LG G5 global launch set for March 31; Best Buy starts taking pre-orders

LG has announced that its newest flagship - the G5 - will go on sale globally on March 31. The South Korean company said that the modular phone will come with freebies (ranging from its camera module to a battery pack worth over $100) that will vary depending on the country.

Prices of a couple of G5's friends (accessories) have also been revealed: the Cam Plus camera grip will carry a price tag of around $85, while the audio module (Bang & Olufsen DAC) will set you back around $160.

Over in the US, Best Buy has started accepting pre-orders for the AT&T and Sprint variants - Verizon variant will be up for pre-order starting March 24.

The retailer is offering $100 savings on the device with purchase and activation of a 2-year contract with Sprint. Alternatively, buyers will get a $100 Best Buy gift card with purchase and activation of monthly installment plan - this promo is also available for the AT&T variant.

In addition, all purchases will come with a free bundle (worth $90) that includes a replacement battery, charging cradle, and USB-C to micro-USB adapter.

Lenovo K3 Note gets the Marshmallow update

The Lenovo K3 Note is getting the Android Marshmallow. Customers in India can now check their phone to download the OTA update.

Back in January, Anuj Sharma, Lenovo Product Manager for smartphones in India, teased an image of the phone running a test build of the new OS. Since then there hasn't been any word from him or Lenovo on the status of the update, until today when users started getting the update.

The build number is K50a40_S121_150813_ROW_TO_K50a40_S322_160314_ROW and the size is 1657MB. Check if the update is available for download on your device.

LG X screen now available for purchase in Europe

If you recall, LG announced a new 'X' series of smartphones last month. The first two devices in the series - the X cam and X screen - were unveiled at this year's MWC. Now, the company has started selling the latter in Europe.

Specifically, the handset is now available for purchase in the Netherlands, where the black color variant of the phone is currently listed on woos.nl for €343.64.

Specs-wise, the X screen is powered by a quad-core 1.2 GHz CPU and sports a 4.93-inch IPS LCD display. It comes with 2GB and 16GB expandable internal memory, and packs in a 2,300 mAh battery. In terms of camera, the device features a 13MP rear unit and an 8MP front shooter. It runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Other devices in the X series reportedly include the X max, X speed, X style, and X power, and they are expected to be unveiled sometime later this year.

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge now selling in India

Samsung is wasting no time when it comes to bringing its new offers to the Indian market. A little over a week after the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge were announced at a New Delhi event they have started selling throughout the country. You can buy either one straight from Samsung's online sore or retailers like Flipkart, as well as many local stores.

The Indian market is getting Exynos 8890-based models and a hybrid dual SIM card slot for extra convenience. As a quick reminder, other specs highlights include a 5.1 or 5.5 inch Super AMOLED display, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 12MP camera with Dual Pixel technology and a spacious battery (3000 mAh or 3600 mAh). The typical retail prices are INR 48,900 ($733) for the S7 and INR 56,900 ($855) for its edge sibling. Be sure to keep these in mind while shopping, so you don't overpay.

Amazon India seems a bit late to the party, as it still doesn't offer the flagship duo. However, that is said to change shortly. It is also worth noting that the Korean giant has conveniently timed the Galaxy S6 Marshmallow update and the OTA is currently seeding.

First update to Android N Developer Preview rolling out

Just over a week after the Android N Developer Preview was released, Google has pushed out the first update to it. Rolling out to the Nexus 5X, 6P, 9, and 9 LTE over-the-air (OTA), the update addresses some performance issues.

The updated factory images have also been uploaded in case you want to stick to the traditional way of flashing and updating. Keep in mind that your device should be beta-enrolled to receive the OTA.

The update carries a build number of NPC56W for the Nexus 5X and 6P and arrives as NPC56X for the Nexus 9 and 9 LTE. Reports say the update - which weighs in at around 30MB - is also rolling out to the Nexus Player, carrying a build number of NCP56R.

Alcatel Idol 4 Pro spotted on GFXBench with 6-inch display, 20MP camera

Just a day after an alleged render of Alcatel's Idol 4 Pro smartphone (shown below) leaked online, the Windows 10-powered device has been spotted on GFXBench, revealing some of its previously-unknown key specs.

The listing reveals that the handset sports a 6-inch display, and features a 20MP rear and 9MP front camera. RAM is listed as 2GB, although we think it should be more than that (3 or 4GB considering it's a high-end device). Internal memory should be 64GB.

Other specs, such as 1080p display resolution and Snapdragon 820 SoC have been mentioned in some earlier rumors as well. Aside from these, the Idol 4 Pro is said to be powered by Windows 10 Mobile, and is also rumored to support Continuum.

Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 edge getting March security update

A week after they officially went on sale, both Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge have started receiving this month's Android security update. Specifically, T-Mobile has already started the roll-out, while Verizon will begin pushing the update on March 18.

