Category: Gadgets & Apps
There are “backdoors” in some Xiaomi and Huawei phones: Lithuania government
The government of Lithuania had some rather strong if not downright hysterical advice for its citizens. It said that they need to throw away their Xiaomi and Huawei phones soon as possible. This is because the country’s authorities claim, they have found what are essentially backdoors in these phones that will allow the Chinese government […]
Are you Twitter loving Zimbos excited about the monetization opportunities brewing?
We Zimbabweans took to Twitter like ducks to water. There is something about the micro blogging style that resonated with us. Twimbos, as we affectionately call ourselves, have made Twitter probably the most important social media platform in Zimbabwe. There are way more users on Facebook or YouTube but the noisiest among us reside on […]
U.S authorities can’t decide whether to put Honor on the naughty list or not
U.S authorities are spooked by a rising and more assertive China. The Asian country seems to be pivoting away from being the manufacturing hub of the world to being a technology leader in itself and it seems the U.S and its allies don’t know how to react to that. Under Donald Trump, America began a […]
Stung by 12-hour blackouts? Read this before purchasing a power bank
We thought we had turned a corner. Thought half-a-day power cuts were firmly in our rearview mirrors. We were wrong. This is Zimbabwe, politicking and corruption mean mismanagement is the name of the game. Unfortunately, this means our old nemesis, 12-hour blackouts are back. Much has been written about what the government and ZETDC need […]
Google is bringing a privacy feature from Android 11 to older versions
One of the really cool things that came on Android 11 was a feature that automatically reset app permissions. The feature works by revoking or auto-resetting the permissions of apps that haven’t been used in a while. When you use that app again, it will then need to ask you to authorise access to various […]
Google is seeking to copy Apple with its Pixel lineup
Say what you want about Apple but those guys know how to make good products. Pick an iPhone, any iPhone and no matter how much it hurts to admit it, you will have to concede it’s a good phone. That is mostly down to the solid control the company has over hardware and software. It’s […]
The latest OTA update from Xiaomi bricked my Mi Box S
By now you probably know that I am a bit of a Xiaomi fanboy. It’s not just blind loyalty though. There is a good reason for it. I have watched the company grow from being a niche budget phone maker to become the second-biggest smartphone maker in the world and even today they continue to […]
Logic L63 review. A tough sell
Astro decided last year that it was going to do something different with it’s smartphone lineup. The Astro brand was to be dedicated to their premium smartphone offering and the newly announced Logic brand was to focus on the affordable side of things. We are yet to see something from their premium line of smartphones […]
Xiaomi ventures into the smart glasses arena
Last week Facebook unveiled its RayBan sunglasses that are retailing for US$299. Their much-touted feature is that you can literally now wear Facebook Stories on your face. Who would want that? To say I wasn’t impressed is an understatement. Now, without even giving us a moment to digest Facebook’s latest hardware adventure, Xiaomi has announced […]
Razer releases finger sleeves to improve mobile gaming experience
I consider myself the textbook definition of a casual gamer. I do play the more mainstream PC games – Halo, Far Cry, Tomb Raider, FIFA and so on. However, I can go for months without launching a PC game. Most of my gaming is done on my smartphone, usually pretending to look busy to avoid […]
There is currently no way to run iTunes 12 on Ubuntu Linux
Before I begin, I need to make clear to all the Apple fanboys that this is not me trying to ruin Apple’s product launch where they unveiled the latest iterations of the Mac, iPhone and whatnot. This is me being genuinely frustrated over something that shouldn’t be so hard. I just wanted to redeem an […]
iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max to feature 1TB storage option
Another Apple event and we have a new iPhone and iOS operating system. The stars of the show were undoubtedly the new iPhone 13 Mini, Standard, Pro and Pro Max. It looks like Apple decided not to mix things up too much with the new iPhone because it looks almost identical to its predecessor. However, […]
Apple releases important security patches for its devices in a bid to thwart the NSO group
If you are a regular reader of Techzim or just love to read and know about tech then you are probably familiar with the Israeli company known as NSO Group. No? This security company has a product known as the Pegasus suite which it sells to governments and authorities around the world. The software allows […]
Xiaomi is remotely blocking its phones in “unsupported regions”
Xiaomi has been in the news and on everyone’s lips in recent years, weeks and months and it’s mostly because of how it continues to grow and corner the smartphone and indeed the entire gadget market. They are now the second-largest phone and biggest smartwatch maker. However, their latest stance is bound to generate some […]
CBZ finally revamps eyesore of mobile app, phasing out old one
I remember when I opened my CBZ account. It wasn’t the best of experiences, I was frustrated to the point of almost choosing another bank. That all changed when I opened the CBZ Touch app. I burst out laughing. I couldn’t believe my eyes. ‘Good one Cibby,’ I thought. I needed the comic relief. The […]
Android 12 might be coming in October
Various versions of Android 12’s beta have been available since the mobile operating system was announced back in May. The final version of the OS, however, has taken far longer to come out than those that have come before it. There is some news to a release date, according to Mishaal Rahman, Editor-in-Chief of XDA, […]
ZUPCO appears to be working on a bus tracking app for passengers
So, I was randomly scrolling through the Google Play Store, as anyone does when they are bored, and I came across something interesting. While there, and for some reason, I typed in ZUPCO just to see what would turn up and I got three apps in the search results (all of them in early access). […]
WhatsApp is testing end-to-end encrypted chat backups
Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp has announced in a blog post that it is planning to give its users the option to protect their chats using end-to-end encryption. What this essentially means is that the same technology that protects your chats from being read by anyone other than the sender or receiver will now be available […]
576MP: Samsung planning to beat human eye with insane camera
Scientists estimate that the human eye has a resolution of about 576 megapixels. Samsung wants to make a camera that beats that by 2025. Yes, besting the human eye is in sights people. About time, I felt the recently announced 200MP camera was child’s play. A 576MP camera is just what the doctor ordered. A […]
WhatsApp messages are still secure, why the misleading coverage?
