LG X350 comes with Dual SIM capability, QWERTY keyboard and a digital TV receiver, a combination hardly available in the industry even on high-end devices. There is a reasonable similarity between LG X350 and its peer Samsung Chat322/GT-C3222 Duosthough it adds ISDB-T digital TV receiver flavor on top; they both brag of a QWERTY keyboard and Dual SIM capability for GSM networks. It’s presumed LG’s main motivation to unveil X350/Neo Smart phone featuring some of the most flourished features yet at an unbeatable price is the continued emergence of cheap Chinese made handsets that house serious specifications only witnessed on high-end devices. As of now, there are hardly any mobile handsets with a combination of the aforementioned features especially in the budget genre, LG X350 Dual SIM TV is unique in that respect.
Samsung Chat322/GT-C3222 Duos in Kenya (Review)
Samsung Chat322/GT-C3222 Duos has been retailing in Kenya for quite sometime now, amazing consumers with its dual SIM capability and a professionally designed QWERTY keyboard. The handset is featured among entry level devices; which is a good thing for budget strained consumers despite its flourished serious specifications that exceed benchmarks in its genre. Samsung dint hesitate to outline the main strongholds of Chat322/GT-C3222 which include dual SIM capability, QWERTY keyboard and an amazingly low price tag compared with other devices featured in the same arena. On top of the aforementioned specifications, Samsung Ch@t322/GT-C3222 Duos elicits genuine admiration when it comes to social networking; widgets for major social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have been carefully integrated within its operating system and can be accessed from the home screen.
- 2.2inch (220×176 pixels) TFT display screen (128ppi pixel density)
- 1.3 Megapixel (1280×960) camera, QCIF@15fps Video recording
- Up to 8GB MicroSD card, 54MB internal storage
- Dual SIM capability, QWERTY keyboard
- Stereo FM radio plus FM recording
- Bluetooth, Micro USB Port, 2G network (GPRS)
Orange San Francisco/ZTE Blade, Available in Kenya at Orange Retail stores
Orange San Francisco/ZTE Blade has emerged as one of the best selling Android devices in Kenya courtesy of Orange Telkom Kenya. The smart phone is said to have benefited greatly from a low price tag despite its flourished features that beat by far other entry level devices in its arena; ZTE Blade/Orange San Francisco is currently retailing at Orange Kenya’s retail stores countrywide @ Kshs.12,299. On top of the appealing price tag, thanks to Orange Kenya, ZTE Blade/San Francisco has received a considerable coverage in print media, electronic media and social networks; a day would hardly pass without noticing its well polished advert in any of the aforementioned media. Unlike Huawei which capitalized on the entry level market fast enough with devices such as Ideos U8150 now retailing @ Kshs.8,000, ZTE Blade/Orange San Francisco came into the Kenyan market rather too late when bigwigs like Samsung had declared their interest in the segment with devices such as the Galaxy Mini S5570 and Galaxy Y S5360.
Soon after ZTE Blade was unveiled in China, it assumed the Orange San Francisco identity in other locations with no clear reason as to why the Californian city’s name; however, “Orange” makes sense considering it’s the carrier retailing the droid device. A side with its name’s relevance, Orange San Francisco houses some serious specifications beating benchmarks in its genre; it features an OLED display screen. It’s surprising to note that despite every sign in the smart phone technology indicating a shift to super-LCD display, Orange San Francisco/ZTE Blade embraces a 3.5inch OLED screen at 800×480 pixel resolution (267 pixel density) creating crisp images and text. The touch screen utilizes ‘capacitive’ technology rather than inferior ‘resistive’, capacitive is more responsive and allows multi-touch capability with two points of contact. On the other hand, resistive touch screen is vital for handwriting recognition but is not as responsive as capacitive, let alone supporting multi-touch capability.
Below the Orange San Francisco/ZTE Blade screen are three hard buttons- Home, Menu and Back- which are well designed and placed to reserve the device’s nice finish. The search key for Google search widget which is typical to most droid devices was omitted, meaning you’ll have to dig deeper for search in applications. The device is housed in a soft matte grey plastic that generally feels sturdy; it’s powered by a 600 MHz processor and runs on Android v2.1 E’clair. Major drawbacks of this handset are low processor speed, ugly user interface and an inside MicroSD card slot.
Orange San Francisco/ZTE Blade Features/Specifications;
- Android v2.1 E’clair (Upgradeable to v2.2)
- 600Mhz ARM 11 Qualcomm MSM7227 Processor, Adreno 200
- 3.5inch (480×800 pixels) AMOLED or LCD Capacitive touch screen
- 3.15 Megapixel (2048x1536pixels) camera, auto-focus
- Up to 32GB MicroSD card, 150MB storage, 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM
- 7.2Mbps HDSPA, 5.76Mbps HSUPA, WiFi 802.11b/g, WiFi hotspot (droid v2.2)
- Stereo FM radio with RDS, GPS with A-GPS support
Orange San Francisco/ZTE Blade Price in Kenya: Kshs.12,299 (at Orange retail stores)
Dstv Kenya Monthly Subscription Payment Methods
Monthly subscriptions for pay TV services is typical for every known service provider in Kenya, subscribers are required to pay in advance to receive TV transmissions via cable, satellite and DTT. Multichoice Kenya has variant bouquets reflecting different consumer economy classes as well as needs through its Dstv product; it’s paid monthly in advance using numerous payment solutions convenient to the customer. Most common subscribed Dstv Kenya Bouquetsinclude; Dstv Premium, Dstv Compact, Dstv Mobile, Dstv Family and Dstv Access. Payment methods range from mobile money transfer such as Safaricom’s Mpesa and Airtel Money to bank deposits i.e. via Equity bank and Standard Chartered Bank. Dstv signals are transmitted via satellite; this means its signal reception is virtually available anywhere in the country.
