Remember the Ubuntu Edge? It was Canonical’s quite ambitious endeavor to bring a full desktop-grade Ubuntu experience in a dockable mobile phone. It all started and sadly failed in crowdfunding all the way back in 2013, way before Microsoft was even close to its strikingly similar Windows 10 Continuum experience.

Now, well over two years later, the project appears to be still alive and kicking and more relevant than ever, as evident by Canonical’s announcement of a brand new tablet that offers the PC dock experience.

The concept is relatively simple – make a mobile OS that utilizes the same core as its desktop counterpart, or at least a subset of it, like Window’s Universal apps or a common Linux kernel with specialized scalable UI elements, as provided by Ubuntu. Then you can simply run the same apps across all your devices just with slightly different interfaces – no need for porting and costly additional development.

The newly announced Canonical tablet is a modification of the Aquaris M10 from Spanish manufacturer BQ. It is equipped with a 10.1 display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. Under the hood is a Mediatek MT8163B SoC with quad-core CPU clocked at 1.3 GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage. It is definitely not a powerhouse, but the key features are the onboard HDMI and USB Host that allow you to dock the device to a monitor plus keyboard, mouse combo. Also, the 7,280 mAh battery is a definite plus.

Just like Microsoft’s Continuum, the experience is still in its infancy, but Canonical is confident that it already has a library of supported apps to cover most basic use cases. If nothing else, most browsers scale nicely and so do LibreOffice apps, so Ubuntu Convergence is usable even in this early state. Canonical also feels confident that Ubuntu’s technically skilled fans will find a way to load the OS onto other devices, as the Convergence feature is now basically a part of the latest version of the Ubuntu mobile OS.

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The Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) and the Galaxy J5 (2016) are now one step closer to market launch, as they successfully passed Bluetooth SIG certification. The predecessors of the two phones came out in June 2015, but the 2016 editions might be a little early.

According to leaked benchmark results, the Galaxy J7 (2016) will have two versions – one with an Exynos 7870 chip, and another with a Snapdragon 615. The two versions will have different screen resolutions on the 5.5″ display and RAM. The Exynos one will tout a 720p screen and 2GB of RAM, while the Snapdragon model will come with 3GB of RAM and 1080p display.

The chipset of the Galaxy J5 (2016) has also been revealed through a leaked benchmark, and it’s going to be a Snapdragon 410 one with a 1.2 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU. The other known specs so far include a 12 or 13 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 5 MP selfie shooter, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of built-in storage.

Pricing and availability are yet to be announced. While MWC 2016 is a good opportunity for Samsung to officially reveal the phones, the company is unlikely to risk drawing any attention away from the Galaxy S7 lineup so those will probably come at a different point.

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Apple has started iPhone screen protector installation program in Japan, along with Belkin. Apple customers in Japan will be able to hop down to their local Apple Store and get the Belkin screen protector professionally installed on their iPhone using an installation machine.

The device allows placing the screen protector in place with the phone aligned on top and then when the protective film is pulled out the screen protector is precisely applied on top of the phone without any air bubbles. Still, if you’re not satisfied, they will reapply another one for no additional cost.

The application costs somewhere between $19 and $37 according to 9to5Mac. The program will be rolling out to other regions in…

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Just a few months after it was launched, the Gionee S6 is now available for purchase in India, making it the first country outside of China where the device is now officially available.

In India, the device is exclusively being sold by online retailer Flipkart, which currently has Gold, Silver, and Rose Gold color options in stock. As for the price, the handset carries a tag of INR 19,999, which translates into around $295 at current exchange rates.

Specs-wise, the Gionee S6 is powered by a MediaTek MT6753 SoC with 1.3GHz octa-core CPU and Mali T-720 GPU, and sports a 5.5-inch 720p AMOLED display. It has 3GB RAM and 32GB expandable internal memory, and packs in a 3,150mAh battery.

