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Verizon intros new prepaid unlimited data plan for $80/month

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Despite its known aversion of limited data plan, Verizon seems to be fully embracing the concept in 2017. Back in February, the nation’s largest carrier introduced Verizon Unlimited – a plan which offers smartphone and tablets unlimited talk, text, LTE data and 10GB of tethering data for $80 per month.

Now Verizon is expanding its unlimited offer with a new unlimited plan for its prepaid customers. The bundle includes unlimited data, text and talk across the US for $80/month. Users will also get unlimited text to more than 200 international destinations, and unlimited talk to Mexico and Canada. And given that this is a pre-paid plan, there are no long-term contract involved.

As usual, the deal comes with some restrictions like video streaming being limited to 480p. Another notable issue with this plan is that it doesn’t include tethering or mobile hotspot features. Big Red also says it may throttle prepaid users, but it did not share any info about a data cap.

The new plan comes to complete Verizon’s list of already existing 2GB, 5GB and 10GB data plans, as well as the carrier’s $30 basic phone plan with unlimited text and talk. Verizon now boasts it’s offering a plan for each and every customer who doesn’t want to be tied down by a long-term contract.

Sprint’s Unlimited Freedom plan now awards the 5th line for free

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This week Sprint has updated its Unlimited Freedom plan with a limited time offer. New customers who are looking to active four lines via the carrier’s unlimited plan, will be able to get the fifth line for free.

In case you don’t remember, Sprint’s Unlimited Plan awards users unlimited data, talk and text plus 1080p streaming and 10GB of mobile hotspot data per month. By contrast T-Mobile customers have to pay extra for 1080p video streaming and the mobile hotspot option, the carrier notes.

To make things even clearer, this is what you’ll get with Sprint’s new Unlimited Freedom promo. Note that the subscriber is required to sign up with AutoPay, which adds $5 of savings every month:

  • Unlimited Data, Talk and Text for $50/month for the first line
  • Two lines for $40/line
  • Four lines for $30/line
  • Fifth line is for free
  • Grand total of five lines is $120

The deal is available until June 30, 2018. After this date, pricing will be updated as follows:

  • Unlimited Data, Talk and Text for $60/month for the first line
  • Line two for $40/line
  • Lines three through five for $30/line
  • Grand total of five lines is $190

Interested in jumping onboard with an Unlimited Plan with one of the carriers in the country? You can check out our detailed article about the major four options you have at your disposal.

Some users experiencing a broken Bixby button on the Galaxy S8

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Samsung launched the Galaxy S8 and S8+ with Bixby front and center, but some users are reporting that the dedicated Bixby button included on the devices has started becoming temperamental.

Bixby is Samsung’s new virtual AI assistant aimed at allowing a user to completely control the actions that would otherwise be done with a touch input with your voice. Currently, Bixby is neither using AI or much good at being an assistant, with much of the functionality disabled due to it not being ready for launch. However, the hardware button dedicated to launching Bixby remains fully functional.

In light of the reduced functionality of Bixby, developers took to finding a way to remap the button to launch Google Assistant instead, and succeeded, only for Samsung to push an update to the S8 and S8+ rendering the method useless. Now it seems that some users who employed this workaround method are reporting that pushing the Bixby button only succeeds in launching the Samsung assistant on occasion.

Of those users affected, it seems a single press yields less of a success rate than double pressing the button and also incurs less lag.

It could be that the update Samsung pushed to users to address the remapping of the Bixby button has somehow interfered with the method used to implement the workaround rather than it being a genuine hardware failure of the Bixby button itself. With that said, there is always the possibility.

If you’re experiencing issues launching Bixby via the dedicated button on the Galaxy S8 or S8+, you should try and factory reset your device to see if it fixes the issue. Drop us a comment below and let us know if you’re seeing a similar issue with the Bixby button and if a reset resolved it for you.

Gear Up: Incipio cases for LG G6 and other flagships

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Are you the proud owner of a new LG G6 smartphone? What are you using to protect that flagship device? As delicate and sleek as that phone is, the last thing you want to do is drop it or scuff its surface. You’ll want to get a case on that thing as soon as possible.

Incipio has a variety of cases for the LG G6 which we think you’d be interested in checking out. We were sent samples of the Standard Series cases as well as Design Series and Esquire Series, and have been testing them out for the last few days. As we see it, all of them are excellent choices for customers looking to cover up the G6. Moreover, the wide assortment means you’ll find something that speaks to your needs.

NGP Pure

If you’re all about letting people see the shiny finish of your G6, this is the case for you. It’s clear, flexible, and resistant to basic impacts. In other words, there’s enough protection here to keep the scuffs away but nothing that hides the phone’s gorgeous aesthetics. The material is resistant to stretches and tears and feels great in hand. About $20.

