Author: Leigh Geary
Available for both iOS and Android, “TV Player” is competing directly with the CatchupTV app we’ve covered here previously. As with most streaming apps, the data usage when you’re not hooked into a WiFi hotspot can get a little high, so be careful if you’re not on an …
I’m getting to know you quite well dear reader. I’m thinking that you’re the sort of person who’d love to take a 3D interactive journey through a virtual reconstruction of Roman Leicester. I’m right aren’t I? Oh yes. Well, your luck is in my friend. De Montfort University …
Mobile World Congress is getting closer by the day, so it’s not surprising to see more leaked photos of hot new devices. This is the rear of the HTC M8 according to the tipster, and as you can see its very similar to the HTC One that it …
Alright flower? How goes it? Fancy a cheap mobile? How does £169 for a Nokia Lumia 920 sound? Good yeah? The 920 is powered by Windows Phone 8 and has a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 at its’ heart. There’s an 8.7 megapixel Pureview camera, 4.5″ WXGA (1280×768) screen (332 …
I’ve had a looksie around the interwebs and this seems to be the best price on the LG G Pad 8.3 currently. Expansys have knocked it down to £199.99, which includes free delivery. The tablet was £224.99 and has a 1.7 GHz quad-core CPU, 1920×1200 WUXGA 273ppi screen …
Yesterday we had news that EE and Three were beginning to share the love. There wasn’t a great deal of information to go on at the time, but we’ve now some further details on the agreement. Sadly there’s a large amount of tech websites carrying incorrect information on …
To be honest I was in two minds about whether to post this on my personal blog or here. Somehow it’s ended up here. It’s because I have a problem with FlappyBird. I know, I know. You’re all mentally swearing at the screen right now. I’ve played the …
It seems like only days away now. We’ll soon be packing up the Coolsmartphone Camper and heading out to Barcelona for our usual unique coverage of Mobile World Congress. It’s the event where we’ll see stacks of new handsets, gadgets, accessories, solutions and apps for the first time. …
Sure, you like the Google Nexus 5, but deep down you have a yearning to get one in Ferrari-red. What do you do? Easy, you just need to wait a while, because tomorrow the lady in red will be announced by Google and LG. Leaked shots have been …
We’re a bit slim on actual details here, but there’s news today that EE and Three have signed a deal to share networks. In total the networks will be investing £1 billion into infrastructure as 4G tech rolls out and data needs head ever upwards. A story on …
If you’re quick and you’ve got £50 knocking around, there’s an offer available with tastecard.co.uk to get an Avoca 7 tablet for just £49.99, which is apparently a saving of £50 off the RRP of £99. Buy it and you’ll get a free 12-month tastecard which gets you …
If you, like me, are after a case for your phone that also has tweezers, scissors and a tooth pick, your prayers are answered my friend. This is the In1 Multi-Tool iPhone 5 case. Not only does it protect your handset, but you can file your nails, cut …
Digging through the Coolsmartphone archives, I can see that our last mention of an Inq Mobile handset was back in 2011. It’s been more than a little quiet since then. The Inq Cloud Touch had a 5 megapixel camera and 320×480 pixel screen. It was available on Three …
With mainstream news getting more and more insane each day, I spent most of yesterday with my head in a bucket wearing nothing more than a kilt. Justin Bieber? On Radio 4? Are you all mental? Then some gleeful news-reader is telling me that January is / was …
Canalys have released their latest figures and, according to their stats, 998 million smartphones were shipped in 2013. Year-on-year that’s a 44% increase and pretty much matches the numbers that came from IDC but here it’s the breakdown that’s interesting. Microsoft saw their Windows Phone platform gain one …
Three may have been the first network to announce that they wouldn’t charge a premium for using 4G, but now your local Tesco are to do exactly the same. The Tesco Mobile 4G service, which runs on top of the relatively young O2 4G network, will be offered …
The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact (to give it its full name) has arrived on our shores. We’ve had info from O2 that they will be stocking it in its full technicolour rainbow of options. It’ll be be free from £32 per month on the Refresh plan. If you …
Morning guys. Don’t worry, it’s Thursday – nearly the weekend. Now, do you remember the Vodafone 4G deals that included Sky Sports Mobile TV? Now O2 are now doing something similar, and if you sign up to a 4G tariff with either 5GB or 8GB of data you’ll …
I’ll be honest, Kensington sent me this a long while ago and it sat in a drawer for far too long. I’d forgotten about it until this last weekend, when “something” happened. The EVAP Rescue Pouch is a step up from the “bag of rice” solution should your …
We’ve all got very modern and well-equipped smartphones. They can take pictures, locate you from space, navigate you home and let you browse the internet. With a smartphone you can achieve a great deal, but you’ve still got a fairly short battery life and, for some, it can …
