Pre-orders suggest Galaxy S7/S7 edge more popular than previous Galaxy flagships in Europe

Samsung has revealed that the total number of pre-orders it received for its newest flagships -the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge - in Europe was over 2.5 times more than what it received for previous Galaxy phones in the region.

People standing in line for new Samsung flagships

The revelation, which was made by the Netherlands subsidiary of the South Korean company on its website, came just days after Samsung's mobile chief Koh Dong-jin said that Galaxy S7/S7edge pre-orders have been stronger than what the company was expecting. Samsung Netherlands also revealed that of the two flagships, the edge variant is more popular, accounting for a total of 61% pre-orders placed in Europe.

In case you missed, the flagships officially went on sale worldwide yesterday.

UPDATE: Samsung phones are harder to repair than ever before, iFixIt tears down the Galaxy S7 (S7 edge too!)

UPDATE: iFixIt has posted the Galaxy S7 edge teardown as well. The S7 edge gets the same lousy repairability score as the Galaxy S7 did. Check out both phones in the source links below!

Ever since Samsung’s days of removable batteries and hyper-glaze plastic, Samsung’s Galaxy phones have gotten more and more difficult to repair. This time around, the Galaxy S7 scored a low 3/10 for user repairability.

Compared to Galaxies past, the Galaxy S6 had a score of 4/10, the S5 scored 5/10, and the hyper-glazed Galaxy S4 scored 8/10 as pretty easily repairable. These phones are becoming more and more complex and harder to repair now.

The good news is components are separated better and not stuck together to the midframe as was the case with the Galaxy S6. The bad news is, well, good luck getting into the device. The only way to gain access to the S7’s internals is by removing the rear glass panel, which is a feat all by itself.

Heat is needed to remove the adhesive that keeps the glass on the back. At this point, you’re five hundred times better off buying an insurance plan for your device in case the screen shatters or the components fail (looking at you, Galaxy S4).

Just make sure you all get cases for your new Galaxy phones!

Microsoft Lumia 650 is now up for pre-order in the US and Canada, ships by April 1

Well, that didn't take long. Just yesterday Microsoft said availability details for the Lumia 650 in the US would be coming later this week, and here we are one day later and the phone is already up for pre-order.

That's right, if you live in the US (or Canada) and insist on being among the first people in North America to sport a Lumia 650, you can pre-order one now for $199 (or CAD 199) straight from Microsoft's online store. The "ships by" date is the same for both countries - April 1 (and hopefully not a joke).

That price obviously nets you an unlocked device, and one that even comes with dual-SIM functionality (which isn't something usually seen in North America).

The Lumia 650 has a 5-inch 720p touchscreen, an 8 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 5 MP selfie cam, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 chipset at the helm (featuring a 1.3 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU), 1GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, LTE, and a 2,000 mAh battery. It runs Windows 10 Mobile.

LG Lancet gets large price cut, now available for just $75

The Windows Phone 8.1-powered LG Lancet smartphone has received a large price cut. The device, which was launched last year, is now listed on Microsoft's US Store website for $74.99.

That's a discount of over $100 if you're considering purchasing it from the Redmond, Washington-based company's online store, where it usually sells for $179.00. However, keep in mind that the handset costs around $120 if you directly buy it from Verizon.

Specs-wise, the phone packs in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 chipset and sports a 4.5-inch display. It comes with 8GB of expandable internal memory and features an 8MP rear camera unit.

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge available for $700 in US

If you are in the United States, and are planning to purchase a Samsung Galaxy S7 edge, you'll be glad to know that you can currently get it at the price of Galaxy S7.

eBay seller 232tech is currently selling the new Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (32GB) for $700, which is down $100 when compared to carrier locked variants at the moment and $200 cheaper if you purchase the phone outright.

The unit on offer is unlocked and carries a model number of SM-G935F, which means that it's an international model. What's worth reminding here is that unlike US models (which pack in SD820 chipset), international Galaxy S7/S7 edge models are powered by the latest Exynos SoC.

Available in gold color option, the phone is only compatible with GSM carriers.

Galaxy S7 could help you use Chromecast on hotel Wi-Fi with web-based login

You know this has happened to you before: You are going on a trip which involves staying overnight in a hotel so when you pack you are thinking to yourself: “I should pack my Chromecast too!” So you roll the USB cable up with your Chromecast and stuff it into a suitcase while you think about what a genius you are.

