Samsung initiated an Android Marshmallow campaign, which aims to improve the quality of the upcoming firmware updates, based on the user feedback from the people participating in the public beta test.

Samsung had a few problems with the latest Lollipop updates, some of those issues led to update rollout suspensions and delays. This sure is quite unpleasant for the users, who already installed the update and can’t downgrade easily.

Apparently Samsung has finally learned the lesson and is opening a beta channel for beta testing the latest updates. Android Marshmallow is the latest OS version and Samsung plans to deliver it to a bunch of smartphones, but the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge will be among the first to get the next major firmware update.

That’s the reason Samsung chose the S6 and S6 edge to be the first devices to participate in the beta program. They will be able to get the latest Marshmallow builds today and the program will last until January 18. There is a catch though – South Korea is the only market where the beta test will occur and it is available only to devices hooked up on KT and LGU+ carriers.

If you happen to fulfill the requirements you need to download the Galaxy Care app from the Play Store and follow the instructions.

With the beta program available Samsung will be able to test its upcoming builds better and faster and hopefully speed the official rollout of the Marshmallow update.

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Micromax has partnered with mobile payment company TranServ to introduce a new smartphone based native payment system. With this service, users will be able to conduct financial and social transactions such as sending or requesting money, splitting bills, sending gifts to friends and making payments through native phone integrations, such as contacts in the device address book.

TranServ will be providing an all pervasive payments layer to the service ecosystem that will work beyond Micromax devices. TranServ has also partnered with banks and there will be a Visa card powered by a partner bank that will be offered to Micromax customers, which will allow them to use the service even in offline situations. The service is opt-in and will come pre-installed on future Micromax devices and via a software update to existing devices.

The service will also offer solutions such as micro-loans and other personal financial services. Customers will be able to top-up their digital wallet online or with cash at Micromax and TranServ service network across the country.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Vikas Jain, Co-founder, Micromax Informatics said, “At Micromax, we have always believed in bringing more value to our consumers by integrating the best in class services on our devices and this is where the future is. Our vision is to enable users to enjoy a seamless and delightful experience across categories like Hospitality, Travel, Healthcare, Entertainment, E Commerce or Payments where we populate the gaps to map their digital journey to their fulfilled world. The growth in mobile payments has a lot to do with the ease of payment and tight integration with popular services. And our partnership with TranServ will bring Indian consumers, the most convenient & easy way to mirror their life on the fast evolving internet and mobile ecosystem. We have a roadmap to provide integrated services and leverage the mobile as a platform to converge these services. We will continue to invest resources, partnerships, time, effort and money to ensure our customers get what they want and the whole of the ecosystem shifts to meet the requirement of the consumers.”

Speaking on the association Mr. Anish Williams, Co-founder & CEO, TranServ said, “With India emerging as the largest mobile phone user base in the world, the future of payments in India is heavily inclined towards smartphones. TranServ has been championing the cause of reshaping the payments industry and our partnership with Micromax would allow us to collaborate with a leading player who shares our vision of creating a seamless and secure payments ecosystem and enjoin our efforts to help India achieve the status of a cashless…

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Unofficial sources cited by South Korea’s Electronic Times say Samsung has entered into a partnership with AMD. The deal will see Samsung to manufacture chips for AMD in 2016.

Samsung’s foundry business in conjunction with Globalfoundries will start making CPU and GPU chips for AMD using 14nm technology.

Samsung already produces chips for AMD’s rival Nvidia as well as Apple. The company has been seeking to grow its external client base as smartphones using its own mobile Exynos chipsets haven’t been selling as much as Samsung has hoped in recent…

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After launching the 8-inch and 10.1-inch models, LG has unveiled a new variant of the G Pad II tablet. The device sports an 8.3-inch (1920 x 1200 pixel resolution) display, and is powered by a Snapdragon 615 chipset.

The tablet comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB expandable internal memory, and packs in a 4,800 mAh battery. In terms of camera, it features an 8MP rear camera and a 2MP front shooter. Measuring 216.8×126.5×8.8mm and weighing in at 366g, the new G Pad II runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.

Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, and GPS, while color options include Brown Gold. The tablet comes pre-loaded with Microsoft Office apps, and also has a built-in stylus .

