Yes, you read the title right. Some skilled guys over the XDA Developers forum managed to side-load the entire Google Play Services package, including the Play Store, on to a number of Windows 10 Mobile-powered Lumia smartphones.

At first the process wasn’t easy, but after a few days it’s now much easier to do it by yourself. In case you are interested in doing so, you should visit the XDA thread.

Currently the compatible smartphones include Lumia 435, 635 with 1GB RAM, 730, 820, 830, 920, 925, 928, Icon, 930, and Lumia 1520. Those should run on Windows 10 Mobile.

Note that this may brick your device and void your warranty, so it’s recommended to be familiar what exactly you’ll be doing.

Last spring Microsoft confirmed Android and iOS app compatibility for Windows 10 Mobile, but it wasn’t supposed to be as easy as installing the entire Google framework. But who knows, maybe everyone should be able to install Android (or iOS) apps after some future Microsoft update. Apparently Microsoft is open to anything these days.

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It’s not like you needed an image to know what the new Sony Xperia Z5+ will look like, but here’s one anyway. It looks like it was screen capped from an unfinished presentation about the upcoming phablet and it shows the classic Sony design.

It will stand out from the rest of its pack with a 5.5″ (or bigger) screen with 4K resolution (3,840 x 2,160px). Anyway, the image shows the Z5+ in Sony’s three new favorite colors: Black, White and Gold but it seems to add a fourth one, Chrome.

You can barely see it in this image, but the side of the Xperia phablet will have a fingerprint sensor.

The Sony Xperia Z5+ may launch with the Z5 and Z5 Compact at IFA, though knowing Sony it could be held back to launch as an upgrade a few months later. Current info points to a Snapdragon 810 chipset though so it’s not clear how much of an upgrade it will really…

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Yesterday, Samsung announced the new Galaxy S6 edge+ and the Galaxy Note5 at the company’s Unpacked 2015 event. But just in case you missed the livestream, you can now watch the entire 43 minute keynote here.

The Galaxy S6 edge+ and the Note5 are the company’s latest big screen smartphone. The S6 edge+ is literally just the S6 edge upsides, with a 5.7-inch dual edge QHD display, 4GB RAM, and a 3000mAh battery with fast wireless charging. The Note5 meanwhile has a traditional display with the same size and resolution but comes with a new S Pen and improved software features.

You can read more about them in our hands-on…

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LG launches an updated LG G Pad II 8.0 slate in South Korea. The first look through its specs sheet reveals minor upgrades over its predecessor, but once we dig deeper we found some interesting new features.

The G Pad II 8.0 packs the same 8″ 1280 x 800 px IPS display as its predecessor, protected by a piece of Gorilla Glass 3. It is powered by the same old Snapdragon 400 chipset with a quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 CPU and Adreno 305 GPU, but comes with 50% more RAM at 1.5GB.

The internal storage of the new G Pad II 8.0 is also doubled at 32GB and there’s microSD expansion up to 128GB. The tablet also comes with GSM/3G/LTE support and has an embedded thin capacitive stylus.

The rest of the specs include a 5MP main camera, a 2MP front snapper, a 4,200 mAh battery and Android Lollipop.

One of the new G Pad II 8.0 key features is the full-sized USB 2.0 port, which can handle external keyboards, mice and flash drives. No adapters required.

LG is promising full-blown Microsoft Office suite for the G Pad II 8.0 as well as enhanced Quick Memo app, Knock Code and Qpair, among others premium software features.

LG G Pad II 8.0 will hit the shelves in South Korea very soon. There is no word on an international release, but since its predecessor went global there is a good chance the sequel does it too.

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It seems like the two upcoming Nexus devices will look the same in addition to having mostly the same specs. A 3D render of LG’s 5.2″ Nexus shows a fingerprint scanner on the back, below the camera. The camera protrudes a couple of millimeters from the back.

The back itself is plastic with beveled edges, fitted on a metal frame. The camera features a dual-tone flash and an additional component, which may be laser autofocus. Assuming these renders are accurate, the upcoming LG Nexus 5 looks a lot like the Huawei Nexus that was handled on video a few days ago.

