Zanguni is an event management platform that showcases events happening around you and enables you to pay for them. This was something three high school leavers, Benjamin Oganga, Januaris Mbithi and Albert Obura ,thought about as they searched for a “plot”(plan). They observed that such a platform, customized to Kenyans either did not exist or that those that existed were poorly managed and very basic. They sought out to create an Android application that would not only show you events in your surroundings, but also enable you to purchase tickets. Zanguni is derived from 2 swahili words; “zangu” and “ni” which loosely translates to where my things belong. This is something the developers feel like events should be to the event goers, personal.

Created under their company,  Becarn Corporations Africa Limited, the  developers describe the reception of Zanguni in the Kenyan lifestyle market as both encouraging and driving factor for improvement. They acknowledged that the journey has not been easy, but when they see people talking about it, tweeting about it among other things, then this motivates them to wake up everyday and create more.

First impressions..

The Zanguni app is available on the Google Playstore. Being only 643kb, it won’t really dent your storage space or take up much of your precious bundles to download. Once you open the app, you are greeted with a list of upcoming events for the week. I quickly noticed that there wasn’t a quick view of upcoming events for the next few months or weeks. I think this would be a good feature to add especially for annual events and those events that require earlier planning (more than a week). Various tabs are also presented to the user. These are categories, featured and top free tabs which work to give a view of specific events based on what you are looking for.

The user interface is fine, there is quite a straightforward navigation. The pictures could do with better resolution and aligning but you can still gather information about the event from the posters. You can view more details about an event but in my opinion, the font used could be better.

Once you identify an event, you can proceed to purchase a ticket. This process is quite convenient and easy. With a few details (your name, phone number and email) you are given various ways to make your payment. They use Jambo pay as the pay channel and this allows user to access various methods of paying from mobile money to credit and debit cards.

My take away..

Well this is an application that works. Its a brilliant first step for this young developers who identified a problem that they faced and provided a working solution. They said that this is not the final product and it will become better, and appeal to more people. To this effect, they have hinted that there will be an added feature called “My Tickets” which will let you buy an unlimited number of tickets without having them sent to your email. Essentially this means you can access your tickets without having to go outside the application which is a plus.

This is the first of many applications to be developed under their  umbrella company with the aim of developing  Nairobi into Africa’s Silicon Valley. They are therefore geared towards new innovative projects with Zanguni as their flagship project.

Tecno Mobile surprised many industry insiders when it launched the WinPad 10 2-in1 hybrid just over a month ago in Nairobi. Tecno had, until then, just produced Android based mobile smartphones and tablets that focused on meeting the specifics needs of the African consumer. This approach has enabled Tecno to quickly grow it’s market share to rival more established OEMs in the region. Recognizing the need for productivity based devices, Tecno partnered with Intel to develop the WinPad 10, the first in a line upcoming Windows products from Tecno.

“The next category that we are developing right now is WINPAD. The feature for this class will be productivity. Basically we are looking at 2-in-1 devices, plus a low cost notebook. The 2-in-1 devices that we are developing range from 8.9”, 10.1”, 11.6” and 12”¹. The key difference between Tecno and other multinational companies is that we develop our products oriented for the African market.” Steven Huang, Tecno Mobile’s General Manager of the Tablet Division

As I have owned both the Microsoft Surface RT and Surface Pro 1 tablets, I was curious to see how this KES 29,999 tablet from an Android manufacturer would hold up. Would it provide a lack luster experience like so many of the affordable Windows 8.1 tablets, or was i about to stumble on an electronic manufactured in Ethiopian highlands?  Spoiler note: I will be purchasing my own WinPad 10. After installing Windows 10 on the WinPad10 and spending two weeks testing the devices, I have realized that Tecno did make something special.

The Tecno Winpad 10: Small, but packs a huge productivity punch.

Specifications

So who is the WinPad 10 for? A quick look at the specs (especially the 2GB RAM and 32 GB internal storage for a Windows device) and you might be tempted to say this device doesn’t meet anyone needs. However, this is a case of the “Whole” being greater than the sum of its parts. The ultra portability of this device (someone could mistake it for a paper notebook), Windows 10, Office 365 and 3G SIM means that it perfect for individuals who are extremely mobile, need to be productive and need to be connected: College students and mobile Office office workers.

What’s In The Box

Tecno WinPad 10 packaging

• WinPad 10 (comes with screen protector already installed) comes with Windows 8.1 Bing Edition
• Power Adaptor with 2 quick connect plugs (2 Pin and 3 Pin)
• Chiclet Keyboard with Flap
• Product Info sheet
• Warranty Card

This is what is in the box of the WinPad 10

Hardware Design

The 10.1” 16:9 IPS screen is bright and vivid with decent viewing angles. NOTE: To use the screen outdoors, you will need to crank brightness to maximum, though indoors you can comfortably use it at 50-60% levels. On the front face of the WinPad 10, is a Windows Logo that acts as the home button. On the left edge, you’ll find a combination 3.5mm headphone and speaker port, the internal microphone, a full size USB 3.0 port, a micro-HDMI port and a charging port. On the right edge, you’ll find the power button, volume rocker and a micro-USB port. The top edge of the WinPad 10 features a plastic flap that hides the micro-SIM and micro-SD compartment. Be careful when  opening this flap as it requires sufficient force to pry it loose. All the hardware keys feel sturdy and operate with a noticeable “click”.

The WinPad 10 features a metal surround and a dimpled plastic back. The keyboard cover can fold in 3 different ways to provide a variety of support positions to hold the WinPad10.The construction of the keyboard doesn’t meet the quality of the tablet with the edges of the soft cover material fraying easily. The keys on the keyboard offer sufficient travel when pressed and thus provide a pleasant typing experience. However, the included trackpad is barely usable. With no buttons or defined click zones, it will frustrate you in a hurry. Fortunately, you can use the 10 point touch screen, or connect a Bluetooth mouse (and keep your USB ports free). The magnets that secure the bottom edge of the WinPad to the keyboard aren’t as strong as though on the Surface so you will need to be careful when lifting the WinPad without supporting the keyboard. I would NOT recommend recreating the famous Surface Click advert with your WinPad.

The battery charger is also an interesting choice. At a time where many OEMs are opting to use the micro USB port for charging, Tecno opted to use a standard 9V pin connector to charge the 7000 mAH battery. This proved to be a wise decision as it speeds up the charging process (taking about 2.5 to completely charge the WinPad 10 from empty). Had Tecno used the USB port, charging times would have tripled.

Without the keyboard attached, the WinPad 10 is light enough for comfortable one handed use. I cannot reiterate enough the difference you will feel in your laptop bag when your substitute your bulky laptop for the WinPad 10. If your shoulder could thank you, it would. Profusely. One neat trick of the WinPad is its ability to be used on the lap. By folding the cover flaps inwards you can create a stable base on that can rest on your lap.

Software and User Experience

Out of the box, the WinPad 10 comes with Windows 8.1 with Bing. This special version of Windows 8 comes with Bing installed as the default search provider (and thus saves the OEMs the license fee). As the user has the ability to easily change the search provider, Windows 8.1 with Bing is no different from Windows 8.1 when viewed from the customer perspective. The Tecno WinPad 10 is eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 10 Home Edition. However, before you upgrade, you should do the following:

Storage Size on the Tecno Winpad 10

You will find that the device  has 23 GB free of the 32 GB internal storage.

To maximize your experience on your new Tecno Winpad 10. I suggest you do the following:

1. Install your free copy of Office 365 personal. This is done via the “Get Office” app (comes pre-installed). The app will walk you though on how to activate your license and setup a Microsoft account if you don’t have one.
2. Set up your OneDrive account (with 1 year of 1TB storage) before installing any other programs or files. Due to the limited internal local storage, you will need to rely on the cloud to maximize your productivity.
3. Purchase a 32GB or 64GB micro-SD card. Buy the highest class that you can afford (something similar to this card on Jumia Kenya). This will help store your documents and personal files without impacting your C drive.

Now that you have installed Office, set up your OneDrive account and purchased a micro SD card you are now ready to upgrade to Windows 10. NOTE: Windows 10 is free from today for all Windows 7 and Windows 8 devices that have a valid license. Go to Windows Update and install any pending updates. One of these updates  will install the “Get Windows 10” app. As Windows 10 is rolling out from today on, you will be able to reserve the Windows 10 app and have it installed to your device automatically.

After installing your microSD card, you can set Windows 10 to use this as a default save location for your documents, music and files. This will help you save valuable storage space on your C drive.

Designate Storage location using Windows 10.

Hardware Performance

The Intel Bay trail chip-set performs on par with an Intel Core Duo 2 chip set. I was able to stream 4K YouTube videos without any lagging or distortion. Games like Asphalt 8 worked well without dropped frames. On multitasking, I could run an Office program, stream music via Groove and have several browser tabs open. As the WinPad 10 only has 2 GB of RAM, performance hits will happen due to RAM hungry applications. I would have preferred if Tecno had included 3 or 4GB of RAM, but that would have increased the price.

The 7000 mAH battery was able to last just under 7 hours when I ran the PCMark8 battery test. As this is a continuous test where the PC is on all the time, you can expect at least a 30% improvement in daily usable battery life. I was able to consistently get between 8.5 to 10 hours depending on how I used the device (watching videos consumed power faster than working on spreadsheets). Charge time from empty to full takes about 2 hours 15 minutes. This fast charge time is due to the high voltage pin plug. Though using a USB cable would make charging more convenient, the increased charging time would have been worth it.

Windows 10 on the WinPad 1o = Perfect Match Made

The Tecno Winpad 10 is eligible for  free upgrade for  In summary, let me say that Windows 10 feels familiar to both users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.It eliminates the “dual nature” of Windows 8 where the Metro Apps didn’t see to fit in with the more windows traditional apps

• Start Screen

The start screen in Windows 10 has been reworked to accommodate users who love the minimalism of classic Start menu in Windows 7 and users who love the dynamic nature of the Windows 8 start screen with Live Tiles. It is up to the user to configure the start screen based on their choice. You can resize the Live Tiles, turn the Live Tiles on/off, and even group the Live Tiles into categories.

Start screen on Desktop Mode.

If you are a power user, the functionality that you are used too is a “right click on that start menu” away. This lets you quickly access the old school control panel, command prompt, disk management, device manage among many others.

• Notification Center

The Notification Center on Windows 10 collates all your notifications as well as provides one touch access to the settings you use most. You can access the Notification by swiping in from the right edge.

Notification Center on Windows 10

• Edge

Microsoft Edge is a new light wight and super fast browser built from the ground up for the modern web. It discarded all the legacy bloat of Internet Explorer (this is included as a separate app). Edge provides innovate features like writing notes directly on webpages then sharing them. Microsoft has indicated that Edge will support extensions in the very near future.

Microsoft Edge is a fast browser that allows you to make notes directly on a webpage then share it.

• Cortana

Cortana is your friendly personal digital assistant. Use here to quickly set reminders, search for documents, keep track of agendas, search the web and more. She can even tell jokes. But best of all Cortana is also available for your smartphone (Android, iOS and Windows Phone). Thus any reminders that you set on while on your WinPad, will come through on your phone.

• Apps

Windows 10 brings apps that are optimized for both touch and keyboard and mouse. You can find these apps in the new Windows App Store. Apps like Mail, Groove Music, News, Sports and more will help you be more productive.

• Office

The WinPad 10  comes with 1 year of Office 365. This includes the latest version of Microsoft’s popular productivity suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive, Sway and OneNote). As these apps are designed primarily for keyboard/mouse interaction, you can also install touch optimized versions of Office. These apps (Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, Word Mobile) are free in the Windows Store. Excel Mobile,

• Continuum

Possibly one of the most important features of Windows 10 on a tablet is Continuum. With a single push of the “Tablet Mode” button on the notification center, you can quickly transform how Windows 10 operates to suit your need.You can also activate Tablet mode be going to Settings > System > Tablet Mode. Continuum allows the user to use the mode that suits the particular task they are using. This is a huge improvement from Windows 8.1 where the user had to deal with the full start screen regardless of the task they were performing.

When the keyboard is attached, it makes more sense to stay in “Desktop Mode”. In this mode, the start screen doesn’t fill the screen, app windows are also not full screen (unlike Windows 8) and can be cascaded.

When Tablet mode is engaged, the start screen and all open apps go to full screen, menus are expanded for improved touch usability. On the start screen you can press the hamburger button at the left hand top corner  of screen to show your app list. For multitasking you can either select apps via the taskbar, or via the task view button.

However, unlike the Surface tablets, the Tecno Winpad 10 doesn’t automatically activate Continuum (tablet mode) when the keyboard is detached. This feature increases usability as the device can automatically react to users need. Hopefully Tecno can resolve this small but user critical oversight with a software update in the near future.

For more about Windows 10 features please read these Techweez two articles:

Things To Consider After Upgrading to Windows 10

Features That make Windows 10 A Great Upgrade

Competing Devices

The WinPad 10 that competes directly with the ASUS T100 tablet. Though the ASUS cost on average KES 10,000 more, it has less RAM (1GB) and lower resolution cameras. This makes choosing the Winpad 10 a no-brainer.

Conclusion

While I fully expected to be disappointed by the Tecno WinPad 10, I ended being a convert after 2 weeks of use. The positives were the bright screen, long battery life, 3G connectivity and off course Windows 10. The negatives were the poor touch pad design and 9v pin power adapter (instead of a USB adapter). Admittedly, i nitpicking with the last point as it is necessary to ensure fast charging. I also had an odd bug with the display auto rotation being 180 degrees. This is probably due to a driver conflict with the Beta Windows 10 builds that I tested the device on. The public release of Windows 10 will not have this issue. It is also important to know that while the WinPad 10 does some things well, don’t expect it to run your intensive PC games or edit movie effects with After Effects.