NGP Advanced

Available in Black, Navy, and Raspberry color options, this cases is designed to handle drops without adding too much to the overall footprint. Sliding nicely into the hand, it provides a sturdy grip. It’s a great balance of protection against scuffs and shock as well as style. About $20.

Octane

Designed to handle drops from as high as six feet, the Octane is one tough case. The dual-infused material is strong, rigid, and everything else that keeps your device tucked in safely. The grip along the outer edge feels fantastic and works well when your hand, or the G6, is wet. About $25.

Dual-Pro

A two-layer setup, this one provides more protection than most of the others listed here. Offered in no less than five color options, the outside shells is smooth and soft to the touch while the inside features shock absorption. Military grade durability in a footprint that suggests otherwise. About $30.

Spring Floral

When you’re inspired by the beauty and colors of the season but don’t want to completely hide your phone, the Design Series case is one to consider. With a generally clear finish, this one has a highly detailed print that looks every bit at home with the flows and trees blooming this time of year. Not just a pretty face, it’s resistant to scratches and scrapes and can even take a slight tumble. About $25.

Esquire Series

A little more sophisticated looking than the others here, this case has a fabric material on the exterior that simply feels great. The metal accents give it just enough pop to stand out without adding any weight. It’s actually quite light in the hand. Don’t be fooled, though, it’s got it where it counts. The impact-resistant TPU frame disperses the shock of accidental drop to keep your beloved phone safe and sound. About $35.


Incipio has a wide variety of cases for not only LG phones, but Samsung, Huawei, HTC, and much more.  Be sure to check out its growing lineup of accessories online as well as through various retailers (Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart) and wireless carriers!

The NVIDIA SHIELD TV increases dominance of the 4K market with it’s latest update

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With purchase prices for 4K TVs becoming evermore affordable, the ability to stream 4K content is becoming as essential as it is desirable.

With 4K TV adoption continuing to rise and more and more 4K content being made available, there is one standalone device in today’s market that most certainly has your back.

The NVIDIA SHIELD TV

When it comes to viewing 4K, in our opinion you can’t do better than NVIDIA SHIELD. Powered by the Tegra X1 processor, which supports a plethora of high-end features, SHIELD is hands down the best streaming media player for 4K content.

With its latest update, Google Play Movies and TV joins Netflix, Amazon Video and many other apps in supporting 4K content on all SHIELD TVs – extending the already impressive leadership when it comes to 4K entertainment.

Wait, there’s more – SHIELD TV now supports Cast in 4K so 4K apps and content can now be cast from your mobile devices directly to SHIELD.

With GPM & TV now joining the ranks of SHIELD, this cements its current position as the best streaming media player for 4K content on the market today.

See exactly how SHIELD stacks up against the competition:

If you ever needed a reason to make that jump from HD to 4K and streaming is your thing – This is it right here.

10 cool tech gifts to give your mom on Mother’s Day

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Mother’s Day is just around the corner. Surprise mom this year with a unique tech gift, instead of the same clichéd spa certificates and flowers. Sure, moms might not be the first persons who come to mind when you think gadgets, but an inspired gift can show mom tech can be both fun and extremely useful. So in what follows – we’ve assembled a list of irresistible tech gifts even moms would love.

Withings Steel HR Special Edition

Introduced especially with Mother’s Day in mind, the Withings Steel HR Special Edition is a stylish hybrid smartwatch that shows smartphone notifications for calls or texts, but can also track your daily activities like walking, running or number of calories burned. Have a mom that wants to get in shape in time for this summer’s beach holiday? The Withings Steel HR Special Edition is exactly what she needs. On top of that, Withings takes care of the gift packaging as well, by shipping the smartwatch in a stylish gift box which includes the wearable with an Italian hazelnut strap plus an additional silicone one and a charger. The product is available for approximately $229.

Kindle Oasis

Does mom like to read? Then the Kindle Oasis will probably make for a perfect beach companion. The thinnest and lightest Kindle to date, can be easily carried in a beach bag or in a backpack. It features a high-resolution 300 ppi display and enhanced lighting. On top of that, its dual-battery charging system ensures the eReader can last for months on a single charge. Oasis also ships with a high-quality leather cover in black, merlot or walnut. The e-Reader can be bought for $289.99.

Google Home

Google’s voice-controlled smart speaker is a wonderful addition to any household. It’s intuitive to use and mom will certainly appreciate the extra help around the house. Or at least the additional “company”. The Google Assistant onboard can prove to be quite the conversational partner, as it can answer questions or tell a few jokes. It can also play music, set timers and control connected appliances across the house including smart light bulbs. It’s available for only $129.

