Photo: The Verge

The rise of the phablet has shown that bigger equals better when it comes to smartphones, and the same is apparently true of advertising.

Putting that theory into practice is Google, which this week debuted a jaw-dropping ad on one of the world’s largest advertising video screen billboards, in New York’s Times Square.

The eight story screen advertises Google’s major products, including Android and Google Maps. The campaign is set to run through the New Year. Made by Mitsubishi Electronics, the screen boasts more than 20 million pixels and runs an entire block, as well as wrapping an extra 30 feet around each corner. In all, it measures over 77 feet tall by 323 feet long, with a true resolution of 2,368 x 10,048.

Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

For a flagship device, Samsung’s Galaxy S5 doesn’t exactly sound like it’s flying high. According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Samsung dramatically overestimated how many people were hankering after its new handset, with the result being that unsold units are now “piling up in warehouses.”

Although the S5 has sold around 12 million units in its first three months, that is substantially less than the numbers of the previous generation Galaxy S4, which sold around 4 million more in that same time frame. This would be bad news at any time, but Samsung was reportedly so gung-ho about the S5’s sales prospects that it actually increased production by 20%.

Photo: Maurice Huang/Flickr CC

New York’s Times Square is about to get one of the world’s largest advertising video screen billboards — and Google is its debut customer.

The screen is an epic eight stories high, runs an entire block, and is made up of a mind-blowing 24 million pixels. According to reports, Google snapped up the ad space the moment it became available and paid for an exclusive, long-term deal. The search giant will take over the screen on November 24, with an as-yet unrevealed campaign that runs through the New Year.

It’s not currently known exactly how much Google shelled out, but according to the owners of the megascreen, ad space costs an enormous $2.5 million for four weeks, making this one of the most expensive outdoor ads in the world.

Look familiar? Here’s where Samsung’s beacon technology will be used. Photo: Samsung

Samsung just can’t leave Apple alone. When it’s not mocking the Cupertino company in ads, or pleading for its chip-making business, it’s stealing its ideas.

Today, Samsung announced two new creations rolling off its Xerox machine out of its R&D labs: an iBeacon-style proximity beacon technology, and an OS X Yosemite Continuity-inspired feature that lets users sling webpages, phone calls and much more from one device to another.

Galaxy Note 4 not provided. Photo: Samsung

When Samsung’s Gear VR headset was announced earlier this year, my colleague Killian Bell wrote that if this “isn’t the coolest smartphone accessory ever made, then I don’t know what is.”

For those who don’t know, the Gear VR is a device — resembling a giant pair of ski goggles — that turns your Galaxy Note 4 into a virtual reality headset. There’s even the option to activate the Note 4’s rear-facing camera to see what’s happening around you while you’re wearing it.

If the idea sounds interesting to you, you’ll be happy to hear that Samsung has finally announced both a shipping window and price for the Gear VR.

How much will it set you back? Read on to find out.