Just days after the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL returned to the company’s online stores in the US and Canada, the device’s smaller cousin Lumia 950 is also back in stock in both countries.

As for the price, the 5.2-inch, Windows 10-powered device carries a tag of $549 in the United States, while over in Canada, it will set you back CAD 749, which is around $515 at current exchange rates.

What’s worth mentioning here is that despite being in stock, the phone won’t ship immediately – both listings currently show a shipping date of February 8, 2016.

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Apple has announced that it will shut down its iAd App Network in the month of June this year – June 30 to be specific. This comes nearly an year after CEO Tim Cook referred to the advertising network as a “very small” part of their business.

Image credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

The Cupertino-based company won’t be accepting any new apps into the network, although there’s no restriction on existing advertising campaigns, which can continue to run until the shutdown date. “If you’d like to continue promoting your apps through iAd until then, you can create a campaign using iAd Workbench,” Apple said.

The news also comes just days after there were reports that the iPhone maker is planning to disband the iAd sales team in favor of a more automated platform.

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There are some things you simply can’t expect to get from a $200 smartphone, like the latest software updates or durable hardware. Here is where Honor is tipping the bucket even further.

We were told by Honor that it plans to update the Honor 5X’s UI all the way to Marshmallow and EM UI 4 (the same UI found on the new Mate 8 flagship), and also provide regular android security patches.

We weren’t told if this was going to be on a monthly basis, but even if not, the company still wants its customers to know that it won’t forget about the mid-rangers when it comes to updates.

Honor is a sub company of Huawei’s who announced its entry into the US at CES earlier this month. It plans to target the millennial market of young adults who like to individualize themselves while also making a statement. Honor believes this is the phone to do just that.

I am so far quite impressed with the Honor 5X. I’ve been using it for just a few days, and it is performing exceptionally well for the price. It has expandable memory, a generous 3000 mAh battery, and a fingerprint scanner for quick and secure access to the device.

It even has three card slots, one for a Micro SD card up to 128GB, and two SIM slots, one nano and the other micro.

Right now the Honor 5X is available for pre-order from Newegg, Amazon, and Honor with a shipping date of January 31. If you haven’t already, check out our unboxing and hands-on…

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Cat has unveiled a new iteration of the S50 smartphone that it first launched back in 2014. The Cat S50c is made to be used on Verizon’s network, and like all Cat-branded smartphones is incredibly rugged.

The S50c is IP67 certified for dust and water resistance, and it adheres to the military standard MIL-SPEC 810G for shock and drop protection and being able to operate in extreme temperatures. The phone can be dropped from up to 4ft (1.2m) without a worry.

It has a 4.7-inch 720p touchscreen, an 8 MP rear camera, a 2 MP selfie shooter, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 400 chipset (with a 1.2 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU), 1GB of RAM, 8GB of expandable storage, 4G LTE support (up to 150Mbps downloads), and a 2,630 mAh battery. It runs Android 5.0 Lollipop. Its dimensions are 142.2 x 76.2 x 12.47 mm, and it weighs 200g.

The Cat S50c is now available to purchase from its manufacturer’s website for…

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Back in October of last year, Sony told us that six of its devices would not receive updates to Android 5.1 Lollipop, instead jumping from 5.0 straight to 6.0 (Marshmallow). The Xperia C4 was on that list, so obviously we were expecting to see it tasting Marshmallow soon.

Now though there’s an update out for it (as well as the Xperia C4 Dual), but it’s not Android 6.0. Instead, it’s Android 5.1 Lollipop, a version these models shouldn’t have received. Odd are Sony’s ways sometimes.

Anyway, this is a new Android version, even if it’s nowhere near as big as 6.0. The rollout is currently underway for five of the six C4/C4 Dual versions out there (with only the E5343 being excluded for now).

Of course the update will reach you over-the-air, probably within the next few days (as these things are usually staged). After having installed the new release, you’ll be on build number 27.2.A.0.155 if you have the C4, or 27.2.B.0.155 for the C4…

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Microsoft’s upcoming mid-range smartphone, the Lumia 650, has been in the news a lot lately, along with a couple of possible siblings – the Lumia 750 and 850.

And now thanks to an alleged leak originating at a smartphone distributor in the Czech Republic, we may know how much the Lumia 650 is going to cost, at least in Europe.

