T-Mobile Xperia Z3 page now up, device still coming soon

Sony's latest flagship might make its way to T-Mobile subscribers really soon now. Sony has put up a product landing page for this carrier-specific version of the Xperia Z3, not only confirming the fact that T-Mobile will indeed be carrying the smartphone but also giving hope that it could launch sooner than the end of the year estimate.

That the Xperia Z3 will be coming to T-Mobile, as well as other US carriers, is already notable in itself. Sony has traditionally eschewed such partnerships, preferring to carry their mobile phones mostly on their own. While it has the benefit of being ensured of an unlocked device when brought directly from Sony, it is speculated that it has also contributed to its smartphones selling poorly in the US. That might be a moot point now as T-Mobile is now sure to sell the devices while Verizon is also rumored to have stocks available as well.

Sony highlights some of the Xperia Z3's defining traits. Sony's flagships have been known for their rugged qualities, but this latest iteration is its highest rated one yet. And if numbers aren't enough to convince you, then maybe an underwater unboxing will. Sony is also playing on the digital photography talents of the Xperia Z3, which subtly improves on its predecessor. The slew of fun Xperia-exclusive camera apps that the manufacturer has just recently unleashed on Google Play Store seems to attest to that as well. Entirely new to the Xperia Z3 family is a focus on gamers as well, with the new PS4 Remote Play feature for streaming and controlling PlayStation 4 games right on your smartphone.

The T-Mobile Xperia Z3 is still marked as coming soon, so we don't have an expected ETA yet aside from before this year ends. As for the rest of the Xperia Z3 family, Sony does have landing pages for the Xperia Z3 Compact and the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact, not from T-Mobile or any carrier for that matter, but neither have any dates, not even a "Coming Soon" label, attached.

SOURCE: Sony

Story Timeline

• Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact: PS4 Remote Play, 20MP, and more


• Sony Xperia Z3 may launch this October 9 in the US


• Sony unveils new marketing campaign for Xperia Z3, Z3 Compact


• Sony Xperia Z3 underwater unboxing

LG Tribute now available for purchase at Virgin Mobile

If you're looking for a decent and affordable new smartphone, if you head on over to Virgin Mobile, there's a new device available there that might just catch your fancy. LG's entry-level smartphone, the Tribute can now be purchased on the online shop both for its one-time payment prepaid plan and also with the monthly unlimited plans.

The budget-friendly smartphone comes with pretty decent specifications, although of course for its price range, you wouldn't really expect that much. It has a 4.5-inch WVGA (800x480) IPS display and runs on a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor. For its RAM, it has 1GB and then 4GB of internal storage, but can be expanded because it has a micro SD slot. It has a 5-megapixel main camera with LED flash and Full HD 1080p video recording. Again, this doesn't look pretty impressive on paper, but it's an entry-level phone, but the 4G LTE connectivity might be a selling point.

In terms of LG's proprietorial software, it does adapt several of their flagship, the LG G3's unique features, including the Touch & Shoot which allows you to both focus and take a picture with just one tap. The Tribute also has the knock code that lets you unlock your device just by tapping several areas on the screen that you yourself preset. It will have the latest Android 4.4.2 software, also has Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity and has a talktime of 15 hours.

The Tribute is available for purchase at the Virgin Mobile online store for just $79.99 and is ready for shipping. You can also avail of it through the monthly unlimited plans (no contract) that range from $20-$55 per month. If you want to use the phone as a mobile hotspot, you need to add $5 per day and you can connect it to 5 WiFi-enabled devices.

SOURCE: Virgin Mobile

Nizam Jewel Match3 Magic Duel is not your ordinary Bejeweled game

Don't say this is another bejeweled game because it's not—not quite. There may be tens to hundreds of similar games that let you to match three similar items but this is more relaxing and magical. Relaxing because of the background music being played and magical because magic happens every time you complete the puzzle game.

In Nizam, you are the hero of the game. You need to combine three or more jewels in one row to strike the enemies with different spells. Sorcerers and mighty wizards are after you so you need to defeat them as fast as you can.

Goal of the game is to match as many gems of similar colors. A match is equivalent to a spell that must be activated. It’s not a simple match game as it is a turn based puzzle. You only need to match your colors to deal more damage. Be careful not to move opponent’s colors off the field though as this will charge his spells.

Make more cobinations for more damage. Combine a set of seven and you’ll damage additional 7. Combine a set of three and you’ll damage plus three. Combo x 3 will damage + 2. The more combinations you match, the more damage will result. The game can be easy because you simply need to combine gems of same colors but this requires patience. You need to wait for your turn so it might take a while to finish a round. Just because you see similar gems near each other, it doesn't mean you can easily take them off.

