Frequently, running Android apps on your Chromebook may require a specific version of Android installed, and if you happen to have an older version, many app updates not work with your Chromebook. So, it’s important to have the latest Android and Chrome OS versional installed in order to stay clear for App compatibility.

With the latest Chrome OS 90 update, your Chromebook will automatically support Android 11 paving the way for most compatible apps and services. Currently, the update is still in development mode and nearing its public release timeline, but as per the rumour mill, most Chromebooks will be compatible and get Android 11 support once updated.

Notable brands include Samsung, Dell, Asus, Acer, HP, Lenovo, among others, all of which will be compatible with the new Chrome OS 90 and Android 11 update. For now, a full list of Chromebooks that can update to the latest Chrome OS 90 and support Android 11 desktop features has been revealed, and here are the full models per brand.

List of Chromebooks eligible for Android 11 and Chrome OS 90 updates

Acer Chromebooks

• Acer Chromebook 11 C670
• Acer Chromebook 11 C732
• Acer Chromebook 11 C732L
• Acer Chromebook 11 C732LT
• Acer Chromebook 11 C732T
• Acer Chromebook 11 CB311-8H
• Acer Chromebook 11 CB311-8HT
• Acer Chromebook 13
• Acer Chromebook 14 CB3-431
• Acer Chromebook 14 CP5-471
• Acer Chromebook 15 C910
• Acer Chromebook 15 CB3-532
• Acer Chromebook 15 CB515-1H
• Acer Chromebook 15 CB515-1HT
• Acer Chromebook 311
• Acer Chromebook 314 (C933L)
• Acer Chromebook 314 (C933LT)
• Acer Chromebook 314 (CB314-1H)
• Acer Chromebook 314 (CB314-1HT)
• Acer Chromebook 315
• Acer Chromebook 315 (CB315-3H)
• Acer Chromebook 315 (CB315-3HT)
• Acer Chromebook 512 C851
• Acer Chromebook 512 C851T
• Acer Chromebook 712 (C871)
• Acer Chromebook CXI3
• Acer Chromebook R11
• Acer Chromebook R13
• Acer Chromebook Spin 11 CP311-1H
• Acer Chromebook Spin 11 CP311-1HN
• Acer Chromebook Spin 11 R751T
• Acer Chromebook Spin 13
• Acer Chromebook Spin 311 (CB311-2H)
• Acer Chromebook Spin 311 CP311-3H
• Acer Chromebook Spin 511
• Acer Chromebook Spin 512 R851TN
• Acer Chromebook Spin 513
• Acer Chromebook Spin 514
• Acer Chromebook Spin 712
• Acer Chromebook Spin 713
• Acer Chromebox CXI4

Asus Chromebooks

• Asus Chromebook C202SA
• Asus Chromebook C300SA
• Asus Chromebook C425
• Asus Chromebook Flip C100PA
• Asus Chromebook Flip C101PA
• Asus Chromebook Flip C204
• Asus Chromebook Flip C214
• Asus Chromebook Flip C302
• Asus Chromebook Flip C434
• Asus Chromebook Flip C436FA
• Asus Chromebook Tablet CT100
• Asus Chromebox 3
• Asus Chromebox 4
• Asus Fanless Chromebox

Dell Chromebooks

• Dell Chromebook 11 3380
• Dell Chromebook 13 3380
• Dell Chromebook 13 7310
• Dell Chromebook Enterprise Latitude 7410

Samsung Chromebooks

• Samsung Chromebook 3
• Samsung Chromebook 4
• Samsung Chromebook Plus
• Samsung Chromebook Plus V2
• Samsung Chromebook Pro
• Samsung Chromebook+
• Samsung Galaxy Chromebook
• Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2

Google Chromeboooks

• Google Chromebook Pixel
• Google Pixel Slate
• Google Pixelbook
• Google Pixelbook Go

