If you’re looking at buying a new TV in 2017, you’re likely to get hit with a barrage of buzzwords: 4K, OLED, QLED, HDR… it’s enough to make your head spin. All you’re looking for is a good TV, at a great price, and you don’t want to waste money on things you don’t need. Totally reasonable.

When you’re checking out the TVs though, don’t make the mistake of thinking “I don’t need a High Dynamic Range (HDR) TV.” Even if you haven’t the foggiest idea what that means, and have no intention of watching HDR content, buying an HDR TV is the right move. Here’s why.

1. Everything you watch looks better.

Older, pre-HDR TVs (sometimes now called SDR, or standard dynamic range) were required to hit certain minimum requirements for the light and color they could produce. But despite the “HDR” buzzword just permeating the market, TVs (by the logic of being capable of more than minimum requirements) have been capable of “higher” dynamic range for a long time.

This means pretty much any HDR TV out there cannot only still play all of the non-HDR content you’re watching, but it can play it with more control, precision, and accuracy than many older TVs. With its standards set higher (to play HDR content), playing SDR content is a piece of cake for these TVs. Basically, most non-HDR content is going to look better, or at least more accurate, on an HDR TV.

2. Better Wi-Fi streaming

This is a similar argument to the first, but it’s worth hearing out. While knowing the exact Wi-Fi capabilities of every TV in the store is a discouraging task, you can bet that 99% of HDR TVs are going to stream regular content Netflix, or whatever without missing a beat. Because they’re spec’d to be able to handle HDR streaming—which means 4K resolution content with an extra layer of data, to boot—they generally handle less demanding streaming tasks with aplomb.

3. it’s a catch-all for the latest tech.

HDR has been defined as “better pixels,” and that means a lot more than just “brighter, more colourful TVs.” The HDR standard includes 4K resolution as a spec, and also means any HDR TV is outfitted with the latest HDMI inputs and audio pass-thru standards.

This means you don’t really have to choose between “HDR,” “4K,” or any of the latest TV “buzzwords.” HDR TVs encompass and deliver all of those upgrades by default.

4. Future-proof now, worry about it later.

HDR content is coming down the pipeline very quickly. There’s already a decent amount of HDR content on streaming services, and a bunch of HDR Blue-rays, to boot. While broadcast HDR content isn’t here yet, it’s rapidly developing as well.

That means even if you don’t have any way to watch HDR content, it’s eventually going to be so ubiquitous that you won’t have to try very hard to find and enjoy it. What’s more, it means buying a non-HDR TV is planning for some level of obsolescence.

5. You’re not paying any more for it.

TVs with HDR compatibility have become mainstream very quickly—even the entry-level sets from big players like Samsung, LG, Sony, and Hisense are HDR-compatible this year.

Rather than an additional luxury, HDR compatibility is already so widespread that it hardly needs advertising. Suffice to say that buying an HDR TV means buying all the R&D that’s gone into making it capable of hitting the latest benchmarks.

In short, even if a TV is a “sub-par” HDR TV, they’re almost all home runs where standard content playback is concerned.

To complete full HD experience, it’s important to choose the right TV package. You need a Digital HD box to view HD channels on your TV. Digital TV allows you to watch your favorite channels with the sharp pictures and clear sound. Check out flexible and affordable DISH network TV packages that offer you the most entertainment, value and innovation.

WhatsApp is on a roll nowadays, it’s been pushing updates almost every week. The other day, it got the text status back after it was replaced by the 24hrs feature. This week we are getting reports of two new upcoming features. Well one is not totally new, it has simply been made easier to use.

The first feature is changing of fonts into italic, and bold as well as striking it through. In the past, you had to change put asterisks to make words bold now all you have to do is highlight the text then a small menu will give you the option of changing the font. 

Also as a bonus feature, the menu will let you translate words as well as look them up in a dictionary without leaving the conversation. It seems that you will need to have a dictionary app installed in your phone to tap into the word search option. 

