Andy Rubin is one of the major names associated with the initial development of the Android OS and he even handled the OS for Google, before he left the company in 2014. After leaving Google, Andy Rubin started a company named Playground Global, which acted as a tech incubator. According to recent reports, he is associated in the development of an upcoming high-end smartphone. His second company, named Essential Products Inc. will be launching the smartphone in question, along with "a suite of consumer hardware products, including ones for the mobile and smart home."

Although much isn't revealed about this surprise smartphone in the making, but the report does mention that it will sport a bezel-less display, as well as a modular design similar to what we saw with the Moto Z or the LG G5. The magnetic connector used for the modularity is said to be propriety, although selective third party enhancements will be supported. A spherical high-resolution 360-degree camera will be one of the first modular upgrade options for the phone, developed by Essential Products themselves.

Other specifications that we know of include a ceramic back, a metal frame, a 5.7-inch or bigger pressure sensitive edgeless display and a release date that's set somewhere near the middle of the year. Did this get you interested or do you think it will be "just another smartphone?"

  Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

It's Christmas and we have less than a week left in the year now. Given that no new smartphones will be released this year anymore, let us take a quick look at the three absolute best smartphones that were launched in 2016. Let us know if you are using any of these beasts in the comments section below. Keep in mind that phones such as the Mi Mix were kept out of the list because they are simply not available anywhere outside China as of now.

OnePlus 3T

The OnePlus 3 was an excellent flagship device with the all-powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC and a whopping 6GB of RAM, available at half the price of most flagships from big boys like Samsung or LG. The OnePlus 3T keeps everything that was brilliant about the OnePlus 3 and adds an even more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 SoC, 13% more battery (3,450mAh), a much better front camera sensor and a 128GB option at a modest price of $439 (64GB).

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

The S7 and S7 Edge are a bit old now, but they still are among the absolute best that 2016 had to offer. The curved Quad High Definition Super AMOLED display on the S7 Edge is quite simply beautiful and arguably the best in the business.

Google Pixel Phones

When it comes to software and actual user experience, you just cannot beat the Pixel and the Pixel XL. Owners of these two smartphones will experience the epitome of what the latest Android OS has to offer. It also helps that these are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chip, beautiful AMOLED displays and Google Assistant; which is arguably the most enhanced virtual assistant ever to make a public debut.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

Looking for a phone upgrade? Not satisfied with the mobile releases of 2016? Well, that's not a problem as 2017 will be promising in terms of new mobile releases! Only a few more days or months to wait, until the mobile beasts of 2017 are revealed. Let's see what 2017 has in reserve for us.

Once you go apple, you never go back! Apple will be back with the IPhone 8 in 2017, to celebrate its 10th anniversary impressively. Planned to be on the market in September 2017, IPhone 8 and IPhone 8 Plus, could be the most fundamental up to date phones. Apple will be making changes to the phones' designs and the software. In terms of design, the IPhone 8 is planned to be a single sheet of glass with an edge-to-edge OLED screen. Also, it would seem that at least one release of Apple's IPhones for 2017, will have a glass body. The Touch ID will be hidden within the glass, and the Home Button will be non-existent.

HTC lovers will not be disappointed as well! HTC is planning to release the HTC 11 in March/April 2017. An early leak confirmed that the mobile might have a Snapdragon 835 processor, RAM of 8 GB, a storage capacity of 256 GB and a 5.5in Quad- HD Screen. That is indeed lots of expectation... Let's hope that rumours have it right!

As for LG, it is rumoured that the G6 will be released in late 2017, and it could adopt a glass rear and front. The most interesting features it can have is an iris scanner that uses a similar sensor as the phone's front camera, which will be awesome.

Samsung will be back stronger in 2017, to mend its reputation after the Galaxy Note 7 crisis. The Samsung Galaxy s8 has been scheduled to be shown to the world in February 2017 during the MCW tradeshow. Rumours has it that the design will be changed, and the home button might be gone. It could as well be the fastest phone with a top of the range processor.

It looks like technology lovers will have a hard choice to make in 2017 while buying a mobile phone, with the possible new releases. However, you don't really need a top-notch phone to have some fun online. All you need is a phone with internet connection... and you can enjoy at magicalvegas.com anytime and anywhere! At Magical Vegas, you can sign up or log in anytime or any day you want, using either a tablet, a mobile phone or a PC.

That's not all. Given that the site is responsive, you can play your games using any type of devices. Despite being on a mobile phone, you will still enjoy the great graphics and beautiful designs of the game, and of the site. Golden Jungle, Cluedo Spinning Detectives, Troll Hunters and Lucky Tree are some of the newest games you can try now at Magical Vegas!

