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Rwanda just released the first smartphone made entirely in Africa

fastcompany.com

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Re: Rwanda just released the first smartphone made entirely in Africa

#41

Post by snug »

sgt wrote: post #19
grecy wrote: post #16

I was in Rwanda this time last year. After visiting ~30 African countries by that point I can say that it's an extremely refreshing change. There is a bustling tech sector in Kigali - they're making iPhone apps, designing and building hardware, etc. etc. There is a huge community of entrepreneurial younger people. People are extremely well educated, friendly and kind. I never saw a single piece of trash in the entire…

FYI for those unaware, grecy is the guy who recently completed a >50000 mile Africa expedition[1]. This guy knows Africa. It's nice to hear that Rwanda is doing well. [1] http://theroadchoseme.com

Oh cool, I bought a Wrangler a few years ago and found his instagram when I was browsing around, love his stuff!

Re: Rwanda just released the first smartphone made entirely in Africa

#43

Post by forgottenpass »

xwdv wrote: post #25
kcolford wrote: post #23

That logo looks so nice. I literally want one just for how nice their brand looks. Why can't other electronics brands look that nice?

Not sure what you’re talking about, the Apple logo is pretty great, and has multiple meanings.

Yeah, but the white apple is a very sterile presentation, and that might work if the company it represents wasn't so sterile too.

Re: Rwanda just released the first smartphone made entirely in Africa

#44

Post by samatman »

smeyer wrote: post #29
MichaelApproved wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. The coastline of Africa is 18,950 miles (30,500 km), so That’s like looping around the content nearly 3 times. Here’s what I found on that site: > I’m doing an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit right now. Come on over to Reddit.com and ask me any question you have about my three year, 54,000 mile and 35 country expedition around Africa. It’s all on the table – safety, money, health, budget, visas, route, people, anima…

Or he just looped around the coastline once at a tighter resolution than your source of 30,500 km https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_paradox (Also thanks for the AMA link)

The coastline paradox is cute, but any route using coastal roads will be shorter than any reasonable coastline estimate, for obvious reasons.

Re: Rwanda just released the first smartphone made entirely in Africa

#45

Post by Iv »

holstvoogd wrote: post #7
incompatible wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They "manufacture the phones from the motherboards to the packaging" ... perhaps the case, motherboard, packaging, but still importing the components, in particular the system-on-a-chip and display? In that case, "made entirely" wouldn't be accurate.

Are there even any producers of low-level components & lcd displays outside China, Taiwan, Korea etc?

There's a 32 nm fab in France (ST Microelectronics) doing a lot of components. I am not sure about the displays though.

Re: Rwanda just released the first smartphone made entirely in Africa

#46

Post by walrus01 »

grecy wrote: post #16

I was in Rwanda this time last year. After visiting ~30 African countries by that point I can say that it's an extremely refreshing change. There is a bustling tech sector in Kigali - they're making iPhone apps, designing and building hardware, etc. etc. There is a huge community of entrepreneurial younger people. People are extremely well educated, friendly and kind. I never saw a single piece of trash in the entire…

Question, from a network engineering perspective, what does the ISP scene in Rwanda look like? Who are the ten largest ASes, what exists for an IX point, and where are the bottlenecks for international transit connectivity?

Re: Rwanda just released the first smartphone made entirely in Africa

#47

Post by walrus01 »

derekp7 wrote: post #11
holstvoogd wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there even any producers of low-level components & lcd displays outside China, Taiwan, Korea etc?

Wikipedia has a list of chip foundry plants, along with process size and production capacity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabricat... In addition to the US, there are and several throughout Europe, Russia, and former Soviet countries. Plus many countries throughout Asia.

that list seems to be entirely missing the upstate new york chip fab, which has been around since 2003 or so.

https://phys.org/news/2019-04-semiconductor-firm-upstate-ny-...

Re: Rwanda just released the first smartphone made entirely in Africa

#48

Post by thatcat »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #15
derekp7 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wikipedia has a list of chip foundry plants, along with process size and production capacity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabricat... In addition to the US, there are and several throughout Europe, Russia, and former Soviet countries. Plus many countries throughout Asia.

Great list. Also a reminder of why they call it Silicon Valley after all... Maybe Rwanda will push towards researching making their own chipset. ARM is kind of a spec and not some specific processor is how I have understood it. You take the spec and design your own processor from it.

Lol, I don't see any production in Silicon Valley. Most CA production listed is around LA area.

Re: Rwanda just released the first smartphone made entirely in Africa

#50

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

walrus01 wrote: post #47
derekp7 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wikipedia has a list of chip foundry plants, along with process size and production capacity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabricat... In addition to the US, there are and several throughout Europe, Russia, and former Soviet countries. Plus many countries throughout Asia.

that list seems to be entirely missing the upstate new york chip fab, which has been around since 2003 or so. https://phys.org/news/2019-04-semiconductor-firm-upstate-ny-...

Also missing the ON Semi fab in Rochester that made Kodak's image sensors.
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