The Tecno Winpad 10

As I stated at the start of the article, I will be buying my own Tecno WinPad 10. Let me explain why:

I am in the consulting field and thus work primarily at Clients location. When I am not on a project, I am constantly traversing the city on business development. My current mobile laptop is 2010 13″ HP Envy Envy Intel Core 2 Duo laptop running Windows 10 (which even though compact, it is still heavy). Add the power brick, and my laptop bag is heavy enough to put a strain on my shoulder. The WinPad 10 would help me improve my productivity in three ways.

1. It is powerful enough to handle my work flow software (Office365, Project, Visio) with out a comprising my established work pattern.
2. included 3G SIM means that I can connect where I am, without having to tether to my phone when the client’s WiFi is insufficient, or Java WiFi is on the brink.
3. Most importantly the light weight of the Tecno WinPad  10 means I can carry a smaller laptop bag. Not only does this help my back, but also provides more security as a large laptop bag stands out for theft.

Even though I am waiting for the next generation Surface Pro 4 device to arrive, the KES 30,000 price of the WinPad 10 makes it a perfect stopgap computing device.

We can expect to see more Windows 10 devices from Tecno in coming months including a 12″ 2-in-1 device running Intel Skylake. Who knows, I may not end up buying the Surface Pro 4 after all?

NOTE: I added a paragraph detailing the battery performance of the WinPad 10 in the Hardware Performance section. Aug 6, 2015, 1:30pm

One thing that we all face in Nairobi is traffic, not unless you walk to your workplace or school, you’ll definitely experience the wrath of Nairobi traffic. Now that we know you cannot avoid it, how can you outsmart it? Well Waze promises to help you with that. As you can recall, we talked about Waze being launched in Kenya slightly over a week ago and promised to share what we’d make of it. Waze, was a Israeli startup bought by Google in 2013. Google partnered with Safaricom to launch Waze in Kenya. It is a direct competitor with our already existing traffic reporting application, Ma3Route but with distinct differences.

I decided to put Ma3Route aside and try out Waze and here are a few things that stood out for me;

User Interface

Once you open Waze app, you are get a map, showing your location. There are various floating buttons on display.  The button on the lower left hand side has a menu where you can access navigation, send your ETA to a friend, your profile and inbox. On the right, there is a button that allows the user to report various things on the road from traffic jams, police sightings, accidents, map issues, road closure and so on. It is a good UI that works. Furthermore, all these features are easy to access, especially when driving.

Navigation

Other  than Waze being a community based mapping and traffic app, it also offers navigation. Picking your current  location as a starting point, it calculates the ETA to your desired destination and draws up the fastest route to your destination. It uses data received from other Wazers who have the app running to estimate time of arrival and show roads that heavy with traffic. Furthermore, you have the option of voice navigation with interesting options. You can have the normal Amy, or Nathan but there is also the option of Arnold Schwarzenegger or Colonel Sanders, which I have to admit are kinda funny!

In my opinion, navigation was on point other than one time where it actually suggested I cross over to the other side of the road without considering #KideroGrass or the lack of an actual road. The ETA was pretty accurate as it adjusts to changes in traffic. This works well because of the use of real time data.

Clearly, Waze will rival Ma3Route in traffic management. As much as Ma3Route has a wide base of users and is very social (I miss that in Waze), Waze makes more sense as a driving companion. Being a community based application, you can chat with other Wazers and get more information about the roads. With many users on Waze, this could bring a social aspect to it.

Additionally, you do not need to  scroll down a long list of tweets to get information about your road, Waze will customize updates to your route. It offers visuals on the intensity of traffic so that you can make an informed decision. Again, using Waze, you do not need to leave the app in order to be directed to your destination as with Ma3Route. Everything you need is within the app which makes life easier when driving.

You earn points on Waze for various things such as reporting about traffic or road closures. Since you can connect Waze to Facebook, it can show you how you rank among your friends and among other Wazers globally.

Waze will run in the background even when you leave the app, so when you get to your destination, remember to exit the application.

Conclusion

With all that in mind, I did at times find myself looking back at Ma3Route, just to get more information and pictures and lets be honest, some tweets and reports are just plain funny. Ma3Route have something that they can work on in order to improve their service, but personally Waze wins it for me. Any Wazers out there? What’s your experience?

My issues with cheap smartphones are well documented and since there are few low-cost decent options, I usually gravitate towards those. With the Samsung Galaxy J5, I have a reason to recommend a device I deem decent for everyday use that is also reasonably priced. Galaxy J5 is positioned as the mid range device that changes dynamics in the value proposition. Mid range has for most of the time meant compromised experience. J5, just like J7 above it and J1 below it try to close that gap. And they do it well. I’ve had this device for a whole of two weeks and we have something conclusive about it we can tell you.

Design

The Galaxy J5 has a metal frame encasing what is essentially a plastic back that can be removed to reveal a 2,600 mAh battery, two SIM slots (one nano and another micro) and a glass front that packs the “just fine” 5 inch Super AMOLED display. The camera, LED flash and the speaker lie next to each other on the upper part of the back of the device while the 3.5 mm audio jack is placed at the bottom. Some people like it there while others like it at the top. To each their own.

The Galaxy J5, with a 5 inch display, is a big smartphone but doesn’t feel like it. It fits in. Probably because I am used to dealing with big smartphones. It may be a challenge for folks upgrading to the J5 from smaller displays but not for long. Thanks to the curves on the device, you start feeling at home in no time.

Camera

The Galaxy J5’s main selling point is supposed to be the camera. As I found out, while it strives to act the part, it is not yet there. Yes it has a 13 megapixel camera at the back and a rather powerful 5 megapixel camera with a f/1.9 aperture but good shots when you remove the phone from your back pocket and using auto mode are not guaranteed. You’ll need to struggle a bit to get things right. The front-facing shooter which is the first of its kind on a Samsung smartphone (bar the bigger Galaxy J7, of course) thanks to the front LED is just that, another selfie camera. You can take advantage of the wide angle lens but not the flash on the front. In more ways I was disappointed than found it functional. Other than for the purposes of this review where I had to use it, I mostly left it alone and just took selfies the normal way. That way, the selfies are fine.

Touch focus and face-detection function as expected.

I found the main camera to be really good when taking photos outdoors in good lighting. It’s a different story in low light situations even though this is where the camera was supposed to reveal its shine.

Sample photo taken with the Galaxy J5 at the Museum Hill interchange in Nairobi

Performance

The Galaxy J5 has a quad-core Qualcomm-made Snapdragon 410 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz. That coupled with the 1.5 GB RAM the phone packs and the well-optimized Android 5.1.1 with TouchWiz leaves a very fast device that pretty much handles anything you throw at it with grace. There are no stutters and no lag as is characteristic of Samsung smartphones that are priced within the range that the Galaxy J5 operates. Operations are so smooth that from time to time you may wonder whether you paid just Ksh 21,000 for such. This is what lower mid-range smartphones ought to be like. Nothing less, of course who are we not to be glad if it even got better?

Double-clicking the home button at any instance fires up the camera application by default. This happens in an instant. Again, no stuttering.

Software

As already stated, the Galaxy J5 runs on the latest Android 5.1.1 Lollipop hidden layers below thanks to the various customizations Samsung has made to the software to deliver the experience it envisions to the customer. In most instances, bar the premium smartphones like the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and the Note 5, on low-cost smartphones this usually means reduced performance and so many issues. It is not the case on the Galaxy J5 and users get to experience the best of Samsung software on the most budget (reasonably) of Samsung hardware. Add to the fact that you can now go to the Samsung Themes Store to tweak the looks of the device to your taste and you have a winner.

Battery

The Galaxy J5 will easily last you a full work day under normal use. That time, as I pointed out before, will be shortened depending on your usage patterns but for the most part, you won’t need to plug it in before 8 hours elapse. And when it does, you may need to take a walk, sleep or do something else because it takes a while to go from 0 to 100%. You can’t expect quick-charging on such a bargain device but you don’t have to withstand the pain of having to wait much longer before the phone is all juiced up and ready for another round of selfies and Whatsapps.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy J5 is the best smartphone for its price but it could be better.

I’ll overlook the fact that the cameras could’ve been excellent but are only “okay” because for the price of the phone, I really don’t have such high expectations but I feel they could’ve done more. More pixels doesn’t always mean a better camera and this shows in the Galaxy J5’s shooters.

You can only buy the 8 GB version in Kenya at the moment for Ksh 21,000 but I really wish the 16 GB version was available but that would mean the price going up then, no? I guess I can’t have my cake and eat it but the baseline is that the 8 GB internal storage available on the smartphone as advertised is scanty. It even gets scanty when you power up the device for the first time and realize you have a little over 4 GB left for installing applications, storing photos and other use cases. You have the microSD as a redeeming factor since you can install apps to external storage and even have app data also stored on it.

Besides the price, what else do you look for in a smartphone? The Galaxy J5 has an okay 5 inch Super AMOLED HD display, speakers that sound just fine and are loud enough, acceptable call quality, well-optimised software, “just okay” cameras and a battery that will be sure to have at least 5% left by the time you get back home in the evening. The point is, as a package, the Galaxy J5 is a deal. Individual components may not meet the high bar we set for just about any smartphone premium or entry level but in the case of the Galaxy J5, its strength lies in it being a single product that is the sum of functioning parts.

The good

• 4G/LTE capability
• Good battery life
• Excellent performance. The phone feels fast when you use it and you know what? It actually is fast!

The bad

• Memory. Memory. Memory. 8 GB is not enough on such a fantastic phone.

You know those rare feel-good moments that you get when the stars align and everything feels right in the world again, even for just one second, either when you take a bite of your favorite home-made food or you hear that song that always brings a smile on your face. Well, that happened to me recently when I installed Stash. With millions and millions of Android apps in the Google Play Store, only a handful of applications that really invoke that feeling in the user and Stash is one of them. Now that I have your attention, let me tell you why Stash makes me feel all good inside.

For starters, it is Kenyan made, suited for our market and made by young brilliant minds who met at Egerton University studying Computer Science. Secondly, its a life saver. You now those pesky USSD codes that crop up almost daily and they expect you to have some kind of database in your head to remember all of them, or those pay bill numbers that drive you in panic mode since you cant remember and your DSTV subscription is up and you know you wrote it down somewhere but can not remember where and when you try going online to search for it, you realize you don’t have bundles and you cannot remember the USSD code to buy bundles because you are using a new line! Stash is here to save the day.

A pilot Android application created by a startup called Chowders Loft, Stash is designed to bundle up all your common USSD codes into an easy to use application. Not only is it simple and user friendly, it actually works! It saves you the obvious hustle of searching, remembering and the best part, dialing the codes yourself.

User Experience

This is a very easy application to use. Once installed, all you need to do is choose your preferred network operator and all the current USSD codes used in the network are instantly made available for you. If you have more than one line however, you can still view the USSD codes of any other network from the application’s menu.

One thing that I absolutely appreciate about the application is that it is beautifully designed. The developers kept material design in mind, making the application feel modern and relevant. The colors work well together and there is fluidity as you move from page to page.

Furthermore, there are no ads in this application, as it is 100% free, making the experience clean and devoid of distractions from ad pop ups.

Features

This is an application that does what it says on the box. On the home page, you get a list of services usually accessed by USSD codes with a small description of the same. Selecting one of the services automatically runs the code for you as you would have done on your dial pad, and a response is received as it usually is. For codes that prompt the user to choose more options, a simple pop up customized for each of the codes allows the user to input data.

Other than the storing of codes, there is a tab called services. This has a list of some accounts that use pay bill numbers for payment. These range from paying for your DSTV subscriptions, paying your electricity bill or buying the prepaid tokens. Once you choose a service, it gives you a pop up with a detailed step-by -step process on how to pay for the service. Long gone are the days that you have to remember each and every pay bill number for different services, which I have to admit can be frustrating if you don’t have the sharpest memory.

There is one other feature that I am not too sure about but in my own interpretation, I can add the USSD codes that I frequently use with my own descriptions for, again, faster access. I set the application in such a way that when I open it, this page comes up first and I can immediately run my desired USSD code, other than going to the home page and scrolling through the list entire to get the service I want. Very convenient.

Conclusion

This is a wonderful application, period! It does what it says it will, and does it beautifully and efficiently. It is such a simple idea, executed brilliantly. One thing that I may have mentioned and it is important to note is that this application is completely FREE. No ads, no premium version, no subscription, nothing, 100% free. When asked, the developer says that they did this just to show everyone what they are about. They wanted to show people that quality applications can be developed in Kenya without their being a catch, and I commend them for this. Sometimes, its not all about the money.

Seriously, if you haven’t tried out your multitasking skills by downloading the application right after you started reading this, then you are too slow. Get it from the play store here it’s currently only available as an Android app.

The allure of Android One, as we have stated countless times before, is a pure unadulterated experience on a smartphone. Users don’t get slowed down by unnecessary elements added to the software by the smartphone maker. Neither do they have to live with ugly interfaces and cartoon-like app icons all in the name of being provided with “value add-ons”. But what if you get an Android One smartphone that packs the stock untouched Android experience as envisioned by Google but still has all the signs of lag and stutter that shouldn’t be there?

