Microsoft has announced that two of its biggest gaming franchises will be making the jump from Xbox to Windows 10. The company announced a Windows 10 version of the Gears of War: Ultimate Edition and Forza Motorsport 6: Apex. Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is the remastered version of the original Gears of War game that was recently released on the Xbox One. Although the original game did release on PC, this new version features updated graphics and can go up to 4K, provided you have the right hardware. Forza Motorsport 6: Apex is a slightly stripped down version of the game that is available on Xbox One, but like Gears of War, also gets the full 4K treatment on PC. It will be free to download. Both games will be sold through the company's Windows 10 Store only, which means there will be some limitations, such as a permanent fullscreen mode and always-on v-sync. Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is available for purchase right now on the store, while Apex will be released in Spring 2016. The company also announced that the future Forza games will be released on both Xbox and Windows...


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Android and TouchWiz take 8GB of your Samsung Galaxy S7 storage
We all know when we buy a new smartphone, be it 16, 32, 64, or even 128GB, it actually offers less memory because of the formatting. The 16GB storage suddenly becomes 14GB; those 32GB turn out 29GB, 64GB equal 58GB, and so on. There is also the fact that a considerable amount of storage will be occupied by the operating system itself. And by the end of the day, we usually lose a significant portion of the storage even before we open the box. That's the reason we try to fill our phone specs with the actual available storage to the user. And now we can shed some light on the Galaxy S7 series and its internal storage. As it turns out, the Android OS and TouchWiz launcher occupy 8GB of storage Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. This is upon the first run, even before you begin to setup your phone with accounts, apps, etc. The typical smartphone user also fills a few GBs the moment he starts updating apps and restoring purchases. And those precious 32GB will be halved in no time. Luckily, the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge offer microSD expansion and the option to move apps to the SD card. Hopefully, this information helps you make the right decision - maybe you should consider waiting for the 64GB models, or purchasing a fast microSD card. Source •...


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SanDisk Ultra 200GB microSD now even cheaper at $80 on Amazon
SanDisk's largest microSD card has been discounted further on US Amazon and now the 200GB Ultra goes for a very reasonable $79.99. That's an additional $10 discount compared to the price a couple of weeks ago, and a generous $170 off its prohibitive $249.99 MSRP. Naturally the other storage options aren't selling for full price, but the 128GB is $5 costlier than the last time we reported, now $50. For the price of the 200GB card you could get three 64GB cards and have $11 to spare, but the 200GB all at once does seem a lot more convenient. SanDisk's Ultra badge doesn't mean much in terms of transfer speeds though, and the 200GB card is the fastest at 90MB/s, the 64GB is rated at up to 80MB/s, while the 128GB version is the most sluggish at 48MB/s. Regardless of size and speed, they are all water proof, temperature proof, shock proof, X-ray proof and magnet proof, all sorts of proof. Source |...


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Huawei holding a March 9 event in Berlin, P9 expected
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei is holding an event in Berlin next week. The company has posted a teaser image for the event which is scheduled for March 9 in the German capital. Aside from the date and city, the teaser doesn't reveal anything else about the event. However, it does show beer being poured in a glass, although we're not sure what it has to do with the event, especially the word 'Beer' below the glass. If at all it's a smartphone-related event, then the Huawei P9 will most likely be the star given that the device has been the subject of several leaks and rumors in the past few weeks, and not to mention that there have already been rumors that it would be unveiled in March 2016. Its rumored specifications include Kirin 950 CPU, 5.2-inch 1080p display, 3GB RAM, and 3,900mAh battery. The handset is also said to come in as many as four...


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WhatsApp update adds PDF sharing
WhatsApp is now rolling out an update for the Android and iOS versions of the app that adds document sharing. More specifically, PDF sharing. You can now press the attachment sharing button to see the option to attach documents. On Android it will show your file manager to attach any local PDF files you may have. On iPhone, it will let you attach files from other storage apps, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. The update is now rolling out and should be available to everyone...


