For those who have been following, I did an un-boxing (post here) for for the surprisingly useful Huawei P8 Lite recently and I got quite a number of positive feedback from people who didn't know about the the phone either.

At Citi 97.3 FM's #D2R concert I decided to try-out the really awesome camera features that allow for low light photos and even better crisp intelligent video shots.

Bisa Kdei is one of the most well-received artists during Citi FM's #December2Remember concert December 2015

Photo shot with Huawei P8 in low light Bisa Kdei's performance at Citi FM's #December2Remember

And then I tried to be even more adventurous and recorded video with the Huawei P8 Lite's 13MP camera for maximum image resolution of 4160 x 3120 pixels tell me what you think of the video below:

If you were at the concert or have tried your hands at Huawei's P8 Lite, shoot me a quick message @eagamor and let's compare notes.

Olu, Muriel (my mother), Grandma Anniky, Ayo, Kobina | photo credit: Sawyer family archives.

It has been a crazy awesome and crazy challenging 2015. Reflecting on the June 3rd Accra Floods, the December 17th car robbery but in the same token appreciative of the World Economic Forum on Africa conference panelist opportunity in Cape Town, SA my feature in BBC and this newspaper clipping from the Ghana's Daily Graphic, Business edition:

Daily Graphic Business: Tuesday November 3rd-9th 2015 

Helps me appreciate all that has happened this past year even more. In spite of the struggles, challenges and difficulties there are bright spots, real bright spots that have helped deal with each obstacle and challenge. For that I am grateful. A wise person once shared with me that there isn't life without obstacles, and so as I turn thirty, I am contemplative and appreciative about all the victories (big or small) that help make this journey memorable. To all of you who have followed, and continue to follow this blog, thank you. There is more to come, especially as I explore content creation with evermore advanced mobile devices here and here.

If you haven't already, do follow @eagamor on Twitter as I resolve to live in the here and now and celebrate our individual and collective success as #MasterOfTheMoment

--

#Deeper #‎IStandOnTheShouldersOfGiants‬ The cute youngest girl, Muriel Vanderpuye, will go on to be the wonderful woman who gives birth to me 30 years from this day. Grateful. ‪#‎SawyerInMe‬ ‪#‎QuarteyInMe‬ ‪#‎Mama‬ ‪#‎MosquitoClaps‬‪ ‪#‎GamorLegacy‬

Everyone loves the Christmas season. It is a great time to reconnect with family, and if yours is benevolent, a time to exchange gifts. The festive season is always special as my birthday falls on new year's eve and gives me extra motivation to think about, and implement, my new year's resolutions.

One such resolution of mine is to take mobile more seriously. The mobile devices of today have in-built specs that would dazzle anyone from 2-5 years ago and for social media enthusiasts and bloggers: they allow us to consume and produce content on the fly. Being an Apple enthusiast I'd bookmarked an iPhone 6 purchase - if for the very least, to sync with my MacBook and other devices that make my working life simpler and easier.

And then surprising happened...

I received my first Huawei device, ever. I almost feel giddy. It is not that I haven't owned an Android phone before, I dabbled with HTC's Dream G1 device, and even owned Samsung's Galaxy Two, yes there were a few before the new Galaxy 6s and Galaxy Edge were introduced into the market. And if you have been an ardent follower/reader of this blog there was the Samsung A5 and my thoughts on that here. But never have I owned a Huawei, until now; and I have been pleasantly surprised. I'll be more than happy to share with you the highlights and functionality of the Huawei P8 Lite, especially in our Dumsor-laden, expensive data Ghanaian environment in a bit. In the meantime, Afi hyia pa! Check out the pictures and the brief unboxing video on what's to come next.

It is always a super cool feeling to review a new phone before it hits the markets/shelves. Though I've owned other smartphone models, Samsung has been impressing me with their latest line of Galaxy devices.
Last November I tried my hands at the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and was duly impressed, the super AMOLED display and Android OS (which has come pretty far since I switched to iOS) was a pleasant surprise. The stylus was incredibly responsive...wider screen....connection to wearable gear.... but this post is about the new Samsung Galaxy A5. Let me not get ahead of myself.

First thing that I noticed on the A5 was the metallic outer casing and the rounded edges. Surprisingly, the Galaxy A5 is way lighter than my iPhone 5c and quite noticeably so.

