The lively competition between Sprint and T-Mobile is carrying on today with T-Mobile firing the latest shot. The self-named “Un-carrier” has announced that it will an give extra $200 per line to every Sprint customer that switches during the holiday season. That extra $200 is in addition to T-Mobile offering up to $650 per line to cover switching costs, making it quite lucrative for Sprint customers to switch at the moment.

For those looking to score even more of a deal, T-Mobile is currently offering three free months of unlimited high-speed data to all of its Simple Choice customers, even if they’re only paying for a couple of gigabytes of data each month. If you were considering switching to T-Mobile, this is the time to do it, as you likely won’t see a deal this good again. Just make sure you have T-Mobile coverage before you make the switch.

If you’re on Verizon or AT&T and are feeling a bit jealous that you don’t have an offer like this, just hold on a bit longer. T-Mobile will be making similar offers to Verizon and AT&T customers within the coming weeks.

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Chromebooks have always been an area of interest. The concept of the Chromebook took cues from the failed wave of netbooks and went for portability and low price. But rather than pairing that with a traditionally more intensive operating system like Windows, Chromebooks were outfitted with Chrome OS, Google’s ultra-light operating system that revolves around web browsing and taking full advantage of the cloud.

In the time since Chromebooks came into being, a whole host of companies have created Chromebooks. Some have been great, while others have been flops. Now Lenovo is taking another step into the Chromebook game with its newest model, the Lenovo 100S Chromebook.

Lenovo has designed the 100 S Chromebook to be an extremely affordable Chromebook option that arrives just in time for the holiday shopping season, when hordes of shoppers will be searching for deals wherever they can find them. As such, the 100S Chromebook is priced as low as $179 for the base model.

So what can you get for $179? Read on to find out.

1. Hardware

The Lenovo 100S Chromebook was designed to be easy on the wallet, and the modest specs reflect that. Lenovo has outfitted the 100S Chromebook with a an 11.6-inch LED display with a resolution of 1366×768. Inside, the device has a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Celeron N2840 processor, 2GB DDR3 RAM, Intel HD graphics, 16GB of flash storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and a battery that lasts for an average time of about 8 hours.

As far as ports go, you can expect to find a combo microphone and headphone jack, one USB 2.0 port, one USB 3.0 port, a 4-in-1 card reader (SD, MMC, SDHC, SDXC), an HDMI port and a security lock. For dimensions, the Lenovo 100S Chromebook is 8.23 inches in width, 11.81 inches in depth and 0.75 inches in height. It’s also lightweight, at just 2.64 lbs, though in comparison to other laptops of its size, it’s a bit weighty.

All in all, the hardware of the 100S Chromebook is humble, but that’s expected at its low price point.

2. Design and Build Quality

The Lenovo 100S Chromebook is geared towards a budget market, so we expected some compromises. The build quality is one of them. The device is primarily made of plastic, with a very light texture on the exterior. It did well enough at resisting fingerprints, but unfortunately, it’s extraordinarily scratch-prone.

Seemingly anything scratches the plastic on the lid of the 100S Chromebook. Even putting it into a neoprene laptop bag with its charger left it with scratches. If you try it, you could likely scratch the lid with your fingernail. While this doesn’t cause any usability issues, it certainly makes the device feel much lower quality when it accumulates scratches so easily.

With the lid opened, the design isn’t too bad. It’s basic, but that’s expected with the price. Nicely enough, Lenovo has put in an aluminum palm rest, which makes the 100S Chromebook significantly more comfortable to use. The trackpad is plastic, but it’s pleasant enough to use and didn’t seem to have any noticeable quirks. The keyboard features a surprising amount of spacing between the island keys. The keys have an acceptable amount of travel, though they make a rather loud clicking sound. As a whole, the keyboard is fine. It’s not going to win any awards, but it’s much better than the keyboards found in many laptops in this price range.

3. Display

Lenovo put a fairly standard display on the 100S Chromebook, and you can tell when you’re using the device. Small text and icons can be a bit fuzzy, but most things are perfectly readable, though you shouldn’t expect too much sharpness. Colors are fine; a bit bland but not too distorted. Whites have a tendency to be overblown and blacks aren’t terribly inky, but again, the quality is perfectly acceptable for the price range.

As far as brightness goes, you might have a bit of a problem when using the device in bright sunlight, but for indoor use, you’ll be fine.

4. Software

Software has never been Lenovo’s strong point, which is why we’re glad that the company used stock Chrome OS for the 100S Chromebook. Chrome OS is incredibly simple and easy to use, with nearly everything taking place through Chrome and its apps and extensions.

If you’re considering a Chromebook, you may want to take a quick tour of the Chrome Web Store to get a feel for what’s out there. And if you’re planning to work with documents, spreadsheets and other office functions, spend some time getting used to Google’s suite of office apps as well as Google Drive, as they’ll likely be your mainstays when using a Chromebook.

As a whole, Chrome OS is surprisingly full-fledged, with a surprising amount of capabilities for a web-based OS. It may take a little getting used to for some users, but it shouldn’t be hard for most people to pick up.