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$800 HTC Vive scores 15,000 pre-orders in 10 minutes
HTC's Steam-powered Vive VR headset, which went on pre-order earlier this week, received 15,000 pre-orders in just 10 minutes. The revelation was made by Shen Ye, a VR product specialist at the Taiwan-based company. Woah, more than 15k units in less than 10min — Shen Ye (@shen) February 29, 2016 That's quite impressive given that the headset costs a whopping $800 in the US (€899 in Europe). HTC CEO Cher Wang also took to Twitter to share what she said was an "overwhelming response to the start of pre-orders." Super excited at the overwhelming response to the start of pre-orders!@htcvive @shen @PeterFrolund pic.twitter.com/mUpovMjYtL— Cher Wang (@CherWang) February 29, 2016 The HTC Vive is the second major VR headset that went on pre-order sale this year. Back in January, Rift from Facebook-backed Oculus VR was also made available to pre-order - the $600 device begins shipping March 28. Source 1...


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Sprint and AT&T also start shipping Galaxy S7/S7 edge pre-orders
T-Mobile became the first carrier in the US to start shipping Galaxy S7/S7 edge pre-orders ahead of the devices' official launch. In fact, some of the magenta carrier's customers who pre-ordered the flagships have already received their units. Now, it is being reported that a couple of other major US carriers - AT&T and Sprint - have also begun shipping the pre-orders. In all, three of the 'Big Four' cell phone carriers in the country have now started shipping the latest Samsung flagships. There's currently no word on whether or not Verizon has commenced its Galaxy S7/S7 edge pre-order shipments. In case you aren't already aware, the devices are officially set to go on sale starting March 11, and will be available in 60 countries in the first wave of their global...


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Second-gen Motorola Moto G getting Android 6.0 in US
Earlier last month, Motorola started pushing the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update to the second-generation Motorola Moto G in India and Brazil. And now, the update has started rolling out in the United States. Aside from the usual Marshmallow goodies, including Doze, Google Now on Tap, and redesigned app permissions, the update also includes the Android security patch for the month of January. In case you want to take a look, the Android 6.0 update release notes for the Moto G 2014 are already available on Motorola's India support website - head to the Motorola link below. Motorola US is yet to officially confirm the roll-out. Via |...


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Samsung Pay adoption is growing much faster than Apple Pay did
A new report from Bloomberg has reported that Samsung Pay is being adopted very quickly compared to Apple Pay did when it first launched. "Samsung has signed up 5 million users and processed more than $500 million in transactions since debuting in the U.S. in September." Samsung has differentiated itself from the other mobile payment solutions with its acquisition of Loop Pay. This technology simulates the magnetic strip on a credit card and does not require an NFC terminal. Basically, Samsung Pay is accepted anywhere a regular card swipe can be accepted which dramatically increases the number of merchants who accept Samsung Pay. In Samsung's latest ad, actor and comedian Hannibal Buress takes his Galaxy phone to a Deli in New York City, (a city with many places that only accept cash and barely even take credit cards) he baffles employees in the deli when he taps his phone and the card goes through. As said in the report, there has to be something better for the consumer to embrace mobile payments vs traditional cash and credit card transactions made with plastic cards. Something really needs to take the mobile payment industry by storm in order to see an even wider adoption. Source |...


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Cyanogenmod 13 nightlies to begin supporting fingerprint scanner on Galaxy S5
The XDA community is always hard at work. From reviving older phones to run the latest Android versions to providing the most feature-rich ROMs for all kinds of phones to building a bounty fund for rooting Verizon devices, XDA is home to some of the best Android developers and ROM builders for our (free) flashing pleasure. Mokee ROM for the Galaxy S5 has finally added support for the built-in fingerprint scanner on an AOSP ROM nonetheless. The news is that Cyanogenmod, among the biggest names in aftermarket ROMs, will include fingerprint scanner support on future Cyanogenmod 13 nightlies for the Galaxy S5 thanks to the Mokee ROM developers. For those of you who like to flash your Galaxy S5, expect to see more AOSP ROMs adopting this scanner support. Source...


