Throughout the summer, Google has been letting developers test and get used to Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the next release of its mobile operating system. Three developer previews have been outed, but there will be no more – it’s time for the final version to become official.

That will apparently happen on October 5, which is when the update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow will start rolling out to supported Nexus devices. These are going to be the LG Nexus 5, Motorola Nexus 6, Asus Nexus 7 (2013), HTC Nexus 9, and Asus Nexus Player.

That means the older LG Nexus 4, Asus Nexus 7 (2012), and Samsung Nexus 10 will not be receiving any more official Android updates from Google from this point on. The final Marshmallow code will be pushed to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) on October 5 too.

This new rumor comes to confirm some previously leaked information originating at Canadian carrier Telus. Google will probably make the Marshmallow rollout time frame official during its big event tomorrow, where it will also unveil the LG Nexus 5X and Huawei Nexus…

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Google’s event tomorrow won’t be all about new Nexus hardware, it seems. The company is also set to announce a new pricing tier for its Play Music All Access streaming subscription service.

According to a rumor on the matter, starting on September 29 Google Play Music All Access will also be offered in a family package. For $14.99 per month, up to 6 of your family members will all be able to use the streaming service, each with his or her own account.

If you think this reminds you of something, well, it probably does: Apple Music has the exact same terms for its family plan. Oh, and the three-month free trials for Apple’s service are going to start expiring soon, forcing people to make a decision about paying for it from that point on. We assume the timing of Google’s family plan announcement is no coincidence…

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The Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 is one of the cheapest phablets you can get and that will most likely put it on your radar sooner or later. It may be a mere blip if you’re the kind of person who consciously avoids the extremes. But bargain hunters will probably zoom in for a closer look. And they might actually have a point.

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At this point we’re less than one day away from Google’s big event where it’s going to announce the LG Nexus 5X and Huawei Nexus 6P. Bits and pieces about the two devices have been leaking every day since last week, and now we have received the information that’s been missing so far.

We’re talking about pricing and pre-order details. According to a new rumor (which we see no reason to doubt this close to the official unveiling), pre-orders for both phones will start tomorrow, on September 29, right after Google’s event finishes.

The LG Nexus 5X will start at $379.99 for the 16GB model. This handset will be up for pre-order in the Google Store in the US, UK, Korea, Ireland, and Japan. There will be a 32GB version too, but it’s still unclear how much that will go for. The Nexus 5X will come in three colors: Carbon, Quartz, and Ice Blue.

The Huawei Nexus 6P will start at $499.99 for the 32GB variant. It will be up for pre-order in the Google Store in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, and Japan. The phablet will also come in 64GB and 128GB iterations, but those haven’t been priced in this leak. Japan will exclusively get the gold hue for the 6P, while other countries will have to settle for Aluminum, Graphite, and Frost.

A strange thing to note is that the pre-order countries are not the same for both devices, for whatever reason. Furthermore, the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P will allegedly not be sold in any carrier stores in the US (even though they will both support the bands from all major US networks). Instead, they will be offered online only.

Despite what FCC documents said, neither of the two new Nexus phones will come with a microSD card slot, according to the same source. This wouldn’t be surprising at all, given Google’s past behavior.

Source 1 • Source 2 • Source 3 • Source…

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Samsung is sweetening the deal of buying a Galaxy smartphone in the US by offering to cover up to $120 towards your monthly payments for the three months until the end of 2015, up to $40 per month. Eligible devices are the Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+ and Note5, purchased on an installment plan or leased from a participating retailer, AT&T excluded.

But wait, there’s more. Those are the terms for the non-trade-in deal (outlined, details in the source), but there’s also a trade-in offer. Surrendering your working iPhone 4s, 5, 5s, 6 or 6 Plus will net you an additional $100 Google Play store credit. Obviously, this makes sense if you’re towards the left part of the above list of iPhones, or you have an iPhone 6 in a wretched state, but it still fires up.

The offer can be redeemed online between today and October 16, or until November 19, should you choose to go snail mail route. Bear in mind that the actual purchase of one of the devices must take place by October 9.

Source |…

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There’s just over a day until the new Nexus phones become official, but it’s never too late to alleviate some worries. US consumers will be pleased to hear that the two new Google phones will support all major carriers in the States.

The FCC documents for the Huawei-made Nexus 6P list support for both GSM carriers AT&T and T-Mobile and CDMA carriers Verizon and Sprint. Even more surprising is the “microSD interface.” This would make it the first Nexus phone with a microSD slot since the Nexus One in 2010.

