Author: Alvin Wanjala

Adding to its growing list of Reno flagship devices, Oppo has announced Reno Ace. Like its other flagship devices under the Reno category, Oppo’s new phone sports Qualcomm’s high-end chipset, but this time Snapdragon 855 Plus. The Reno Ace is a 6.5-inch device with a 1080p AMOLED display and is presented in a 20:9 aspect ratio. The most outstanding feature on the new phone is the 90Hz display, which has been one of the most praised features in some of the lucky few 2019 smartphones. If you hate notches, then the Oppo Reno Ace is not for you. The phone…

Several countries are already geared up towards 5G rollout very soon or in the near future. In the recent past, 5G has been cited as one of the core issues that lead the US to blacklist Huawei. But at the same time, the US reportedly banned Huawei in order to leverage the opportunity for the two countries to resume their long-stalled trade talks. Huawei, in a recent report, says they have achieved a top speed of 3.76Gbps downlink on 5G using the sub-6GHz radiofrequency. The company says the tests were done using multiple 5G smartphones in one 5G cell in…

HMD is already keeping it to their words. As promised one day after the official rollout of Android 10, Nokia has begun pushing Android 10 via OTA update to the Nokia 8.1 devices. This is no surprise, to be honest. The Nokia 8.1 was in Google’s Android 10 beta program, and it should have even received the update earlier, considering they had all the time to test the software compatibility with this device. Like the rest of the features expected in Android 10, the Nokia 8.1 is no different. The update tags along with system-wide dark mode, a new gesture…

In the Android ecosystem, It is a norm for manufacturers to adopt the latest Android system months after it is launched. Not just months but more than four-five months. We are used to seeing new phones running the latest Android version starting in March or February the following year after Google releases the new Android version. That is about to change, however. According to a report from XDA Developers, Google is cracking down on this norm. The company has now laid down rules that it will no longer approve new phones running Android 9.0 Pie after January 31st, 2020. That…

Before OnePlus, Xiaomi and Oppo were a thing, HTC was already making smartphones. And it is not just making smartphones, at some point back in time, HTC accounted for 11% of the total smartphone sales. Well, 11% may seem too small, but in terms of smartphone sales, this number is hundreds of millions of devices. In recent years it has been consistently categorized under “Others” in the global smartphone sales charts. The company appointed a new manager Yves Maitre, who seems with visions to propel the company back to reclaim their smartphone glory. HTC has been struggling for two years…

Instagram’s following tab has not been used for its primary intention. According to the company, the Following tab was to be used by individuals to discover new users that they can follow. But we all know the Following tab has proved beneficial in other ways – stalking. The company says the Explore tab took its role and many people never even use the Following tab on a regular basis anymore. Which Instagram sees as enough reason for the shutdown. The feature for a long time has been used to stalk users that you follow. In other real-world usages, this tab…

Infinix S5 touted to take over from the Infinix S4 smartphone is already in the works. According to reports, Infinix S5 listing was sported on Play Console listing, which means the phone may be launched by the company anytime soon. The Infinix S5 has been spotted with a punch-hole display similar to what comes in TECNO’s Camon 12 Air. The display size is not revealed, but the Google Play Console listing shows we are getting an HD+ resolution (720 x 1,600 pixels) with a 320DPI. Under the hood is MediaTek’s Octa-Core Helio P22 Chipset aided with 4GB of RAM with…

Google has been tirelessly working on dark mode on its plethora of applications in the Android ecosystem. The move is to compel the company to realize the dream of Android going dark throughout the user interface.  Google Duo is the latest app to join the company’s apps with the dark theme available. First reported by AndroidPolice, Google Duo’s latest update, which began rolling out last week, has been sported with dark mode. The tech news website notes that the update with dark UI is included in a server-side update, so don’t pressure yourself sideloading the app because it won’t work.…

Not long ago, reports surfaced online about Facebook’s photo-sharing app Instagram working on another messaging app. The new chat app called Threads was “meant to promote constant and intimate sharing between users and their closest friends.” It is built around Instagram, so all Instagram’s “Close friends” list will still be your chat buddies in this new chat app. As if we haven’t had enough of chat apps already – in this space, like the Chinese smartphone industry, is becoming hard to keep up with. Unlike on Instagram, Threads allows users to share more personal information with their “Close friends” including…

Huawei has had its fair share of rumblings and turmoil due to the US ban. The ban put the company under the agony of having not to rely on its partner companies based in the US. This makes the company more independent in some way – it’s been mostly about the US and China anyway. After Huawei’s latest flagship series, Mate 30 launched, it was pretty clear no Google services were available.  However, in an interview, Huawei’s CEO Richard Yu clearly tipped that you can still install Google Mobile services on your own – but not directly. Well, there were…