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Amazon adds the Nokia 6, Moto E4 to its lineup of Prime Exclusive Phones

Alexandra Arici
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You’re probably familiar with Amazon’s line of Prime Exclusive Phones which awards Prime members big discounts on select phones. Well, today’s Amazon updated the portfolio to include a few new additions.

The most notable one is the Nokia 6 – which was introduced back at MWC 2017 in late February. Initially, the phone will be available only through Amazon in the US with a $179.99 price-tag for Prime members.

Amazon is also taking the opportunity to announce a trio of Alcatel phones and the new Moto E4 as part of its discounted Prime member-friendly tribe. You can see what each of them brings to the table below:

Nokia 6

Price: $179.99 (regularly $229.99)

•    5.5-inch fullHD IPS laminated display
•    Snapdragon 430 SoC
•    3GB of RAM
•    32GB of internal storage (microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 128GB)
•    16-megapixel main camera with PDAF / 8-megapixel selfie snapper
•    Fingerprint sensor embedded in home button
•    Dual Dolby Atmos speakers
•    Android 7.1 Nougat
•    3,000 mAh battery for up to 18 hours of talk time
•    Matte Black/Copper
•    Compatible with AT&T, T-Mobile networks

Alcatel IDOL 5S

Price: $199.99 (regularly $279.99)

•    5.5-inch fullHD display with 2.5D curved glass design
•    Snapdragon 625
•    3GB of RAM
•    32GB of internal storage (microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 512GB)
•    12-megapixel main camera with dual-tone flash / 8-megapixel selfie snapper
•    Fingerprint sensor
•    3.6-watt front-facing speakers plus VR launcher
•    Android 7.1 Nougat
•    2620mAh battery for up to 16 hours of talk time
•    Compatible with AT&T, T-Mobile networks (compatibility with Sprint, Verizon networks will become available this summer via software update)

Alcatel A50

Price: $99.99 (regularly $149.99)

•    5.2-inch HD display
•    Quad-core processor (?)
•    2GB of RAM
•    16GB of internal storage (microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 128GB)
•    13-megapixel main camera with dual-tone flash, f/2.0 / 5-megapixel selfie snapper with LED flash
•    Android 7.0 Nougat
•    2,800 mAh battery for up to 13 hours of talk time
•    Compatible with AT&T, T-Mobile networks
•    Bundled with LightUp SNAPBAK LED cover it costs $129.99

Alcatel A30 Plus

Price: $79.99 (regularly $129.99)

•    5.5-inch HD display
•    2GB of RAM
•    16GB of internal storage (microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 32GB)
•    13-megapixel with image stabilization / 5-megapixel selfie snapper with LED flash
•    Android 7.0 Nougat
•    3,000 mAh battery for up to 12 hours of talk time
•    Compatible with AT&T, T-Mobile networks (compatibility with Verizon will arrive this summer via software update)

Moto E4

Price: $99.99 (regularly $129.99)

  • 5-inch HD display
  • Snapdragon 427
  • 2GB of RAM
  • 16GB of internal storage (microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 128 GB)
  • 8-megapixel with autofocus / 5-megapixel selfie snapper with flash
  • Fingerprint sensor
  • Android 7.0 Nougat
  • 2,800 mAh battery for up to 12 hours of talk time
  • Unlocked for all major carriers, including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint

When will these devices be available? You can place a pre-order for any of them starting today. The Moto E4 will begin shipping to customers on June 30, while the Nokia 6 and Alcatel phones will start going out on July 10.

Virgin Mobile says it will continue to support its Android user base

Alexandra Arici
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Last week, Sprint-owned Virgin Mobile announced it will stop selling Android smartphones and will instead be offering only iPhones, as well as a new iPhone-exclusive unlimited plan dubbed the “Inner Circle”.

But while the news was greeted with enthusiasm by some, Android phone owners under the carrier were understandably starting to get worried. In a statement today, Virgin Mobile apologized for the confusion and pledged to continue to offer Android users both service and upgrades for the foreseeable future.

Bye-bye, Android!

The carrier also revealed that device upgrades for Android customers will be available through mid-2018. But what happens after that?

Virgin Mobile aims to redirect its Android users to its sister company, Boost Mobile which still offers an extensive portfolio of Android phones. The carrier says that later this year, it will provide its Android user base with a hassle-free way of switching to Boost Mobile – if they so desire.

Welcome to Boost!

Customers will be able to keep their current plan/phone or switch to any current Boost Mobile and plan/phone. It’s going to be up to them.

With the latest announcement, Virgin Mobile has shown that while it’s serious about making an exclusive commitment to Apple, it’s not completely pulling the rug underneath Android users.

