The HTC One X9 has posed for blurrycam shots on more than one occasion, but thanks to ANZHOU, we now have nine photos taken with a good camera in flattering light. The Chinese site doesn’t say how it managed to score some hands-on time with the HTC One X9, but they did confirm that the rumored specs that were shared a while back were on point.

Like the HTC One A9, the One X9 will have two different versions that will feature 2GB of RAM with 16GB of storage or 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Other features include a 5.5-inch 1080p display, MediaTek Helio X10 MT6795 processor, microSD card slot, UltraPixel front-facing camera, 13-megapixel rear camera with OIS, 3,000mAh battery and BoomSound speakers on the front.

Based on how many leaks we’ve seen so far, we wouldn’t be surprised if the HTC One X9 is unveiled at CES. HTC typically doesn’t have a big showing at CES, but the company has officially announced a handful of new devices during the trade show over the years. The HTC One X9 will certainly be making its way to Asian markets, but we wouldn’t be surprised if HTC expanded the X9′s availability to Europe a few months after launch.

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Still on the hunt for a great deal for a smartphone? The unlocked Samsung Galaxy S6 is now available for only $400 on eBay and $450 on Amazon, featuring US warranty and network support. Amazon is also selling the Samsung Galaxy S6 with international band support for $490. Even is the phone didn’t sell as well as Samsung would have liked, the Samsung Galaxy S6 is one of the best Android phones released this year.

For those who can’t afford to pay for all the bells and whistles packed into the Samsung Galaxy S6, there are plenty of good options Android phones which sell for less than half its discounted price. The new BLU Life One X is fairly basic, but it’s listed at $149 even though it comes with a 5.2-inch 1080p display, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. There’s also the ALCATEL OneTouch Idol 3 which it like the best $199 Android phone on the market.

We’re sure a few more smartphone deals pop up before the holiday shopping season is over, but it’ll be hard to find a deal better than this.

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Motorola’s Moto X lineup usually doesn’t get refreshed until early fall, but a new leak claims to show off the design of the 4th generation Moto X. The full image shows that the device keeps the basic outline of the Moto X intact, but the back of the phone appears to be wrapped in metal, a far cry from the customizable wood, leather and polycarbonate finishes that we’ve seen on the Moto X in the past. The design of the camera is changing as well, lending homage to the Moto 360′s flat tire by incorporating the dual LED flash into the bottom portion of its elevated, circular module.

Since we’re six to eight months out from the unveiling of 2016 Moto X lineup, the design shown in the image will likely be a different than what we see in the final product. Quite a few people will be glad to see that Motorola is considering an all-metal design for its flagship phone, but there will certainly be a lot of outcry from devoted Motorola fans if they choose to do away with Moto Maker and the hundreds of customization options that are currently available.

If the leaked image is real, do you think Motorola’s design team is on the right track?

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The Mannheim District Court in Germany has issued an injunction against the sale of HTC smartphones by Deutsche Telekom. The injunction, which goes into effect later this month, follows the courts favorable decision towards Acacia Research Group LLC which claimed that HTC smartphones infringe on one of its voice coding patents. The company has successfully licensed its patents to Samsung, Apple Huawei and other major smartphone manufacturers but had failed to negotiate a licensing agreement with HTC.

The good news is that the injunction does not ban the sale of all HTC phones in Germany. The court case only targeted HTC phones sold by Deutsche Telekom. If you live in Germany, you’ll still be able to buy HTC phone from other service providers or electronics stores across the country.

Naturally, HTC is planning to appeal the injunction, but we do not know if Deutsche Telekom will be able to continue to sell HTC phones during the appeal process. It’s hard to say how the sales injunction will affect HTC’s bottom line, but the company’s been in a rut for way too long and they need every sales outlet possible if they plan to turn things around in 2016.

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Project Fi won’t be challenging the major carriers anytime soon, but it does offer a compelling package for those that stay in range of Wi-Fi most of the time, as the flat $10/GB data rate plus the base $20 is a very inexpensive starting point.

For those that have already signed up for Fi, another enticing option has been added today with the ability to tack on a data-only device at no additional charge. So while you need to be an existing Google Fi subscriber and paying the $20 Fi Basics fee, there is no charge for adding a data-only device. You order a free SIM card from the Account page within your Fi account by selecting Your Plan and then Add Data-Only SIM. Data is shared between your devices, so if you use 500MB on your smartphone and 1.5GB on your tablet that will be a $20 data bill (plus the $20 Basics) for you at the end of the month.

Unlike the smartphones, which will switch between T-Mobile and Sprint for optimal coverage, the data-only devices are locked to T-Mobile. Data-only devices supported at launch are the 2013 Nexus 7, Nexus 9, Samsung Galaxy Tab S, iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4.

I’m not sure if this is going to be the tipping point for anyone to jump on the Fi train, but it’s good to see Google adding features to the fledgling service.

If you are a Google Fi subscriber, we would love to hear what your experience has been like with the service.

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Mobile payments are becoming a big deal, with Google, Samsung and Apple all making big pushes into the market. Google has been making a new, concerted effort with Android Pay, its NFC payment system that makes it easy to tap and pay at many different retailers. But adoption is still a struggle for mobile payment services, so Google is making an offer to incentivize those that will likely be interested in giving Android Pay a shot.