The second feature is the most exciting, it will let you revoke sent texts before the receipt reads them or within 5 minutes. This will be done by a new “unsend button” that will be part of this upcoming update.This feature has been rumored many times before but it is still to see the light of day. This time round, it has been said that it will only be accessible through WhatsApp Web initially but will most like trickle down to other platforms with time. The feature has also been improved to let you edit a sent text before the other person reads it. 

We have all been in a situation where we have sent a message with a typo or sent to the wrong recipient, this revoke feature will be a very welcome addition to the beloved chat app. 

Yesterday, a group known as Shadow Brokers released tools used by the NSA to hack into windows computers. The tools are currently available to any hacker out there. 

The tools used several exploits that were available from Windows XP and above. Since the tools seem to have been made in 2013, it is unclear if they affect Windows 10 since it wasn’t launched then. The vulnerabilities are designed to affect any computer that is connected to a public network or the Internet. 

Fortunately Microsoft first released a report saying that they have already patched all those exploits. It seems some of those patches were in security updates that were released back in March. This shows that Microsoft knew about the exploits way before they were publicized yesterday which is commendable of them. 

The only catch is, users running Windows Vista and XP are unlikely to get the security updates. This is because those operating systems are no longer supported. Microsoft used this opportunity to remind people to upgrade to Windows 7 and above to shield themselves from such issues. Perhaps an updated Antivirus might protect them for now. In case you have Windows 7 or above, all you have to do is install security updates once you get prompted to, you will need to connect to the Internet first for the updates to be downloaded. 

Meet the HTC One X10, it’s a phone that has the premium look and feel of the HTC One line but has an affordable price tag. 

It comes with a metallic body, and fully glass front. The front also houses a 5.5 inch Super LCD screen with Gorilla Glass for protection. The fingerprint was moved to the back unlike in the HTC 10.

Despite the lack of stereo speakers, Boom sound audio is still on board via the earphones. Yes, the 3.5mm jack is on board. It seems HTC backtracked on their decision to omit it in future phones after skipping it on the HTC U Ultra. 

HTC is betting big on battery life this time round, the One X10 comes with a gigantic 4000mAh battery. On the photography department, we have a 16MP rear camera with F2.0 Aperture, a dedicated pro mode but the video only maxs out at 1080p. The selfie is catered for by an 8MP camera with an F2.2 aperture. There’s a mode that lets you take pictures with both the cameras at the same time. 

HTC is one of the the big manufacturers that has started using Mediatek processors to keep the cost of their products low. These processors are battery efficient and have decent performance, they are the ones we find in all Infinix and Tecno phones. In the HTC One X10, we have the Mediatek Helio P10 coupled with 3GB of RAM, 32GB internal storage with 2TB expansion allowance. 

The phone is currently only available in Russia and is going for RUB 19,990 (KES 35,500/ $355).We have our fingers crossed for Africa availability. 

Facebook, parent company of Instagram, reported that Instagram stories feature has over 200 million users.  This figure is much bigger than the total number of people that use Snapchat as a whole, 160 million. In case you are keeping score, the totality of Instagram has 600 million users as of August last year. The number of people in Snapchat that use the stories feature was not reported. Well to be fair, Instagram has been around a lot longer than Snapchat so it is expected to have more users.

The statistics of Instagram stories are important since Facebook stole the feature from Snapchat. You see, the social network giant tried to buy Snapchat in 2013 for a whopping $3 Billion, that’s three times the amount that Instagram was acquired with. Snapchat, however, rejected the offer.

Since then, Facebook has been busy stealing all the features that make Snapchat unique starting with the stories feature. In WhatsApp (another Facebook’s acquisition), the feature is called Status, it also dwells in Facebook’s messenger as well.

Facebook doesn’t seem to be done with the copying, they recently announced selfie stickers, sticker pinning for videos and custom geo stickers for the city of Chicago, London, Madrid and Tokyo.

Do you think Snapchat made a good move rejecting the offer from Facebook? Do you think it is right for Facebook to bully its way by copying all the features that differentiate Snapchat? Well at least for the first question, Snapchat is doing great on its own, it is now worth over $20Billion according to the IPO Valuation it got.

