Techpaded Blog: January 2018

You Are Here: Home » Archive for January 2018

Instagram is Working on new Video Calling Feature

Gideon Kachi January 31, 2018 Add Comment

Instagram is the only facebook-owned social network that doesn't support video calls. The good news is the company is currently working on a new update which will bring the video calling feature to all users, coming over a year after it was implemented on WhatsApp.

The video call feature will work like that of WhatsApp. You can access it via a new icon which will appear in the navigation bar in the chat once the user opens an active chat. Your Instagram friend will be required to accept the request to chat first before you can video call him/her, otherwise the icon won’t appear.

Like I earlier stated, the feature is still under development, and should be released in a future date for Instagram iOS and Android versions.

Glo Increases the Price of its Monthly Data Plans

Gideon Kachi January 31, 2018 Add Comment

It's so unfortunate that Glo is starting this new year (or rather ending January) with a very sad update. The so-called grandmaster of data has quietly increased the price of her monthly data bundles, a bad new for all Glo subscribers.

This is not the first time Glo is increasing the price or slashing down the volume of her data, they do this like twice every year. Due to this increment, 2GB for N500 plan has been canceled, the lowest you can sub now is N1000 which will give you the same 2GB. Let's review this.

Old Glo data Plan

2GB for N500
4GB for N1000
9.5GB for N2000
24GB for N4000
30GB for N5000
55GB for N8000
75GB for N10000

New Glo Data Plans (as at January Ending)

N1000 for 2GB
N2000 for 4.5GB
N2500 for 7.2GB
N3000 for 8.7GB
N4000 for 12.5GB
N5000 for 15.6GB
N8000 for 25GB
N10000 for 32.5GB
N18000 for 62.5GB
N20000 for 78.7GB

By the look of things, Glo is still the grand master of data in Nigeria, because no other telco offers data at the cheap price. This doesn't change the fact that we're not happy with the increment, coupled with their poor network in some areas is a total turn-off.

Kindly share on facebook 👇

Telegram Bumps Supergroup Limit to 100,000 Members

Gideon Kachi January 30, 2018 Add Comment

It's more and more features everytime on Telegram. The popular instant messenger has released a new update which is beneficial mostly to group operators, and it is coming just few weeks after the app received version 4.7 update which allows you open multiple account on the same phone.

Previously, Supergroup was limited to 1000, then increased to 5000 in 2016 and was pushed to 10,000 last year. Now, Telegram has bumped Super group limit to accommodate 100,000 members thanks to this new update. WhatsApp will actually be wailing after seeing this.

Once you have 200 members in your telegram group, as an admin, you can choose to upgrade to supergroup status, which will allow you accomodate more members with enhanced settings for larger communities. All messages sent in the group can be seen by new members, when someone deletes a message, it will be deleted for everyone in the group.

Notifications are muted by default since supergroups have a lot of members, so your handset won't go crazy with too much buzz. This is just to compliment the already added feature that enables admins to partially restrict members by disabling chat and media sharing where only admins can post messages (read-only mode).

WhatsApp Business App now Available for Download in all Countries

Gideon Kachi January 30, 2018 Add Comment

Good news to all Business owners as WhatsApp Business is now available for download in all Countries. Last week, the app was launched in Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, UK and US, but it is now open to everyone to download and install.

WhatsApp Business is designed to help companies better connect with their customers. It provides some of the basic functionality needed in a business app which includes a Business profile with important informations like a description, address, and other contact details. You can set greeting messages, enable quick replies for answers to common questions and view some analytics to see the efficacy of your communication or interaction.

As long as you operate any form of business, you are free to download WhatsApp Business App which will make you look more professional. However, you are not allowed to use the same number on your regular WhatsApp to register for Business app. Kindly use another number.

Where to Download WhatsApp Business App

Via Google Playstore or iOS store.

Google and HTC Deal done and dusted; Ready for Smartphone Battle

Gideon Kachi January 30, 2018 Add Comment

Google which entered a $1.1 billion agreement with HTC last September has announced the deal is now completed and it's welcoming the new teammates to its hardware organization comprising of about 2,000 workers at HTC that created the Pixel smartphones.