That has been my experience with the Infinix Hot 2, the first Android One smartphone to hit the African market. It’s good for its price. There’s no denying that. I was very impressed at first and while my experience as a user of the device over the last fortnight hasn’t convinced me that this is a smartphone I’d want to get for myself, my opinion that it is our favourite low-end smartphone in the Kenyan market remains unchanged.

Specifications

• Display: 5 inch HD (720p)
• Processor: Quad-core MediaTek MT6580 chip clocked at 1.3 GHz
• Memory: 1 GB RAM; 16 GB onboard storage (expandable via microSD)
• Camera: Front: 2 megapixels; Back: 8 megapixels with LED flash
• Operating System: Android 5.1.1
• Battery: 2,200mAh
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
• Network: 3G
• Others: FM radio, Dual-SIM

Poor Man’s Nexus

Android One has been cheekily christened “poor man’s Nexus” by my friends in the West and rightfully so. We’ve just seen the 2015 Nexus smartphones from Huawei and LG made official by Google. While those are pricey, both buyers of the Nexus 5X and 6P will have something in common with the Infinix Hot 2: they get timely updates.

The new Nexus smartphones will of course arrive with the latest treat from Mountain View, Android Marshmallow, but the Infinix Hot 2 and others in the Android One program are expected to get it not long after. Yes, even before those swanky $800 smartphones you’ve been yearning to get. Poor man’s Nexus or not, that’s a huge plus for a smartphone as basic as the Infinix Hot 2 and it is one of its selling points. So much that one of the first things you get upon unboxing the device and powering it on for the very first time is, you guessed it right, an update, albeit for stability and bug fixes.

Design

The Infinix Hot 2 looks and feels like a small plastic slab. Bar that 5 inch HD display on the front, the Hot 2 is a full plastic device through and through. There’s some glass-like plastic on the back that is a fingerprint magnet and prone to scratches if you put the phone in the same pants pocket as your keys. They’ll scratch the hell out of it.

Since I said it feels like a small plastic slab, that is not just as a result of the looks. It’s also because of the weight. The Infinix Hot 2 is not light like you may have gotten used to on recent smartphone releases. It is quite heavy but since at 5 inches the screen is bigger, that weight makes it nicer to hold in the hand and you actually feel like you’re using a phone. Seriously.

The USB port is placed at the top of the device and not the bottom. The speakers on the bottom of the device are just fine and perform as expected. Sound is crisp but could of course get better. However, like the earpiece on top, dust tends to collect down there and you may need to manually clean it from time to time.

There’s an LED on the front for alerting you when you have unread messages, missed calls and other notifications. There are no physical or capacitive keys so instead you have on-screen buttons since this is a pure Android experience device.

The volume rocker is on the right of the device and just below it is the power button.

Display

The 5 inch HD display is good enough for casual needs. You’ll be okay texting on the large display and even consuming media. Just the basics.

The viewing angles are not the best and outdoor visibility is a big problem. Since the Infinix Hot runs stock Android, you get some setbacks like not having automatic brightness settings so you’ll have to go back to the slider on the notification shade when you switch environments from indoors to outdoors.

There’s no form of protection on the display so if you happen to drop the device on a hard surface, it’ll be up to your lucky stars to determine its fate. You’ll mostly end up with either a shattered display panel or a very scratched back.

Camera

There’s not much to write home about when it comes to the Infinix Hot 2’s camera. This is because it is pretty basic. It does its work as you may expect of a camera on a $90 phone.

You can get some popping average shots using the 8 megapixel back camera and really grainy selfies when using the 2 megapixel front-facing camera. There’s hardly any middle ground. In good lighting conditions, the images captured are bearable else there’s too much noise. It is worse when you take photos in low light conditions. Yes, even with the flash turned on.

Here is a sample photo:

More sample images (including a high resolution version of the above sample) can be found here.

Software

Stock Android. Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.

While stock Android should be something attractive and all, sadly on low-end devices like I have experienced on the Infinix Hot 2, it is not. I’ll explain.

The Infinix Hot 2 is a smartphone meant mostly for entry-level users. Users on a budget. These just want a device that functions well out of the box. No bells and whistles. For the most part, stock Android provides all that. Until you get to the bit where there’s no gallery application that users can identify with. Neither is there a half-decent camera application or a music app (I know, Google Play Music, but no, thanks).

On stock Android you get Google’s camera app which is pretty barebones. Like we’ve seen on low-cost devices from the Tecno and Infinix brands, more functionality can be added to the camera application that users can take advantage of. Google Photos is the default photo application. Again, this is pretty basic and while most of us know what to get off it, ordinary users will be best served by just a simple gallery app. Something like QuickPic for instance.

Other issues that arise as a result of using stock Android includes the lack of a mute/vibrate switch. Ordinarily, users are able to switch to various sound profiles conveniently but under Android Lollipop this is not possible as they are limited to just barring notifications for a set duration (a maximum of 8 hours).

An advantage of stock Android on the other hand, is that you don’t get a lot of the annoying add-ons that tend to be bundled with devices like the Infinix Hot 2. Applications that you’re likely to never use. Like Palm Chat and others. There are only two applications outside of Google’s that are bundled on the phone: CarlCare, an app for accessing after-sales service, and Jumia, the online marketplace that Google and Infinix partnered with to sell the Hot 2 across the continent.

Another plus is that you get to do things like add multiple accounts. So you can set up a guest account for your nosy girlfriend to access or another account for your child to play games without interfering with your phone. Since this is a very affordable phone, multiple use cases are well served under such a setting and it is a good thing.

Performance

You’d expect that a device with the most minimum of software alterations would be very snappy and not exhibit any lag, right? Well, you’re wrong. For some strange reasons (optimization perhaps), the Infinix Hot 2 stutters and hangs randomly. It is not annoying and if you don’t spend a lot of your time fiddling with your phone like I do you’ll hardly notice but it is bad enough to make you want to pull out your hair.

Other than the random stuttering, everything else seems fine. I was able to enjoy Asphalt 8: Airborne and for a moment I forgot that I was doing this on a low-cost device. With the stuttering, you may not want to overload it because it won’t handle things well but overall things will be should be just fine.

Battery

Just like the camera, the battery life is neither here nor there. The Infinix Hot 2 is a dual-SIM device and if you take advantage of this and have cellular data turned on most of the time then you’ll need to charge the phone way before the day ends. With minimal use, though, you can manage to squeeze a bit more out of it (you’ll be wise not to count on it).

Normally, there’s some power saving mode of sorts on phones like Infinix Hot 2. However, since this runs stock Android, you’re stuck with the useless stock power saving mode which won’t come to your aid when the battery drops below 10% at midday.

The Good

• Stock Android. This means updates, updates and more updates. Guaranteed updates. I can’t wait to test Android Marshmallow on the Infinix Hot 2. Yes, stock Android has its shortcomings but it is way better than the ugly user interfaces you’re bound to find on just about every other Android smartphone.
• Lots of storage space. It is not every day that you get an entry level device with 16 GB onboard storage (and expandable via microSD at that). To some people, 16 GB may not be much but you only need to have used other low-cost phones like the awfully priced Oppo Neo 3 that has just 4 GB memory with just under half of it being user accessible to appreciate what the Infinix Hot 2 brings to the table.
• The price, of course. At Kshs 9,000, you can’t debate getting this over any other Android device. Unless that other device is the fantastic Tecno Boom J7 or the more “senior” Infinix Hot Note. The only problem? You’ll need to add Ksh 1,000-4,000 more to get either of those and when you’re on a tight budget that is not a luxury you have. Note: Kshs 9,000 is the price if you order the device via Jumia. Walking into any retail shop, you’re likely to find the device priced between Kshs 11,000 and 12,000. At that point, dynamics change.

The Bad

• The lag! It is annoying when you encounter it. I only had a handful of apps installed and still experienced it. I have no idea what happens when you stretch the device.
• The battery life could be better but it isn’t.

Final Thoughts

For the longest time ever, it has been hard to find a sub-Ksh 10,000 smartphone running Android worth recommending.

With the Infinix Hot 2, now there’s finally a device one can comfortably recommend at that price range. Only that there are few disclaimers. Like battery life is not guaranteed and as is the case with just about every other low-cost smartphone, corners have been cut in order to guarantee the low pricing. You can see that in the washed out display, the not-so-good camera and the lack of seamlessness you’d expect between hardware and software. However, unlike every other low-cost smartphone that has corners cut to justify the low pricing, the Infinix Hot 2 promises to cater for its user just like Google will take care of someone who spends Ksh 65,000 on a 128 GB Huawei Nexus 6P.

Android One is meant to bring to the smartphone fold the next 1 billion Android users according to Google as it seeks to increase Android’s dominance as well as getting everyone online where they’ll obviously get to use its services. Currently, Android has over 1.4 billion users and with devices like the Infinix Hot 2, its appeal is bound to get even better to the unconnected masses and just about everyone who wants a good deal.

The final trailer of the upcoming James Bond movie, Spectre, is out. That means that the countdown to the premiere of the widely anticipated movie starts in earnest. Spectre premieres in the United Kingdom in late October while it won’t be until early November when the rest of the world gets to see what Daniel Craig is up to in what is his final time playing Bond.

If you happen to live in Kenya and particularly Nairobi and need to be up to date with the screening times of not just the 2015 Bond film but also other latest flicks where do you turn to? There’s the good old newspaper, of course. Or the various cinema’s social media pages where information is scattered all over the place. Or the not so intuitive specific websites. Those were my go-to places for information regarding what was on the silver screen. Until Movie Max happened.

We use our phones for just about anything. While there can be websites and social media pages dedicated to something, nothing beats a mobile application that sits on your phone and is ready to provide you the information you need in real time. More so when that application just pulls that data from the aforementioned websites (using a private API) and presents it to you in an easy to digest and attractive format. That is, in a nutshell, what Movie Max, an application targeted at the movie goer or just about any other person keen on what is showing on the big screen is all about.

Movie Max is simple and straight to the point. It does nothing other than provide information on what is showing at IMAX at that particular time and what is coming soon. There is a Discover tab that keeps you up to date with other recent and upcoming movies. You can also watch movie trailers since they’re linked from YouTube directly.

The application is pretty barebones and the developer is promising more additions in an update that will be available soon. That is ok since it does what it sets out to well and of course updates that will make it possible to also know what is airing at Planet Media Cinema and other cinemas like say Nyali Cinemax when I’m in Mombasa are welcome.

The one thing you’ll miss is the lack of ticket pricing but then again almost all the other options out there also miss this important addition. I always have to check out the Facebook pages for the pricing and it is not always available. Also, it could be better if it provided notifications once in a while on some specials. Like IMAX has been running a movie marathon recently and this just showed up on the regular schedule. With the holiday season soon setting in, there will be lots of special offers and it will be great if I could be notified every time there’s one and I’m sure every other regular theatre-goer will appreciate the same.

Movie Max is currently only available on Android and you can find it on the Google Play Store.

One thing that I observed as a student in University is that the timetable was perhaps the most inconsistent, unreliable and mostly inconvenient thing that was ever created. I mean, a month into the semester and changes were still being made. It was very frustrating to the point that I stopped keeping track and rather followed my friend around who not only had impeccable memory, but also somehow kept track of all the changes. If you don’t have a friend like that, AirKlip will have your back.

Over time people come up with ways to manage the classroom. The most common method in my opinion is the use of Whatsapp. With a class Whatsapp group, changes to the timetable are communicated and any assignments or tasks given are announced there as well. This is the status quo. But this has its pitfalls. Anyone can post anything on the group. Maybe one of your classmates is messing with you guys and says there is a lecturer in class angry because no one showed up for his class and yet this class wasn’t scheduled, sending you into a panic. Plus an assignment is given but once the conversation goes on you can easily forget about reading that message.

AirKlip tries to become your time organizer by making sure you are not left behind or pranked. So what do you get once you install AirKlip? (Airklip download link on Play Store)

Features

• Can organize and download your class timetable to your phone
• A day-to-day view of your weekly timetable
• Notify you of any changes made to the timetable
• Send a reminder just before your class begins
• Allow you to add tasks and assignments.

How it works

Once you have downloaded AirKlip and verified your phone number, you are then prompted to choose the school, course, year and semester you are currently enrolled on. At the time of writing this article, 7 schools are currently supported which are 3 more than those that were supported when I downloaded the app a couple of weeks back. These are Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Mount Kenya University, Technical University of Kenya, Strathmore University, Maasai Mara University, South Eastern Kenya University and Kenya College of Accounting. This just means that even if your school is not listed here, just download it and keep an eye out, updates are happening quite fast.

Anyway, once you select your school, then specify on the course, current year that you are in and then the semester you are enrolled for. Once that data is captured, the timetable is downloaded and you can now see the how your day is.

From the menu on the right, you can view your classes in a day-to-day view, add tasks (assignment, project, term paper etc.) for a specific unit and set reminders on when they are due. You can also see a breakdown of the units you are enrolled for that semester.

When it comes to changes or announcements, only a class representative can do this on the application. A code is sent to the class representative who can then access added features. For now the class representative can communicate any changes made to the timetable, or any messages coming from the lecturer.

The app is also beautifully designed with frequent updates, improving the overall user experience.

New Features

The application currently is on beta testing stage but by January 10 2016, they will officially launch the application with loads of new and smarter features. Currently, the timetables are being manually inputted by the developers but once launched, the class representatives will be able to automatically load the timetable from an excel document. Furthermore they will be able add tasks and assignments which will be accessible to all the students enrolled for the course. They will also add a social aspect to the application, whereby, the application will inform you of any events happening around that your classmates will be attending. Sharing of documents relevant to classwork is also something that the developers are keen on adding to the application.