A slow smartphone leads to frustration, whether you're booting up an online game or checking your text messages. However, you don't have to give up on your phone just because it's gotten a little lethargic. Instead, try these safe, simple hacks to make your smartphone faster.

Remove Transition Animations

Image via Flickr by Janitors

You might have noticed that your iPhone produces animated transitions between screens. While these animations might seem simple, they can slow down your phone when you need its memory most. Fortunately, you can disable animations in iOS 7, which will free up memory for other tasks. This process will also remove the parallax effects from icons and other on-screen graphics.

Find the settings app on your iPhone, click on the General tab, and find the menu labeled Accessibility. Just tap the Reduce Motion option. It will shift from off to on, disabling animations. Restart the device to apply the change. Now your phone can devote its resources to games, apps, texting, and streaming instead of delivering flashy animations on the interface.

Clear Your Phone's Memory

Even though the Apple iPhone 7 features 32GB of memory, you might need to clear the memory to make space for new data. In older versions of iOS, you had to factory reset the device to clear the memory. That meant losing all of your contacts, game progress, text messages, and call logs. However, the latest versions give you a shortcut that doesn't put your valuable data at risk.

First, back up your phone to the iCloud after connecting to Wi-Fi. Consider doing this once a month or so to protect your data. Next, hold down the Sleep button for several seconds. The screen for shutting down your smartphone should appear. Release the Sleep button and hold down the Home button. When the Home screen comes up, you'll know that you've successfully flushed your iPhone's memory.

Move Your Photos to External Storage

If you don't want to clear your phone's memory entirely, but your device seems sluggish, consider shifting your photos and other files to the cloud or external storage. You can do this with both iOS and Android devices. Simply connect your device to your computer, external hard drive, or the cloud, find where your photos are stored on your phone, and move them over to the other device.

Many people take hundreds of photos every month with their smartphones. Clearing them out will make more storage space for future photos, and you won't consume as much of your smartphone's memory, which should make the device run faster.

Remove Unused Files and Apps

Running too many apps can turn your smartphone into a sluggish machine. You might have downloaded many apps since you bought the phone, then never even used some of them. Take a tour through your apps list and delete any that you no longer use.

Next, go through your photo and video files. In addition to moving them to other storage, you can also delete files that you no longer want. Blurry photos, dark videos, and other undesirable files often linger on smartphones even though they'll never be posted on Facebook, printed out, sent to friends, or even looked at again.

Delete the Browser Cache

If you use your smartphone to browse the internet, delete the browser cache every week or two. The cache files take up significant space on your smartphone's hard drive, which can slow it down. You can empty the browser cache no matter which browser you use. Typically, you'll enter the browser settings and find the History menu. From there, you can delete the cache and anything else you no longer need.

Keep in mind that your smartphone might even store browser information from other devices if they're connected on the same Wi-Fi network. If you use your home computer, tablet, or other devices to surf the web, delete the browser caches on all devices to help them run faster.

Don't spend all day staring at loading screens or waiting for your browser to catch up. Instead, try these suggestions to make your smartphone faster and more convenient.

Come 2017, the Galaxy S8 will probably launch with a borderless, bezel-less display, but at this very moment the only two smartphones in the world that can boast of such a beautiful design are the Honor Magic and the Xiaomi Mi Mix. Although they share the same principle design element, it doesn't mean that they are all the same. In fact these two are poles apart from each other in a multitude of ways. Check out the comparison sheet below and let us know which one you think is the better of the two.

Xiaomi Mi Mix

158.8 x 81.9 x 7.9 mm (209 g)
6.4-inch edge-to-edge (86% display-to-body ratio) 1080 x 2040 pixels flat IPS LCD display
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (MSM8996) chipset
4GB/6GB RAM
128GB/256GB internal storage without expandable card slot
Rear/front camera: 16-mp/5-mp
4,400 mAh battery
Available only in black
3499 yuan/3,999 yuan ($500/$575)
NFC, USB Type-C, rear mounted fingerprint scanner, 3.5mm audio jack, piezoelectric speaker, ultrasound based proximity sensor, dual SIM support, etc.

Honor Magic

146.1 x 69.9 x 7.8 mm (145 g)
5.09-inch edge-to-edge (69.9% display-to-body ratio) 1440 x 2560 pixels curved AMOLED display
Huawei Hisilicon Kirin 950 chipset
4GB RAM
64GB internal storage without expandable card slot
Twin 12-mp rear camera and an 8-mp front shooter
2,900mAh battery
Available in Golden Black and Porcelain White
3,699 yuan ($530)
NFC, USB Type-C, fingerprint scanner at the front, 3.5mm audio jack, AI virtual assistant, Honor Magic Live, Dual-SIM support, etc.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)