In terms of camera, the phone features a 13MP rear unit and a 5MP front shooter. It is just 6.9mm thick, and runs Android 5.1 Lollipop with the company’s AMIGO OS 3.1 on…

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Microsoft has released this month’s report on Windows Store trends, revealing that the store has received a total of over 3 billion visits since Windows 10 was launched. The figure stood at around 2.5 billion in last month’s report.

The Redmond, Washington-based company also shared details on category-wise downloads for the Oct-Dec 2015 period. The data revealed that Games was the most popular category with over 30% downloads, while Utilities & Tools and Photo & Video rounded up the top three with 15% and 8% share, respectively.

In terms of downloads by language, English – unsurprisingly – was at the top, followed by Spanish, Brazilian Portugese, Russian, and Hindi.

The company also revealed several other interesting stats – head to the Source link below to take a…

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The upcoming Microsoft Lumia 650 will cost around €220 in Central Europe, according to a new report. The device will be available from carrier Orange in France, the report notes, adding that Cricket Wireless will carry it in the US.

In addition to the price, some new renders of the Windows 10-powered handset – which is said to be aimed at business users – have also leaked, showing it from the side this time.

The phone has been the subject of several leaks and rumors until now. It was earlier rumored to be unveiled in the first week of February, but subsequent reports have suggested that it has been delayed until the mid of this month.

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WhatsApp’s Web extension now officially supports Microsoft’s Edge Web browser. This was first noticed by users on Reddit. Until now, the functionality was officially only available on Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari.

It was not that users of Microsoft’s Web browser were completely out of luck until now – there was a way out using which they could access WhatsApp Web on the browser. But it’s always good to see official support arriving for the software you use.

A quick look at the Reddit thread reveals that not every Microsoft Edge user is currently able to access WhatsApp Web. If that’s the case for you, too, probably you need to wait a bit more given the possibility that the support is being currently rolled-out.

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Less than a couple of months after Samsung took its patent battle with Apple to the US Supreme Court, Apple has requested the country’s highest court not to take up the South Korean company’s appeal.

For those who aren’t in the know, Samsung moved the Supreme Court after agreeing to pay Apple $548 million to settle their yearslong patent legal case. The company is seeking a re-examination of the decisions made in the case so far, arguing that the jury isn’t given all the details on how to understand the patents when dealing with design patent-related cases, as well as questioning the way damages are calculated in these cases.

In its arguments filed yesterday, Apple said it sees no reason for the court to review Samsung’s verdict. “Samsung had its day in court — many days, in fact — and the properly instructed jury was well-justified in finding that Samsung copied Apple’s designs and should pay the damages that the statute expressly authorizes,” the iPhone maker said.

“While this litigation may be high-profile, it is legally unexceptional, and Samsung has shown no reason for this Court to prolong it.”

In its response to Apple’s filing, Samsung said, “If the legal precedent in this case stands, innovation could be diminished, competition could be stifled, and opportunistic lawsuits could have negative effects throughout the U.S….

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Last November, the Apple Music app landed on Google Play, making it the first Apple app to be available on Android. Now, it looks like the Cupertino-based company is planning to bring some of its other popular apps to Google’s mobile OS as well.

CEO Tim Cook dropped hints about this at the company’s recent “Town Hall” event for Apple employees. He said that Apple Music for Android was a sort of “testing the waters” to see if the company could further expand its services on Android.

So does that mean Android users will soon be able to access Apple’s iCloud and iMessage services, and not to mention Apple Pay? Well, only time will tell. We’re hoping that Apple will divulge more details on this in the near future, probably at its annual developer conference this…

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At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show last month, Huawei announced that the GX8 will land in the US sometime this quarter. Inline with the announcement, the device is now available for purchase in the country.

Amazon US currently has the device in stock (though only 14 units are left as of writing) and is selling it for $350. The phone is also listed on the Chinese company’s official online store GetHuawei for the same price, but is currently out of stock.

For those who aren’t already aware, the GX8 is a version of the G8 smartphone which is already available in other markets. It is the second Huawei smartphone – after the Honor 5X – to be officially available in the US.

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