According to an unofficial report, Samsung is having a blast with the pre-orders of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. The phone is up for pre-order in 60 markets and according to Eldar Murtazin in Russia the two phones are enjoying record pre-sales.

The Russian tech journalist also reveals an unofficial statistic that 64% of those who’ve pre-ordered the phone went for the Galaxy S7 edge, meaning that the majority of fans would gladly play the premium for the dual-curved screen.

We’re yet to receive official news from Samsung regarding pre-order numbers. The two phones launch on March 11, so there’s plenty of time for them to reach even higher numbers. The company will, reportedly, be making a total of 17.2 million Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge units by April of this year.

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According to the latest report from Net Market Share, Microsoft’s Windows 10 is continuing its upward spiral in terms of how many PCs it powers. This version now sits at 12.82% of the market for desktop operating systems, as you can see from the pie chart below.

Windows 10 claimed 11.85% of that market back in January, so it looks like more and more people and businesses are adopting it. However, its growth is slowing down, so it’s unclear what the future will hold.

The world’s most used desktop OS is still Windows 7, now down to 52.34% of the market (it was at 52.47% in January). It’s followed by Windows 10, and then XP comes in at 11.24%. Windows 8.1 has grabbed a 9.83% market share, with Mac OS X 10.11 boasting 3.72%, Windows 8 at 2.43%, and Mac Os X 10.10 at 2.2%. Every other desktop OS is in the “Others” category, which makes up 5.42% of the pie. In that, Linux apparently represents 1.78%.

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A feature limited to less than a dozen phones in existence, 3D Touch/Force touch/whatever commercial name the company decides to use is coming to the Meizu Pro 6. The Chinese company’s VP and Flyme chief architect Yang Yan has shared a screenshot on Weibo giving a glimpse of what the implementation is going to look like.

So far we’ve seen 3D touch in action on the iPhone 6s/6s Plus pair, and also the recently announced Gionee S8. The Huawei Mate S and the ZTE Axon mini also have the feature in their top-specced versions but those are about as common as unicorns.

Meizu Pro 6 Force Touch screenshot

Judging by the screenshot, Meizu’s way of doing things is quite similar to the iPhone 6s. Applying pressure on the display brings up a context menu with options on top of a blurred background.

Meizu Pro 5

iPhone 6s users have been quick to adopt the new feature, but there appears to be a reluctance among major players like Samsung, LG, and Sony. Chinese manufacturers, on the other hand, have obviously been more inclined to slap the buzzword on a device or two. Even so, Force Touch doesn’t seem to be quite the game changer Apple hyped it up to be.

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Now that the Idol 4 and the Idol 4s are official, Alcatel is understandably looking to clear some of its Idol 3 inventory, in anticipation of the release of the new devices.

And that means there are deals to be had for last year’s models. Both the 4.7-inch and the 5.5-inch Idol 3 variants are now cheaper at Amazon.

The smaller handset can be yours for $169.99, which is $30 less than it was before. On the other hand, the 5.5″ Idol 3 is priced at $179.99, a whopping $70 less than it was up until now. In both cases we’re talking about phones you purchase unlocked and SIM-free, so there are no long-term carrier contracts to worry about here.

If you’re wondering which version to buy, then know that the 5.5-inch Idol 3 comes with better specs than its smaller sibling. So unless you feel that its size is too much to handle, it’s probably the one to pick, especially now that it’s just $10 more expensive than the 4.7-inch…

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The Apple iPhone 5se has been in our rumors sections for quite some time. Recent reports suggest the iPhone 5se will be going official on March 22, so we’ll have to wait just a few weeks before we know everything.

Most of the leaks confirm the iPhone 5se will be a 4″ smartphone with TouchID and upgraded 8MP snapper. It should be powered by Apple’s latest A9 chipset, the same as the one ticking inside the iPhone 6s generation, but with half the RAM at 1GB.

The iPhone 5se is said to be a special edition of the iPhone 5s, with more powerful hardware and refreshed design. The new looks are now confirmed by this new leaked picture of the retail box, which shows the compact fella with a 2.5D curved protective glass on the screen.

The box, if real, also confirms the phone’s name – Apple iPhone 5se, which should stand for Special Edition, or iPhone 5s Enhanced, as some rumors are suggesting.

Anyway, Apple is still mum on its plans, but the event should eventually happen on March 22. A new iPad Pro is also expected to be announced on stage, as well as a new iPad Air 3 with Apple A9X chip (currently available on the original iPad…

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Apple is the most preferred smartphone brand in the United States followed by Samsung and Motorola, according to a new report from market research firm Kantar Worldpanel.

On the other hand, in Europe‘s big five countries (EU5) – France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the UK – Samsung leads the race, followed by Apple and Sony. The iPhone maker is also the most preferred choice in the urban China region, followed by Huawei and Samsung.

The report notes that around 46% of the total smartphone users in the US are currently planning to upgrade their smartphone over the next 12 months. That figure is 48% in EU5 and 28% in urban China.

“In the US, 40% of consumers planning to change their device prefer Apple, and another 35% prefer Samsung. Then, there is a large gap before we get to Motorola (6% preference) and LG (5%). In the EU5, the leadership position among preferred brands is reversed, with Samsung at 37% and Apple at 29%,” said Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel.

