Author: Leigh Geary
Now, if you’re in the cool gang and follow us on Twitter, you’ll already know that we’ve had a full hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. You’ll also know that it’s popped up on Three already, but we’ve now got the official press release, which is brimming …
Morning all. Hope you’re all well. Recently we’ve struggled somewhat with the increasing amount of visitors on Coolsmartphone. After the issues last year we, thanks to your help, moved to a new co-lo provider with ample bandwidth and we’ve recently increased capacity, but the outage during our live …
What was once known as “Google Talk” has slowly transformed into Google Hangouts and now it’s changing again. The update, which is rolling out now, will finally re-add a way for you to actually see who’s online and available to talk (which has been a personal annoyance of …
So, Samsung then. We should skip a few chapters straight off. It’s a Samsung handset, so you know it’s going to be a well-built thing and the UI is going to be a polished and elegant place to be. The Galaxy S4 got a huge amount of attention …
Based on how popular the iPhones 5s is compared to the iPhone 5c, I’m guessing that premium and highly-priced handsets are still more attractive to many. People would rather save and show off, rather than go for a budget device. So, news that Samsung is to introduce a …
If you’ve got a clever TV, console, tablet or computer; you can watch TV and movies on-demand. Blinkbox offer just such a service and, because Tesco owns them, they’re pretty cheap. First up, there’s no subscription and you only pay for what you want to watch, when you …
So, let’s not get into the fact that Apple sold 9 million iPhones last weekend or the fact that this is more than all the Lumia handsets sold in Q2 of this year. Shhh now. Shhh.. look at the pretty clouds. Aren’t they nice? Floaty floaty.. ahhh….. If …
Just yesterday I asked whether mobile phones had stopped evolving. With an endless tirade of slab-style phones I really couldn’t see what could happen next. Where could phones go from here? Well, a lot of you are interested in wearable tech. A watch that you can speak into …
We all know what happened. Nokia decided to use Windows Phone as their OS of choice and ex-Microsoft-man Stephen Elop was installed at Nokia to steer the boat. When the mobile division of Nokia was sold to Microsoft recently, Elop bagged himself a whopping payout. This morning newspapers …
Not happy with your current phone and want to upgrade to a new iPhone? Trading it in is always a quick fix. Your phone gets valued, you get cash, then you go out and buy a flash new one. Simple. If phones were cars and “WeBuyAnyCar” suddenly saw …
There is, if we’re honest, a bit of a problem with phones now. They’re all a little bit too good. Personally, sitting here, apart from making me a cup of tea or driving me to work, I can’t think of much else that I want my phone to …
Don’t get me wrong, I love writing reviews, but of the large quantity of Android phones on my desk I was quite happy to at last see a tablet. The MediaPad is, for me, a perfect size. It’s easy to hold with one hand and weighs about the …
Most modern Android devices will setup those tricky MMS, APN and internet settings when you first pop in a SIM. However, with the increasing amount of virtual networks it sometimes can’t do it for you, or it gets the wrong network. Tweakker is an app we featured many, …
Got one of those old-fashioned Windows Phone 7 devices? Yes. I know. They’re not old. Microsoft, however, is ending support for their very own Skype app on the OS. Sure, the product will still be available, but it won’t be updated. Windows Phone 7 users probably won’t be …
I’ve spent some time trying to spin this in a positive way but, if I’m honest, I can’t do it. BlackBerry are in a massive amount of trouble. They’ve just pre-announced their latest results and they’re pretty terrible. I mean .. terrible. The press release, which you can …
Google, as you’ll hopefully know already, went ahead and called their new version of Android “KitKat” after a rather clever tie-in with the chocolate bar. Now the PR machine is beginning to kick into gear and the companies are dishing out more than just free chocolate bars. Their …
Depending on which side of the fence you sit, this morning was either carefully orchestrated planning or a sure sign of the iPhone success. Many waited patiently at large Apple stores up and down the country, eager to get their hands on, let’s face it, the iPhone 5s. …
Good old Kogan, eh. Everyone loves them don’t they eh? No, me either. However, l £149 + delivery (which is a rather chunky £9) means that you get yourself a 5″ Agora. It’s got a quad-core 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, 1280×720 IPS screen, 8 megapixel rear camera and runs …
Further evidence is emerging this morning following our earlier story on the iPhone 5s stock situation. It all began when we started seeing lots of pre-order offers for the iPhone 5c but absolutely none for the iPhone 5s. Yesterday we then spotted that O2 would not have any …