Next, you get to your hotel room, hopefully it has a TV with HDMI ports. Then you plug your Chromecast in and power it up, only to realize that you cannot use it because in order to use your hotel’s Wi-Fi, you need to use a web-based login page to gain access to the internet.

You are like “Daaaamnnnn, I can’t use my Chromecast. UGH! Maybe I can tether to my phone.” But if you don’t have unlimited data, you might hate yourself.

But as it turns out, with the Galaxy S7, (In theory, as I haven’t tried this myself) you’d be able to log into the web-based hotel Wi-Fiwith your phone, accept the terms and blah blah blah (now here’s where it gets interesting). There’s a feature on the Galaxy S7 (and edge) called Wi-Fi sharing. It allows your phone to act as a Wi-Fi repeater to retransmit the signal of another Wi-Fi network.

All you have to do is the following:

• Log into hotel Wi-Fi using phone
• Turn on Wi-Fi tethering
• Factory reset your Chromecast with the app
• Set up Chromecast with phone’s hotspot
• Mooch off hotel Wi-Fi

To turn the Wi-Fi sharing feature off, you can go to Settings >> Mobile hotspot and tethering >> and tap on the MORE tab.

Now, I don’t have an S7 unit myself, so I cannot confirm if a secondary device is needed to control the Chromecast or if you can use the S7 to control the Chromecast directly. If you have an S7 and would like to try this out, let us know in the comments if you are able to tether your Chromecast to your S7 AND control the Chromecast WITH your S7.

Deal: Moto X Pure Edition just $300 at Amazon, Best Buy and Motorola.com

(Also known as the Moto X Style outside the US)

If you’ve been looking for a deal on the Moto X Pure Edition, look no further. Motorola’s last phablet is slimming down its price across multiple retailers both online and brick and mortar.

Best Buy has the phone available either shipped from virtual shelves or you can walk into a store and pick up the black model. Though, it’d be a good idea to check your local store’s inventory before making the trip.

If you don’t feel like going anywhere and would rather let Amazon ship the phone to you with two-day Prime shipping, you can choose between a white and black model. And if you don’t want either black or white, you can even design your own Moto X Pure Edition directly on Moto Maker!

Even Motorola’s official website has slashed the price of the Moto X. So you can customize your Moto X to exactly how you want it to look and still pay the same $300 discount price. That’s a great deal for a great phone.

The Moto X is compatible with all GSM and CDMA networks in the US including Sprint and Verizon. The Moto X features a Snapdragon 808 chipset paired with 3GB of RAM and Adreno 418 graphics. There’s a large 5.7 inch LCD display big enough to enjoy photos taken with the 21MP rear facing camera. There is also a microSD card slot to store up to 128GB of your media library.

Use Samsung Pay on your Galaxy S7 or S7 edge, get a free $30 gift card

Samsung has launched yet another promotional offer hoping to help the adoption of its mobile payments service. This one is aimed at fresh owners of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge duo, handsets which only became available today (though pre-orders have been shipped three days ago).

It's simple, really. Set up Samsung Pay on your S7 or S7 edge, make an in-store payment using the service, and you'll receive a free $30 gift card. If you use Bank of America debit cards or private label cards to complete that first transaction though, you won't be eligible for the gift card.

As for the gift cards themselves, you can choose one from the following merchants: Best Buy, eBay, Whole Foods, Nike, or Regal Cinema. After you've made the aforementioned qualifying transaction using Samsung Pay, you'll see a pop-up informing you about the gift card offer, which is when you choose one of these merchants.

The pretty obvious caveat is that the promo is US-only. Also, it's only going to be valid until March 31.

Samsung's 18.4-inch Galaxy View tablet is now available at Verizon

If you've wanted to pick up one of Samsung's huge, 18.4-inch Galaxy View tablets but for some reason decided to make your purchase from a carrier, then this is for you. The tablet which was initially announced back in October of last year is now up for grabs from Verizon.

You can get it using a device payment plan, in which case you'll shell out $24.99 per month for two years. Or if you want to just pay the whole sum upfront, that will be $599.99. On the other hand, if you sign one of those old-fashioned two-year service agreements, the tablet will be yours for $499.99. You can add the Galaxy View to an existing Verizon plan for an amount that starts at $10 per month.

