The Identilock won't let you pull the trigger unless your fingerprint checks out

Smart everything is the way to go, and it was only a matter of time until the Identilock showed up. It's a smart gun lock that will only let you pull your pistol's trigger, if it recognizes your fingerprint. Or you have the mechanical key, but that's just for backup. The Identilock attaches to your choice of firearm thanks to interchangeable adapters...

Nokia 230 24K-gold-plating costs more than the phone, still worth it

We understand the urge to have your flagship LG V10 gold-plated, and the gold bath adds an extra bit of flair to curved-body Samsung high-end models Galaxy S6 edge and Note5. But what about that Nokia 230 that you keep in your car's glove box for backup, or use as a secondary phone for basic needs? Now Vietnamese specialists in the field of luxury...

Apple Campus 2 progressing steadily, ring structure almost done

Apple Campus 2 construction has seen some healthy progress over the past month and the Space Ring is now almost fully constructed. The monthly update comes courtesy of Duncan Sinfield and his DJI Inspire 1 drone. The ring may be nearing completion in terms of structure, but only a small sector has actually gotten its glass panes installed, so there's...

Motorola Mobility clears up branding confusion in official statement

In a bit of a PR mess up, Motorola Mobility CEO Rick Osterloh announced the other day that parent company Lenovo will be phasing out the Motorola brand, and that created confusion as to its future. To set the record straight, Motorola has issued a statement on its official blog. Motorola Mobility, as a company, continues to exist and keeps a central...

Apple working with Beats to bring wireless earbuds to the iPhone 7

It's fair to say that quite a few people were infuriated by rumors that Apple might be abandoning the 3.5mm headphone jack for the iPhone 7 in favor of Lightning-connected accessories. There's an ongoing petition to keep the connectivity option, signed by more than 215,000 people, and counting. Now some new insider info reiterates the 3.5 jack's...

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL (unlocked, single SIM) selling for $565 in US

The XL variant of the Microsoft Lumia 950 flagship smartphone is now selling for $565 in the US. Expansys USA has the unlocked, single SIM model listed for that price - the retailer usually sells it for $700. While Expansys is selling both white and black color versions at the discounted rate, the latter is currently out of stock. A quick look on...

Motorola Droid Turbo 2 owners reporting mysterious green line on display

Several users of the Motorola Droid Turbo 2 smartphone are reporting an issue with their device where-in a vertical green light appears on the device's display. A quick look at Motorola's forums reveal that the issue dates back to November last year. A user who goes by the name of Venoran posted his side of the story on Motorola's forum, revealing...

Sony announces new high-speed XQD and SD memory cards

Sony announced new ultra high-speed XQD and SD memory cards along with adapters for newly launched cameras such as the Nikon D5 and the D500 that were launched at CES. The XQD-M series of cards have a read speed of up to 440MB/s and read speeds of 150MB/s, which should be perfect for burst capture of RAW images, 4K internal recording, and quickly...

BlackBerry CEO: BB 10 far from dead; another Android phone this year

BlackBerry CEO John Chen has said that the company's BB 10 operating system is "far from" dead. He made the comment in a post on the company's official blog, where-in he also revealed that BB 10-powered phones such as Passport, Classic, and others will be getting security and privacy enhancements this year. "The coming version 10.3.3 will be certified...

Microsoft Lumia 650 clears the FCC hurdle

Just a few days ago, some documents confirmed that the Microsoft Lumia 650 will come in both single- as well as dual-SIM variants, carrying model number RM-1152 and RM-1154, respectively. Now, the single SIM variant - the RM-1152 - has been certified by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States, suggesting it could soon be...

First-gen Microsoft Band again drops to £50 in UK

If you recall, Microsoft slashed the price of the original Band to £50 in the UK back in November last year. If you missed that deal, here is some good news: the wearable has officially dropped to the same price again. It's exactly the same deal, as the Redmond, Washington-based company is also offering a free charging cable (normally worth £17)...

Samsung announces Q4 2015 earnings guidance; Y-o-Y profits grow

Samsung Electronics has announced earnings guidance for the fourth quarter of the year 2015. The company forecasted an operating profit of 6.1 trillion Korean won (around $5.08 billion), which is up around 15% compared to the 5.3 trillion won figure the company reported in Q4 2014. However, compared to Q3 2015, when the company reported a profit...

