New Star Wars: Force Arena PvP game announced for Android and iOS

Netmarble Games and Lucasfilm announced the in-development Star Wars: Force Arena. It's a real-time PvP game optimized for mobile devices that features over 65 iconic characters, vehicles, and units. The game lets players choose between the Rebellion or the Empire, taking command of a squad of units to fight against each other in real-time.

Players are able to build squads by recruiting characters with different skill and attack abilities using character cards that are acquired after each battle and upgraded, strengthening their squad. The character decs feature famous heroes, such as Han Solo and Chewbacca, that serve to boost effectiveness in combat. The game also has various modes of play to choose from, such as single player, training, and real-time 1v1 or 2v2 multiplayer.

During the game’s pre-registration, which has already began, all players that sign up will be rewarded crystals that can be used as in-game currency to purchase items and strengthen characters within the game. Depending on the number of players that pre-register, more crystals will be given to players for a duration of two weeks after the official global launch. 250 crystals will be rewarded if more than 10,000 players sign up, 700 crystals for more than 100,000 and 1,400 crystals will be given to all players if more than a million sign up for pre-registration. Players can sign up at the game’s official website (link).

Star Wars: Force Arena will be available on both the App Store and Google Play. Unfortunately, the release date hasn't been announced.

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Did you install the Android 7.0 Nougat beta update on your Galaxy S7 or S7 edge? (poll results)

We asked you yesterday if you were intrigued enough to install the Nougat update beta on your Galaxy S7 or S7 edge, or if you are still holding the fort, waiting with bated breath for the stable OTA rollout to hit your Galaxy in the not-so-distant future. It turned out that the brave souls who ventured into the big blue Samsung unknown are no less than 40%, at least from those who responded, while the others figured out that the OTA rollout is nearing anyway, so why not wait for the real thing a few weeks or so. Moreover, not everyone who wanted to install the beta got approved, so the percentage of folks who would run it on their S7 and S7 edge might have been even higher.

Samsung outed the Android 7.0 Nougat beta for its spring flagships like the S7 or S7 edge already, and the TouchWiz of yesterday is apparently done with, at least in the settings, submenus and notifications shade. Oops, that's actually a lot, and when you add all the features that good guy Samsung brought over from Note 7 as a tribute to its fans, the new Samsung UX is shaping up to be a revelation.

The brand new SamsungOne font makes the fresh UX look very different and more minimalistic, the clean and simplified settings list brings back fond memories of the Note 7's Grace UX, and the extra Always-On screen options from the deceased phablet are also brought in to sooth the mourning a little bit. Samsung also brought over the new battery saver modes from the Note 7, but provided the screen resolution changes they contain as a standalone feature, too, and added different performance modes you can choose from, depending on what you want to do with your device.

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Samsung allegedly starts work on Android 7.0 Nougat updates for the Note 5, Galaxy Tab S2

According to Samsung-centric tech blog Sammobile, the world's largest smartphone manufacturer has started developing the Android 7.0 Nougat update for the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy Tab S2. 

Historically, Samsung doesn't hold the best track record when it comes to delivering timely Android updates. In recent years, however, Samsung has dramatically improved its delivery times, and all signs indicate that Samsung is not about to slack off when it comes to delivering the Android 7.0 Nougat update to its recent flagship smartphones and tablets, although not the same can be said for the company's mid-range devices. 

Samsung has recently kicked off its Android 7.0 Nougat beta program for Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge users. Previous rumors have indicated that Samsung has also started developing the Nougat update for the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge. In this context, it makes perfect sense for Samsung's Nougat update efforts to trickle down to older flagship devices such as the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy Tab S2. 

While it's good to know that Samsung is working on updating its devices to the latest Android version (which has been around for three good months now), it remains to be seen if Samsung can publish the official updates in a timely manner. Note that unofficial information suggests that not even the Galaxy S7 series will get the final Android 7.0 Nougat update by the end of the year.

An early analysis of the Android 7.0 Nougat beta update for the Galaxy S7 series reveals that Samsung is currently test-driving a new user interface. Unfortunately, however, it's too early to tell if older devices will get the new UI as well or if Samsung plans to limit its availability to the Galaxy S7 series. 

If you own a Galaxy Note 5 or a Galaxy Tab S2, you might want to check out our Android 7.0 Nougat review to learn more about what the latest Android flavour brings to the table.

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5" Galaxy J3 (2017) may be unveiled December 1, leaked press render tips

The Samsung Galaxy J3 (2017) has been popping up in benchmarks and FCC databases for a while now, indicating an imminent launch. How imminent? Well, judging from the leaked press render of the new J3, it might be as soon as December 1, as that's the date shown on the homescreen widget. The J3 (2016) was released in January this year, so December announcement of its successor is not out of the question. 