Google wanted a fingerprint reader on the back of the Motorola-made Nexus 6, allegedly it would have been where the Moto logo is now, below the camera. Things didn’t work out, but Android has native fingerprint support now and the hardware has to catch up.

Unconfirmed 3D render of the upcoming LG Nexus 5

On the front two Moto-style stereo speakers are visible, on the bottom is a USB Type C port. This 3D render lives up to the prevalent rumors about the Nexus handset, but it goes without saying they are not guaranteed to be…

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It’s not the first time we’ve seen the OnePlus 2 disassembled, but since we haven’t practised our Chinese this lifetime, we have to admit we struggled a bit with the translation on the previous occasion. It’s nice then that iFixit got round to tearing down the self-proclaimed “2016 Flagship Killer” so we can gather up some more easily digestible info.

The procedure kicks off with an X-ray shot of the smartphone, but regardless of its outcome, the device was already scheduled for surgery. Removal of the back cover is simple and the non-proprietary screw heads to reveal the innards are a nice touch.

The folks then proceed to remove the non-removable battery and dismantle the camera modules, pointing out that the 1.3 micron pixel size of the 13MP sensor is the largest they’ve seen. The mainboard is held by a single screw, while the microUSB Type-C connector/cable assembly should be easily replaceable.

Of course, the various chips are detailed, but the bottom line is that the OnePlus 2 gets a 7/10 repairability score (10 being the most easily repairable). It would have been even higher if it weren’t for the fused together display/digitizer combo.

You can watch the summary of the tear down in the video below, or hit the source link for detailed photos and…

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Yesterday we were a little that we didn’t see 128GB storage option for the new Galaxy flagships. It turns out that Samsung just didn’t make a fuss about it, both the Galaxy Note5 and the Galaxy S6 edge+ will have a choice of 32GB/64GB/128GB storage.

You can view them at the Samsung US site where you can get either phone for the major US carriers. The only omission is that Sprint won’t have a 128GB version of the Galaxy S6 edge+ (it does have a 128GB Note5).

AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile will carry the three storage options for both phablets. There’s no pricing for the 128GB versions yet, suggesting they won’t make it in time for the first wave of shipments. You can check out the currently available pricing here.

And in case you missed it, pre-orders are for the US and South Korea only, Europe will have to wait until next year. And the big deal about the 128GB option is that you can’t expand the storage after the fact – there’s no microSD slot.

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Samsung’s soon to be revealed Gear S2 smartwatch made an appearance in a duo of official promo images. Earlier today, Samsung caught everyone by surprise by teasing the upcoming wearable device at the end of the Galaxy Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ official announcement.

The latest images of the Samsung Gear S2 are part of a decidedly trendy Lookbook with shots of Samsung’s newly announced products. In the promo materials, fashion models flaunt the smartwatch with white and black wristband.

Samsung Gear S2 will make its official debut during IFA in Berlin next month, on September 3. The smartwatch features circular display and sleek new user interface.

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The Verizon variants of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge smartphones have started receiving an update that brings Android version 5.1.1 along with fixes for the Stagefright exploit.

The update also brings along several new features including caller ID for Advanced Calling, ability to turn off parallax “Wallpaper motion effect,” Live Wallpaper options for lock screen wallpaper, as well as a feature to allow Exposure value to be adjusted from within camera viewfinder.

Aside from the Galaxy S6 flagship duo, the Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 is also getting the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update along with Stagefright fixes and its own set of improvements.

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Just a day after banning Reddit over a thread containing information on how to grow psychedelic mushrooms, the Russian government has unblocked the site. This came after the social news website agreed to block the thread from being viewed in the country.

Earlier yesterday, Russian internet & media watchdog agency Roskomnadzor tried contacting Reddit over the issue, but after failing to receive any response, the agency issued orders later in the day to ban the entire site. Apparently, the move finally caught Reddit’s attention, and the site took the necessary action.

The website also came up with an official statement on the matter: “Reddit is a US company that operates a website with millions of users, posts, and comments. We regularly receive government requests around the world to remove content from Reddit and closely review these requests considering applicable local laws.”

“We want to ensure our services are available to users everywhere but if we receive a valid request from an authorized entity, we reserve the right to restrict content in a particular country.”

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