New deal drops unlocked BlackBerry Priv's price to $399.99

The BlackBerry Priv has certainly seen its fair share of price cuts recently. First, the Canadian company itself permanently slashed $50 off the price of the contract-free device, bringing the recommended amount down to $649. Then, just a few days ago one deal had it for only $450, which is a great price, but not as good as the one we have for you today.

Over at Newegg, the unlocked AT&T model of the Priv is currently being sold for $399.99. That's $250 less than usual, so this is clearly one deal you need to take advantage of fast if you're interested in BlackBerry's first Android-running smartphone.

The Priv has a 5.4-inch QHD touchscreen, a full physical sliding QWERTY keyboard, an 18MP rear camera, a 2MP selfie cam, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chipset at the helm, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable storage, and a 3,410 mAh battery. It runs Android, and theMarshmallow update has just started rolling out for it.

Google outs Android TV remote app for iOS

Android Wear has been playing nice with iOS devices for a while, and now it's time for Google's other Android spinoff to do the same, sort of. The search giant has released an Android TV app for iOS, which is already available to download from the iTunes App Store.

The app lets your iOS device act as your Android TV's remote. It has both a d-pad mode and a touchpad mode, while a microphone button lets you quickly start a voice search.

There's also a built-in keyboard with which to input text on your Android TV. You can connect multiple remotes to your TV and use them for multiplayer gaming.

The app works with all Android TV devices, and all you need to do to ensure it will pair well with yours is have both your iOS device and the TV on the same Wi-Fi network.

Intel wants to kill the 3.5mm headset jack too

Last week LeEco unveiled three new Android-powered smartphones that have one interesting thing in common - neither of them features a 3.5mm headset jack. Instead, you're supposed to use the USB Type-C port for all your audio needs.

Rumors from Apple's supply chain keep talking about the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus alsoskipping the 3.5mm slot, this time in favor of audio routed through the Lightning port of course.

And now Intel has emerged as another company that wants to kill the 3.5mm headset jack for good - at least when it comes to mobile devices. This port has become ubiquitous in smartphones and tablets over the past few years, but there may be some legitimate reasons to bid it farewell in the future.

First off, it's an analog connector otherwise surrounded by digital stuff, built into multi-purpose devices, but it's still a single-purpose affair. Space constraints are also in play, especially as phones get ever slimmer but people want them to come with larger and larger batteries.

Plus, if everyone was to use digital ports such as USB Type-C for audio, this could enable smarter headphones - for example ones that may even track your health data like temperature. Headphone makers will be expected to build digital-to-analog converters into their accessories, which might be a good thing since not depending on different handsets' hardware for this purpose could result in better (and more consistent) audio quality regardless of what particular device you connect your cans to.

For now, Intel has presented a proposal to get rid of the 3.5mm jack and use USB Type-C instead. If most device manufacturers get on board with this idea, then the transition will be relatively easy - while still annoying every single person out there who has a favorite pair of analog headphones.

Apple Music hits 13M subscribers, up from 11M three months ago

Apple's hardware business may have taken a hit, but its services business keeps growing. Apple Music, not even a year old yet, grew to 13 million subscribers, up from 11 million three months ago.

Chief rival Spotify is at 30 million paying subscribers, Tidal (which also launched about a year ago) is at barely 3 million. Unlike Spotify, Apple Music has no free service and charges $9.99 a month (same as Tidal's base option).

Apple Music has exclusives to draw in consumers - Drake, Taylor Swift, Dr. Dre, Nine Inch Nails and others. And, of course, over 1 billion active iDevices for Music to play on.

Samsung Gear Fit 2 with GPS leaks, Gear IconX headset too

While the Gear S smartwatches had several launches (and the Gear S3 sort-of confirmed), the Samsung Gear Fit smart band has not been updated since its 2014 launch. The new model peeked out from under the covers, giving us an early glimpse of what's to come.

The band still features a curved Super AMOLED display, but the new model will be even curvier to fit better on your wrist. The other major change is the built-in GPS, which will allow the Fit to perform better as a fitness tracker (better accuracy for running and cycling).

Curved Super AMOLED display • Heart rate monitor 

Also, incoming is the successor to the Gear Circle headset. The Gear IconX is completely wire-free, removing even the connection between the two ear plugs.

The IconX can work over Bluetooth or stand-alone - it has 4GB of onboard memory and touch controls. The plugs are dust and water resistant and are normally carried in a box that charges them (this extends their battery life and keeps you from losing one of them).

Samsung Gear IconX • Gear Fit 2 next to the Gear S2

Expect to see the Samsung Gear Fit 2 and Gear IconX at IFA.

Instagram rolls out black and white UI to some users

Instagram seems to be testing a completely revamped UI for its app. A few users have tweeted about their app turning completely grayscale, save for the images, of course.

For most parts, the new design is similar to the current one. What is different is that Instagram has dropped the blue bar at the top and the distinct square buttons at the bottom. The bar at the top is now plain white with black text and icons. The bar on the bottom loses its borders for buttons and instead has simplified iconography. This simplification of icons and monochromatic theme continues elsewhere in the app as well.

