The original iPhone SE had so much when launched that compelled most consumers with appetite for handsets with a small factor to have something they’d relate to. It was like Apple had finally started listening to its customers for once and did something about it. In fact, the smartphone giant admitted to having sold millions of then iPhone 5S devices to people who didn’t like the size of iPhone 6.

The original iPhone SE 2016 mostly retained the best technology in then flagship 6S but settled on the design of iPhone 5S – one of the best designs we’ve seen in the industry. It was a combination that gave no reason to pundits at the time to lament about apple; that’s not to say the device lacked flaws, but they were mostly ignorable considering the unusual low-price tag of (USD399) Ksh40,000.

And now we’re in the year 2020, the best in the original iPhone SE is now washed out even though some fellows still hold on to the handset like a precious box of diamonds. A few reasons you’d easily be given from these people include the handsets ability to receive latest version of iOS; at least in the year 2020, it’s awesome but now dated design ques, and an amazingly low-price tag – refurbished models are now going for less than USD100 (KS 10,000) online.

Today’s new small factor was actually once considered big, I remember back in the day when Samsung unleashed its phablet lineup with the likes of 5.3inch Galaxy Note stealing the show. The phablet designs were met with both skepticisms and embraced by many as well. The latest iPhone SE 2020 could actually have been categorized as a phablet back in the day, you’d not believe its actually amongst the few considered usable by one hand today.

Unlike the original SE, iPhone SE 2020 has all the goodies you’d get in an iPhone 11 but housed in the body of iPhone 8. The manufacturer moved away from its once iconic design used on the 5 series which came as a disappointment to many – me included. We expected the next iPhone SE to come in the same compact boxy design we used to love, only with minimal bezels at least to represent the SE’s evolution. Some novel designers came up with beautiful renders of how the SE would look like – something that actually made conservatives like me to have something worth looking forward to.

To be honest, I’m not necessarily lamenting about the iPhone SE 2020 its actually the only option small factor lovers like me have on the shortlist. We are extremely disappointed that out of the enormous android ecosystem, we don’t have a direct competitor. Technology has evolved tremendously in the smartphone segment and the level of copy-pasting we’re witnessing is disturbing.

When apple settled on the notch, everyone went for it. Its like every phone manufacturer out there saw the light for the very fast time. I’d love to see the level of innovations we once witnessed in the likes of blackberry and Nokia. Apple is not spared as well, just harvesting left-over parts on the iPhone 11 and putting in the body of iPhone 8 spells cost-cutting. To be honest, the only peace offering we get in the new iPhone SE 2020 is an affordable price tag and the power of apple’s current top-of-the-line device – the iPhone 11.

The iPhone SE 2020 comes with a 4.7inch display panel Apple A13 Bionic processor, iOS 13, 3GB RAM, 12 Megapixels primary camera and 7 Megapixels selfie camera. Its expected to cost somewhere around Ksh40,000 here in Kenya – at least once it gets here. But if you can’t wait that longer, there’s always the likes of amazon and eBay you could actually snap one when an opportunity arises.

Huawei mobile is entering a new era of smartphone design with the latest HUAWEI P40 series, the company’s engineers found inspiration in the very source of life on our planet: water. The Huawei P40 series will be launching in the Kenyan market soon.

Water’s flowing equilibrium can be found in every aspect of the new smartphone design. By blending state-of-the-art technology with pleasing aesthetics, the P40 series phones strive for a point of perfect balance in the midst of ever-changing trends.

The series’ Silver Frost, Ice White, Deep Sea Blue, Blush Gold and Black color schemes embody the force of moving water, and this feeling is enhanced by the innovative quad-curve screen which “flows” over each side of the chassis. The colors have a timeless quality, and provide comfort in an era of continuous change, capturing the power water has over us, and the emotions and moods it evokes.

These designs demonstrate once again why Huawei has been seen for many years as leading the charge in industry innovation. It stunned critics and consumers alike with the P20 series’ gradient Twilight color scheme two years ago, but rather than rest on its laurels, has now produced another masterpiece. The Chinese electronics maker is always striving to break free from the monotonous status quo and explore new horizons, both in terms of design aesthetics and technological excellence.

1. Huawei’s Design philosophy: Quality above all else

• A truly successful industrial design maintains its beauty even when mass produced, and this requires a flawless balance of art and technology. A worthy designer should have a solid grasp of fashion trends and styles, an in-depth mastery of materials and craftsmanship, and abundant experience.
• Huawei values quality above all else, and this is immediately apparent from its products’ superior industrial design and user experience.
• Huawei’s designers and engineers work in harmony, using the most advanced manufacturing techniques to give full rein to their collective imaginations. The company is internationally oriented, with aesthetics research centers in Italy, France, Korea, Japan, and the UK. This encourages professionals from all over the world to contribute their own creative ideas and avant-garde designs.
• A design becomes an enduring style when it’s widely acclaimed and even copied by others in the industry. Huawei’s P20 series was such a trendsetter, as it made gradient colors the new norm in smartphones.
• Huawei has always been unafraid to move into uncharted waters with unique designs. Rather than keeping tabs on what its competitors are doing, the company listens to and learns from its consumers, and tailors its products to their wants and needs.
• Through its research, Huawei found that in the thick of rapid changes in our modern society, people can sometimes yearn for the grace and simplicity of the past. The P40 series designers therefore chose a concept that endows cutting-edge phones with classic colors.

2. HUAWEI P40 series: A brand-new design with a classic feel

Water is many things. It can be pure and tranquil, but can also be wild and untamable. It is sophisticated too, with the power to instantly change into mist, steam, frost or ice. The HUAWEI P40 series’ color schemes capture the essence of these contradictions — minimalist yet vigorous — and each variant has its own special charm. Light and shadow dance on the surface, reminiscent of icebergs and glaciers, the mysterious azure sea, a misty sunrise on a beach, or the lingering frost on a window.