- Go to the MPESA option on your handset and navigate to PAY BILL option
- Input the Dstv Kenya standard Mpesa Pay Bill/Business number 444900
- Enter your Dstv ACCOUNT NUMBER
- Enter the amount corresponding to your monthly subscription.
- Enter your MPESA Pin
- Confirm the transaction and wait for a confirmation message from MPESA
- Your Dstv account will be credited and the subscription renewed subsequently
- Navigate to Airtel Money option on your Phone’s menu
- Select the Money option under Airtel Money’s sub-menu
- On the Nickname field, enter Dstv
- Under the reference option, enter your full Dstv account number
- Enter the amount you want to pay, Password, then confirm the transaction
- Your Dstv account will be credited and the subscription renewed subsequently
- Quote your Multichoice Kenya subscriber/Smart card number
Safaricom, Orange, Yu, and Airtel Kenya APN (Access Point Name)
According to Wikipedia, Access Point Name (APN) refers to a computer protocol used to connect user’s computers to the internet using a mobile phone network. In a more advanced language, Access Protocol Name (APN) means a configurable network identifier used by mobile devices when connecting to a GSM service provider. It’s also the APN which allows mobile service providers to allocate Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to various devices accessing internet via its network. To be more precise, the Access Point Name (APN) identifies the IP Packet Data Network (PDN) that a mobile device data user wants to communicate with. Let me cut short of the near ambiguous technical aspects involved when establishing internet via a GSM service provider on your computer and mobile devices such as smart phones, tablets and laptops, to the Access Point Names (APN) of Safaricom, Orange, Yu and Airtel (Kenyan mobile network providers).
- Safaricom APN: Safaricom
- Access Number:*99#
- Orange APN: bew.orange.co.ke
- Access Number: *99#
- Airtel APN: ke.celtel.com
- Access Number: *99#
- Yu APN: internet
- Access Number: *99#
- Choose Tools on the control panel, then select Options
- Navigate to Profile Management, enter provider’s name under profile name
- Select Static under APN, then enter correct APN
Dstv Kenya Bouquets, Common Subscribed Packages
After listing channels and their respective bouquets available on most pay TV service providers in Kenya such as Gotv Kenyaand Zuku TV, it’s only typical that Dstv Kenya gets a similar fair share of scrutiny and appreciation. Dstv which is owned by Multichoice and Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) in Kenya, by far enjoys a lions share of Kenya’s pay TV market segment, not forgetting that Gotv is also their product. Unlike other pay TV providers in Kenya which utilizes DTT and Fibre optic platforms, Dstv transmits its signal via satellite; this explains the vast areas covered including remote locations. Multichoice Kenya has various bouquet products through Dstv for the local market with prices reflecting the quality and number of channels contained. Apart from Dstv mobile product transmitted via DVB-H and currently available only in Mombasa and Nairobi, other Dstv products are available almost everywhere through satellite transmission.
Samsung Galaxy Y Duos S6102 and Pro-Duos B5512Smart Phones
Spicing up Samsung’s entry level Android handsets portfolio are two new devices, Galaxy y duos S6102 and Pro Duos B5512 without and with a QWERTY keyboard respectively. The new handsets houses features similar to their older Galaxy Y S5360 and Galaxy Y 5510 Pro sibling though support two carrier SIM cards at the same time. Both Samsung Galaxy y Duos S6102 and Pro-Duos B5512 support two separate SIM cards, letting users enjoy the convenience associated with two SIM cards on a single handset. ‘Duos’ simply means, users can have two phone numbers i.e. for personal life and an additional number for work/ business activities on a single device at their disposal. There are numerous pros associated with Dual handsets ranging from convenience to costing factors, considering variant plans enforced by different mobile service providers i.e. data rates and voice call tariffs.
Samsung Series 7 (XE700T1-A01AU) Slate PC in Kenya
The popular slate 7 series personal computers from Samsung are now officially available in Kenya; they are best known to offer functionalities similar to laptops though with a full fledged computer experience. During the launch, Samsung’s General Manager IT, Mr. Nandan Nadir said the slate 7 XE700T1-A01AU series are designed for the on-the-go users who need an ultra-portable device capable of delivering true PC functionality. He also reckoned the slate 7 series PC are the first of its kind to be introduced in Africa offering flourished features such as a bright and highly responsive multi-touch screen. Users can type using the on-screen keyboard and navigate its features with an electromagnetic pen, making it possible to take notes in meetings, create documents and reports using Microsoft suite as well as browse online. Samsung slate 7 series PC’s in Kenya vary in prices depending on hard drive storage capacity and the version of operating system.