Deal: Trade-in your Lumia 920/925/1020 and get $150 discount on Lumia 950/950 XL

Microsoft is currently running a promo that allows Lumia 920, 925, and 1020 users to trade-in their phone and get a good $150 discount on the Redmond, Washington-based company'sLumia 950 and 950 XL Windows 10 flagship smartphones.

In case you don't know, although the software giant has officially started Windows 10 Mobile roll-out for older devices, the three Lumia's mentioned here are not in the list, meaning they won't be getting the update. Probably, that's why Microsoft has come up with this promo.

Anyway, in case you're interested in taking advantage of the deal, you can do so both online as well as at the company's physical stores. The promo runs through June 30 - for more details, head to the Source link below.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (32GB, Verizon unlocked) selling for $300

The 32GB Samsung Galaxy Note 4 has received a price cut in the United States, where eBay seller Qualitycellz is currently offering the Verizon unlocked model (N910V) for $299.99. For comparison, Amazon is selling the same model for $350, while Newegg has it listed for $365.

While the deal is available on both White and Black colored variants, only the former is available at the moment (the latter is being shown as 'out of stock'). The seller says the device is available in limited quantity - 115 units have been sold as of writing.

There's no information on when the promo ends. So, if you want to take advantage of the deal, you may want to act fast.

Google Photos for Android gets updated with manual backup feature

Google has started rolling out an update to its Photos app on Android that brings a couple of new features, including the ability to manually back up photos. The update bumps the app version to 1.18.

"Save what you want, when you want with manual backup," the Google Photos team wrote in a Google+ post. To use the feature, first select the photos you want to backup, then tap the three dot over flow menu, and finally choose the "Back up now" option.

In addition, the update also brings along the ability to search photos by emoji. The updated app can be downloaded from the Play Store - hit the Source 2 link below.

T-Mobile unboxes the HTC 10 at 10,000 feet

While AT&T may want to have nothing to do with the new HTC 10, T-Mobile seems more than happy to offer its customers a chance to buy the Taiwanese company's latest flagship smartphone. T-Mobile is going to start taking orders for the HTC 10 soon, but until that happens the 'un-carrier' decided to do an unboxing of the new device.

This isn't your usual unboxing, though. Far from it. In fact, it's following the same idea as the one T-Mobile did for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge - that is, make it extreme.Samsung's phones were unboxed underwater, so in TMo's logic it makes perfect sense to unbox the HTC 10 at no less than 10,000 feet.

A helicopter, the HTC 10 in its box, and 10,000 feet of altitude above Las Vegas. Those are the three main elements in this video, which presents a different style of unboxing. Clearly T-Mobile knows a thing or two about making the sometimes dull unboxing procedure feel exciting.

Facebook's Messenger Platform is now open for bots

The likes of Skype, Telegram, and Kik aren't alone in their recent embrace of bots. It definitely looks like bots are going to be the new addition to every messaging platform out there, and today Facebook has unveiled bots for its Messenger app.

The development of bots will be made easy through the release of the new Facebook Messenger Platform beta, which was announced today at the social network's F8 conference.

Chatbots let businesses interact with you through Facebook Messenger, offering customer support, e-commerce features, guidance, content, and interactive experiences. For example, you can order flowers just by having a 'chat' with a bot in Messenger. Or a news outlet can send you customized updates throughout the day, skipping the content you're not interested in. An airline can send you check-in and gate information, your boarding pass, and many other bits of info while you're traveling, and you can reply asking for additional stuff. The possibilities here really are endless, especially if creating bots is as easy as possible, and if they're smart enough to emulate human conversations. Judging by what Facebook promises, they definitely should be - blending AI with natural language processing and actual human help.

One current limitation of the Messenger Platform is that you can't add a credit card to Messenger and then have that be automatically used for payments to the businesses you're talking to. That could obviously come in the future, though.

A new search bar that will show up in Messenger will help you find bots. Of course Facebook Messenger is pretty late to the bot party, but that's probably irrelevant because its reach is far bigger than any of its non-Facebook owned competitors. Messenger now has over 900 million active users. That said, it's still unclear when the new bot functionality will reach every single one of those.

HTC 10 is already $100 cheaper in the US and Canada with promo code

Mere hours ago, HTC launched its latest flagship, the smartphone called 10. And it went up for pre-order immediately, in a move that's not often seen in the mobile world. You're able to pre-order the device from HTC's various online stores for different regions across the world.

In the US, the price for an unlocked HTC 10 was $699.99. We say "was" because you can already get it $100 cheaper through a promo code that's just surfaced. So go to HTC's store, add the 10 to your cart, and then enter the promo code HTC1008. You'll see the handset's price magically turning into $599.99. That's much more palatable than the amount previously asked, of course, and it makes it much more competitive with the likes of the Galaxy S7.

The promo code price reduction is available in Canada too, but the code itself is different. After you visit HTC's Canadian storefront and add the phone to your cart, make sure you use the promo code HTCCA1008. This will bring the price down from CAD 999 to CAD 899.

There's no telling how long this promo code will be usable, so if you're interested in the HTC 10 perhaps it's best to order one with the code as soon as possible. HTC will start shipping the pre-orders in North America in early May.

Guess the phone: Which high-end phone did we snap this photo with?

Today, we got to spend some quality time with a high-end smartphone, which has already been announced, but is yet to launch on the market. And we're not going to tell you which one it is. Instead, we'll let you ponder on it for a while.

Guess the phone that took this shot

The piece of evidence we're ready to give you is a camera sample. Its full native resolution is 13MP - and as you can see, its image quality is quite high. We have not resized it but we've stripped it of all identifiable information.

