Today ZTE has started selling the Zmax 2 smartphone unlocked through its US online store. The handset has been available at certain carriers since September, but this marks the debut of its unlocked variation in the States.

This week (because it’s “Cyber Week”) you can purchase the Zmax 2 for just $129.98. After that its price will jump back to the normal level of $179.98. To get the lower price make sure to use the promo code CYBERZM upon checkout.

The Zmax 2 comes with a 5.5-inch 720p touchscreen, an 8 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 2 MP front-facing unit, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset at the helm (with a 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU), 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, 4G LTE, and a 3,000 mAh battery. It runs Android 5.1 Lollipop.

All in all, it looks like it’s not necessarily a bad deal given the specs, especially at the promotional price valid this…

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Being able to buy their favorite company’s wares without having to use invites is probably high on the list of desires of OnePlus fans all over the world. And while that still isn’t happening as a rule, there are exceptions from time to time, open sale periods every now and then.

As a matter of fact, one of these is coming in just a few days. From November 27 to November 30 you’ll be able to purchase the OnePlus 2 without needing an invite. So if you haven’t yet nabbed an invite, this is your chance to pick up the high-end handset.

OnePlus also promises “holiday deals” for those four days, but the Chinese company hasn’t yet shared any more details on what they may be. So it’s still unclear whether you should also expect to see a price cut for the OnePlus 2 (or the OnePlus X). Given past antics, we assume there will be some price drops for accessories…

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A few months ago YU introduced the Yuphoria, a mid-range offering with a pretty good price. And now it looks like the Indian company is already working on an enhanced version of this device, or perhaps its successor.

While the original Yuphoria bears the model number YU5010, a new Yuphoria YU6000 has been spotted in the GFXBench database. As usual, this means a handy list of the phone’s most important specs has been leaked.

It turns out that this Yuphoria will be better-equipped when compared to its predecessor. It shall bring a 4.6-inch 1080p touchscreen, a 12 or 13 MP rear camera, an 8 MP selfie shooter, 3GB of RAM, and 16GB of built-in storage. At the helm we find the MediaTek MT6753 chipset with a 1.5 GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU and Mali-T720 GPU.

The new Yuphoria could make its debut alongside the much-teased Yutopia, which will be YU’s new flagship offering. An announcement date hasn’t been set yet, but since the company is already teasing the Yutopia we assume it won’t be long before it becomes official.

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As we’re entering sales season (and special promotions are everywhere), smartwatch specialist Pebble has decided to join the fray. The company is now offering pretty nice discounts for three of its products.

The Pebble Classic can now be yours for $69.99, which is $30 less than usual. The Pebble Time is now $129.99, $70 less than its normal price, while the Pebble Time Steel is now offered for $199.99, down from $249.99.

Unfortunately for those outside the US, these price cuts are only valid stateside. Elsewhere the watches have unchanged pricing structures. Perhaps such promos will arrive in other parts eventually, but for now you can only take advantage if you are in the US.

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BlackBerry’s first Android-running smartphone is the Priv, and it’s powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 808 chipset. However, it looks like the Canadian smartphone maker could be looking to diversify its chipset suppliers for future Android-powered offerings.

That’s because a BlackBerry handset running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and sporting Samsung’s Exynos 7420 SoC has been spotted in the database of GFXBench. Before we go on however, do keep in mind that this may just be the work of someone with too much time on her or his hands.

On the other hand, there’s also the possibility that BlackBerry really is testing a prototype with the Samsung chip best known for being inside the S6 series. The handset features a 5.1-inch QHD touchscreen, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 16 MP rear camera, and a 5 MP selfie snapper.

These could be the specs of one of the next BlackBerry phones running Android, or they might just be ‘borrowed’ from the Galaxy S6 by someone who simply changed the model’s name.

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ZTE might not be among the really “hip” Chinese OEM’s of late, like Xiaomi, but by the looks of things the company is working on an exciting new model that can potentially bring it back in the spotlight. The phone in question is said to be the Nubia Z11 and a new set of leaked renders reveal that it might come with an all new bezel-less design and a curved screen.

The design definitely looks novel and it is still hard for us to see exactly what is going on from the renders, or in other words, where the curve comes from – the display, glass of perhaps some new combination of the two. As far as we currently know. The phone will employ an innovative arc Refractive Conduction (aRC) technology to hide the edge of the display. The curve itself appears to be rather small, but also seems to be at an almost straight angle to the rest of the display.