We’re hearing from many of you that your mobile data connectivity on Three hasn’t been well this morning. Symptoms seem to range from extremely slow data throughout all the way through to having no data connection at all. Twitter is also alive with frustrated customers who are without …
One billion. It’s a big number. It’s like the APR on a Wonga loan. IDC reckon that just over one billion smartphones were shipped last year – the first time this many smartphones have ever been shipped in a single year. Ryan Reith, programme director at IDC, stated …
In just a few days Nokia will be having a big launch event at Mobile World Congress for, we assume, their new Lumia. We’ll be there live to bring you all the latest, so don’t forget to follow us on Twitter to get your fix. But before that, …
Recently we showed an early peek into the Three 4G network. It was a test under almost lab conditions and we managed to get around 50Mbps download speeds on the all-new 4G network. However, just like my home fibre connection, there’s a lot of factors that can alter …
A smartphone is a great way to keep in touch. You can share not just voice calls but video calls, music and pictures too. My elderly relatives love using Skype to talk to their friends and relations from all over the world but it’s usually my smartphone and …
Smartphones and tablets can be complicated, but the cables to connect them all up have got a little easier to understand in recent years. Generally speaking, if you’ve got a smartphone or Android tablet it’ll have a microUSB cable and that’ll plug into a wall socket. However, if …
Those boys at hungryhouse have been fiddling around with their Android app and sent me a 20% discount voucher last night to encourage me to try the updated version. If you do give it a spin then just enter “Jandroid” at the checkout to get 20% off your …
We’ve had a number of competitions in recent weeks and, just before Christmas, we ran a competition to win a brand new Nokia Lumia 625. Those lovely people at EE have supplied the prize and the Coolsmartphone reader that won was Jane Heenan from Whitstable. Congratulations Jane, we …
I must admit, I’ve seen quite a few apps that’ll help you make cheaper international calls. Today it’s one called MobiVoip which, naturally, is available on .. err.. voipmobi.com. Anyhow, it’s available for both Android and iOS. You can make free video and voice calls between other users …
Well that’s my New Years Resolution busted. I promised myself that I wouldn’t post another random Kickstarter project, but heck, I’ve lasted 21 days. 🙂 First though, a bit of a back-story. Mobile World Congress kicks off next month and, in my opinion, it’s more difficult than ever …
Need I say more really? Eldar Murtazin has a long history of correctly predicting these things, and indeed his information on the Samsung Galaxy S4 launch last year was spot on. According to information revealed in his latest tweet, we can expect the all-new Samsung Galaxy S5 to …
We’ve seen funky iPad cases before. We’ve seen cases that look like cassette tapes too, but we’ve not seen an iPhone 5 / 5s case which also adds a USB stick. This one is ideal for budding DJ’s, musicians, photographers or anyone who wants to store and move …
Hello, it’s me Gears. Call me Leigh. I’ve had the man flu for a month solid and this is perhaps the first article I’ve written without tissues (steady), so you may notice an ounce of exuberance in this particular missive. Spam. It’s a pain in the flippin sausage. …
Go along to any zoo or safari park and, when you approach the meerkat section, you’ll find a great deal of people mentioning that ruddy Compare The Market / Compare The Meerkat thing. It drives me potty. No I don’t want a fluffy meerkat, I just want my …
Yesterday I pointed out that the new Google Chrome browser had received an extra feature to help reduce your data usage. The system pushes websites through a data compression proxy to squash down images and compress HTML, JavaScript and CSS. However, there’s a bit of a problem which …
You may have seen something very similar in Opera for years, but now Google are packing in their Pagespeed and SPDY technology into their browser too. After updating to the latest version we had to reboot to get the promised bandwidth reduction system, which can be turned on …
It’s January, so you might be on a diet. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 has been on one too, with a slimmer and more portable “Lite” 7″ version soon to be available in black or white. Powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz CPU it’s got a 3600mAh bettery and …
Yesterday there were headlines about the fact that an app had been removed from both the Apple and Google app stores. The app in question was called “Plastic Surgery for Barbie” and was shown as being suitable for children. The issue many had was the fact that the …
Last year I took a look at an app which let you upload a “selfie”. The app then lets other users rate your “hotness” but, as I mentioned at the time, it was a far cry from the original “Hot or Not” website. Well, Lookie here, the HotOrNot …
If you’re into your Tetris-style games, Blockapp might be worth to try, even though some of the translations are a bit iffy. It’s an iOS app available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch and is completely free. It turns the Tetris world upside-down, as blocks glide from the …