Between now and December 31, Nexus users will receive a $20 Best Buy gift card if they use Android Pay for an NFC payment. There’s nothing to fill out and no special trick to get the gift card, Google is simply trying to get more users to give Android Pay a try. After you’ve used Android Pay (between now and December 31), a $20 Best Buy gift card will be added to your Android Pay app.

The gift cards are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so there is the chance that they may run out before you get around to using Android Pay. But the opportunity to get a gift card for something as easy as using Android Pay should prove to be motivation for plenty of people. For the full rules, follow the source link below.

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Pebble has some big announcements to make today regarding both their new and old devices. Starting with the new devices, Pebble is introducing Pebble Health for the Pebble Time, Pebble Time Steel and Pebble Time Round. Pebble Health is Pebble’s health and fitness tracking software. It was developed in collaboration with Stanford University and offers activity tracking as well as sleep monitoring.

Pebble Health will offer step tracking and, instead of measuring it against a fixed step count, it will instead measure it against your average step count, offering motivation to beat your current average. Pebble Health will also monitor the duration and quality of your sleep, offering insight on how to get a better night’s rest. All of these things will be summed up in timeline pins that change depending on the time of day and what you’ve done. For example, you’ll wake up and find a recap of your sleep, while the end of the day will bring you a look at your step count.

Pebble Health is compatible with both Google Fit and Apple HealthKit, allowing you to integrate its data into your one-stop fitness hub. Pebble is also working on creating a Health API that will be open to developers, allowing for futher innovation. In addition to integration with other services, Pebble is working with Stanford to offer technology for transparent data collection from wearables for health and medicine applications.

Aside from Pebble Health, Pebble also announced that the features of Pebble OS 3.0 are now available for the Pebble Classic and Pebble Steel. These features include the timeline as well as support for unlimited apps and other smaller features.

Pebble Health and the new features for older Pebbles are now live, and users simply have to update their watch and the Pebble app on their phone in order to utilize them.

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When it comes to watches, fashion is part of the conversation. For Android Wear adopters, there’s a series of new watch faces coming down the pipe that are all put together from a variety of different fashion brands.

There are nine brands getting in on the fun with the new faces, and they’re all unique in their own way. The customization options for Android Wear continue to climb, which is certainly one of the selling points for the wearable platform. Here are the nine brands you can expect to see beginning today:

• Ted Baker: Reveal your sophisticated side with ten gorgeous designs.
• Melissa Joy Manning: Rock a different birthstone for every month of the year.
• Vivienne Tam: Watch Opera Girl twirl, take a selfie, and more.
• Nicole Miller: Stay on track and in style with Nicole Miller’s pop art.
• Y-3: Sport the styles of Yohji Yamamoto, inspired by the beauty of human movement.
• Mango: Add instant chic to any outfit with this ready-to-wear watch face.
• Zoe Jordan: Free your time of clutter with the clean lines of modern design.
• Harajuku Kawaii!: Express your playful side with this adorable and vibrant watch face.
• ASICS: Motivate yourself to stay active with the help of your fitness buddy.

As mentioned above, these new watch faces are available now to Android users, but for anyone out there using an Android Wear smartwatch with an iPhone, these new faces will be available soon.

What do you think of the above examples from Vivienne Tam and Nicole Miller? Do you think you’ll check out these new watch faces?

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Google Now on Tap is easily the biggest feature of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and Google is working to make the service as useful as possible. Beginning today, Google is rolling out a few new features to Now on Tap that add some functionality to the service, particularly in light of the holiday season. First off, Now on Tap can track flights and packages. If you’re looking at a screen with a flight number, you can simply bring up Now on Tap and it’ll show you the status of your flight. The same goes for tracking numbers, which will bring up the current status of your package.

Another new feature is that Now on Tap will bring up related articles. For example, if you’re reading an article about all of the rumors surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S7, opening Now on Tap will bring up related articles.

Finally, Google Now on Tap is now available in six new languages. This means that those who speak French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian or Korean will now have the ability to utilize Now on Tap, expanding its usefulness to a broader audience. It’s good to see Google adding more functionality to Now on Tap. In its current stage, Now on Tap is interesting and has a lot of potential, but the amount of use that it receives is actually surprisingly low, since a lot of functionality isn’t there yet. As time goes on, however, we should see Now on Tap becoming even more advanced and helpful.

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Support for Samsung Pay is larger than ever with the announcement that Samsung’s payment service is partnering with 19 new banking services which use Visa and MasterCard. The news comes a week after Samsung Pay added support for gift cards from 50 major retail brands.

Much like Google Wallet and Apple Pay, Samsung Pay uses NFC for mobile payments, but it also uses special Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology inside. Samsung Pay is compatible with the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5, which can digitally replicate an old fashioned magnetic card to pay at the over 30 million magnetic card readers worldwide. It may not be as flashy as Apple Pay, but Samsung is claiming that it is the most widely accepted mobile payment system in the world.

If you haven’t given Samsung Pay a try yet, we recommend you do. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing the look on a cashier’s face when you tap your phone on an old magnetic card reader and watch the transaction go through.

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