Android Marshmallow doubles its market share in a month

The latest release of Google's mobile operating system has managed to double its market share within the last month. Marshmallow is now installed on 4.6% of all Android devices out there, whereas back in March it was sitting at 2.3%. That's some pretty convincing growth, even if it does come from a low number obviously.

In April, Lollipop has grabbed 35.8% of the market, which interestingly is 0.3% less than last month - so perhaps some of Marshmallow's gains have been made at the expense of Lollipop. Moving on, KitKat now has 33.4% market share, down 0.9% from March.

The three Jelly Bean releases taken together now account for 21.3% of the Android pie, one percentage point less than before. The very slow death of Ice Cream Sandwich continues with another 0.1% market share drop, while Gingerbread and Froyo have somehow managed to stay at 2.6% and 0.1%, respectively.

As you'd expect, any versions with less than 0.1% distribution aren't shown in the chart above. What we see here then are some nice gains for Marshmallow, while every other version (except for the Gingerbread and Froyo outliers) has lost market share. That's probably indicative of what you should expect for the near future too.

LG G Pad X 8.0 lands at T-Mobile in mid-May

T-Mobile is getting ready to launch a new LG tablet, according to a leak that's been outed today by none other than Evan Blass (also known as @evleaks). The G Pad X 8.0 will land in the magenta carrier's portfolio at some point in mid-May. It will follow similar G Pad X-branded mid-range slates that have already been launched by both AT&T and Verizon.

T-Mobile's G Pad X 8.0 will have an 8-inch 1,920x1,200 touchscreen, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615 SoC (with a 1.5 GHz octa-core CPU), and a couple of 5 MP cameras - one on the front, one on the back. Keeping things running will be a 4,650 mAh battery. A full size USB port will be present on the tablet to help you quickly connect things to it.

No other specs have leaked at this point, and unfortunately the pricing isn't known either. However, the G Pad X 8.0 will probably retail for around $300. It's most similar to Verizon's G Pad X 8.3 though that has a larger if lower-res screen as well as a bigger battery.

LG trademarks G5 SE in South Korea

In a move that could easily be categorized as simply copying an idea Apple had first, LG has trademarked the name G5 SE in its native South Korea. So it looks like at least someone in the world views the SE suffix as great branding. Apple should probably be flattered, but we assume it's going to become pretty angry if LG actually launches a smartphone called G5 SE.

That's one big "if", naturally, as at this point we have no more information to go on aside from the aforementioned trademark filing itself. Obviously LG could in the end choose not to go the SE route for a new device. Then again, there's a slight chance that it might want to emulate what Apple's done with the iPhone SE and release a G5 SE that's smaller than the 'normal'G5. Whether that means it will be underpowered too (like most Android-running 'minis' of the past) remains to be seen. Hopefully not, though.

LG has even created the logo you can see above, specially for the trademark filing involving the G5 SE. This could be a sign that its intentions are pretty serious in using the newly-acquired trademark for an actual product. We'll have to wait and see.

Metal-clad vivo V3 and V3Max introduced

vivo launched a pair of new devices in Mumbai, India today, adding to its new budget-friendly "V" line of handsets. The vivo V3 and V3Max flaunt metal bodies - slimmer and sturdier than their siblings and both come with a big focus on improved performance.

The smaller (143.6x71x7.5mm) vivo V3 is equipped with a 5-inch, 720p display and powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 616 SoC with 3GB of RAM. It has 32GB of expandable storage and a 2,550 mAh battery.

The V3Max stands at 153.9x77.1x7.58mm, bumps up the display to a 5.5-inch, FullHD one and comes with a 2.5D glass on top. The processor is also a beefier Snapdragon 652 SoC, while RAM has been upgraded to 4GB and the battery has 3,000 mAh capacity.

The two phones share a decent camera setup with a 13MP main shooter that promises a mere 0.7 second start up time and 0.2 second for its phase detection auto focus. Both also have a rear-mounted fingerprint reader, equally fast with a 0.2 second read time.

The vivo V3 and V3Max come with a high-quality AK4375 audio chip, LTE connectivity, Dual SIM support and Quick Charge.

The dyo will be released in a total of eight countries: China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia. Pricing will be around $270 and $360, respectively.

Deal: Buy one iPhone, get the second one 50% off at T-Mobile

T-Mobile struggled so much before the iPhone was finally available for the un-carrier. These days, when it comes to aggressive promotions, the other carriers are always second or third to follow after T-Mobile.

Just in time for the iPhone SE, T-Mobile is offering a 50% discount for any second iPhone to customers who purchase any iPhone on an Equipment Installment Plan (Not leased devices). T-Mobile will send you a rebate in the form of a pre-paid VISA card for half the cost of any second iPhone, even if the second iPhone is more expensive than the first one.

