TechNerdNG

its a usual phenomenon that when smartphones are close to being released, we are usually covered in an avalanche of leaks as sources from every nook and cranny of the world give details about how the phone would look like and what specs it would have. We have been expecting Apple to release a follow up to the iphone 5 but it has been delayed probably as a result of the iOS 7 upgrade or their ongoing suits and countersuits with Samsung their once cordial OEM partner that made their previous display technology and the A5X ARM based SoC chip used in the iPad 3 Today we got more information from our sources on the reasons for the delay and few new shots of the actual phone. Apparently the device is being delayed because of  issues Apple's Manufacturers are experiencing with the LCD display (P.S: they should have stayed with Samsung :P) and the circuitry that is supposed to handle the fingerprint scanner feature supposedly to come with the phone.  Sources have...

Today on our Budget Smartphone Series we review the LG Optimus L5 II. LG has been recognized for their prowess with Optimus range of devices and even gained more popularity with their Nexus 4 project but not everyone can afford such devices and some people are not even interested in the specs of a phone, they don't need phones with opta-cores and 1080p screens, they just need a device that can do day to day activities without any hiccups and not burn a hole in their pockets buying it. The Optimus L5 II is this kind of device. OVERVIEW Out of the box, you will notice that the Optimus L5 II is an improvement on its predecessor the L5, they have really improved on the build quality as this device is made to look like its made out of  brushed metal but its still really plastic. When it comes to looks, the Optimus L5 is beautifully designed, LG has managed to fit a 4.0" screen on this device and with a very thin bezel the phones dimension remains at 117mm X 62mm X 9mm. its easil...

If you live in the US you might be lucky enough to get a free Nokia Lumia 1020 camera grip courtesy of microsoft. The Lumia 1020 will be going on sale on july 16 and if you place your order through Microsoft you will be getting the $80 camera grip for free. The phone itself will be on retail through regular carrier channels for a pricey $300 so if you order yours through Microsoft while they still have it in stock you get a free camera grip. At the time of writing this post, we can only hope Microsoft would extend this courtesy to the rest of the world, especially in Africa. Most manufacturers overlook the potential profits that can be made from emerging markets like Africa and Asia.Although Nokia has always maintained good presence in Nigeria we hope they would subsidize this awesome 41mp device here as well, so more people can afford it.

Motorola has been through a lot of ups and downs before Google swooped down and acquired their Mobile division.Since then they have had some sort of Epiphany when it comes to innovation, from tattoo chips to digestible computing they have continued to impress us here at TECHNERDNG. The latest innovation from Motorola is the "always on mic". This is a feature that Motorola has added to their much talked about Moto X phone.  This feature allows users of the phone to always have access to voice commands even when the phone screen is off. The device listens to phrases and when it recognizes a command phrase such as the default " ok moto magic " or a custom phrase of the user's choice it unlocks the device and transfers whatever command, task or search terms to Google Now. The feature can be used to perform varoous task such as voice calls and opening webpages. At this point we can not estimate the effects of this feature on the battery life of the pho...

MTN continues to lead the way when it comes to mobile technology in Nigeria, in recent past we have seen them develop apps specifically for the Nigerian Market such as Afrinolly, and provide services such as their mobile TV service and Mobile Money service. They have further diversified and launched The MTN NextAppstore , Nigeria's First App store in a bid to app development in Nigeria. The success of app stores is basically determined but the quality of apps it stocks which is a function of how relevant these applications are to the General public. The store would stock some free and premium afro-centric/ Naija-centric apps such as The Nigerian Constitution, NewsBasket, etc. The Premium apps will be billed using the buyer's airtime on their devices irrespective of the user's carrier (network service provider). The MTN NextAppstore would carry blackberry, java, symbian and android apps but presently it only stocks android apps. Developers who wish to publish their apps...

The iPad Mini has been my favorite apple tablet device since it was released. The miniature Tablet has really lived up to expectations and people have been expecting even more, there have been rumours that the Apple was planning to release the iPad mini sometimes this year and that the device would be upgraded to have a retina display but at this moment it seems we can kiss our dreams of having a new iPad Mini anytime this year goodbye.  Some Sources have even claimed that it might not be arriving with a retina display  at all, these might be because Apple no longer does business with Samsung since Samsung has been responsible for manufacturing their displays up until allegations of patent infringement between the two tech giants began to unfold, but these are still all rumours and nothing is written in concrete about the fate of the iPad mini 2 yet but subscribe to this blog and follow us on twitter @technerdng for ti mely updates as the details continue to unfold...