Holding the camera at the launch in Accra on January 30th, 2015.

The phone is incredibly fast and comes with 16GB of memory (2GB RAM) and an opportunity for you to upgrade to as much as you would like/can afford on an SD card...not bad, especially if you want to push movies, photos or music via Samsung's AllShare Play feature to a Samsung TV ( I own a ChromeCast so I get to push YouTube and a few others apps from my mobile devices as well).

As a photographer though, I honed in quickly on the picture taking features on the phone. If you are a stats feign this is what you'll get with the Samsung Galaxy A5:

• CMOS 13 MegaPixels for the primary (back) camera
• Geo-tagging (so you can let friends know of pictures taken in Korle-Gonno)
• Touch face, face detection & panorama (even more k3ch3)
• 1080p @30fps for video...charley in 1998 could phones do this...lemme check Google real quick and get back to you.

Alright so my favorite photo feature on this 50 inch screen device has to do with selfies. I take selfies all the time, see here. And with the selfie-stick craze...yes selfie-stick is a thing...the ability to take pictures by only showing your palm to the camera tickled the day light out of me; closing the deal for the Samsung A5 as a must have phone in my arsenal. With all the bells and whistles of a metallic casing, light-weight device run on Google Android's KitKat (yummie!) a perk like automated selfie was a welcome bonus.

The launch at the new Samsung office at Stanbic Heights was fun and friends caught on to my favorite feature

Samsung official demonstrating to the press at the launch

Deeper

My friend and YFM co-worker Caroline Sampson was fascinated on Sunday when I showed her the phone after church.

Got it right after a few tries #PalmSelfies with YFM's Caroline Sampson

The phone's estimated retail value is 1,500 ghs and at that price point, (my first monthly salary in Ghana for perspective at what most consider here to be a good job) the phone isn't cheap.

In conclusion though the Galaxy A5 is a fun, light weight smartphone that I can use to impress all the beautiful ladies. #A5lifestyle

Deeper* is my 2015 resolution to dig deeper into conversations, reviews and sentiments I share on-air or online. 

Samsung out-doored the Note 4 in a grand fashion with a week of activities at the Accra mall. I got to host & engage with developers on day 4!

#SelfieCompetition

Participants from MEST, other developers

The homeboy//thorn-in-the-flesh Donald Ward put on the activation

Co-MC YFM family/team member Caroline Sampson

The Note 4 is the first Android device after my first iPhone (5c) that I've actually coveted...besides the Amoled display, the S-Pen was actually a joy to play with. Finally note taking on an electronic device was fun and productive. The price point for the Note 4 though...let's just hope the good folks at YFM give that early Christmas bonus.

On day 6 I stopped by to support with the Selfie Competition and ended up winning a Vodafone Mp3 Player. At least I'm getting a head start on the Christmas spirit. #GamorLegacy

One of the things that I didn't think would be successfully replicated from my metropolitan DC life to Accra every day living was  fast, convenient food delivery. Especially one that was only a phone call away from my favorite restaurants food being sent to my doorstep. Until I found the perfect surprise! One afternoon, while craving for plantain and beans or red red, I decided to try out HelloFood's service for lunch.

HelloFood Office in Osu, Accra

I went online to their snazzy website and looked at the menu based on the local restaurant's proximity to my Y FM office at the Accra Mall. The website interface seemed pretty clear and the options were decent as I could order from East Legon, Kanda through Accra central with promise of delivery under an hour for most locations.

Online ordering service made easy

The delivery guy came through with smiles and decently anxious for my approval as he carried my meal in a polythene bag from Sweet Discovery Restaurant. After a confirmation call about my order, my meal came warm and decently packaged in under the 45 minutes that was advertised, no complaints there.

What I was a bit surprised about was how small the portions came up to considering the cost of my meal (minus delivery discount oh). I enjoyed my plantain and beans with chopped goat meat with relish and a week later, filled out the survey/response for Hello Foods service/Sweet Discovery's good food. Had a conversation with my pocket though, and at the reduced cost of 17.50 ghs (rounded it off to 20 ghs for buddy's tip) I would need a pay increase to patronize the service more. Without the delivery discount I would have been charged 24.50ghs...boss status.

When my salary/pay increase happens I'll be logging on to explore food options to be delivered, especially foods from restaurants I cannot easily gain access to at/from the mall.