Samsung Galaxy S7 edge units in UK getting March security update

Less than a week after Samsung's newest flagships - the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge - started getting the March security update in the US, the update has started hitting S7 edge units in the UK.

Weighing in at 74.34MB, the update obviously brings all the latest security fixes in Google's mobile operating system. However, there's currently no information on exactly what other changes (if any) are included in the update.

Also not known at the moment is whether or not the standard variant - the Galaxy S7 - has also started receiving the update in the UK, but we'll let you know as soon as we hear something about it.

Oppo to start manufacturing 1 million 4G phones a month in India

Oppo has revealed that starting this August, it will be manufacturing a million 4G phones/month in India. The revelation was made by Mike Wang, CEO of the Chinese company's India subsidiary.

Wang also revealed that the units will be designed in China but will be manufactured at the company's production facility in Noida, a neighboring city of India's national capital New Delhi. He said that the phones will be manufactured after "local level customization for the India market."

As for what kind of phones Oppo will be churning out, Wang didn't reveal any specific models, but did say that the units would be priced in the INR 10,000-20,000 range, which translates into $150 - $300 at current exchange rates. When asked about Foxconn, which currently manufactures Oppo handsets in India, Wang said that arrangement will remain unaffected even after the Noida factory is up and running.

In case you missed, India recently surpassed the US to become the second largest smartphone market in the world.

Marshmallow update starts hitting Samsung Galaxy S5

Samsung's flagship from 2014 - the Galaxy S5 - has finally started getting the Marshmallow update. The update is currently rolling out to S5 variants with model number SM-G900L operating on South Korean carrier LG Uplus.

Bringing Android version 6.0.1, the update also includes stability improvements, speed optimizations, as well as several bug fixes. If you are a S5 (SM-G900L) owner, and haven't received the OTA notification yet, you can manually check for the update by heading to your device's Settings menu.

This comes over a month after the update started hitting the South Korean company's S6 and S6 edge flagship smartphones.

Samsung-Apple patent war: US Supreme Court agrees to take up Samsung's appeal

Rejecting Apple's request to decide otherwise, the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear Samsung's appeal to re-examine the decisions made in its patent case against Apple so far.

This comes around three months after the South Korean tech giant filed the appeal. In case you don't already know, Samsung's decision to move the Supreme Court came in the wake of the company agreeing to pay Apple $548 million to settle their years long patent legal case.

At the core, Samsung wants the Supreme Court to review how patent cases, specifically those related to design, are dealt with. It argues that unlike cases related to utility patents (that cover how a product functions), the jury isn't given all the details on how to understand the patents when dealing with design patent-related cases.

In addition, the company is also questioning the way damages are calculated in these cases, noting that in certain scenarios a convicted company can even be made to pay the entirety of its profits multiple times.

This comes less than a month after the US Court of Appeals overturned a lower court verdict from 2014 that held Samsung guilty of infringing on the Cupertino-based company's smartphone patents and directed the former to pay $119.6 million as damages.

LG announces global rollout of its X smartphone series

Over a month after announcing it, LG has commenced the global roll out of its X smartphone series. An official announcement in this regard was made by the South Korean company today.

LG said that starting this week, the X screen (above) and X cam (below) smartphones - which were unveiled at this year's MWC last month - will be available in the company's home country of South Korea followed by other markets including Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The company defines the X series as "a mass-tier smartphone lineup with premium features until now only available on LG’s flagship models."

"What’s appealing about the X screen and X cam is that each offers one great feature in a complete package that doesn’t break the bank," said Juno Cho, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. "Starting with the X series, we’re introducing the best in camera and display technology in a mass-tier device, something that has never been done before."

In case you missed, the X screen is already available for purchase in the Netherlands.

Editorial: Did Apple give up on Force Touch?

Apple has always prided itself with innovation. Among the company's latest achievements to go under this category is the Force Touch feature introduced with the Apple Watch, and later found its way to the MackBook. The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus also sport a similar feat but under the 3D Touch moniker.

We should note that the difference in the names isn't random and digging through Apple's patents shows that the two do the same thing, but 3D Touch is more sensitive and reacts immediately, whereas ForceTouch is slightly less capable of measuring touches and presses. It also reacts slower.

But let's not get into semantics here - what was hard to ignore is that Apple didn't mention anything regarding its pressure sensitive screens at its event yesterday. Neither the iPhone SE nor the iPad Pro 9.7 have it, while iOS 9.3 and watchOS 2.2 updates don't bring any new features or fixes for it. And iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users know there's a lot more to be desired.

The missing of any news regarding Force Touch begs the question - is Apple about to backtrack on the feature? Every software company knows that new features are a risky endeavor and it might take time to realize its full potential. To do that you need to have developers on board and that's achieved by constantly pushing it into the users' focus and convincing them to use it.

In the case of 3D Touch for the iPhone 6s duo, Apple bet big. The feature required a change not only on the hardware and software fronts but also in the users' habits. Sadly, there's no research that we know of that dwells on the user satisfaction and adoption of 3D Touch.

With yesterday's event, however, Apple clearly showed one of two things: either 3D Touch for mobile phones isn't as successful as initially hoped or the feature is impossible to implement on the smaller iPhone SE due to cost or space limitation (but then why didn't the iPad Pro get it?). The pending patent infringement case against Apple's technology could also be the reason we haven't heard anything about it yesterday.

