Blackberry 10 Making a Comeback!!

It was exciting yesterday when blackberry released the blackberry Z10 that runs on a new Blackberry 10 platform. A comeback for blackberry that aims at transforming mobile communications as a whole as well as its business brand. IOS and Android have dominated the market for the past five years and one wonders if the launch of this new OS is a bit too late.

Unlike its predecessors that ran on RIM, BB10 platform was specifically designed to run completely on touchscreen with new user experience. So, what makes it different?

• A software keyboard that swipes words to the keyboards and enables prediction and mimics the physical version experience.
• The BB Hub is a universal inbox that offers you a chance to get all your messages from emails, twitter, Facebook, linked In which can be navigated through swiping because it does not have a physical home or back button.
• BBM now allows video calling because of the BBM video and voice features. 
• BBM balance that allows users to separate their personal and work life.
• BB world store that has over 70,000 applications for its users. Not only does it have apps, but video and music as well with popular apps such as twitter, angry birds, Facebook and Skype available.

Specifications overview:

Design	Size	Height 130 mm / 5.12 in Width 65.6 mm / 2.58 in Depth 9 mm / 0.35 in
	Weight	137.5g / 4.85 oz
	Navigation	All-touch screen, with intuitive gesture based navigation
	Keyboard	On screen BlackBerry Keyboard (portrait/landscape), featuring contextual auto-correction, next-word prediction, and a personalized learning engine that gets to know the way you type
	Dedicated keys	Volume Up/Down, Mute, Lock (for Power On/Off)
Display	Resolution	1280 x 768 resolution, at 356 PPI 24-bit color depth
	Screen size	4.2" diagonal 15:9 aspect ratio
OS & desktop software	Operating system	BlackBerry 10 OS
	Desktop software	BlackBerry® Link software for your computer to enable synchronization of data and media
Performance	Processor	Dual Core 1.5 GHz
	Memory	2GB RAM 16GB Flash
	Expandable memory	Removable microSD memory card – slot under battery door (Up to 64 GB)
	USB Ports	USB 2.0 high speed port – allows charging and data synchronization of the device with a USB cable
	HDMI Port	Micro HDMI for connection to your HDTV or projector
Power	Battery	1800mAH removable battery
	Battery Life	Up to 10 hours talk time (3G) Up to 13 days standby time *Note: Battery life claims are for Model STL100-3
Camera & video	Rear camera	8 megapixel auto-focus camera Back Side Illumination for better low-light performance 5-element F2.2 lens Dedicated ISP (image signal processor) with 64MB frame buffer Flash, continuous and touch to focus, image stabilization Enhanced Super Resolution Digital Zoom (5x) 1080p HD video recording 4 DOF (Degrees of freedom) video stabilization Time Shift mode for pinpointing and adjusting individual elements of your picture
	Front camera	2 megapixel fixed-focus camera Image and video stabilization 3x digital zoom 720p HD video recording
Multimedia	Image formats	BMP, WBMP, JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, SGI, TGA
	Audio & video formats	3GP, 3GP2, M4A, M4V, MOV, MP4, MKV, MPEG-4, AVI, ASF, WMV, WMA, MP3, MKA, AAC, AMR, F4V, WAV, MP2PS, MP2TS, AWB, OGG, FLAC
	Audio & video encoding/decoding	H.264, MPEG-4, H.263, AAC-LC, AAC+, eAAC, MP3, PCM, Xvid, AMR-NB, WMA 9/10, WMA10 professional, WMA-LL, VC-1, VP6, SPARK, PCM, MPEG-2, MJPEG (mov), AC-3, AMR-WB, QCELP, FLAC, VORBIS
Apps	Pre-loaded apps	BlackBerry® Hub, Contacts, BlackBerry® Browser, BlackBerry® Calendar, BBM, Text Messages, BlackBerry® World, BlackBerry® Remember, Docs To Go™, Pictures, Music, Videos, Story Maker, Facebook®1, Twitter®1, LinkedIn®1, Foursquare®, BlackBerry® Maps, Games, YouTube®, Voice Control, Weather, Clock, Calculator, Compass, File Manager, Box, BlackBerry® Connect for Dropbox, Print To Go, Smart Tags, Settings, Adobe® Reader, Phone, Camera/Video Camera/Time Shift, Setup, Help, SIM Toolkit, Search
Security		Password protection, screen lock, and sleep mode BlackBerry® Balance™ offering dedicated profiles to keep work and personal data separate and secure
Alerts & notifications		Tone Vibrate On-screen or LED indicator
Voice input/output		Integrated hands-free speakerphone Hands-free headset capable Bluetooth headset capable
Network & connectivity	Network bands	Z10 Up to 4G LTE Quad band LTE 2, 5, 4, 17 (700/850/1700/1900 MHz) Tri band HSPA+ 1, 2, 5/6 (850/1900/2100 MHz) Quad band HSPA+ 1, 2, 4, 5/6, (850/1700/1900/2100 MHz) Quad band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) Z10 (4G - Verizon) Up to 4G LTE LTE Band-13 (700 MHz) CDMA Cell-band and PCS-band (800/1900 MHz) WCDMA Band-1 and Band-8 (2100/900 MHz) GSM/EDGE Quad Bands (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
	Wi-Fi®	802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz 4G Mobile Hotspot
	Bluetooth®	Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (LE)
	GPS	Assisted, Autonomous and Simultaneous GPS Preloaded with BlackBerry Maps application
	NFC	BlackBerry® Tag with NFC technology enables communication between BlackBerry smartphones and other NFC-enabled devices with a tap
Sensors	Advanced Sensors	Accelerometer Magnetometer Proximity sensor Gyroscope Ambient light sensor
Accessibility		BlackBerry® Magnify, for customers with partial vision - Learn more Adjustable screen brightness, scalable fonts Teletypewriter (TTY) Support

