Author: Kaluka wanjala

About two weeks ago, Huawei announced its in-house operating system, HarmonyOS. The company said that this operating system (OS) is not just meant for smartphones as it will be used on other smart devices and even on vehicles. With the unveiling of this new OS, the speculation was that the company was going to unveil smartphones powered by HarmonyOS as early as this year. Most people were expecting to see the OS on the company’s upcoming flagship, the Huawei Mate 30. Rumors were that the company would unveil a standard Mate 30 running Android and a special version running HarmonyOS.…

With the release of a new version of Android, we normally get to see what dessert name Google picks for it. The current publicly available version, Android 9 is also known as Android Pie. This naming system has been around from the beginning but Google is changing that with the next version of Android. Google announced yesterday that the next version of Android will be referred to as Android 10, no more sweet desserts after that. According to Google, the change in the naming system is to ensure they are accessible across different markets as previously not everyone was familiar…

With the rise in demand for instant loans, the companies involved have to make sure they have the capacity to meet the demand at all times. With that, they have to make sure they have enough capital to meet the demands of their customers every single day. Tala, one of the mobile lending companies operating in Kenya, has announced that it has raised $ 100 Million series D investment. With the new investment, the company will be able to launch new products within its ecosystem. This news comes less than a month after Branch, its competitor, announced that it had…

If you are one of the few people who use YouTube’s messaging feature, you need to find another alternative as that service will be discontinued next month. You should not be using YouTube messaging in the first place but there are people who do and it looks like they are not that many and that’s probably the reason why Google is axing it. If you try accessing the messages section of the YouTube app, you will see the notification informing you that it won’t be available after September 18. Google has not given a clear reason as to why this…

WhatsApp has been evolving and still is with some major changes expected this year. Some of the changes affect the key components of the app but others will not affect how we use the app in any way. We will notice some of these changes but there are some that will be added without us realizing. Name Change Some adjustments are expected in the name but nothing serious that will leave the app unrecognizable. According to Blomberg, the messaging service will be adding “From Facebook” to its name to become, WhatsApp From Facebook. At a time when most apps are…

Earlier today, Xiaomi announced the Inter-Transfer Alliance group through which it has joined forces with Oppo and Vivo to launch an AirDrop-like service for Android. This is a peer-to-peer file transfer service that uses Bluetooth and will support multiple file formats. This platform is still in open beta and when rolled out, it will make it easier for users of different smartphones from different manufacturers to share photos and documents with each other. According to Xiaomi, this protocol can deliver transfer speeds of up to 20MB/s. No third-party app will be required to achieve this and the speeds are impressive.…

We have decided to start a new series that recaps the top stories of the week here on TechArena. I will be highlighting the top 5 popular stories for that week or just stories that you should know about. Let’s get to the top stories for this week. Vivo Y15 Goes on Sale in Kenya Earlier this week, Vivo announced that its phones are officially available in Kenya. The first phone the company has is the Vivo Y15 that is available in the country for Ksh 22,000. This is not cheap and puts it in direct competition with the Samsung…

SWVL is one of the two main app-based mass transit services in Nairobi. The other one is Little Shuttle which falls under Little, the taxi-hailing service. With both services, you can book a scheduled shuttle in Nairobi and its immediate environs. The one big drawback with either of the two services is that they charge the same amount for all passengers. This is not really fair for those who may alight before getting to the shuttle’s final destination, they are still required to pay the same amount as those going all the way to the end. SWVL is exploring ways…

The smartwatch market has been growing steadily for the last two years or so. With this growth, we expect to see more options available as more players will want a slice of this pie. Oppo is one company that is set to join the smartwatch market. The company has plans to unveil its first smartwatch sometime next year. This was confirmed by one of its executives, Shen Yiren, who shared the news on Chinese social platform, Weibo. This will be Oppo’s first smartwatch that will definitely be a much-needed addition to the market. Yiren did not share details of what…

Launched about a week ago, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and the Galaxy Note 10+ are the latest flagship devices from the Korean manufacturer. The phones were announced at an event in New York and will be making their way to Kenya soon. With almost every smartphone these days, you have the chance to pre-order and be among the first people to own it when it is unveiled in the country. The Galaxy Note 10 series is not any different and you can pre-order it right now in Kenya from a number of Samsung partner stores across the country. At…