Currently the application is free for use and only available for Android. Once it is officially launched in January 10^th next year, students will have to subscribe for the service for Kshs 100 per semester, with the option of paying Kshs 249 for a year’s subscription.

The part of team behind Airklip, Maxwell (left) and Brian Ondari

The vision for the application is for it to be a personal assistant and time manager for the student. Many students have other things to do in a day other than studying. Some are interning, working or running businesses(or just chilling somewhere random!) . Having a tool that reduces the uncertainty of the school program will allow one to manage their time better. This is what the developers are developing the application to do. They want it to be a one-stop shop for everything that a student wants. Everything from your school work, time manager to keeping you up to date with whats going on around you.

What I like from the application is its potential value. It is not a simple timetable app. With proper development and strategy, this can be a student’s best friend and ultimate tool. As long as the developers are willing to spend their time and resources on its development, which they are doing so far, the possibilities are endless.

Obvious competition for the application is of course the status quo. You already have options that work which are free. Whatsapp groups and email groups for sharing documents are what people are used to. However, the developers say that the convenience and reliability provided for by the application as opposed to the current unregulated platforms is something that they feel will get people to use the application.

My only interaction with an Infinix phone before I got this one was with an Infinix Hot Note that my mum has. I didn’t think much about it but I was impressed by the price, especially because of the somewhat good quality of the device, but then I moved on. Second time that Infinix caught my attention was when it was announced that the Android One project was being launched in Africa via an Infinix Hot 2. The reason this caught my attention is because I am a big fan of Android, and the drive to produce affordable, well performing and importantly stock Android smartphones without those annoying skins from other manufactures, is something that appeals to me .This made me pay more attention to Infinix to see what they can do.

We got the Infinix Zero 2 at the same time with the Infinix Hot 2 to review, and I have to be honest, my first impression of the Infinix Zero 2 wasn’t good. It looked beautiful when compared to the Infinix Hot 2 and was definitely lighter, much lighter than any phone I have ever held, but it wasn’t as impressive at first glance. The Infinix Hot 2 shipped in with Android 5.1.1, the latest at the time and it was beautiful. This one comes with Android 4.4.2 without a chance for an upgrade any time soon. Our relationship didn’t start out too good but I have taken some time to know it better and I feel like I may have been a bit harsh at first.

Design

• 145 x 71.5 x 6.5 mm, 118 grams.
• Bottom speakers.
• High-resistant Kevlar back material.

High Resistant Kevlar material at the back

The phone’s design is simple and beautiful, nothing fancy but quite eye catching. The front of the phone is pretty basic with the front facing camera and ear piece speaker at the top with no physical or capacitive buttons to speak of. This phone is light. At only 118 grams, it almost feels like you are missing a component like a battery inside. However, in spite of this, I felt confident carrying it around without the fear of dropping and damaging it. This is mostly because of the Kevlar material at the back. This is a high resistant material that is valued for its toughness. The back feels smooth but still offers the much needed grip made necessary by the light weight of the phone. This is something that really excites me about the phone. Aside from the Kevlar back, the phone’s edges have a smooth metal finish with curved edges.

The volume rocker and power button are on the right side of the phone allowing for a comfortable reach. One problem I have with physical design is differentiating the SIM card slot and the microSD slot. The microSD card slot is above the volume rocker while the SIM card slot is on the other side. If you do not frequently swap out SIMs or change the microSD, you will probably end up opening both or playing some kind of roulette game to find the right one in the first go as they are not labelled.

All in all, it feels good to use and carry around, giving you a somewhat premium feeling at an affordable price.

Display and User Experience

• Android 4.4.2 KitKat
• 5 inch, 720 x 1280 pixels, 294 pixels per inch (PPI)
• Super AMOLED, capacitive touchscreen with 16, 000,000 colors
• Corning Gorilla Glass 3

The display quality provided by the Infinix Zero 2 is quite good. The screen is bright and the colors really pop out. Although you can still make out some pixels, this doesn’t really ruin the display quality for me. Outdoor readability is also good, with very little glare and high brightness levels. The only downside to this is that even at its lowest brightness setting, it is still a bit too bright for me, especially when I wake up to look at the time in the middle of the night.

Sporting a Corning Gorilla Glass 3, the touchscreen is quite resistant to scratches and should be safe in your pocket with your keys. Over the time I have used it, I have dropped it a couple of times and the screen has also skidded on the ground for a few centimeters and still no scratches present on the screen. Disclaimer, this doesn’t mean that you can go crazy with it but for the most part it is pretty strong. Additionally, the touch screen response time is quick and I haven’t had the need to re-tap things on the screen for feedback.

One thing that is a major let-down for me in this device is that it runs Android KitKat 4.4.2. At a time where Android Marshmallow 6.0 is out, KitKat somehow feels archaic for a device launched in 2015. This is the reason it did not impress me at first, especially when I saw the Infinix Hot 2, a really cheap phone, running Android Lollipop 5.1.1. On the flip side however, it isn’t so bad. The skin that Infinix have added on top of KitKat is minimalistic and beautiful. It is not stock Android, but you can live with it. Anyway custom launchers are available on Google Play, therefore you can change it to suit your preference at any time.

Hardware and Performance

• Expandable storage, upto 32GB
• 32GB internal storage
• 2GB RAM
• 2.0GHZ octa-core Cortex A7 CPU with MediaTek MT6592 chipset

This I believe is where the phone shines. One thing that I have been presently surprised by is the utter lack of lag as I use the phone. I mean, the performance delivered by this phone is something I wasn’t prepared for. Not only can I play heavy games such as Need For Speed: No Limits without lag and with proper display quality, I can also stream music from Spotify at the same time, while I switch up and play some other game like Two Dots. The 2GB of RAM also makes multitasking with the Infinix Zero 2 is a breeze although the phone can get pretty hot.

There is nothing that ruins the experience of a device like lag. Navigating through the Infinix Zero 2 is lag free, responsive and fast. I believe this is one of the phone’s selling point as it offers solid performance for its price.

Additionally, the phone comes with 16GB or 32GB internal storage space which can go a long way in storing applications and multimedia for average users. If that is not enough, you also have a choice of adding a microSD card, up to 32GB, for extra storage purposes. This should be enough for offloading your applications from the internal storage, freeing up more space for you to play around with.

I am not a fan of the speakers on this phone. The quality of sound coming from them is substandard and easily muffled because of their placement. The speakers are at the bottom of the device and while holding the device, your little finger can easily block them and you will get very little sound from them.

Call and Connectivity Quality

• Dual micro SIM
• 2G network GSM 850/900/1800/1900
• 3G network HSDPA 900/2100
• No 4G network
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Wi-Fi direct

I can’t really say much about the call quality provided by this phone. It’s not super sharp and loud but neither is it muffled. You can still probably hear the other person on the line in a crowded room. The only thing that I think needs mention is the user experience during a call. The proximity sensor will sense your face coming close and switch of the display but at some point it comes back on. This just means that I end up launching a couple of actions with my face. I put someone on hold and end up calling someone else and only figure that out when I hear a dial tone. I also end up recording my conversations at times which isn’t the best thing to do, especially when you do not want anyone else listening to it, just in case you forget to delete it. If only there were less options on the screen during a call and it would be better if they were displayed a bit lower on the screen.

This phone does not support 4G, therefore the super-fast browsing experience now available in some parts of the country will pass you by, however, I haven’t felt the need for it as I browse. Browsing on a 3G connection or Wi-Fi is more than satisfactory, even on RAM-hogging browsers like Chrome.

Camera

• 13MP Primary camera, HDR, Geo-tagging, auto focus camera with LED flash
• Video recording up to 1080p
• 5MP Secondary camera with 85 degree wide angle

13MP rear camera

The rear camera of the Infinix Zero 2 captures beautiful images, especially outdoors. The images are sharp and color reproduction is quite okay in the right light conditions of course. Indoor low light images aren’t the best but the LED flash comes to the rescue,however the colors of course are distorted.

For all you selfie folks out there, the 5MP front camera on this device is pretty decent. The selfies are bright and detailed. There is a face beauty option, where you can change your appearance in the ways you choose to. Infinix Mobility also says that it has an 85 degree wide angle so that you can squeeze in more people into the selfie.

Battery

• 2300mAH

Now this is where the phone disappoints. This battery is a bit too small to do much of anything for a long time. Once the phone is fully charged, it can only last for about 5 hrs, barely half of a day, with constant heavy usage. In my case, by 11 am, I only have 40% of power left. Let me explain my use. My cellular data and location is always on and in the morning, I either stream Spotify or listen to podcasts. In traffic I will probably browse on it as well. By the time I get to the office, the phone is hot and drained. But that’s just me. An average user would probably make the battery last all day, if there life doesn’t revolve around the phone. However I feel like this makes the whole point of the phone being powerful pointless if it doesn’t have the proper battery to support it. They could do so much better with the battery.

Verdict

Pros

• Fast, powerful and lacks lag.
• Camera is satisfactory.
• Not too expensive.

Cons

• Battery, Battery, Battery.

I forgot to mention that my specific device shuts down randomly on occasion. I don’t know if this is the same in all the devices or if that’s a fault on the review unit I used. All in all, this is a pretty cool device. It is beautiful, powerful and has a premium feel to it. Despite of its downfalls and little fails here and there, I would still use it. The device has been retailing at a few hundred shillings short of Kshs 20,000 but it has since gone down to Kshs 18,700.

Huawei is the latest device maker to be chosen by Google to make one of the two 2015 Nexus smartphones, the Nexus 6P. With the LG-made Nexus 5X being a continuation of the beloved Nexus 5 and the Nexus 6P made by Huawei being the more superior of the two devices as far as specifications go, it is no doubt that Huawei’s creation is the centre of attraction for the next one year.

Google’s choice of Huawei as the Nexus maker is testament to the Chinese company’s influence globally. Whereas it has had a commanding presence in mobile telephony thanks to its extensive network infrastructure business in various countries around the world, it is now the third largest smartphone vendor in the world. Having used the gorgeous Huawei P8, the company’s flagship smartphone this year, it is not hard to see why.

Huawei’s P lineup is its top of the range smartphone series focused solely at the premium smartphone buyer and meant to compete with the iPhone 6s, Galaxy S6s and LG G4s of this world. Previously known as the Ascend P, the series dropped the Ascend branding this year as Huawei seeks to differentiate its various products with the Honor being a budget option and the P and the Mate series catering to the high-end segment of the market. With the reception the P8 received in its first few months of availability and the fair reviews the new Mate S is getting, Huawei is on to something.

I set out to find out how the Huawei P8 fairs during my one month stay with the device.

While there are other variants with various storage sizes (64 GB), dual-SIM and a different processor (Kirin 935), the model I tested and which this review is based on is the single-SIM Mystic Champagne 16 GB one with the Kirin 930 processor.

Specifications

• Size and weight: 144.9 x 72.1 x 6.4 mm, 144g
• Display: 5.2 inch Full HD LCD (424 ppi) protected by Gorilla Glass 3
• Memory: 3 GB RAM, 16 or 64 GB internal storage (expandable to 128 GB. microSD slot also doubles up as SIM 2 slot in versions of the device with dual-SIM support)
• Camera: 13 MP main with f/2.0 aperture, OIS and dual LED flash; 8 MP sensor on the front
• Processor: Octa-core Kirin 930 + Mali-T628 MP4 GPU
• Operating System: Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with Emotion UI 3.1 layered on top
• Battery: 2680 mAh Li-Po (non-removable)
• Network: 3G, 4G LTE
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, microUSB 2.0
• Colour options: Titanium Grey, Mystic Champagne

Design

One of the things Huawei has been so keen on in its flagship devices over the years (at least since the release of the Ascend P6 two years ago) is the design. It has always gone for quality as is depicted in its choice of materials for the P8’s exterior. It’s all metal. Aluminium with sleek chamfered edges. iPhone style. In fact, like everyone usually remarks, it looks and feels like an iPhone save for the part where Huawei’s signature styling reveals itself.

The 3.5 mm headphone jack is located on the top right next to a microphone. The other set of microphones is located at the bottom of the device with the microUSB 2.0 port sandwiched between it and the speaker on the left. The hole drilling on the bottom gives the impression that there are dual speakers but that’s not actually true. Still, it makes for some great design and I liked it.

The volume rocker is on the top left of the device with the power button coming right below it near the centre. The lower left of the device accommodates the microSD card slot and the nano SIM slot in that order.

The Huawei P8 is one of the thinnest premium smartphones you can find on the market right at just 0.25 inches thick. It’s 71.4% screen-to-body ratio makes the device’s profile even smaller and with Android’s immersive mode kicking in as you indulge in some gaming or watching videos, you can’t help but be blown away at how it all blends in. The already thin bezels fade into thin air in the process.

It helps a lot that the front of the device is devoid of any branding. The Huawei logo is at the back of the device.

Display

Everyone is in a race to pack the highest number of pixels on the displays of their flagship devices. That is not really a bad thing but it comes at cost. Battery life takes a hit and with most premium smartphones no longer giving the users the option of carrying around battery replacements, one just has to rely on fast charging capabilities of the device.

Thankfully, Huawei has resisted the urge to join what I refer to as the ‘pixel race’ and stuck with the good old full high definition panels.

The 5.2-inch IPS-Neo panel on the Huawei P8 is one of the best I’ve used and ticks all the right boxes when it comes to vibrancy, colour reproduction and outdoor visibility. Love reading your eBooks as you take a late Sunday afternoon stroll? The P8 is the device for you. Really. With display brightness at automatic, the display adapts so well to external lighting and blends in you’ll hardly notice. It is not the brightest of the bunch (when compared to devices in its range) but it won’t let you down. Viewing angles are great too.