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6.0 Update to Huawei Watch enables internal speaker, rolling out now
If you hadn't known it before, the Huawei Watch has a built in speaker that has been completely ignored for a long time, even the company did not acknowledge its existence when the smart watch was first released. Thanks to a new update for the watch itself, the Huawei Watch will be updated to Android 6.0 Marshmallow where the internal speaker will be enabled on Huawei's watch to allow users to make and receive calls with audio routed directly through the watch. Over the next few days, users should start seeing the update pop up on their Huawei Watches. The new update brings new support for sending messages through the watch for WhatsApp, WeChat, Viber, Telegram, and Nextplus, new gestures for navigating the watch, battery life improvements, Ability to play sounds on watches with speakers, and more language options in Mandarin, Cantonese, Indonesian, Polish, Dutch and Thai. Source |...


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Leaked photos of Huawei P9 confirm earlier renders
Venture Beat was able to get its hands on the unreleased device by Huawei: the Huawei P9. The photos show that the device will feature a dual-camera set up and will be offered in at least 4 different variants, reports say. The camera setup looks like it might have a laser-focus sensor right under the flash and a side-by-side camera setup to refocus after taking shots, adjust appeared aperture, and apply filters. This dual-setup is said to become a feature for Huawei's future P devices. The Huawei P9 also features a Kirin 950 CPU, Mali-T880 GPU, 3GB of RAM, and a 3900mAh battery. The P9 will also have a 5.2 inch screen with a 1080p resolution. Leaked photos of the Huawei P8 The underside of the device has one speaker grille and a bottom-positioned headphone jack. The Huawei P9 also features a USB Type-C port for charging and transmitting data. These leaks of the device confirm leaked renders from a few months back. Earlier rumors of the Huawei P9 have suggested its launch date to be this month while others say it might be in Q2 of this year. Source |...


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Pebble Time and Time Round get permanent $50 price cuts
Today Pebble has announced some good news for prospective buyers of its smartwatches. Both the Time and the Time Round have received a permanent $50 price cut. This means the official price for the Pebble Time is now $149.99, whereas the Pebble Time Round is now sold for $199.99. Sure, we've seen them going for even less from time to time, but this is no limited-time offer or anything like that. Pricing has changed in the Eurozone as well, where the Time is now listed for €169.95, and the Time Round goes for €229.95. In the UK, the Pebble Time now costs £149.99, while the Time Round is £179.99. If you placed an order for one of these two smartwatches (on pebble.com) on or after January 21, and paid the old prices, you'll be refunded the difference if you contact the company. Full instructions for this are available at the Source link...


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Upcoming 7-inch Galaxy Tab A is on pre-order in Poland already
The yet-unofficial Samsung SM-T280 tablet has been in the news a lot over the past few weeks. Most of the time, it's been thought to be sold by the Korean company as the 7-inch version of the Galaxy Tab E. However, it now looks like it will be called Galaxy Tab A instead. That's because a Polish online retailer has already listed the SM-T280 up for pre-order. And it's calling it Tab A indeed. The device is priced at PLN 599, which at the moment translates into approximately $150 or €138. The tablet will apparently become available on March 8, which is exactly one week from today. This Galaxy Tab A comes with a 7-inch 1,280x800 touchscreen, a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of expandable storage, a 5 MP rear camera, a 2 MP front-facing unit, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a 4,000 mAh battery. It runs Android 5.1 Lollipop. Its dimensions are 186.9 x 108.8 x 8.7 mm, and it weighs 283g. Its specs line up perfectly with past leaks, if you ignore the fact that the rumors got the name wrong. Now that it's already up for pre-order in the EU, perhaps Samsung will finally announce it soon. Thanks for the tip, Kozo! Source (in...


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Samsung will launch its own leasing program for the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge on March 11
Ever since September of 2015, Samsung has been rumored to be thinking about 'emulating' Apple once more, this time regarding a leasing program for its devices. This hasn't actually become reality yet, but according to a new report out of South Korea that's going to change very soon. Samsung hasn't stopped working on its leasing program, and will in fact be launching it on March 11, on the day when the Galaxy S7 (pictured below) and S7 edge go on sale. For starters, those will be the only two devices that you'll be able to grab through the leasing scheme. The biggest caveat, however, is the fact that for the time being Samsung will only offer the leasing option in South Korea. And only through its own physical stores. The program will require eager customers to sign a two-year monthly installment plan. However, you are able to upgrade your device after just 12 months if you so wish, without having to complete the remaining payments. Since the scheme will be offered directly by Samsung, people who go this route will be able to choose any one of the three Korean carriers for a service agreement. Right now it's unclear when (or if) Samsung plans to take this leasing program global, but perhaps the Korean release is just a test run, and if everything goes well we might see the same thing offered...


