When you are kicking the tires on a used iPhone ($285 at Amazon), there is no Carfax report you can turn to for the iPhone version of a vehicle history. You can inspect the iPhone for signs of damage, but you can’t know if the current owner bought it new just by looking at it. …

If you have a Google Pixel or Pixel 2 phone, you’ve been able to try Google’s AR stickers to plop 3D objects like Star Wars characters into real-world views. Now the company has a new technique that brings the augmented-reality skill to vastly more Android devices. The AR sticker ability now is built into the company’s Motion Stills app, which …

What’s the only thing more exciting than a new Samsung Galaxy phone? Said phone in a new color that goes beyond black. The Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus were spotted in online renders in a new hue: lilac purple. …in Lilac Purple. pic.twitter.com/p506mqDci4 — Evan Blass (@evleaks) February 5, 2018 The renders were tweeted by frequent mobile tipster Evan Blass, …

A British judge has upheld the outstanding arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange despite his requests last month for it to be dropped. Judge Emma Arbuthnot dismissed calls from Assange’s lawyers at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court, saying, “I am not persuaded the warrant should be withdrawn,” Bloomberg reports. Julian Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London …

I think it’s safe to say: The Essential Phone was a flop. Even ignoring the phone’s missed ship dates and broken durability promises, it simply wasn’t competitive at $700 (roughly £500, AU$900). Review after review panned the camera, one of the most important parts of a modern phone. I called the camera app “a smoldering dumpster fire.” But here’s the …

Facebook and Instagram may have successfully borrowed a lot of Snap’s designs, but it still has a few tricks up its sleeves. The social networking company, known for its disappearing messages and popularity among teenagers, surprised Wall Street Tuesday when it announced better-than-expected fourth quarter sales of $285.7 million and a daily user count of about 187 million, 5 percent higher …

Apple’s smart devices are often criticized for exclusively running within the company’s own ecosystem — but the market doesn’t seem to mind. The electronics giant shipped 8 million Apple Watches in the fourth quarter of 2017, Canalys research shows, which the firm said is a record for wearables sold by a company during a quarter. Fitbit was the previous record …

Patreon, which gives fans a way to pay their favorite creators on a recurring basis, on Tuesday introduced Lens, a feature similar to Instagram or Snapchat Stories that gives patrons special access to their favorite creators’ behind-the-scenes peeks.  The feature, which is part of Patreon’s mobile app, lets creators take photos and videos with their phones that display in a …

If you wanted a cheaper phone from Amazon, that used to come at the cost of having ads take over your lock screen. That won’t be the case anymore, as Amazon is removing them from both new phones and from ones customers have already purchased. Amazon said Tuesday that its line of Prime Exclusive Phones, which include devices like the …

You may have noticed that Instagram’s rearranged your feed. Now instead of seeing posts in chronological order, the app shows you what posts it thinks you’ll find the most interesting first. And that may not align with what you actually want to see at the top of your feed, which means you may miss out on some important posts.  And while …