The tablet comes with 4G LTE support, of course, as well as an 18.4-inch 1080p touchscreen, the Exynos 7580 chipset (with a 1.6 GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU), 2GB of RAM, 64GB of expandable storage, a 2.1 MP front-facing camera, and a 5,700 mAh battery. It runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.

Apple software SVP says closing recent apps does not improve battery life

It is a question that seems to bother most smartphone users at one point or another - what happens to an app once its closed and is it eating away at that all-important battery life. It is a pretty valid concern and you can easily hear pretty convincing arguments on both sides, so it is quite understandable that one iPhone user decided to take it up with Tim Cook himself.

We are far from the idea that this is the first such question to arrive on Apple's email servers, but it is one of those rare occasions when the person actually got a response. It wasn't from Tim Cook, but rather from Apple iOS chief Craig Federighi, who is arguably even more qualified to provide an answer. The response itself was short and straight to the point, leaving no room for hesitation - a resounding NO.

This is probably the firmest somewhat official stance Apple has ever taken on the issue and the reply does fit nicely with previous examples of such email responses, like the ones Steve Jobs used to send out quite frequently. Plus, the email headers have already been verified for authenticity and everything checks out.

The only thing missing from the response, however, is any form of clarification. We won't dig too deep into the matter, but we do feel it is necessary to mention that background tasks and services are very much a thing on iOS. That being said, a closed app is pretty much suspended and not using any notable resources on your device, but any app that has background syncing of any sorts, still uses up resources, battery and data, just take Facebook for instance. Thankfully, iOS has the Background App Refresh menu to help you with managing such activities, so you can generally mend any such drainage yourself, assuming the lack of app bugs that is.

And as for forcefully closing Apps, Apple suggests you only reserve that as a drastic measure when something hands or misbehaves in any way.

Sony is seeding an early Marshmallow build to Z3, Z3 Compact and Z2 Xperia Beta participants

Sony is working hard to bring Android Marshmallow to its users. Naturally, the process started with the Xperia Z5 and more recently, the Z5 Compact, with the Z5 Premium is expected to join in any time now. However, the Japanese giant has also made a commitment to bring Android 6 to a slew of other devices across its lineup, going as far back as the Z3, Z3 Compact and even the Z2.

Today, these three models are seeing their first taste of Marshmallow, but there are a few clarifications to be made. Sony is indeed seeding an Android 6.0.1 build for the Z3, Z3 Compact and Z2, but it is an early Beta release and only available for devices participating in the Xperia Beta program.

For those who aren't in the know, the test was launched a few months back and limited to the following European countries: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Ireland, and Germany.

The build in question bears the number 23.5.A.0.486 and although it is a higher version than the 6.0 ROM currently seeding to the Z5 and Z5 Compact, they actually contain security patches up until December 2015, instead of the current February 2016 ones. This is because, as we already mentioned, the builds are very early and intended as a beta test for future OTAs on these older Xperia models. It is also worth noting that we are talking about a release candidate software of sorts, that should eventually make its way to a full release, as opposed to the conceptual builds from last October, which were more or less and idea playground.

We are happy to report that users will not only be getting the Google-provided new features, like Dozing and runtime app permissions, but also new Xperia software, like the much-needed camera app overhaul, as well as the new Xperia Launcher.

Samsung quietly outs the Galaxy Tab A (2016)

We have been having a pair of Samsung tablets on the radar for quite some time now - the Galaxy Tab A and Galaxy Tab E. Now we learn that the former was quietly announced and is now listed on the company website.

The listing in question can be found across a multitude of Samsung regional websites, but the German one seems to have the most details.

In terms of specs, the device is rather modest and features a 7-inch LCD display with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels. Underneath the hood is a quad-core processor, clocked at 1.3 GHz and 1.5GB of RAM. On-board storage is just 8GB, but thankfully there is a microSD card slot as well.

The camera setup consists of a 5MP main shooter and a 2MP selfie one. The Galaxy Tab A boots Android 5.1 Lollipop, possibly with an all new Kinds Mode by Samsung and is powered by a 4,000 mAh battery.

Available color options seem to include the basic black and white and we didn't manage to spot a network-enabled version to add on to the natural Wi-Fi connectivity, but maybe it will be made available as well. As for pricing, some early retailer listings suggest €169,00.