Apple has been getting heated competition in China, the world’s largest smartphone market. Recently, Chinese brands have been flying off the shelves, they offer features that rival and even beat those of the iPhone for a fraction of the price. We have seen brands such as Oppo make bold moves such as having better cameras in the front than on the back, others like Xiaomi has gone beyond normal phone designs to bring truly bezeless phones such as the Xiaomi Mi Mix, not forgetting Huawei’s very successful partnership with Leica to bring professional grade photography on smartphones.
This efforts have seen Android rise in dominance in China. Currently, the Goggle OS has an 86.4% market share in China, that’s a 8.9% gain compared to last year. On the other hand, Apple’s IOS enjoys only 13.2% of the market, a 9.3% drop since last year. In fact, this is the lowest percentage Apple has had in the last 3 years.
Crossing over to the USA, Apple’s home country, you would expect them to have an upper hand over Android but that isn’t the case. Apple’s iOS share stands at 42% while that of Android is at 55.9%. Well some may argue that the USA is also android’s home turf, sure it is, but most of the hardware manufacturers utilizing that OS comes from other countries.
These stats cover a 3 months period that ended in February 2017 as researched by Kantar. Now that the stunning Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ is out and already breaking sales records, it will be interesting to see how the market share tide shifts.

Huawei has been having a great time this year, recently they announced that their flagship the Huawei P9 sold 12 million units, they are now back to the headlines with yet another record broken.
The Huawei Mate series is their most high end line, it is also obviously their most expensive product line. It is intended for power users and corporate consumers. For the top dollar, you get a 5.9 inch screen, huge 4,000mAh battery, dual Leica cameras( 12MP+20MP) ,the latest kirin 960 processor and a beautiful metallic design. Those are just a few of the highlights of these great device. It seems consumers really liked the features and has translated into great sales.

The Mate 9 has sold 36% more than the previous Mate 8, and the Huawei P9 improved by an impressive 152% than its predecessor the P8.
These Mate 9 numbers could be inclusive of its two iterations namely the Mate 9 Pro and the Mate 9 Porsche Edition. The 9 Pro differs only in the curved 5.5 inch AMOLED screen and 6GB RAM while the Porsche Edition is just as the 9 Pro specs wise but was remade by Porsche Design, it is also the most expensive of the 3.
This great sale have cemented Huawei’s number 3 spot in the biggest phone manufacturers of the world. With consistently great products such as the one we are currently reviewing, the Huawei Gr5, the company has a bright future ahead.

Apple iPhones usually have beautiful designs. Sure, the design is changed once every two years after the S version of every iterations, but in overall, they maintain consistently appealing aesthetics.

Many manufacturers have been accused of copying the iPhone design, in both software and hardware. Samsung got the full wrath after a billion dollar lawsuit that accused it of ‘copying iPhones icons and gestures.’ Seems Apple copies too, meet the iPhone 8, a lovechild between an iPhone 7 and an LG G6.

Flip to the back and that’s where we can see traces of the previous iPhone 7 . The dual cameras are still present but they have a vertical orientation this time round. Surprisingly, the Fingerprint sensor has now been moved to the rear. The antenna line seem to be going the full outline of the back but in the colored render on the side, it is similar to the ones on the current iPhone 7. The dimensions of the device have been leaked as 149 x 72.5 x 7.1, meaning that it is a bit thinner than the LG G6 but similar to the IPhone 7.
This isn’t the first time Apple has coped other manufacturers. The iPhone 7 rear design was copied from Meizu, a Chinese company that is ironically frequently accused of copying the iPhone. Also, most of the features we are seeing in IOS have been copied from Android and Samsung TouchWiz UI, they include split screen multitasking, widgets, and more. Steve Jobs was once quoted saying that “great artists don’t copy, they steal” that’s food for thought.

As the name suggests, this update comes with new features for the content creators but there are also some for consumers too. This creators update bring the following features:

3D painting software
Remember the Microsoft Paint app you used to draw objects with when you were young, the tech giant has decided it’s time to revamp it. The new Paint software comes with the ability to paint or doodle 3D objects. The previous functionalities still remains, only better.