The report also says that the high-end smartphone market has saturated in regions like the US and EU5, and going forward, companies will have to convince die-hard feature phone users that they need a smartphone as well as persuade existing smartphone owners that they need the “next big thing.”

Currently, in the US, mobile phone penetration has crossed the 90% mark, and of those, 65% are smartphone users, the report…

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Today Vivo held a special event in China to announce its next flagship lineup – the Vivo Xplay 5. As it turned out the Xplay 5 will launch in two different models – Vivo Xplay 5 and Vivo Xplay 5 Elite.

Vivo Xplay 5 Elite

Vivo Xplay 5 Elite is a more powerful model, made entirely of metal and using Gorilla Glass 4 to cover the dual-curved 5.43″ Super AMOLED Quad HD screen. It is powered by a Snapdragon 820 chipset with the insane 6GB RAM and integrated non-expandable 128GB storage right out the box.

The Xplay 5 Elite has a rear 16MP (Sony IMX298) snapper with phase-detection AF and dual-tone LED flash, plus an 8MP selfie snapper at the front. The Xplay 5 Elite is a dual-SIM device, supports LTE networks, Hi-Fi 3.0 (2*ES9028+OPA1612), and comes with a 3,600 mAh battery.

Finally, the Xplay 5 Elite has a rear fingerprint scanner on the back.

The Xplay 5 Elite runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop, skinned with the latest Funtouch launcher with split-screen multitasking support. It will launch on March 8 in China and will set you back CNY 4,288 ($655).

Vivo Xplay 5

The Vivo Xplay 5 is a more affordable version of the Elite model, which retains the same design, 5.43″ Super AMOLED QHD display, camera setup, and 128GB storage, but downgrades the chipset to Snapdragon 652 with 4GB of RAM. The Hi-Fi chip configuration is also of a different kind – CS4395+AD45257.

Vivo Xplay 5 will launch in China on March 8 for CNY 3,698 ($565).

In case you are not familiar with the Snapdragon models – the 652 flavor offers an octa-core processor with 4xCortex-A72 at 1.8GHz + 4xCortex-A53 at 1.4GHz, and Adreno 510 GPU. The 820 flagship chip packs a custom quad-core Kryo processor and Adreno 530 GPU.

There are no details on international availability, but we guess both models will expand their market reach later on.

Vivo…

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BlackBerry has rolled updates to several key apps for the Priv, now available on the Google Play Store. Camera, Launcher and Keyboard have been improved, with new features and refinements making their way to BlackBerry’s first Android-running smartphone.

Camera has been graced with a slow motion video recording mode, which shoots at 120fps, and plays back at 30fps, so you’re getting 1/4x speed videos. BlackBerry doesn’t state the resolution, but it’s likely 720p.

Launcher now gets Recent, Personal and Work views, as well as other minor tweaks like shortcut removal with a flick and grayed out app icons when you remove the microSD card the app has been installed on. Keyboard has seen improvements in prediction where it can now learn words and numbers, as well as sift through emails and social messages to better understand its user.

You can view the complete list of updates in the links to the Play Store below, but only those with a Priv can actually reap the benefits.

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Bit by bit, the HTC One M10 is coming together, and today there are two more of pieces of the puzzle.

For starters, the name One M10 has been confirmed, unofficially of course, sending HTC’s flagship line into double digits. The name was dug up in the drop-down list of devices in an HTC online survey form.

Moving on, we get a camera sample to try and judge just how compelling the shooter is. It’s a single shot, and a dirty keyboard isn’t the most exciting subject matter, but it does seem to resolve plenty of detail in the letter markings and grime between the keys.

HTC One M10 camera sample (click for full size)

That is, where it’s properly focused, because the wide f/1.9 aperture and near subject make for a pretty shallow depth of field. We do say “wide” and while it is an definitive improvement over the f/2.2 glass of the One M9, HTC is still playing catch-up with main rivals – the LG G5 has an f/1.8 aperture, while the Samsung Galaxy S7 is even brighter at f/1.7.

It is on par with Samsung’s offering in focal length though, with a generously wide 26mm equivalent, but in this respect you can’t really compete with the G5 and the super-wide half of its dual-camera setup.

The image is shot in 16:9 aspect and has a resolution of 2,250 x 4,000px. In 4:3 aspect it would make for a 3,000 x 4,000px 12MP image, right in line with previous rumors.

For all we know, the HTC One M10 will be announced on April 11, and while all of the above looks believable, we’d hold off on buying decisions until it’s official.

Via (in…

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Just days after it came to light that Sony has stopped shipping the PlayStation TV in Japan, the company has announced that it is closing down its native PSP store this month – March 31 to be more specific.

Update: Native PSP store to close on 3/31. Content purchases still accessible at https://t.co/luJeIk6YxT. More info: http://ift.tt/1TjJw3x PlayStation (@PlayStation) February 29, 2016

“On March 31, 2016, the PlayStationStore for PlayStationPortable (PSP) system in the SCEA region will be closed,” Sony said in a blog post. “PSP system users will be able to purchase PSP content from the web-based PlayStation Store at store.playstation.com, and also access past purchases from the Download list on their PSP system.”

Users, however, will still be able to make in-game purchases from their PSP system even after March 31, the Japanese company…

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