Nokia has finally announced the Nokia Lumia 1020 this happened at an event organised in New York City held to launch the Smartphone.The much rumoured 41 Megapixel Smartphone that makes the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom look like an obese dwarf. The Lumia 1020 takes advantage of the pureview technology that Nokia debuted on the Nokia 808 pureview. Nokia has had to wade through muddy waters for the past few years but as Nokia's CEO stephen Elop said nokia has turned the "Next chapter in Smartphone Photography". The Lumia 1020 vs Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom Nokia also confirmed most of the specs that have been floating around the rumour mill lately, the Lumia 1020 will come with 2.0GB of RAM which is a first for WP8 since the OS is so light but we believe most of that RAM would be used for image processing. Nokia also confirmed that it would be powered by  2000mAh battery and a 1.5Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 System-on-Chip processor favored by the manufacturer as its used in m...

Nokia Lumia 520 Today we continue on our review of   Budget Smartphones that have made their way into the Nigerian Market. Our subject for today is the Nokia Lumia 520. This is the baby of the Nokia Lumia series, its hard to find fault with this device at all because it has set out to do exactly what it was intended to do. without much ado let me take you down a Lumia coloured rainbow and show you that there might be a rising sun after Nokia's recent stormy Nights. Its no news that Nokia has lost its position as the numero uno smartphone manufacturer in the world to Samsung/Apple, The Lumia series is an attempt to regain that crown and they have a strong contender in the Lumia 520. OVERVIEW Nokia has not failed to impress us with their impeccable design language and world-class build quality. The Lumia 520 is an epitome of Nokia's craftsmanship.When most manufacturers make budget smartphones they usually sacrifice a lot of specifications just to make the budget cut b...

TECNO isn't showing signs of slowing down in the race of being the top smartphone/gadget  manufacturer in the Nigerian Market. Tecno has been known for providing cheap or budget multi-sim phones. Tecno a few months ago released a "High-end Budget phone" the Tecno F7 phantom . Budget in terms of specs and build quality and high-end because its the most expensive device TECNO has ever built. All that is about to change with the recent introduction of the TECNO Phantom Pad N9. i had the opportunity to spend some time with the tablet and i will be giving you a concise hands-on review and first impressions about the tablet. OVERVIEW the Tecno Phantom Pad has an uncanny resemblance to the 2nd Generation iPad am sure Tecno must have drawn inspiration from apple's design language when making this device. the Tablet itself is an 8.0" capacitive touchscreen display Android Tablet running on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. it is powered by a 4500mAh battery and a 1.2Ghz Q...

Even if you are an hermit that lives somewhere in the middle of nowhere on a galaxy far, far away...(yeah someone has revisted their StarWars stash recently, sue me), you should know that the Apple has released the iOS 7 which is the biggest revolution in the lifetime of the iPhone since its original debut 6 years ago. The new OS however is still in its Beta testing stage and its still only availabe to carriers and developers. Jony Ive  and the rest of the boys in cupertino are still tweaking the new OS for both appearance and functionality. Our sources have it that the Beta 3 version of the OS is most likely to be released for carrier testing on july 8 and developers might be able to get their hands on the device on the same day. The iOS 7 beta brought the new OS experience to the iPad, we cant wait to see what this new beta edition would bring to the table maybe some more compatibility features . keep you fingers crossed and subscribe to the our blog, you can also f...

We have heard Apple has been working on a budget iPhone in an effort to make their products more affordable to people in emerging markets and those who want to buy a premium smartphone without necessarily having to rob a bank to do so. It has been suggested that these low-cost iPhones will come with colorful polycarbonate plastic casings some even believe the iPhone 5s or the iPhone 6  might also share the same fate.This is a departure from Apple's boring black and white color scheme and it gives the users a range of color choices instead of having to depend on aftermarket casing. this color palette leaves a bad taste on my Palate.....just saying The image above is what Apple's budget smartphone is expected to look like. These images appear to have been leaked by weiphone.Looking at the pictures the colors look like what would appeal to kindergarten kids and not regular smartphone users. Apple should have stuck with the colors they use on their ipods or at lea...