Game streaming
Nowadays, with fast and cheap Internet solutions, it is becoming a trend for people to stream their games online to fans. Microsoft bought a company called Beam to compete with the reigning king called Twitch that is owned by Amazon. The streaming feature will reside in the Xbox app on Windows 10. To stream a game, you simple press Windows key +G while playing and you will get a pop up that will allow you to go live.

Game mode
Windows 10 will have a mode that will increase gaming performance. It will do so by prioritizing resources to your game and also limiting the background processes.

Faster and smarter Edge browser
Edge is now lighter and faster. It will also consume less battery life on laptops. Microsoft also made improvements on tabs, you can view them all at a glance (like you do in chrome) and you can also hide them to read later.

Night light
speaking of reading, if you are doing it at night, your eyes will be protected by night light feature. It is the same one that is built into smartphones from Android and even iPhones.

Privacy controls
Microsoft will now allow to go chose whether you want targeted ads, to share your location with them, to send diagnostic reports and more.

Availability

This update will be coming to you in a couple of days. But if you don’t wait to wait, you can simply download and install it manually.

Vista was a troubled Windows version, it is also among the least popular. To make matters worse, it had the misfortune of being a successor to the Windows XP which was a user favorite at the time, very big shoes to fill.

Vista used to be very intensive of the computer resources. Specifications that ran Windows XP decently were insufficient for Vista. Even those that were powerful enough to handle Vista were met with bugs and glitches all over. Microsoft realized this and quickly released the awesome Windows 7.

With today’s news, the cease of support for Vista doesn’t mean the OS will stop functioning, it means that there will be no further security updates. Computers running Vista will be left vulnerable to future security attacks. Microsoft does this to encourage users to move to newer versions of Windows and to allocate their resources and focus to versions that have larger consumer usage.

Windows 10 is quite revolutionary and it keeps getting better with frequent updates such as the Creators Update released today, it is a perfect time to make the leap. In case the move to the new windows tile based metro design is not to your liking, Windows 7 might be a better fit, it has similar UI and navigation as Vista.

If you thought the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 debacle would slow down the sales of the Galaxy S8, well you thought wrong. Samsung has been having a grand slam at its home country South Korea.
If you remember during the unveiling of the Galaxy S8, we mentioned that there would be a 6GB RAM version but only in select markets. South Korea and China are already confirmed to have it. Sales of this special version started 5 days ago with 150,000 units each priced at $1,020 (KES 102,000) each.
Despite being the most expensive Galaxy phone, all the units got sold out. Perhaps the free Samsung Dex station that comes free with each purchase boosted the sales; the Dex station normally retails at $150 (KES 15,000). Samsung plans on bringing the next batch at the end of May.
The standard Galaxy S8 and S8+ are also doing great. The duo has 550,000 units sold on the first two days after their launch in Korea. This record will make it the best selling Samsung Galaxy in history. The Galaxy Note 7 last year sold 300,000 units in its first two days. The Galaxy S7 only moved 100,000 units.
Samsung is yet to start sales in other countries, the US and other regions in the West are getting the device on the 21st of April. African countries will get it from May. Will the same sales momentum continues? It is very likely, Samsung is planning major marketing strategies to push the phone. The vigorous marketing has already started in South Korea and we can all see its results.

Facebook messenger is one of the few apps in the super elite league that enjoys more then a billion users. Despite this success, this communication app is still continually making its services better with numerous updates. 

The latest update is quite a significant one, it introduces the Facebook M assistant. This assistant is not like what we have in Siri, Google Now or new entrant, Samsung Bixby. Instead, its meant to give users smart suggestions based on what they are messaging, for instance, if your friend is asking about your current whereabouts, the M assistant will bring a suggestion bubble that will offer to send your map location in a single tap. That will save you the trouble of typing and/or sending your location manually. The recipient can then have M assistant book an Uber ride for them to your location automatically, it’s quite intuitive. 

Even further, the assistant can also suggest fun stickers based on your conversion topics. If the group chat gets heated and you need to take a vote, M assistant can create a poll for you and so much more. 