On February 11th 2011 Nokia jumped into bed with Microsoft and announced that Windows Phone would be the OS of choice going forward. Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop, a former head of the Microsoft business division, has been in the chair since 2010. However, a couple of weeks back …
So, the waiting is over and, as is usual with a new iPhone, there’ll be pictures of people waiting outside stores to pick one up. Our inbox is already filling up with eager PR companies wanting us to mention their iPhone 5s or 5c-related news. Phones 4u are …
You know we like compeititons. We love to give stuff away to our dear readers. Just recently we ran a competition to give away a Kindle Fire HD. All we wanted to know was … If you had to watch a single movie on loop for an entire …
If you’ve used Android for any length of time and found the software upgrade path to be either… A) Buy a new phone or.. B) Wait for your manufacturer / network to approve and release the update … then you’ll have probably found an option C, CyanogenMod. The …
iOS, 7, Apple, iPhone, iPad
If you intend buying a shiny new iPhone 5s and want it to look really old then it’s simple. Just post it to me, I’ll scratch it to flip, crack the screen, install loads of apps and send it back. The best bit? I only charge £400 for …
Yes, it’s time for your daily dose of Kickstarter action. This time it’s my beer fund. If you choose to invest, you’ll get no return on your money but you’ll be able to read some really long and rambling news articles. Yay. No, seriously, it’s this – the …
The people at MobileFun are lovely. They are. Really. Some two or three months ago they sent me the genuine Galaxy S3 Flip Cover to review. It’s only £19.99 and I slapped it on my phone. You fit it by removing the battery cover and, using a new …
Now I’m going to try and sit on the fence during this particular article, but I can’t help it if a few comments pop out. Years ago, when the internet was black and white, there was a website called “Hot or Not”. It allowed users to upload pictures …
Let’s face it, the super-cheap iPhone 5c failed to really materialise. Sure, it’s here, but is it super-cheap? No. What you’re left with is (effectively) an iPhone 5 with a bit of colour or, if you’re loaded, the all-new iPhone 5s. Today Vodafone have revealed their prices for …
Not heard of Bloom.fm ? Well, it’ll let you combine radio and music discovery in one big experience (I’m reading from the press release, sorry). There’s a catalogue of 22 million songs which you can preview or borrow if you want to hear more. Borrow? Yes, borrow. You …
This October marks the return of Droidcon London. The Android developer conference is your chance to get down and dirty with the OS and to gain development skills from experts. Gradleware, Evernote, Funky Android and I Fight Bears will be there and, during the two days, there’ll be …
A lot has been said about the digital library that has just opened up in Bexar County, San Antonio. There’s no real books and no encyclopedias. It’s more like an Apple store and is equipped with hundreds of 3M Cloud Library e-readers, 48 iMacs and 200 Nook e-readers …
There’s a few games that people really latch onto and generally become huge. Where’s My Water? is definitely one of them, and has kept my son (and wife) entertained for quite a bit. Now there’s a new version, cunningly named “Where’s My Water? 2”. Oh and get this, …
We’re fairly used to seeing swish smartphone covers here at Coolsmartphone, so this rather different iPhone 5 case defnitely raised a few eyebrows. It comes via the Rakuten Japan website and, as you can no doubt see, features a rather perfect egg on some lightly browned toast. You …
It’s a phablet Jim, but not as we know it. Yes, it’s a big phone / small tablet hybrid but no, it’s not powered by Android or iOS. Someone doesn’t seem to be shy to wave this particular 6 incher around, and this time the shots are from …
It’s been a number of months since HTC lost several key members from their Seattle operation. We’ve not seen a resignation for some time – not since May when Daniel Lazarides left. Today Darren Krape, Senior Worldwide Community Manager for HTC, is preparing for his new job at …
We suspected it, and it appears to be true. Nokia really was trying out Android and, according to two unnamed staff members, they had Android running on Lumia handsets months before the Microsoft buy-out was even planned. Microsoft were aware of the confidential project and, although it was …
Well now, this seems rather good. I’m always banging on about how easy it is for kids to access stuff they really should be accessing. A quick search of YouTube will easily reveal a whole host of videos that haven’t been flagged as inappropriate, even though they are, …
So, as we mentioned yesterday, the Nokia Lumia 1020 is being offered by various companies and they’re falling over themselves to tell us about their particular deal. Clove are selling it for £588 SIM-free and you’ll get a free wireless charging pad, wireless charging cover, camera grip and …
If you’re on the Twitter beta programme (apparently our very own Ronnie is but he never knew) you’ll be getting a refreshed version of Twitter this morning. Accessing the beta programme doesn’t seem possible any more but involved you signing up to the appropriate Google group. You then …
