The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is no more, but those still yearning for a slice of premium phablet action could be in luck as the Meizu Pro 6 Plus has just been launched. 

With a 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED display, Exynos 8890 chipset, 4GB of RAM, 12MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, fingerprint scanner and a heart rate monitor the spec sheet looks almost identical to the Note 7. 

The Meizu Pro 6 Plus doesn’t come with an S Pen stylus alternative, and its styling is more iPhone 7 Plus than Note 7 – but there’s no doubting the similarity in specs, especially as it’s Samsung’s own chip powering the show. 

The battery is a touch smaller on the Pro 6 Plus at 3,400mAh (the Note 7 is 3,500mAh), while the cameras front and back have a lesser aperture rating than the Samsung - we'd expect this is translate to poorer picture quality.

The Pro 6 Plus comes in 64GB and 128GB variants, while its vital statistics come in at 155.6 x 77.3 x 7.3mm and 158g. That makes it slightly taller and wider than the Note 7, but also thinner and lighter.

On screen things will certainly be different to Samsung’s TouchWiz interface, with Meizu’s new Flyme 6 OS sitting on top of Android which the firm claims has over 400 new features “ including a revamped picture capturing process and a reworked lost phone finding assistant.”

You'll be able to get the Meizu Pro 6 Plus from Amazon in the UK, but we're still waiting to hear how much it will set you back. 

We have contacted Meizu for more information and will update this article once we've heard back.

Filtering the good apps from the bad on Google Play can be hard enough when there are hundreds of thousands to choose from, but with some sporting fake reviews and ratings the challenge becomes even harder. Fortunately, Google is on the case.

The company has announced that it’s improved the ways that it identifies and removes fake reviews and ratings. It hasn’t said what those improvements are, but the end result will apparently be that it removes more fakes and does so with greater accuracy.

If you’re an app developer yourself, chances are you have nothing to worry about, but if you’re working with another person or company to promote your app Google advises that you check-in with them to ensure they’re not using fake, paid or incentivized reviews and ratings, and that they all come from genuine users.

Simply the best

Google plans to continue enhancing its systems, to further improve the accuracy and legitimacy of reviews and ratings, so you’ll know that 5-star Justin Bieber soundboard you’re considering really is worthy of 5 stars.

But if you need a little more help in finding the best apps we’re here for you, with our constantly updated lists of the best Android apps and the best free Android apps.

• More into games? These are the best Android games

Road Not Taken is the latest turn-based puzzle game from Spry Fox. Having earned its pedigree on Steam for PC and Mac, mobile gamers may feel a bit overwhelmed with the "desktop gaming" level of content and challenge here. However, there's a lot to like here for those willing to spend the time to learn its secrets, as well ...

Verizon Wireless is offering dozens of holiday shopping deals including free phones, deals on mobile accessories and more. Here are a few highlights on what great deals you can get from Verizon: Samsung Galaxy S7: save up to $300 with trade-in; 50% off on Fast Charge Wireless Charging StandLG K8 V: Free iPhone SE: $16.66/monGoogle Pixel/Pixel ...

Concrete Jungle, by ColePowered Games, is yet another indy gem that has made the jump from Steam to iOS; and it has done so fully intact. At first glance, it would be tempting to describe it as a city building card game. However, this would be a mistake. Concrete Jungle is actually a city planning, deck-building game. That's an ...

It may not be as hard to find as an NES Classic Edition, but Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus may remain a hot commodity throughout this holiday season.

Regardless of its incremental improvements over the iPhone 6 and controversial removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack, Apple's handsets appear in high demand among wish lists nationwide, according to a survey conducted by investment firm Piper Jaffray.

The survey - which polled 1,000 individuals in the US for their most wished-for holiday gifts - put the iPhone at the very top, with 7.2% of the entire sample wanting one of Apple's handsets.

Piper Jaffray's managing director, Gene Munster, also points out that the results for the iPhone were 2% higher than last year, suggesting that the interest in Apple's smartphones are still going strong, despite a recent decline in sales.

Other items on the list included the MacBook, Xbox One, smartwatches, and the PS4, though all of those combined didn't even come close to the iPhone's share of the chart. 

Where can I get one?

Wait lists for the iPhone 7 are nowhere as bad as they were at launch, but with Black Friday and Cyber Monday come and gone, getting one for cheap this holiday could be tough.

That said, Walmart is offering $150 off the older-but-still-perfectly good iPhone 6, and is discounting more than twice that on a refurbished model.

Best Buy is also offering a $100 credit on a new iPhone purchased with select Beats Wireless headphones - which you'll want anyway, considering the whole "no headphone jack" thing.

While we can see iPhones being 'The Hot Thing' this Christmas, it should be noted that Piper Jaffray's survey isn't exactly ironclad. First, a sample size of 1,000 people is relatively small and prone to bias. 

Secondly, while Munster mentions the iPhone 7 specifically, the survey just says "iPhone." This could mean the people surveyed were interested in any make of the handset - or possibly just smartphones in general. (Kinda like how our parents refer to every kind of tablet as 'an iPad.')

We have reached out to Piper Jaffray to learn more about the survey and how it was conducted, and will update this story when more details emerge.

• These are the best cases for your iPhone 7