Check out this luxury $2,500 Tonino Lamborghini smartphone

Alexandra Arici
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Chinese mobile smartphone maker, ZTE appears to have entered a partnership with luxury brand Tonino Lamborghini if a set of recent photographs showcasing a mysterious handset is to be believed.

Later Edit: According to Tonino Lamborghini, the phone is called the Alpha One and was launched in Asia not so long ago. So we’ve updated the article to reflect this information:

Luxury accessory maker, Tonino Lamborghini partnered up with DASAN Networks – a global IT device and networking equipment company to produce the Alpha One smartphone.

It’s not the first time Tonino Lamborghini and smartphones have been thrown in the same sentence together. Back in 2015, Tonino Lamborghini – son of founder Ferruccio Lamborghini – showcased the luxury 88 Tauri Android smartphone during CES in Las Vegas.

The device boasted stitched leather finish and a gold-plated stainless steel surrounding the phone, as well as a 5-inch display with 1920 x 1080 resolution, a Snapdragon 801 chipset, 32GB of storage and a 20-megapixel camera on the back. It also came with a huge $6,000 price-tag attached to it.

But we’re here to talk about the new Alpha One – which is a pretty unique device itself. It’s built from the same “stronger than titanium” liquid metal used in supercars. It also includes high-quality Italian leather with gold stitching.

As for specs, the Alpha One carries a 5.5-inch display with QHD resolution (2560 x 1440) and Gorilla Glass 4 protection. On the inside, there’s an older Snapdragon 820 breathing life into the device, alongside 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD card slot to 128GB).

The luxury product also takes advantage of the services of a main 20-megapixel camera with f/1.8 with optical image stabilization and an 8-megapixel selfie camera. The Alpha One puts an emphasis on audio too, by including a dual Hi-Fi chipset for 32-bit Hi-Fi playback and Dolby Atmos and stereo speaker.

The phone relies on 3,250 mAh battery and runs a customized version of Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.

The good news is that it’s a bit less expensive than the 88 Tauri. Early bird customers can pre-order the device for $2,500 from the official TL website. If you order now you’ll be able to get the Alpha One by the end of June (express delivery worldwide available).

Honor 9 launches as the “Light Catcher” on the global market

Alexandra Arici
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Earlier this month, Huawei’s sub-brand Honor unveiled the Honor 9 in China, the successor of the popular Honor 8 of last year.

The Honor 9 arrives with pretty spectacular specs and a sleek 3G glass and metal bezel design that creates a subtle metal aurora, which earned it the name of “Light Catcher”.

Well today at press conference in Berlin, Honor launched the new product (and related accessories) on the global market. For starters, the Honor 9 will be available for purchase in early July in Europe including Germany, France, Spain, and Italy starting from €449.99. In the UK, the phone will cost £379.99 SIM-free.

No word on when we can expect the phone to land in the US, but third-party retailers like Amazon will probably offer it at some point.

In case you don’t remember, the Honor 9 comes with a 5.15-inch display with fullHD resolution (1920 x 1080) and octa-core Kirin 960 processor at 2.4GHz. In France and Italy (UK gets 4GB/64GB), the phone will arrive with a 6GB/128GB of storage configuration (with microSD card slot included for memory expansion up to 256GB).

Perhaps the main attraction on the Honor 9 is the dual camera setup which includes a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor and a 12-megapixel RGB sensor with f/2.2 aperture, phase detection autofocus, and two-tone LED flash. Honor promises users will be able to take great pictures even in low lighting environments. The phone includes a Portrait mode complete with bokeh effect.

While in China, the phone will offer the services of Huawei Pay, it doesn’t look like the European variant will have it onboard – at least not at launch.

Another selling point of the Honor 9 is audio. Taking advantage of the Huawei Histen 3D sound technology, the Honor 9 owners will be able to enjoy virtual surround through their earphones in three modes – near, front and wide. Honor also partnered up with Monster for the Honor Purity equalizer which enables the new product to reproduce high-def audio with unmatched clarity.

The device is powered by a 3,200 mAh battery (with Huawei’s own 9V/2A quick charging) which should be able to sustain up to 12 hours of local video playing. We should note the phone retains the 3.5mm headphone jack and ships with Android 7.0 Nougat with EMUI 5.1 on top.

The Honor 9 which also has 50-meter water resistance capability will be available in Glacier Grey, Classic Navy Blue, and Carbon Black. Customers will also be able to pick from a series of accessories including the Honor Sport Bluetooth Earphones, Honor Band 3 and Honor Monster Earphones.

Your Amazon Echo devices can now work as a home intercom system

Alexandra Arici
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Have more than one Amazon Echo around the house? Well, Amazon is gearing up to release a new feature that will allow you to use them as a connected intercom.

The feature will become available across Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Show devices and you should expect to see it arrive within the next few days. In order to be able to use, you’ll be required to update your Alexa app.