HButler charging purse

Mom might not be a tech nerd, but she still carries a phone or maybe two and along with them a few charging cables. But what if you could charge your phone on the go without having to depend on a power outlet, wouldn’t that be nice? Well the HButler line of purses house a lightweight rechargeable battery of 4,000 mAh capacity. These purses include a hidden USB cable to charge the bag, and a cable to recharge the handset. There’s a wide range of HButler bag collections to choose from and the cheapest will cost you $89.95.

Michael Kors Access Reade Activity Tracker

What mom does not love jewelry? Michael Kors’ lineup of Access Reade activity trackers is what happens when you blend technology with fashion design. The tracker will help users track steps, calories, distance traveled and sleep cycles, while looking extremely gorgeous in the process. It can also control music, take a photo and ring your phone. The Reade is available in Rose Gold and Gunmetal and can be acquired for $145 a pop.

Meural Canvas

Meural Canvas is a very interesting product. It would be perfect as a gift for a mom who loves art and likes to collect paintings. Actually the Meural Canvas is a digital frame that hides a collection of up to 30,000 paintings. With the help of the smartphone companion app, mom can change the Pollock in the dining room into a Van Gogh by virtue of a simple gesture. The Meural can ship with a black, lightbox or white frame and starts $595.

HiMirror

In an era where most devices launching on the market are smart, we shouldn’t be surprised to see a smart mirror too. The HiMirror has a camera attached on top in order to assess your skin’s condition, including wrinkles, fine lines and dark circle. Before you say anything, it’s not a product that will end up making mom feel bad. On the contrary, based on the analysis the HiMirror will create a personal improvement plan which will include skincare tips, skin progress comparison and so on. The HiMirror is currently on-sale and can be acquired for $189.

Isobel phone crossbody

Want to make sure mom never forgets her smartphone at home? She surely won’t with this stylish Rebecca Minkoff phone carrying little bag. It’s available in Black and you can get it for $145. Ensure mom looks chic, while always remembering the essentials.

Oral-B Pro 7000 SmartSeries Toothbrush

If watches can be intelligent, so can toothbrushes. The Oral-B Pro 7000 SmartSeries Toothbrush will help mom keep track of her dental hygiene. Once connected to the smartphone companion app, the brush will send relevant information including whether you’re brushing in the right places, pressing to hard of brushing enough. It’s available for $135 on Amazon.

Misfit Link

Don’t have a large budget this year but you still want to get mom something nice? How about a nice, discrete fitness tracker? The Misfit Link is one of the most affordable fitness companions out there and despite the low price – has a few tricks up its sleeve.  The device can be clipped to a piece of clothing and is capable of tracking steps, distance, calories and sleep cycles. Grab it for $15.

ZTE MAX XL now available at Boost Mobile for $129.99

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On top of announcing the ZTE Blade Max 3 today, the Chinese company has also introduced the new MAX XL handset which will be available at Boost Mobile for $129.99 a pop. However, if you hurry up and purchase it online you’ll be asked to spend only $101.99.

For this amount of money customers will get a 6-inch IPS display with 1920 x 1080 resolution and Gorilla Glass 3 for protection. On the inside powering the phone, there’s a Snapdragon 435 working in combination with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage (microSD card slot available for memory expansion up to 128GB).

Unlike the ZTE Blade Max 3 unveiled earlier today, the ZTE MAX XL does not feature a dual camera setup onboard, but rocks a singular 13-megapixel main camera and a 5-megapixel selfie one.

ZTE’s latest handset for Boost Mobile is also said to support Sprint’s High Performance User Equipment Standard (HPUE) which means increased coverage, more capacity and faster network speeds. We should also note, the phone has a fingerprint scanner located on the back and a hefty 3,990 mAh battery.

The device runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat right out of the box, unlike the other new ZTE phone which is stuck at Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Boost Mobile will also be able to acquire the handset with the carrier’s 2GB plan that offers unlimited talk, text for $30 with auto-renew or $35 without it. Or they can grab it on Boost’s Unlimited Gigs Plan too with starts at $50 per month.

ZTE Blade Max 3 dual-camera phone lands at US Cellular

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This week ZTE is extending its product portfolio in the US with the introduction of the new Blade Max 3. The phone come to replace the ZTE Imperial Max and will be offered by US Cellular.

The ZTE Blade Max 3 is a big phone coming with a 6-inch display and fullHD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels). Like the ZTE Blade V8 Pro, a model which the Chinese company introduced at CES 2017, the Blade Max 3 takes advantage of an octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor. The carrier also offers it with 16GB of built-in storage (microSD card slot also available for memory increase up to 128GB).