Silver Frost: Huawei engineers superimposed frosted glass onto nanometer-thick textured film. The process causes light to reflect and refract on the surface, making it look as though the surface is constantly shifting between 2D and 3D.

Ice White: This variant conjures up images of icebergs and glaciers floating in the Arctic, where ice and water interact and glisten in the sunlight. A glass back gives greater clarity and depth to the Ice White color, and is reinforced by a dual-layer optical coating which imbues the glossy texture with dynamic lighting. The entire battery cover is complemented by a highly-reflective micro- and nano-scale grating structure, to vividly portray the purity of the white hues.

Deep Sea Blue: This edition is characterized by a reflective structural coloration coating and a rhombic micro- and nano-scale grating structure. As the phone is turned, blue hues flow across the surface of the rear cover, like a window onto the depths of a sapphire ocean. The choice of turquoise blue also echoes the trend set by Pantone, who selected Classic Blue as the color of the year 2020 because of its poised and self-assured nature.

Blush Gold: With its refined anti-glare (AG) etched glass and highly-reflective orange film, the surface of this design has an exquisite silk-like feel. The overall color combination evokes the break of dawn, with rays of orange sunlight spilling onto a golden beach.Black: Advanced coating is used to create a glossy finish against the dark background. Unadulterated black is imbued with a 3D glass texture, creating a look and feel which resembles quality ceramics.

3. Fine-tuned harmony of aesthetics and technology

• Huawei treats the P40 series as luxury items, fine-tuning every detail with the utmost care and appreciation, including the seamlessly rounded corners and the subtle color film coating on the lenses. With this level of professionalism applied to every inch of the product, the HUAWEI P40 series illustrates how form and functionality can work together in artistic, high-tech harmony.
• The P40 series has adopted an “All in one” philosophy to the camera layout, with the lenses, sensors and the flash all gathered in a single unit. The lenses themselves are produced with the delicacy one might associate with an intricately constructed watch. They’re also the largest in the industry with a micrometer-grade composite GDM (Glass Direct Molding) texture, and have been adjusted and tested according to the highest standards. Each lens comes fitted with green or blue film, indicating first-rate optical performance.
• Compared with the Mate 30 Pro’s display which spills over the left and right sides at a nearly 90° angle, the P40 series’ quad-curve screen is not as arced. It strikes the right balance between freedom and limitations, like a completely full glass of wine or an infinity swimming pool, capturing a perfect moment, frozen in time.
• The phone’s tender curves provide it with velvety ergonomics, making it a joy to hold, and the experience is heightened by full-screen gestures which make interaction free and meaningful.
• The rounded corners of the HUAWEI P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ have been fashioned to produce smooth transitions between edges, sides and corners, creating a truly immersive viewing experience without compromising on the display area. A cutting-edge display encapsulation technology has been implemented, which seamlessly joins glass and metal, so one cannot feel where the screen ends and the rear cover starts. This approach achieves ultra-narrow bezels while offering greater protection to the screen itself.

When the chief executive officer of Huawei, Richard Yu – one of the world’s most respected technology giant at the time, utilized the launch event of the Mate XS to invite more developers to its platform promising to offer just as good experience as the Google’s play store or Apple’s app store, we were thrilled to check out what was on their store and how was it like truly living without Google’s services on the android platform. Huawei has faced a myriad of problems emanating from the US president’s decision to blacklist the technology giant in provision of network equipment as well as effectively barring US companies from doing business with the tech firm.

Living without the Google’s Play store on an android phone is unimaginable at least to the average consumer. There are just a ton of popular apps the average consumer cannot sacrifice for the love of Huawei. This is a phenomenon of course the technology giant must have anticipated during their spat with the US president, but is it really that bad for tech-savvy consumers who can easily sideload these apps with a lot of ease from elsewhere? My answer is probably not!

With an estimate of over 400 million monthly potential users, the Huawei App Gallery is truly a mouthwatering opportunity to new potential revenue stream, but the efforts involved are curiously maybe not worth it. We are particularly stunned that after several months that Huawei has been locked out of Google services and its determination to continue selling devices, most popular developers aren’t yet budging.   

Huawei has some of the best android devices out there, stable hardware, commendable specs and the prices have recently plummeted owing to the lack of play store. Take a look at the Huawei Y7P recently unveiled in Kenya, the handset has what it takes to offer a solid performance. It’s one of those devices most technology pundits have gone out to describe as the “best smartphone you’re not buying”, or “the best illegal phone” and so forth. However, if you’ve got some skills to sideload applications, then this could be an excellent opportunity to get something out of the technology giant’s misfortunes.

It’s therefore not within our premise to rate the Huawei’s App Gallery as merely good or bad. From one point of view, it’s a functional way to download and manage your apps, which it does pretty well. The apps in on its platform appears to be well curated a little better than previously, but it’s still got a way to go with improving search and app discovery. Feature-wise, it’s not quite on par with Google’s store just yet. However, it certainly feels as usable as Samsung’s Galaxy Store, if not more so.

All said and done, the absence of commonly used apps is hard to ignore. In my case, work essentials like Slack and Zoom are notable absences. And Zoom has particularly skyrocketed in popularity during the stay at home period. Others include apps like Facebook, Netflix, and WhatsApp that aren’t available on the store either. In some cases, Huawei has linked apps that aren’t yet hosted on its store but are available in APK form from official sources. The App Gallery simply links out to official websites where you can grab and install the APK manually. These apps are usually presented with “Get” rather than “Install” button.

Below is a table of popular apps that are present and those missing on the app gallery;