Camera

The Huawei P8 camera is one of the best you can get on a 2015 smartphone. Huawei did push some boundaries on this. Well, it’s not like we expected anything less from them anyway. The company was one of the first to release smartphones front-facing cameras with a high megapixel count and that trend continues with the 8-megapixel sensor on the P8.

The 13-megapixel Sony sensor at the back will do your daytime and low light shots a lot of justice. There’s image stabilization and dual LED flash as well to help matters when there’s need.

Huawei’s camera application has enough settings to help you capture just about anything you have in mind. From capturing wide-angle selfies when it senses that you are smiling to allowing you to switch focus long after you’ve taken your shot. My favourite feature is the ability to add a watermark to photos that can be anything from the usual time stamp to weather information (yep, totally makes it needless to have InstaWeather app for your Instagram image boosting needs).

Here are samples of some photos I took with the device at a recent motor show in Nairobi:

The above samples can also be found in high resolution here.

There is another nifty feature: audio note. If you’ve used past generation Samsung premium devices like the Galaxy S4 and the Note 3 then you may have come across a similar feature going by a different name: Sound and Shot. Huawei’s implementation will capture the background audio for about 10 seconds after it’s captured the shot and will play it as you browse the image in the gallery.

If you’re the sort to go out hunting for the super (blood red) moon, then Super night mode may intrigue you. Super night is an extreme low light mode that takes things a notch higher by amping the exposure and ISO levels.  For the rest of us, HDR mode works just fine during the day (and is what I prefer mostly).

With the Huawei P8 lacking hardware buttons on the front of the device (it uses the standard Android on-screen buttons), for those who’d want to quickly fire up the camera then double-pressing the volume down button when the device is locked or in sleep state, will do the trick.

Software

The Huawei P8 runs on Android 5.0. It is not the most recent iteration of Lollipop but it is what we have on the device and until such a time when an update to the more recent 5.1.1 is available or maybe a jump to the new Android 6.0 Marshmallow, there’s not much you can do about it. Of course, the familiar Android experience is largely hidden by Huawei’s own customization efforts.

The P8, like all other Huawei smartphones, has Emotion UI. As a result you end up with no app drawer and all the apps one installs are scattered all over the home screen.

While most customizations are welcome (most of stock Android’s shortcomings like the lack of a mute switch in Quick Settings/Shortcuts don’t exist in Emotion UI), Huawei’s insistence on an iOS-style home screen setup is still something many won’t really like. It’s not much of an issue though since there are tens of awesome launchers thanks to Android’s extensive customization options but for the average user it helps to boot right into a proper home screen like they’ve been used to on other devices (unless those other devices are iPhones of course).

Huawei optimizes the entire device for better performance and long battery life with various implementations. One of those is Protected Apps. It’s a concept that Huawei has managed to execute so well that when properly setup, it is a God-send. The problem is that you may not know it exists and may miss out on crucial notifications as a result.

With Protected Apps, applications are stopped from running in the background as soon as the device display is turned off. This is not an issue really unless you have specific use cases like having apps like Weather Timeline constantly reminding you when El Nino is arriving on your notification shade or Clipper keeping track of everything you place on the P8’s clipboard. Until you exempt them in the settings application, they’ll keep on being killed.

For some strange reason (I bet all they want is to keep you safe), the P8 comes with built-in malware protection. There’s NQ mobile which you don’t get to interact with as a user but works in the background to weed out security risks like infected apps you may sideload from dubious sources (and there’s an awful lot of such incidents these days).

Talking about sideloading, once you sideload an application, you get a prompt to delete the application installation package (apk) and save up on some storage space.

Performance

You won’t run into performance issues with the Huawei P8 and the Kirin 930 processor combined with the 3 GB RAM seems to hold up just well.

With an all-metal unibody design, the device gets extremely hot when you indulge in some races on Need for Speed: No Limits.

Battery

Depending on your usage, you can squeeze up to 5 hours of screen on time on the Huawei P8 even though the average is a respectable 4 hours. Thanks to Huawei’s overzealous optimization, the 2680 mAh battery is able to hold up just fine even when you’re browsing using 4G LTE all day long.

Others

Huawei has made the P8 available in two storage options: 16 GB and 64 GB. For the 16 GB user, there’s great need for more storage. Thankfully, the P8 has support for expandable storage. Up to 128 GB. The Huawei P8 and the LG G4 are some of the increasingly small number of premium smartphones that still have support for memory expansion using microSD cards. They are the last of a dying breed.

Call quality is great on the Huawei P8 thanks to several factors like Signal+ (read on for more). Internet speeds more so when on 4G LTE are also great.

Not the best of speeds on LTE but at least you get something you can work with without losing your head all the time.

There is a really great feature that I got to try out during the P8’s launch in Johannesburg, South Africa, in early July: Director Mode. It is a standalone application that can also be downloaded on compatible devices from the Google Play Store. Unfortunately, I was not able to simulate the same experience I had in South Africa at the demo area with several P8s on the review unit I had since I obviously lacked supported devices. Director Mode is a cool feature when you actually get around to using it. It allows you and your friends to shoot video from various angles together.

The Good

• The camera on the Huawei P8 is the most standout feature of the device. We’ve gotten used to Huawei’s excellent designs so that’s not news. We test a lot of devices but rarely do we get blown away like the P8’s shooters did. The Huawei P8 has one of the best cameras that you’ll find on a 2015 flagship smartphone. Good performance in low light as well as excellent HDR mode. With the competition having equally good shooters, Huawei’s top device is up there with them.
• Fast LTE speeds.
• With Signal+, the Huawei P8 has some of the best network access and that doesn’t change whether you’re out and about or aboard a fast moving vehicle or train. Good call quality and better internet speeds even in areas where the network may be a bit spotty are guaranteed.
• The IPS-Neo LCD display is vibrant and has great outdoor visibility even though the maximum brightness could be better. It is great for consuming multimedia content and reading the newspaper or picking up where you left on your eBook.

The Bad

• The software could be better. While I was able to figure out the concept of Protected Apps, there needs to be a prompt or something informing the users about its existence so that they don’t miss out on important information they are used to getting from their go to apps since the system is suppressing them.
  Also, Huawei should just give up on that iOS-like home screen. Please bring back an app drawer. Having apps scattered all over the home screen has never been a good idea.
  With Android Lollipop, Google introduced lock screen notifications. Thanks to Huawei’s extensive customization, these are nowhere to be seen. They don’t exist at all. One has to make do with the notification shade and even there, one has to put up with persistent notifications from the built-in antivirus application (NQ Mobile) and constant alerts from various apps requesting to be allowed to displaying ongoing notifications.
• If there’s one thing that Android OEMs have consistently failed to live up to is the promise to deliver updates first and fast. The P8 was unveiled running Android 5.0. Sadly, it’s still stuck on that while the Android world has gone on to see some few point updates with the latest being Android 5.1.1 which phones in the P8’s class have since been updated to. Samsung Galaxy S6, LG G4… Android 6.0 is the new kid on the block. At that rate, it may take another year before the P8 gets it and that’s the sad bit.
• It is 2015 and we shouldn’t really be seeing flagship smartphones with 16 GB onboard storage. 32 GB should pretty much be the standard as much as the favourable pricing of the base model P8 is attributable to the storage size. The Huawei P8 is a fantastic device and you’ll want to have just about everything you need on it. From videos to some productivity applications to games. In the process, you end up exhausting the 16 GB internal memory available. Thankfully, unlike Apple, Samsung and Google (Nexus) who don’t provide the ability to expand storage using microSD cards, the Huawei P8 allows you to stretch your working space to as much as 128 gigabytes. Or you could grab the 64 GB P8 which costs a lot more, obviously.

Final Thoughts

If there’s anything the Huawei P8 represents, then it is Huawei’s coming of age. The extensively customized software is likeable (which is usually a tough thing to conclude for most of the customizations Android OEMs make) and an ordinary user is able to get the most out of the P8 by default without altering anything. The camera is one of the best one will find on a smartphone worth its name in this day and age and the blacks are blacker on the display despite it not being an AMOLED.

It is refreshing to see that Huawei still managed to squeeze in a microSD card slot on such thin device and make sure that users still get full day battery life even with a not-so-high capacity battery. The design is exquisite and there’s no doubt who the target market is. To compete at the very top level, one has to bring their A-game. With the P8, Huawei did exactly that. Yes, even without the bells and whistles like fingerprint sensors and Quad HD displays; specifications that stand out on the larger, newer, Huawei Mate S.

The Huawei P8 has been available in the Kenyan market for a while now and the base model (16 GB) goes for between Kshs 45,000 and 47,000 in shops countrywide.

The Microsoft Lumia 950

The team at Techweez managed to get some hands-on time with the recently announced Microsoft Lumia flagship devices, the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL. These two devices are have impressive camera technology as well new features such as Windows Hello and Continuum. The release date for both devices is slated for November 2016.

Specifications

First Impressions

The first thing one notices when folding the Lumia 950 is how thin and light it feels, especially compared to the last Lumia flagship, Lumia 930. Even though the phones use a poly-carbonate body, they still retain a dense quality feel. The OLED 2K resolution screen is vivid, bright, and offers excellent readability even in bright sunlight.As the devices we handles were prototype devices salted for testing and demo use only, we were not able to test the Windows hello feature or any camera functionality. It is also important to note that Windows 10 Mobile has not been reached RTM (release to manufacturing) status. It is still undergoing the final tweaks and bug resolution.

So the question stands, will the users who have been waiting for a new Lumia flagship be satiated with the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL? I think so. The specs and features of the devices are on par with current flagship devices. From a style perspective, both the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL will be supported by a range of official 3rd party cases from Mozo Accessories.

Be sure to stay tuned to Techweez for a full review once the devices become available to us.

Hands-On Image Gallery

• Lumia 950

• Lumia 950 XL

Every once in a while a smartphone shows up that seeks not to push the boundaries of mobile innovation by introducing previously unheard of features but to just cater for the everyday phone user. The Samsung Galaxy J7 is one such smartphone.

Having used the Galaxy J7 for several days, I am reminded of my days with the Galaxy Note II back in 2012 and the Galaxy Mega a year later. While the Galaxy J7 shares almost the same display in the same size configuration as Samsung’s phablet from 3 years ago, it is about half the price. To put it metaphorically, the Galaxy Note II cost an arm and a leg while the Galaxy J7 won’t break your bank. On the other hand, the “good-enough” Galaxy Mega, like the name insinuates, was just too big for regular users to embrace it at a time when smartphones with large displays were still something that was frowned upon.

It’s 2015 and big smartphones are the in-thing, thanks to Samsung, no less. However, in the case of Samsung, such big smartphones tend to be highly priced and beyond the reach of the common man. That is why the Galaxy J7 exists. To give users a big device at a price that won’t have them bending too much. Make no mistake, Kshs 25,000-28,000, the price range at which the Galaxy J7 retails, is no small money. It is a tidy sum to spend on just a phone. However, as you are about to find out, the Galaxy J7 is not just a phone. Like I said about its smaller sibling, the Galaxy J5, a device with whom it shares a lot of features, it is a fantastic smartphone.

Specifications

• Display: 5.5 inch HD (720p) display
• Processor: 64-bit octa-core Exynos 7580
• Camera: Rear: 13 megapixels with LED Flash and f/1.9 lens: 5 megapixels wide-angle with LED flash
• Memory: 16 GB internal memory + micro SD card slot (expandable upto 128 GB); 1.5 GB RAM
• Operating system: Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
• Battery: 3,000 mAh
• Network: 3G, LTE*
• Connectivity: USB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.1 LE, WLAN 802.11 b/g/n/ac 2.4GHz/5GHz
• Others: Dual-SIM (nano and micro), FM radio

*read on to find out

Design

The Galaxy J7, like other devices in the Galaxy J series, has a plastic removable back, a glass front (obvious) and a faux-metal frame to support them. That is the main distinguishing feature of the Galaxy J series smartphones from their upper mid-range counterparts in the Galaxy A series and the not-so-well-defined Galaxy E devices. In short, it is just a blown up Galaxy J5.

Having used the Galaxy Note II a few years back, the Galaxy J7 feels much the same and it’s not hard to see why, it has a 5.5 inch HD display just like the Note II. The back, while still removable, is less glossy though and the 3.5mm headset jack is not at the top but at the bottom and the speaker grille sits on the left of the camera while the LED flash is on the right. Likewise, the volume rocker is on the right and the power button conveniently placed on the left.

Like on the Galaxy J5, there are two capacitive buttons that don’t have a backlight below the display to help you with navigations and since Samsung still doesn’t do on-screen buttons (which I find to be a good thing by the way), the home button is where it is usually located on all Samsung Android smartphones.

Display

The Samsung Galaxy J7 features a 5.5 inch Super AMOLED display that is just good for what it is meant to do. It is not the most pixel-dense of displays out there but unless you explicitly go out looking for pixels (and why would you do that anyway instead of enjoying the phone as it is?), you’ll hardly notice that.

The beauty of the display on the Galaxy J7, like on any other big phone, is that it is big. I know that sounds boring but as you use it you get to appreciate what you can get done with it. Catching up on where you left on that eBook you’re reading is easy on the Galaxy J7. Research firm Nielsen, in a recent survey, found out that the number of people buying eBooks and reading them from their smartphones had risen by 30% from 24% 3 years ago to 54% as of last December. Such numbers are because of large displays like the one on the Galaxy J7 and it is not hard to see why. Add the casual web browsing and throw in the daily cat video and you have a good case for getting the 5.5-inch Galaxy J7 over other devices with smaller displays.

