Alphabet just released its Q4 2015 earnings today which shot the stock prices of both Stock A and Stock C up to about $750-$780. Alphabet is now the most valuable company in the world, surpassing Apple’s position in the ranks.

With Apple’s earning beginning to show plateauing over earnings from the year before, Google stole the show, showing great numbers of growth. Investors are going crazy buying more stock which drove the price up this afternoon.

Alphabet’s Year-over-Year revenues are increasing, which means its growth is actually growing exponentially. Revenues went up 24% from the 12% the year before.

The majority of Google’s revenue is from ads, and while the number of ad clicks have gone up 31%, the cost per click has gone down 13 percent. Don’t be fooled. This means the company still made more money on ads!

During the sales call, the company also announced that it has more than 1 billion active monthly Gmail users. Google now joins Facebook and What’s App who also have more than 1 billion active monthly users worldwide.

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The upcoming 2016 refresh of Samsung’s Galaxy J7 has been caught in a benchmark’s database once before, and now it’s happened again. This time around however, we’re treated to the details of the Exynos version of the device, and from two different benchmarks no less – Geekbench and GFXBench.

Yes, it seems that like for its predecessor, the original J7, Samsung will once again release two models – one running its own Exynos chip, and another with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 on board.

Interestingly though, the Exynos SoC inside the J7 (2016) will be a new one, namely the Exynos 7870. This is probably going to be a successor of sorts to the Exynos 7580 found in the previous J7. It’s got an octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU clocked at up to 1.7 GHz, at least in these two tests.

This iteration of the new J7 only has 2GB of RAM, and a 5.5-inch 720p touchscreen (the Snapdragon model apparently sports 3GB and 1080p resolution). The built-in storage is 16GB, and the main camera has 13 MP resolution while the selfie snapper is a 5 MP unit. The Exynos-powered Galaxy J7 runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow in the benchmarks, so there’s a chance it will actually launch with this version on board.

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According to a new and as of yet unconfirmed rumor, Google wants to change what the Nexus program is about. If up until now Nexus devices have been developed in partnership by the search giant and Android device makers, the report says that will change going forward.

Google apparently wants to exert Apple-like control over upcoming Nexus releases. That means the company is going to have the only say in all matters, including the hardware (which has been a cooperative effort so far). This is allegedly because “Google doesn’t want its revenue-generating services for high-end smartphones to be at the mercy of Apple like they are now”.

So if this is true then you should expect the Nexus line to become akin to the Pixel series of devices – designed 100% by Google, yet obviously manufactured by other companies (since Google doesn’t have hardware-making factories of its own). It’s probably safe to assume this will mean the end of co-branding as well, so a Nexus will only bear that moniker and that alone (it won’t be joined by the name of the company producing it like before).

This is said to have been “signaled to colleagues and outsiders” by Google CEO Sundar Pichai himself, as well as his lieutenants. It’s unclear why well-known handset makers would want to be part of the Nexus program if this change gets implemented, since they won’t even have the benefit of getting their brands in front of consumers. And it’s been rumored countless times that even as things stand today Google doesn’t let partners profit a lot from the Nexus line, so clearly such a tie-up wouldn’t be about the money-making opportunities.

Despite all this, HTC (or at least part of its management) reportedly still wants to make this year’s Nexus smartphone (or smartphones), though it’s unclear if these will be the last ones of the old type Nexuses or the first ones of the new…

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As previous rumors have hinted, in designing the upcoming iPad Air 3 Apple has taken a lot of inspiration from the unique features it introduced with the bigger iPad Pro. And today a new leaked drawing which purportedly shows the iPad Air 3’s dimensions and various cutouts seems to confirm just that. While anyone can create such a rendering, this is said to originate at a reliable source for what it’s worth.

The iPad Air 3 is thus going to feature a quad speaker setup akin to the iPad Pro. Furthermore, it will borrow its bigger sibling’s Smart Connector, so we assume there will be a Smart Keyboard accessory for it available at launch too. The main camera will get a LED flash for whatever reason.