Currently, only our friends at the USA have the update, but Facebook promises that they will roll out the new version to  other countries in a matter of days. So head to the Google PlayStore or the Apple Appstore to check if the update has come your way. Those running Windows Phone OS are not on the update schedule unfortunately, but it’s not surprising seeing that Facebook already pulled the plug on Windows Phone 8 and 8.1.

Xiaomi makes good quality products and sells them at low unbeatable prices. They achieve this by mainly selling their products online and having almost no marketing budget. Today they are bringing the successor to the Mi VR play. 

The Mi VR Play 2 is much more refined compared to its predecessor. It has a new design that uses a cloth like material to make it more comfortable on the face and much lighter. 

Since Virtual Reality is very intensive in the processor, devices tend to get hot. To solve this, the Mi VR Play 2 has small holes in it for cooling purposes. 

Also, the mechanism of attaching the phone to the VR has been improved, it no longer uses the zip that the previous iteration had. 

Since this is a Xiaomi product, the price is expected to be very competitive, in fact it’s one of the the cheapest in its class. At only $14 (KES 1,400) you can get into the Virtual Reality world. The only catch is to wait for the device to be sold outside China, that’s the only market whose availability has been confirmed so far. 

One Plus is a young company with big ambitions, last year, they released the One Plus 3 and a refresh called 3T. These phones come with specs that rival the flagship phones from veteran manufacturers like Samsung and LG but at a much reduced price, for instance, the One Plus 3 had same CPU, snapdragon 820, as the LG G5, HTC 10 and even the Samsung Galaxy S7 but it was priced at only $399 (KES 39,999) while those other competitors were north of $600 at lauch. Even more incredible, these One Plus phones came with a whopping 6GB RAM while it’s more expensive rivals maxed out 4GB. Needless to say, the One Plus phones were flying off the shelves and they are now due for a refresh, meet the One Plus 5.

You might be wondering why there isn’t a One Plus 4, well, that number is considered unlucky in China, One Plus’s home country. 

The One Plus 5 is said to have a curved screen with very thin bezels just like the Samsung Galaxy S8. The display will also match the S8 in resolution, QHD. Curved displays have traditionally been AMOLED, so we expect that it will be the same technology in place in the One Plus 5 too. 

In terms of processing power, the One Plus 5 will have the powerful Snapdragon 835,  just like the Galaxy S8, and a whopping 8GB RAM. Today’s processors can accommodate such amounts of RAM and considering that last year’s One Plus phone had 6GB RAM, there is a high chance that the 8GB RAM rumor might actually pan out. 

Other specs include 7mm thin buddy, capacitive keys under the new screen and, relocation of the finger print scanner to the back of phone. 

Judging from previous One Plus offerings, this phone will come with a price tag of between $399 to $499 (KES 39,999 to 49,999). In Kenya, you can grab yourself a One Plus 3 or 3T at Avechi. In the meantime, let’s wait and see if this rumors come true. 

Infinix just released the S2 Pro, the successor to the Hot S. As you many have noticed, the ‘Hot’  name has been dropped this time round, just like we had stated earlier. This change is welcome as the Infinix Pro S2 is a big revolution from what we get in the affordable ‘Hot’  series of phone. 

First off, the S2 Pro comes with a dual selfie camera. It didn’t stop at that, one camera sensor is 13MP for high resolution solo selfies and the second one is an 8MP camera for ultra wide shots that cover a whopping 135 degrees field of view. That will be more than enough to make sure all your buddies fit in that group shot. The rear shooter is also a 13MP sensor without the fancy dual camera tech. This trend of having more powerful selfie cameras than rear shooters was started by Oppo, we are glad to see Infinix make it affordable for the masses. 

The phone comes with a 5.2 inch HD IPS display that’s runs on an octa core Mediatek 6753 which is more than capable to push such a resolution. Multitasking will be handled by a 3GB RAM and 32 GB expandable memory, but there seems to be a version with 2GB RAM.