Camera

Samsung has marketed the Galaxy J7 and its smaller sibling, the Galaxy J5, heavily with the 13-megapixel shooter at the back and the 5-megapixel front-facing camera as the main selling points. Like I noted in the Galaxy J5 review, the two cameras just perform as expected. You won’t get out-of-this-world macros or sunset photos without putting in half the effort professional photographers put in but at the end of it all, you’ll have something that can get you 100 likes on Instagram in an instant. Yes, the cameras are not as outstanding as I’d want them to and heck, they won’t win any awards, but they are just there and they do their work though we have to agree that they could do so much better than they do at the moment.

The front-facing camera has something that is now going to be a thing on all smartphones but is yet to become mainstream: front-facing LED flash. It is not my cup of tea thanks to the blinding effect when you are made to stare at it while taking a selfie in the middle of the night or in dark-lit surroundings but it is nice to have as it may come in handy to some.

Here is a sample:

The high-resolution version of the above sample can be found here.

The Galaxy J7 camera application has HDR mode which can be turned on in the settings which are straight forward. The Galaxy J5 has all the other shooting modes found on the Galaxy J7 like Pro mode, Continous shot, Beauty face, Sound & shot and Sports but lacks HDR which is a reserve of its larger sibling and of course there’s more detail on images captured in HDR mode.

Software

Running underneath all the customizations that Samsung has implemented is Android 5.1.1 which was until recently the most up to date version of Google’s mobile operating system. The customizations are however most welcome since the stock Android a small subset of users usually demands is not meant for everyone. As long as smartphone makers and their partners are able to keep things lightweight, you’re better off with customized software than unadulterated Android. You may need to read our review of one of the cheapest smartphones in the market to understand why.

Double-clicking the physical home button launches the camera application while other novelties we loved on the Galaxy J5 like the ability to pick a theme of your liking from the Samsung theme store and applying it also exist. It is worth noting that with the Galaxy J7 users have access to even a wider variety of themes like the gold theme that blends nicely with gold-coloured devices like the Galaxy S6 Edge.

There’s very little in the form of bundled applications by Samsung which is a good thing as users get to have more storage space to install apps and games and fewer resources being allocated to some otherwise useless software they’d probably never use.

Performance

The Samsung Galaxy J7 has a better processor than the Galaxy J5 and it shows in the overall performance of the device. Everything is smooth and games are just okay. You’ll hardly encounter any lag and stutter and with Samsung going slow with over-customization of the software, things are lightweight and neat.

Battery

Remember that feeling of familiarity with the Galaxy Note II I expressed earlier on? Or the Galaxy Mega? It is more visible when it comes to the battery. Probably we should stop getting carried away by the need for more and more pixels per square inch and instead appreciate things like HD displays.

The battery life on the Galaxy J7 is the most fantastic I’ve ever had on a phone since, you guessed that right, the Galaxy Note II. Please let us know in the comments if you’ve ever managed to achieve 8 hours of screen on time. It is what I got when pushing the Galaxy J7 to its limit. I struggled to drain the battery on the Galaxy J7. What a nice problem to have! Even then, I could only manage to do that after spending over 2 hours playing high-intensity games that pushed the device to the edge and it eventually had to give in.

Next I spent 12 hours on the road and guess what, I still had enough juice to play Madfinger’s Unkilled for over an hour and a half after a trip that lasted 24 hours.

For ordinary users, the Galaxy J7, which I’ve now christened “the road warrior” after its impressive performance, they should easily go for 2 days without having to recharge. With the 3,000 mAh battery being removable, I guess you can go on an adventure with this phone and a spare battery and not have to worry about it “dying” on you when you need to refer to an offline map most.

I always have a disclaimer on the kind of battery life you get based on your usage and network connection but that is thrown out of the window when it comes to the Galaxy J7. Just use it, you’ll still have some juice left when you’re done.

Others

With the many ways we use our phones today, we tend to forget one very important aspect: they are phones first and foremost. No matter how “smart” they are, they are pretty useless if they can’t fulfill their primary role of enabling you to communicate effectively. By communicating effectively, I don’t mean emojis and stickers that convey just half the feelings and emotions but calls. Voice calls are clear and more customizations to the software over the years mean that you don’t always have to fret having calls interrupting your workflow on the phone as a small dialog shows up on the top of the device and nothing gets in your way.

The sound from the speaker at the back is also okay but could be miles better. It’s not as loud as you may want it to be.

It’s disappointing that there is no LED on the front for letting you know when you have a missed call, unread messages or other notifications.

The Good

• One of my misgivings about the Galaxy J5 was the little storage on the version on sale in the Kenyan market. 8 GB is simply not enough and while Samsung partnered with Microsoft to throw in a juicy 100 GB free OneDrive storage for 2 years (the Galaxy J7 has that offer too by the way), nothing can ever substitute what you get with more internal storage. Thankfully, the Galaxy J7 models on sale in Kenya pack 16 GB internal storage with an option to get even more (up to 128 GB) when you slot in a microSD.
• Superior battery life. The Samsung Galaxy J7 is the smartphone with the best battery life we’ve reviewed this year here at Techweez. Yes, I know about that Infinix we reviewed that cost almost half the price of the Galaxy J7 but the little I say about it the better.

The Bad

The Galaxy J5 and J7 have been positioned as 4G LTE smartphones in the Kenyan market and rightfully so. Both devices are supposed to have support for LTE but as I sadly found out, the review unit I had was not LTE-capable. At least from my end.

I was stuck on 3G all the time. Either the device is not compatible with local LTE bands or the Galaxy J7 variant with the Exynos 7580 processor (SM-J700H) isn’t meant to be LTE-capable (FYI there is another variant with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 that connects to LTE networks right out of the box). You’ll be wise to enquire first before getting the device and if possible testing for LTE connectivity first before making a purchase.

Final Thoughts

With a price tag that ranges between Kshs 25,000 and Kshs 28,000 depending on where you shop the Galaxy J7 doesn’t come that cheap but the thing is you can’t go wrong with it. It has some of the best battery life you can get in a smartphone today, a big enough display for consuming media, reading, browsing and social networking and double the storage you get on the Galaxy J5. Getting it, if you can, is a no-brainer. At a time when features like removable batteries and expandable storage are being shoved aside in favour of elegant all-metal designs, the Galaxy J7 is probably one of the very few decent Samsung smartphones that you’ll find in the market that sets out to please everyone and manages to do just that.

Kenyan developers are really stepping up when it comes to app development, and game developers have not been left behind either. There is a lot that can be said about good design when it comes to applications, more so for games because as a developer you want people to have a reason to keep playing your game. Nobody wants to play a crappy looking game, no matter how awesome the game play is. Game play and design must go hand in hand in creating a worthwhile gaming experience.

In his review, Emmanuel Chenze described the first game, Tumtafune as a very good time killer during the weekend and he is right. This game is down right addictive. Literally, once you start playing, you really do not want to stop doing so, adding to its appeal. It is simply done with simple graphics that work well with the environment and the story line of the game. Check out his article for of his review.

Now the second game I’d like to introduce is Jump Chaos Chase The Seven Mims. I know, that is a mouthful. Despite its rather long name, it is a simple game really whereby you have to help a creature (I would assume is referred to as a mim) go up a number of steps/levels/floating land/ platform-like things while escaping other black creatures that lead to you imminent death. As you go up, you create chaos by breaking glass (I do not know why)

I have to be honest, its a pretty hard game to play, well in my case at least, because despite numerous tries, I cannot seem to get past a best score of 2! This reminds me of another frustrating game that I could barely make it further than 5, Flappy Bird!Why do people do this to us!

It is integrated with Google Play Services, so signing in gives you access to a leader board you can use to judge your prowess.

My only quarrel with this game is the name really (and maybe the fact that I cannot do better than 2). Otherwise it is a very good companion once you find yourself in a position where you need to sink your head down to your phone.

You know what? Coming to think about it, I think this could be an awesome conversation starter at a party. Get some competition going.

Watch my video review of them to get feel of their game play

Check them out and share with me your high score and ill see if I truly suck or i’m quite good!

Read On Web → Two Kenyan Made Game Apps Video Review

‘Wily’ is a term that can only be used to describe one animal, the fox whose head is beautifully engraved at the back of Wileyfox smartphones. While foxes are cunning and sly hence the ‘wily’ adjective, there are no traces of such as per my month-long interaction with the Wileyfox Storm.

Maybe the Wileyfox brand is using that to send a message about its aggression going forward. Maybe it’s just a name. That I don’t know. What I do know is that the Wileyfox Storm, one of the two smartphones that Wileyfox is testing the Kenyan mobile waters with, like other Wileyfox devices, attempts to be different. To stand out from the crowd.

Being different or attempting to be different is not a bad thing. In fact, it is the only thing that I ask of all devices entering our market. Haven’t we seen enough of the copycats already? Devices that look like bastard children of other more prominent devices we already know of?

So how different is the Wileyfox Storm from anything you may have seen so far? From my experience, not much when it comes to its looks which are certainly very forgettable but a little different when it comes to the software which I will come to in a bit.

Specifications

• Size: 77.3 x 155.6 x 9.2mm
• Display: 5.5-inch full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS LCD
• Memory: 3 GB RAM, 32 GB internal storage (expandable via microSD slot)
• Camera: 20.7 MP main with full HD video recording; 8 MP sensor on the front with HD video recording
• Processor: Octa-core Snapdragon 615 clocked at 1.5 GHz
• Operating System: Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
• Battery: 2,500 mAh (non-removable)
• Network: 3G, 4G LTE
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB 2.0
• Other: FM radio

In the box

The Wileyfox Storm’s packaging is simple. A thin orange and black box with just the device, some user manuals and warranty information and a neatly packaged USB cable. That’s it! No adaptor, no headsets.

Design

The Wileyfox Storm is a plastic device through and through. As such, like other mid-range smartphones we’ve looked at (cough Xiaomi Redmi Note 2), there’s not much going for it that can inspire some positive words from me. It is not something that is going to excite you when you stare at it from the front when it is lying on a table with the screen fast asleep. Looks are not its strongest point. The same goes for its sibling, the Wileyfox Swift, which I have had the pleasure of interacting with briefly.

However, things change a little bit when you actually hold the device. With a 5.5-inch display, the Wilefox Storm is not supposed to just feel at home when you first hold it. But it does! The rounded corners and soft-touch plastic back come together seamlessly to make it comfortable to hold the device and even use it with one hand even when the software has not been tweaked to accommodate one-handed mode as we have seen in devices like the Huawei GR5.

Without a logo on the front, the only pronounced features besides the big glass panel are the earpiece at the centre and the LED flash and camera sensor on the left and right respectively.

The capacitive buttons at the bottom of the front glass panel can be easily missed since they only come to life when there’s some interaction with the device. The home capacitive key also lights up periodically when there are notifications. This is to make up for the lack of an LED notification light whose place has been taken by the front-facing flash for selfies. We’ve seen this before. On devices like the Tecno Boom J7.

The back is not just important because it makes the handling easier thanks to its soft-touch feel but also because it has the imposing camera and dual-LED flash which are in a small vertical visor-like strip with orange accents. The logo at the middle is way too cool to overlook while the Wileyfox branding in orange at the bottom, just above the speaker grille, while easily noticeable, looks indifferent.

Display

The Wileyfox Storm, as already stated, packs a 5.5-inch full HD IPS LCD display. It’s sharp and crisp enough that reading text won’t be an issue and everything just looks alright. What else can you expect of a 400ppi display anyway? However, it doesn’t fair that well outdoors in full sunlight and cranking up the brightness slider doesn’t help matters though it will get you halfway there.

Camera

While Wileyfox definitely did try by putting a 20.7-megapixel sensor at the back of the device and another 8-megapixel one on the front, it still wasn’t enough to impress me that much. Of course, at this moment, you all know that there is much more to good photos than the megapixel count, right?

I have a straightforward approach to using smartphone cameras. Since I’m not a camera nerd or whatever photographers go by, my use of smartphone cameras is simple: I need not struggle to get good shots. Just pulling the device from my jeans, opening the camera app and firing away with just a little concentration and (maybe) no shaking of the hands should get me the desired result.

With the Wileyfox Storm, that resulted in a hit here and a miss there so I don’t know what to make of it, yet, but you can easily tell that it’s not up to scratch. Things don’t get better when HDR is on either and the auto-focus is just too slow. Selfies are a bit better but still not there.

You can check out the full-sized photos here.

Cyanogen OS

The software that the Wileyfox Storm packs is one of the high points of the device. This is because it is quite different from the standard Android experience you usually get on most devices.

We’ve become so used to all the badly done customization to Android that it’s easy to forget what Android should look and feel. The Wileyfox Storm and Cyanogen OS bring that back.

Since Kenya has never been one of those markets where everyone who is not a hardcore Android fan or enthusiast can easily lay their hands on a device with Google’s vision for Android aka Nexus smartphones, the Wileyfox Storm and its sibling the Swift may as well be the closest that most will ever get to Android purity.

Don’t get me wrong, there are many device makers who are shipping devices with minimal alterations to stock Android and retaining the looks as well but still, Cyanogen is Cyanogen and outside Google’s own implementation, this is as clean as clean gets.

We’ve become so used to all the badly done customizations to Android that it’s easy to forget what Android should look and feel. The Wileyfox Storm and Cyanogen OS bring that back. Granted, this is not the purest of Android builds since Cyanogen Inc also has its own idea of how the Android experience should be like, the vision of less clutter and no bloatware is not lost. If anything, it is re-affirmed.