The G Pad II 8.3 LTE will be available in South Korea, where local wireless carrier LG U+ will start selling it tomorrow – December 23. There’s, however, currently no word on how much it will…

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Xiaomi has launched Pick Mi in India, a home pickup, repair and drop-off after sales service.

The service is available in 6076 pin-codes, 597 cities, 29 states and 4 Union Territories across the country. Customers will just have to give a call to the number 7676404444 or 1800 103 6286 to book the service.

In metro cities, the service is operated via bike runners and through Fedex in other parts of the country. The total turnover time from picking up the device to repairing it and delivering it back is 24 hours in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata and 7-10 days for the rest of the country. Customers will be updated on the status of their device via text and email.

The service is available at a fee of INR 189 ($2.85), which can be paid online or at the time of…

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The high-end LeTV Max Pro smartphone – which was spotted on AnTuTu earlier this month – will feature an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor as well as iris recognition, according to a new report out of the company’s home country of China.

This comes after the benchmark listing revealed that the device will be powered by the upcoming Snapdragon 820 chipset, and sport a 5.5-inch (2560×1440 pixel resolution) display. It will come with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal memory, feature a 21MP/4MP camera combo, and run Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

The Max Pro is expected to be made official at LeTV’s pre-CES press conference, which is scheduled to be held on January 5 (11:30 AM) in Las…

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The Gionee Marathon M5 lite, which was made official in China over a week ago, could land in India soon. The device has been spotted listed on Zauba, a website which tracks India’s import and export.

Specs-wise, the handset is powered by a Mediatek MT6735 chipset with quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU and Mali-T720MP2 GPU, and sports a 5.0-inch (720 x 1280 pixel resolution) IPS display. It comes with 3GB RAM and 32GB expandable internal memory, and packs in a 4,000 mAh battery.

In terms of camera, the M5 lite features an 8MP rear unit and a 5MP front shooter. It runs Android 5.1 Lollipop out-of-the-box, and comes in gold and gray color options. According to the Zauba listing, the smartphone could carry a price tag of around INR 6,700 (around $100) in…

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Google and Ford are coming together to form a joint venture that will focus on manufacturing of autonomous vehicles, according to a new report. The partnership between the companies will be announced at the upcoming CES event in January.

As per the report, the new company would be legally separate from Ford, so that there are no liability concerns for the automaker. Also, the deal between the two companies would be non-exclusive.

“We have been and will continue working with many companies and discussing a variety of subjects related to our Ford Smart Mobility plan,” said a Ford spokesperson when asked to comment on the matter. Google, on the other hand, declined to comment.

This comes over a few months after automotive veteran John Krafcik became the first CEO of Google’s self-driving car project. While at that time the Mountain View, California-based company clearly stated that the project is not becoming an independent company under Alphabet, recent reports have suggested the possibility of that happening in 2016.

Via 1…

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BlackBerry CEO John Chen has hinted that the company could launch a second Android phone in 2016. While he said that the focus would be more towards the high-end, he didn’t exactly rule out the possibility of the device being a mid-ranger.

“Depends on the Priv. If the Priv is well received in the market and looks like it is. There’s a good chance […], we will still focus on the high-end probably closer to mid-range coming out in 2016,” he said in a recent interview with Bloomberg.

He, however, didn’t reveal a specific launch time frame for the handset, saying that’ll depend on how the Priv performs in the coming months – currently available in four countries, the device will land in 31 more markets in the next 3 months, he said.

For those who aren’t already aware, rumors related to the company’s second Android smartphone – currently code-named Vienna – have already surfaced, with early renders (shown below) suggesting a more orthodox BlackBerry design.

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Microsoft has updated its Cortana for Android app, bumping it to version 1.2.0.726. While the update includes some regular improvements and enhancements, what’s surprising is that it also removes the Hey Cortana feature for the US market.

While there’s no official word on why the feature – which lets users invoke the Cortana personal assistant through voice activation – has been removed, reports say it interferes with Google Now’s Ok Google functionality, leading to malfunctioning of the device’s microphone.

It’s worth mentioning that the Cortana for Android app was released only a couple of weeks ago.

As already said, Microsoft hasn’t yet commented on the reason behind the move, so it’s difficult to say if the aforementioned problem is the main reason behind the feature’s removal. We’ll update you as soon as we hear an official word on this.

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