Category: Gadgets & Apps
BaseUS car charger. It’s 120W and doesn’t sacrifice the lighter. The best of both worlds
It’s an ordinary-looking car charger by BaseUS with 2 USB ports but is rated at 120W. Each port can push out a maximum of 30W with multiple output modes including 15W, 18W, and 20W. What gets interesting is the back of it which is a cigarette lighter socket like the one you would plug this […]
A watch that measures BP, a watch with buds in it, and a watch with swappable frames. Huawei has them all
Huawei makes some very unique and good-looking smartwatches. The one I have with me is the GT2 Classic that I bought in 2020 and the 3 features it has that I use the most are viewing messages and notifications on it without pulling out my phone, the flashlight feature, and skipping between music as well […]
The 1.5TB microSD card is here but your wallet can’t handle it
I am one of those people that hate losing features in devices even when it’s a feature I do not even use. An example would be the removal of the headphone jack in premium smartphones. I had moved on to Bluetooth headphones years before its death but was still mad when we lost it. I […]
Xiaomi Soundbar is also another great soundbar. Better sound, bigger size, and more connectivity options
This one is a little bit bigger, a bit less simple, and a bit more expensive than the Redmi TV soundbar. This should all mean that the Xiaomi TV soundbar is better. Well, it is better but not by much. And it’s going for US$110 at the Mi Store. They are the ones who gave […]
For US$60 the Redmi TV soundbar is a very compelling living room speaker
This is a baby TV soundbar made by Redmi pay close attention to the TV part because that’s where the conversation will be centered on. It’s US$60 which makes it the same price as a Xiaomi 16W bluetooth speaker so it’s an incredible value. And I have been playing around with it for the past […]
Fully charge your phone in 4 mins 55 secs says Xiaomi with their 300W fast charging
About a month ago we talked about the Realme GT 5 Neo. Okay, we didn’t talk much about the phone itself but about its impressive charging tech. It charges at a mind-bending 240W which can charge its 4600mAh battery in just under 10 minutes. That’s a real phone that’s on sale right there. It was […]
Android is in trouble, the iPhone is taking over, even in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is Android country. That has been the case since the beginning and is not about to change anytime soon. Or is it? Back in November 2021, we looked at the inroads that iOS is making in Zimbabwe. iOS is the software that runs on iPhones. iOS market share had risen to just over 10% […]
Tecno Phantom V is one excellent first attempt by Tecno in making a foldable.
Tecno is making major moves. They have graduated from just making pocket-friendly 3rd world-centric smartphones to dipping their toes in the premium market. We had the Phantom X2 with a retractable telephoto lens. A first in the industry. However, what was missing in their lineup was a foldable. So at MWC 2023 they lifted the […]
Update Chrome now and get a smoother browsing experience and battery savings
Yesterday we talked about how 68% of Zimbabweans use Chrome for browsing, in line with Chrome’s worldwide market share. It’s crazy that Chrome usage is increasing whilst Opera usage is falling. I thought data was expensive in this country and we still appreciated Opera Mini’s compression tactics. Anyway, back to Chrome. We love our browser […]
240W charging phone now official, charges from 0-100% in less than 10 minutes
In the early days of smartphones, they competed for battery life king status by just chucking in larger and larger batteries. A bigger battery meant better battery life and it was as simple as that. Apple did not run this race, they believed in creating lean software and optimising their hardware so as to eke […]
iPhone 14 review – solid little phone that even Android enthusiasts can tolerate/enjoy
First off, I have to let you know that I’m a lifelong Android user. My first Android phone was a Galaxy Mini and I upgraded from that to a Galaxy S, then the S2 and then several other Androids up to the LG V50 currently in my pocket. I used the iPhone 5 all the […]
The Samsung Galaxy S23 is both underwhelming and great, or so it looks
If you ever needed more proof that it is now wasteful to upgrade your phone every year, look no further than the Samsung Galaxy S23 series. Samsung launched this year’s latest and greatest yesterday and as you would expect, it seems like the phones are great. Just not when you’re comparing them to last year’s […]
Huawei unveils a solar power backup product in South Africa. How good is it?
Huawei held the Mate 50 launch in South Africa recently and while it was exciting that they are bringing their flagship devices to Africa, what was even more exciting was the other products around the launch. Namely their power backup solution in the form of the Huawei iSitePower-M. It’s an all-in-one power backup solution that […]
How frequently do you need to upgrade your smartphone?
The smartphone world is quite a fast-moving side of tech. Every year manufacturers release new smartphones with new hardware and software like clockwork. But is it really necessary to keep up? To buy a new smartphone every single year. Of course, not, and here is why. Upgrading every year is wasteful When you are upgrading […]
Apple no longer has the most powerful GPU. Snapdragon took it with the Adreno 740 in the 8 Gen 2 chipset
Ever since the advent of Apple’s Bionic chips, Android has not had a solid answer to the speed and processing power of the iPhone. When looking at CPU performance it was Huawei and its Kirin CPUs that came the closest to challenging Apple. On the GPU front, Snapdragon put up quite the effort with Adreno […]
Qualcomm, Android’s biggest processor maker will be enabling satellite communication on future smartphones!
