Author: Leigh Geary

Uprated Kindle Fire and new Kindle Fire HD about to hit the UK.

Here in the UK you’ll soon be able to get the Amazon Kindle Fire HD. It’s “the world’s most advanced 7″ tablet” according to them and features Dolby audio, 11 hours of battery life and 16GB of storage. Oh, and it’s only £159. The existing Kindle Fire has …

Nokia Lumia 822 lurking on Verizon

You might think, after the criticism I gave to the Nokia launch yesterday, that the appearance of a Lumia 822 on a Verizon screen might be a good thing. It is, if we assume, a sign that a variant of the new Nokia Lumia 820 will be hitting …

Samsung shifts 20 million SIII units in 100 days

Samsung have announced that they’ve sold a staggering 20 million Galaxy SIII in 100 days. That’s just over 3 months, or a quarter. Nokia sold 4 million Lumia handsets during Q2 of 2012. Whilst the iPhone 4S sold 4 million units in 3 days last year, we should …

Nokia share price takes a dive. The compartments are flooding.

What happened there exactly? Out came Nokia, all guns blazing, with two very respectable handsets. Earlier, they had spent the morning telling people to “#SWITCH” and that they were about to feast on Android… Breakfast in New York on a big day for us! Today we dine on …

Lumia 920 and 820 – The details

A wireless charging pillow, advanced camera technology and a screen that detects the presence of skin, gloved fingers, or fingernails. The Lumia 920 and 820 are due to arrive “in Q4″ although we’ve not been given pricing just yet. What is also a bit strange is the fact …

Watch Live – Nokia and Microsoft Press Conference

Nokia are assembling in New York for a major Windows Phone 8 launch. This is a critical stage for them, and they’ll no doubt be hoping that it’s not going to turn out like the Lumia 900 launch just a few months back. That quickly turned into hefty …

ChatON adds new features

If you’ve got a Samsung device you may have noticed an app called “ChatON“. Put simply, it’s an instant messenger packed with extras like group chat, multimedia sharing and so much more. Now, to be honest I’d not paid much attention to it until I stumbled across this …

TVCatchup now out of beta, grab it from Google Play

Hey you lovely reader. Did you try the TVCatchup Beta? It’s now left beta and you can grab it through the Google Play store without any of that APK side-loading mularky. UK users can choose between a range of 40 channels and stream live TV straight to Android …

Bruce Willis to sue Apple? No, not really

Perhaps he’s got a little too much time on his hands. Perhaps he’s just a really big music fan. Either way, Bruce Willis, who featured in great films like “Die Hard” and utterly terrible ones like “Armageddon”, has apparently launched a legal battle against Apple. I know ! …

Talk to us, give us your thoughts

Hi, it’s me, Leigh. Every year or two I write a post like this, so long-time readers might know what to expect. Many sites tend to irritate the flip out of visitors by adding those horrible “Feedback” surveys that pop-up on your browser. Personally, I think these are …

Apple continues to go thermo-nuclear

So, that patent battle. All done and dusted, right? Just a few older Samsung handsets in the US affected, right? Well, not so. Despite rumours that the CEO’s of both Apple and Samsung are now “in talks”, the Apple legal team have named extra devices to their seperate …

Meanwhile, at 37,000 feet

I had a chat with this gent recently on a flight. He spotted me looking at his phone.. Actually I have to admit that I was watching his movie… It’s a Galaxy SIII from Samsung, brilliant thing. Yeah, I know. I’m just watching the new Batman movie. I’ve …

My Phone History – James Eley

Being one of the babies of the Coolsmartphone team my phone history is considerably less impressive than Jamie’s museum of mobile tech!!! The first phone I ever owned had a colour screen and if I remember correctly I saved up my £2 a week pocket money for ages …

Huawei Ascend P1 to be enhanced

If you read our Ascend P1 reviews then you’ll probably be aware that we were pretty impressed. The Huawei handset may “only” be dual core, but for the money it’s a brilliant handset which really pushes the company into the limelight. We’ve just been told that, following our …

Galaxy Note II Pictured

Samsung are definitely in the spotlight at the moment. The SIII is selling well and their original Samsung Galaxy Note has shifted 10 million units. That’s despite the current model having a ma-hoo-sive 5.3″ screen. Oh yes, and there’s “that” court case which, if nothing else, is certainly …

Sky Sports TV, now for Android too

It’s been available for the iPhone for a while now, but – just in time for the new football season – the Sky Sports TV app has now arrived on Android. We’ve given it a spin already and.. it REALLY doesn’t like rooted phones by the looks of …

BB10 gets screen resolutions confirmed.

