Author: Kaluka wanjala

If you have been following the trends in smartphone cameras, then you have probably heard about the portrait mode otherwise known as Bokeh effect. This is where you have the camera focus on a subject and blur the background. The subject in focus draws all the attention as what is in the background is not easily visible. This feature is available in most smartphone cameras released in the last year or so and is mostly available on the rear camera but some front facing cameras also have it. For Instagram, this feature is too good to ignore and that is…

As technology becomes part of our everyday lives, it makes sense for developers and technology companies to come together and find ways to use technology to solve problems. Most countries tend to have similar problems but the solutions used vary from region to region. We have seen global player try to solve Kenyan problems with global solutions and sometimes these do not work. Sometimes there needs to be a local approach to solving problems. For Microsoft, this can be done through the Imagine Cup Competition that gives students opportunities to come up with solutions to local problems and showcase them…

If you are an active user of any of the mobile money services in Kenya, you probably already know that you can now send and receive money across Safaricom and Airtel networks. For the longest time, users could send money across networks but the recipient only got a text message that he/she was to take to an agent for withdrawal. This was a cumbersome process and discouraged many users from going with this option unless they absolutely had no alternative. With Mobile Money interoperability now live in Kenya, those on Airtel can send and receive money from M-Pea users. You…

If you spend a lot of time online, you may have come across websites or apps with videos that start playing as soon as you open the homepage. Some people like this and others hate it but it is one of the features that will not be going away anytime soon. If you use YouTube on your Android phone, you should be ready to deal with autoplaying videos when on the homepage. YouTube has been experimenting with this feature for a while now and is ready to roll it out to all users. This feature isn’t as bad as some…

Samsung has made it clear that it will not only be focusing on its premium devices. A few weeks after unveiling the Galaxy S9 and S9+ in Kenya, the company is back with a new smartphone. This latest smartphone is the Samsung Galaxy A8+ is available in Kenya for Ksh 60,000. This smartphone is targeting a different customer base from those who will go with the Galaxy Note series or the Galaxy S series. The Samsung Galaxy A8+ introduces the infinity display to devices other than the flagship Galaxy phones. This display is one of the things that set the…

If you have had money in your PayPal account, then you know that withdrawing it to your bank account or to M-Pesa was never an easy process. There have been third parties who helped do this but not everyone knew about them. This meant that those who mostly work online and get paid through PayPal did not have a smooth and easy way to get their money unless they were comfortable using the third parties that facilitated this. If you are one of the many people who have been looking for a better way to withdraw money from your PayPal…

The Itel S32 LTE is the latest smartphone by the company and is the successor to the Itel S32 that we saw last year. This new one is the LTE version as you could probably tell from the name. The phone is available in Kenya for a recommended retail price of Ksh 13,500, not the cheapest phone out there. This puts its right there with the Infinix Note 4 and the Tecno Camon CX Air. The Itel S32 LTE has a dual selfie camera setup and this is its main selling point. We live in a world where consumers demand…

Xiaomi is currently one of the top 5 smartphones in the world according to IDC. The Company shipped 90 million smartphones in 2017 and expects to ship 100 million units by December this year (2018). The company started the year on a high note with new smartphones left right and centre as it tries to reach out to a bigger audience. During Q1(first quarter) of 2018, Xiaomi shipped 10 million units per month. If you do the simple math, you can see that if this trend continues, the company will be able to sell at least 120 million devices by…

Pangea has shortlisted 11 start-ups who will be considered for funding of up to 50,000 USD per startup. The 11 start-ups companies are drawn from Kenya-9, Egypt -1 and Nigeria-1. The selection panel, consisting of experts from Innovation Norway, BDO EA, Mastercard Foundation and Longitude Finance, commented that the selection process was a tough exercise. “The initial expectation was that we would settle on 10 companies but we ended up with a list of 11. This is evidence that a good number of the start-ups made a strong business case. We were spoilt for choice” said Jane Save Ndungo, a senior market…

Tecno has just unveiled the Camon X and Camon X Pro smartphones in Nigeria. These are camera-centric devices but are not the only devices the company has introduced. Tecno has also taken the stage to introduce its new smartphone series, the Tecno F Series. The company is saying the new F series will be its new mid-range line-up that will join the Phantom, the Camon, the L series among others. With the F Series, Tecno says that they will also have impressive cameras even though that is not their unique selling point We will have to put them to the…