Author: Kaluka wanjala

Dark mode seems to be the new wave with smartphone apps and mobile OS in general. We have seen a number of apps get dark mode over the years and most popular ones out there have some sort of a dark theme. Even iOS and Android are getting system wide dark mode with the one for Android rolling later this year with the release of Android Q. Google is also adding dark themes to most of its mobile apps and the next one on the list in Gmail. The latest Google apps to get this dark treatment include Google Calendar…

An interesting thing about most third-party UIs made by the Chinese smartphone makers is that they lack an app drawer. This has changed over time but a few years back, most of them did not have an app drawer as the companies behind these launchers wanted to replicate the iOS experience and if you know anything about that, then you know it lacks an app drawer. One of the UIs that has never had an app drawer is Xiaomi’s MIUI. This has been the company’s standard UI on all its phones and it is safe to say its fans have…

Ride hailing apps are the future and we do have a number of them in Kenya. Bolt, formerly Taxify, is one of them and even though it is one of the most hated ones out there, it has survived all this and is expanding to other towns in the country. Bolt has announced its expansion plans today revealing that it will be available in Kisumu, Kakamega and Thika town. Before this expansion, Bolt has been available in Nairobi and Mombasa just like most other ride hailing applications but the company is hoping to see success in the additional towns as…

Most of us have found ourselves in situations with no money to make a call and sending a please call me text is not the ideal solution. In such situations, you may be forced to flash call the person you want to talk to but this is not the solution all the time as your credit balance may not be enough to do this either. Safaricom has today announced the availability of its “Reverse call” feature that will let customers request to transfer the call cost to the receiver. This is not an innovative feature in any way but it…

One of the worst things that can happen to any social media user and Instagram specifically is losing the account to hackers. This has happened far too many times and for those who make money off the platform, this is the last thing they would want to deal with. Instagram is currently testing a new feature that will hopefully make it easier for those who have had their accounts hacked to get them back. We have had of stories of individuals losing their accounts and it is good to see Instagram do something about that. In most cases, the hackers…

The Huawei Y9 2019 was one of the company’s most popular and talked about smartphone of 2018. It was everywhere, online and offline and the sales were good from some of the stats that I have seen. With the success of the Y9 2019, Huawei was definetly going to keep this series exciting. The company is planning a refresh for 2019 that it is calling the Huawei Y9 Prime 2019. This phone is already on its way to Kenya and should be launched in the country next week. The Huawei Y9 Prime 2019 will be the company’s first smartphone with…

Huawei has not had a good year ever since the US blacklisted the Chinese giant forcing some American companies to end ties with the company. Huawei has been clear that it is here to stay and that it will do all it can to support its devices already on the market and the ones it plans to release later this year. Huawei is not having a smooth ride even with its upbeat nature, the company expects its smartphone shipments to drop by up to 60% this year. Huawei is expecting a drop in volumes between 40 million and 60 million…

Facebook can be a very confusing place for new users. On one hand, it can be a place to have meaningful conversations with like-minded individuals while on the other hand it can also be a hole full on negative comments or even abuse depending on the topic being discussed. Facebook has tried to fight these comments for years but they are still there to this day. The company has done a lot to address this but it has not been successful so far. With people being critical on Facebook with its privacy issues and all that has been going on…

If you are a fan of third-party launchers for Android, you probably have heard of the Xiaomi Poco Launcher. This custom UI was first released with the unveiling of the Pocophone F1 and was exclusively available for that phone. It did not take long before the launcher was available on the Google Play Store for all Android users to download. Poco launcher has been downloaded over 5 million times from the Play Store so far and now version 2.0 is out with some design changes. Xiaomi is inviting beta testers who want to try out Poco launcher version 2.0 before…

WhatsApp’s popularity attracts different users who use its platform to do all sorts of things. Out of all the people using WhatsApp, spammers are probably the worst. WhatsApp knows this and plans to deal with them. WhatsApp has updated the FAQ section of its website saying that from 7 December 2019, it will consider taking legal action against users who are using the platform for activities such as “bulk or automated messaging”. WhatsApp says its platform should be used as a private messaging platform or by companies that want to communicate with their customers through its Business app and those…