Google Now weather card becomes a lot more colorful, app-like

Google is currently testing a new design for the weather card that shows up in Google Now or in Google searches on Android. While the previous card was functional, it couldn't be called pretty. The new design aims to change that. Furthermore, the card now looks and behaves more like an actual app. There's a new tab system that lets you switch between...

Lenovo Vibe K4 Note got 200,000 registrations in India already

Lenovo made the Vibe K4 Note official in India earlier this week, after a teaser campaign. The phone will become available on January 19 by itself, and starting on January 20 bundled with a VR headset. It will be offered through flash sales carried out on Amazon, for which you need to register in advance. And in just 3 days from the start of registrations,...

Xiaomi Redmi 3 to come with large 4,100mAh battery

Just a day after revealing its display size and launch date, Xiaomi has confirmed that the Redmi 3 will come with a large 4,100mAh battery. The confirmation again came in the form of a teaser posted on Weibo. In the Weibo post, Xiaomi also stressed that despite the large battery, the phone is thin thanks to the high energy density tech used. So,...

Xiaomi Mi 5 confirmed to rock Snapdragon 820 chipset

Xiaomi co-founder Liwan Jiang has confirmed on Weibo the Xiaomi Mi 5 will feature a Snapdragon 820 chipset. The phone will be presented on January 21 at a special event. Sales are expected to start February 8, in time for the Chinese New Year. Additional rumored specifications include 4GB of RAM, a 16MP main camera and a 13MP selfie one. The 5.2"...

Samsung points out key features of the Galaxy TabPro S in an infographic

Samsung wants to make sure you know full well that the TabPro S is a Windows 10 tablet despite the Galaxy moniker, so far reserved for the company's Android lineup. In this latest infographic Windows is only mentioned some 8 times, but other key selling points of the TabPro S have been highlighted as well. It's the best of Galaxy tablets, thanks...

HTC launches Desire 728 Dual SIM in India

HTC has launched a new mid-range smartphone in the Indian market, the Desire 728 Dual SIM. The Desire 728 has a 5.5-inch display with 720p resolution. It runs on a MediaTek MT6753 chipset with 2GB of RAM and 16GB storage, which can be expanded using microSD. On the back is a 13 megapixel camera, and on the front is a 5 megapixel shooter. The battery...

Mobiado m|CUBE is an iPhone charger that costs as much as an iPhone 6s

Now, we understand that a smartphone can be a fashion statement, but a charger? Apparently, Mobiado thinks you'll need an extra outlet to express your sense of style, and that comes in the shape of a glass/metal cube. The m|CUBE charger supports iPhones going back to the iPhone 5 (in other words ones with a Lightning connector), and suspends them...

BlackBerry moving completely to Android in 2016

Following the moderate commercial success and generally positive reception of its latest Priv smartphone, BlackBerry has announced that it is going all-in as far as Android is concerned. Company CEO John Chen confirmed in an interview at CES that all BlackBerry smartphones launched this year will run Google's operating system. One could say this...

Xiaomi MIUI 7.1 to reportedly hit more devices starting next week

As you might already know, the latest iteration of Xiaomi's mobile OS - MIUI 7.1 - started rolling out earlier this week. While the list of supported devices was comprehensive, some handsets were left out. Image credit: Thomson Reuters Now, according to a new report, the update will hit more devices starting next week - Janaury 11. The new devices...

HTC's sales were down 35% last year

Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC has released its annual financial report for the year 2015, revealing a sales drop of over 35%. The company's last year's revenue stood at NTD 121.68 billion ($3.65 billion), down from NTD 187.91 billion ($5.64 billion) in 2014. HTC saw its monthly revenue jump to a six-month high in the month of November, something...

Hey Cortana feature comes to Lumia 950/XL devices in Canada

The "Hey Cortana" feature, which lets users invoke Microsoft's Cortana personal assistant through voice activation, is now available on Lumia 950/XL devices in Canada. This was reported by some users on Reddit who said the feature was included in the latest firmware update they installed. "Hey all, I had a firmware update today, and going through...

LG V10 Verizon variant receiving bug fix update

Verizon has started rolling out an update to LG V10 devices on its network. The update bumps the software version to VS99011B, and brings along various bug fixes, including those related to Contacts app and Second Screen. As per the change log, the update fixes a QRemote crash issue as well as how navigation icons are displayed when an app is closed...

Deal: Buy Moto X Pure Edition and Moto 360 (2nd Gen) together and get $100 off

If you're a Motorola fan and are in the market for a new phone and smartwatch, here is some good news: the company is currently offering a $100 discount on the total amount if you purchase the Moto X Pure Edition and Moto 360 (2nd Gen) together. It's worth mentioning that there's no promo code that you need to enter - just add both devices to your...