The new option appears to be quite easy to use. You’ll need to name each room of your home which houses an Echo device and then enable the “drop-in” feature right from the Alexa app.

After which you will be able to instruct Alexa to do things like “Alexa, drop in the Kitchen Echo”. This command should immediately open up a line of communication between the nearest Alexa-enabled device and the Echo you wanted to reach.

Even better, the intercom feature is accessible even while you are away from home. Just access the Alexa app. Amazon suggests this feature comes in handy for parents or caretakers who want to check in on their kids or relatives, although more nefarious uses also come to mind.

Nevertheless, Amazon says the intercom ability was one of the most requested features for Alexa. So now the company is now giving customers what they been wanting for a while.

Buy an LG G6 or LG V20 from T-Mobile and get a free LG MiniBeam Projector, B&O headset

Alexandra Arici
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Back in February, T-Mobile had a promotion running which offered a free LG MiniBeam Projector with the purchase of the LG V20 or LG G5.

Well, a few months later a similar deal is once again available from the carrier. Buy an LG G6 or LG V20 and get an LG MiniBeam Projector and a B&O BEOPLAY H4 headset free of charge.

All you need to do once you acquired one of these two phones is visit this website. You’ll then need to submit the requested info including your name, date of birth, email address, telephone number and agree to the Terms and Conditions.

The LG G6

Once you’ve completed this steps, you’ll have to provide the date of your Qualifying Device purchase (date must be during the promo period, June 16 to July 5) and the IMEI. LG will also ask you to submit the phone’s purchase receipt and UPC label.

Customers should receive their gift within 6 weeks of validation. You can redeem your prize by July 15, 2017.

The LG V20

Interested customers can purchase the LG G6 from T-Mobile for $500 outright or for $20 down and $20/month for 24 months. If you’re interested in acquiring the LG V20, you can get it for $480 in full or for $0 down and $20/month for 24 months. Just remember the LG V30 is a few months from being released, so maybe you should wait for that.

If you want to take advantage of the deal, you best hurry up as the promotion will expire on July 5.

HURRY! The OnePlus 5 is now available for everyone

AG Deals Team
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Last week was declared “OnePlus 5” week, as the company announced its latest flagship and even made the device available for purchase for a limited time. However, if you missed out on the initial push, the wait is over.

The OnePlus 5 is now available for purchase directly from the OnePlus website and is priced at either $479 or $539. For $479, you’ll be getting the Slate Gray OnePlus 5 with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. The pricier $539 model comes in Slate Black and is packaged with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of base storage.

OnePlus 5 Specs:

  • Display: 5.5-inch 1080p Optic AMOLED
  • Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (Up to 2.45GHz)
  • RAM: 6GB/8GB LPDDR4X
  • Storage: 64GB/128GB UFS 2.1 2-Lane
  • Front Camera: 16MP
  • Rear Camera: 20MP + 16MP with f/2.6 and f/1.7 aperture
  • Battery: 3,300mAh Non-Removable w/Dash Charge
  • Software: Android 7.1.1 Nougat w/ OxygenOS
  • Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0, NFC
  • Other: USB 2.0 Type-C charging port, Fingerprint Sensor, Alert Slider

The OnePlus 5 is likely to fly off of the virtual store shelves, so if you want to get one for yourself, hit the link below before they sell out. While you’re waiting for the device to ship, let us know why you decided to pick one up and if you think OnePlus did enough to dethrone the likes of Samsung from the top device in 2017.

Buy the OnePlus 5

Essential Phone makes a pitstop at the FCC before it hits the US

AG Deals Team
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Back in May, Andy Rubin’s new company, Essential, decided to shock the Android world by announcing a brand new phone named ‘Essential Phone‘. However, ever since that announcement, things have been fairly quiet with various details coming out here and there, but many of us still wondering when the device would launch.

While we don’t have a concrete answer regarding availability, we can assume that the day is nearing as the Essential Phone was found passing through the FCC. Much of the information revealed in the FCC filing confirms what we already knew, including the fact that the Essential Phone will be compatible with all four major US carriers.

A piece of new information, however, revealed that instead of the PH-1 model number shared on the Essential web page, the device will carry a model number of “A11”. This is nothing monumental, but worth mentioning for consistency sake.

It’s likely that a few of you forgot about the Essential Phone considering all the recent hoopla regarding the OnePlus 5. Regardless, now that you’ve been reminded, let us know what you think about the Essential Phone and if you’ll be looking to snag one for yourself once it hits the market.

Cricket Rewards wants to help you save money on your monthly bill and more

AG Deals Team
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With T-Mobile giving its subscribers some freebies once a week, Cricket Wireless is looking to one-up the competition. The carrier has announced its “Cricket Rewards” program, which gives subscribers points for doing simple things like “paying your bill, playing games, and checking into locations near you.”