Lenovo Chromebooks

• Lenovo Chromebook 100e
• Lenovo Chromebook 100e (2nd Gen)
• Lenovo Chromebook 11
• Lenovo Chromebook 300e (2nd Gen)
• Lenovo Chromebook 500e
• Lenovo Chromebook 500e (2nd Gen)
• Lenovo Chromebook C340-11
• Lenovo Chromebook S340-14
• Lenovo Chromebook Tablet 10e
• Lenovo IdeaPad 3 Chromebook
• Lenovo IdeaPad Chromebook Duet
• Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 51 Chromebook
• Lenovo ThinkPad Chromebook 11e
• Lenovo ThinkPad Chromebook 11e (3rd gen)
• Lenovo ThinkPad Chromebook 13
• Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga Chromebook 11e
• Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga Chromebook C13
• Lenovo Yoga Chromebook N23

Well, among the beneficiaries of the YEP program is Julius Tusingiwre– a medical practitioner with strong passion for computing. Julius’s bond with computers was kickstarted by a Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) visit to his primary school where eligible students received a free thorough computer training session.

Since then, Julius discovered a new passion for computers and when MTN Uganda’s call for YEP submissions in 2020 arose, he submitted a 1-minute video of his dreams and received a mass appeal from the public.

“Computers are my passion and I love using them to solve problems.”

– Said Tusingwire

Heeding a friend’s advice, Tusingwire recalls that he decided to enroll for a nursing course as a sure way of securing employment. However, he held onto his passion for computers that eventually uncovered programming as his key field of interest – something he simultaneously does with his health work profession.

For a while, computer programming supplemented his nursing salary before he lost his job in the health sector. This compelled him to concentrate on his passion-driven programming career. He enrolled in several computer programming courses, and eventually became a certified web programmer.

Now, he has merged his medical career with a computer programming career by starting an online pharmacy dubbed “Your Dawa Online Pharmacy” which he is sure will be a big business in future as online businesses continue to grow popular.

More so, as a winner from the YEP campaign, Tusingwire will receive support from MTN Uganda in form of Mobile Money to boost his business and free monthly data for 6months. Additionally, the telco will offer him a comprehensive business mentorship program that covers a wide area of business essentials needed to manage his company in a professional way.

According to Tusingwire, he has been able to achieve this new milestone by working for what he wants since nothing is ever free. He also advises youth to diversify their sources of income by acquiring more than one skill.

“I thought my future was secure because I was a medical practitioner but when that caved in, my passion for computers kept me on board,”

Said Tusingwire

Straight out the box, the Itel A37 specifications sheet notes a 5.7 Inch screen pimped with a waterdrop display notch and Android 10 Go Edition as key features that make it market-ready. By display, the Itel A37 sports a 5.7 Inch HD+ waterdrop screen with an 84.6% screen to body ratio and a 1520*720 pixels resolution.

To the rear, the Itel A37 hosts a dual camera setup with 5MP + 0.3MP lenses boosted with a dual-LED flashlight. By this standard, the front selfie camera consists of a single 5MP lens situated under the waterdrop notch with a dual front LED flashlight just above.

However, with memory as a key requirement for the current generation of smartphones, the Itel A37 equips 1GB RAM and 16GB of Internal storage guided by a quad-core 1.6Ghz processor. Also, the battery standard is a 3020mAh capacity juiced by a 5W micro USB charging port.

With a low-range texture, the Itel A37 specifications sheet further reveals face unlock as a key feature, 2G/3G network support, and a friendly price tag attached to its availability. Nonetheless, here is the full Itel A37 specifications sheet.

Itel A37 Specifications

Itel A37 Price in Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria

The Itel A37 price in Uganda is not the same as that in Kenya nor Nigeria. But based on the overall African economy structure, the smartphone price does not change by much in all 3 countries, and by this standard, import taxes could somehow hike the overall retail price tag. But with all factors intact, you can buy an A37 online on websites like Jumia, Kilimall, Price in Kenya, among others with a respective price tag per country.