The other bit that you need to know to make the hunt more interesting is that the photo originates from a high-end phone, which doesn't come from a Chinese brand. And no, we're clearly not referring to the HTC 10 - that would have been way too obvious.

Try disregarding the subjects of the photo as using them for clues might take you in the wrong direction. Instead, just focus on the tips we gave you above.

Hit us up in the comments with your thoughts on which smartphone that might be and whether you like the image quality as much as we do. The big reveal will take place sometime tomorrow and we'll update this article.

LG wants developers to create some more Friends for the G5

When you're marketing a smartphone as being 'modular' while only actually offering up one additional plug-in module for it in some markets, you know you've got a problem. And thankfully LG seems to have realized it's in this exact situation with the G5 and its so-calledFriends.

At the unveiling of the handset, the Korean company also presented two plug-in Friends, the Cam Plus and the Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play (yet only the former will be available in all of the G5's launch markets). Now though it wants developers to come up with more such modules for the G5.

For that purpose, LG is holding a developer-focused event in San Francisco on April 15 (which is this Friday). That's where it will show people how to create hardware that's compatible with the G5. The company also plans to launch a dedicated online marketplace for the G5 Friends, helping devs sell the products they come up with.

There's a pretty big caveat here, though. LG won't simply be allowing anyone to create an accessory for the G5. In fact, you'll need to co-develop your product with the Korean smartphone maker. LG says it will "carefully review all submitted ideas and select the best ones to be co-developed by LG and the idea proposer together based on the mutual agreement". And if you're wondering why it feels the need to be a part of the process, it's all because any such plug-in accessory "affects smartphone's performance and design significantly".

AT&T won't sell the HTC 10, Bell gets an exclusive in Canada

The just-unveiled HTC 10 will unfortunately not be sold by AT&T in the US. It's still headed to the other three of the 'big four' carriers stateside in due course, however - so you'll soon be able to pick one up from Verizon, Sprint, or T-Mobile.

And if you love AT&T and crave an HTC 10 at the same time, there's a choice for you too, albeit a rather expensive one. See, the unlocked model that HTC is selling through its own US online store is compatible with AT&T's network, so no one's stopping you from purchasing one for $699.99 outright and then using it on that particular carrier. There's also an option to use PayPal Credit to get 12-month 0% interest financing, keep that in mind.

Moving on up to the north, the HTC 10's exclusive carrier partner in Canada is Bell. So you'll only be able to buy one with a contract from that company, which will only be offering the phone in Glacier Silver. If you happen to have another carrier of choice, once again you can turn to HTC's website and purchase an unlocked unit for CAD 999 (in Glacier Silver or Carbon Grey). This version is compatible with Telus, Rogers, Bell, Koodo, Fido, Virgin Mobile, Wind Mobile, Videotron, and Sasktel.

Snapdragon 652 variant of the LG G5 named G5 SE

We have been hearing about a variant of the LG G5 with a Snapdragon 652 and 3GB RAM headed for Latin America. We have also heard about an LG G5 SE. Turns out, the two are the same.

As we had learned before, the only differences between the two is the slower chipset on the SE and 3GB RAM versus 4GB on the standard G5. Everything else about the two phones is similar, including the design, which explains why the Quick Cover we saw before claimed to fit both devices.

Apart from Latin America, the phone will also be available in China, and CIS countries.

HTC 10 Lifestyle is the flagship for some unlucky regions

The HTC 10 Lifestyle will stand in place of the proper HTC 10 in some parts of the world, India so far confirmed. Much like the LG G5 in certain regions, the HTC 10 Lifestyle comes with a Snapdragon 652 chipset, where the Snapdragon 820 should have been, and it only gets 3GB of RAM and a single 32GB storage option.

The other downgrade is LTE speed, but it comes as part of the chipset package. As opposed to the HTC 10's Cat.9 (450Mbps down, 50Mbps up), the 10 Lifestyle only gets Cat.6 (300Mbps/50Mbps).

The rest is thankfully all the same. That includes the 5.2-inch QHD Super LCD 5 display and class-leading camera setup. On the back that means a 12MP UltraPixel 2 shooter with 1.55 micron pixels, f/1.8 aperture, and optical image stabilization. Selfies get the OIS treatment too (that's a first), resolution is 5MP and aperture is f/1.8 too.

The HTC 10 Lifestyle measures 145.9 x 71.9 x 9.0mm and weighs 161g, which, you guessed it, is the same as the proper HTC 10. Battery capacity is 3,000mAh, there's Quick Charge 3.0 support and a rapid is bundled, so at least HTC didn't skimp on that.

We're still waiting on detailed info on price and availability and an exhaustive list of the countries where the HTC 10 Lifestyle will be sold instead of the real deal.

HTC 10 available now, here are the US and European prices

Did you see that blur? It was the HTC 10 becoming instantly available - from unofficial to on sale in a blink of an eye. Here are the prices and carrier offers in several countries.

Note that there's no storage mentioned so we assume only the 32GB phone is available.

USA

The unlocked phone goes for $700 and is available in Gray and Silver. The phone is available in AT&T and T-Mobile flavors, but you get no subsidy.

UK

£570 is the cost, no carrier deals. There is a third color - Gold.

Germany

Converting to Old Continent banknotes, the HTC 10 costs €700 in Germany. You can get the phone from O2 on contract (24 months x €30), or SIM-free from Sparhandy or Notebooksbilliger.

France

The currency rate must be different in France, 'cause it's €750 over there.

Austria, Finland, Italy, Spain

France shouldn't complain since these countries will have to pay even more - €800.

Sweden

No price yet, "Coming soon.