Last Week in Tech; A round-up

11/08/2014 Sandi

So, what made it to our tech table last week?

Firstly, we told you about a new smartphone from OnePlus called the OnePlus One which would cost you about K2,500 but has the same features as some high end Android phones currently on the market. The buying process is still being worked on but it if actually does hit the market, we’re giving it a thumbs up for tech innovation. It sits comfortably at the same table as the Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One M8 and the LG G3.

Then Foursquare made a whole 360 degree switch from location check-in app to a city guide. At the time we wrote on the story, the app hadn’t been fully rolled out but now it’s available in the app stores with a new big pink ‘F’ as its logo rather than the old white check-mark symbol. It hasn’t really been popular in Zambia but hopefully now that it’s a guide more people will use it here. Then again we have Zaplaces locally…

As tech forward people, we also discussed if our social media will kill our local journalism but concluded ‘Nah’. All journalists have to do is adapt and use it as a tool to help them to get better stories, using social media for leads and feedback. It cuts out a major part of some, not all, of the field work.

Our biggest tech stories were from MTN Zambia who have new promotion called ‘Yendelela’, which lets subscribers choose call packages for either morning, day or night. A comparison with other packages from the other two mobile operators (Airtel and Zamtel) showed Zamtel had the best call offer at present. They also intend on rolling out their Mobile Money platform to the banking sector to bridge the gap between the two, using Ericsson’s services. It’s a convenient move that others like Airtel have adopted already.

Facebook also announced some changes to its Windows 8 platform so we expect better Facebook Messenger integration as the main Facebook and Messenger apps run separately. There will also be more featured languages on the app.

Lastly, if you’re mad about lingo, the AnyTalk app lets you communicate in any language to people all over the world, with ease, by even translating your language to theirs, so get it and forget about feeling like a foreigner wherever you are.