Itel A37 Price:

In Uganda: UGX 240,000

In Kenya: KES 6,960

In Nigeria: NGN 28,000

According to the telco, it has reduced its rates, and for the sending-to-non-Telkom users category, transaction bands from KES 101-2,500 now have slightly lower charges as compared to the usual rates. Also, Person to Person transactions from KES 1 – KES 100 continue to remain free in order to favor users transacting with low amounts.

By Transaction limits, the T-Kash daily limit remains at KES 150,000, the daily sending limit at KES 300,000, and wallet limit access at KES 300,000. All transactions above KES 100 as well attract dynamic charges like the case has been before, and here is a full list of the current Telekom Kenya T-Kash rates.

Current Telekom Kenya T-Kash Rates

Similar to MPESA rates and other telco charges like MTN, Airtel in Uganda, T-Kash rates are subject to change as the business atmosphere changes. But due to the COVID19 Pandemic which continues to show a strong presence in 2021, sending and withdraw rates may not be changed by much in order to favor customers.

Also, Telkom Kenya also inked that it’s embarking on a journey to enhance its digital financial services in the coming months to make it more reflective to customer demands, and with respect to increased security, simplicity, availability, and reliability of all services.

Well, Infinix Hot series have always been ruled by battery performance, and as per the Infinix Hot 10 Play specifications sheet, the device has an inbuilt 6000mAh big battery pack capable of delivering more uptime per single charge. Aside that, Hot series releases often sport big displays, and by the same fashion, the Hot 10 Play sports a 6.82Inch screen with a waterdrop notch.

By Camera Grade, the Infinix Hot 10 Play specifications feature a dual rear camera setup with a 13-Mega Pixels main lens along with a VGA depth lens. To the front, a single 8-Megapixels selfie camera tags along with a single LED flash overhead.

With connectivity as a key standard in 2021, the Hot 10 Play ships a dual 4G LTE Nano-SIMCards slot with an expandable Micro SD card completing the device’s removable accessories setup. Also, Android 10 (Go Edition) is the device’s supported operating system with XOS 7 firmware.

Overall, the Internals host a MediaTek Helio G35 Octa-core processor clocked at 2.0GHz and a PowerVR GE8320GPU. Additionally, 2GB RAM and 32GB Internal Storage or 4GB RAM with 64GB Internal storage level up the device’s performance expandable to 256GB Via a removable MicroSD card. Nonetheless, here is a toss of the Infinix Hot 10 Play Specifications sheet.

Infinix Hot 10 Play Specifications

Infinix Hot 10 Play Price in Uganda and Availability

The Infinix Hot 10 Play Price in Uganda is tagged at UGX 480,000 with both variants of the smartphone priced differently based on the RAM and Internal Storage. Currently, the Infinix Hot 10 Play is available across Uganda at all authorised Infinix Mobile dealer shops and outlets.

So, the next time you wish to buy an affordable smartphone with a big battery standard, and priced favourably, consider adding the Infinix Hot 10 Play to your budget list now that it’s available across authorised dealer outlets in Uganda.

However, as per the device’s Specifications sheet, we shall test how best it performs since it ships the Go Edition of Android 10 which makes it a fast, performance-centric release in our unboxing and review articles. For now, UGX 470,000 is a good price tag for a big battery smartphone like the Infinix Hot 10 Play in Uganda.

This was the view of Huawei senior vice president and board member Catherine Chen, in her keynote speech at the recent Connected for Shared Prosperity Forum in Shanghai.

Chen said that, technology could be an engine for human progress, and called on individuals and businesses to “think big and act small”, while reiterating her support of the SDGs and building a green, innovative and inclusive world.

Chen said it was essential that people reach agreement around technology, which held significant potential for achieving development goals.

“Large social changes tend to happen in lockstep with breakthroughs in science and technology. But today, technological advancements are hyped and politicised – as has sometimes been the case with 5G.”