THE ROLE OF POLITICS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF KONZA CITY

Last week, the president launched the Konza Technopolis during the ground breaking ceremony that was held at Malili, Machakos. This was a significant step in the launching of the project since it made it cease from being just but a mere proposal and actually brought it to life. The phenomenal goal behind it is to ensure that this ICT Park buds an industrialized economy that makes Kenya the ultimate technical hub for many investors who want to bring in local intelligence and a bit of physical presence to the local African market. The project being a private and public partnership, a lot of international investment is necessary because the government will majorly handle matters to do with infrastructure and land allocation (the 5000 acre piece of land). Politics play a huge role on deciding the manner in which the project will sail through.

There are several benefits that come along with this project. Kenya is at a strategic time where its economic liberalization offers opportunity for such commendable growth. Not to forget other key factors such as the revolutionary Mpesa that offers its users the opportunity to spend, transfer, save and most recently get loans just by using their cell phones. The rise of incubation centers has also offered a conducive environment for innovation in the ICT sector with ample research resources and venues of discussion and interactivity among technology enthusiasts.

This project aims at creating at least 200,000 jobs; 80,000 of which will be created in the first phase of development. Most of the beneficiaries are in ICT, transporting and real estate whereby suppliers of building materials such as cement and steel will be essential. Having the idea of spending 850 billion to eventually set up 200,000 jobs through a period of 17 years putting in mind how sluggish government funding can be may not prove to be such an appealing and cost effective venture. This is why international investments are trivial for this idea to bear fruit.

An impressive 250 applications for investments have already been received ranging from multimillion companies such as Safaricom and Huawei, to entities such as banking and financial institutions, shopping malls and international education institutions. With the ground breaking, 18 investors had already wished to start whereas 30 planned to do so after the elections scheduled for March, one of the major reasons Kenyans should anticipate to take part in fair elections void of any form of corruption, biasness and violence.

The choice of leaders we choose is important as well. Countries such as Zimbabwe and Iran suffered from huge losses due to sanctions that were laid upon them. A conscious voter should not put the future of their country in shambles by heading to the ballot box and appointing an individual who faces charges of crime against humanity whether falsely accused or not. It just doesn’t make any sense. While some may argue that the West no longer has a hold on us, consider that pure gibberish. Another school of thought may argue that America and Europe investments are not crucial as compared to those from the Middle East such as China. However, realizing that China will take part more in the construction bit while the States and European countries  will deal with data processing will shade more light on the issue.

Relying on the Middle East as the only source of international investment does not make sense, even without having to do the math. All their transactions are done with the American dollar currency because of the connections with the international banking and wiring systems. Nowhere to run baby!! And what makes us so sure that China will risk the chance of appearing to show no recognition to the ICC authority just to stay in business with us after sanctions have been declared upon us?

Never before have we had the chance to carve our own future so blatantly. We should choose our leaders with a lot of insight. I would like to see Konza grow, and maybe let my kid know that I was there when it was all but a dream. Wouldn’t you? Take charge and practice good judgment and peace. Someone wise once said that the eyes are usually the windows to the soul, and personally, I would not trust a bloodshot eyed president to handle the affairs of this country. Would you?