While US Cellular doesn’t make a note of the phone’s RAM capacity, the product probably carriers at least 2GB. And just the Blade V8 Pro, the Max 3 is also a dual camera phone. On the back, the handset takes advantage a 13-megapixel sensor with Phase Detection Autofocus that works in concert with another 13-megapixel mono sensor. When it comes to selfies, customers can take advantage of the secondary 5-megapixel snapper.

On the negative side of things, the ZTE Blade Max 3 ships out with Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box and at this moment we don’t really know whether the phone will ever get Android 7.0 Nougat treatment or not. We should also mention, the phone has a fingerprint scanner located on the back and a 4,000 mAh non-removable battery too and listen to this – a dedicated DAC (digital-to-analog convertor) for high quality audio.

Interested parties can pick up the dual-camera phone from US Cellular for $199.99 outright (with a $100 online discount applied) or for $12.5/month for the next 24 months.

Google is working on a drag-and-drop feat for Android, new patent suggests

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Soon Android might get a popular desktop function which allows users to seamlessly share files, photos, music or videos. We’re talking about drag-and-drop, a feature most PC-users are familiar with.

A new Google patent which has been unearthed by What a Future suggests drag-and-drop might be headed for Android. The documents indicate that in the near future Android users will be able to easily share files and even select bits of texts between apps.

In one of the example provided in the patent, Google ask us to imagine a scenario where you are chatting with a friend who suggests having dinner at a new restaurant in town called “The Rock”. Let’s say you want to make a reservation – you’ll need to highlight the name and then drag the text to any of the apps from a list of “droppable” apps. In this case, you’ll have to drag-and-drop the info into a restaurant booking app.

A second scenario involves taking a picture of a landmark and then drag-and-dropping it into Google Maps so you can swiftly get directions to the monument. Or you could drag the photo to an online storage app and get a URL in return.

According to Google, the new feature relies on machine learning to learn the users’ drag-and-dropping habits in order to be able to predict where the user might want to paste info next. What’s more, the technology also allows makes the new tool capable of “discerning” whether “The Rock” indicates a local restaurant, the actor or the Alcatraz Island.

While this feature will certainly be nice to have, keep in mind that this is just a patent so Google might just be experimenting with the idea – nothing more. On the other hand, don’t be surprised if the new drag-and-drop feat makes an appearance in Android O.

Google announces nominees for Google Play Awards 2017

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Google Play Awards will be making a comeback at the Google I/O 2017 which is happening between May 17 and May 19. The search giant wants to pay tribute to some of the best apps in the Android stores including Standout Indie, Best VR Experience and Best Apps for Kids, so it announced the nominees for this year’s event. You can check them out below:

Standout Indie

  1. Causality
  2. Kingdom: New Lands
  3. Mars: Mars
  4. Mushroom 11
  5. Reigns

Standout Startup

  1. CastBox
  2. Digit
  3. Discord
  4. HOOKED
  5. Simple Habit

Best Android Wear Experience

  1. Bring!
  2. Foursquare City Guide
  3. Lifesum
  4. Runtastic Running & Fitness
  5. Seven

Best TV Experience

  1. AbemaTV
  2. Haystack TV
  3. KKBox
  4. Netflix
  5. Red Bull TV

Best VR Experience

  1. Gunjack: End of Shift
  2. Mekorama VR
  3. The Arcslinger
  4. The Turning Forest
  5. Virtual Virtual Reality

Best AR Experience

  1. Crayola Color Blaster
  2. Dinosaurs Among Us
  3. Holo
  4. Wayfair View
  5. Woorld

Best App for Kids

  1. Animal Jam – Play Wild!
  2. Hot Wheels: Race Off
  3. Teeny Titans
  4. Think! Think!
  5. Toca Life: Vecation

Best Multiplayer Game

  1. Dawn of Titans
  2. FIFA Mobile
  3. Hearthstone
  4. Lords Mobile
  5. Modern Strike Online!

Best App

  1. Citymapper
  2. Fabulous
  3. Memrise
  4. Money Lover
  5. Quick

Best Game

  1. Choices
  2. Fire Emblem Heroes
  3. Lineage 2 Revolution
  4. Pokemon Go
  5. Transformers: Forged to Fight

Best Accessibility Experience

  1. A Blind Legend
  2. Eye-D
  3. IFTTT
  4. Open Sesame
  5. SwiftKey Symbols

Best Social Impact

  1. Charity Miles
  2. Peek Acuity
  3. Prodeaf
  4. Sea Hero Quest
  5. ShareTheMeal

Google says to tune in on May 18th at 6:30 PDT to see who wins. During the Google I/O 2017, Google is also expected to discuss Android O in-depth, but also announce improvements to popular products and services such as Google Assistant, Google Home, Android Wear, VR, Project Fi and much, much more.