By completing these tasks, you are rewarded points which can in-turn be used towards various items. One of the biggest benefits to accruing points is that these can actually end up saving you money on your monthly bill. Other rewards include the ability to enter a sweepstakes for a free Color Run registration, as well as getting 3 months of WWE Network for free.

The best part about Cricket Rewards is that the carrier is offering daily giveaways, with prizes such as a free Samsung Galaxy S8, or two tickets to a House of Blues concert.

And if you think that this is just some malarkey that Cricket Wireless is working up, you can earn 10,000 points off the bat, JUST for signing up. If you enroll in Cricket’s auto pay feature, you get an additional 1,000 points, and if you add another line of service, you’ll get another 10,000 points.

There are an array of different ways for you to accrue points towards some good benefits, so if you’re already a subscriber to Cricket Wireless, be sure to sign up for Cricket Rewards and start saving. This Cricket Rewards week begins today and lasts until June 30th, so act quickly. If you’ve already started, let us know how many points you’ve accrued so far and what you’re looking forward to use your points for.

Gear Up: mophie’s latest keep your flagship phones charged for days on end

AndroidGuys
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It’s officially summer which means that the days are longer now than any other time in the year. Moreover, they’re warmer, too. In some places the days are much, much warmer (Sorry, Arizona!). If you’re at all like us, these long, warm days equate to more time outside and using our phones. Yes, we’re all over the revisions that have come to Pokemon Go.

If you’ve owned a phone for more than a few weeks, you know that it’s pretty tough to use your device for extended periods without reaching for a charger. Quick charge is nice and all, but we’re hoping to stay away from the wall altogether. A lot of us like to reach for portable chargers so that we can plug into something while out and about. In some instances, there’s another option: a mophie juice pack.

The mophie brand, which has been around for quite some time, continues to get bigger and better with each passing season. The last few weeks saw it releasing products for a number of key Android smartphones: Samsung Galaxy S8, Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, and Google Pixel XL. If you own either of these phones, you’ll certainly want to pick up a mophie accessory.

We’ve spent the last month or so playing around with a number of the new products and find them to be equal parts convenient and practical. Each serves its own need but all revolve around giving your phone more power without having to find an outlet.

Juice pack

The juice pack (about $100 each) is both a protective case and a portable charger. By putting your phone inside you’ll have protection against minor drops, scuffs, and scrapes. Moreover, your phone benefits by having a secondary power supply. Should you get to the end of a work day and find you’re running a little lower on power, simply long-press the button on the back and the case will charge your phone’s battery.

There are a number of reasons we like having a juice pack on our device that don’t have anything to do with the power. Take the one for the Pixel XL, for example. Putting one of these on your Google device will add in wireless charging, something that doesn’t come with the Pixel XL. That’s damn convenient if you ask us.

We also like that the case passes charging through the case and into the phone. So, rather than top off the juice pack, plugging into a wall puts the power into your phone first, and then into the secondary unit. The four lights on the back signal how much battery is left in the reserve tank.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Google Pixel XL juice pack offer 2,950mAh of power; the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus juice pack boasts 3,300mAh.

Charge force case & powerstation mini

The charge force case & powerstation mini is a great combo pack for customers who may have other phones in the household. While the first component is a case to protect the phone, the second piece is a portable power supply. Sold separately through mophie, the powerstation mini is an external battery. It’s small and powerful and works with any other mophie cases with charge force capabilities.

 

Simply stick it to the back of your phone and the magnets hold it into place. Spend a few minutes at dinner charging your device, or snap them together in your purse on the way home from work and you’ll be all set. The best part is that there are no cables to mess with.

Mophie does include one short microUSB cord in the box so that you can charge the battery up. Should you want to charge your phon, you can pass through the charge force powerstation mini, giving preferential treatment to the phone. Like other charging solutions from mophie, there are four lights to get a sense for how much juice is in the tank.

Conclusion

We’re big fans of mophie in general and always appreciate when it releases products designed specifically for our phones. Sure, a portable power bank is nice, but when you can get a protective case with battery capabilities, it’s a different experience.

We love that we don’t have to carry around a blocky power supply in the juice packs. Yes, it does take a little bit of time to get used to the thickness, but you’ll love it. The juice packs can be a little bit more slippery and smooth; they tend to pick up oils from touches rather easy. But, they do clean up nicely and can even take a little abuse in the process.

The charge force case & powerstation mini is what you’ll want to reach for if you like a little more textured (leather) case and don’t need the extra battery on a daily basis. Charge up the powerstation mini and keep it in a handy place like the car or purse and you’ll have an extra 3000mAh worth of battery on deck. Heck, even if you want to carry it around on a daily basis, it beats using something with a cable.

Finally, one of the biggest reasons to look to mophie for mobile accessories is that its products are backed by a two year warranty. That’s double what most others are willing to do provide.

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