So far we have only see these from iOS users, but if Instagram does go with this design then it's likely the Android app will be updated with a similar look as well. Instagram hasn't said anything yet officially about the update, which means it is simply testing waters at this time.

LeEco schedules entertainment-related event for May 3

LeEco has great ambitions to be the next tech juggernaut. Previously mostly known in its home country of China, the company has drawn attention to itself with cheap-but-powerful phones and now it has something new in store.

What? We'll find out for sure on May 3 when "Entertainment will play in a whole new way."

The teaser image of a movie salon is tantalizing. LeEco unveiled a couple of Smart TVs - 4 X50 and 4 X50 Pro, both with 50" 4K, Harman Kardon speakers and Android. Chinese prices were announced, CNY 2,500/2700 for the 16GB/32GB X50 and CNY 3,000 for the X50 Pro. Perhaps the event will be for the Indian launch?

LeEco also put out a VR headset, which is an even more unusual way to watch a movie (virtual cinema apps are a thing, but there's a growing number of videos made specifically for VR).

Report says Samsung Pay is most-used mobile payments app in South Korea

With an average usage of 41 times per user, Samsung Pay was the top mobile payments app last month in South Korea, according to a local app ranker WiseApp.

It's worth mentioning that the research only took into account Android phone users as iOS usage is said to be pretty low in South Korea. Samsung Pay has a total of 2.59 million users in the country.

The service - which is currently available in the US, South Korea, and China, and due to arrivein Singapore this quarter - had a total of 5 million users globally in February.

Full deployment of Droid Turbo 2 Marshmallow update begins

Motorola has announced that the company has started "full deployment" of the Droid Turbo 2Marshmallow update. The announcement - as usual - came in the form of a Google+ post from the company's senior director of software product management David Schuster.

But, didn't the roll-out start early last month, you might ask. Well, that's a valid question, which unfortunately Schuster didn't answer in his post directly, although we assume that the term "full deployment" means that not all Droid Turbo 2 units received the update at that time.

So yeah, this seems to be (and we really hope it is) the final roll-out. Head to the Source links below to access release notes and the update page on Verizon's official website.

Microsoft says will continue supporting Windows 10 Mobile "for many years," new devices coming

Microsoft's sales numbers might suggest that its Windows 10 Mobile platform is taking its last breaths, but the Redmond, Washington-based company seems to be in no mood to retreat.

In an email sent out to several company executives and partners, the executive vice president of Microsoft's Windows and Devices Group Terry Myerson has made it clear that the company is committed to the OS platform and is also working on new mobile devices.

Here's an excerpt from the email:

I understand that you are hearing concerns from certain partners about Microsoft's commitment to the mobile space.

Let me be very clear: We are committed to deliver Windows 10 on mobile devices with small screen running ARM processors.

We are currently in development of our next generation products and I wanted to reconfirm our commitment to Windows 10 Mobile. We believe in this product's value to business customers and it is our intention to support the Windows 10 Mobile platform for many years. We have a device roadmap to support that from Microsoft as well as our OEM partners who will also be selling an expanded lineup of phone devices based on this platform.

Microsoft has been long-rumored to be working on a device dubbed Surface Phone. In fact, the company has dropped several hints in the past effectively confirming a Surface branded phone is indeed in the making, with CMO Chris Capossella even calling it a "breakthrough device."

Moto X (2016) gets benchmarked with Snapdragon 820 and 4GB of RAM

This year's Motorola flagship smartphone is clearly already in development, and now it looks like someone in possession of a prototype decided to run Geekbench on it. Hence, the benchmark's online database now lists the Motorola XT1650.

What's most likely hiding behind that model number is the successor to the Moto X Style / Moto X Pure Edition from 2015 - this year's Moto X iteration.

The handset rocks 4GB of RAM and it's powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 SoC, as you'd expect from a high-end offering. The prototype in question unsurprisingly runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.

The scores it's received are in line with what we've seen for other handsets sporting the Snapdragon 820, so no surprises there. The phone could become official on June 9, at an event that's already been confirmed by Lenovo's CEO. It may even launch running Android N, since Google is reportedly going to release its new OS iteration sooner this year.

Oppo Find 9 now rumored to be unveiled in June with 4K display

Oppo has launched quite a few smartphones in the past year or so, but none can truthfully be called top of the line in terms of specs. The last Oppo flagship was the Find 7, which was released in May 2014. So, understandably, January 2015 is when information about the Chinese company working on the Find 9, its would-be successor, first got out.

Yet 2015 came to an end without the Find 9 ever getting official. Towards the end of the year we heard that the mythical smartphone would only surface in 2016, so now there's a new rumor out of China talking about it.

Apparently the Oppo Find 9 will finally be announced in June, with availability following soon after that. As this is an unconfirmed rumor at the moment, do take it with a pinch of salt.

The Find 9 may allegedly cost as much as CNY 3,998, which at the current exchange rates means $615 or €545. It could even sport a 4K-capable display, along with 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 SoC running things. The new and improved Super VOOC fast charging should be in too, as well as a camera with SmartSensor image stabilization.