Chen pointed out that 5G was in fact a standardised technology defined by its high bandwidth, low latency, and broad connectivity, which could transform traditional industries and benefit all.

“Every day, consumers are benefiting from 5G experiences, while industrial use in seaports, mines, and the transportation sector is increasing operational efficiency. Is this a bad thing? I don’t think so.”

Chen said that while there was always the danger that a new technology could be abused, rules could be established to manage technological risks.

“Many people are already hard at workcreating governance rules for cyber security, privacy protection, and trusted AI that will keep us safe. For the rest of us, it’s time to be confident and open to technological development.”

Chen said technology was most effective when it created value for all, and that consensus could be built gradually so that technological advancement could continue.

“By focusing on the limited common understanding we have right now and what resources are actually available, we can drive progress step by step,” she said. “Huawei has always supported technological advancement. We believe digital tech benefits humanity, and can help the UN achieve its SDGs.”

Chen described how Huawei was already deploying digital solutions to empower people and meet UN development goals – especially the goals of innovation, reduced inequality and quality education.

In South Africa, for instance, Huawei, non-profit organization Click Foundation and network provider rain teamed up to connect more than 100 urban and rural primary schools to the Internet. The goal is to boost reading comprehension skills and close the digital gap through technology.

In Kenya, Huawei partnered to build Digitrucks, mobile, solar-powered classrooms that bring digital skills to remote, underserved communities. Equipped with 20 laptops, 20 VR headsets, and built in Wi-Fi, each DigiTruck is a temporary digital school that provides free classes, resources, and materials.

Chen also described how Huawei Smart PV solution being used in more than 60 countries was already helping to achieve SDGs, and had reduced carbon emissions by 148 million tons.

“This is the equivalent of planting more than 200 million trees. In Ethiopia alone, we have helped our customers deploy more than 400 solar power stations, reducing carbon emissions by 2 850 tons. In China, we have also helped build the world’s largest solar stations, dedicated to agriculture and fishing in Ningxia and Shandong provinces.”

Huawei and UNESCO have also partnered to launch the Open Schools programme to help schools in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Ghana improve their digital skills through online education.

“In all these examples every single connection, every gram of emissions reduced, every watt of electricity saved, could not have been achieved without small advances in tech,” said Chen.

“This is the value that tech brings to the world.”

EDITOR’s NOTE: Part of this story is extracted from an official press release shared to the Tech Point Magazine Team

The Huawei Mate X2 comes with an 8-inch main foldable display with a 6.4 inch cover-folded OLED display. The display uses a shift of the industry-first magnetron nano-optical film, which further enhances display quality. Additionally, it produces a 1.5% low screen reflection as compared to its Mate X and Xs predecessors.

With a 2480 x 2200 pixels resolution, 413 PPI, 180Hz touch sampling rate, and a full-view experience on the main display. The cover side sports a 6.45-inch OLED display with a Full HD+ (2700 x 1160 pixels) resolution, 456 PPI, and 240Hz touch sampling rate that enables swift phone interactions in the folded position.

By Camera quality, the Huawei Mate X2 ships a new Leica camera design and quad setup consisting of a 50MP super sensing main camera, a 16MP ultra wide-angle, a 12MP telephoto camera, and an 8MP Periscope super zoom camera (with 10x optical zoom, f/4.4 aperture, optical image stabilization) to its back.

Additionally, the rear camera can record 4K (3840 × 2160) videos, and 1080p@960fps super slow-motion video with AIS anti-shake support. To the front, a 16MP ultra wide-angle camera is designed for selfies with newer modes, and video recording at 1080p (2512 × 1080).

While unfolded, the Mate X2 is 146.2mm x 161.3mm x 11mm, and 78.5 wide when folded. Also, the smartphone weighs 300g and packs a 4500mAh battery that supports 66W fast charging through a dedicated USB Type-C input port.