Download Nizam: Jewel Match 3 Puzzle from the Google Play Store

Story Timeline

• Bejeweled 2 Coming This Week, Plants vs. Zombies and Peggle Coming This Summer


• Bejeweled Blitz launches for Android

Thief Lupin 2 hits Google Play

Thief Lupin 2 is the sequel to the highly popular original Thief Lupin game and the second installment is now on Google Play. The original game was ranked #1 in 22 countries and racked up 8 million downloads. The second installment of the game hopes to be even more popular than the first.

Players will play as Lupin, Chiyome, and other master thieves. Gamers make their way through five different puzzle filled worlds. During the levels, you will battle vampires, puffer-fish, and other monsters in order to steal artifacts from famous locations.

The famous locations include The Neuschwanenstein Castle and the Pyramids of Egypt among others. The game promises one-touch game play, good music, and 13 challenging bosses to fight. There are five playable characters with special abilities.

There are 160 artifacts to unlock and 90 items and power-ups that can be purchased. The game is a free download, but is supported by in-game purchases. The game is 22MB in size and supports Android 4.0 and up.

SOURCE: Google Play

Sok and Sao’s Adventure game raises dengue fever awareness

Most games are designed to be entertaining or educational or both, but few carry some social commentary along with them. Sok and Sao's Adventure, a new game that just landed on Android, is one of those, trying to make people aware of the plight of dengue fever-infested areas by, what else, shooting down gigantic mosquitos.

That's not to say that Sok and Sao's Adventure, named after the protagonists of the game, doesn't try to be entertaining. It is basically a side-scrolling shooter but of the less violent kind. That is, unless you consider shooting down freakishly huge huge dengue-carrying mosquitos violence. There are four game worlds and a couple of bullets to choose from and you have the option to use Sok or Sao as your hero.

The game delivers its message both in the target of the game as well as the context. The game's levels take place in locations such as the Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the Amazon jungle in Brazil, places where dengue fever is quite common. That said, unless the player can identify those places or the game has in-game captions or dialogs to bring that to the player's attention, those details might be lost.

Sok and Sao's Adventure is free on Google Play Store but the developers admit that they also want to make a bit of a profit, mostly through in-game purchases of coins as well as ads. That last bit is both interesting and somewhat more annoying. The ads are 15 to 30 second videos that might auto play in some screens. The video ads, however, also offer an alternative to buying coins in exchange for an additional life.

SOURCE: DirexPlay

Download: Sok and Sao's Adventure on Google Play Store

Battery Genie watches over devices, notifies you of battery levels

One unique situation, especially for those who are consumed fully by tasks that they may be doing at any point in time, is that you lose track of whether your mobile devices have enough charge in them or not. You may be working on something at your laptop while your tablet is left stranded on your couch, draining battery life until it reaches critical levels. Battery Genie was conceptualized for this situation.

For heavy laptop users (like me) it’s easy to forget about your mobile devices – smartphone, tablet, etc. – much less remember to charge them. Battery Genie is an app that you install on all of your devices for monitoring. Then, you install the Chrome browser extension so that the notifications about battery levels can come in via Chrome.

You can configure the notifications to come in via Chrome at specific battery levels. Also, you can configure to be alerted on your devices as well – like a notification on your tablet if your smartphone is somewhere hanging on for dear life on 8% battery level.

According to the developer’s Reddit post, the app is free to use for 14 days, which should be enough time for you to try out all the settings. Should you want to continue using it, it will be a USD$0.99 purchase. Check out the Google Play Store download here, and the Chrome extension here.

SOURCE: Reddit

Story Timeline

• Pixel Battery Saver turns off pixels to save power


• Galaxy Note 4’s battery benchmarked, good results


• Moto 360 update brings drastic improvement on battery life

Logitech Protection Plus for Galaxy S5 gets official

Logitech has rolled out a new smartphone accessory called the Logitech protection [+] case. The device is a protective case for the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone that is ruggedized to survive drops and bumps. Inside the protective case is a rechargeable battery to keep your smartphone running longer.

The version of the case for the Galaxy S5 will extend runtime 80% thanks to the 1800 mAh internal battery. The case meets military drop test standard MIL-STD 810 G for rugged devices.

That means that the case can protect your smartphone from drops of up to 1.2M high. Protection[+] construction features impact channels and a layer of thermoplastic rubber to absorb shocks.

A raised bezel around the front of the case helps to protect the surface of the screen. A magnetic metal plate is hidden inside the case to make it compatible with the Logitech smartphone mounts including the +trip air vent mount and the +drive windshield/dashboard mount.

SOURCE: Logitech