Based on the leaked benchmarks, the upcoming Galaxy J3 refresh sports a 5-inch display with either HD (720p) or FHD (1080p) resolution. In fact, there's a high chance that Samsung will launch two version of the Galaxy J3 (2017) with different displays, as the leak here suggests. Evan Blass writes that the press render here is from the "regular" SM-J327P model, not SM-J3119, which will be denoted as the J3 Pro.

Aside from the 5-incher, he Galaxy J3 (2017) will pack a 1.4GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor and 2 GB of RAM, which should be more than enough for an entry-level handset. Samsung Galaxy J3 (2017) is also said to feature an 8-megapixel rear camera and a decent 2,600 mAh battery under the hood. The smartphone is expected to ship with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow onboard, but it's not clear yet if or when the Nougat update and Samsung's new UX will be in the cards.

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YouTube Kids update: Parents can now block videos and channels

With the release of YouTube Kids, Google gave parents a valuable tool in protecting their children from profanity and inappropriate content on YouTube. After all, no one wants their child to watch The Ellen Show, unless they like explaining awkward jokes and inappropriate subjects to their young ones.

Overall, the app was well received, but there was a feature lacking, which a lot of parents requested – blocking individual videos and channels. Yes, the content on YouTube Kids was well picked, so no bad videos slip through the cracks, but that's not what the blocking is for. If your kid plays Elsa's “Let It Go” on repeat for an hour each day, during its screen time, you're bound to get sick of it at some point. And as the grown-up you are, you'd like to smite this song and send it to the furthest edge of the Universe, when you do get tired of letting it go, because it would be easier than explaining your 5-year-old why it shouldn't watch the video over and over again.

Also, every family is different and what would be deemed acceptable for one parent, could classify as not-so-good for another. In YouTube's example, this is illustrated with a video, titled “How to make a mess” (we dare to agree that's not something we'd like our kids to learn).

As of yesterday, though, this will no longer be an issue. Now parents can use their own Google account to restrict individual videos and channels from their child's YouTube Kids feed. If you'd like to give your children some freedom of what to watch, but there are specific videos you don't agree with, you can just add them to the blacklist and they will not be suggested for view during your young ones' screen time.

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Trump's victory pushes people to download encrypted chat app

In his campaign, Donald Trump stated that he'd like to increase government surveillance, in order to improve national security and protect the US from terrorism. This, however, didn't seem like a good idea for a lot of people. In recent years, there have been plenty of scandals around government surveillance of civilians and the population is generally on edge when it comes to someone tapping in their phone.

This is why a lot of users have taken preemptive measures. The LA Times reports that encrypted chat and calls app, Signal, has seen a massive spike in downloads after the election results became official. The app offers end-to-end encryption and doesn't store its users' conversations anywhere on the Internet.

“Many users have reported that their entire social circle switched to Signal in the past week,” said Moxie Marlinspike, founder of the company behind Signal. He didn't want to give exact numbers, but said that downloads have increased by 400% after the election.

Despite the fact that Trump's intentions are good, it appears that the general public questions his means. We still don't know if the Signal trend will catch on, but according to Marlinspike, a lot of the new downloads actually resulted in new everyday users.

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Google is now sending out $50 discount codes to people who got their Pixel orders delayed

A few days after Google began sending out Daydream View promo codes to those who had pre-ordered a Pixel phone back in October, the Internet search giant has also begun issuing codes for the $50 in Play Store credit it promised to all customers who pre-ordered one of its flagship phones but didn't receive it in time. Eligible for the credit are pre-orders of either Pixel phone made from Google directly.

To redeem your discount voucher, after getting an email from Google, all you need to do is click the “Get started” button in the email, enter your promo code, click “Redeem”, and use the “Google Play balance” payment option when checking out in the Play Store.

If you are among the people who pre-ordered a Pixel phone early on, you should also be on the lookout for another email by Google, containing a promo code that will net you a free Daydream View unit! If you should be getting either or both of these emails, but still haven't received anything, we'd advise you to regularly check the “Promotions” and “Updates” tabs in your Gmail.

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Twitter for iOS 10 introduces Rich Notifications

Twitter for iOS has adopted the Rich Notifications feature introduced by Apple in iOS 10. Rich Notifications allow users to view and play media content, including images, videos, and audio, straight from the notification card, as well as perform various in-app actions, such as replying to messages, without launching the application itself.

Twitter's notification cards for iOS 10 now contain a small thumbnail alongside the usual five lines of text, located in the bottom left corner, but expand when force touched, revealing any images or media inside in much larger size.

If you are running iOS 10 or higher, Twitter should already be sending its revamped notification cards your way. If you can't tell the difference at first glance, don't forget use force touch to reveal the media content inside, if you are using an iPhone 6s/Plus or the new iPhone 7 models. If you are on an iPhone 6 or another device with no support for 3D touch, just swipe to the left from the notification card and tap the "View" button.

