Ecuador earthquake: US carriers offering free call/text services to the country

In the wake of the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Ecuador this past weekend, killing around 250 (the number may still go up), several of the major US carriers have announced free call/text services to the South American country.

The list currently includes T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T. While the former's offer runs through Sunday, April 24, the latter two are offering free call/message services until April 23 and April 22, respectively.

Carrier subsidiaries like MetroPCS, GoSmart Mobile, WalMart Family Mobile, Boost Mobile, and Virgin Mobile USA are also included.

MicFlip Reversible microUSB cable review

The dawn of the microUSB may be upon us, but it still has a few years before it's properly phased out. While the USB Type-C allows reversible plugs, it's yet to be come the most popular, let alone the only standard.

Many new smartphones, among other gadgets, available today on the market still prefer the microUSB plugs either to maintain backwards compatibility or simply because it's a smaller plug. Just look at the Galaxy S7 series.

And we all know the inconvenience of trying to plug a microUSB cable the wrong way. Best case scenario - it's annoying. Worst case - you can irreversibly damage the port.

MicFlip has a solution for this problem - a reversible microUSB cable.

It does exactly what the name suggests - the 2m cable has a regular USB 2.0 plug on one of its sides to plug into computers or charger plugs. And the other side ends with a specially designed symmetric microUSB plug that goes in either way.

First, and most important, it works. You can plug the cable into most of the microUSB ports on various mobile devices hassle-free, and you don’t need to watch if the correct side is up. Inside the small microUSB head, the pins are placed on both side of a small board while the exterior shell has its four corners sliced to fit in any microUSB port.

Second, it's as easy and convenient as it looks like. The cable is made of high-quality materials, and it can work with virtually any charger plug, including fast/rapid chargers, and any Mac, PC, TV, and console.

There is a catch, though. We had issues with quite a few Samsung and HTC smartphones in our office - the cable just didn't want to go in.

It’s because of the pins, which are placed on both sides and makes it really hard to insert the cable in particular devices. The solution turned out to be quite simple - just push it hard into any device that seems not to be taking it. It will eventually go in, and the pins will retract a bit.

After the first tough insertion we had no problem putting the MicFlip into any device.

MicFlip is for those who are tired of always being careful with their cables. Especially if you have broken a port already. Some may consider the MicFlip cable to be solving a non-existing problem while others will find it a blessing.

Weekly poll: HTC 10 - hot or not?

The HTC 10 is the last to join this spring's flagship party, with the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 announced some two months ago, and already widely available. Even the Huawei P9 beat the HTC 10 to it by a week. So it begs the question is the 10 fashionably late, or just late?

The Koreans will give it a nod for the QHD resolution on its Super LCD 5(who's counting) - HTC didn't make the jump from FullHD last year, but 2017 would have been too late. They share the same heart too, at least in some parts of the world - the Snapdragon 820.

The Taiwanese company also takes the same approach as Samsung (which was actually introduced by UltraPixel M8) to imaging - fewer, but larger pixels on its rear camera. HTC calls it Ultra Pixel 2. The LG G5 and Huawei P9 are unimpressed by such single-cam efforts and go about arguing whether wide-angle of black-and-white images are "it" this year.

What neither of those can brag about, though, is an optically stabilized selfie camera - the HTC 10 pulls out its trump card. Yes, it's just 5MP, but they're 1.34µm each, and sit behind an f/1.8 lens. The Galaxy S7's optics may be a smidgen brighter at f/1.7, but the stabilization should be able to make up for it and then some.

And that's before we get to the HTC 10's body - "a perfect 10" some have already called it. Adding sharp edges to the graceful curves of previous One's, this latest is simply a stunner.

6.4" Xiaomi Max front panel leaked - truly massive

Barely hours ago we told you about a future Xiaomi phablet, which after an online poll the company decided to name Xiaomi Max. Meanwhile a couple of photos have surfaced, and they seem to be coming straight from the production line.

The shots depict the device's front panel and it's nothing short of colossal. If we're still going to call it a phone, that is - as tablets go it's tiny.

Alleged Xia0mi Max front panel

Compact side bezels, capacitive keys on the chin, earpiece and sensor array - the panel looks very much in line with Xiaomi's design language. Unlike the current flagship Mi 5, though, there's no hardware home button with a fingerprint reader. Fret not though, as the sources say that such a sensor will be found on the back like with the Redmi Note 3 and the Mi 4s.

As far as specs go, it's only the Snapdragon 820 that seems to be settled on. Even the resolution of that huge display hasn't been revealed.

Announcement time frame is still unknown obviously, but the source does mention the month of May.

Latest Galaxy S7/S7 edge update hits the UK too, Shape correction included

An update for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, which first rolled out in certain regions early this week, has now made it to the UK. The new firmware is arriving on both unlocked and carrier units as we speak.

In terms of features, the update brings shape correction for skewed photos - a toggle to be found in the camera settings. The S7 edge also gets improved palm rejection - the flat S7 doesn't really need it.

