Technology

Diana Bahati and Maxine Spearhead OPPO Reno 7 Virtual launch

Published

3 weeks ago

April 23, 2022

For the first time in Africa, OPPO will be unveiling the newest addition to its Reno series; OPPO Reno7 Series in Nairobi, Kenya. The Reno 7 is powered by the world’s first ultra-sensing selfie IMX709 sensor manufactured by Sony and designed by OPPO. This guarantees sharper clearer and brighter unlimited selfie portrait images. The rear triple camera set up provides a 64MP AI triple camera, a 2MP Depth Camera and a 2MP Micro lens with 15x to 30x magnification.

Leveraging this flagship-level hardware, The Reno7 comes packed with impressive imaging features including Bokeh Flare Portrait, Selfie HDR, AI Portrait Enhancement, and many others so that users can capture the world in stunning, professional-quality portraits.

To create the colour and texture of the Sunset Orange Reno 7, OPPO makes use of its own Fiberglass-Leather design, bringing an entirely new tactile sensation to the Reno series in the process. This texture is combined with a bright orange colour tone to make Sunset Orange a sophisticated choice in style. Lively, bright, and extravagant, and at the same time suitable for both men and women, the passionate Sunset Orange makes the phone instantly recognizable while creating a premium feel with its leather texture.

The Reno 7’s other eye-catching colour finish; Cosmic Black, makes use of the iconic OPPO Glow effect to create a back cover that is glossy in appearance with a fingerprint-resistant matte texture. The classic Cosmic Black model presents an immersive pondering black that is simple and pure in its design to which creates a mesmerizing appearance as vast as the universe. Also on the phone’s back cover, the spliced design of the camera module uplifts the premium appearance of entire device, drawing eyes towards the high-tech camera module.

The inclusion of the Micro lens on the OPPO Reno7 involves more than simply making room for an additional lens on the phone. At the structural level, OPPO has made the decision to install the Micro lens module on the back cover of the phone, rather than directly mounting it on the motherboard. As the short focal length of the Micro lens requires the phone to be placed very close to the objects being photographed, OPPO has also added a new Orbit Light underneath the Micro lens to provide additional illumination while the Micro lens is enabled.

Reno7 5G has been created by the innovative use of Laser Direct Imaging (LDI) manufacturing process on the exterior of a smartphone. The use of LDI technology is the first time LDI has ever been applied to the exterior design of a mobile device. It is also the first time that OPPO itself has used laser engraving technology to perform additional precision processing on top of the OPPO Glow layer. OPPO has applied LDI processing to draw 1.2 million micro-rasters, and each raster has been created with a precision of just 20 microns. This creates a visual and textural illusion of shooting stars streaming across the device that shine and fade into the black galaxy as the phone is held in the hand.

OPPO will be announcing the specs, and other details about the features of the upcoming phone in its much-anticipated virtual launch. In the launch OPPO will be unveiling the Reno 7 with well-known celebrities; Bahati, Diana Marua and Wabosha Maxine to showcase its vast features and extensive capabilities. The OPPO Reno 7 will be available in Kenya in Sunset Orange and Cosmic Black in all OPPO and Safaricom stores in Kenya. It will also be available for online purchase through Jumia, Kilimall and SkyGarden. Available versions will include the 6GB RAM + 128 GB ROM, the 8GB RAM+128GB ROM at and lastly, the 8GB RAM + 256GB ROM (available in 4G and 5G versions).

Media & Training

Daneel Knoetze, Lucy Kassa and Mr Macaroni win Gatefield’s 2021 People Journalism Prize for Africa

Published

2 weeks ago

May 6, 2022

Kurian Musa

Now in its third year, the PJPA is a public service journalism initiative to recognize and reward journalists, citizen reporters, and social justice newsmakers on the continent.

This year’s nominees and winners have been selected by journalists, human rights defenders, and public opinion shapers across the continent.

The winners are Daneel Knoetze, People Journalist of the Year 2021; Lucy Kassa, People Journalist for Informed Commentary 2021; and Debo Adebayo aka Mr Macaroni, People Newsmaker for Social Justice 2021.

The winners:

People Journalist of the Year 2021 – Daneel Knoetze

Daneel Knoetze is an investigative journalist from South Africa and a 2017 Cronkite Humphrey fellow.

His work, “Killing the Files,” exposes the Independent Police Investigative Directorate and its failure to properly conduct investigations, hold police accountable and to bring justice to the victims.

Knoetze also has a documentary titled “A Killing in the Winelands” that delves into a cornerstone incident in the investigation.

We selected Daneel Knoetze and the Viewfinder team for exposing a sinister coverup scheme within the South African Police Service’s internal watchdog that offered protection to violent officers.

People Journalist for Informed Commentary 2021 – Lucy Kassa

Lucy Kassa is an Ethiopian investigative journalist who has reported extensively on the war in northern Ethiopia and continues to report on the atrocities committed by all sides in the war in northern Ethiopia.

She was attacked and denounced by the Ethiopian government after her Los Angeles Times piece about the atrocities carried out by Eritrean mercenary soldiers in the war torn Tigray region of Ethiopia.

