Mobile Nations Weekly: A Techtophan Hangover

Thanksgiving for gadgets.

You might still be sleeping of the turkey and potatoes, or perhaps getting started on working them off, but that doesn't mean the tech news stopped.

In the we past we saw the expansion of Samsung Pay to more cards and we got our hands around the new OnePlus X and the bigger Microsoft Lumia 950 XL. And we're starting to come to terms with [the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil].

Oh, and Black Friday may be in the past, but the sales are still going!

Looking for the perfect tech gift? Check out our 2015 holiday gift guide!

1. Android Central — Giving thanks, getting deals

OnePlus X

It was a holiday week here in the U.S. so things weren't too busy, but plenty still happened. Getting into the giving mood, Samsung Pay expanded to eight new cards, Google is donating to charity when you use Android Pay,T-Mobile is offering customers free unlimited high-speed data and CyanogenMod opened up CM13 Marshmallow builds for several phones.

This weekend is all about sales and deals, and there are tons of great ones out there right now. OnePlus has open sales of the 2 and X, Google Play has tons of apps and games on sale and the Google Store slashed prices on devices. We've rounded up a ton of Black Friday (and into the weekend) deals right here.

Read the latest entry in our epic 8-part Android History series

2. CrackBerry — Securing Android

BlackBerry Priv

Despite it being a little slower for news this week thanks to it being a holiday in the U.S., there was still plenty going on in the BlackBerry world including the continued roll out of the Priv, and BlackBerry offered some further explanation of why they feel their Android offering is best for security and privacy. Finally, BlackBerry announced their holiday pricing for those looking to move into a new BlackBerry smartphone.

3. iMore — And so begins the iPad Pro

iPad Pro

Apple CEO Tim Cook gave employees the week off, and Americans had Thanksgiving off, but that doesn't mean the news and views stopped coming. Or the sales. So many Black Friday sales!. We're still working away on the iPad Pro review but we finally got the Apple TV put to bed — for now at least. And we've got a lot more coming your way!

4. Windows Central — The bigger Lumia

As the U.S. heads into the holiday season, this week news has slowed a smidge. Luckily, the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL are now on sale direct from Microsoft (the Lumia 950 is also at AT&T). This week we showed you how to enable native two-way call recording on those new Lumias, and how to plug in and use USB drives directly too.

We also unboxed the brand new Lumia 950 XL with our quick comparisons and impressions. Turns out, it's a dual-SIM device, which is unique for US markets. There are also new tools now to let devs create custom ROMs for Lumias bringing some of the old Windows Mobile flavors back.

Those new Lumias have received some criticism as feeling 'cheap'. To answer that we did a mini-review of those leather Mozo cases from Finland, which really improve the overall look of the Lumia 950 and 950 XL. In other news, Dell got caught with a security vulnerability, but they fessed up and thanked the experts who found the flaw before patching it.

5. Kicked — Meow music

This week on Kicked Weekly we show you how to drink more water by tricking your brain, an easy standing desk, and we try to destroy a prank greeting card! We also take a listen to music for cats, and we check out the best carry-on luggage. Plus, Dan's trendy hoodie actually elicits a compliment from Kim.

For the coolest crowd funding projects you need to know about (along with a few weekly antics) be sure to subscribe to the Kicked TV YouTube Channel and follow us on social media. We're active on Twitter, Facebook and of course Instagram.

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