When it comes to mobile data plans, most of us are tethered to some kind of contract, and if you want a half-decent smartphone thrown into the bargain, these monthly agreements can prove costly. FreedomPop has long since sought to shake the market up by offering basic smartphones for a one-off fee, and continued monthly minutes, texts and data for free. More recently, the company has opened its doors to the more lucrative iPhone range, and now, last year's flagship Galaxy S4 from Samsung has also been added to the ever-growing roster.
Amazon has been leading the way on the freebie front just lately, and now comes arguably one of the best deals we've seen yet. For downloading five designated free apps from the Amazon Appstore, you can accrue 1000 Amazon Coins, which, in turn, equates to $10 to spend on any app or in-app purchase you like!
Google Glass has become a source of interest in the recent weeks, with the company first opening up the expensive and highly advanced eyewear for sale for just a day, and then making it available for everyone in the US. It seems clear that Google is out to ensuring some rather heavy marketing for the Google Glass lineup, and their latest stint with tennis sensation Roger Federer and Stefan Edberg is sure to help that cause. Apparently, the two tennis giants stopped by the Google campus to try on the new eyewear, and take on each other in a friendly match that offered a unique perspective into the game.
Facebook has just taken the wraps off a fairly significant new feature in the past few moments that allows users to share and discover new music, movies and TV shows with very little effort involved. As of now - if you decide to opt-in - you'll be able to use your device's microphone to detect what movie, TV show or music track you're currently engaged in, without the need to type this info yourself.
It seems that re-releasing existing smartphones with a beefed up set of specifications is all the rage these days. With rumors circulating that the Samsung Galaxy S5 is going to gain a bigger, badder brother in the Galaxy S5 Prime, some may have wondered what HTC was going to do about the idea that its main competition will have one-upped it once again. Increasingly, it's looking like the answer to that is a predictable one, because rumors now also point to HTC having its own Prime in the works.
Google Glass has been out in the wild for well over a year now, and although it remains in beta, the search giant recently ditched its invitation policy to allow any wannabe Explorer with a spare $1,500 to join up. The more widespread a product becomes, the likelier it is that its various strengths and flaws will become more obvious and exposed, and apparently, long-term use of the unusually-positioned display can lead to muscle fatigue and general eye pain.
HTC may have already released the successor to last year's incredibly popular One M7 with the all-new One M8 smartphone, but already, the Taiwanese outfit is busily teasing another new device via its official Twitter feed. Unfortunately, the tidbit offers very few clues other than that we should expect "curves," and given the beautiful design of its latest flagship handset, we're expecting the company's design team to pull off another impressive finish on whatever this upcoming gadget will be.
Developers of camera apps are being forced - due mainly to the sheer volume now available on mobile devices - to come up with new, innovative ways of bringing something unique and interesting to the table. The likes of Instagram and its many filters have been done a thousand times over, but a new app for Android called Whistle Camera brings a neat, hands-free aspect to the point-and-shoot experience.
Samsung has long since been known to push the boundaries when it comes to increasing the display sizes on mobile devices. As well as the Galaxy Note, which is credited with founding the "phablet" market, the company also took the wraps off the Galaxy Mega last year, which packed a mammoth 6.3-inch display. In this day and age, we're accustomed to a new release per product line per year, and apparently, the Galaxy Mega's forthcoming successor will include a whopping 7-inch display.
Last week, we heard that Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in the UK would be completely renamed for a two-week period to 'Terminal Samsung Galaxy S5.' Given the Korean company's reputation for spending big on, shall we say, unique marketing ideas, we weren't too surprised to hear of this new campaign, and even though a report over the weekend suggested that Samsung's big takeover of signage, website, wayfinding and digital signs was exaggerated, snaps have now emerged showing just how much Galaxy S5 memorabilia you'll be seeing if you happen to pass through Heathrow T5 in the next fortnight.