You read the story; some report made it appear as if WhatsApp’s end to end encryption was a sham. We were told WhatsApp staff can read our secure messages. Which is true, but they deemphasized a crucial point. Customer service staff at WhatsApp can only see messages that have been sent to them by a […]
WhatsApp is finally working on turning voice notes into text
WhatsApp is finally working on voice note transcriptions according to a report by WABetaInfo. This is a welcome development because although you can technically do this via a third-party app, it’s usually a faff. An example of just how tedious it can be is if you’ve ever used an app called Transcribe. To turn voice […]
Facebook releases useless “smart” glasses that can take videos and photos
One of the most embarrassing products that Google ever made was their US$1 500 smart glasses. They looked cool and kind of made sense but their price tag and features did not. Eventually, they did the right thing and pulled the plug on the whole project. Now for some reason, Facebook has decided to embarrass […]
Xiaomi is now the world’s biggest smartwatch maker
It seems now that Huawei is well and truly tamed after being brought to heel by Donald J Trump’s legacy sanctions-Xiaomi another Chinese company is taking the baton from them in terms of becoming the world’s leading tech gadget juggernaut. Research by the leading statistics team Canalys, shows that Xiaomi is now the world’s leading […]
Megapixels don’t matter
In 2012 Nokia released the 808 PureView and the headlines were that it came with a massive 41MP camera. Everyone else at the time was still hovering between 8MP and 16MP cameras so 41 was A LOT of megapixels. And for a whole 3 years after it was released, it was simply the best camera […]
Looking for a fast charger? Read this first
I never really hopped onto the fast-charging bandwagon. I just felt that if a phone had good enough battery life it didn’t matter how fast one could top it up. I was impressed by the eight minute top up Xiaomi demoed though. That attitude came from the priviledge of having access to a power outlet […]
Apple pays off developers in a bid to buy them off
Back in May, we wrote about how Apple was in trouble as a number of developers sued the company over its iron-grip rule of the App store. It seems the company has now found a way out of its trouble by settling with some of the developers. It will pay about US$100 million in settlements […]
Elon Musk’s creepy robot might not be useless after all
What’s weirder than Elon Musk’s oddly shaped cyber-trunk? That’s easy. The name of his child nothing beats that martian sounding name with its non-Roman spelling. It’s no wonder, people, like me, thought there was no way he could top that. Except he recently did. Now his company is selling a Terminator lookalike-the creepiest bot the […]
Xiaomi will soon stop using the “Mi” brand as it tops the smartphone world
Do you remember when we said Xiaomi was the second top phone brand in the world? Well, now they are the top phone brand in the world? According to various analytics companies, including Counterpoint, the Chinese phone market surpassed the global giants Samsung and Apple to become the number smartphone brand in June after their […]
GTeL Infinity 9 review. Tough Competition
On this one, GTeL went with the approach of if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. They improved on one or 2 things from last year’s Infinity 8s
The latest version of LibreOffice is more compatible with MS Office
When it comes to document processing, manipulating spreadsheets and creating presentations Microsoft’s Ms Office is the defacto standard. For decades those who use Linux have been trying to find an answer to Microsoft’s dominance in this field. LibreOffice is one of these answers. As the name suggests LibreOffice is a free replacement for Ms Office. […]