T4L: Local Innovation: Banana Bill

The World Bank initiative Digicam 3.0 spawned a great deal of local innovations by incentivizing the local app development community.  With that incentive, Project Grapevine, helmed by developers Nicholas Williams and Mannin Marsh, offered up Banana Bill.

The locally developed Android game available for free download in the Android Play Store is as addictive as it is simple. Players need only swipe diagonally across the screen to help the title character, a monkey named Bill, collect as many bananas as possible.  Other than pure enjoyment, the goal of the game is to complete the 32 levels and reclaim the Quantum Banana which has stolen by Atila - an evil rhino - and his minions.

Banana Bill Screen Shot

The game is fun to play on its own, but also great with friends thanks to build in social integration via Facebook.  The app is highly rated and well worth a try.


Tech4Life airs on RJR94FM every Wednesday morning at 8:15.

Tech4Life: Y330 vs DL750

Today, there is go good reason not to have a smartphone.  Users still clinging with nostalgia to a ‘flashlight’ phone, or complaining that technology is too expensive need to wake up to the budget yet powerful Android options available.

Phones, are for more than just making calls.  Phones, smart phones, are communication hubs in our pockets.  They can replace a variety of other electronics including the ‘point and shoot’ camera, GPS navigation system, MP3 player and portable game consoles even as ‘feature’ phones long since replaced the PDA, wrist watch, alarm clock and yes, the flashlight.

Widespread 4G and multiple WiFi hotspots keep smartphones, and their owners, connected to each other via the internet.  Entertainment, business communication, social media and of course, one and one phone calls make smartphones a necessary tool in the modern world.

Huawei Ascend Y330

Fortunately, you no longer need to sacrifice an arm or a leg for functionality.  Both Digicel and LIME offer robust budget handsets with the popular Android OS.  For LIME subscribers, check out the Huawei Ascend Y330 while Digicel subscribed can grab the new DL750.

Both handsets have an impressive list of standard features.  Both have a 4” capacitive touch screen display, both have built in speakers with a convenient headphone jack and both sport FM radio.  The Y330 and the DL750 are running 512 MB of RAM with 4GB of internal memory expandable to 32GB thanks to a micro SD card slot.

4G, WiFi hotspoting, GPS and Bluetooth are all board both units.  And both have VGA cameras of photo and video capture, but it is here the similarities end.

Digicel DL 750

For a slightly higher price, the DL750 offers the most recent Android 4.4 OS - Kitkat (the Y330 comes with Jellybean 4.2 stock), a higher resolution 5 megapixel camera and a flash for anytime, anywhere pictures.

Ultimately, these handsets offer competitive smartphone features for a competitive price.  It makes sense to ditch the dumb phone for a smart Android.

RJR's Tech4Life airs every Wednesday at 8:15 AM.

Mobile Multi Media - Observer's New Reality

In many parts of the world, pundits speculate if newspapers will survive.  In Jamaica, the Observer is adapting and evolving in an effort to stay relevant.

The evolution has led to the introduction of a redesigned mobile app for iOS and Android devices.  “We wanted to make it fresh, fast and totally interactive,” explained Jamaica Observer’s Head of Advertising, Marketing & Communications, Natalie Chin-Watkins.



Indeed, the new app boasts a new look complete with an image for every news story, loads quickly and is interactive thanks in part to the heavily touted AReality feature.  Short for augmented reality, the Observer app AReality feature pairs bonus content with print, often in the form of video.

Natalie Chin-Watkins shows off the Observer Mobile App

Chin-Watkins noted that, in the process of placing an ad, a client can say they have additional content, include the AReality logo in the ad they place and when readers scan the ad, the additional content is pushed to the device.  “The really cool thing is, you don’t have to scan only from print.  You could scan from a feather banner … you could scan from anything physical,” she added.

The dual benefit of this feature is marrying access to print to sustain circulation and providing additional revenues through advertising.  This is in keeping with the Jamaica Observer business strategy.  “One of the main focuses of the Observer is to continue to build out our print platform.  So everything we do is with the print in mind,” Chin-Watkins elaborated.