All these components are housed in a beautiful metallic body that had a 2.5D glass on top and shiny antenna lines that are going to turn heads. 

A fingerprint sensor is on board; it lets you do several operations with it other than unlocking. These feature include snapping photos, taking calls and more. All these functionality is baked into XOS running on Android 6.0. I was really hoping the phone would launch with Android 7.0 Nougat, it would have been quite a pleasure running split screen multitasking on such generous amounts of RAM. 

A 3000 mAh battery keeps the lights on and the X Charge feature ensures that its filled up as fast as possible. 

Lastly you can grab your Infinix S2 Pro at Jumia for the affordable price of 15, 699. Color choice include Gold, black, silver and Rose gold. The one is already available for sale. 

The Samsung Galaxy  Note 7, explosion references aside, was a truly iconic device, most media houses gave it a near perfect score. Even after the explosion incidences some uses were reluctant to return theirs. 

It seems people still want the phone back and Samsung decided to take heed as we had indicated earlier. 

The refurbishing plan looks like it is moving on as planned now that actual devices have started leaking. It’s only a matter of time now that stores will start stocking the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

From the leak, we learned a couple of things, the battery is now smaller,  3200mAh down from the 3500mAh of the initial version. It had been reported that the first version of the phone exploded due to faulty battery and tightly packed internal components. This slightly smaller battery solves both problems, it frees up space inside the phone and it’s a revised version without the exploding tendencies. 

There was a speculation that Samsung would change the name of the the phone and sure enough there is an indication that this is coming true. The leaked Note 7 has the model number 935 while the initial one was 930, however the new name wasn’t stated. 

According to availability, the countries that will have it will be dictated by the local laws and regulations. The USA and India will be among those that won’t be getting it. We got our fingers crossed that it comes to Africa and most importantly that the explosion issues are fully solved this time round. 

When Kenyan’s are given an opportunity they seize the idea and run with it. Kenyan’s are smart, innovative and have a talent in making money while creating solutions. This is the reason Kenya’s ICT sector has been the most consistent and one of the key drivers of Kenya’s economic growth in the last decade. In just a few years, groups of Kenyans have had great tech innovations that have been tested and deployed. These startups have not only been helpful but also have great potential to be introduced in other emerging economies. Kenyan startups have created jobs, real change and inspiration for other innovators to build in Africa. Here are five most innovative tech startups in Kenya.

M-KOPA Solar

Before M-kOPA Solar, many Kenyans were still using kerosene for their lamps which had obvious negative effects as it was expensive and is non-renewable. Since M-KOPA solar began it has been providing clean and affordable energy that has replaced Kerosene lamps. Currently, users purchase 8W power by paying a deposit of Sh50 per day through mobile money after which the power system becomes free for use in 12 months. In 2015, M-KOPA solar announced that they would have connected one million homes to solar units by the end of 2017.

Sendy

Forget DHL for a minute and think about a service that ensures you receive and send a package in a secure and timely way. With the busy roads that we have, making a delivery can be tedious and nerve wrecking. Sendy helped us out with their app that connects independent motorbike riders with clients that need courier services. It is basically like a uber for motorbike’s but for delivery purposes. It is a user-friendly app with an easy mobile money and visa payment system.

Chura

This startup was formed by a group of University of Nairobi students that created mobile money additional services. Chura, which means frog in Swahili allows users to leap between between mobile money services in different networks. Because of this startup customers can also exchange airtime for money across mobile networks, send airtime to someone in a different network and buy airtime or data using any of the mobile money services.

M-Changa

M-Changa is a mobile and an online platform that helps users raise funds through M-Pesa, Airtel Money and PayPal, meaning anyone even friends outside the country can contribute to a fundraiser. This new method sets us apart from the traditional harambee ways we usually use to raise money. It saves people transport and event planning money. Over 10,000 people have used M-Changa, driven to the platform by M-Changa’s unique mix of integrating SMS and social media to reach and engage customers.

The Huawei GR5 is a truly incredible phone, I have been using it for two whole days now and I decided to give you a glimpse of my experience so far. This first impression will serve as a trailer of what is to come in the final and in-depth review.

