Samsung Pay is gaining support in various markets, and the USA has always been one of the biggest opportunities for that kind of mobile payments. All major carriers officially support Samsung Pay, though Verizon was the last one to offer it.

Samsung Galaxy S6 series was the first one to introduce Samsung Pay, and the service is working well for the Verizon’s users. Unfortunately, the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge smartphones for Verizon lack this support.

There is no official reason either from Verizon or from Samsung, why the app is missing on the new flagship duo. If you try to install it from the Play Store it still won’t work as apparently the S7 lineup for Verizon isn’t supported.

Hopefully this gets resolved soon with an update, or at least, Verizon gives a reason for the removal.

Source •…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/21YJAu4
via IFTTT

Like many of its major rivals, Samsung is doing its best to capture emerging markets and offer tailored budget-friendly handsets for them. The latest addition to this budget class of devices is the Galaxy J1 Mini. It was announced today for the Philippines and from the looks of things is more or less identical to the Galaxy J1 Nxt, which the Korean giant recently made available for just $88 in Bangladesh

The new name might have actually been necessary to avoid confusion, as the J1 Mini comes with a bump down in RAM from 1GB to just 768MB. We can’t really imagine this will net that much of a decrease in cost, but perhaps there are other factors involved that we don’t know of.

Samsung Galaxy J1 Mini

Other than that, the specs sheets of the two devices is identical. It has a rather modest 4.0-inch TFT display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. Inside is a quad-core CPU, clocked at 1.2GHz, which is used to boot Android 5.1 Lollipop OS. The camera setup is nothing special and includes a 5MP rear CMOS sensor camera and a VGA 0.3MP one on the front. The J1 Mini comes with a 1500 mAh battery, which promises up to 8 hours of 3G talk time, 7 hours of browsing and 29 hours of audio playback.

Sadly, there is no 4G compatibility, but the compact device (121.6 x 63.1 x 10.8 mm) still offers Dual SIM support. Other features include USB 2.0, GPS, Glonass, 3.5mm Stereo Earjack, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz, Wi-Fi Direct and Bluetooth 4.0.

Information on pricing and availability is still unknown.

Source |…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1SyLLyJ
via IFTTT

Pebble has released a new firmware for the Pebble smartwatch, and also updated the iOS and Android apps, bringing everything to version 3.10.

The 3.10 firmware for the watch brings larger emoji for the most popular emoji. Whenever you get a single emoji from among these, the watch will show a jumbo sized version now. Other additions include refined Pebble Health activity notifications, Chinese character support, bug fixes and performance improvements.

The 3.10 update for the iOS app brings a new UI and three tabs at the bottom for watch faces, apps, and notifications. Watch faces shows all your downloaded watch faces, apps shows all your installed apps, notifications show you which apps are allowed to send notifications to the watch, and you can also set individual apps to only alert you on weekdays or weekends other than simply always and never.

The Android app sees an improved Send Text app, new language support, and bug fixes and performance improvements.

All of these are now available to…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1QCHE1V
via IFTTT

Yesterday, Google added functionality to Google Docs to export long text documents as ePub files, largely compatible with almost every electronic reader and book reading app imaginable (except on Amazon Kindles as they have their own book format .mobi).

Reading long PDFs or word files on tablets or smartphones brings me back to my college days, it was the most annoying thing to do on a screen which the text was not formatted for, constantly having to pan, zoom, pan, zoom, pan, zoom, just to read small text that spans three times the size of the screen.

This feature should make the consumption of some of these types of files much more enjoyable to readers of such content. Perhaps it will facilitate the actual conversion of ePub files from copied text.

The update is rolling out now and should be complete in a couple of days. To export as an ePub file, you can go to File > Download As > EPUB Publication (.epub).

Source |…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1QKB7Ag
via IFTTT

Ever since Samsung’s days of removable batteries and hyper-glaze plastic, Samsung’s Galaxy phones have gotten more and more difficult to repair. This time around, the Galaxy S7 scored a low 3/10 for user repairability.

Compared to Galaxies past, the Galaxy S6 had a score of 4/10, the S5 scored 5/10, and the hyper-glazed Galaxy S4 scored 8/10 as pretty easily repairable. These phones are becoming more and more complex and harder to repair now.

The good news is components are separated better and not stuck together to the midframe as was the case with the Galaxy S6. The bad news is, well, good luck getting into the device. The only way to gain access to the S7’s internals is by removing the rear glass panel, which is a feat all by itself.

Heat is needed to remove the adhesive that keeps the glass on the back. At this point, you’re five hundred times better off buying an insurance plan for your device in case the screen shatters or the components fail (looking at you, Galaxy S4).

Just make sure you all get cases for your new Galaxy phones!

Source |…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1URmksE
via IFTTT

As a fairly new resident of New York, I have never seen such a vast and efficient public transportation system before. There are definitely better systems, but it’s a drastic change from Miami where the public transportation system is actually useable by a very small population of Dade County (unless you live in Downtown or South Beach).