Screen Grab of Jamaica Observer App

With print at its core, the newspaper has expanded to deliver content through many other platforms.  Including the app, the media house boasts a new radio station - Fyah 105.  Also, even more video content is expected, including weekly features thanks to the acquistion of new video equipment and studios.

The multimedia, multi platform roll out is the result of the efforts of an online team churning out content on the back end.  As for the app, it was developed locally over a period of four months by developer Robert Farr.  There is a Blackberry app currently in development and  further updates on the way.

Until then, the app is available free in the App Store or the Android Market.  When asked to comment on the level of success of the new app, Chin-Watkins happily replied, “we are seeing a lot of traction on that platform."

Digicel Samsung Galaxy S 4 - First Impressions

Certainly, I've been a Sammy fan for a long time. So, I was thrilled that Digicel would invite me to their Samsung GS4 event. It gave me an opportunity to, at least, touch the phone.

The handset goes on sale, exclusively I am told, tomorrow. And, from my 'touch' demo I can say, it's a great smart phone.

The phone is roughly the same size as the GS3, yet boasts a slightly larger screen. Samsung had to sacrifice the size of the near invisible (or maybe the launch event at CRU was just dark) Menu and Return buttons.

I like the rounded square edges and the sturdier feel of the construction. The SG4 doesn't feel like a piece of cheap plastic, but it doesn't feel quite as sturdy as the iPhone.

As expected, the screen looks great and is ridiculously responsive. Navigation was effortless. With the low light and the high background noise, I was unable to try out features like the air gestures or S Voice.

As for the air gestures, I heard from a couple attendees (in Digicel branded shirts) that they work like a charm. The same folks told me that the previous non-functioning (practically speaking) S Voice was much improved.

The Dual Shot feature on the camera was cool, but, I wonder, would we get bored of it by next week. Hmm. The camera has a lot of new and upgraded features to explore.

I like the slightly enhanced icons, the S Health looks cool, the screen mirror looks useful, the IR remote I hope works and the upgraded All Share looks like fun.

The Samsung Hub left me feeling like it was completely unnecessary. So too did the typing, just like the SG3. I don't find the keyboard easy to use or insightful.

But, the feature that has me thinking 'I like this phone' is the Safety Assistance ... a feature I hope I never need but glad I have.

Beyond that, this new Sammy has so many features crammed into one mobile device, that its hard to want anything else. I'm told the bigger battery and the improved OS make it run faster for longer on one charge. I will try to confirm that if I ever get a road test model.

If money was no object, I would buy this computer masquerading as a phone in half a heart beat. If you have the S2, time to ditch and move up. If you've got an S3 and you're tapping it out, time to upgrade. If you're a poser that is rich and likes to have the latest, time to upgrade.

If you're a student, fixed income professional, unemployed loafer, tech newb or person who actually uses a phone primarily for making calls (amazing), you may want to wait for my final review after the price check.

Tech Time: Blackberry OS 6.0

With the increasing popularity of innovative smart phone platforms like iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile, Research In Motion (RIM) have had to step up their game to remain competitive, and they do this with the soon to be released Blackberry OS 6.0.

The very first thing that users will notice is the redesigned home page which is highly customisable. Long overdue feature like an updated media player, universal search and powerful browser bring the new OS inline with features already available on iPhone and Android devices.

Blackberry uses OD 6.0 to improve some features for which BB already has the lead, making a great user experience even better. The new embedded image feature will boost the robust Blackberry email while the wildly popular Blackberry Messenger (BBM) gets s sexy new look and easier interface.

Smart phones have revolutionaries the way we communicate; mobile social networking is critical to the success of any handset. Blackberry recognising this truism, has integrated social networking into the OS has offers simultaneous posting to multiple social networking platforms.

The official announcement is expected later today with a roll out perhaps as soon as later this month. RIM is also expected to announce the launch of the Blackberry Bold 9800 also called the Torch, RIM’s first slide phone set to rival the iPhone 4.

Windows 7 Tip: Click on the Options tab in the Windows 7 calculator of a range of different calculators. This offers many different unit conversions (length, weight, volume and more), date calculations (how many days between two dates?), and spreadsheet-type templates to help you calculate vehicle mileage, mortgage rates and more. Source: Tech Radar

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