Author: Leigh Geary

ZTE Provide another bargain – the T-Mobile Vivacity

Whilst surfing around the T-Mobile Coming Soon section we stumbled on this, the T-Mobile Vivacity. It appears to be a ZTE-built device and has a 3.5″ screen running on Android 2.3 with a 5 megapixel camera plus a further one up front for video calls. Other specs, which …

Ice Cream Sandwich arrives on the Galaxy SII .. and LG Optimus 3D

The all new Android 4.0. Bells. Whistles. Face unlock, a better UI, resizable widgets and more swipe interactions. The Galaxy S2 has now been blessed with the new OS, albeit via a bit of hacking and tweaking of code. Mr Headless Dude shows the S2 in the video …

Nokia Lumia 800 – Where to get it

OK, status update. The Nokia Lumia (which you may have seen advertised if you’ve been near a paper, TV, magazine or … anywhere ourside) appeared in shops on Wednesday. It’s available on the following networks here in the UK.. – Orange – Three – Vodafone The guys at …

Review – HTC CR S490 Desktop Cradle for HTC Sensation / Sensation XE

This cradle device synchronises and charges the HTC Sensation / Sensation XE. Plonk the phone in and it’ll angle your phone at the right angle for watching videos, checking the weather or using the phone as a bedside alarm-clock. Drop the phone in while the special video button …

HTC Quattro – Specs and image revealed

We took a big liking to the HTC Quattro a few days back and here, in the rendered-flesh, is the tablet itself. It’s rumoured to have a 10.1″ 1280×768 pixel screen, WiFi and for some reason a mere 2 megapixel rear camera. A further 1.3 megapixel shooter sits …

You! Talk to us!

We’ve had some rather freaky bugs running around the commenting system of late. It’s meant that some of you, using certain browsers, have had problems adding your comments. First up, our apologies. Much of Coolsmartphone is controlled in-house and we can fix local stuff quickly, but there’s a …

Orange Xperia neo owners getting Android 2.3.4

Check for updates if you’ve got a Sony Ericsson Xperia neo on Orange. We’re hearing that Android 2.3.4 has just arrived and there’s a few extra Orange apps too. It’s taken a number of months since other neo handsets started receiving the update. We’d like to hear your …

Galaxy Nexus ready to buy from Phones4U

If you’re after the hot new Google phone, try checking out the deals on Phones4u. If you don’t mind parting with £59 up-front then you can get the handset for £31 a month on a 24 month contract with Orange (400 minutes, 3000 texts, 750MB data) or Vodafone …

Ice Cream Sandwich for the Sony Ericsson Xperia range

Well, if you bought an Xperia handset this year you should be getting Android 4.0 / Ice Cream Sandwich. A blog post has confirmed that the “entire 2011 Xperia range” will be getting the new OS, although timing wasn’t mentioned. You’ll get the update if you have an …

XXSIM Review

Today we’ve got one of those XXSIM roaming cards that we mentioned the other week. It’s delivered from Switzerland and carries a number from Estonia but it’ll let you receive calls for free in more than 120 countries and there’s no monthly fees. There’s simple roaming rates which …

YouTube App receives an update

If you updated your Android YouTube player this morning them you will have probably noticed how much more ”Google flavoured” it’s become. Our screenshots show the new Google +1 feature and we are likely to see much more of this going forwards. According to sources, you will soon …

Galaxy Nexus Available for pre-order on Three

Looking to get the hot new Galaxy Nexus on Three? You can get your name down for one right now. It’ll shortly be available from £34 a month or £40 a month on The One Plan. That’ll get you all-you-can-eat data, 2,000 anytime, any network minutes and 5,000 …

HTC Sensation XE Review

We’ve been sent a quite a few headphones over recent weeks. Some noise-cancelling ones, some fashionables ones, some really big over-ear ones. All of them try and solve a long-term problem with most smartphones, and that’s the sound quality coming out of the 3.5mm audio port. Ever since …

Where not to make a call

Remember the BBC Coverage survey? The stats were obtained after several thousand phones ran an app to check on signal strength. After all the results came in we got an interactive map to show what the coverage is like throughout the UK. But hey, wouldn’t it be good …

Galaxy Note headed to O2

Well, although the link doesn’t work just yet, O2 has added the new Samsung Galaxy Note to their “Coming Soon” pages. We’ve already had a good hands-on with the phone and will have a video online this weekend. Link – O2 Coming Soon

ZTE Racer II Arrives in Ireland

The ZTE Racer II is an entry-level smartphone following hot on the heels of the ZTE Blade and Skate. It runs Android 2.2 FroYo running on a 500MHz CPU. It has a 3.2 megapixel camera, 256MB RAM, 512ROM and 200MB of internal memory. ZTE say that despite the …

Samsung Galaxy Note – Photo session

We’ve managed to borrow the brand-new Samsung Galaxy Note from the guys at ur-mobile.com fairly recently. Powered by a dual-core 1.4GHz CPU the Galaxy Note has a 5.3″ WXGA screen. Yes, 5.3″ … but wait, it’s not just a big screen, it’s got a 1280×800 pixel resolution.. and …

Samsung Nexus S gets a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich

  After the announcement of Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update and the release of the SDK, a couple people have been hard at to work getting it ported to several devices. Thanks to @drewgaren for his hard work we are now up to Beta 10, with …

Huawei to licence patents from Microsoft too

Patents. They’re everywhere and money seems to be changing hands with alarming regularity to use intellectual property. Microsoft have been one of the big winners in the mobile patent game, taking cash for handsets using Android because of several royalty fees paid to Microsoft for patent use. Now …