The Wileyfox Storm arrived late last year running Cyanogen OS 12.1 based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. This is still what you get when you buy the device today since it is yet to get Cyanogen OS 13 which brings Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

There’s bound to be some confusion when it comes to understanding the difference between Cyanogen OS and CyanogenMod which most people have likely heard of or even gone ahead to flash on their devices.

I have slightly tried to explain the differences here but for the sake of this review here’s the one difference that really matters: Cyanogen OS is the commercial version of the software that is built for specific devices.

Unlike CyanogenMod, Cyanogen OS is more efficient and less buggy since all the hardware resources of the devices it is to run on are made available to its developers so that everything runs smoothly. CyanogenMod, on the other hand, only works smoothly based on the much the software is able to take advantage of on the hardware since mostly, it is a community solution that lacks the blessings of the device maker and as such, any access to proprietary resources.

There is a feature called LiveDisplay which when turned on acts much like Night Shift on the current versions of iOS: it changes the display’s temperature depending on the time of day. This had me going slow on my usage of Twilight, the F.lux equivalent accessible to those of us who don’t fancy rooting their devices.

The Cyanogen dialer’s integration with third-party spam detection and caller identification service Truecaller may be welcome and frowned upon in some quarters. It is all up to the user to decide whether to turn it on or not.

Since the Storm has hardware buttons for navigation purposes, it is quite possible to turn them off from the settings app and use the standard Android on-screen navigation bar instead, something I last experienced on the first generation OnePlus smartphone.

Cyanogen OS, even with all the fluidity and stability, is not without its quirks. I got a few app freezes and crashes even though, generally, it’s all good.

Performance

Thanks to running Cyanogen OS, the Wileyfox Storm is one of the best mid-range smartphones I have used this year when it comes to performance. The device flies!

Cyanogen OS, and CyanogenMod as well, takes a minimalist approach to how Android is implemented. Just like Google envisioned. As a result, there’s not a lot of resources wasted on unnecessary bundled applications and heavy (and ugly) interfaces. Everything is just standard so that you can tune the device to your own liking.

The extra memory available as a result and the Snapdragon 615 processor the device packs, team up to deliver an experience that is a far cry from what I managed to get from the similarly-priced Huawei GR5.

Battery

If you need a battery warrior, the Wileyfox Storm is not the device to go for. The battery is disappointing. Do you know why that neat white USB cable it comes with is easy to coil and put in your pocket? Because you will need to have it with you everywhere you go. No kidding.

With just mild use, the 2,500mAh battery, will have given up by 2PM and you will need to juice up the device if it is to get you through the day. That kind of capacity is likely “just ok” for the Wileyfox Swift but it is definitely not okay for the Wileyfox Storm.

With the kind of blazing performance that the Wileyfox Storm offers, you will be disappointed that you can’t have more of it without worrying that the battery will die on you not long after.

Others

The Wileyfox Storm’s speaker grille, which is oddly placed at the back of the device while, surprisingly, the Wileyfox Swift has it at the bottom of the device, is not one of the loudest but it gets the job done.

Network reception is fine and making and receiving calls is not an issue. As is browsing on 3G and LTE using the device.

Some gestures are supported. Double tapping the status bar results in the display turning off when enabled in the settings app.

The Good

• Cyanogen OS. It’s clean, light, stable and simple. The power users can dig in the settings to get more out of the device but for everyone else, the software is ready to go. Just install your favourite apps from the Play Store and go. No need to spend hours trying to use apps to undo the mess created by the device’s makers on the software as you are likely to do on every other device that is either not a Sony or a Nexus-branded smartphone.
• The device is fast. When I say fast, I know what I’m talking about because I am just from this traumatizing experience.

The Bad

• The battery!
• The camera leaves a lot to be desired.

Final Word

You will fall in love with the Wileyfox Storm not for anything else but its software. It is well executed and with the Wileyfox Swift recently receiving Android Marshmallow, the same is on its way to the Storm, something we can’t say of the other mid-range smartphones we’ve met so far this year. With a little grasp of the ropes, one can even get a taste of Android N courtesy of the many hardworking developers from the XDA and CyanogenMod communities.

However, for a device whose main difference from the rest of the pack comes from the software and there’s not much else to sell when it comes to the hardware that the competition doesn’t already offer, I am left asking for more to justify the Kshs 29,000 price tag.

Read On Web → Wileyfox Storm: Making the Hard Case for Cyanogen OS

During this year’s Jumia Mobile Week’s unveiling, there was one new device that stood out from the rest that various brands paraded on stage. That was the Tecno PhonePad 7 II which Tecno’s tablet head John Marshal briefly teased.

First impressions

It was unique in that, with a 7-inch display, it strayed into tablet territory while its makers were just happy to let us think of it as a big smartphone. Don’t ask us where we get to blur the line between big smartphones aka phablets and the tablets themselves because now we don’t know.

The PhonePad 7 II, is, to be honest, a big smartphone as well as a small tablet. See the confusion now? This is what strikes you at first when you meet Tecno’s second tablet in the Kenyan market after the 8-inch DroiPad 8 II.

The other thing you notice is the black bars on the side which come in handy when you hold it in landscape mode (may be to view video content, read, browse etc) since it is such a big device. The big bezels work in its favour when handling device but, like the black bars, work against it when it comes to the looks. The looks are boosted a bit by the all-metal body.

Even with such a footprint which is too big for a smartphone, it is still possible to hold the Tecno PhonePad 7 II in one hand and actually use it. If you are to use it as a phone – for making calls, this is how you achieve that which is way easier and less a hassle than it is on the DroiPad 8 II.

Since it has to pack all the components in a much smaller chassis, the PhonePad 7 II is marginally thicker than the bigger DroiPad 8 II at 8.9 millimetres while the latter is thinner at 8.3mm.

The other surprise comes in the user interface. It’s still the good old Tecno UI. There’s no sight of Tecno’s new user interface, HiOS. We didn’t get to see that in the PhonePad 7 II’s elder sibling, the DroiPad 8 II, either so it’s not a surprise as such.

In the box

One gets a free flip cover worth Kshs 1,000 in the box alongside the usual stuff: a user manual and warranty card, a USB cable and an adaptor. Unlike in the DroiPad 8 II, you don’t get a USB OTG cable here even though the device actually supports OTG.

Specifications

• Size: 193.7 x 105 x 8.9mm
• Display: 7-inch 600 x 1024 pixels IPS LCD panel
• Memory: 1 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage (expandable via microSD slot)
• Camera: 5 MP main with LED flash; 2 MP sensor on the front with flash as well
• Processor: Quad-core MediaTek MT 8735M
• Operating System: Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
• Battery: 4,100 mAh (non-removable)
• Network: 3G, 4G LTE
• Connectivity: Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, microUSB 2.0
• Other: FM radio, dual-SIM

The PhonePad 7 II continues the trend of Tecno targeting budget tablet buyers with its low pricing. The Tecno PhonePad 7 II is on sale in the Kenyan market both in stores countrywide and online through Jumia for Kshs 14,500.

Since we’ve had this device for some time now, look out for our full review soon.

Read On Web → Tecno PhonePad 7 II: Unboxing and First Impressions

If you have used most of the loan apps currently available to Kenyans using Android smartphones like Tala (formerly Mkopo Rahisi), Branch and others then one thing stands out: they have easy interfaces that provide a lot of useful information to their users about the loans themselves, the interest, the instalments and the due date. M-Shwari, Safaricom’s own loan service has been lagging behind when it comes to this. While it uses the reliable SMS reminders to let users know when their due date is near or when they are defaulting on their loans, it’s just not enough.

All Safaricom users can access a lot of information about their subscription using the mySafaricom app, they can look PayBill numbers and check the M-PESA charges using the Safaricom M-Ledger app, they can confirm the recipient’s name using the Hakikisha feature or make sure they get the recipient’s number right using third-party apps like Tuma Pesa. What about M-Shwari? Honestly, other than going back to your old texts, not so much.

Until you meet My-Shwari.

I bumped into My-Shwari when doing my many daily rounds on the Google Play Store trying out new things like I always do and we hit it off immediately. I am a frequent user of M-Shwari’s loan facilities and the app, from the onset, addresses my needs as a user.

Like the M-Ledger application in its previous form, My-Shwari is not tied to your M-PESA account or Safaricom line in any way. It simply works with the information you provide to it. In this case, it scans your SMS inbox for any M-Shwari messages and tries to make sense of the data. The end result is some presentable simple tables offering a quick look into your debt status. This is in the form of monthly and annual summaries of your M-Shwari transactions including a history of those transactions.

Its most useful feature may be the constant count down to the due date. It is so easy to get carried away thinking that the 30-day grace period Safaricom gives M-Shwari users is a lot of time. My-Shwari not only shows you when you borrowed whatever amount but also the outstanding amount itself and the number of days remaining to the due date.

It also shows users the facility fee that Safaricom charges (which is simply the 7.5% monthly interest). Users can even turn to the loan calculator to see how much they would need to pay back when they borrow certain amounts.

Other than catering to loanees, the app is also great for everyone who uses M-Shwari for its other function: savings. It is a great way to check on one’s savings and keep track.

Many may not notice but you can never check your M-Shwari loan limit or balance when your M-PESA account balance is nil. This is because Safaricom charges Kshs 1 for every M-PESA enquiry you make and the same applies to M-Shwari. Having an application that can remember this exact information thanks to the SMSs that Safaricom sends comes in handy more so when you are no longer in possession of such messages. Since it reads your M-Shwari messages, it will also show your M-PESA account balance.

My-Shwari’s biggest selling point is its functionality but that does not come at a sacrifice to its looks. The interface, while basic, won’t be the one thing that you keep thinking about since it’s just fine and you won’t get lost navigating from one point to the other. All options can be accessed from the slide out menu.

I wouldn’t want a third party to keep details of all my M-Shwari transactions so I am actually happy that My-Shwari does not attempt to do just that. I’m just fine checking the statements that Safaricom sends to my email inbox monthly or the detailed summaries M-Ledger comes up with.

Go on, give My-Shwari a try. Don’t worry that your significant other will now have it easy catching up with the many debts you’ve been accumulating behind their back as the app does let you set a password to keep unwanted hands and eyes off your confidential data.

Read On Web → My-Shwari App Helps You Keep Up With Your M-Shwari Loans In A Way You Never Thought You Needed

Tecno is of the opinion that there is need for affordable tablets in the Kenyan market. To that end, the company has released two tablets in quick succession to target such users. The first tablet was the DroiPad 8 II. The second tablet is the PhonePad 7 II which is the subject of this review.

Specifications of the device can be found here.

Like the DroiPad 8 II, the Tecno PhonePad 7 II is an all-metal device with only glass on the front and a plastic strip at the top – for network radios – breaking the monotony. It has wide bezels that make holding it while using it easier but which in the end take some marks off the device’s design.

Like the larger DroiPad 8 II, the PhonePad 7 II has some dual stereo speakers at the bottom and the minihub housing the microSD card slot and the dual-SIM slots on the lower left. The volume rocker and the power button are on the upper left side. The positioning of the power button at the very top makes it easier for the index finger to access it when the device is held in portrait mode.

The device’s size makes it easier to handle. You can hold it in one hand and use it with the other. When you need to go, it can easily slip in your jeans pockets, even when you have the flip cover on (but why would you have it on anyway?).

The 7-inch LCD display which is the centre of the device by way of interaction and content consumption also happens to be one of its drawbacks. The display’s density is low thanks to the low-resolution panel in use and we noticed that it picks up scratches easily. This is more pronounced when reading text but less of an issue when consuming content like video.

Overall, the device’s performance is average. When used as expected, it delivers. It does stutter when stretched, something you will most probably understand since this is an entry-level tablet.

The Tecno PhonePad 7 II has a similar camera arrangement as the DroiPad 8 II, a 5-megapixel camera at the back and a 2-megapixel camera on the front. Even though both have LED flash for better lighting and all, they are not what you’d want to use to capture great moments. The back camera will come in handy in other use cases like say scanning documents while the selfie camera can be your go-to shooter for video calls at the very best.

Save for a few audio enhancements in the settings app, there is not much done to differentiate the PhonePad 7 II’s user interface from what you will find on other devices like the DroiPad 8 II. It is still not HiOS – probably because the device only has 1 GB RAM and the new interface can be quite demanding.

The ability to make calls and the additional LTE network capability made possible by the MediaTek MT8735M chip which the PhonePad 7 II packs are nice bonuses. While its still cumbersome to use a 7-inch device to place calls, it is quite handy to be able to connect to mobile networks on the go for social media, normal browsing and other uses.

The Tecno PhonePad 7 II keeps charge for several days. At the very least, over a day is guaranteed thanks to the beefy 4,100mAh battery unit that it packs. With very little going on – sensors and background activity – it is possible to squeeze even more from the PhonePad 7 II than we have been able to during our review period.

The Tecno PhonePad 7 II scores highly when it comes to the choice of material used (metal), the amount of onboard storage (16 GB), LTE network capability and long battery life. It does, however, score poorly when it comes to the display which is pixelated. The black bars on either side of the display and the big bezels don’t help matters either when it comes to assessing the device’s overall design even though the Champagne Gold colour of the review unit we had does look good on it. Then again you remember that this is a Kshs 14,500 device that is not meant to tick all the right boxes but to introduce users to tablets and probably whet their appetite on their way to getting something better someday, which we hope Tecno is already working on.