Other than that, looking at the groove design around the edges, we are fairly certain that the Z11 will also use ZTE’s patented Frame interactive Technology (FiT) for advanced gestures over the said area. The Nubia Z9 already gave us a glimpse at what the technology is capable of and hopefully the Z11 will take it one step further. The renders also come bundled with a preliminary specs sheet that describe the Nubia Z11 as a proper powerhouse.

The aforementioned display is said to be 5.2 inches with a QHD resolution. Underneath the hood is the all-new Qualcomm crown jewel – the Snapdragon 820, along with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. The phone is also equipped with an impressive 20.7 MP rear camera with a dual-tone LED flash and a 13MP shooter on the front. Last, but definitely not least, a round fingerprint reader is clearly visible on the metal back of the handset.

There is no official word on pricing or availability yet, but the aforementioned SoC is expected to arrive to devices during the first half of 2016, so the same timeframe can be expected for the Z11 as well.

Source 1 (in Chinese) | Source 2 (in Chinese) | Via 1 | Via…

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The Samsung Galaxy S7 flagship has already been the subject of lots of rumors lately, including announcement date, versions, and accessories speculations. Now, a new rumor has surfaced, revealing some more interesting bits about the flagship devices.

As per the rumor, unlike the 2015 Samsung flagships, the Galaxy S7 will feature a microSD slot for memory expansion.

The rumor also provides some details on the devices’ display, claiming that the Galaxy S7 will sport a 5.2-inch flat screen, while the Galaxy S7 edge will feature a larger 5.7-inch curved edge display. What’s worth mentioning here is that the display will be curved on the top and the bottom,…

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The Huawei-made Google Nexus 6P’s availability has been inconsistent ever since it went on sale back in October this year, with latest reports suggesting it’s back in stock on the Google Play Store.

Previously the smartphones was only listed as available in the US (with stock running out now and then), but now you can get it across Europe. We managed to confirm availability in Spain, Italy, Germany and Portugal, the Netherlands, and we guess the story is the same in the other EU countries where the devices section of the Google Store is avaialble.

As for the price, the 32GB model carries a tag of €649, while the 128GB model will set you back €799.

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Opera Max, Opera’s data compression software for Android, has been updated to support audio streaming apps.

Opera Max’ claim to fame is the ability to compress any kind of data flowing through the device, whether it’s web pages or streaming video. Well, almost any kind of data. It previously lacked support for audio streaming services, which has now been added in the latest update.

Opera claims the app can compress MP3 audio codec the same way it can MP4, and it turns it into the far more efficient AAC+ codec.

Other updates include a new icon and material design…

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We’ve probably said this way too many times in the past, but at the risk of repeating ourselves yet again – the Gear S2 is something different. It stands out among the sea of Android Wear devices and offers a freshly reimagined experience, all courtesy of Samsung and its own vision for wearable tech.

A lot of the watch’s uniqueness stems from the custom Tizen OS that powers it and the vast level of customization and broad feature integration the Korean giant has managed to achieve. Don’t believe us? Well then just take a quick look at our in-depth Gear S2 review. And it seems Samsung is still hard at work, trying to make it even better. Reports are coming in about a new firmware update for the watch, already rolling out in its home market.

Its build number is R732XXU2BOKF but it doesn’t come with an official changelog. Luckily, one senior XDA member, going by the name of supersoulfly, has really done his best and dug deep to sum up all the changes he noticed.

It now says “add widget” under the + symbol when you scroll all the way right.
When you scroll right on the watchfaces menu there’s an option to “Add template” now. It then lets you choose from the watchfaces that can be stylized and make a new face from them.
On a notification, when you swipe up to dismiss, it now shows a trash can.
For a notification reply, the emoji symbol has been replaced with a more traditional circle happy face.
There is an “Auto open apps” option, which means apps will open when you stop rotating the ring on them.
Also in the settings under “connections” there’s an alert option now to be notified via vibration when disconnected from your phone.
Under the display setting there’s now a screen timeout option. 15 secs, 30 secs, 1 min, or 5 minutes.
New apps added: a world clock, starbucks, a korean navigation app, and the flipboard news briefing app. There’s also a few watchfaces added, nothing new, same ones shown at the initial unveiling. All of them can be uninstalled
There’s a notification indicator option now also in display. It will make a little orange circle appear on your watchface until you’ve viewed the notification. Only works if you don’t have notifications set to automatically turn on your screen in the Gear Android app.
When reading the text of a notification, it will make the font larger if you double tap the screen.

International availability for the Gear S2 is still quite limited, but preliminary sales reports are showing great promise for the wearable with initial batches selling out in minutes. In China, the watch is priced at CNY 2,198 (around $350) for the standard model and CNY 2,398 (around $380) for the Classic model and units go for roughly the same in the US and UK, but are still hard to come by.

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