Snapdragon 820-powered LeTV Le Max Pro to cost around $535

Chinese company LeTV's latest smartphone - the Le Max Pro - will carry a price tag of RMB 3,500 (around $535) in China. This was revealed by a leaked screenshot/teaser obtained by a Chinese website. If you aren't already aware, the Le Max Pro was unveiled by Qualcomm as the first Snapdragon 820-powered smartphone at the ongoing Consumer Electronics...

Lenovo phasing out Motorola brand for smartphones

When Lenovo completed the acquisition of Motorola Mobility back in 2014, it said "We plan to not only protect the Motorola brand, but make it stronger." However, looks like the Chinese company's priorities has changed with changing times as the brand is now being phased out. "We'll slowly phase out Motorola," said Motorola Chief Operating Officer...

LG K10 and LG K7 hands-on: LG at CES 2016

This year the CES expo in Las Vegas is mostly about HDR TVs and smart appliances (fridges, washing machines) rather than smartphones and slates. LG is among the few manufacturers to bring new mobile gadgets - the LG K10 and LG K7. Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_ces_2016-review-1361.p...

Sony creates world's first "48K" 360-degree video by using 12 Xperia Z5 Compact units

4K simply isn't enough for Sony anymore. After having launched the world's first smartphone with a display that can sometimes show 4K content (the Xperia Z5 Premium), the company is now aiming even higher. Much more so. Sony is now boasting about having created the world's first "48K" 360-degree video. This has not been achieved using some yet-unreleased...

Facebook Messenger now has over 800 million active users

The Facebook team has just boasted that its Messenger reached yet another milestone and now has over 800 million active user. The 700 million mark was breached back in June 2015 and before that, 500 million was achieved as early as August 2014, so their service has been expanding rapidly in popularity. Stan Chudnovsky, head of the Messenger product...

Polaroid Power and Snap smartphones unveiled

Over at CES Polaroid has announced a couple of new smartphones (or 4, if you count display diagonal options). Not a major player on the smartphone scene, Polaroid has placed the focus of the new models on affordability. Polaroid Snap The Polaroid Snap is the lower-specced model, and comes in three display sizes: 5", 5.5", and 6". Whatever the diagonal,...

iOS compatibility for the Samsung Gear S2 coming mid-January

Samsung announced the other day that it's working on bringing iOS support for the Gear S2 smartwatch. And when you hear that it's undergoing development, you're likely to assume that's marketing talk for "not gonna happen anytime soon". Not true - compatibility is coming in mid-January, Samsung has told Pocket-lint, and it would most likely be implemented...

BLU Vivo 5 and Vivo XL are official with 5.5" displays

US-based smartphone maker BLU used CES 2016 to announce its latest phones - the BLU Vivo 5 and Vivo XL. Both feature 5.5" Super AMOLED screens, MediaTek chipsets with octa-core CPU and metal unibody design. BLU Vivo 5 The BLU Vivo 5 comes with a 5.5" Super AMOLED screen of 720p resolution resulting in a pixel density of 267 ppi. Inside the metal...

HTC One A9 now also comes in pink

Launched back in November last year, the HTC One A9 has been available in Carbon Gray, Opal Silver, Topaz Gold, and Deep Garnet colors. Now, the Taiwanese company has added another color option - Pink. The Pink-colored One A9 is currently limited to the company's home country, and there's no word on if and when it will be available in other markets...

All-metal Nubia X8 leaks in live photos

Nubia, ZTE's premium sister company, is planning to launch a couple of devices on its January 18 event. As it's often the case, one of the phones to be announced at the event has leaked. What you see below are live photos of the Nubia X8 - a metal-clad smartphone with a fingerprint sensor below the main camera. According to the source of the photos,...

Samsung Galaxy TabPro S prices start at €999

Samsung's surprise Windows 10 tablet, the 12-inch Galaxy TabPro S was announced a couple of days ago at CES, but there was no word on pricing. That blank gets filled now, with information coming our way from Germany. According to All about Samsung the base model with Wi-Fi-only connectivity and Windows 10 Home will set you back €999. The Pro version...

Microsoft Lumia 650 shows up in a live image, design confirmed

The Microsoft Lumia 650 has been popping up here and there over the past month, and its existence nearly got official confirmation from a company senior exec. Now a new live photo has appeared, confirming the design in previous renders, and the source also has intel on the specs. The lone image depicts the phone at an angle and other than establishing...

