Xiaomi Redmi 3 is not your usual budget smartphone. The word budget is hardly a good match for an aluminum unibody, a 5″ IPS display, a powerful octa-core processor, a 13MP camera, and a beefy 4,100 mAh battery. And yet, here we are. The Xiaomi Redmi 3 may be cheap in price but it does not skimp on features…

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HTC clearly wants to set a good example in the way it’s dealing with software updates for the One A9. Perhaps the company got “inspired” by Apple in more ways than just the handset’s looks.

The update to Android 6.0.1 is already out for the A9 units that have been sold unlocked, and now it’s time for the same software to roll out to devices bought from Sprint.

The carrier has announced the release of software version 1.57.651.1 for the One A9. This brings with it the 6.0.1 iteration of Android (which includes many new emojis), but also battery life improvements, enhanced camera features, the addition of Wi-Fi calling functionality, as well as some “system enhancements”.

The over-the-air update should already be on its way, but if your phone hasn’t yet notified you about it, just be patient as these things are generally staged and can take a few days to make it to all devices out there. If you’re impatient, you can head to the Source link below and download the 1.86GB RUU file which will load the software on your handset through your PC (if you have HTC Sync Manager installed).

Source |…

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At CES this year ZTE took the wraps off the Grand X 3, an entry level smartphone, and now this is already available to purchase in the US.

You’ll have to get it from Cricket, though, as that’s the only carrier currently offering it. The Grand X 3 is priced at just $79.99 if you bring your number from another carrier, or $129.99 if you don’t. Keep in mind however that this is a prepaid carrier, so these prices don’t come with a two-year contract attached or anything like that. The phone is already up for grabs on Cricket’s website.

The ZTE Grand X 3 comes with a 5.5-inch 720p touchscreen, an 8 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 2 MP Selfie cam, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 210 chipset (with a 1.3 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU), 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, 4G, and a 3,080 mAh battery. It runs Android 5.1…

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Samsung’s highly anticipated Galaxy S7 smartphone will begin rolling out in Europe on March 11. This was revealed by a relatively leakster @ShaiMizrachi, who has provided some credible information in the past.

Mark your calendar: the first European rollout for #GalaxyS7 family starts on 11/3 http://pic.twitter.com/TdhtJIJ2dD— Shai Mizrachi (@ShaiMizrachi) January 29, 2016

If the date turns out to be correct, it’d be a simultaneous global roll-out for the flagship given that just last week reliable leakster ‏@evleaks revealed the same date for the device’s US launch, and not to mention that leaked China Mobile slide from last month that revealed March launch for the Asian country.

For those who aren’t already aware, the handset – which has already been the subject of a bucket load of rumors and leaks until now – is expected to be unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress, which is set for next month (February 22 – February 25).

Source |…

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The Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin has been the source of quite a few notorious leaks in the past, and most of his posts used to be ranked with high credibility. After Nokia’s demise though his reports became controversial at best.

Still, a good rumor is always worth reporting, so here is a new hot one concerning the upcoming Galaxy S7 flagship. According to the Russian blogger the Samsung Galaxy S7 will be capable of playing videos at maximum brightness for more than 17 hours. If true, this will surely rank the Galaxy S7 among the best in its class.

The Galaxy S7 is rumored to run on the Samsung’s latest in-house chipset – the Exynos 8890 with 4GB RAM. The new SoC is going to be company’s first to use custom CPU cores instead of regular Cortexes. According to a recent infographic by Samsung, the new processor will provide 30% faster performance and 10% better energy efficiency compared to the one used within the Exynos 7420 (Galaxy S6 series).

The Galaxy S7 is expected to premiere this February at the MWC expo in Barcelona. It may come in two models – one with the Snapdragon 820 beast and one with Samsung’s Exynos 8890 chip. We’ll get more details soon…

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We have an image of the Oppo F1 Plus, but you’ll have to trust us on this. Mostly because the phone looks exactly like the smaller F1.

That’s no surprise, the same design has also been used for the A53 and R7/R7s/R7 lite (but not the R7 Plus).