Rich Notifications were initially used only by Apple's first-party apps, such as iMessage, Maps, and Mail, but an increasing number of iOS developers are implementing the feature into their products, pushing more interactive and content-rich notifications to their users.

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6.4" Mi Mix or a 5.5" Mi Mix Nano, which one would you pick?

We doubt that Xiaomi has been swooned by popular opinion to start developing a smaller version of the "bezel-less" Mi Mix phone, as the Mi Mix Nano that leaked today and yesterday has apparently been in the cards for quite some time, is a functional prototype is now making the rounds.

Nevertheless, the only drawback that initial impressions could find in a $500 6.4" phone housed in the ceramic body of a 6-incher, and powered by Snapdragon 821 and 4000 mAh battery, was that the phone could be smaller. Granted, we appreciate Xiaomi taking the time to engineer a handset that is as close to the "edge-to-edge" term as currently possible, but the resulting phone is still pretty huge for hands and pockets. 

Wouldn't it be nice to have all that jazz, but with a 5.5" panel in a 5"-ish footprint, like what the Mi Mix Nano is showcasing? Well, some need as large a screen as possible in the smallest possible footprint, so they would go for the 6.4" Mi Mix, instead of the eventual 5.5" Nano. That is why we wanted to ask you which one would you pick if you had the desire to try a handset with 90%+ screen-to-body ratio, and decent specs for the price - have your say in the poll below.

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Nokia's "return to smartphones" confirmed for 2017

In case you didn't believe that Nokia would re-enter the smartphone business next year, we now have an official confirmation that should end any doubts about this. In a slide from Nokia's Capital Markets Day 2016 - an event held on November 15 for investors - the company states that 2017 will represent "Nokia brand's return to smartphones."

Mind you, Nokia won't make smartphones itself, since it no longer has the required manufacturing facilities. Thus, the handsets will be made in collaboration with Finnish company HMD Global, and Taiwanese giant Foxconn. Led by former Nokia execs, HDM will "develop, market and sell Nokia-branded phones and accessories", while Foxconn is dealing with R&D and manufacturing. Moreover, a renowned advertising agency was contracted to help promote upcoming Nokia smartphones.

One of the first Nokia-branded handsets of 2017 could be the D1C, which allegedly runs Android 7 Nougat and offers mid-range specs like a 1080p display, a Snapdragon 430 processor, and 3 GB of RAM.

Nokia will host a keynote at MWC 2017 (February 27 - March 2), and chances are that it's going to share some details on its next generation smartphones then. Let us know if you're excited about this!

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Touch Surgery is a must-see new app for medical students, surgeons and the curious

Surgery is a scary word for practically everyone. For medical professionals, though, it might also be a challenge to do your job in the best way possible.

But how do you train for a complicated surgery? There are simulator machines, but those are expensive, usually located in a medical facility, hard to access and often very limited. In searching for a better way to practise complicated medical interventions came Touch Surgery, a completely free and extremely detailed and well-made app for Android and iOS.

Touch Surgery features computer-generated graphics rather than video: of course, video would be the most realistic way of doing such an app, but it is often hard to see and properly understand a procedure in video. That's where Touch Surgery shines: it walks you through every single step of a surgery in a very accessible way and it shows you tissues in different colors, so that you can easily understand what's going on. We ourselves played around with the app and despite obviously not involved with surgery in any way, we found it to be tremendously informative for even a lay person.

FREE AND IMPRESSIVELY WELL MADE, A MUST-SEE

It takes away a lot of the scare and mystery that a patient might be experiencing: virtually walking through an upcoming surgery with the app allows you to better know what will happen to your body and prepare for it mentally.

Touch Surgery now has 1.5 million users across the globe, it's completely free to download and once you get the app, you can download one of over 75 procedures (they do require some space on your phone), also free of charge. This, however, is hardly the limit: the company plans to expand and grow that database furhther.

"We have made a huge amount of progress with our apps and over 1.5 million users worldwide. It means we already have the world’s largest digital surgical community. We are operating on a completely different scale to other surgical training solutions ... We have spent the last few years truly understanding surgical procedures – how they are done and how surgeons make decisions in the operating room," Touch Surgery co-founder Andre Chow explains. "Our goal is to step back into the operating room and apply our technology to aid the operative environment."

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Huawei Mate 9 Review

Introduction

For a certain group of smartphone users, bigger means better, and they're going to want the largest, most feature-packed handsets they can get – while still small enough to fit in their pockets. And though manufacturers have been eager to deliver big-screen phone after big-screen phone, right now that market's in a bit of an upset after the spectacular crashing and burning (pun intended) of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. 

