Samsung Galaxy J7 revealed in user agent profile leak

New information has surfaced about an upcoming Samsung device - the Galaxy J7. It belongs to the budget-oriented family of the Galaxy J1, which was released in February and it will probably be the Korean giant's next budget phablet offer. The bulk of the information comes from a leaked user agent profile from Samsung's database. According to it, the phone, bearing the model SM-J700F, will feature power-efficient Cortex A53 cores, clocked at 1.5 GHz. It also reveals that the screen will have a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and judging by Samsung's recent naming convention the 7 probably signifies a screen size of 5.5-inches, just like the Galaxy A7 and E7. There is still no information about the handset's RAM, storage and camera setup, but tracking information from zauba.com, reveals that sample units are already on their way to India for testing, so it shouldn't be too long before we hear some more information about the upcoming Galaxy J7. Thanks for the tip Michel Source 1 | Source 2 |...

LTE-varaint of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is getting Lollipop OTA

Samsung has been slowly but steadily ticking the boxes for Lollipop updates to the devices in its portfolio, and apparently the LTE version of the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is next in line. After last week's Android 5.0.2 OTA for the Wi-Fi only variant, the company has now started seeding the update to the 4G model. So far it's limited to a few countries in Europe, with Slovenia, Czech Republic, Croatia and Switzerland confirmed. Now that the build is already finished though, more widespread availability is to be expected soon. The firmware comes at a whopping 1.7GB, carries a T805XXU1BOCC internal designation and is dated March 17. For those of you not in the listed countries, but eager to get your hands on Lollipop, you can head over to the source link where the update is available for download and manual install. Source |...

Shut the door on your way out - PlayStation Home has closed for good

Back in 2007, Phil Harrison unveiled Sony's vision for the future of social gaming. It was called PlayStation Home, it was ambitious, and it turned out to be a bit of a mess.

Yet somehow the platform lived to a ripe old age of seven (it launched in public beta in 2008). Now it's 2015, Phil Harrison is corporate VP of Microsoft (Home quickly fell behind the mighty Xbox Live) and Sony has pulled the plug on Home.

We should commend Sony for sustaining its "game" for so long. Believe it or not, Home saw 19 million active users at its peak. Last year I met former Home architect Oscar Clark, who launched the platform back in 2007. You can read the full interview, in which Clark explained the bureaucratic and technological nightmares that stopped Home hitting its potential.

Ahead of its time?

It could be argued that Home was ahead of its time; it's easy to imagine that Facebook is busily working on its own "Metaverse" now that it's acquired Oculus VR. Who knows? With Morpheus nearing a release, maybe we'll soon see Home 2: VR.

Said Oscar Clark at the time: "Home was the first freemium console experience. There were massive lessons to learn… But they've been forgotten about, they've been ignored, they've been treated, in my opinion, as irrelevant.

"But if you look at what was there, what we did, how people spent money in the console space, the way people engaged in communities… you could completely revolutionise the way you approach consoles as a platform."

• The messy, doomed journey of PlayStation Home

April 01, 2015 at 06:15PM

Hugh Langley

Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, and One M9 now up for preorder on Verizon

Samsung's latest devices, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, as well as the HTC One M9, are now up for pre-order from US carrier Verizon Wireless. All the three devices will be available starting April 10. Both the 32GB S6 and the One M9, which is only offered with 32GB internal memory, are priced at $200 on a regular two-year agreement and $600 sans contract. You can also get them for $25 per month for 24 months with Verizon Edge. On the other hand, the 32GB S6 Edge will set you back $300 with contract and $700 without it. Alternatively, if you want to buy it with Verizon Edge, you'll have to pay $29.16 per month for 24 months. Aside from 32 GB, the 64 and 128 GB versions of the Samsung devices are also available for pre-order. Source 1 | Source 2 | Source...

Survey reveals Apple Pay users experience problems at checkout

A survey conducted by Phoenix Marketing International shows that two thirds of Apple Pay users encounter difficulties using the system at checkout. Out of the 3,000 surveyed with an iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, 66% are using Apple Pay. Half of them reported that many locations, despite being listed as an Apple Pay partner, weren't ready to accept the payments made with the platform. Furthermore, 48% were dissatisfied with the time it took to process a transaction and described it as too long. In some cases, transactions were run twice or were just outright incorrect. Finally, 42% of the surveyed shared that more often than not cashiers weren't familiar with the Apple Pay system altogether. Bloomberg points out that a separate survey done by Citi Research confirms the complaints, too. Part of the reason for the problems is the shop's lack of iPhone 6 supported NFC point-of-sale terminals. In the US, retailers will have to upgrade their non-NFC terminals to new ones, which support the wireless standard by October as per a new regulation. In spite of the problems, Apple Pay usage increases thanks to the growth of iOS 8 adoption. Bank of America alone boasts some 1.1 million cards that are used by Apple Pay. Source |...

Lollipop arrives for LG G2 phones on Vodafone Italy

The Lollipop update for the LG G2 is expanding- starting from South Korea, it already hit US carrier Verizon and it has now arrived at Vodafone in Italy and Spain. The update seems to be limited to Vodafone devices. It will bump the software version to V30D and can be downloaded over the air or installed from a computer. You can also manually grab the file and flash it, if you know how. Note that only the 16GB model is getting updated in Italy and that ROM is not compatible with the 32GB model. You can flash the Vodafone Spain update for 32GB LG G2 phones instead. Or wait for the official OTA update to become available. Follow the source link for download links to the ROM files. Source (in...

Carphone Warehouse will not carry the Apple Watch at launch

In another episode of Apple's marketing strategy for its Watch, we've now learned that Carphone Warehouse will be left out of the initial launch and won't be offering the wearable on April 24. The info has been revealed by no other than Graham Stapleton, CEO of UK's biggest cellphone retailer. Or as he cautiously put it: "We would love to be able to stock the Apple Watch. I've got to be careful what I say but I think they are just going another way with it. We have not been given the opportunity." Apple was previously negotiating with fashion retailer Nordstrom to carry the Watch and rumor has it that in the US Best Buy was denied the wearable as well. Apparently, Apple wants the Watch to be perceived more as a fashion statement, than a piece of tech and is marketing it accordingly. Aiming to create a more upmarket image for the Watch, Apple is reportedly planning to build dedicated Watch shops at high-end department stores in London, Paris and Japan. The company is also managing the stores directly, presumably to keep markups within the company. So far we've also learned that Apple has been clearing its own stores from any products remotely competitive to the Watch, namely various smartbands. Rumor also has it that you won't be able to just drop by a store and pick up an Apple Watch, instead you can just try it on and then order it...