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) plans to bring 2024 brand new busses into the city, equipped with Wi-Fi on board, USB-chargers throughout, information screens displaying weather info and a digital stop ticker to show route information and the next stop information.

Currently, all stop information and route changes on busses are announced by the driver over an intercom. Depending on how the MTA driver feels, he or she will either pronounce the stops audibly and clearly, or they might just murmur into the mic, literally, pick up the mic and go “hur hur hur”. In these cases you’d have to look outside or use your smartphone’s GPS to gage what stop you need to get off at.

These stations are so antiquated, that if you walked into Penn Station, you would think you travelled back in time to the year 2004. The MTA infrastructure will finally get the modern update it desperately needs.

Many underground subway stations already have Wi-Fi and some stretches of track also have cellular signal in Midtown. Governor Cuomo said (which I can attest to) that some of the MTA stations and facilities are in such “decay” that in some cases is “embarrassing” for a city often called the ‘capital of the world’.

The MTA shuffles more than 9 million customers around the city every SINGLE day. What the MTA is aiming for is to modernize and improve the expectations and technology of its facilities as fast as it can by the year 2020. To meet the expectations of more and more millennials, Thomas Prendergast, Chairman of the MTA, says that this generation expects more and more at their disposal and that the MTA should provide it because it is needed.

Source |…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1p6vO73
via IFTTT

LG quietly launched a contest being held in the Philippines. Using the hashtag #BestLGG5Friend, you can enter to win one of three LG G5 smartphones. All you need to do is post the image below on either Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook and finish the following sentence:

“My #BestLGG5Friend is_______”.

You must choose from one of the accessories shown in the image and explain why it you think it’s the best “friend” to the LG G5. These accessories include:

LG Rolling Bot
LG 360 CAM
LG 360 VR
LG CAM Plus
LG Action CAM
LG Hi-Fi Plus
B&O Play
LG Tone Platinum

You are allowed to post multiple entries with different “friends” as long as they aren’t the same as another of your entries.

It doesn’t really matter what you say since winners will be chosen at random. Entries are being accepted since March 4 all the way through March 30 until 4:59PM to qualify for the promotion. Entries that are missing either the image, the hashtag, or lacking 3 tagged friends will be automatically disqualified from the contest.

The official winner will be announced via LG’s official Philippines Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1QBP19Q
via IFTTT

Google is currently running a neat promotion for its Chromecast Audio dongle in its online store for hardware in the US. The Chromecast Audio is normally priced at $35, but now you can get it cheaper.

The only thing you need to do is buy two. Yes, Google will sell you a two-pack of Chromecast Audio devices for just $55. So you save $15. That’s obviously not much, but then again the Chromecast Audio isn’t an expensive gadget in the first place.

The discount is applied automatically as soon as you add two Chromecast Audio units to your cart, so you don’t need to copy a promo code or anything like that. It’s unclear how long this deal will last, though, so if you’re interested you’d better act fast.

The Chromecast Audio exists in order to connect the non-smart speakers you already have lying around the house. It basically has the same capabilities as the ‘video’ Chromecast, but it’s for speakers only. Hi-res playback and multi-room support are a go too, ever since an update hit it in December.

Source |…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1LPvy6H
via IFTTT

The LG G5 is going to become available for purchase in Canada in exactly one month from today, namely on April 8. This information has apparently been made official by the Korean company itself, so it’s straight from the horse’s mouth as they say.

The G5 will be offered by all the major Canadian carriers (Bell, Telus, and Rogers), but also smaller companies such as Eastlink, MTS, SaskTel, Videotron, and Wind Mobile. Rogers’ Fido brand will get in on the action too. So you’ll pretty much be able to grab a G5 regardless of what your carrier of choice happens to be. As for third-party retailers, expect to see the G5 in stock at Best Buy, The Source, Costco, and Wireless Wave.

If you pre-order a G5 from Rogers or Fido, you’ll receive the Cam Plus camera grip accessory for free (while supplies last). Unfortunately pricing information hasn’t yet been announced by any of the aforementioned carriers and retailers, but surely that’s coming soon.

The LG G5 should be released globally in “early April”, with April 8 and Canada being the first confirmed launch date and country. It might just be that April 8 will be the big G5 day in other places too, but we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, make sure you check out our detailed hands-on preview of the…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1p5ReRM
via IFTTT

Today Sony has uploaded a new video to its official YouTube channel, and this one’s all about Marshmallow. More specifically, it’s describing in some detail what the most important features are in the company’s update to Android 6.0.

As you may already know, this has finally started rolling out to some Sony devices yesterday, so the timing of the video couldn’t have been better. Have a look:

In this presentation, Sony has mixed in new features from Google (such as the revamped permissions system or the redesigned sharing mechanism) with its very own improvements – most of which have to do with the camera app. This video should thus have given you a quick taste of what’s to come when you receive the much-anticipated Marshmallow update on your Xperia phone or…

from GSMArena.com – Latest articles http://ift.tt/1LPo03R
via IFTTT