While the Note 7's early retirement doesn't leave us with an all-out vacuum, it does take away one of the most popular players in the big-screen-phone space. There's still the Galaxy S7 edge, granted, but it's a tricky phone to recommend now, with a follow-up presumably waiting for us in the early months of 2017.

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Microsoft updates Next Lock Screen with fingerprint support for more devices

The Next Lock Screen application for Android devices has just received a small, but important update that extends some of its features to even more smartphones.

Developed by Microsoft's Garage project, Next Lock Screen has been updated with support for fingerprint unlock method for more devices. Although the feature was available for quite some time, it didn't work for all Android smartphones.

With the latest update, Microsoft promises to bring fingerprint unlock on a lot more devices, so if it didn't work for you in the past, you might want to try again after updating Next Lock Screen.

But that's not all, as Microsoft announced that it has added new welcome tutorials to the application, which are supposed to be more meaningful and easier to follow.

The update brings support for volume control shown on top of lock screen, and it should also improve GPU performance, as well as reduce memory usage. The developers confirmed the update contains some bug fixes, too.

Don't forget that if you want to be up to date with the latest features the developers plan to include in the Next Lock Screen, you can join the app's beta community on Google+.

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OnePlus 3T specs review: Flagship Killer, version 5.0

Poof! The OnePlus 3T is no longer a figment of our collective wishful thinking. The device became official on November 15 and sent ripples throughout the OnePlus 3 community as concern arised that the OnePlus 3 will get in the back burner in terms of software support. Yes, it was just yesterday announced that the OnePlus 3 is going the way of the dodo and will no longer be officially sold by OnePlus in USA and Europe. 

Don't get us wrong, we are not disappointed by OnePlus' marketing strategy at all - as long as we get great devices at reasonable price, we are content. And great the OnePlus 3T most likely is as it improves a few key areas of the 3rd-gen flgaship killer. For example, it has a larger battery crammed in the same body, snappier chipset, new 128GB storage option, as well as a humngous new 16MP front-facing camera. You can get all that for $439, $40 more than the price OnePlus 3 featured at launch.

Join as we explore the internals of the OnePlus 3T up close.

Design

Nothing's been changed in the design of the OnePlus 3T in comparison with the OnePlus 3 - we've got the same all-aluminum design, with both the dimensions and the weight staying the same - 6.01 x 2.94 x 0.29 inches (152.7 x 74.7 x 7.35 mm) and 5.57 oz (158 g), respectively. All in all, the two are identical, except for the new color option - the OnePlus 3T brings forth a new shade of grey, dubbed Gunmetal, a bit darker than OnePlus 3's Grapphite one.

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Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 835: Samsung-provided 10 nm tech, more power, smaller footprint

As you probably know, most top-tier Android phone manufacturers out there trust only one brand of chip-maker for the chipsets that power their flagship handsets. We are talking about Qualcomm, of course, and its Snapdragon family of systems-on-chip. The company has now announced its flagship product for the beginning of 2017 — the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835.

Much like the 820, the Snapdragon 835 has been developed in partnership with Samsung. The latter has been making great strides in the field of SoC development as of late and has managed to provide Qualcomm with the technology to build chipsets on a 10 nm FinFET process. If you are a bit fuzzy on what those nanometers mean — you may want to check out our in-depth article on the matter here. But the short story is: the smaller the chip, the more energy-efficient it is.

As per the official press release, compared to its 14 nm Snapdragon 820 predecessor, the 835 can be 30% smaller, have 27% higher performance, and be 40% more energy-efficient. This means a bit more breathing room inside smartphones for other components (please don't remove any more 3.5 mm jacks!) and better battery life... as far as the SoC is involved, at least.

The new processor will also support Qualcomm's next generation of fast-charging — Quick Charge 4.0. It is said to provide 20% faster charging than the already impressive Quick Charge 3.0. As a quick example – the HTC 10, LG G5, and Galaxy S7 all charge up to 100% for 80-100 minutes, but need only a few minutes on a charger in order to get hours worth of juice. Quick Charge 4.0 will also be fully compliant with USB Type-C, so phones equipped with the reversible data port will no longer need to suffer slower charging times.

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Twitter introduces QR codes

Twitter unveiled a surprise update to its platform yesterday. It appears that the blue bird is now getting personalized QR codes, which take people straight to your profile, when scanned.

The update was announced by Brittany Forks, a designer at Twitter, via her own account. What makes the situation a bit questionable is Brittany's explanation of the service, and we quote, “they work like snap codes”. It appears that Twitter is not ashamed to admit to borrowing from one of its social media competitors. In fact, its employees openly proclaim it during the feature's initial presentation, for some reason.

We're still not sure what was wrong with sending people your @ handle, instead of a QR code. Or just giving them a link to your profile, instead of physically handing your phone to them, so they can scan your fancy, colorful barcode. But, even if no one uses it, it won't hurt the platform, right?