The phone will apparently be priced at CZK 5,491 in the Czech Republic, SIM-free and unlocked of course. That currently translates into $222 or €203. Though given the exchange rate situation, if it ever launches in the US we expect it to be less than $199 unlocked. And in the Eurozone its price could be something like €199.

The Lumia 650 will reportedly feature a 5-inch 720p touchscreen, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 210 chipset, an 8 MP main camera, a front-facing speaker, LTE, and a 2,000 mAh battery. It will run Windows 10 Mobile, naturally. The handset might become official at MWC next month.

Source (in Czech) | Via 1 • Via…

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Google is launching a new promotion for users of its Android Pay system. It’s called Tap 10, and it’s all about making sure you use Android Pay as much as possible. By paying for stuff using Android Pay, you can win stuff such as free songs from Google Play Music, as well as a Chromecast.

The more you tap and pay (at brick-and-mortar stores), the more free things you get. Each tap nets you a free song from Play Music, and when you reach ten taps you get a free Chromecast – that’s a $35 value.

Caveats? Sure. First off, to play the Tap 10 thing, you first need to see it in the Android Pay app. Currently, some people do, others don’t – it’s unclear why exactly. On the other hand, the promo does run until February 29, so that’s plenty of time for Google to get it together. When it does work, the promo shows up as a card in the Android Pay app. Tapping on it will bring you to the UI you can see in the screenshots above.

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Now that the Mate 8 is official, Huawei has switched to delivering the final touches for the upcoming P9. The successor to the P8 is probably due in a few weeks, and because of that we’re seeing more and more leaks and rumors about it.

Today’s information about the P9 comes in the form of a leaked schematic that is allegedly of this handset. As you can see, it marks a pretty big departure from the design of the P8 from 2015.

There’s a physical Home button on the front under the screen, which surely houses a fingerprint scanner – because otherwise there would be no need to forgo the software-rendered Android buttons. On the back we see a dual camera setup (which we’ve heard about before), along with a dual-LED flash. There’s a sole speaker on the bottom side of the phone, with the 3.5mm headset jack nearby.

The frame of the device is clearly going to be made out of metal, but it’s unclear if this will extend to the back as well, or if that will be a sheet of glass.

According to past rumors, the P9 should come with a 5.2-inch 1080p touchscreen, the Kirin 950 SoC, dual 12 MP cameras on the rear, as well as a 3,000 mAh battery. It could become official at MWC in February, and we might see it in stores at some point in March.

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The Samsung Galaxy J3 was announced in November, and starting today you can already pick one up from Virgin Mobile if you’re in the US. Furthermore, the handset will reach Sprint’s other prepaid brand, Boost Mobile, on January 18, which is next Monday. That’s when you’ll be able to find it in retail stores, while online availability will start on January 19.

At both prepaid carriers, the Galaxy J3 is priced at $179.99 (plus tax), obviously without any requirement of signing a long-term contract.

The Galaxy J3 has a 5-inch 720p Super AMOLED touchscreen, a 5 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 2 MP front-facing unit, a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, 4G LTE, and a 2,600 mAh battery. It runs Android 5.1 Lollipop.

The version sold at Virgin and Boost has lesser cameras than the internationally-announced model, but it also comes with double the internal storage.

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After giving it a provisional nod back in October last year, UK’s competition watchdog CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) has given a green signal to the BT-EE deal.

Formally announced back in February 2015, the deal will see the British telecommunications giant acquiring UK’s leading mobile carrier for a total of $19 billion (£12.5 billion), creating a communications giant offering services like broadband, fixed-line, mobile, and TV.

When CMA gave the merger a provisional nod last year, the watchdog said it’ll publish a final report in January 2016. The only hurdle for the deal at that time was competitors’ (Vodafone and TalkTalk) objection to BT retaining its Openreach broadband infrastructure service. However, the deal has been cleared without conditions.

As one would expect, BT has welcomed the decision. “The combined BT and EE will be a digital champion for the UK, providing high levels of investment and driving innovation in a highly competitive market,” said BT Chief Executive Gavin Patterson.

“I have no doubt that consumers, businesses and communities will benefit as we combine the power of fibre broadband with the convenience of leading edge mobile services. I look forward to welcoming EE into the BT family.”

The company expects the merger to be complete in the coming weeks, following which it says EE owners Deutsche Telekom and Orange will have 12% and 4% of BT shares, respectively. A representative of Deutsche Telekom will also be appointed to the BT Board.

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