Where To Buy HTC Phones And Pay On Delivery:

Jumia

: View HTC Phone Price Offers

Konga

: View HTC Phone Price Offers, Click Here

r>

Search giant—Google is pretty excited the deal is closed, as they are now equipped with the experienced team of HTC engineers, which developed the first 3G smartphone in 2005, the first touch-centric phone and the first metal-clad unibody smartphone. This will unarguably improve Google's R&D abilities and will make it easier for the company to build its smartphones since the search giant won't have to outsource the development of the next Pixel devices to another company.

The acquisition of HTC's mobile division, according to Google's Senior Vice President of Hardware—Rick Osterloh, will lead to growth and expansion of his company's market share in the Asia Pacific region.

As our hardware business enters its third year, we remain committed to building and investing for the long run. Today, we start digging in with our new teammates, guided by the mission to create radically helpful experiences for people around the world, by combining the best of Google’s AI, software and hardware.

So, we should expect the flagship Pixel 3 to accompany very amazing specifications including one or two features which can't be found in any other smartphone. The phone will probably be developed in Taiwan, as well as any other hardware products Google plans to launch going forward.

Osterloh further stated in a blog post that Taiwan is a “key innovation and engineering hub for Google,” and its capital Taipei is expected to become “the largest Google engineering site” in the Asia Pacific region.

source: Google

Nokia 7 Plus set to Launch With Improved Processor, Android Oreo

Gideon Kachi January 30, 2018 Add Comment

After being launched in October last year, Nokia 7 was available only in the Chinese market. However, there are reports that HMD Global is planning to release the smartphone (or the 2018 model of Nokia 6) in the U.S. in a future date.

The handsets will support major carriers in the country, but CDMA networks support is improbable. To make them more competitive and appealing to the US market, the finish company may add and remove some features

An improved version of the Nokia 7 was spotted at Geekbench, dubbed “Nokia 7 Plus.” According to listing, the phone is powered by a better 1.8GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, unlike the standard model which uses Snapdragon 630 chipset. The device runs an upgraded Android 8.0 Oreo straight from the box, but packs the same 4GB RAM as with the regular Nokia 7 in terms of memory. That's all the specifications we fetched from the source.

If HMD decides to launch the improved version of Nokia 7, it will be available globally, not only In China. But it's still unclear whether or not the Finnish company will do so.

Google Play Store Updated With new "Free up space" Feature

Gideon Kachi January 29, 2018 Add Comment

After seeing my colleagues using this cool app, I headed straight to Google Play Store to download it, then clicked on the install button only to be greeted with "Not enough space" prompt. I was angry and flung my phone through the window, luckily it didn't get damaged. A lot of people must have experienced this too, that's why tech giant—Google is bringing a new feature to prevent situations like the one above from ever happening again.

A new update is now available for Google Play Store which notifies you just as you're running low on storage, so you can act to free it up before completely not having any free space. Once you tap on the prompt, a screen will open showing all installed apps according to usage frequency. There you can delete multiple apps, instead of uninstalling them one by one.

This feature stands as a plus to the already existing app-removal option on the Play Store. The older iteration showed you were lacking storage only when you began installing an app, but this new version does that even before making an attempt to download. You can access the "Free up space" feature from the "Updates" tab in the "My apps and games" page.

New Subscriptions tab

A new 'Subscription' tab has been added to the Play Store thanks to this update. It neatly shows all of your subscriptions to apps, TV shows. So you don't have to overthink about what you are subscribed to, and when renewal is due. You can this feature under "My apps and games".

Apple set to let you Broadcast Your iPhone Screen Live to Facebook

Gideon Kachi January 29, 2018 Add Comment

When Apple announced that a built-in screen recorder will be available in iOS 11, we were all excited as the feature will totally eliminate the use of third party screen recording app which is even difficult to get.

The excitement grew more intense when the screen recording feature was renamed to “Start Broadcast” during the iOS 11 beta test period. This hinted that Apple was working on a native broadcast feature, but the company didn't make a single comment about it, not until it was spotted in the latest official build of iOS 11.2.5 which is publicly available to download right now.

If you go to Control Center and 3D Touch on the Screen Record pad, you will now get two options — save the video to the Camera Roll or Broadcast to Facebook, which allows you to broadcast your iPhone or iPad screen to Facebook.