While T-Mobile doesn't explicitly say that it's Android's March security update, Verizon's update page clearly mentions that the update includes "the most up to date Android security patch." The T-Mobile update carries a build number of UVS2APB8, while the Verizon's arrives as build number VRS2APB4.

With two of the Big Four US carriers rolling out the update, we assume that the other two - AT&T and Sprint - will also get into action soon. In case you don't already know, this is not the first update for the edge variant, which received a small but urgent update a day before the devices' official launch.

Twitter discontinues TweetDeck app for Windows

TweetDeck has announce that it will discontinuing the Windows desktop app for TweetDeck. Going forward, Windows users will have to access TweetDeck from their browsers, by visiting tweetdeck.twitter.com. 

The desktop apps for Windows and OS X were created after Twitter acquired TweetDeck back in 2011. They were nothing more than the website inside a wrapper, so there wasn't a lot of reasons to use them to begin with.

Incidentally, the OS X app and the Chrome "app" continue to exist for now, and it's just the Windows app getting the axe. Perhaps the OS X app will be dropped soon too, since both platforms have native apps from Twitter now on their respective stores.

Twitter has also made it easier to log into TweetDeck now. If you're logged into the Twitter website in your browser, you will automatically be logged in to your TweetDeck.

More Canadian carriers are now offering BlackBerry Priv for $300 on-contract

Last month, we told you about BlackBerry Priv's Bell variant getting a price cut to CAD 299.99. While that deal is still active, more Canadian carriers have joined the party.

Aside from Bell, now Rogers and Sasktel are also offering BlackBerry's debut Android phone for CAD 299.99 on a regular two-year contract. FYI, all three carriers were selling the handset for CAD 399.99 (on contract) at launch.

If, however, you are planning to purchase the Priv outright, that will still cost you CAD 800 at-least (price may go up depending on the carrier of your choice).

Finally, Chrome mobile defaults to tab switching within the app

Google first introduced this feature with the launch of Lollipop on the Motorola Nexus 6 to show off the OS’ new ability to show individual app processes among other apps in the multitasking window. Although, putting Chrome’s tabs in the app switcher makes it so easy to lose a past tab and makes it impossible to clear all Chrome tabs.

As of version 49, the Chrome app no longer defaults this option of putting every single Chrome tab in the app switcher. Most people may not care about this, but this is more for people who are constantly getting new phones or always wiping their phones for a new custom ROM.

I personally did not like this feature and always disabled it upon setting up Chrome for the first time. I’m glad Google decided to change its mind about the option and I’m sure more people will appreciate it, although, many may not even notice the change.

Galaxy S7 has a native DPI setting, but it’s tucked away somewhere…

There is a way to access this hidden menu, perhaps Samsung intended to activate the setting in a future software update, but if you want your Galaxy S7 to display more content on the same size screen, you can follow these steps to do just that.

• Download Nova Launcher from the Play Store
• Long-press an empty space in the homescreen and find the Widgets section
• Choose the “Activities” widget and place it on any homescreen page
• Find “Settings” and then pick .DisplayScalingActivity
• Once the new widget shortcut appears, tap on it
• Choose between Standard and Condensed
• Enjoy more overall space around the OS, including those oversized statusbar icons that take up half the status bar

Sure, it’s kind of tedious, but hey, at least neither root nor ADB commands are required in order to enjoy a little more space for your Galaxy S7’s beautiful AMOLED screen.

Here is one example below, but check our more screenshots at the source link from XDA-Developers.

T-Mobile brings YouTube on as a Binge On content provider, after negotiation

After Google called out T-Mobile on sneakily throttling all of YouTube’s data over T-Mobile’s towers, T-Mobile got a lot of backlash for doing so without notifying YouTube nor its customers first.

The biggest reason why YouTube raised these concerns was because T-Mobile took it upon itself to throttle all video streams without notifying the provider (in this case YouTube). Content providers shouldn’t have to let its customers’ experience suffer just because a carrier happens to lower the quality of content being provided to the customer.

After further discussions and negotiations, T-Mobile and YouTube have reached an agreement. It would be in YouTube’s best interest to join Binge On as they now get millions of more views which, of course, means YouTube gets to show more ads. T-Mobile now has guidelines for content providers to decide whether or not they’d like for T-Mobile to optimize the video streams or leave them untouched.

Google said in its release: “We think these changes, which T-Mobile is making for all users and video providers on a non-preferential basis, can help ensure that the program works well for all users and the entire video ecosystem.”

If you don’t know what’s going on, Binge On was an initiative started by T-Mobile toward the end of last year which promised customers the freedom to watch all the video content they wanted at a reduced quality where it would not count against the subscribers data bucket.