The QR codes are rolling out as we speak and they should make their way to all user profiles soon. If you already have the feature enabled for your account, you can find your personalized QR code by going to your profile, clicking the gear icon and looking for the QR code option.

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Quick Charge 4.0 goes official: what does it change and when will it come to smartphones

Months before it will actually be available on consumer devices, Qualcomm has unveiled its upcoming new high-end system-on-a-chip: the Snapdragon 835 is now official.

There is one particular announcement that comes alongside the Snapdragon 835 news, though, that has the potentila to be an even bigger game-changer for mobile devices: QuickCharge 4.0.

The new QuickCharge 4.0 (QC4) technology allows for up to 20% faster charging speed and 30% higher efficiency, and - best of all - it is now compatible with the soon-to-be-ubiquitous USB Type-C and USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) specifications.

In a direct comparison with the original QuickCharge technology, the latest QC4 brings a 2.5 times improvement, while also adding important safeguards to protect battery health: on board are over-voltage, over-current, and four levels of over-temperature protection that include the chassis itself, the battery and control of the temperature of the circuitry. After all those exploding Galaxy Note 7  devices (that some theories say have something to do with quick charging, but those are rather speculative), we are happy to see proper measures against future battery issues.

5 MINUTES OF CHARGE GRANT YOU 5 HOURS OF USE

Qualcomm also has come with a neat marketing slogan for QuickCharging 4: 5 minutes of charging give you 5 hours of additional time to use your phone. Clever.

Another thing that is embedded in Quick Charge 4.0 is smart detection of the type and quality of the charging cable, a key step to providing adequate power to the battery and not overloading the circuits. Qualcomm has updated its Battery Saver Technologies as well, using stepwise charging to ensure a phone's battery retains at least 80% of its original charge capacity after 500 charge cycles.

Qualcomm says that protection "is implemented at multiple levels and throughout the entire charging process to more accurately measure voltage, current, and temperature while protecting the battery, system, cables and connectors."

Quick Charge 4.0 release date

This time around, Qualcomm's official announcement feels rather early: the power management integrated circuits supporting the new standard will be available to manufacturers by the end of 2016, while actual smartphones with the new tech are expected to ship in the first half of 2017.

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'Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes' is a bomb defusal game for Daydream VR

'Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes' is a co-op game, which requires sharp wits, critical thinking and a talkative buddy. The main purpose of the game is to defuse a bomb by following the instructions of a friend. The trick is that you can't see the manual for the device and your friend can't see the Note 7 lookalike, so the sapper has to describe the bomb as accurately as possible for their partner to find the correct instructions in the manual.

Until now, the game was available for desktop devices, PlayStation VR and Samsung Gear VR. Today, however, the game hit the Google Play store as a Daydream title. The experience will set you back $9.99, but it's well worth it if we judge by the many hours of fun we had with the desktop version.

'Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes' has received a number of game awards for innovation and design, so we expect it to be one of the more popular Daydream apps out there. It's also a great party game, thanks to its short round duration and randomized devices that drive the replay value way high. If you've never tried it and you happen to own a Google Pixel or Pixel XL with a Daydream View device, we highly recommend it. And, in case the NSA come knocking after you look-up 'bomb manual' on Google, you will have a good excuse.

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After UK and Germany, WhatsApp stops data sharing across Europe

WhatsApp had its fair share of legal problems recently. Government officials in both the UK and Germany made the team behind the popular app stop sharing user information with its parent company – Facebook – due to security concerns.

The messaging app shared information, such as phone numbers, photos, profile names and other user identifiable info with Facebook, so it can test new features for businesses. Naturally, watchdogs across the globe were not happy with the new WhatsApp Terms of Service and pushed for a change, despite the reassurances by the team behind the messaging app that information will be encrypted and unreadable by Facebook and WhatsApp employees.

Now, the already infamous data sharing practice will probably be put on ice across the entirety of the EU, until the matter is resolved. “We hope to continue our detailed conversations with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office and other data protection officials,” Facebook officials told The Financial Times. “We remain open to working collaboratively to address their questions.”

Facebook's public image has taken a few hard knocks the past few months. They were publicly criticized for the fake news on their platform around the election and the data sharing issue has stretched out in time already. So a legal battle with the EU is probably the last thing the company wants. It appears that Zuck and company are willing to cooperate with officials, until a mutual agreement is found, though.

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Google PhotoScan has an interesting premise, but it's no good for digitizing your old albums

Google recently launched a curious new app, called PhotoScan, that allows you to easily digitize your old printed photos by just pointing your phone's camera at them for a few moments and letting the app do its automated magic. PhotoScan is a smart tool, no questions asked, boasting such features as automatic edge detection, perspective correction, smart rotation, and about the most clever glare reduction technique we've ever seen in a mobile app. We wouldn't be surprised if you wowed a little inside the first time you scan an old print and see it perfectly cropped and straightened on your phone's screen, as though it isn't just a picture of a picture but a photo you took just now.