However, we always get an error prompt when trying to use it. Even after pressing the Go to Application button, it doesn't take us to a screen that would let us authorize the stream or anything. All these shows that the broadcast feature shouldn't be live yet.

Another update should fix the error issues. But what would you want to stream to Facebook from your iPhone? Playing games maybe!

New Google Maps Beta Version Lets Users Remove Places They Visited

Gideon Kachi January 27, 2018 Add Comment

A new beta version of Google Maps has been released by the tech giant, which boasts of a new feature that enables you to manually add or remove places they have visited at any given time from the app. This is great and we can't wait to see it on the stable version.

The list of places you've gone to can be found under “Your places” and “Visited” tabs in Google Maps. But the company didn't provide an option to remove them, only to view them in your Timeline. Thanks to this beta update, a new Remove button has been added and can be accessed by taping the three dots to the right of each place you wish to remove.

The new button enables users to delete all recorded visits to a place from your timeline. However, this feature won't erase the entire route that you've used to reach that destination, it just removes it as a stop, so the entire route will show in your timeline.

source: AndroidPolice

Specifications of N32,000 Naira Fero Pace 2. Cool?

Gideon Kachi January 27, 2018 1 Comment

African-based OEM—Fero has launched a new smartphone, dubbed 'Fero Pace 2' which accompanies very copacetic specifications. It sports a 5.5 inch IPS LCD display at 1280 × 720 pixels resolution with 2.5D curved screen. Standing as an upgrade to last year's Fero Pace, the phone features an improved 13 megapixels camera at the front and back equipped with LED flash for capturing moments in a dark environment.

Where To Buy FERO Phones And Pay On Delivery:

Jumia

: View Fero Phone Price Offers

Konga

: View Fero Phone Price Offers, Click Here
In terms of performance, Fero Pace 2 packs 2GB of RAM plus 16GB storage which can be expanded via microSD card. The device is powered by 1.3 GHz Quad-core Mediatek MT6580 chipset with ARM Mali-400 MP2 graphics processor. It runs Android 7.0 Nougat straight from the box, and uses a bigger Lithium-Polymer 4000mAh battery which is non-removable.

Other features includes fingerprint scanner and 4G LTE support. Fero Pace 2 is now available for purchase, carrying a price tag of KSh 8,499 in Kenya and NGN 32,500 in Nigeria with three different colors options to pick: Champagne Gold, Black.

Fero Pace 2 Full Phone Specification and Price

Supported Networks

2G: GSM, GPRS, EDGE 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
3G: HSDPA 900 / 2100 MHz
4G: LTE unspecified frequency bands
SIM Type: Dual Micro-SIM

Platform

OS: Android 7.0 Nougat

Design

Dimensions: 156.9 × 77.14 × 9.3 mm
Weight: 182 g
Display: 5.5 inches, 1280 × 720 pixels, 2.5D curved screen, IPS LCD display
Sensors: Fingerprint, Ambient Light, Accelerometre, Proximity
Build: Metal frame
Colours: Champagne Gold, Black

Chipset

Processor Type: 64-bit Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7
Processor Name: Mediatek MT6580
Graphics Processor: ARM Mali-400 MP2

Memory

RAM: 2GB
Internal Storage: 16GB
External Storage: microSD, up to 32GB (dedicated slot)

Photos

Rear: 13 megapixels, f/2.0 aperture, auto-focus, LED flash
Video recording: 1080 @ 30fps
Front-facing: 13 megapixels, f/2.0 aperture, fixed focus, LED flash

Multimedia

Music Support: MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
Loudspeaker: Mono
Video Support: MP4/MPEG4/H.263/H.264 player
FM Radio: Yes

Connectivity

Bluetooth: v4.0
WiFi: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, hotspot
GPS: Yes
USB: microUSB v2.0, USB-OTG

Other Features

Charging: Regular
Battery Type and Capacity: Non-removable Lithium-Polymer 4000mAh
Announced: January 2018
Availability: January 2018
Smartphone Price: KSh 8,499 / NGN 32,500

Apple to Release iOS 11.3 Featuring Ability to Disable iPhone Throttling

Gideon Kachi January 25, 2018 Add Comment

Apple iOS 11.3 update is coming soon, and the American OEM has already disclosed some of the important changes the upcoming system update will bring along to compatible iPhones and iPads. The most anticipated is the ability for users to disable the battery management features that can decrease performance in iPhones with older batteries. No one would want to miss this.