To start with, the GR5 is designed for the young, trendy and photogenic audience.  Those that are looking for a phone that is beautiful enough to complement their fashion conscious personalities as well as capture their surroundings with detailed photos that leave nothing to chance. With such a target market, design and the camera features should be a top priority. Does the Huawei GR5 measure up? Let’s find out.

Design and display

The GR5 design is one to behold. The front has 2.5D glass that curves all so slightly towards the edges to meet the smooth metallic back. The back has a contour that follows the curvature of the human hand to ensure great ergonomics. The rear hosts dual camera lenses slightly raised with a polished metallic border around them. Next to it is a circular fingerprint sensor that is indented for easier access, it also has a shiny polished borders. The only negative is that the back is so slippery and the phone isn’t very secure in the hand. Luckily, the phone is not heavy and its slim 8.2mm dimensions make it easier to grasp even with one hand. The curve on the back gives an illusion of the phone being slimmer than it is.

Pressing the power button turns the 5.5 inch IPS display on. The full HD panel is sharp with true to life colours that aren’t saturated. In case you prefer more richness in your renderings, there is a color temperature setting that contains the options of default, ‘hot’ and ‘cold’, with cold being the most saturated. You can also choose your own custom saturation with a colour slider. The panel gets bright enough for sunlight legibility but the reflection of the display can get in the way sometimes. At night, the screen’s brightness can get low enough to avoid squinting. In addition, there is a handy ‘eye protection’ mode available for filtering harmful light from the display at night.

Camera

The shooter at the back is Dual 12MP + 2 MP depth sensor. This rear camera has a tonne of features, Huawei didn’t leave any stoned unturned in this department. The 2MP collects depth information to give you great looking background-defocus shots or what they call bokeh effect. The effect is trending nowadays but only a handful of phones can do it, otherwise you will need a professional DSLR camera to put it off. Huawei GR5 goes further to let you change focus even after you have already taken the shot, which is very convenient.

There is also a very unique night mode on board. It takes several consecutive pictures each with more light than the previous one, then after the whole process is done, the camera gives you the best photo of them all. You can also grab a photo of your own as the process continues.

There is also other features like slo-mo mode, HDR, beauty photo and beauty video, good food mode, the incredible light painting and even a document scan mode.

Lastly, there is no self-respecting camera that lacks pro-mode, the GR5 has it too, it comes with a lot of options in form of sliders to fine tune the photos to your liking.

The selfie camera is an 8MP shooter. It comes with a beauty slider that hides any blemish on the subject’s face. Other modes include panorama which would be very handy for group selfies, time lipse mode, beauty photo and video and finally a very interesting make up mode. This last mode lets you set virtual make up on your face, it comes complete with lipstick that is very spot on. It knows where your lips are and it applies lipstick right on them.

Performance and software

There is more to the GR5 apart from photography and design. The phone packs a Kirin 655, a capable octa core coupled with a generous 3GB of RAM. The device performs fluidly through all operations. Multitasking, as you would expect from such amount of RAM, is a breeze. I tried some gaming with titles such as the Dream League Soccer 17 and it was smooth all through and interestingly, the phone did not heat up.

The software inside is the Android 6.0 running under Huawei’s custom skin the EMUI 4. This UI is very elaborate, it changes every facet of stock android, you get a revamped notifications pull down,  reorganized settings, no application drawer (which needs some getting used to) and much more. There is no trace of the Google OS left uncovered. Huawei did it in a manner that does not slow down the device, it is very well optimized. Honestly, I prefer a manufacturer that makes an effort to differentiate their devices from the pool of phones running stock software. Huawei implements value adding features such as battery manager which gives exhaustive control on battery usage and even alerts you when an app drains too much the juice.

Battery

The battery caps at 3340mAh. Am still testing its longevity but so far so good. Battery saving features are in plenty including the very crucial ultra-power saving mode. Unfortunately the phone takes quite a long time to fill up.