The cost of all these new features will be seen in the dimensions of the device. It will be slightly thicker and wider than its predecessor, with the full measurements coming in at 240 x 169.6 x 6.15 mm. However, the differences are .1 and .05 mm, respectively, so you’re unlikely to notice them in real-world use.

The iPad Air 3 will supposedly launch in mid-March alongside the new affordable 4-inch smartphone from Apple (which may end up being called iPhone…

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Back in December Nvidia released the update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow for its Shield Tablet K1. And today the company is doing the same for the original Shield Tablet from 2014.

As you’d expect, the new software brings with it all the goodies that Google’s included into Marshmallow, such as Now On Tap, support for adoptable storage, the new app permission system, standby power drain improvements (with Doze mode), app optimization, as well as better power efficiency when using Bluetooth Low Energy. Memory usage is monitored for each app, and the security patch for January 2016 is in too.

Nvidia has also added a few things of its own, like a camera app with material design, improved burst functionality and new real-time HD effects, new wallpapers for the home and lock screens, improvements to Wi-Fi connectivity, and “optimized preloaded apps”.

As the rollout is occurring over-the-air, it may be a few days before all original Shield tablets receive the notification. Of course if you’re impatient you can always manually check for the availability of the new release by going to Settings > About tablet.

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Xiaomi and Meizu are now being sold officially in the US through a carrier and that carrier is US Mobile. The MVNO, which uses T-Mobile’s network, is now offering select models by the two companies, though the orders are in fact fulfilled by a third party.

The m2 note is the only Meizu smartphone that you can get at this point, priced at $149 if paid in full, or $9 a month for 18 months. The Xiaomi options include the affordable Redmi 2 at $119, the aging Mi 3 at $139, and the Snapdragon 615 midranger Mi 4i at $219. All of these can of course be purchased in monthly installments as well.

Xiaomi Mi 4i

The catch is that while three of the smartphones (Mi 3 excluded) do support LTE, none of them has radios for T-Mobile’s 1700MHz band. So you’ll be stuck at 3G speeds, which may or may not be a problem depending on where you stand. US Mobile CEO, however, states that in the future devices may come with proper LTE support. Not exactly a promise, but it’s something.

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We’ve seen quite a few deals for the first generation Microsoft Band wearable, especially in the UK where you could purchase it for just £50 as recently as last month. That’s perhaps understandable since Microsoft’s got a newer smart band on the market.

Now though this too has been discounted in the UK, following a similar move in the US in December. The Microsoft Band 2 can currently be snagged for just £169.99, which is £30 less than its recommended retail price.

The new pricing is already in effect both at Microsoft’s own online store as well as at Amazon. This is a limited time deal, only being available until February 5 (which is this Friday). So if you want one of these wearables, perhaps you should act fast.

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@evleaks has just outed a photo showing the backs of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. As per the photo, Samsung intends to keep the glass design of its upcoming batch of flagships. In our eyes, it looks like the Galaxy S7 and its variants will have a similar back to the Galaxy Note5, which is slightly curved towards the edges.

Previous leaks have suggested the phone will have four versions: Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Plus, Galaxy S7 edge, and Galaxy S7 edge Plus. In terms of specifications, expect a choice between the Exynos 8890 and Snapdragon 820 chipsets. Other rumors point a brand new 12MP 1/2.0″ sensor.

Samsung today officially announced it will reveal the Galaxy S7 on Sunday, February 21 in Barcelona. That’s just a day before MWC 2016 officially kicks…

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The A-Team is back and we start with the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016). It pairs a premium build with premium features, a true S6 lookalike.

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Well, that was quick. It’s February 1 today, and BlackBerry’s Android-powered Priv smartphone has already started receiving the Android security update for the month. That’s less than a month after January’s patch begun rolling out.

There’s currently no information whatsoever on exactly what fixes are included in the update given that even Google is yet to disclose the details about Android’s February security patch.

As for the devices receiving the update, it’d be fair to assume that only unlocked Priv units purchased directly from BlackBerry will be getting it for now as carriers usually take some time before rolling out any update to variants bought from them.

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