PhotoScan does produce some ostensibly good-looking results... as long as you view them on your phone's screen and don't actually zoom in on them. Once you decide to sift through your newly digitalized album on your PC, PhotoScan's limitations become painfully apparent. For all the smart new features it boasts, and for priding itself as a “photo scanner from the future” that creates “enhanced” digital scans, Google's new app produces some very coarse, scaled down, visibly compressed results that are simply inadequate for the purpose of archiving images.

So, what's wrong?

Well, for one thing, PhotoScan scans, which we will be referring to as simply “PhotoScans” from here on out, are very low-res. Processed images are limited to a maximum resolution of 2000 x 2000 pixels, which is roughly equivalent to what a 3 MP camera would produce. And not only that, but the outcome is also very noticeably compressed when examined on a larger screen. Let's take a look at some examples we made with an iPhone 7 Plus, which has a 12 MP camera (Note: we tested PhotoScan with other phones, including the Nexus 6P and Galaxy S7 with no visible differences in the end results):

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New technology improves Google Translate's accuracy

Starting today, the Google Translate app will offer more accurate translations from English to eight other languages thanks to a new technology. Neural Machine Translation allows entire sentences to be translated at once instead of the current one word at a time. The new technology will work on text being translated to and from English in eight different languages, making up approximately 35% of texts that are currently run through the app.

By translating whole sentences at a time, the Neural Machine Translation allows grammar to become a part of the translation process. This should improve the accuracy of the translations received by the app's users. And over time, the technology even improves its ability to translate sentences.

Considered the biggest improvement to Google Translate in the last decade, the Neural Machine Translation will cover texts translated to and from English in French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Turkish. Google's goal is to eventually expand the use of the new technology to the 100+ languages that work with the Google Translate app.

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Apple removed 47,300 apps from the App Store last month

Last quarter, Apple said that it would start cleaning house in the App Store. Now, the purge begins. According to data from Sensor Tower, the number of apps removed from the App Store by Apple last month rose by 238% sequentially to 47,300. That figure is also more than triple the 14,000 apps that Apple removed during an average month in 2016. 

Mobile games is the category most affected by Apple's purge with 28% of the removed apps coming from that group. After games, the other categories affected were Entertainment (8.99%), Books (8.96%), Education (7%) and Lifestyle (6%). Nearly half of the removed apps hadn't been updated since May 2015. And 25.6% had not seen an update since November 2013. Bottom line? Many of the apps taken out of the App Store were not what you might call freshly squeezed.

Apple says that it receives 100,000 new and updated apps each week. The tech titan says that there are over 2 million apps on the shelves, and the growth will continue according to Sensor Tower. The latter sees 5 million apps in the App Store by 2020, an estimate it first made public this past August.

The App Store has sure come a long way since July 2009 when it held 50,000 apps on its first anniversary.

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Alleged Huawei P10 prototype surfaces along with rumored specs

Back in June, just two months after the launch of the Huawei P9, we passed along a rumor that the Huawei P10 would feature a front-facing fingerprint scanner as opposed to the rear-facing scanner found on the P9. Now it is five months later and the P9 has rung up an impressive nine million in sales worldwide. Lo and behold, it would appear from leaked images of an alleged P10 prototype that there is a front-facing scanner on the device just as rumored. 

The photographs of the prototype were discovered today on weibo, and displays the dual camera setup on the back of the device. Of course, the twin 12MP Leica snappers on the back of the P9 are a major attraction for buyers. One shoots photos in color, and the other in monochrome. This enhances the ability of the phone to shoot pictures under low-light conditions.

A recent GFXBench run through showed that the Huawei P10's 5.5-inch screen carries a 1440 x 2560 resolution; the home grown Kirin 960 SoC is under the hood with an octa-core 2.3GHz CPU, and the Mali-G71 GPU. New speculation calls for two variants of the P10 to be offered. One model will have 4GB of RAM and 64GB of native storage, while the other will come with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of native storage.

We are still quite a few months away from the unveiling of the Huawei P10, which means that the rumored specs could change and that the final design of the P10 might not look anything like this prototype.

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Samsung's rumored "Family Care" parental control app lets mom and dad live worry free?

Samsung is about to make parents feel more relieved about giving their kids a Samsung Galaxy handset to use. According to a report published on Tuesday, a new app featuring parental controls will be released by the manufacturer. Called "Family Care," it will be available in the Google Play Store and will allow parents to block certain apps from being installed on their kids' phones. 