  Recently RIM CEO, Thorsten Heins, has had a bit of a hard time; he’s in charge of a company whose handsets are starting to look outdated and they seem to be lacking ideas. But, the promised land of BB10 is just around the corner and the company …

Samsung Galaxy SIII – Official Jelly Bean ROM on video

Just a few days back we highlighted the fact that Jelly Bean – the new Android OS version – would be arriving pretty soon on the Samsung Galaxy SIII. Now things have taken a step closer, with the official ROM update apparently leaking and getting filmed below. Link …

Flash says goodbye to Android

Love Flash? Got apps and streaming TV players that depend on it? Well, don’t get comfy, because it’ll vanish later today. Even if you grab the APK, it won’t be supporting Jelly Bean. Adobe state that… Flash Player will not be supported on any Android version beyond 4.0.x. …

iPad Case Review – The Pong

This week we’ve been given a number of iPad cases to test. This one seems to have stuck to the iPad the most so far – it’s the Pong, or just “Pong”. What’s special about it? Is it the fact that it’s presented in a posh white box? …

Ascend P1 coming to Vodafone on PAYG

No indication on price just yet, but the most recent Vodafone catalogue shows the handset as coming to both Pay As You Go and Contract. Previously we had only seen the phone on contract, and we’re guessing that this slim stock-Android phone will be pretty flippin’ cheap too. …

Samsung Exynos 5 Dual processor details released!

The Exynos 5  is the new processor from Samsung and this is one very powerful System on Chip! The new chipset features a pair of Cortex-A15 cores for a new level of mobile power. The SoC itself is built on 32nm production techniques and this particular version rocks …

Android 4.0.4 Update heading to the HTC One X

Well, it’s a little later than Samsung and Motorola, but HTC have announced that the One X will receive a similar software update today. The update, which will bring you up to version 4.0.4, also delivers a new version of HTC Sense (probably 4.1) plus “memory and platform …

Just how quickly can you text?

This 17-year old chap is called Austin Weirschke from Queens. The New Yorker has received a cheque for $50,000 after becoming the fastest texter in America. Austin won the LG-sponsored competition after having to memorise and type phrases on a sliding QWERTY phone. He also had to type …

Windows Phone 8 Lumia looks a lot like older devices

Earlier this week a new Nokia-made handset appeared on the web and many were quick to point out that the device was running Windows Phone 8. This device apparently called the “Nokia Phi” and will be the follow-up to the Lumia 800. It looks to have a larger …

A new dawn…

I’ve spent over a decade writing about phones now. However, in the last couple of years we’ve expanded the team here at Coolsmartphone quite significantly. We now have a fantastic weekly Podcast, opinion pieces and talented authors ready to pounce on news as it breaks. But something needs …

Google Translate – Now including signs

The updated version of Google Translate will now let you hold your Android phone in front of signs for instant translation into a vast array of languages. The update also includes instant translation as you type, but being able to snap signs and then brush over the text …

Sony Tablet S gets a minor maintenance update.

This morning when you woke up your much loved Sony Tablet S might have had a software update waiting for it if you’re based in the UK. The update promises to bring stability fixes and optimizations, but unfortunately it’s still Android ICS 4.0.3. The update is only 9mb …

Fancy a free HTC One X for only £15.50 per month?

Looking for an upgrade? Looking to cut down on those monthly outgoings? Are you thinking that those high-end smartphones are out of your reach? Think again. I’ve just stumbled across this rather epic deal – a HTC One X on T-Mobile for just £15.50 per month, and you …

Get that Jelly Bean Feel easily

This weekend I met a guy called Graham Smith. He’s a logo, icon designer and all-round top bloke. He pointed me at Holo Launcher HD – a free Android app for giving your handset that “Jelly Bean look”. It’s more than just a skin though. This has a …

HTC in troubled waters

Way back in 2002 I bought my first ever smartphone. Powered by a new Microsoft OS it was built by a company no-one had really heard of – HTC. The paint came off and dust used to collect behind the screen. There was even a bolt-on camera that …

Help stick a red nose on Mount Everest

Daniel Hughes will be heading up Mount Everest to try and place a red nose on the summit next May. He’s asking a million people to donate £1 each to raise £1 million for Comic Relief. HTC are the lead sponsor, and will be provideding equipment to help …

Tethering removed from Full Monty plans

The T-Mobile “Full Monty” plans were introduced after Three scooped up many data-hungry customers with their “One Plan”. The initial press release from T-Mobile clearly stated that… Customers signing up to the Full Monty 24 month plan … can use their mobile internet for whatever they like – …

Spy on the mechanics with Audi Cam

A couple of months ago I took my car to an Audi dealer for repair. The £20 job quickly turned into a £700 repair bill and, no matter how many times it was explained to me, I couldn’t fully understand what all the techy mechanical stuff meant. Now …

No in-app purchasing for current Windows Phones

In-app purchases, a feature announced in June, will be restricted to Microsoft handsets running Windows Phone 8 only. Those using Windows Phone 7.5 won’t see in-app purchasing getting added to Windows Phone 7.8 and it now seems that the only “update” is the slightly modified home screen. If …

Samsung handsets receiving Android 4.0.4

Just this morning we heard that the Motorola Xoom had updated itself to Android 4.0.4. It seems like other handsets are getting in on the action too. We’re hearing that the Samsung Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note have received the “stability upgrade” and we’d be interested to hear …

UK Motorola Xoom receives an update

We mentioned earlier that some Motorola Xoom tablets were getting updated with Jelly Bean. In the meantime, we’re also hearing that Android 4.0.4 is being pushed onto other versions of the Xoom – mainly UK WiFI only versions by the looks of it. Andrew Farquhar and John Bairner …