On the internals grade, the device equips a Kirin 9000 processor with an octa-core architecture consisting of 1 x Cortex -A77 at 3.13 GHz, 3 x Cortex-A77 at 2.54 GHz, 4 x Cortex-A55 at 2.05 GHz.The chipset also uses a 24-core mali G78 GPU for powerful graphics performance as listed on the Huawei Mate X2 Specifications sheet.

Huawei Mate X2 Specifications

Huawei Mate X2 Price

As per the Huawei Mate X2 Specifications sheet, the new foldable smartphone is one of a kind as compared to its predecessors like the Mate X and Xs. By price, the 8GB RAM + 256GB ROM variant costs $2,782 as the 8GB RAM + 512GB ROM costs $2,938 with availability of the device expected in the coming months by Q2 2021.

With many banks and providers currently embracing contactless payments, the technology is future-proofed to ensure that consumers will continue to enjoy the same high levels of security and convenience as they do today. By statistics, the contactless penetration rate averaged at 41% for in-person purchase transactions globally in 2020 with a 30% rise compared to 2019.

Mastercard has been spearheading the transition to contactless payments for years and developing specifications to support industry standardization efforts to help ensure the ecosystem benefits from higher levels of security.

“Contactless is the present and future of in-person payments 2020 brought with it a rapid acceleration of digitization and reinforced the importance of digital solutions – like contactless- to help meet our everyday needs. 

As the ecosystem continues to evolve, more connected devices and the Internet of Things are going to create more user demand and an even greater need for constant innovation to build next-generation capability helping to ensure that technology never outpaces trust. “

said Ajay Bhalla –– President Cyber & Intelligence at Mastercard.

With Ecos, consumers, merchants and financial institutions will benefit from: 

• Enhanced Convenience – Over time, we envision that the in-store shopping experience will become increasingly contactless-only. These new specifications will help ensure any device truly can be a payment device, while eliminating the need for a backup swipe or dip of a card.  
• Enhanced Trust – Ecos leverages new, quantum-resistant technology to deliver next-generation algorithms and cryptographic key strengths while keeping the contactless interaction under half a second. 
• Enhanced Privacy – The new specifications deliver advanced protection when account information is shared between the card or digital wallet and the checkout terminal. Ecos builds on the increased requirements to support various privacy regulations.
   

As the new specifications are activated over the coming years, consumers and merchants can expect a seamless transition. Digital wallets, mobile payments, contactless cards, and point-of-sale terminals will continue to work as they do today. Compatibility with Ecos and current contactless specifications is simple. 

Ecos works behind the scenes and is delivered via a software upgrade, therefore no new hardware or terminals are required. This investment complements similar investments in tokens, 3D secure, and click to pay delivering a better consumer and merchant experience. 

Popularly, the 5G n41 band ensures a better frequency and coverage from your service provider depending on your connecting device or smartphone. In the US, Verizon is the best 5G provider you can look up to with the fastest average speeds at a high of 722Mbps as compared to its competing providers.

Of the 4 providers, Verizon and T-Mobile offer over four 5G Bands and frequencies on their average gauge as AT&T, Sprint offer 2 bands each. So, based on your location in the US and browsing device, you may need to note what your provider can offer, and here is what these telcos offer.

Verizon 5G Bands and Frequencies

Verizon offers the sub-6GHz frequency in the name of Nationwide 5G and the mmWave frequency as Ultra Wide 5G. This means the telco is one of the biggest potential mmWave carriers in the US, and that’s a key point to note with the 28GHz band as its highest available offer with average speeds of 722Mbps.

AT&T 5G Bands and Frequencies

At&T relies on the old 850MHz frequency to offer low band 5G to users, the telco won the 39GHz spectrum in May 2020 and it’s expected to offer speeds of up to 3Gbps. With its base 850MHz frequency, AT&T currently offers speeds with a high of 59.3Mbps, and here are some of its evolving bands and frequency offers in the US.

