Review: Moto G Plus elevates the mid-range in specs and features

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Continuing the tradition of challenging the high-end of the smartphone market, the Moto G Plus Is an accomplished mid-range device that flirts with many features and capabilities we’ve come to expect from more expensive 5.5-inch devices like the iPhone 6S Plus and Samsung’s Galaxy Note.

The fourth generation Moto G is indicative of what we can come to expect from Moto under Lenovo. A lot of the outlandish and exciting design and feature directions of Motorola have been tempered by Lenovo’s more practical and understated design ethos. What hasn’t changed is the value for money that the new Moto G Plus brings to market.

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Apple Pay now available in Canada's Big Five banks, In-app purchases

Apple Pay is now available in Canada to customers of BMO (MasterCard, Interac), TD (Visa, Interac), Scotiabank (Visa, Amex, Interac) which are joining CIBC, Canadian Tire and RBC Credit which launched the service last month. 

Apple Pay also extends to purchasing physical goods within apps or purchasing items from the Apple Store, while American Express is currently live and that won't change, support for all of the rest of the banks above will is also going live.

Launching payments within apps (all credit-card only; Interac support for in-app coming at a later date across these issuing banks) 

• ATB
• Canadian Tire
• CIBC
• RBC
• BMO
• TD
• Scotiabank
• American Express (already live).

Various Canadian apps have updated to be able to integrate Apple Pay for in-app purchases. For Apple Pay to work, users need an iPhone 6/6S, iPhone SE or an Apple Watch since these are the models that feature a secure enclave to enable the safe and secure transactions.

Source: Apple

ASUS goes premium with new ZenFone 3 line of smartphones

ASUS has just announced a series of ZenFone 3 smartphones. ASUS says that these new smartphones set a new standard in design and innovation while maintaining ASUS’ leadership in providing intelligent feature sets in an affordable package. Coming to North America in Q3, this is ASUS' most comprehensive release in various smartphone categories.

Starting with the ZenFone 3 Deluxe, a 5.7-inch Full HD device with (1920 by 1080) AMOLED display featuring a gamut of over 100% NTSC color space for rich, vibrant colors even in harsh, outdoor lighting. Inside, ZenFone 3 Deluxe has a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Series processor and up to 6GB RAM to deliver the best performance for demanding apps, games, and media.

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First Look: Moto G Plus

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

The Motorola Moto G has always been the puckish upstart, a mid-range smartphone that challenged and defied conventions by giving users some of the best features of premium smartphones (4G data, 720p HD display, long battery life, water resistance, microSD expansion) and placed it in an attractive package and price.

The fourth generation of the Moto G, which comes to Canada in two flavours including the Moto G Plus which we're checking out here, has definitely grown up and I don't mean just in size. 

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