Author: Kaluka wanjala

Back in 2017, WhatsApp added an option for users to delete messages they accidentally send. This was a much-needed addition but was not perfect as users could only delete messages within the first 7 minutes of sending them. This was still good but not in all cases, there are situations where you need to recall the messages after 7 minutes but you are not able to. If this was you, I have good news for you. WhatsApp plans to give you more time and will increase the time you need to at least an hour. The exact time will be…

Earlier today, Telkom Kenya officially introduced its new mobile money service, T-Kash. This new service is replacing Orange Money, a service the company axed a couple of months back. T-Kash is here to compete with Safaricom’s M-Pesa and Airtel Money. Safaricom has a firm grip on the mobile money sector in Kenya and Telkom will not have an easy ride as they try to penetrate the market. For Telkom Kenya, T-Kash isn’t just another M-Pesa competitor, the company hopes it will be a reliable and alternative service for users. “With this service, we are offering a viable alternative mobile money…

Microsoft is about to roll out a major update to its official Android launcher. This is one of the many Android applications by the company and has been available to Android users for quite some time. Microsoft launcher is not the most popular launcher as that crown is held by other older and established launchers such as Nova. Microsoft wants to do all it can to make its launcher the go to one by adding new features and some of these will be making their way to the public very soon. The company has been testing these latest changes through…

Even before all existing Android smartphones get Android Nougat, Google is already working on Android P and its first developer preview is out. This is the very first public developer preview and is not recommended for everyone. From this first developer preview, Google is introducing the dreaded ‘notch’ to the ecosystem. We saw this notch on a handful of devices last year including the Essential phone and the iPhone X. It is not a pretty design feature but is sort of necessary as we strive to have thinner bezels on our smartphones. The notch is not just an irrelevant addition,…

WeChat is undoubtedly the most popular social media app in China. The app is well known outside China but is still not as widely used outside the country as it is in the country. The company behind WeChat, Tencent, has announced that the social media app now has 1 billion accounts. The company said that the spike in numbers is as a result of increase in social media usage and messaging during the Chinese New Year. WeChat is very diverse and can be a confusing application as it offers different features including social media features, access to banking services, allows…

Android is a very diverse smartphone ecosystem. On one hand, you have the high-end device with the top of the range features, on the other hand, you have entry level devices with low end features. In between these two classes, there are a number of different devices that target different users. With the different devices with different features, most developers tend to come up with apps that can target as many users as possible and some even go ahead and create apps that side-line some of the low-end devices to target the modern high-end devices. In these cases, these developers…

Twitter is a great social site but it can get messy and confusing sometimes. Given that Twitter displays content chronologically, you will see tweets as users share them. This is different from platforms such as Facebook that use algorithms to ensure you see content you are likely to interact with. With this, once you refresh your timeline, the tweets that were there will be pushed down and they won’t be at the top of the timeline the next time you log in to the app. This means that you have to find a way to save the tweets that you…

In 2017, we saw amazing smartphones on both Android and iOS. Manufacturers we all about innovating and bringing new features to consumers and this is always a good thing. What is interesting about 2017 is that smartphone manufacturers shipped 0.5% fewer devices compared to 2016 according to IDC. In total, smartphone manufacturers shipped 1.46 billion devices by the end of 2017. This number includes both Android and iOS. Most of the devices shipped in 2017 are obviously running Android as Apple tends to have a thin portfolio compared to what is available on Android. The IDC reports that, 85.1% of…

Truecaller is undoubtedly one of the widely used apps in the country. Even with this, it is not all love with the app as the exact mechanics of how the application works makes privacy advocates uncomfortable. The app makes it easier for mobile phone users to identify those who are texting and calling them. This may seem important but when you start dealing with spam and unwanted calls, identifying those who are calling before picking up is helpful. Ever since Truecaller was released, it has seen tremendous growth is most emerging and developing markets with Kenya being one of them.…

If you have subscribed to GOtv Plus or GOtv Value, you should be prepared to pay a few shillings more as from April. The company will be making price adjustments to these bouquets by a tiny bit and since these are not massive changes, I do not expect many people to complain. Even with that said, I still expect the people who see GOtv as being pricey not to be happy with the changes. GOtv Plus subscribers should be ready to pay Ksh 749 per month up from Ksh 699 that they are currently paying. This is a 7% increase…