5. Performance

Chrome OS is designed to require minimal hardware to run on. As such, even the low-end hardware found in the 100S Chromebook is good enough to offer decent performance. During my usage of the device, I didn’t run into many slowdowns, even when loading rather complex web pages. Some apps may give the 100S some trouble, but for most everyday usage, you won’t have a problem thanks to Chrome OS’s fantastic optimization.

As far as web browsing and simple tasks are concerned, the 100S Chromebook can handle itself without a problem.

6. Battery

The battery on the 100S Chromebook is quite good, getting an average of about 9 hours of usage during my testing of the device. Lenovo rates the battery as good for 8 hours of usage, so an even better real world performance was a pleasant surprise. Lenovo has always been good with batteries in its devices, and the 100S Chromebook is no exception, making it a great choice for those who are often away from an outlet.

Lenovo’s goal with the 100S Chromebook was to create an affordable, portable laptop for the holiday season. The company has reached that goal with a device that, while average, is a great choice for those looking to get a laptop at a great price.

Our only real complaint about the Lenovo 100S Chromebook is the build quality and how easily the device scratches. That, however, is more of stylistic issue, rather than a problem with the functionality. Functionally, you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck, and plenty of people would be more than happy to unwrap a Lenovo 100S Chromebook during the holidays.

You purchase the 16GB model from Lenovo for $179.99, the 32GB model is priced at $199.99 and there’s also a version with 4GB of RAM that’s set at $229.99. For those really looking to score a deal, Amazon has the 16GB model listed for only $149.99, making it a steal.

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Remember last month when the Nexus 5 was on sale for $175? Well fast-forward to today and you can snag one for even less.

Expansys-USA is selling the Nexus 5 at a starting price of $129.99. At that price, you can get a 16GB factory refurbished N5 in black, white, or red. If you’d like more internal storage, $149.99 will get you a refurbished 32GB model in your choice of black, white, or red.

While the Nexus 5 may be a couple of years old at this point, it was a high-end device when it launched, and so it’s actually a mid-range handset in late 2015. As a refresher, it’s got a 5-inch 1920×1080 display, quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 8-megapixel camera, and 2300mAh battery. It’s also running Android 6.0, making this sale a cheap way to get a Marshmallow device.

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Black Friday is coming up, and a lot of companies are getting the info on their deals up early. Verizon is one of them, so you’ll know what to expect from them on Black Friday. When you switch to Verizon and trade in a device, you can get up to $500 off buying a Galaxy S6, S6 edge, or Droid Turbo 2.

A bunch of other devices are going to be on sale. The Ellipsis 10 tablet will be $150 off, at $50 with a two-year contract. A few smartphones are $100 off, with up to an extra $300 when you trade in a phone. And on top of that, a bunch of accessories like speakers, battery packs, and even drones are on sale.

Check out the images below for all the deal info that’s coming up for Black Friday.

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Solid state storage keeps getting cheaper at a pretty amazing rate. Just four days ago, we reported that the SanDisk Ultra 200GB microSD card had dropped to $135. Now it has dropped even more to $99.99, making it an even 50 cents per gigabyte.

While most devices only support up to 128GB microSD cards, this is definitely the future of storage. Plus you can use it as a mini flash drive with one of those tiny USB adapters. At $100, it’s hard to pass this up. Will you be picking one up?

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The new Xiaomi Mi Pad 2 isn’t the best Android tablet that money can buy, but it’ll likely be the best-selling device in its category. Featuring a 64-bit Intel Atom X5-Z8500 processor, 2GB of RAM, 7.9-inch 2,048 x 1,536 pixel display, 8 and 5-megapixel cameras, 6,190mAh battery and a 6.95mm thin all metal body, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 2 is one of the best-looking and best-priced tablets to come to market in quite some time. For RMB 999 ($161 USD) you can take home the 16GB model, but we recommend “splurging” by going for the 64GB model, which will set you back a mere RMB 1,299 ($209 USD).

If you’re not too keen on buying a Lollipop-powered tablet, Xiaomi also has a Mi Pad 2 that runs on Windows 10. No, you cannot dual-boot between the two operating systems (though that would be nice), so you’ll have to choose which operating system better suits your needs.

Xiaomi will be selling the Android-powered Xiaomi Mi Pad 2 in dark grey and champagne gold starting on November 27, while the Windows-powered version of the tablet won’t go on sale until sometime in December.

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Xiaomi ushered in the latest entrant into its Redmi Note family today with the unveiling of the Redmi Note 3. While the name seems to imply that the phone will be competing with the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 actually has more in common with the HTC One M9+. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 doesn’t make much of a design statement, but it does boast a full metal body like many of today’s flagship smartphones. On the inside, the phone is equipped with a MediaTek Helio X10 processor, 2GB of RAM, 5.5-inch 1080p display, 4,000mAh battery, 13-megapixel rear camera, 5-megapixel front-facing camera and a fingerprint sensor that promises to unlock the phone in 0.3 seconds and allow users to authenticate their payments through Mi Wallet with their fingerprint.

