Taxify just reduced prices in Nairobi for a limited period; the exact time frame was, however, not specified. This announcement just intensified the already heated Taxi hailing business in Kenya especially its capital, Nairobi. Many players have been battling for market share with price cuts being made left and right. Most recently, MaraMoja Transport announced lowered fares that dependent on off-peak and peak hours. With all these changes, we were curious how Little Cabs’ and Uber’s rates compare with the newly reduced prices. Note that all figures are in KShs.

*Taxify takes 15% commission while Uber goes for 25%.

*MaraMoja’s prices are limited to off peak (8PM to 6AM) and peak hours (6AM to 8PM)

The Taxify price drop comes days after Didi Chuxing invested into the company. Didi is the leading Taxi hailing firm in China and has already bought off Uber’s business in that country. The investment was to enable Taxify to expand to other regions such as Europe, Asia and Africa.  This will lead to the services growing into other towns within Kenya to reach more customers.

Drivers might be wondering if the reduced Taxify prices will translate to them getting lower pays, but worry not, an email communication from the company promised to compensate them accordingly.

“While lowering the prices, we’ll be compensating our drivers with bonuses, to compensate the difference. Our focus is to provide drivers with better revenue per ride and keeping them happy with earnings and support we provide, which leads to ultimately better service for clients. Both sides win with Taxify”. stated the email.

Google seems to have an app for all essential functions of Android phones, from Keep for note taking, to Pixel launcher and even a keyboard app. All these products try to bring customers to key Google money-makers such as the search engine and YouTube. That objective remains true even in today’s update of Google’s Gboard Keyboard app.

The Gboard keyboard comes with a ‘G’ button that has all the Google magic packed in it. If you want to share your location with a friend, the G button will help you thanks to its integration to Google maps. Right from the keyboard you can share your location without having to go back and forth between the Maps app and the messaging one.

The same convenience was extended to sharing videos. The ‘G’ button will help you “look up a video” from YouTube directly from within the keyboard app. You can just as easily share videos with those you are chatting with. Search results from Google are also supported.

Apart from the integration of YouTube, Maps and Google Search, the update also brings doodling and new languages; they include Arabic, Hebrew and Farsi.

So now go ahead and get this keyboard while it’s still hot. The update is already live at the Play store, in case you do not find it, give it a couple of days, sometimes it takes time to get to this side of the pond.

It’s about the time of the year where major smartphone companies release the phones that will be their flag bearers for the remaining part of the calendar. Samsung is one such company, and they are preparing to launch the Galaxy Note 8. It will be the successor of the ill-fated Note 7 that fans have been waiting for a long time despite the refurbished version being released recently.

According to pictures leaked by the famous –and often very accurate- tipster Evleaks, we can see the design will be a slight alteration of what we have on the Samsung Galaxy S8. The Infinity Display makes a come-back, but this time, it has square corners instead of the round ones of the S8.

The Evleaks render also confirmed that there will be a midnight black color option. However, there was another set of images that was released showing a beautiful gold color version. This second leak even had the S Pen shown. Apparently, the Pen will have the same color as the phone (gold colored phone= gold colored S Pen).

The back of the phone will carry the often rumored dual camera set up. It is not clear what will be the exact purpose of the second camera, for instance , monochrome shooting like Huawei  or for telescopic like the iPhone, but rest assured that whichever the case, Samsung will not disappoint, they have been chart toppers in photography for a long time.

The rest of the specifications include a Snapdragon 835 or Exynos 8895 for some regions. Both variants will be accompanied by 4GB RAM. The screen will be 6.4 inches but will occupy a much smaller footprint due to Infinity Display bezel-less nature. The device will be both water and dust resistant just like its predecessor. Samsung plans on launching the Note 8 on August 23^th in New York City.

Nokia found a new home at HMD. 4 phones have already been released into the Kenyan market among them being the classic Nokia 3310. Here are the specs of the remaining 3 android smartphones with their corresponding prices.

Nokia used to be a household name back in the day, but after most of its asset were bought by Microsoft, its future seemed deem. However HMD brought back the Nokia brand with emphasis on the signature features that make Nokia great. The company today re-entered the Kenyan market with 4 new phones.

HMD has had a lot of success in other countries such as China where it partnered with online retailers such as JD.com. Nokia 6, for example,  has had instances where it sold out within minutes after going on sale. In Kenya, Nokia has partnered with Google to bring the latest android in its purest form without any manufacturer skin to bog down the update process. Other partners include Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom.

Among the 4 phones are classics such as Nokia 3310 which was once the most sold phone in its time. These Nokia phones range from KShs 5,000 for the 3310 to KShs 25.000 for the Nokia 6.

Here are some of the main features of the 4 phones.

