Home Depot is another option for $94.54 as well as Amazon for $90.12 at the time of writing this post.

How do you feel about automating your home? And what do you think of the GoControl  Smart Garage Door Controller? Can you see this adding some convenience to your life? Do you already have a connected garage door opener? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below

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