We selected Lucy Kassa for documenting the atrocities of the Ethiopian war,exposing the use of chemical weapons against civilians and the rape of women caught in the conflict.

People Newsmaker for Social Justice 2021– Debo Adedayo (Mr. Macaroni)

At great personal risk, Debo Adebayo remained undeterred after the brutal murder of anti-police brutality #endsars protesters in Lagos, Nigeria.

He advocated for victims’ accountability and was arrested for leading the #occupylekkitollgate protests in memory of state violence victims.

We selected Debo Adebayo for remaining undeterred in his pursuit of justice and accountability for the victims.

Gatefield is a Sub-Saharan African public strategy and media group that influences positive change.

The PJPA is Gatefield’s leading corporate social responsibility commitment to advance democratic freedoms and societal change.

Technology

2 Africa Deployment Underway with First Landing in Genoa, Italy

Highly Anticipated Subsea Cable System Set to Connect 3 Billion People Upon Completion

Published

1 month ago

April 15, 2022

Correspondent Africa

2Africa Deployment Underway with First Landing in Genoa, Italy. (Photo: Source/Meta)

The 2Africa consortium, comprised of China Mobile International, Meta, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC, announced today the first landing of the 2Africa cable – in Genoa, Italy.

The landing sets the tone for more landings in the coming months as the cable is extended to a total of 46 locations by the completion of the project in 2024.

Announced in May 2020, the 2Africa subsea cable system together with its Pearls extension are designed to deliver seamless international connectivity to approximately 3 billion people, representing 36% of the global population and connecting three continents, Africa, Europe and Asia.

At 45,000km, it will be the longest subsea cable ever deployed, serving communities that rely on the internet for services from education to healthcare and business, with all experiencing the economic and social benefits that come from this increased connectivity.

Vodafone, the 2Africa landing party in Genoa, has partnered with Equinix to land the cable directly into the Equinix Carrier Neutral Data Center (CNDC), with Retelit delivering the fronthaul. As with all 2Africa cable landings, capacity will be available to service providers in Genoa on a fair and equitable basis, encouraging and supporting the development of a healthy internet ecosystem.

Working with a local Italian operator, 2Africa has also developed a new terrestrial route connecting the Genoa cable landing station (CLS) directly to major CNDCs in Milan.

Good progress on the survey work and manufacturing continues with the 2Africa project remaining on track for completion in 2024.

China Mobile International Limited (CMI) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Mobile, mainly responsible for the operation of China Mobile’s international business. In order to provide better services to meet the growing demand in the international telecommunications market, China Mobile established a subsidiary, CMI, in December 2010. CMI currently has over 70 terrestrial and submarine cable resources worldwide, with a total international transmission bandwidth of over 109T, and a total of 225 PoPs. With Hong Kong, China as its launchpad, CMI has significantly accelerated global IDC development, creating a strong network for data center cloudification.

Media & Training

FactSpace West Africa and AW Free Foundation partner to tackle misinformation

Published

2 months ago

March 25, 2022

Kurian Musa

FactSpace West Africa, one of the leading fact-checking organisations in Africa, has entered into a partnership with AW Free Foundation to expand the fight against misinformation, disinformation, fake news and propaganda across Africa.

AW Free Foundation is a non-profit organisation founded by AfricaWeb, one of the biggest publishers in Africa operating in Ghana (ghanaweb.com), Cameroon (camerounweb.com), Nigeria (mynigeria.com), Tanzania (tanzaniaweb.com) and Togo among other African countries.

The partnership seeks to leverage on AfricaWeb’s reach of 4 million multilingual visitors per month across three regions of Africa and its wide network of multilingual journalists to verify, fact-check and widely publish verified information in multiple languages across Africa.

FactSpace West Africa and AfricaWeb platforms across West, Central and East Africa would introduce newly developed digital features that would, among others, rate the accuracy of information including claims by public officials, institutions etc.

“This is a fact-checking/publisher partnership built to address the age-long challenge of debunks that have minimal online reach. Fact-checks are always known to hobble in the face of viral misinformation. But not anymore. This collaboration will ensure that millions of Africans online get access to verified information while we ensure purveyors of misinformation are held accountable – which speaks to our positioning as a second-generation fact-checker,” said Rabiu Alhassan, the Director and Managing Editor of FactSpace West Africa.

Among other activities, FactSpace West Africa and AW Free Foundation would organise fact-checking training for journalists, whistleblowers, CSOs and the general public to develop their fact-checking skills.

“In sub-Saharan Africa, journalist and whistleblowers’ exposure to misinformation and disinformation, if left unaddressed, could further undermine the precarious foothold of independent media on the continent. So, with this partnership, AW Free Foundation plans to explore misinformation and disinformation in multiple African countries through in-depth research, policy briefs and to build the capacity of 2500 journalists across all 5 regions of the continent to restore trust in the media,” said Emmanuel Vitus Agbenonwossi, the Executive Director of AW Free Foundation.

FactSpace West Africa and AW Free Foundation look forward to training thousands of fact-checkers in Africa and consistently fact-checking and verifying information in multiple African languages.