The FCC certified the LG Nexus 5X – LG-H790 officially – and it supports both GSM and CDMA networks. There’s an additional model, LG-H791, that only works with GSM and is likely the international version of the phone for countries without CDMA carriers.

Source 1 • Source…

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Virtual reality might be the path for a richer multimedia future, but, currently, most hardware kits are quite out of reach for every-day consumers, be it because of a hefty price tag, lack of content or daunting hardware and software setups. In this respect, mobile phone-based headsets sparked, like the Gear VR and other more user-friendly devices, like the HTC Vive sparked a new push towards simplification, but neither have done quite as much to popularize virtual reality as Google Cardboard.

A couple of lenses, cardboard and your phone – incredibly inexpensive and straight-forward, yet loads of fun. The system has already been emulated by numerous third parties and employed in countless software projects. It seems that Microsoft is finally hopping on the same VR creative wagon as well, with its own take on a Cardboard headset, just recently spotted in some promotional banners.

In all fairness, the US giant has already demonstrated impressive achievements with its HoloLens system, so, the field is far from new, but the two projects are still quite different – one being augmented reality, the other virtual. Not to mention the obvious cost and technological gap. In any case, the device, dubbed simply Microsoft VR Kit, looks promising enough, in the sense that it should bring all the creative possibility of Cardboard to the Windows realm.

The Kit isn’t officially announced quite yet, nor is the software development kit that will power it. The above banner was spotted as part of an upcoming hackathon in Russia. Microsoft is trying to bring attention to the event and lure in developers and multimedia creators to use the new platform. It will be held on October 17 in three categories – game, education and oddly enough, corporate apps. The winners will be given a free VR development Kit to further their work. Presumably, this includes a Lumia device as well, seeing how the rest doesn’t exactly tempt with a lot of value. Also, it is interesting to see if Microsoft releases the schematics for the VR Kit, just like Google did and which devices it will support.

And if you are interested in participating in the said hackathon in Russia, you can sing up at the source link.

Source |…

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Apple has announced that it has set a new sales record for the new iPhone 6s and the 6s Plus during the opening weekend. The two phones combined have sold more than 13 million units in the first three days of launch in the 12 countries they were available in, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the UK and the US.

To put the number into perspective, the previous iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sold 10 million units combined, the the 5s and 5c before that sold 9 million units combined.

Apple has reiterated that it will be bringing the 6s and 6s Plus to additional 40 additional countries worldwide.

Starting October 9, the phones will be available in Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan.

Starting October 10, the phones will be available in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

Starting October 16, the phones will be available in India, Malaysia and Turkey on Friday, October 16 and in over 130 countries by the end of the year.

Pricing for the respective countries will be announced at a later…

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Lumia fans have been gorging on 950 rumors and the upcoming flagship is out yet again. @evleaks has contributed a press render to the already extensive efforts to show everything about the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL before it is officially unveiled.

This image shows the White color option (until now the Blue one was used in leaks). We’ve already seen the measurements (151.9 x 78.4 x 9.9mm) and specs (5.7″ QHD screen, Snapdragon 810, 20MP PureView camera), there’s even European pricing info – €750 (around $840).

A keen eye will also spot the dual-SIM indicators on the display of the Lumia 950 XL. Microsoft embraced the multi-SIM format with its entry-level offerings and it seems this will permeate all the way to the top.

Source |…

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Oh, HTC what is going on? The HTC One M9e hit TENAA, a throwback to the HTC One (M8) days with a metal chassis and a 5″ 1080p screen. But it’s different from this alleged M9e, which also passed through TENAA, and don’t confuse it with the One ME9.

Anyway, back to the One Em Nine Ee. It measures 144.6 x 69.7 x 9.6mm and is powered by an octa-core 2.2GHz processor with 2GB of RAM and runs Android 5.0.2 Lollipop. It has 16GB of storage and a microSD slot.

HTC One M9e photos by TENAA

The camera is fairly modest – 13MP/1080p with dual-LED flash on the back and a 4MP one on the front. Consulting our database (we can’t keep these M-digit-letter models straight anymore) it seems that the HTC One M9e is like a One M8s or One (M8 Eye) without the second camera.

We expect to see the M9e along the One A9 and Butterfly 3 unveiled tomorrow.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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