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According to HTC's Product and Service Director, the HTC One M9 official Android 5.1 Lollipop update should be live now for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Android 5.1 coming to EMEA HTC One m9 devices tomorrow...enjoy
graham wheeler (@wheelergd) August 3, 2015
The update OTA package size will be about 831MB. In addition to all the new features in Android 5.1, the update improves the amount of time taken to charge the battery.
HTC is rolling out the update in stages, so if you don't see the OTA just yet, hold tight. It's coming.
Look around you at the phones that West Africans are using today. Gone are the Nokia of yesteryear. Now, everyone seems to be using smartphones, and almost always Android.
Why is Android so popular in West Africa? Why hasn't Apple cornered the biggest chunk of the smartphone market, like in Europe and North America?
We're here to find out.
We want to investigate exactly why Android is so popular among everyday Africans. What caused the market dominance of Android phones?
Wondering why everyone is using Android? Then you'll need to read on.
They are Cheap
First and foremost, Android smartphones are a cheap solution to a modern problem. If you want to get ahead in the modern world, being constantly connected is massively important.
Whether you're a jobseeker, a businessman, or an engineer, being available for contact is paramount.
When the iPhone launched, it was far too expensive for most people to buy. Despite recently cut production costs, the iPhone is still too expensive for a large chunk of the population.
If you want, you can buy a Leagoo phone for just under 50 USD. That's affordable, even on a low wage. Due to lower wages, many people in West Africa said they consider price first when buying a smartphone.
It is Open Source
If you want to tinker with the Android operating system, then you can happily do so. Customization of the OS, creation of apps, and uploading these apps to Google Play, are all easier on Android than iOS.
This encourages local programmers to work on Android, rather than iOS, as they don't have to pay licensing fees.
The software market in West Africa is large, and Android makes a natural partner for this. Just as Linux has a lot to offer African developers, so does Android. It's a way to sharpen skills, make some money, and potentially, become rich.
Androids Often Have Better Battery Life
If you live in area that doesn't always have electricity, battery life is crucial. Androids best iPhones here.
While iPhones are stricter in what apps can run in the background, Android phones do mostly have better battery life than their Apple rivals. They also often come bundled with fast chargers, which allow for much quicker charging times.
In rural areas, battery life is perhaps the most important feature for staying connected. If that is what you need, then you'll need an Android phone. The iPhone's shorter battery life is fine for the city, but that's all.
Androids Offer Far Better Navigation as Standard
If you want to use your phone as a GPS, chances are, you'll want to use Google Maps. While Apple Maps is improving all the time, it still lags behind Google Maps.
For example, do you want to use your navigation app to get directions for public transport? If you're on Apple Maps, you're out of luck. The app only offers detailed public transit directions in 17 countries.
On Google Maps, you get access to thousands of different cities and towns' transit networks, at the touch of a button.
While you can install Google Maps on iPhone, it is an irritating additional step. It is also beyond the reach of some users, particularly older people. For ease of use, Android absolutely dominates the smartphone market when it comes to navigation.
A Greater Choice of Apps
The open-source software that underpins Android allows for an abundance of apps. There are around 2.47 million apps on Google Play. In contrast, the App Store offers just 1.8 million.
While the App Store does have a lot to offer consumers, it's lacking in hyper-local apps. Many West African businesses offer apps of their own, as do some cities, such as Lagos.
The ease of Android development promotes a healthier business environment, with greater choice for the consumer.
This greater choice is immediately evident when comparing search results from the stores. Apple's own apps often appear first in search results, which some have seen as an unfair advantage. By contrast, searching for software on Google Play gives you a much larger immediate selection to choose from.
Better Hardware Connectivity
When Apple did away with the headphone jack, there was uproar, and justifiably so.
Countless millions of people use wired headphones every single day to enjoy podcasts and music. Those who have bought iPhones since the iPhone 7 have had to spend far more money on hardware than Android users.
If you want, you can buy a dirt cheap headset, and plug it into an Android phone. You don't have that choice with an iPhone.
It's not only headphone jacks that are symbolic of this problem with Apple's design philosophy. It's lightning, too.
Lightning cables are expensive and break easily. They're also only able to be used with Apple products.