Parents can receive requests from their children to approve the installation of certain apps, and the request can be approved or denied. Requests can also be made for music and other content. The app will also give mom and dad the ability to set time limitations on their kids' usage of the Samsung Galaxy handsets they were given. Time limits can also be set for individual apps.

The report added that with the "Family Care" app, parents will be able to send notifications and reminders to the Samsung Galaxy phones used by their sons and daughters. And children will be able to send "pick-up requests" to their parents, who presumably will be sent a notification on their own Samsung Galaxy handset. The app is said to use a card-based interface.

The "Family Care" app will also let parents see how long their offspring are using their Samsung Galaxy handsets. Any updates available for Junior's phone will show up on the app. It is not yet known when the "Family Care" app will be available, but for now there are other apps available in the Google Play Store that will do some of the same things. Highly rated apps include WebWatcher Parental Monitoring and the MMGuardian Parent App.

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Snapchat parent Snap files for an IPO; offering could value the company as high as $25 billion

Snap, parent company of messaging app Snapchat, has filed with the SEC for its Initial Public Offering (IPO). The stock could be offered in March at a price that values the company between $20 billion and $25 billion. Since the company has yet to earn $1 billion in revenue, some thing that it hopes to do next year, it is allowed to file a confidential IPO. This prevents the public from seeing Snap's financial statement while the company checks how much demand there is for its shares.

Snap brought in $60 million in ad revenue last year and is on track to surpass its expectations of $250 million to $350 million in ad revenue for 2016. The firm is still losing money overall even as it attracts over 100 million users. On the company's website, it claims that Snapchat reaches 41% of those 18 to 34 in the U.S.

Originally known for its self-destructing photos that disappear after being viewed for ten seconds, Snapchat's filters are also quite popular as they produce images that turn the app's user into a dog with ears and a long tongue, a motorcycle cop with a bushy mustache, a bunny with long ears and whiskers, and many other funny creatures. Snapchat Stories is a series of snaps (photos) that are taken over a 24-hour period by a subscriber, and are supposed to tell a story.

Snap just launched its first tangible product, Spectacles. These are sunglasses with a small video camera attached to the right lens that allows the user to record 10 to 30 seconds of video. The clips can be sent wirelessly to a smartphone and then posted on social media sites. The glasses are priced at $129.99, and are sold from a single vending machine that changes its location every 24-hours.

With Snapchat closing in on a public offering valuing the company at as much as $25 billion, it should be remembered that Google tried to buy the company for $4 billion three years ago. Even though it was much smaller, the app was just beginning to generate a buzz. As tempting as the offer must have sounded to Snapchat co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel, he obviously did the right thing in turning down Google.

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Get the awesome OnePlus 3T wallpapers right here!

In typical OnePlus fashion, the freshly unveiled OnePlus 3T is going to come with a bunch of cool abstract wallpapers on board, chock full of color and trippy patterns. And in typical PA fashion, we're first to bring you all the new eye candy!

Created by graphic designer and illustrator Hampus Olsson, the new backgrounds are not only visually engaging, but also have an interesting story behind them. Conceived during Olsson's latest trip around Europe, these wallpapers began their journey to your screens on canvases — no, not Photoshop canvases but real ones — and were consequently digitalized and morphed into the beautiful pieces you'll find below.

Olsson is the artist who also created the OnePlus 2, OnePlus X, and OnePlus 3backgrounds. If you want to learn more about the design process behind his art, you can visit his blog by following the link at the bottom.

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Ming-Chi Kuo: three iPhone 8 models coming, 'premium' OLED version with dual camera to sell well

When it comes to knowledge about future iPhones, there is barely an analyst with better track record than KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo. His latest note to the research shop's clients fleshes out a bit more details on the expected iPhone 8 models that are slated to arrive next fall.

Rumors about them are coming fast and furious these days, and some of them are rather contradictory, so it's nice to hear a reputed analyst setting the record straight in a plausible scenario. For example, both Nikkei and Barclays analysts tipped that there will be three models, one of which will have a 5" panel, but that Apple's plans are still in flux, and they are trying different scenarios depending on flexible OLED display yields that will apparently play a part in building at least one of the iPhone 8 models.

Ming-Chi Kuo, however, claims that there might indeed be three models, but two of them will sport 4.7" and 5.5" LCD panel sizes, like the current crop, while the "premium" iPhone 8 version will be with an OLED screen of undisclosed diagonal (previously rumored to be a 5.8" one):

We look for new 2017F iPhones to come in three models: one OLED model, and two TFT-LCD models with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch display. We believe the OLED and 5.5-inch TFT-LCD iPhones will feature dual-camera. Based on this prediction, our forecast of dual camera adoption rate in new 2017F iPhone models is revised up from 30-40% to 65-75%. We view this increase as favoring Largan’s sales and profit momentum as it is the exclusive supplier of wide-angle and telephoto lens. It also bodes well for Apple’s dual camera software ecosystem.