Tech Grapple confirms this with a T-Mobile agent via online Chat. The transcript shows the agent confirming that if a customer was to purchase an iPhone SE first and a 64GB iPhone 6S plus , that they will get a gift card with half the retail price of the $850 iPhone 6S Plus.

In order to qualify for this offer, one of the iPhones will need to be purchased on a new line. You think you could probably just add the new line, wait for the rebate, and pay the phone off in full, then close the line. HOWEVER, the offer notes that if you cancel service before July 15th, you could be billed for the amount of the rebate. You’re essentially purchasing an iPhone for half off. Plus service charges and taxes you may incur before you get the rebate. Also, you'll need to purchase both devices with an Equipment Installment Plan though, also note, this offer is only valid with iPhones and with for iPads.

Deal: $600 for black or gold Factory Unlocked Galaxy S7 at Newegg

There is definitely something special about the Galaxy S7. It isn't often that a phone is sold for discounts and promotions not even a month after its original release. Let's not forget the buy-one-get-one free promotion that all major US Carriers have been participating in.

But this is a different promotion, the international factory unlocked version (SM-G930F) of the Galaxy S7 can be purchased directly from Newegg for only $600. This is a phone whose retail price is well above Apple’s introductory flagship price of $650 (for 16 measly GB) and a phone of which has only been released last month.

Just so you know, this deal looks to be fulfilled by a third party and not directly from Newegg. ThePowerSellers are holding this limited time offer until April 9. In case you are wondering, $600 gets you a new, factory unlocked Galaxy S7, powered by the Exynos processor, which some might consider seeing as the Snapdragon 820 version reported slightly lower scores in performance and battery life (or if you plan to take it overseas).

The Galaxy S7 is available on Newegg’s website in either black or gold with optional 1 year accidental protection provided by AIG insurance. For what it’s worth, Newegg also has the Titanium Silver color, but it is $650 as opposed to $600.

Reminders are finally coming to Google Calendar's web version

Last December Google introduced a new Reminders feature in its Calendar apps for both Android and iOS. And now the feature is finally ready to be rolled out to the web version of Google Calendar as well.

In a way overdue move, Google will add the functionality at some point later this week. Once you get Reminders in Google Calendar for web, you can fully take advantage of this neat feature. Reminders you create in Inbox for Gmail, Google Keep, or the Google app on your mobile device will also show up in Google Calendar.

Obviously, reminders you create in the Google Calendar app for Android and iOS will seamlessly sync with the web version once the rollout completes. And regardless of where you view your Google Calendar from, you'll see reminders that aren't completed at the top - until you mark them as done.

BlackBerry Priv receives permanent price cut in the US and Europe

Good news if you've been eyeing the Android-powered BlackBerry Priv but haven't bought one yet. Starting today the price of a Priv sold by BlackBerry unlocked has just been dropped in the US and Europe. And this is no limited time type of deal - it's a permanent price cut.

That said, it's not the biggest of reductions. In the US you'll save $50 compared to the launch price, while in Continental Europe you'll be asked to pay €50 less than before. The £50 price cut from the UK that we reported on last month has been made official on this occasion too.

So, from today an unlocked and SIM-free Priv will set you back $649 in the US, and €729 in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and The Netherlands. And it can be bought for £529 in the UK.

As you may already know, the Priv is BlackBerry's first Android smartphone, with a striking vertical slider design and a full physical QWERTY keyboard. It currently runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop but an update to Marshmallow should arrive in a few weeks - in fact you can already sign up to beta test it.

WhatsApp now offers full end-to-end encryption to all of its 1 billion users

Well, it's happened. As predicted last month, WhatsApp has now finalized its multi-year long effort to bring end-to-end encryption to all aspects of the service, and to all of its users. The number of those, by the way, has grown to over 1 billion. That makes the Facebook-owned app essentially the second most popular social network after Facebook itself, which has around 1.5 billion users.

End-to-end encryption has showed up in WhatsApp for Android back in 2014, but from this point on it will work on any of the platforms on which the app is present (iOS, Android, Windows, S60, S40, and BlackBerry OS). What's more, end-to-end encryption is there for one-on-one chats, group chats, voice calls, voice notes, attachments (think images and videos you share) - in a word, everything.

So you get end-to-end encryption even if you're on an S40 phone talking to someone with an iPhone, for example. End-to-end encryption means that no one except you and the person or people you're talking to can see or hear what you're saying, not even WhatsApp or Facebook. Furthermore, WhatsApp doesn't store your messages on its servers once they're delivered to the intended recipient. This feature makes data requests from governments impossible to fulfill, since by design the company itself can not decrypt your communications.