The latest Androids use USB-C, which offers fast data transfer and charging, but can be widely used on a huge range of hardware. The cables are far more common and cheap to purchase. It's a much more user-friendly experience.
The Android Smartphone Market Offers Far Greater Choice
You cannot even begin to count the number of different Android phones on the market today. From ultra-cheap phones to the latest Samsung phones, there are thousands of different devices. There are just three iPhone 11 models.
Whatever you need an Android phone for, you can find a model that fits those needs. You don't need to shell out for superfluous features you don't need. You don't have to go with a model because it's the only one available.
Instead, you can choose from a dizzying range at your local phone store. You're in control, from the very beginning.
Final Thoughts
Android phones dominate the smartphone market in West Africa for three key reasons.
One, they offer cheap access to the latest technology. Two, they're rich with customization options. And three, because they are easy to use.
If Apple truly wish to catch up with Android in West Africa, they need to embrace this trio of factors.
However, we doubt that you're going to see a budget iPhone on sale in the near future.
Spanning from advanced technological adoption to rapid urbanization and industrialization, Africa has, in the last couple of decades, experienced a remarkable growth that today makes it stand out. Naturally, a land flowing with the metaphoric milk and honey, Africa's steady development is one for the books.
While many may argue that there is still a gap between tech and infrastructural development in Africa and other continents, its resilience over the years and open arms to new and innovative technologies has shown that this continent might just sit at the top of technological advancements in the future.
This is perhaps one of the reasons why the continent has witnessed an influx of startups willing to take it to the top. As a result, it has been noted to build strong startup culture in the last couple of years.
In effect, venture funding shaped up 2018 to be a wonderful year and 2019 is appearing to be taking up a great form with many startups taking their place in advancing technology in the continent.
While some of these startups have made the news at some point, there are some of them that rarely gets a mention albeit making waves at their position. This is why in this article, we will be pointing out some of the most promising tech startups that appears to be shaping up Africa's constantly developing tech ecosystem.
Sokowatch
Harnessing the power wielded by smartphones today, this startup works in expanding the business atmosphere in Africa by supporting the concept of Informal shops all across Africa. Sokowatch allows these informal shops top up their inventories with just an SMS or App while increasing their integrity by tracking orders and expanding business through value-added recommendations.
This startup extends credit or more capital to these shopkeepers to further expand their business and cope with the ever-growing demand thus, bringing to mind Betway who developed an app which just as easily allows users amass their capital on gaming boards with just a click to their smartphones.
Andela
Providing a boost and support for promising developers to expand and showcase their creativity, Andela has been steadily building Africa's tech ecosystem. Andela gives developers and companies a field for connection by creating teams made of a community of Africa's promising developers.
Not only does it expand the tech culture in Africa by creating a basis for the extension of companies to Africa, Andela creates an opportunity for developers to get known and showcase their skills.
FinChatBot
Developed in 2016, this startup harnessed the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support financial service providers. Creating chatbots, FinChatBot brought more attention to this technology by giving financial service providers the power to interact with clients via the creation better customer relation services with AI at its base.
Though focused on the South African market, its plans of expansion are in place and is aimed to expand its services to sellers all across the continent in record time.
Appy Saude
This is one startup that hopes to bolster the link between standard healthcare services and promising technologies. This startup works in fostering a transformation in the access to healthcare through its launched database app.
Relevant information, as we know it, is important in providing adequate healthcare services. Appy Saude gives users access to the medical and insurance specialties and services covered by healthcare centres.
Integrating features that allow health personnel and users interact with just a click on their smartphone, Appy Saude has been working to make healthcare an easy feat. The startup is based in Angola and is aiming at expanding to other countries.
CowryWise
CowryWise allows users save and invest through a secure and automated channel. With a portion of the world differential to banks, CowryWise brought the banks to people providing a service that allows users enjoy the flexibility of risk-free investments returns and saving their money at no cost.
Established in Nigeria, this startup has been noted to have processed millions in savings for its users and has gained sufficient traction into the Silicon Valley programme while receiving funding alongside. This startup is admittedly shaking up the FinTech atmosphere and with its plans of expansion in the books, it could just be one of the best in 2019.
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