There's the usual unspecified bug fixes and stability and performance improvements. Additionally, the new firmware includes the latest available Android security patch, dated April 2.

Apple's order reduction for iPhone parts extends into April-June quarter

Apple's reduced iPhone production will extend into the April-June quarter, Nikkei reports, citing parts suppliers from Japan. Component orders were reduced by 30% for the previous quarter and the same volumes will be kept for this one.

A recent analysis projected a continuing downward trend in iPhone sales, and this seems to be the generally agreed upon direction, following a first year-on-year decline in shipments since the original iPhone's launch in 2007, reported in January. The latest iPhone SE is alsonot expected to reverse the trend.

              Apple iPhone 6s

Realistically speaking, an increase in iPhone 6s/6s Plus orders makes little sense now, with the company inevitably shifting to iPhone 7 production in the months to come. And with more than 90% of mobile market profits going Apple's way, the company doesn't seem likely to go in the red anytime soon.

Poll results: New Huawei P9 duo gets super warm reception

Bright future ahead for the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus if our poll results are any indication. Both phones got an overwhelmingly positive reception with the Plus only a tiny bit ahead of its plain brother.

So, dual-cameras, premium metal build, fingerprint sensor, fast processor vs. no 4K video recording? That's 4 to 1 in favor, which is exactly what the P9 gets. Well, yes, admittedly we picked arbitrary pros and con for that statement, but the ratio still stands.

In more precise figures, the Huawei P9 gathers 78% of upvotes and we'll go ahead and count that as a sign of approval for dual cameras. Not that it matters that much as phone makers are already going in that direction as it is.

The P9 Plus collects a marginal 2% on top of that, for a total of 80% thumbs up. Should we interpret that as the portion of our readers who'd use the headline Pressure Touch? Or just the "bigger is better" principle at play?

Outlook app now available on Android Wear

he Outlook mail app for Android is now available for Android Wear.

You will now be able to see your notifications, read your emails, reply with preset messages or use voice dictation from your Android Wear device.

The update is now available to download on the Play Store.

360-degree spherical wallpapers now available for your LG G5

LG has released a whole bunch of 360-degree spherical wallpapers for you to enjoy on your brand new G5 smarphones. "Spherical wallpapers?" you exclaim in confusion, with a firm belief in your head that walls do generally tend to be flat.

Well, these are meant for your phone and your phone can be oriented in any arbitrary direction plus it has a gyroscope. Depending on its orientation you'd be served the respective portion of the spherical image and it will keep panning around as you move.

At this point there are 12 such wallpapers available, shot at exotic locations throughout the world by pro photographers. 4 new ones will be added each month until November. You can download them for free from the LG SmartWorld app.

We can see how it may be distracting in day to day use, more so than the parallax effect some makers apply. It's still pretty cool, though, and gives you an idea for another use of that 360CAM you got with the G5.

Verizon wants you to try Android Pay, offering 2GB of free data to those who do it

Verizon is currently running a promo where-in customers who'll start using Google's mobile payments service Android Pay will get a total of 2GB data for free. "Tap anywhere in stores Android Pay is accepted and receive 1 GB of free data," the carrier said in a blog post. "On your third tap, we’ll throw in another free gig."

The free data that Verizon is offering will be applied to your account for a total of two billing cycles. The promo - which runs through June 14 - is only available to the carrier's postpaid subscribers with The Verizon Plan or The MORE Everything Plan.

You can also combine the offer with some of the current deals that Verizon is offering. For more details, head to the Source link below.

OnePlus offering discounts up to $240 through its newly-launched trade-in program

OnePlus has launched a new smartphone exchange program where-in those trading-in their old smartphone for a OnePlus device will be entitled to receive discounts up to INR 16,000, which translates into around $240 at current exchange rates.

The offer is valid on the purchase of the OnePlus One, OnePlus 2, as well as the OnePlus X. Needless to say that the $240 discount is the maximum that one get can get - the actual amount will depend upon your smartphone's actual condition, age, as well as functional defects (if any).

OnePlus has partnered with ReGlobe for the exchange and buy-back program. The following graphic describes the how-to of the buy-back process in 6 easy steps:

OS X being rebranded as MacOS? Apple drops another hint

Is Apple re-branding OS X as MacOS? Well, it definitely seems so. Last month, MacOS was spotted in the name of an OS X framework file, and now the Cupertino-based company has dropped another hint at the possible change.

Recently, in a web-page - describing the company's efforts for the Earth Day 2016 - on its official website, Apple mentioned the new name for a brief period, before reverting it back to OS X. Here's is the paragraph in question:

"To model customer use, we measure the power consumed by a product while it is running in a simulated scenario. Daily usage patterns are specific to each product and are a mixture of actual and modeled customer use data. Years of use, which are based on first owners, are assumed to be four years for MacOS and tvOS devices and three years for iOS and watchOS devices. More information on our product energy use is provided in our Product Environmental Reports."

To recall, the name OS X was opted by Apple way back in 2001. The operating system was the successor to Mac OS 9, which was released in the year 1999.