Apple drops the iPhone prices in Japan by 10%

Apple has lowered the prices of all iPhones sold officially in Japan by 10%. There is no official statement on the reason for the price cut, but it should be most probably due to exchange rate changes.

The iPhone models currently in circulation are iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, and the iPhone 6s Plus. If you are interested in their new and old prices in Japan, here they come.

• iPhone 6s 16GB: JPY 78,800 (previously JPY 86,800)
• iPhone 6s 64GB: JPY 89,800 (previously JPY 98,800)
• iPhone 6s 128GB: JPY 101,800 (previously JPY 110,800)
• iPhone 6s Plus 16GB: JPY 89,800 (previously JPY 98,800)
• iPhone 6s Plus 64GB: JPY 101,800 (previously JPY 110,800)
• iPhone 6s Plus 128GB: JPY 113,800 (previously JPY 122,800)
• iPhone 6 16GB: JPY 67,800 (previously JPY 74,800)
• iPhone 6 64GB: JPY 78,800 (previously JPY 86,800)
• iPhone 6 Plus/16GB: JPY 78,800 (previously JPY 86,800)
• iPhone 6 Plus/64GB: JPY 89,800 (previously JPY 98,800)
• iPhone SE 16GB: JPY 47,800 (previously JPY 52,800)
• iPhone SE 64GB: JPY 59,800 (previously JPY 64,800)

The most expensive iPhone models got the best benefits of this price cut, but we are sure the Japanese users will be happy with all of them.

If anyone purchased one of the iPhones 6 and 6s models in Japan in the last 14 days, he would be refunded with the difference. Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to the iPhone SE.

Motorola Affinity in testing, could be the next Moto E

First details regarding of the upcoming 3rd generation Moto E have surfaced thanks to import documents on Zauba. Codenamed "Affinity", the phone is listed to have a 5" display and a price of just $78.

While it's clear that this price isn't the device's retail one, it's an indication that the "Affinity" is a low-budget device. The current Moto E (2nd gen) sports a 4.5" display, so the upcoming model will presumably grow in size.

Presumably, the Moto E (3rd gen) will be larger in order to accommodate a fingerprint scanner. As a Lenovo exec said earlier in January, all 2016 Moto devices will have fingerprint scanners. Hopefully, the latest Moto E won't be an exception.

Recent information suggests that Motorola prepares to announce the Moto G5 and G4 Pluson June 9. We wouldn't be surprised if the Moto E (3rd gen) too gets a place under the spotlights then.

Microsoft sold only 2.3 million Lumia devices in fiscal Q3, down 73% year-on-yea

Microsoft has released its Q3 fiscal 2016 earnings report, revealing that it sold only 2.3 million Lumia phones in the quarter.

The figure is down 73% compared to the same quarter last year, when the Redmond, Washington-based company sold a total of 8.6 million Lumias. Compared to last quarter, when the company sold 4.5 million Lumia units, the number is down around 50%.

Microsoft also revealed that the sales of non-Lumia units stood at 15.7 million units, down from the 24.7 million figure it reported the same time last year. Talking of phone revenue, it was down $662 million, which is a drop of 47% year-on-year.

Honor 5X to get Marshmallow update soon

Huawei's sub-brand Honor has announced that its 5X smartphone will start getting the Android Marshmallow update soon, although no specific date was revealed. The announcement came in the form of a tweet from the brand's US Twitter handle.

Running Android 5.1 Lollipop, the Honor 5X launched in the United States back in January this year, carrying a $200 price tag. It has been available in gold, silver, and grey color options from HiHonor, Amazon and Newegg.

The device landed in Europe just a few days after its US launch. There, it was priced at £189.99, €229.99, or CHF 229.90, depending on the region/country.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 to go on open sale in India next week

Xiaomi has announced that its Redmi Note 3 smartphone will be available for purchase in India without any registrations next week - the open sale will kick start on April 27 at 2PM.

The announcement came in the form of tweet from the Chinese company's India unit. The tweet contains a link to mi.com/in, suggesting that the open sale will only be hosted on Xiaomi's India website.

As for the device, it was launched in India last month, and has only been made available through flash sales until now. It's powered by Snapdragon 650 SoC, sports a 5.5-inch 1080p display, and comes in 2GB/16GB and 3GB/32GB memory configurations, with the former costing INR 9,999 ($150) and the latter setting you back INR 11,999 ($180).

Samsung rolls out minor bug-fixing update to Galaxy S7/S7 edge units in India

Samsung has started pushing out a minor update to its latest flagship smartphones - the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge - in India. Weighing in at 1.06MB, the update includes some bug-fixes as well as stability and performance-related improvements.

This update to the latest Galaxy phones follows the one that the South Korean company started pushing out earlier last week, bringing touch and stability-related improvements as well as shape correction for skewed photos and latest Android security patch.

Given that this new bug-fixing update has just started rolling out, it may take sometime before it hits your handset. Meanwhile, if you're feeling impatient, you can head to the Settings menu on your device to check for it manually.