Read On Web → Tecno PhonePad 7 II Review

Microsoft announced its current flagship phones: the Lumia 950 and the 950XL in October last year and they have flagship level specs: powerful processors, lots of RAM, great cameras, high-resolution screens and next generation niceties like USB Type-C connectors.

Microsoft’s mobile ecosystem has undergone quite the metamorphosis. It started back in the day as Windows Mobile (like Windows Mobile 6.5 that ran on the Omnia II) until the major revamp that was Windows Phone 7. The platform has struggled to gain market share from the current giants (Android and iOS) but their latest release (Windows 10 Mobile) is quite promising. Microsoft’s aim this time round was to unify Windows 10 for PCs and Windows 10 Mobile to make it easy for interoperability of apps between them. Windows 10 is for tablets and PCs but Windows 10 Mobile was given a feature that makes it mimic the Windows 10 PC experience and that is Continuum.

So what is Continuum?

Continuum is what Microsoft envisions as a way of turning your phone to work like a PC by using certain accessories. The accessories include:

• Microsoft Display Dock HD-500
• 1 USB Type C to USB Type C cable
• Power brick

The setup

The key to the whole setup is that Microsoft Display Dock that the company sells for $99. It is the middleman that connects the phone, monitor and other peripherals to for a ‘desktop’ setup. When you first hold the hub, you will immediately notice that it has quite some heft to it (actually 230 grams) and has lots of ports.

Speaking of ports, there are 3 USB 2.0 ports (no USB 3.0 here) with one of them that has the ability to deliver a higher current, 1 display port, 1 HDMI port and 2 USBType-C connector ports. At the front, there is a lone USB Type-C connector which we will get to later.

Setting it up is easy: Connect the phone (in my case the Lumia 950) to the dock using the lone USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable at the front. Remember the other USB Type C connector at the back? Yup! That is the one that will be used to charge the dock so plug it to the wall using the supplied power brick. Finally, you can now plug in your monitor using either the HDMI or DVI port, where in my case I used a TV with a HDMI port.

We have to go back to the phone because that is half of where the magic happens. The dock facilitates the connection between the phone and its accessories but the processing, operating system and some degree of user control are done on the phone. There is the Continuum app that comes pre-installed that has a wizard that will guide you in the whole process of connecting your phone, dock and monitor.

When you connect successfully, you will be greeted by a “welcome screen” that has the word “Continuum” at the center and 4 arrows pointing at the corners. This will allow you to correctly scale your monitor where you only need to tap “get help” if your screen does not scale properly and tap “I see it” if it is properly scaled. The next step in the wizard is a tutorial video that shows you how to use Continuum but fortunately, you can skip the video by tapping a link on the page. When you pass this stage, that is when you are greeted by the Continuum desktop, which is akin to what we have seen on PCs that run Windows 10. I should point out that I used the wired dock route and was unable to try out the wireless adapter option that would allow you to pair your phone to the monitor. Microsoft has been gracious enough to explain how to set it up here.

You may wonder: how do I navigate around in Continuum mode? Well Microsoft thought of that and that is why you can either plug in a USB mouse and a keyboard on the dock or in my case use a nifty feature that made me not see the point of using them in the first place. When you are in Continuum mode, the phone’s touchscreen is used as a touchpad and it is AWESOME. The “touchpad” supports two finger scrolling and it is very smooth in action when you move the cursor around the desktop or scrolling around menus.

Since Continuum mode is used to mimic a PC experience, I had to replicate activities people do on their PCs and that is: browse the web and use Office apps. In order for me to use the web, I decided to use the inbuilt Edge browser and the experience was fantastic and it is thanks to the touchscreen-turned touchpad. Scrolling was smooth and the phone’s touchscreen was able to track my finger as I moved the cursor around. Since I didn’t have a keyboard to physically input a website’s URL, I was not at all limited in a way. When you hover the search bar in the browser and tap on it, the ‘touchpad’ displays the virtual keyboard on the phone which allows you to input the URL with ease.

Browsing was great but what about Office apps? Well, I fired up Word first and noticed something immediately: The virtual keyboard and touchpad combo was not working well in this productivity app. I ended up in a situation where I couldn’t remove the cursor from the header portion of the Word document and had to result in using a mouse to correctly position it. In addition, using the virtual keyboard in Word is cumbersome. This also applied in the other Office apps (Excel and PowerPoint) and I would suggest for you to get a Bluetooth keyboard/wired keyboard and a mouse to use them effectively in this mode. Nevertheless, Continuum is great for displaying Word documents, Excel workbooks and PowerPoint presentations but if you want to create content, you may have to get a keyboard and a mouse to use them effectively.

More information about the touchpad functionality in Continuum mode: there is an options button on your top right that allows you to change your display settings, personalize it, show the Continuum banner, set up a keyboard and mouse, give feedback and get more information about Continuum. This does not take the entire space as Microsoft has been gracious enough to leave a portion of the screen as a touchpad when you drop down the settings.

The peculiarities

Continuum is great but it suffers the classic case of a first generation product and that is app support. Fortunately, major Microsoft apps like Edge, Office apps, Photos, News, Stock and third party ones like USA Today are supported. However, weirdly a Microsoft app was not supported (Skype) and a popular social network (Facebook) which displayed an error message saying they will be supported soon.

Another peculiarity is the amount of processes the phone can handle in Continuum mode. In an instance, I had opened Word, News app, PowerPoint, Photos, Camera and Edge (with a few tabs opened) which proved too much for the phone and decided to randomly shut down and rebooted. That is rather peculiar since the phone has plenty of RAM (3GB) and enough horsepower thanks to the Snapdragon 808 humming in the chassis so it is a case of optimization.

Microsoft also decided to treat Continuum mode as a separate entity of the Windows Mobile experience. You can actually use the phone separately while in Continuum mode so you could be texting on your phone while watching a video on YouTube on the Edge browser. However, when you dig down in the settings, there is a toggle that will log you out of Continuum and will instead mirror what you are doing on the phone onto the monitor.

Verdict

I love Continuum, I really do. It is one of the cool things about Windows 10 Mobile and since it is only available to the Lumia 950 and the 950XL, it is a huge selling point. However, it will need the additional purchase of the $99 dock which would have been a steal if it was included in the package.

The next question would be who the product is for and it is simple really: it is for everyone but it could prove useful to specific groups of people like students and business people. But, there is the nagging problem of not all apps being supported in Continuum mode and that could prove to be a challenge for a person who has invested in the ecosystem. The phone, dock, mouse and keyboard could easily be north of $700 which could make someone decide to get a decent laptop instead. If you have the Lumia 950 or the 950XL, I’d definitely recommend getting the dock if you believe in the premise that your Lumia 950 or 950XL should be the computing power you need and you can turn it to a “PC” anytime you want. This is a first gen product that shows promise and I would bet that the next version of Continuum would be one to look out for.

Read On Web → Windows Continuum Review: Definitely the Coolest Windows 10 Mobile Feature

We never got a chance to dive deeper into the last generation of Tecno’s camera-centred Camon series of smartphones which launched last year. Save for a few minor interactions with the two devices, the Camon C5 and the Camon C8, it has taken us over a year to start getting over our curiosity. We hope this year’s flag bearer of that noble Tecno family, the Camon C9, will answer all our questions and fulfill our curiosity.

First impressions

To live up to its name and build on where its predecessors left, the most noticeable feature of the Tecno Camon C9 is not the big 5.5-inch display or the removable sandstone-looking but rubbery-feeling plastic back cover or the metal frame around the device.

It’s the imposing pair of camera sensors on both the front and the back. This is not hidden by the packaging (see above lead image) which is themed around a camera shutter.

If you’re a device nerd like we’re here at Techweez then the “big eye” look of the front-facing sensor will remind you of a device we first saw about 2 years ago: HTC’s aptly-named Desire Eye. Like the Eye, the Camon C9 has identical sensors on both the front and the back. Infinix is also on the verge of releasing a device with a similar look soon.

A quick sweep of the device will reveal something that is a necessity in camera-centred smartphones but a rarity in any of the devices that Tecno has been releasing in its history of nearly a decade: a dedicated camera key. Well, to be fair, the previous generation of Camon smartphones had it. It lies on the lower left side of the device and you can easily miss it since it successfully manages to camouflage itself in the thin metal frame of a similar colour.

At 10.35mm, the Tecno Camon C9 is noticeably thick, thick enough for the device to not have a camera bump as is always the case with most Slimpossible-modeled devices.

The software remains pretty much unchanged from what we encountered on the Tecno Boom J8. HiOS is still in version 1 with minor improvements to smoothen things a bit and remove some of the confusing references we found in the Boom J8 like the hilarious ‘Move your income over the sensor to answer the call’.

Can you spot the difference?

In the box

Inside the box, buyers of the Camon C9, which goes on sale in Kenya today, will get the usual stuff: a USB cable and an accompanying wall adaptor, a pair of basic earphones, some documentation (user manuals and warranty card) and a smart flip cover. One more thing: there is also a SIM ejector PIN included in the packaging. Not because the Camon C9 has a SIM tray but for pushing your microSIM out if need be.

Specifications

• Size: 153 x 76.4 x 10.35mm
• Display: 5.5-inch full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS LCD panel
• Memory: 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage (expandable via microSD up to 128GB)
• Camera: 13MP main with LED flash; 13MP sensor on the front with flash as well
• Processor: Octa-core MediaTek MT 6753 backed by a Mali-T720 GPU
• Operating System: Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Tecno’s HiOS UI on top
• Battery: 3,000 mAh (non-removable)
• Network: 3G, 4G LTE
• Connectivity: Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, microUSB 2.0
• Other: FM radio, dual-SIM

Pricing

The Camon C9 goes for Kshs 18,000, a bit higher than its predecessor’s pricing but the same price bracket of another HiOS-powered Tecno smartphone, the Boom J8 and yet another budget device, the Infinix Zero 3. Does the Camon C9 come anywhere close to the two? Stick around for our in-depth review of the Tecno Camon C9 soon.

Read On Web → Tecno Camon C9: First Look

Infinix has yet again released a 4G version of their phones to the market, and this time it’s a 4G LTE version of their very budget Infinix Hot 3 released earlier this year. If you read my review of the Infinix Hot 3, you will remember that I actually thought this device was quite impressive especially for its low price. The display was crisp, I loved the design and its performance was satisfactory but most importantly, the price was very pocket friendly. Now the 4G version is this and better in a number of aspects.

There are three major areas that have seen upgrades in this iteration of the Infinix Hot 3. These include the camera, processor and of course the 4G connectivity. All the other things are pretty similar, except for the more pronounced textured back cover. For the purposes of this article and the video, I will refer to the previous version as the 3G Infinix Hot 3 and this new one as the 4G version. Sure they have their own model numbers (Infinix X553 for the new 4G version and Infinix X554 for the earlier version) but it seems like a mouthful honestly, so bear with me.

The Camera

So both the front and back facing cameras have seen an improvement in Mega pixel count, although I am not too sure if the sensors have changed. The 3G version had an 8MP back and a 2MP front facing camera. These cameras were not outstanding really. You had to find the utmost right conditions in terms of lighting for it to produce good photos, but they mostly suffered from over exposure and over processing. The front facing camera was sub par as well.

The 4G version comes with a 13MP and 8MP camera combination. These cameras almost corrected the things I didn’t like about the 3G version. They are not perfect but, compared to the 3G version, they are miles better. Over exposure was reduced and color reproduction was quite good as well. Check out the video for some sample shots

The processor

We are used to Infinix devices using Mediatek chips but they decided to use a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip in the Infinix Hot 3 4G version. It comes with an entry level Snapdragon 415 chip octa core processor clocked at 1.4GHz. This spells better performance compared to the quad core Mediatek set up that is present in the 3G version.

In addition to this, the 4G version also comes with more memory,specifically 2GB of RAM compared to the 1GB of RAM present in the 3G version. I found the performance to be smoother, quicker and it better handled multitasking compared to the 3G version.

4G LTE connectivity

4G connectivity simply allows you to have faster internet speeds when browsing or downloading and uploading files and images to the Internet. These speeds can be up to 10 times faster compared to those experienced on 3G connectivity. That’s the pretty scenario that we look forward to when we see 4G, but sometimes this is not the case.

Globally 4G use and implementation has been on the rise with other countries preparing for 5G deployment, yet not all parts of our country have good 3G connectivity let alone 4G, but coverage areas are increasing day by day. If you are lucky and are in an area with good 4G coverage, then you must take advantage of these speeds and with this device you do not have to spend too much money doing so. It’s still a budget device giving you access to some awesome specs without a lot of compromise. I tried browsing on 4G with it and achieved some pretty fast speeds, so this is a plus for me.

With 4G being made more accessible, it makes sense to have a device that will take advantage of it.

There are a couple of things that I think still need fixing in the Infinix Hot 3 like the battery. The 4G version comes with the same size battery but I feel like it drains a bit faster than the 3G version probably due to the hardware upgrades. A bigger battery would have been welcomed.

Conclusion

Overall, I really have no complaints about this device. It is a better version of an already solid budget device. At a retail price of Kshs 11,699, it is still a really good deal. Like I said in the video, if you already have the 3G Infinix Hot 3, I don’t think you need to buy this device as an upgrade. You can just wait for the next phone in the Hot series. However, if you are still considering buying the Infinix Hot 3, I would strongly recommend getting the 4G version. It’s quicker and considerably better than the 3G version for just a few thousand shillings extra. If you can spare that, it’s a pretty solid device.

Read On Web → Review of the 4G LTE Version of the Infinix Hot 3