KENYA'S MOBILE MONEY TRANSACTIONS HITS 1TRILLION

According to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), mobile money transactions in Kenya reached a staggering Ksh 1 trillion (US $ 12.5billion) in the first half of this year, breaking previous records.

CIO East Africa reports that this represents a 26 per cent increase from last year’s Ksh 872.1 billion ($9.9 billion) during the same period. The CBK report also revealed that users of mobile money services in the country made about Ksh 6.2 million (US $ 70.5 million) worth of transactions daily during the period. During May 2014, transactions reached about Ksh198 billion ($2.25 billion), the largest made so far this year.

Kenya currently tops in mobile money transfers worldwide, with leading telecoms company, Safaricom being the most preferred mobile money platform.

WORLD'S LARGEST PC MAKER SELLS MORE PHONES THAN COMPUTERS

The world’s largest PC maker, Lenovo, now sells more smartphones than PCs, according to its latest earnings report released today. In the report, Lenovo revealed that it sold 15.8 million smartphones in the first quarter of 2014, compared to 14.5 million PC sales and attributed its rise in smartphone sales to the market shifting from premium handsets to the mainstream as well as increasing demand from emerging markets. 

MOBILE PHONES EXPECTED TO EXCEED HUMAN POPULATION IN 2015

According to reports by Silicon India, mobile phones will reach a staggering 7.3 billion by the end 2014 – meaning for the first time in history there will more mobiles than humans. While that may sound nice to your ears, it isn’t, at least according to Ding’s CEO.

While welcoming the news, Mark Roden, CEO Ding* said: “Mobile phones have the ability to drastically improve lives in some of the poorest parts of the world where communications are restricted.”

However, he warns the announcement may not be as sweet as it sounds.
“No matter how many mobiles exist – they are a useless tool unless they have credit. We are excited at the growth of mobile phones across the world and our mission now, is to help ensure these phones stay topped-up.”

With more than USD$ 400billion transferred in money remittances every year, international top-up is an easy, fast and safe alternative to support home. Researchers at ding* have found that mobile phone owners in developing countries will forgo groceries to top-up their phones and confirmed that as many as 44 percent of ding* customers consider the service a “need”.

Mobile phones play an increasingly important role in developing countries where, despite 60% of people living on less than $2 a day, the majority own mobile phones. A topped-up mobile phone makes it easier for people to communicate and gives them access to information through data. In a way, it’s no surprise Google have just confirmed that more people on the earth have access to a mobile than a toothbrush.

HERE ARE THE PHONES TO BE GETTING GOOGLE LOLLIPOP UPDATE

Four months ago, Google revealed the biggest Android update yet: Android 5.0, or “Lollipop”. One of the biggest changes that will come with this update will be the introduction of Material Design — a new design language that emphasises more on shadows and colors.
There are some other improvements too – Project Volta, back end enhancements meant to improve battery life.
Unlike the iOS devices, Android devices don’t get major software updates at the same time. It always depends on which type of phone you have; and even then many Android phones that are left out of major carrier updates too.
The exact release date for Android 5.0 has still not been revealed, but here’s a list of the devices that will get this update:

Google

Google’s Nexus 6 will come with Android 5.0 pre-installed, and both the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 will receive the update too. Google has reportedly given developers a date of Nov. 3 for the launch.

HTC

Jeff Gordon, HTC’s global online communications manager, tweeted that the HTC’s One M8 and One M7 will both get Android 5.0 within 90 days of its release.

Motorola

Last week,  Motorola tweeted that the Moto X and Moto G will get Android 5.0, along with the Moto G LTE, Moto E and the Droid phones.

Samsung

No official announcements have come from Samsung regarding the Android 5.0 update for its smartphones, but rumors suggest the Galaxy S5 will get the update come December. Samsung also teased an Android Lollipop update for its new Galaxy Note 4 via Twitter. It’s likely that Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3, will also get the update.

LG

LG hasn’t revealed which of its phones will get the Android Lollipop yet either, but rumors from tech blogs, such as GSM Arena, suggest the LG G3 will get the update before the end of the year, and the G2 will receive the upgrade in early 2015.

NOKIA MIGHT BE MAKING A COMEBACK

Just after selling its handset division to Microsoft, rumors are now suggesting that Finnish Company, Nokia is NOT done creating handsets and that it’s planning to release a new Android smartphone.
When Microsoft bought Nokia it got the Nokia brand’s 10-year licence. This means that Nokia can manufacture its own smartphones and sell them as rebranded devices.

That’s not such a huge loss, because the Nokia brand name has lost some of its lustre, seeing as Microsoft dropped the Nokia name in favour of the Lumia brand.

Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia Corporation, has now recently dropped hints that the company might be planning to re-enter the smartphone market, with a smartphone running Android OS.
Nokia going with the Android OS rather than Windows Phone for its new handset is an interesting decision, which could have been influenced either by the licensing agreement between Nokia and Microsoft or by the huge difference between Android market share and Windows Phone – or both.
Reports state that the new phone will be a flagship device, and will be built by the same team that made the Nokia N9.

SAMSUNG DISCOVERS NEW WAYS TO TRANSFORM ANDROID PHONES INTO LAPTOPS

Samsung has filed a patent for an invention which transforms Android smartphones into Windows laptops. The invention is a docking apparatus which allows Android smartphones or tablets transform to Windows when placed in the docking station. The station is equipped with a keyboard and display which consequently turns the Android smartphone to a Windows laptop. The smartphone needs to run both Android and Windows for the function to work, once the device is plugged into the station, the systems connect and automatically switch to Windows mode.

Samsung says that there is the possibility of a trackpad on the device and for more operating systems to be used with the docking station in the future. This idea of two operating systems on a phone is not so new but it is excellent because most phone users dislike Windows phones but use Windows computers and it will be far more convenient to have the two in one device instead of moving about with two devices.

LENOVO A700 AND FEATURES

Lenovo A7000 is a dual SIM, 5.5 inch smartphone announced at the 2015 Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain and released in April 2015. Its screen is 720 x 1280 pixels IPS capacitive touchscreen and it uses the Lenovo Vibe User Interface. It runs Android OS Lollipop v5.0 on a Mediatek MT6752m chipset and an Octa-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 processor. It has 2 GB RAM, 8 GB internal memory and 32 GB capacity microSD slot.

Its rear camera is 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels with autofocus and LED flash while its front camera is 5 MP. The phone has a Dolby Atmos sound system and for connectivity, has 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Advanced GPS system.  It uses a Li-Po 2900 mAh battery with up to 264 hours stand-by time on full battery. It is available in Onyx Black and Pearl White colours