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T-Mobile has kicked off a great promotion for those who are looking to upgrade devices or add devices to an existing account or if you are opening up a new account.  The applies to select Samsung and LG phones and when you make the purchase, both devices have to be from the same manufacture.  This promo could add up to some pretty significant savings if you are needing to upgrade devices in your family.

The eligible devices are as follows:

• LG G4
• LG V10
• Samsung Galaxy S6
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
• Samsung Galaxy Note 5
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+

That’s right, these are the latest and greatest devices from LG and Samsung so you aren’t getting what’s left at the bottom of the barrel.

This afternoon Google began pushing out a big update to Google Hangouts, their SMS & IM app for Android.  The update brings the app to version 7 and this is one that all users will want to get and try out.  Perhaps the biggest new feature is one that many Hangouts users had requested:  The ability to do Quick Replies.

Everyone pause for a moment and soak in the glory.

Now on the Notification Shade, you can do a quick reply to a message and send it.  It saves you from having to open up the Hangouts app and makes replies, especially while you are on-the-go (but not driving… because driving and Hangouts don’t mix).  There is nothing you need to do to enable the feature.  It will be automatically started for you after you upgrade to this new version.

Chrome OS, by many, is viewed as a simple, web-only platform that the masses can use without having to know about the underpinnings of how things work.  To a large extent that is a correct and fair assumption.  However, to assume there are not more advanced controls or the ability to do deep level troubleshooting and testing in Chrome OS would be an incorrect assumption.  Like OS X for Mac and Windows for PC, Chrome OS also has a shell app that allows you to get deep into the platform and run tests, gather information and logs and even revert to a previous build of the OS.  It is called the Chrome OS Developer Shell and it is built into every device running the platform.

For the vast majority of users – I mean like 98% of users – the Developer Shell will never be needed.  The platform as users know is remarkably stable and the releases that Google makes each month to the platform are equally as stable.  But there are Chrome OS users who want the ability to tinker or there may be the need to do a bit of troubleshooting on your Chromebook.  That is where the developer shell comes in handy.

In this How To I’ll show you the key command that you need to use to gain access to the shell and will point out some of the basics.  This is not a full blown tutorial on using it but rather an overview so you can check it out for yourself.

For the second time in three weeks, Google has dropped the price of the Nexus 5X.  Back on January 12th the company dropped their entry level Nexus phone by $30 and now have lopped off another $50 which brings the 16GB model to just $299.  The 32GB model has also dropped by $50 and is now $349.  For the specifications of the device, that is an excellent price and you will have Android Marshmallow already on the device.  Plus, as we all know, Nexus devices get Marshmallow updates first and faster than anyone else.

Nexus 5X – 16GB – $299 / 32GB – $349