available

• Android
• Nexus 6P
• Amazon
• Nexus
• Best Buy

Amazon now officially sells the Nexus 6P, offering 64 GB model for $499

Stephen Hall Dec 21 2015 - 12:00 pm PT

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While the Nexus 6P has been listed on Amazon for quite some time, it was only available through third-party sellers until today. The phone’s availability is currently rolling out now as sold by Amazon itself, and while the 32 GB and 128 GB models are not yet available (at the time of this writing, at least), the 64 GB model is currently listed at $499, which matches the current price on the Google Store.

The Nexus 6P’s availability has been broadening as of late, most recently becoming available at Best Buy as we told you would happen. The gold “Special Edition” model has also become available in India through FlipKart, and we expect that availability of that version will spread to the United States soon. In other related news, you would be foolish not to pick up the 32GB Nexus 6 at $250 via Amazon.

• Android
• Android 5.0 Lollipop
• United States
• available
• asus ZenFone 2 deluxe special edition

ASUS ZenFone 2 Deluxe ‘Special Edition’ arrives in the US at $399 w/ 128 GB of storage

Stephen Hall Nov 6 2015 - 12:17 pm PT

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We already heard about the ZenFone 2 Deluxe when it was announced for India a few months ago, but now the phone is available in the United States in the form of a “Special Edition” model. It’s not all too different from the standard ZenFone 2 (which is actually a pretty decent phone for the money), but it adds to the package a couple of fancified back covers and 128 GB of flash storage.

Its specs are pretty much identical to the ZenFone 2. There’s an HD IPS 5.5-inch display, 13-megapixel/5-megapixel rear and front cameras, respectively, and a 2.3GHz 64-bit Intel Atom processor with 4 GB RAM and 4G LTE. The Special Edition inherits dual-SIM capabilities, and sadly, you’ll probably be stuck with Android 5.0 Lollipop for a while with this phone.

We’ve found the phone for $399 at Amazon, Newegg, and B&H Photo Video, but it doesn’t seem to available quite yet at the time of this writing.

• Android
• Apps and Updates
• update
• Microsoft
• available

Microsoft ‘Garage’ project Arrow Launcher for Android is now out of beta

Stephen Hall Oct 28 2015 - 2:10 pm PT

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Microsoft’s Arrow Launcher is definitely a new take at a home screen interface for Google’s OS, and if you’ve been waiting for it to exit beta before trying it out on your daily driver, today’s your day. I actually decided to give it a try for the first time today, and — as someone who is very loyal to Google’s Now Launcher — I was somewhat impressed…

The launcher takes a new approach to the home screen, giving you a few pages that all do different things. The main screen of course has your most used apps, but the app also gives you screens for contacts that you frequently interact with, a reminders screen, and another screen showing apps that you’ve used recently, as well as recent activity.

All of this comes together with a really interesting take an iOS Control Center-like experience. If you swipe up from the home screen, you’ll find your docked apps, some recnetly used apps, and then some quick toggles for things like WiFi and Bluetooth. Below that you’ll find quick access to the brightness settings, and quick links to change wallpaper and access the launcher’s settings.

We gave the app a detailed look earlier this year when it was in beta, and while some things have changed, you can check out the below video to get a quick idea of what the Arrow Launcher is all about. You can grab it on the Play Store for free.