Stay tuned

This was just a first impressions preview, more information on the phone will be coming soon including camera samples, multimedia dissection, battery longevity details and more so stay tuned to TechMoran

People have gone great lengths to take selfie. Some have even put their lives at risk just to snap a moment. One might think there is an ongoing selfie competition. What these people fail to understand is that great photos are not measured by how risky they were ,but by the creativity behind them. Otherwise if the risk factor was the winning aspect then galleries would be filled with pictures of snakes, rooftops and other fatal stunts. 

Speaking of fatal, a lady in Auburn, Alabama decided to take a selfie at the catwalk of the 730ft Forest Hill Bridge. In the process, she fell down 60ft on a nearby terrain. She was airlifted to Sutter Ville Medical Centre. There was no word on her injuries. 

The Sheriff of that area said that the lady was lucky to be alive.  Had she fallen on the 730ft height, she wouldn’t have survived. The Sheriff also insisted that the bridge catwalk area is a restricted place and anyone caught there is subject to arrest and prosecution. The bridge even contains a sign to emphasize on the same. Despite this, the catwalk has been  notorious for daredevils and trespassers. At some point, there were people jumping from the bridge with parachutes,  others took photos hanging from under it. To curb this issues, the Sheriff has added patrols in the area. 

We can only remind readers that a bad selfie can be replaced with another but a life once lost is irreplaceable. Don’t get carried away by peer pressure and taking risks with your life. Selfie cameras are getting better each passing day, it has become easy to get great photos without putting your life at risk. 

Xiaomi has been a very unique company, it is very young, less than 7 years old, and only operates in Asian countries and a few select others. Despite this limited history and expansion, Xiaomi was once the 3rd largest phone manufacturers by sales in the world. Currently, the company is at the 5th position thanks to heated competition from Huawei and Oppo. 

The company is not resting however, it has recently been releasing remarkable devices such as the borderless Xiaomi Mix and the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 which has a curved screen rivaling the new Galaxy S8. 

Today, the company launched yet another compelling device, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 . Its a high end tablet with a 2k display, 1536 * 2048 resolution to be exact, all cramped into a 7.9 inch display same as Mi Pad 2. Under the hood we get a mediatek 8176 which comes with two very powerful A72 cores and four A53s. Multitasking will be very fluid thanks to a 4GB RAM which is double what the Mi Pad 2 had. The OS is Android 7.0 nougat running under the MIUI 8.
The battery got bumped to 6600mAh which Xiaomi says will be good for 867 hrs of standby  which is quite impressive for a device with 2k screen resolution and a thin 7mm body. And did we mention that the chasis is all metallic?
All this going for only $220 (KES 22,000) at that price point, you will be hard pressed to find a tablet with 2K screen resolution, 4GB RAM and metallic body.  In Kenya, you can find this device at Avechi, Jumia does not stock Xiaomi devices yet. 

Isn’t technology getting crazier by the day? We are now in an era where we can wear clothes that are gadgets and now we have a prototype for a new device that says it can kill 99.7 percent bacteria. In case you were wondering what causes the smell that permeates your shoes, it is simply bacteria that is doing wonders. This new gadget called SoleMate promises to eliminate every germ that causes shoe foot and germ odor.

The gadget comes in a cylinder-shape that is split in different parts that are controlled by a Bluetooth app. I cannot imagine a gadget that would actively remove the smell from my shoes and especially because it takes an hour to do so. The device has been said to have a very accurate system and works reasonably well. Just by the use of this device your shoes are meant to be sterilized by the use of a patented system. Ideally, you could just wash your shoes and it removes most of the small but it doesn’t destroy the structures or pathogens that could cause foot fungus and other infections. It has an ionic deodorization produces negative ions to eliminate every germ that causes shoe and foot odor.

So how does it work? SoleMate has an innovative modular design that allows the sterilization process to cover each part of the shoe and be more efficient than traditional shoe sterilizers. The whole point is to fit easily inside of all shoe types and sizes (including kids), from leather boots to canvas sneakers. It even works with gloves to deliver bacteria a knockout punch. Clearly this shows that medical technology is growing and SoleMate has done so by creating a solution for a medical problem that is a problem for most people.