iOS 11.3 Changelog

I present to you 10 new features and improvements that will be included in upcoming iOS 11.3 update according to Apple's press release:

New features will display battery health and recommend if the power cell needs service. These can be accessed by going to Settings -> Battery and are available for iPhone 6 and later models.
Users will have a toggle for enabling/disabling the power management feature that can affect maximum performance on iPhones. The feature can be located in the Battery subsection of the Settings menu. Power management is currently present on members of the iPhone 6, 6S, SE, and 7-gen devices.
ARKit 1.5 will be introduced to developers. ARKit will be able to place virtual objects on walls, doors, and other vertical surfaces. Additionally, it will be able to map irregularly shaped surfaces in a more accurate manner. The view of the real world through the camera will get 50% greater resolution and support for auto-focus will be added.
A new Health Records feature will be added to Health app. It will bring together info from hospitals, clinics, and the app itself to organize and provide quick an organized access to the medical data. The service will be encrypted and passcode-protected.
4 new Animoji characters will be added - a lion, bear, dragon, and skull.
Music videos are coming to Apple Music.
Apple News will get improved Top Stories and Video group feature in "For You" section
Business Chat feature will be added as a beta to Messages. It will allow users to communicate with businesses more easily.
Support for Advanced Mobile Location (AML) to automatically send a user’s current location when making a call to emergency services in countries where AML is supported.
HomeKit software authentication allows developers to add HomeKit support to existing accessories.
New privacy icon will show up on your device when a legit Apple-made "app or feature is asking to use your personal information" - including your Apple ID password

Members of iOS Developer Program are already testing out the iOS 11.3 features before Apple releases a public beta in the coming weeks. The final version of the update—according to the company—will be available this spring.

source: Apple

Huawei P9 set to Receive new Update for Camera Improvements

Gideon Kachi January 25, 2018 Add Comment

The 24 months commited to software updates for Huawei P9 has elasped, but the Chinese company is still showing support for the phone by announcing a new update. Although, chances of this flagship being updated to Android 8.0 Oreo is slim.

Where To Buy Huawei Phones And Pay On Delivery:
Jumia

: View Huawei Phone Price Offers

Konga

: View Huawei Phone Price Offers, Click Here
The new update is currently rolling out to the international model of Huawei P9, packing quite a number new features and enhancements which includes Moving picture, and Highlights which lets you search for images with keywords, including location, date and album name, in Gallery.

Moving pictures on the other hand makes it possible for Huawei P9 users to take dynamic photos in Standard mode. There's also this new option that accompanies the update, to summarize moments in an album and a video in Gallery.

Also on the list is a new feature which once enabled, automatically installs downloaded system updates between 2 – 4 early in the morning if the smartphone is not in use. The settings and prompts related to Mirror reflection has been optimised for better selfies.

source: Huawei

Opera Mobile Browsers gets Updated With Bitcoin Mining Protection

Gideon Kachi January 24, 2018 Add Comment

Popular web browser—Opera has added cryptocurrency mining protection to its mobile browsers, coming just three weeks after the same feature was introduced to its desktop browsers. Thanks to this new update, users of both the Android and iOS versions of Opera and OperaMini now have full protection from bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies mining.

According to Opera:

The new anti-cryptocurrency mining feature is activated by default when enabling the ad blocker on Opera Mini and Opera for Android. The ad blocker can be enabled in 'Settings,' and it will automatically detect and stop the mining scripts written into the coding of a webpage.

This is an amazing addition because cryptocurrency miners scripts embedded in websites is increasingly causing huge problems to smartphones. It works up your handset's processor up to 100 percent, making the phone overheat and draining your battery much faster.

Another good news is the new portal created by Opera to check if your smartphone is exposed and affected by unwanted crypto mining. Simply visit
www.cryptojackingtest.com on your mobile or desktop browser to do so.

source: Opera

New Android 8.1 Update Will add Speed Label Feature

Gideon Kachi January 24, 2018 Add Comment

A new feature, dubbed 'Speed Label' is set to be added to smartphones currently running latest Android 8.1 via an OTA update. This feature gives you the speed information of public Wi-Fi hotspots, so you can choose the faster Wi-Fi network to connect to when having multiple options.