Sprint's Samsung Galaxy Note Edge and S5 Sport start getting Marshmallow

Sprint has started rolling out Marshmallow update to Samsung Galaxy Note Edge and Galaxy S5 Sport units on its network. The update brings Android version 6.0 to both devices.

The Note Edge update also includes latest Android security patches as well as some other bug fixes. The updates are being rolled out in phases, with the Note Edge process completing on May 2 and the S5 Sport process wrapping up on May 11.

In case you haven't received the update notification yet, you can also manually check for the update by heading to the Settings menu on your handset.

Huawei Honor V8 to cost $308, more details uncovered

Yesterday Huawei started teasing the launch of its next Honor-branded device. The Honor V8 will become official at an event on May 10, and it will emulate the dual-camera setup of the recently unveiled P9. This will consist of two 12 MP units. The Honor V8 has also been rumored to come with the Kirin 950 chipset, 4GB of RAM, and a fingerprint sensor. Today rumors out of China paint a clearer picture.

The handset will apparently have a 5.5-inch 1080p touchscreen, an 8 MP selfie camera, a 3,000 mAh battery, and a USB Type-C port. Its price in China should be around CNY 2,000, which at the current exchange rates means $308 or €273.

Finally, from the same Chinese sources comes news that an Honor 8i will be unveiled at the same event. This will be the successor to the Honor 7i from last year, and it will allegedly keep the unique flip camera design of its predecessor, while still being aimed at women.

Moto G4 and G4 Plus may get announced on June 9

The upcoming fourth generation of Motorola's Moto G smartphone has been leaking a lot lately, which could mean it's getting ever closer to being officially introduced.

It turns out that may actually be the case. At the launch of the ZUK Z2 Pro today, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said Motorola will be outing a new and exciting device on June 9.

Unfortunately he didn't go into more detail, but given the increasing number of leaks about the Moto G4, we assume it can only be this model that will be announced. That said, do keep in mind that we might see two G-branded models this year - a vanilla, smaller G4, as well as a bigger Moto G4 Plus with a fingerprint scanner embedded in a physical Home button located underneath the screen.

Spec-wise nothing has transpired yet, but if the new Moto G does get official in early June then we expect some prototypes to be spotted in certain benchmark databases pretty soon.

AT&T's LG V10 is now being updated to Android 6.0 Marshmallow

So far, the LG V10 has received its update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow internationally, but also for units sold by both Verizon and T-Mobile. And now it's finally time for those V10 handsets sold by AT&T to taste the latest version of Android too.

According to a report, the rollout of the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update for AT&T's V10 has already commenced. As this is a staged over-the-air outing, it may be a few days before every AT&T V10 out there receives that coveted update notification. If you're impatient, you can of course manually check for the update by going to the About phone area in Settings.

The new software comes as a 1GB download, so make sure you're on Wi-Fi before grabbing it (and have enough battery left). Marshmallow brings with it new features such as Now On Tap, Doze Mode for improved battery life, App Standby, as well as a revamped permissions system. All of these things should be found inside this release for the V10, along with bug fixes.

Acer Liquid Zest Plus is official with a 5.5-inch display and a 5,000mAh battery

Acer held a press event today in New York and announced a couple of laptops and a smartphone - the Acer Liquid Zest Plus.

Acer shared some of the key specs of the Liquid Zest Plus on stage - a 5.5" HD display, a 13MP camera with something they call tri-focus, and a massive 5,000 mAh battery capable of quick charging. Tri-focus means the snapper relies on all types of AF used today - laser, contrast and phase detection.

We managed to find some more specs of the device - it runs on MediaTek's MT6735 chip with a quad-core 1.3GHz Cortex-A53, Mali-T720 GPU and 2GB of RAM. There is 16GB storage, a wide-angle 5MP selfie snapper, and Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS.

The Liquid Zest Plus will be available in the USA soon for $250, which is a nice price for such a device.

Android N Developer Preview now available on Sony Xperia Z3

Android N is yet to be officially named later this year, but it was already detailed last month. It offers multi-window (split-screen) multitasking, improved Doze mode, better notification handling among others.

The Android N Developer Preview was seeded to Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 9, Nexus Player, and Pixel C in early March. The Preview even saw its first firmware update in mid-March.

Surprisingly, Sony made the Android N Preview available to the Xperia Z3 model earlier today. If you own the D6603 or D6653 flavors of the Xperia Z3, then you can easily install and run Android N. Here is how:

• Connect your compatible Z3 device to a computer with a USB cable.
• Xperia Companion will open automatically.
• Make sure you have Xperia Companion version 1.1.24 or later. If not, download the latest version from here.
• Hold down the ALT key on your computer and click on Software repair on the home screen, then follow the guide.
• You’ll be asked to disconnect and turn off your device, then to reconnect whilst holding down the volume down key to start the software flashing.
• You can return to factory settings at any time by connecting back to Xperia Companion and following the Software repair.

The Android N Developer Preview lacks the Xperia launcher, so you should have that in mind before installing. Plus - it's recommended to install it only if you are a developer and know what you are doing. Bugs and issues may and will occur, so it's not recommended to use an Xperia Z3 running on Android N as your primary phone.

That being said, feel free to share your experience in our comments section.