In case you’ve missed it, the Oppo F1 Plus will be a bigger version of the camera-focused F1. The screen will grow from 5″ to 5.5″ (with resolution getting a bump to 1080p). You get an extra gig of RAM too.

Oppo F1 Plus

The F1 Plus is expected to launch in India this April for INR 27,000 ($395), a massive jump over the INR 16,000 price of the regular F1. And you still get a 13MP camera and Snapdragon 616 chipset.

Oppo has so far only teased the F1 Plus so maybe it has an ace up its sleeve. An INR 11,000…

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After updating its “A” line for 2016, Samsung appears to be moving on to its budget “J” family. The Galaxy J1 (2016) is already here, well, at least in Dubai, while the J5 (2016) and J7 (2016) are expected shortly.

The latter’s existence now looks to be proven even further by some kernel sources, unearthed by one of our readers. The code was spotted alongside recently published kernel sources for the Galaxy A9 and talks of a device, codenamed “j7xlte”.

Conveniently enough, the code also holds clues to most of the phone’s specs. The Galaxy J7 (2016) will be equipped with a FullHD panel, probably a 5.5-inch one, judging by a previous GFXBench leak. Super AMOLED is naturally expected, but if you want, you can try and find more details for yourself using the model number – ss_dsi_panel_S6E3FA3_AMS549JR01_FHD.

The new J7 will be powered by a Snapdragon 650 SoC (previously known as the SD 618). There is no mention of memory in the code, but we expect 3GB of RAM. The main camera looks to be a 13MP model with the Samsung S5K3L2XX sensor. The front shooter is reported as a 5MP one with a Samsung S5K5E3YX sensor, 1.1µm pixels, paired with a 23mm f/2.2 lens.

Interestingly enough, there are hints of a fingerprint reader on the Galaxy J7 (2016), which would definitely be a wonderful upgrade to the budget line. The rest of the known specs include a microSD card slot and a 4,300 mAh battery.

Thanks for the tip Louis…

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HP has added another name to its revolving door of fashion designers who add the looks to the company’s smartwatch brains. This one is done by Isaac Mizrahi. And sorry, guys, this one is ladies only.

The watch is all form over function – a classic analog movement hides a small OLED display, normally invisible under the mirrored watch face. This isn’t an Android Wear timepiece, you get a more limited set of text notifications and fitness tracking functions.

HP Isaac Mizrahi smartwatch

The watch features a 42mm gold-plated or stainless steel case with Swarovski crystals around its bezel. Mineral glass and 3atm water resistance make this much tougher than most smartwatches. The watch bands are easily exchanged to customize the look.

Also, the watch movement is independent from the smart features, which have 5 days of battery life. You can connect to an Android phone (4.4+) or an iPhone (iOS 8+) over Bluetooth.

You can snag one for $250 (both color options cost the same). Additional leather watch bands will cost $40 (not available yet).

Source |…

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Popular Android keyboard SwiftKey has been updated for Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

One of the major changes, something users may have been looking forward to, is the inclusion of new emoji, that were added to Android in the latest 6.0.1 update. Of course, the new emoji will only be available to those on the latest version of Android, and updating SwiftKey won’t magically add them to your Lollipop or even 6.0 devices.

Other changes include support for inputting currency for Russia, Argentina, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Germany, Canada & Australia, bug fixes, and performance updates.

The update is now available on the Play…

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Only 4.5 million Lumia phones were sold by Microsoft in the last quarter of 2015, according to the company’s just released Q2 fiscal 2016 earnings report. That’s down from the 10.5 million figure reported in the same quarter the year prior.

This translates into a drop of around 50% compared to the last quarter of 2014. Considering the latest IDC report which said that a total of around 400 million smartphones were shipped in Q4 2015, Microsoft’s share comes out to be just over 1% for the quarter.

Well, what to say? The numbers speak for themselves. Hopefully Q1 which will be the first where the new Lumia trio – 550, 950 and 950XL is available for the full three months will help turn things…

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