Twitter fights have become almost an everyday thing on "naija Twitter". Its not uncommon to see two or more people call themselves out and describe each other with such unflattering words that would make even a heartless drone cringe. Some countries have started holding people accountable for their tweets and it seems Nigeria is following in their footsteps with the recent rumours that the actress Tonto Dikeh might face jail time for a picture of her holding a wrap of weed she uploaded on twitter. I hope She drops the soap...ah i digress.  Legislators in Grenada have gone a step further, they have passed a bill into law that holds people liable for their tweets, in Grenada it has become a criminal offence to insult somebody or organization on any social network especially Twitter. Grenada's legal affairs Minister Mr Elvis Nimrod told the AP: "we have problems when some use the technology to engage in mischief" . If you insult someone's name or charac...

Flexible displays have been the stuff of legends for over a year and a half now. The idea seemed a little far fetched when Samsung and LG announced they were researching the technology.  LG recently released a flexible TV last month and this has further proved that their research has not been an effort in futility.With this development the rumours about Samsung releasing a flexible display just continues to pile up. A South korean news has reported that we might see this flexible display on the upcoming Galaxy Note 3 . Obviously this is still a rumour and the possibility of samsung releasing such a device is not certain. However Samsung has always been at the forefront of groundbreaking innovations in the industry and if there's any manufacturer with the ability to pull this off they are at the top of that list. If they eventually release a device like this it would go a long way to solidify their stance in the market. For new developments about this story and o...

Expectations are high for the new Nokia 41 MegaPixel LUMIA EOS phone, Nokia has teased us day in day out about this device and they have finally set  an event for July 11th to launch the device in New York. The phone should be the reincarnation of Nokia's 808 PUREVIEW released last year on the symbian OS. Nokia has since moved on from the Symbian OS and has chosen The Windows Phone platform as their new home.The WP8 platform has not been able to find a solid footing in the mobile phone industry and it threatens to drag Nokia down with it. However Nokia doesn't plan to go down without a fight. They have since employed various marketing tactics to stay afloat. They sent out a very suggestive tweet saying, "Lots of  #Beliebers zooming into our webcast on july 11th?". Now i'm not a professor of linguistics but its practically obvious what nokia is insinuating here, some sources speculate that Nokia has enrolled Justin Bieber to be a brand ambassador of some sort for...

I've heard a lot about the Infinix Race Eagle but i did not take much interest in it because its a subsidiary of a manufacturer ( Alcatel )   that has a bad reputation in Telecommunications industry . However in the past few months the Infinix brand  has began to gain traction in the Nigerian smartphone market as they have been striking deals with various service providers to make their smartphone available to more people around the country. Infinix is being recognized as one of the best budget smartphones in the market today with a few competitors such as the Tecno Phantom A1 which I did a full review on here .I decided to do a full review on this device too because it has definitely caught a lot of people's attention. OVERVIEW Straight out of the box the infinity Race Eagle is an unassuming phone, its a slightly hefty device with a 5.0" capacitive touch-screen across the diagonal. The design of the phone is not so impressive however Infinix has managed to ke...

I recently walked into a store at the computer village in Ikeja,Lagos and i saw people huddled around a manufacturers cubicle testing out a new phone, i was amazed to find out it was a Tecno phone that drew such a crowd, not just any Tecno "Kpalasa" phone but a nice looking white device that could be easily mistaken for a samsung galaxy device or even HTC. The Tecno Phantom A1 was released a few weeks ago, it received rave reviews and was being compared to the Samsung Galaxy S3 its critically acclaimed as the best budget Smartphone in the market. I've decided to do this review now as the buzz around the phone has reduced and a review can be done in a cooler atmosphere and without sentiments. OVERVIEW Starting with the packaging, Tecno has really improved with the packaging and presentation of this phone. it comes in a glossy box with all the spec details of the phone printed on the back. Out of the box, it comes with a set of earphones,usb cab...

Samsung is obviously not tired of blazing trails and setting benchmarks in the Mobile Technology industry, their latest effort The Samsung ATIV Q is a dream come true for many people, we at Technerd are absolutely overwhelmed by this device. The ATIV Q Tablet is a dual -booting device that allows users to boot Android OS an d Windows 8 OS seamlessly on one device. Many Manufactures have been treating dual-booting devices like a Taboo but Samsung has dared to go where others wouldn't with the ATIV Q Tablet. I'm guessing most visitors of this blog are conversant with dual-booting devices but if you are a newbie I would take a few moments to explain. To geeks, Dual-booting is like having an ice cream cone with two flavours vanilla and chocolate unlike having to chose between vanilla or chocolate. Gone are the days when you have to forego a device because of the platform it operates on. The Samsung ATIV Q allows you to run both Android and Windows 8 without having to reboot t...