Amazon Germany offers free 200GB microSD with an LG V10

The US got a sweet deal on the LG V10 last year, the flagship came with a free 200GB microSD card, an extra battery and a cradle to charge it. A few months later Europe is getting a similar deal - just the microSD though. If you get an LG V10 from Amazon Germany before January 24, you can score the free 200GB card with the V10AKTION coupon code....

Huawei has already sold a million Mate 8 units

Huawei's latest flagship smartphone - the Mate 8 - went on sale in China early last month. At that time, there were reports that the device sold out at many retailers on the launch day itself, leading us to believe that it's in great demand. The latest information we've received confirms that the handset is indeed selling like hotcakes in the Asian...

Apple screen components leak in photos, possibly from the iPhone 7

It's 2016 and you know what that means - a new iPhone lineup from Apple is on its way. Out of a credible source in Taiwan now comes yet another fresh rumor about the Cupertino handsets, to add to the growing pool of hunches, obscure predictions and speculation. This new set of shots is about as close as we have come to actually seeing one of the...

New Intel Compute Sticks come with Core m processors

Smart sticks let you turn any display into a smart one, but the Windows-powered ones have been underwhelming, even the one by Intel. Well, the chip giant is having another go at it and this time the results are much better. There are three options, the top-specced one is powered by a Core m5 vPro processor, that's a lot of computing power on something...

BlackBerry Priv Marshmallow update not coming anytime soon

Back in early November last year, BlackBerry said it's targeting to deliver the Android 6.0 update for its Priv smartphone "sometime in the New Year." Now, the company has given a heads-up on when the update will arrive. While we were expecting a more specific time-frame, the Canadian company just said that details on when the update will begin rolling...

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro 4 now available in India

Microsoft has launched the Surface Pro 3 and the (relatively) new Surface Pro 4 in India. The newer Surface Pro 4 will be available in three variants. The base version comes with Core i5, 4GB RAM, and 128GB flash storage and is priced at INR 89,990 ($1347). The second model upgrades the RAM and storage to 8GB and 256GB, respectively with the rest...

OnePlus X Ceramic limited edition to be available in India starting tomorrow

OnePlus has announced that the limited edition OnePlus X Ceramic will be available for purchase in India starting January 8. The good news is that the device will be available invite-free tomorrow, although only at select locations and for a limited time. The invite-free sale will be held at French Connection retail stores (from 7 to 9 PM) in the...

Misc brands at CES 2016: Hands-on of ZTE Grand X 3, and more

CES 2016 is now well underway and, frankly, while we are not exactly complaining, calling it a great year would definitely be a stretch and us being nice more than anything else. Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/various_ces_2016-review-1359.p...

Teaser confirms January 12 launch date for Xiaomi Redmi 3

Xiaomi has confirmed that the Redmi 3 smartphone will be launched next week - on Tuesday, January 12. The confirmation came in the form of a teaser the China-based company posted on its official Weibo account. The teaser also revealed that the device sports a 5-inch display, as well as features an all metal body with a unique plaid design on the...

Razer enters smartwatch market with Nabu Watch

Razer, a company known for its gaming peripherals and hardware, has now entered the smartwatch market. At the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the company unveiled its first product in the category, dubbed Nabu Watch. Razer stresses that the Nabu Watch is not a smartwatch but a watch that's smart. It focuses "first on the digital chronograph...

You can purchase Moto 360 Sport and pre-order Fitbit Blaze from Verizon starting today

As announced earlier, the Sport variant of the second generation Moto 360 smartwatch will be officially available for purchase in the United States starting today. The device was unveiled back in the month of September last year. Verizon has announced that it'll also be carrying the wearable device. Those interested in purchasing it from the Big...

Verizon to start offering BlackBerry Priv by March-end

BlackBerry's debut Android phone Priv will be available for purchase through Verizon in the month of March - or by the end of the month to be precise. This was revealed by the carrier's VP of communications Jeffrey Nelson in a tweet. We expect to have the @BlackBerry #PRIV on the nation's most reliable network by the end of March (if not sooner).—...

Oculus Rift is finally up for pre-order, priced at $599

As anticipated, the Oculus Rift has become available for pre-order today. The VR headset can be yours for $599, and it will start shipping to 20 countries on March 28. You'll find it at select retailers in the US starting in April. When you buy an Oculus Rift, you receive the headset itself, complete with built-in headphones and microphone, the sensor,...