The other interesting part here is not that the larger iPhone 8 models will sport Apple's dual camera setup - after all, it made a cameo on the iPhone 7 Plus - but the adoption rate forecast for it. The analyst predicts that the share of iPhone 8 models with dual cameras will be at least 65% of the total new iPhones shipped, which will benefit Taiwan's Largan Precision - Apple's chief lens supplier. This means that Ming-Chi Kuo is expecting healthy interest in the "premium" OLED display model, as before that the forecast was no more than 40% of sales to go to the iPhone 8 Plus, or whatever the eventual 5.5" LCD panel version with dual camera gets called.

Where does all that leave us in terms of the "all-glass" or "edge-to-edge" display iPhone 8 speculation, remains to be seen, but, increasingly, the rumors about a major redesign seem to be referring to the alleged OLED display "premium" version that could pop up alongside the "regular" LCD-laden iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. It might be the one with minimal bezels and home button embedded in the display, with curved 5.8" screen, and all the other wacky shenanigans, while the more orthodox models will fill the needs of those Apple fans who can't imagine their iPhones without a home key, or with a curved display, what do you think about such a scenario?

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OnePlus 3T vs Google Pixel XL vs Samsung Galaxy S7 edge: specs and size comparison

Poof! The OnePlus 3T is no longer a figment of our collective wishful thinking. The device became official yesterday, November 15, after a low-key announcement.

The new handset improves the specs of the phone in a few key areas - it has a larger battery crammed in the same body, snappier chipset, new 128GB storage option, as well as a large 16MP front-facing camera (up from 8MP). You can get all that for $439, $40 more than the price OnePlus 3 featured at launch.

While it's gradually escaping its ultra-affordable origins, OnePlus has still kept the price of its newest phone pleasantly low. It's not the best deal on a Snapdragon 821 device we've seen, but it will probably end up being a great value for money to those folks not willing to spend $769 or more on a Google Pixel XL.

Here's how the OnePlus 3T fares against the Google Pixel XL in our specs and size comparison combo. We've also thrown in a Galaxy S7 edge for good measure in there, too. First up, we will have to take the size comparison out of the way. 

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The Ulefone Armor is an affordable tank of a smartphone for the outdoorsy active types

Ulefone has announced a new handset, which is currently up for pre-sale at a special discount. The phone in question is called the Ulefone Armor and, as the name suggests, it's a device with a rugged look and robust protection built-in.

The Armor's body is built by a layer of hard polycarbonate and a soft cover of TPU, both coming together to ensure extreme protection when it comes to drops, slams, and crashes. The device is also rated IP 68 for dust- and water-proofing. Furthermore, Ulefone claims that the handset can survive temperatures from -4°F to 176°F (-20℃ to 80℃), so you can take it up on that mountain hike or down to the beach with no worries.

We've also got some physical keys on board to improve phone interaction in extreme condition. The navigation buttons are clickers, instead of capacitive touch ones, to make sure that they would work when the user is with gloves on or underwater. There is also a physical camera button for the very same reason. Last but not least, there is a button for an emergency mode — holding it for 5 seconds will call your emergency contact as well as send off a text with your current GPS coordinates.

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Exotic Vivo X9 leaks: iPhone looks, super-thin bezels

Eastern manufacturer Vivo has never been too shy about designing its X series of smartphones to look a lot like Apple's flagship handsets — both in physical appearance and software. Wondering why the name is ringing a bell? Well, you might have seen Vivo smartphones in the hands of Captain America and Black Widow in the most recent Marvel movies — yes, the company is making an effort to become a recognizable brand in Western markets.

Most recently, we've been hearing about an upcoming Vivo X9 smartphone — allegedly due to be announced today, to be exact. The handset is expected to be a midranger and a recently leaked Geekbench listing reaffirms this. What's more interesting is that it may have dual front-facing cameras — with an 8 MP and 20 MP sensors —, and we are curious to see what Vivo intends to do with those — perhaps a wide-angle selfie cam like the one on the LG V10?

Now, supposed hours before its official unveiling, the Vivo X9 was caught in the wild and pictured, revealing its super-thin bezels and iPhone-esque looks. And we are not even exaggerating, the phone's back looks like the offspring of an iPhone 6s (camera ring and positioning) and iPhone 7 (antenna bands), while its software clearly took a direct inspiration from the icons of iOS — specifically the Phone, Messages, Browser, Camera, Settings, Music, and Clock apps.

The phone is expected to have a rather large, 5.5-inch display with a 1080 x 1920 resolution, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC, and 4 GB of RAM. However, it may come in a couple of different configurations, and earlier rumors talk of a Vivo X9 Plus, too. So, we will see. 

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