Fire up the Quattro. HTC Codenames revealed

Some time ago Pocketnow was given a load of code-names for future HTC handsets. They weren’t totally sure on the source so held back on publishing, but as more and more devices appeared with names of the list they’ve now published the whole lot. To be honest, the …

Free headphones this Christmas

Fancy some funky headphones when you buy a Pay As You Go Phone ? Have a look at the latest offer from Orange. They’re giving away these rather lovely headphones, which are worth 60 quid, when you buy a phone costing £30 or more. Customers buying a Pay …

HTC Rhyme Review

Last week we took a quick look at the HTC Rhyme it’s got a strong, unibody design and comes with a headset, docking station and a charm device that will flash when you have a text or incoming call. The battery cover doubles as the antenna and the …

Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition priced up

We recently heard about the new Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition tablets from Motorola. Both are expected on November 28th and come with Android Honeycomb on board. The specs read as follows, although we can’t find any mention of GPS we presume it’s there.. – 5 …

HTC Explorer heads to Three

The HTC Explorer, announced just over a month ago, is now available on Three. It’s available from stores and their site and is an entry-level smartphone with 600MHz CPU, 3.2″ screen, WiFi, GPS and 3 megapixel camera. You can pick this up for just £15 per month or, …

Win a FurCode tag!

Right, bear with me on this, but when we get offered stuff to give away to you guys, we rarely say no. FurCodes are high-tech ID tags that will connect your pet to the web. On one side you’ll find a QR code with your pets’ information on …

HTC Rezound launched with Beats inside

Over in the USA HTC have just announced the HTC Rezound. It’s the first handset in America with the Beats Audio technology. It comes with free Beats headphones and features a 720p HD display on a 4.3″ LCD screen. Other specs include a dual-core 1.5GHz CPU, 8 megapixel …

360 Degree video recorded on (many) Sony Ericsson Xperia neo handsets

So, Sony Ericsson sent us a load of videos about their rather strange 360 degree bike experiment. It involves six Xperia neo handsets strapped to a special mount on a bike, all recording video at the same time through fish-eye lenses. The whole thing has been pieced together …

Nokia Lumia – No Tethering Update!

Earlier today we heard that Nokia Lumia 710 and 800 do not support tethering. Tethering, for those that don’t know, if the ability to share your mobile data connection as a web connection for your laptop. We couldn’t quite believe it, so we asked the PR team whether …

O2 to offer up the HTC Explorer this month

Looking to get HTC Explorer? O2 have now got it listed on their site. It sits squarely in the “affordable” or “entry level” category and has the Sense 3.5 UI. It has a 3.2″ HVGA screen (320×480), 3 megapixel camera, 600MHz CPU, G-sensor, proximity sensor, light sensor, FM …

LG Optimus 2X will receive Ice Cream Sandwich

Good news if you’ve got an LG Optimus 2X. LG have come out fighting and have confirmed that Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) will indeed be arriving on the 2X. Their official Facebook page states.. LG firmly denies the rumors that claim LG will not be providing the …

No Internet tethering on the Nokia Lumia handsets?

Richard Sanderson has emailed in after contacting Nokia. He’s interested in the new Nokia Lumia handsets but wanted to firm up on a few details. There was already a bit of confusion when the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 handsets launched as both devices showed the USB Mass …

O2 to launch calls over WiFi too

O2 are trialling a new VoIP service that will let customers use text and voice services over standard WiFi networks. Named “O2 Connect” it’s currently in testing but will shortly be available on iOS and Android smartphones. We assume that this will be similar to the Orange Signal …

Turn your existing mobile broadband dongle into a WiFi hotspot

Share your Three mobile signal with up to five different devices using this, the new Mobile Broadband WiFi hub. Also known as the ZTE MF10 Dongle Adapter it will convert an existing USB mobile broadband dongle into a hot-spot. So, instead of plugging your mobile dongle into your …

Reviewed – Nextivity Cel-Fi RS2 3G Signal Booster

How’s your mobile signal? Are you one of those people who have to stand next to a window to get a signal or a decent 3G connection? There’s a few solutions to your problems. You could use Signal Boost, but that’s only available on certain Orange handsets. There’s …

Navigate and stay informed with Waze

Available for absolutely nothing, Waze is an Android / iPhone / BlackBerry / Nokia application which works by sharing data between users. By sharing and collecting information on progress by other users it’ll help build a picture of road conditions. Their Live Map shows some of the reports …

Archos Arnova 7″ G2 now down to £119.99

If you’re in the market for a pretty decent 7″ tablet then the Archos Arnova 7″ G2 could be just your thing. Now reduced to just £119.99 at HMV. The specs aren’t too bad either. Powered by an ARM Cortex A8 1GHz CPU it has a 7″ capacitive …

One night, in a hotel, we decided to Rhyme

I’m in Belfast, stuck in a hotel room with only a busted TV and an air-conditioning unit for company. Luckily I’ve brought with me the all-new HTC Rhyme with it’s strong unibody design. It comes with a docking station, some rather goodd headphones and a charm. The charm …

Nokia Maps, now for Android and iPhone too

Yep, you no longer need a Nokia to get your Nokia Maps goodness. Simply browse to maps.nokia.com and it’ll locate you using the HTML5 wizardry. Other features include.. You can see where you are on the map, thanks to HTML5 support for positioning You can find addresses, businesses …

Cheap Acer handsets up for grabs

If you’re looking for a cheap Android handset it’s definitely worth checking out this Expansys page. They’ve knocked up to 80% off and every handset in the sale has now dropped to just £79.99. That includes the Liquid E, Liquid, beTouch E110 and Acer Tempo. All handsets are …