Nokia 3

• 5 inch HD IPS
• Mediatek 6737
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB internal, expandable to 256GB
• 8MP rear camera
• 8MP front camera
• Android 7.0 Nougat
• 2630mAh battery
• PRICE 14,999

Nokia 5

• 2 inch HD IPS
• Snapdragon 430
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB internal, expandable to 256GB
• 13MP rear camera
• 8MP front camera
• Android 7.1.1 Nougat
• 3000 mAh battery
• PRICE 19,999

Nokia 6

• 5 inch Full HD IPS
• Snapdragon 430
• 3GB RAM/4GB
• 32GB/64GB internal, expandable to 256GB
• 16MP rear camera
• 8MP front camera
• Android 7.1.1 Nougat
• 3000 mAh battery
• PRICE 24,999

Nokia 3310

• 4 inch TFT
• 16MB
• Expandable to 32GB
• 2MP rear camera
• 1200mAh battery
• Dual Sim
• 4,999

Android – being the biggest smartphone platform right now- is a major target for malware attacks. Just as this operating system was recovering from the attack on the Google Playstore, today we get a warning about a whole new threat.

ESET East Africa, an internet security company, has issued an alert to android users warning them to be wary of alternative app stores. The company’s Kenya County Manager, Teddy Njoroge, said that;

“Just like SMS trojans, ransomware threats have evolved over the past few years with hackers adopting techniques that have proven effective in regular desktop malware to develop lock-screen types and file-encrypting ransomware. These have been causing major financial and data losses for years and have now made their way to the Android platform.“

The company has recently discovered that www.CepKutusu.com, a Turkish alternative Android app store was spreading malware under the guise of all the offered Android apps on the site. According to the researchers, the site was giving users seven days of clean apps before redirecting you to a link that would download a mobile banking malware referred to as Android/Spy.Banker.IE

The researchers tried to reach out to the store operator about the discovery and the website responded by ceasing the malicious activity. Lukas Stefanko, an Android malware researcher at ESET had not seen this type of tactic before.

“This is the first time I’ve seen an entire Android market infected like that. Within the Windows ecosystem and in browsers, this technique is known to have been used for some time but in the Android ecosystem, it’s really a new attack vector“ he said.

Despite the fact that the mobile banking malware was only focused on Turkey and other parts of Europe, Njoroge advised that users should always get apps from official app stores and practice caution when downloading any content from the web. In addition it is recommended to pay attention to anything suspicious in file name, size and extension as well as getting yourself a reliable mobile security solution to protect you from the latest threats

Last year Motorola, Lenovo’s new company, released a modular phone which made airwaves for its amazing Moto Mods. We had the pleasure of using it for a week – you can find the detailed review here– and we came out very impressed. Moto mods are hardware components that are attached to the rear of the device via magnetic snap to add extra functionality. The company promised to continue with the trend in all their future offerings. This means that all Moto Z series phones will have same length and width dimensions and will be compatible with all Moto mods ever made.

Yesterday, Motorola launched the sequel and, true to their promise, it supports Moto Mods. Meet the new Moto Z2 Force, the successor to both the initial Moto Z and the Moto Z Force. This year, they will only release one phone in the high end Z series. This new Z2 Force will encompass the best attributes from the 2 prior devices.

Moto Z2 Force

The Moto Z2 Force comes with a redesigned back; there will be no more glass parts at the top and bottom. Instead, the antenna line will run through the entire back outline circumventing the metallic rear casing. The fingerprint on the front is now oval shape rather than the rectangular of the initial Moto Z.

The display is now shatterproof, a technology that was exclusive to last year’s Moto Z Force thanks to Shatter Shield Glass. The screen remains at QHD resolution with a 5.5 inch P-OLED AMOLED display. It comes with 12MP dual rear cameras. One is monochrome –black and white- the other one is colored, this combination helps with better low light photography. These cameras are accompanied with laser auto focus and dual LED dual tone flash. The front camera is 5MP which also happens to pack a dual LED dual tone flash for better night selfies.

True to Motorola’s Google roots, the phone comes with the latest android 7.1.1 nougat in an almost stock version. It runs on a Snapdragon 835 with 4GB or 6GB RAM depending on regions. The storage base starts at a generous 64GB and is expandable to 256GB. The Bluetooth 4.2 LE will be upgraded to the new and powerful  5.0 once the Android O update comes in.

Just like last year, no 3.5mm audio jack is available, so earphones will have to go through the USB type C port or via the packaged adapter (USB-C to 3.5mm audio jack).

Now to the not-so-good part, the new Moto Z2 Force inherited the anorexic waistline of the Moto Z, unfortunately, the battery had to be shaved off to fit. We now have a 2730mAh battery down from the great 3500mAh of the previous Z Force to achieve the 6.1mm waist. Fortunately the turbo charger 15W is still available for quick top ups. Motorola says that despite the smaller battery, the phone can still give a whole day of usage. You can find full specifications here.

Moto 360 Camera Mod

The Moto 360 camera mod is the latest addition to the modular units. Just as the name suggests, it is a camera attachment that can shoot 360 degree videos; it snaps on the back of the phone magnetically. (It can also work with last year’s Moto Z)

It comes with video editing software that users can access through the camera interface. The software lets you trim, add effects and even make a flat 1080p video from the 360 degree one right on the go, you no longer need a computer to do this. The Mod can also record 3D audio for an immersive experience.

Pricing and Availability

The Moto Z2 Force will be released first in the US then Brazil, Asia and Africa will follow. It will be sold at $720, while other reports point to $799. Pre orders in the US are already on going with shipments to be made from August 10^th. Early birds will get a free Projector Moto Mod valued at $300. The Moto 360 Camera Mod will go for $299.