While HTC’s One M9+ has a higher megapixel count on the main camera and front-facing BoomSound speakers, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has an incredible price advantage since it will be available for a mere RMB 899 ($145 USD) for the 16GB model and RMB 1,099 ($177 USD) for those looking for 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.

As with most Xiaomi phones, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 will launch first in China and then make its way to a handful of other markets across Asia. For now, the phone isn’t expected to launch in Europe or North America, but Xiaomi is slowly expanding its global reach.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 specifications

• Helio X10 MediaTek processor
• 4000mAh battery
• Metal body, 8.65mm, 164g,
• Fingerprint sensor, unlocks in 0.3s
• 13MP PDAF Autofocus
• 2GB.3GB LPDDR3 dual-channel
• 16GB/32GB internal storage
• 1080P, 5.5-inch full HD
• 4G Dual SIM, both SIM slots support 4G
• 802.11ac Wi-Fi
• MIUI 7 operating system

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The holidays are nearly here, and T-Mobile has announced quite a few different offers to celebrate.

First up is Un-carrier Unwrapped, which will give unlimited LTE smartphone data to existing postpaid Simple Choice customers. The offer is good for all subscribers on a postpaid Simple Choice plan — including folks on business and grandfathered plans — at the end of the day on November 23. If you qualify, the unlimited LTE smartphone data will be automatically applied to your account on December 1 and will stay there until March 1.

And now for the fine print. If you qualify this unlimited LTE smartphone data, you’ll start to use it once you use up your regular monthly data allotment and your Data Stash. You’ll have to say on the same T-Mobile plan and keep Binge On active in order to keep the unlimited LTE data gift. Finally, folks that get this gift won’t receive the perks of T-Mobile’s regular unlimited LTE plan, like tethering and free Vudu movie rentals.

T-Mobile says that it’s got three more holiday gifts planned, with one aimed at each of the other 3 major US carriers: Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. The next gift will be revealed on November 30, with the others coming one per week in the following weeks.

T-Mobile is also planning to roll out some more traditional Black Friday offers. Starting November 25, T-Mo will give out the Alcatel OneTouch Pixi 7 tablet for $0 down and $0 payments with qualifying data plan. If you’d prefer a new smartphone, T-Mobile will also be handing out 32GB Galaxy S6 units for $0 down and $0 payments with 18-month leases. Another offer will give you a $100 T-Mobile prepaid MasterCard with the purchase of any Samsung tablet. And rounding out the Black Friday deals will be a UE Boom Bluetooth speaker for $99, which is $100 off its regular price.

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Every week we cover new Android apps with Fresh Meat on Wednesday, followed by Android Gaming on Thursday and Top 10 App Updates on Friday. When Monday rolls around, we look back to see which apps were the most appealing to our audience. Read on for the five most popular Android apps from last week. These apps are ones that are most likely new and haven’t appeared in the top five list more than three times.

1. HomeUX Beta

App info:  HomeUX provides a simplistic yet highly functional launcher user interface with full integration of Google’s Material Design.

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2. YouTube Music

App info: YouTube Music lets you watch and listen to a nearly endless catalog in an app designed for music discovery. Just tap a track you love, and see where your music takes you.

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3. Horizon Chase

App info: Horizon Chase is a love letter to all retro gaming fans. It’s an addictive racing game inspired in the great hits of the 80′s and 90′s: Out Run, Lotus Turbo Challenge, Top Gear (SNES), Rush, among others.

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4. Triangle 180

App info: Triangle 180 is Fingerprint Studio’s original triangular twist on the puzzle genre! Fall into a calm, peaceful state with the intuitive connect the dots gameplay and array of pleasant colors and sounds.

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5. Kill Shot Bravo

App info: Arm yourself with deadly assassin sniper weapons, assault rifles, machine guns and the latest military gear to complete covert combat missions deep inside enemy territory!

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Note:  To ensure that all apps receive a fair chance to make the list, we will retire any app that has made the list for three consecutive weeks.

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Near the end of September of this year, Samsung Pay officially launched in the United States. It did so with a free accessory offer, too, and now Samsung is back with another promotional offer alongside yet another big announcement.

Samsung has confirmed that its mobile payment option will work with Chase Bank Visa debit and credit cards, as well as Liquid cards for good measure. On top of that, Samsung Pay is now also supported by a flurry of new MasterCard debit and credit card issuers, including: Citizens Equity First Credit Union, Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union, Security Service Federal Credit Union, State Employees’ Credit Union, SunTrust Bank, and Virginia Credit Union.

Last, but not least, Samsung Pay now also supports the Navy Federal Credit Union by way of their Visa-branded debit and credit cards.

That aforementioned promotional deal comes in the form of $100 a new Samsung Pay user can take advantage of on Samsung.com. You’ll need to register a card via the mobile payment option sometime between November 23 and November 30 to get the $100, though. You can find more details on the promotion through the Samsung Promotion website.

If you have a Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, or Galaxy Note 5 you can use Samsung Pay. Have you tried it yet?

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