Sprint 5G Bands and Frequencies

Sprint is one of the available 5G carriers in the US even with only one 5G band at the moment. The 2.5GHz frequency band offers great speeds and coverage in a single package, currently, Sprint offers average download speeds at 180Mbps with its single available 5G frequency.

T-Mobile Bands and Frequencies

Similar to Verizon, T-Mobile offers a bunch of 5G frequency bands to users. The carrier offers both mmWave and mid-band 5G and recently merged with Sprint to perfect its 2.5GHz frequency band. To offer wide coverage across the nation, T-mobile uses 600Mhz 5G with average speeds of 243Mbps.

However, the more technology advances, it’s the more development follows the same path attracting climate change as a key dangerous effect to the future. And so, Huawei’s vice president and president of the digital power line has shared light on the future trends of digital power in line with carbon neutrality.

According to Zhou, carbon neutrality is a top priority across the world today and it’s important to upgrade the energy infrastructure from fossil to renewable energy. Current world efforts are tied together under the Paris agreement which is a legally binding treaty on climate change with participation of over 110 countries.

All countries under the Parios agreement have committed themselves to carbon neutrality or to achieve zero carbon dioxide emission by balancing emissions in their atmospheres. And so, with energy as the root foundation of digital infrastructure, the entire ecosystem needs to give top priority to investment in digital energy infrastructure as the foundation for a digital world.

According to Huawei, the top 10 trends of digital power are centered around power digitalization, green energy for all, among other trends presented by Dr. Fang Liangzhou –– the Vice President and CMO of Huawei digital power product line, and these include:

• Power Digitalization
• Green Energy for All
• Comprehensive and Smart Energy
• Efficient E2E Architecture
• AI Boost
• Simple and Convergent
• Intelligent ESS
• Autonomous Driving
• Super-Fast Charging
• Safe and Reliable

Energy digitalization is an inevitable futuristic trend with Innovative integration of digital and energy technologies enabling intelligent management of power generation, power transmission, power distribution, power storage, and power consumption improving energy efficiency.

In terms of AI, Huawei forecasts AI to be widely applied in the energy field and will replace experts’ functions enabling independent system collaboration. With the increased advancement of technology, AI continues to showcase its stand as a trend to follow for cross-industrial implementation.

World wide, Data centers apply AI to adjust parameters to reduce power usage effectiveness (PUE). Intelligent staggering, charging, and discharging of battery based on peak-valley tariffs of electricity grids to save the electricity bill. For smart electric power, big data and AI can be used to warn about battery statuses 24 hours in advance.

“Digital Power will move towards Simple and Convergent network, including architecture convergent, simplified form and prefabricated modules. Energy devices will become compact, lightweight, and modularized.

For example; multi-power systems are integrated into a unified power system. Sites are becoming smaller and smaller, and having transitioned from indoor to Outdoor Cabinets and Outdoor to blade power supplies. And prefabricated modular construction mode is generally used for data centers.”

Dr. Fang Liangzhou explained

Apart from this, as the energy industry gradually transforms to digitalization, the traditional manual O&M mode will be changed, and the energy network O&M will achieve autonomous driving. This can be seen with evolving manufactures like Tesla, Ford, Toyota that continue to showcase self driving in real world sense.

Also, traditional energy systems will be changed from Silo architecture and isolated management to comprehensive smart management, achieving the goal of E2E collaboration including power generation, power distribution, transformation, and consumption.

By energy storage, common lithium batteries will evolve into an intelligent energy storage system (ESS) which will maximize the battery potential. More so, people will be able to enjoy super-fast charging everywhere, car owners will be able to charge vehicles in record times of less than 10 minutes providing a great experience to end users.

Hence, the future of digital power is embedded in evolving fast systems highly dependable on hardware reliability, software security, system resilience, security, privacy, reliability, and availability will become essential requirements.