The roll out is expected to commence this week. Once the update is distributed, open Wi-Fi networks will be have four(4) categories:

Slow: If you can use Wi-Fi calling, you can make phone calls and send texts.
OK: You can read webpages, use social media, and stream music.
Fast: You can stream most videos.
Very Fast: You can stream very high-quality videos.

Thie feature will run on few handsets, as only Google Pixel, Google Pixel XL, Google Pixel 2, Google Pixel 2 XL, Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P are using Android 8.1 as of the time of writing. Speed Label will be enabled by default. If you want to disable it, go to Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > Wi-Fi Preferences > Advanced > Network rating provider > None .

It's worth noting that WiFi protected with password won't show any speed estimates, and network administrators can opt-out of showing speed data as well.

source: Google

Google Launches Gboard Go for Smartphones With Less RAM

Gideon Kachi January 23, 2018 Add Comment

Gboard is a keyboard app developed by Google for Android and iOS smartphones. It was first released on iOS in May 2016, followed by a release on Android in December 2016. Now, the tech giant—Google has launched the light version of this popular app, dubbed 'Gboard Go' which is designed to work smoothly on devices with low RAM.

Last year, we saw an influx of similar optimized “Go” apps: Maps Go, YouTube Go, Files Go, etc., under Google's Android Go platform that allow users who can't afford expensive smartphones to benefit from the same Android experience using cheap handsets.

The new Gboard Go app, according to reports from AndroidPolice, is currently being rolled out to all devices running latest Android 8.1 Oreo and have a lower amount of RAM. So for now, it is not available for download on Google Play Store. The app weighs slightly less than 40MB of RAM, unlike the full-fledged version which consumes 70MB.

The requirements means that only Google Pixel smartphones can run Gboard Go for now. Meanwhile you can sideload the app manually to enjoy the features if your device is not running Android 8.1.

Security Changes Added to Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Thanks to new Update

Gideon Kachi January 23, 2018 Add Comment

Korean OEM—Samsung has made a new software upgrade available for the Galaxy Note 8. The update is now rolling out weighing about 707MB, thus, expected to come with a massive changelog because of the heavy size. But on the contrary, the added features are suspiciously small.

Where To Buy Samsung Phones And Pay On Delivery:

Jumia

: View Samsung Phone Price Offers

Konga

: View Samsung Phone Price Offers, Click Here
January's Android security patch is the only new addition stated in the list. It provides fixes for 13 vulnerabilities found in Samsung's software and 6 Android-specific exploits. We do suspect that there could be more to this update, so if you notice any changes after installation, let us know in the comment section.

The update is now available in France, hopefully, it should be pushed out to other countries in few days to come. You can manually check if the update has reached you by going to Settings, then tap on About Device and Software Updates. If it is, kindly ensure your Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is charged above 70% and has a Wi-Fi network connectivity before downloading the update.

source: Samsung

Vivo X20 Plus UD: First phone to Feature Under-display Fingerprint Scanner

Gideon Kachi January 22, 2018 Add Comment

Vivo X20 Plus UD was recently unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018. It sports a 6.43-inch Super AMOLED display at 1080 x 2160 pixels resolution, with an aspect ratio of 18:9. In terms of photography, the smartphone features a dual camera setup of 12MP + 5MP sensor at the back, and a single 12MP front-facing snapper, equipped with LED flash to capture photos and videos in a dark environment.

Where To Buy Vivo Phones And Pay On Delivery:

Jumia

: View ViVo Phone Price Offers Here
One of the feature highlights of Vivo X20 Plus UD is the under-display fingerprint sensor, and it is the first smartphone to successfully integrate this biometric function designed by Synaptic. Unlike other companies who mount the scanners at the back or side of their smartphones, Vivo is using the latest Synaptics Clear ID FS9500 sensor which is reportedly faster than the 3D face recognition technology introduced on Apple's iPhone X.

Other specifications includes: 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage, paired with Snapdragon 660 chipset and Android 7.1.1 Nougat. The handset support 4G LTE network and uses Li-Ion 3900 mAh battery which is non-removable. Vivo X20 Plus UD is now available in China, carrying a price tag of 3998 Yuan, which is about N223,000 in Nigeria. It will be launched in other country on January 25th.