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Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge pre-orders break records
According to an unofficial report, Samsung is having a blast with the pre-orders of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. The phone is up for pre-order in 60 markets and according to Eldar Murtazin in Russia the two phones are enjoying record pre-sales. The Russian tech journalist also reveals an unofficial statistic that 64% of those who've pre-ordered the phone went for the Galaxy S7 edge, meaning that the majority of fans would gladly play the premium for the dual-curved screen. We're yet to receive official news from Samsung regarding pre-order numbers. The two phones launch on March 11, so there's plenty of time for them to reach even higher numbers. The company will, reportedly, be making a total of 17.2 million Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge units by April of this year. Source |...


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Windows 10 is close to nabbing 13% of the desktop OS market
According to the latest report from Net Market Share, Microsoft's Windows 10 is continuing its upward spiral in terms of how many PCs it powers. This version now sits at 12.82% of the market for desktop operating systems, as you can see from the pie chart below. Windows 10 claimed 11.85% of that market back in January, so it looks like more and more people and businesses are adopting it. However, its growth is slowing down, so it's unclear what the future will hold. The world's most used desktop OS is still Windows 7, now down to 52.34% of the market (it was at 52.47% in January). It's followed by Windows 10, and then XP comes in at 11.24%. Windows 8.1 has grabbed a 9.83% market share, with Mac OS X 10.11 boasting 3.72%, Windows 8 at 2.43%, and Mac Os X 10.10 at 2.2%. Every other desktop OS is in the "Others" category, which makes up 5.42% of the pie. In that, Linux apparently represents 1.78%. Source |...


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Meizu Pro 6 to have 3D Touch, screenshot reveals
A feature limited to less than a dozen phones in existence, 3D Touch/Force touch/whatever commercial name the company decides to use is coming to the Meizu Pro 6. The Chinese company's VP and Flyme chief architect Yang Yan has shared a screenshot on Weibo giving a glimpse of what the implementation is going to look like. So far we've seen 3D touch in action on the iPhone 6s/6s Plus pair, and also the recently announced Gionee S8. The Huawei Mate S and the ZTE Axon mini also have the feature in their top-specced versions but those are about as common as unicorns. Meizu Pro 6 Force Touch screenshot Judging by the screenshot, Meizu's way of doing things is quite similar to the iPhone 6s. Applying pressure on the display brings up a context menu with options on top of a blurred background. Meizu Pro 5 iPhone 6s users have been quick to adopt the new feature, but there appears to be a reluctance among major players like Samsung, LG, and Sony. Chinese manufacturers, on the other hand, have obviously been more inclined to slap the buzzword on a device or two. Even so, Force Touch doesn't seem to be quite the game changer Apple hyped it up to be. Source (in Chinese) |...


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Both Alcatel Idol 3 sizes are now discounted at Amazon
Now that the Idol 4 and the Idol 4s are official, Alcatel is understandably looking to clear some of its Idol 3 inventory, in anticipation of the release of the new devices. And that means there are deals to be had for last year's models. Both the 4.7-inch and the 5.5-inch Idol 3 variants are now cheaper at Amazon. The smaller handset can be yours for $169.99, which is $30 less than it was before. On the other hand, the 5.5" Idol 3 is priced at $179.99, a whopping $70 less than it was up until now. In both cases we're talking about phones you purchase unlocked and SIM-free, so there are no long-term carrier contracts to worry about here. If you're wondering which version to buy, then know that the 5.5-inch Idol 3 comes with better specs than its smaller sibling. So unless you feel that its size is too much to handle, it's probably the one to pick, especially now that it's just $10 more expensive than the 4.7-inch...


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