Author: Kaluka wanjala

Opera has announced that it will be discontinuing its data-saving app for Android, Opera Max, that it unveiled back in 2014. The company has even removed that app from the Google Play Store but those who already have it on their devices can still use it for now. If you are among these people, you should be looking for alternatives as the company will end support anytime from today, not exact date is known as of writing this but the company will give you a heads-up before it does that. Opera Max was a useful product for those who wanted…

In September 2016, Snap (the company behind Snapchat) introduced a pair of sunglasses it called Spectacles. This was the first product Snap introduced and was very strategic as it was announced on the same day the company changed its name from Snapchat to Snap. The company said that this was necessary as the Snapchat app was not the only product it was offering anymore. Snapchat Spectacles came with a built-in video camera that can record 10 second videos. These spectacles can be synced with the Snapchat app to make it possible to users to post what they record directly to…

Yesterday, Google announced that it has added support for 30 new languages and dialects to voice search. This the company says is to make it easier for people around the world to search and even translate using their voice. Out of the 30 languages added, Swahili is the one that stands out for me as it is widely used in Kenya. Google hopes that this will get more people who use Swahili (and the 29 other languages) will use voice more than they do now. In a statement, Google said, “today we’re bringing voice typing (aka talking to your phone…

The one thing the Pixel smartphones are known for are their cameras. This is thanks to the software behind the Google Pixel Camera and specifically the HDR+ mode that is exceptional when taking high dynamic range photos. This mode reduces the blur you may see when taking HDR shots and in the end you get outstanding photos that have really made the Pixel and Pixel XL phones stand out and very appealing to photography enthusiasts. The only issue so far has been that you had to either buy the Pixel or Pixel XL smartphone to enjoy what HDR+ has to…

Late last month, Google released the fourth and final developer preview of Android O. With this, it was clear that the public release of Android O was imminent. Even though Google is yet to confirm the exact date, multiple sources have confirmed that Google will finally reveal what the “O” stands for and will be releasing the public version of Android 8.0 later this month. Google will supposedly launch Android O on August 21st to be exact. The first smartphones that will be getting this update are the Pixel phones. The Pixel phones were released last year and are meant…

Since June 2007, Apple has managed to sell over 1.2 billion iPhone handsets. This was revealed a couple of days ago by Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, in a conference call after the announcement of the company’s third fiscal quarter earnings. Last year at a time like this, Apple reported that it had sold 1 billion iPhones since 2007. What this means is that the company has sold over 200 million units within the last 12 months if the total number of units it has sold since 2007 till now is 1.2 billion. 200 million units in just a year is…

If you own either the Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+, you should be happy to know that Android 7.1 update is headed your way. The Galaxy S8/S8+ launched with Android 7.0 Nougat but it looks like they will finally be getting the update a couple of months before Android O is released. The information about Android 7.1 for the S8/S8+ has been revealed by Vodafone Australia through its website. The company says that the update has been submitted for review and this is the last stage before the roll out begins. Given that this was revealed by Vodafone Australia, we…

A couple of months back, Samsung introduced its 2017 flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. These phones have been on the market since then and the reception has been good so far. The reception has been so good and according to research firm, Strategy Analytics, about 20 million Galaxy S8 and S8+ units have been sold so far. The research firm reports that this milestone was achieved back in July. Strategy Analytics also reports that about 278,800 Galaxy S8 and S8+ units are shipped every day. Given that the phone was launched on April 21, in total about…

In March this year, Facebook introduced the ‘Stories’ feature to its mobile apps. This feature is similar to Snapchat and Instagram stories and allows users to share moments of their day with their friends. Facebook users have the option of sharing photos and videos that will not go into their timeline but rather will appear at the top of the friends’ feed. The photos and videos shared all disappear within 24 hours just like they do on Instagram and Snapchat. This feature has only been available on mobile and users on desktop had no way of using it. This will…

As Android struggles to even get a fifth of its users to get update to its current iteration, Android Nougat, iOS seems to be on a roll. iOS 10, the current public release of Apple’s mobile OS, is installed in 87% of all iOS devices. This is quite impressive and these are the sort of numbers we never get to see on Android. iOS 10 is compatible with the iPhone 5 or newer device, iPad 4, the new iPad Air, iPad Pro, iPad mini 2 and newer variants and the iPod touch 6th generation. iOS 10 was released to the…