Because end-to-end encryption is turned on by default, all you need in order to take advantage of this feature is the latest version of WhatsApp installed on your mobile device. Since it may be that not everyone you talk to has the latest iteration of the app, until that transition happens there could still be some unencrypted chats. That's why WhatsApp will notify you when your communications become end-to-end encrypted. This will show up as a notice in your conversation screens, as portrayed in the screenshot you can see on the left in the image above. And you can always check and make sure a particular conversation is end-to-end encrypted by going to its preferences screen (see the screenshot to the right).

The HP Spectre 13.3 is a 10.4mm razor-sharp laptop that you can actually get with a diamond finish

It is not particularly easy to shine at an event like the New York Times International Luxury Conference, but this year HP managed to turn some heads with what it claims to be the thinnest laptop in the world.

At this year's event, hel in Versailles, France, HP showcased the Spectre 13.3, which measures the razor-thin 10.4mm! If you can't put that into perspective, imagine the girth of an AAA battery, or better yet, a stack of eight Pennys.

By comparison, the new MacBook is about 13.1mm thick and the 14-inch LG gram is about 12.7 mm. Speaking of the latter, the HP Spectre 13.3 is just as incredibly light, tipping the scale at just 1.1 kg thanks to a carbon fiber chassis.

What seems to be eve more impressive, however, is that HP managed to cram a lot of computing power into the ultra-portable. It is offered with a 13.3-inch 1080p edge-to-edge display, an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and up to 512GB of flash storage.

RAM is capped at 8GB and there was enough room left over for some Bang & Olufsen sound and a battery that promises up to 9.5 hours of use on a single charge. Thankfully, HP didn't go down the Apple road and included a total of three USB Type-C connectors, two of which even supporting Thunderbolt.

Last, but not least, if you were wondering why HP decided to unveil the geeky PC at a luxury conference, there is a pretty good reason. For one, the Spectre looks quite futuristic design-wise with a new piston hinge. In HP's own words:

high gloss copper accents reflect a hand-polished, jewelry-like finish and an innovative hidden piston hinge creates the illusion of a hinge-less design to offer an unmatched premium look-and-feel

Then there is also the fact that the laptop has two limited premium editions. One is the HP Spectre by Tord Boontje that incorporates floral details, a peacock, and a butterfly. Oh, and 18K gold with embedded Swarovski crystals. The second one is the HP Spectre by J. Hannah, which again has 18K gold, only a lot more of it- all around, to be exact. To finish things off, the logo and power button are encrusted in diamonds.

Both of these exquisite models will be produced in limited numbers, auctioned off at the Cannes Film Festival in May and all proceeds will be donated to the Nelson Mandela Foundation. As for the basic HP Spectre 13.3, pre-orders will be live on April 25 in the US, starting at $1,170. Best Buy has also promised to offer the laptop starting May 22 for $1250.

Oppo F1 Plus global rollout begins, price set at €389

The rollout of the Oppo F1 Plus has started and the phone is now available in select markets. In Europe, the phone will be on sale online starting May with a price of £299 in the UK and €389 elsewhere.

In India the phone will retail for INR 26990 ($400). The phone will carry a similar price tag in Southeast Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, but exact numbers are yet to be confirmed.

As Oppo clarified last week, the F1 Plus is nothing more than the international version of theOppo R9. As such, the F1 Plus rocks a 5.5" 1080p AMOLED screen and has an octa-core MediaTek Helio P10, 4GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB internal memory.

The camera department offers an interesting twist that might just be worthy of carrying on the "selfie expert" title. Just like the R9, the F1 Plus has a higher resolution front-facing camera than the rear one. Selfies are taken care of by a 16MP imager mated with an f/2.0 lens with a 78.1-degree field of view. On the back you have a 13MP sensor behind a 5-element lens with f/2.2 aperture and 80.6-degree FoV.

The battery of the F1 Plus is 2,850mAh with VOOC Flash Charge, while the dimensions are 151.8 x 74.3 x 6.6mm and a weight of 145g.

The Oppo F1 Plus comes in Gold and Rose Gold colors and will be available across India starting from mid-April with a wider release soon to follow. The phone will hit all Oppo markets, save for Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore and Australia, which will get it under the R9 name.

Nubia event set for April 19, possibly a Z11 announcement?

ZTE's sub-brand Nubia has announced a press event for April 19, to be held in Beijing. The tagline reads something along the lines of "Small world - big wonders", Google Translate tells us, but that's all the poster reveals.

Nubia April 19 event poster (click for full size)

Logic would dictate, however, that a new flagship is to be unveiled, the Nubia Z11, and a Z11 mini alongside it. The Nubia Z9 was announced last year in May, so an announcement a month ahead of schedule isn't out of the question. Not to mention that the Z11 mini (or what looks like it) was already certified by the Chinese telecom regulator.

For all we know, the Z11 will sport a 5.2-inch QHD dual-edge display, Snapdragon 820 chipset and 4GB of RAM. The Z11 mini, on the other hand will allegedly have a flat FullHD 5-inch display, 3 gigs of RAM and an octa-core CPU.