2022 was an interesting year in that we saw the introduction of satellite communication on a regular smartphone. Apple and Huawei announced that their latest smartphones, iPhone 14 series, and Huawei Mate 50 series respectively, will be able to communicate with satellites. The service on both devices is restricted to just communication with emergency services […]
UK-based Zimbabwean inventor develops robot helper ‘Milton’ for the NHS and it’s a penguin
William Pasi Sachiti a Zimbabwean inventor based in the UK was challenged by Milton Keynes University Hospital, an NHS trust, to develop a helper robot for the NHS. William and his team created this robot in the form of a penguin and it has been operating live since November 2022. Milton is what they call […]
Smartphone makers don’t make all their components in-house. They buy some from companies like Samsung and Sony
Did you know that Samsung makes the displays on iPhones and Sony makes the cameras used by most top-tier smartphones? Heck, the Snapdragon 8 Gen-1 series of processors, the most potent Android processors out right now were being made by Samsung. Smartphone manufacturers or OEMs do not manufacture every component found in their phones in-house […]
EU forces Apple to switch to USB-C by September 2024
Apple has been using Lightning since the iPhone 5 which is quite a long while back. During that time, most Android and even Blackberry devices were using MicroUSB and later migrated to USB-C. Apple has been nothing but lightning. This is something that the EU is not happy with saying it’s inconveniencing consumers and contributing […]
Does fast charging kill your smartphone battery?
There is a running theory that fast charging is not good for your smartphone’s battery. Weird thing to say when manufacturers are having heated wars on how fast you can charge your phone. Oppo tested out charging tech that can fill up a dead smartphone battery from 0-100% in 9 minutes. Xiaomi already had a […]
Tecno Megabook S1, A flagship laptop with a heft of features. 120Hz, NFC, AI webcam
If you were not aware. Tecno makes laptops now. Beginning of this year they released the Megabook T1. It is essentially a mid-tier ultrabook powered by a 10th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU and boasting just over 17 hours of battery life (Perfect for Zimbabwe’s current power crisis). Yesterday they launched a more premium and […]
Tecno Phantom X2 has been launched complete with a retractable zoom lens
Tecno has released its flagship device, the Phantom X2 and it’s got a long list of updates. First on the list is the fact that Tecno last released 2 versions of a flagship on the Phantom 6 and is only bringing that trend back now with the Phantom X2 and Phantom X2 Pro. What is […]
Tecno’s latest flagship, Phantom X2, is coming on December 7th
I have to admit, the Tecno Phantom X caught me off guard when I reviewed it last year. For the money which was US$450 at launch, the selection of what to include and what not to include was brilliant. Enough for me to say they had all the right boxes ticked. The build quality was […]
TCL opens up shop in Zimbabwe ready to take on the biggest names in home appliances
TCL is one of the biggest home appliance brands well known for making decent products at reasonable prices. A value-for-money brand against the likes of Samsung, Sony, and LG in the home appliances market. In 2021 TCL made inroads into South Africa and the reception was good enough for them to think about expanding to […]
Black Friday Tech deals in Zimbabwe! Up to 58% off
The week has arrived and banks left right and center are reminding us that they have Visa and Mastercards that can buy stuff online. Black Friday stuff. Well before you go on Amazon maybe you want to check out some deals available in Zimbabwe starting 25 November 2022. Up to 58% off on some products. […]
Spending most of the day staring at screens? Protect your eyes from strain using these home remedies
The life expectancy in Zimbabwe is around 62 years. That means our middle age is in the 30s and as a middle-ager, I can tell you for free, your body starts preparing for the long sleep once you hit the big three-oh. I recently had to tend to my decaying body. A half-life of staring […]
Xiaomi 12s Ultra concept has a built-in Leica lens mount!
Xiaomi announced their concept, the 12s Ultra, with the highlight being their partnership with Leica. Outside of professional camera circles, Leica’s popularity was brought about by its collaboration with Huawei for the camera system. That partnership has since ended thanks to a lack of Google services destroying sales of Huawei devices globally. So Xiaomi came […]
Chrome support to end for some Windows users
Chrome has decided to end support for older Windows versions that include Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. This makes Chrome version 109 the final version of the world’s most-used browser to support these older versions of Windows. In a blog post on Google Chrome Support, they stated that this end of support falls in line […]
Xiaomi AX9000 review. The most extreme Wifi router
There are normal routers. Nice and compact ones with support for 64 connected devices, which also blend in with the furniture. Nice, modern, and sleek. But what if normal is boring and ultimate excess is more of your cup of tea…like me. Then you get a router that comes in a behemoth of a box. […]
Xiaomi 360 home security camera review. A lot of tech for the money
This is a Xiaomi 360° Home Security Camera 2K and as you may have guessed, it’s a smart camera. It doesn’t come with much in the box, just the camera itself, the wall mount kit, and the power cable. Setup Setting it up was pretty simple. You make sure you have the Mi Home app […]