We'll find whether Apple has given up on 3D Touch at the company's Fall event.

Apple denies acquisition of PowerVR maker Imagination

Apple usually offers the best 3D performance in a mobile package and it's all thanks to Brittish firm Imagination Technologies. The PowerVR GPU maker has been looking for other avenues of profit and failing to find them, recently announcing job cuts and a refocus on the GPU.

Now rumor has it that Apple is in "advanced talks" to buy the company. It already has around a 9.5% stake, bought back in 2009. And that rumor has now been busted:

Apple already makes its own CPU cores - thanks to the PA Semi acquisition - but for now at least will keep outsourcing GPU designs.

Apple did have a talk with Imagination. We don't know what about, just that it wasn't about an acquisition. Apple already works pretty closely with the GPU designer to make sure it gets the best designs for its iDevices, so this was probably about upcoming products.

Deal: refurbished Apple iPad Air (1st gen) for $240

The Apple iPad Air 2 got discounted to $400 - that's $100 off its original price.

But if that's still too rich for your blood, the Daily Steals offer of a refurbished iPad Air 16GB (original) for $250 might be something you're interested in. You can knock $10 off the price with the honest coupon code CHEAPSKATE10.

If you're nervous about refurbished hardware, you can get one from Apple for $280. Apple's refurb program offers more variety too, the Daily Steals offer is for the 16GB Wi-Fi model only, while Apple's site has everything up to 128GB with AT&T LTE. Refurbished iPad Air 2 start at $340.

"Mod" solves Galaxy S7's hybrid slot issue, fits three cards

It's nice that Samsung brought back the microSD slot, but for the dual-SIM versions of theGalaxy S7 and S7 edge things haven't changed really - the hybrid slot means you can have either two SIMs or one SIM + one microSD, never three cards at once.

You know what they say, never say never. With some scissors, a lighter and a lack of caring, you can do this ill-advised hack - if a microSD and nanoSIM can't fit in the same slot, youmake them fit.

How to fit a microSD and nanoSIM in one slot or ruin both

I'll leave you to read the gory details over at NoReplied.com, but essentially you cut around the metal contacts of the nanoSIM and glue it to the microSD. If you manage not to kill the SIM while cutting it and to then glue it precisely in place, you'll get extra storage and an additional phone line!

Or you'll be out a nanoSIM card, maybe a microSD too.

Apple USB-C to Lightning Cable brings fast charging to the iPad Pro

Yesterday, Apple also released a new cable, called the Apple USB-C to Lightning Cable. As you can imagine, one end of the cable is a male USB Type-C connector and the other end is a Lightning connector.

Other than allowing you to connect your iOS devices to computers with a USB Type-C connector (such as the new MacBook) without using an adapter, the cable also allows you to connect them to chargers with Type-C connector.

This includes, and is not limited to, the Apple 29W USB-C Power Adapter that ships with every new MacBook, or can be purchased separately. With the high current carrying capacity of Type-C and Lightning, you will be able to charge your iOS device faster.

The 12.9-inch iPad Pro, in particular, comes with integrated fast charging support, which takes full advantage of the high power Apple charger. Apple hasn't released official numbers, but you can expect significantly reduced charge times with the new cable and charger than with the supplied 12W charger. The new 9.7-inch iPad Pro, like other iOS devices, does not support fast charging.

The Apple USB-C to Lightning Cable is priced at $25 for the 1m variant and $35 for the 2m variant. If you have a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, then it's worth investing in the optional Apple 29W USB-C Power Adapter that costs $49.

Xbox Spring sale is now on : up to 60% off Xbox and PC games

Microsoft is now in full "spring cleaning" mode. Starting today, the US giant launched a truckload of digital deals with discounts from 40% to 60%. And its not just another case of marketing unwanted junk titles either. Microsoft has an array of blockbusters, like Fallout 4, Grand Theft Auto V, Halo 5 and many others lined up in various editions.

Better yet, the promotion has you covered even if you are on the older Xbox 360 or a Windows PC with equally popular titles for both platforms. Last, but not least, there are also quite a few movie and TV show deals for you to check out.

To make the deals even sweeter, Microsoft is offering 10% extra discount for Xbox Live Gold members. Now you can also upgrade your free account to Gold for only $1 for the first month. That sounds like a great deal, but be advised that the membership auto-renews after that at full price. This offer, as well as all the aforementioned digital edition deals will be available from March 22 up until March 28.

The Xbox website also has some deals on physical copies listed, which might be work checking out as well. Lastly, Microsoft is promising Xbox One consoles, starting at $299 in US stores like Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop and Target. These will be available until supplies last, so be sure to act quickly.

Deal: Buy HTC One M9 and get Nexus 9 for free

With the HTC's next flagship launch just a few weeks away, the Taiwanese company is offering a deal on its last year's One M9 flagship that nets you a free Nexus 9 (16GB black variant) with every purchase of the smartphone.

It's a US-only deal that is valid on both unlocked as well as carrier variants of the One M9. Price-wise, the phone carries an official tag of $649.00 in the US, while the tablet on offer usually sets you back $399. Put simply, the deal - which is valid through March 22 (11:59 PM PT) - saves you $399.

Keep in mind that you can purchase a maximum of four One M9s with the deal. In case you missed, the device has already received the Marshmallow update in the US.