Author: Leigh Geary

Start your DJ career with a DJ Mini Mixer

In my head I’m a talented DJ like Fatboy Slim. Sometimes I try the djay 2 app on my phone and the results are, well.. mixed. Now, however, you can get the app running on two phones and use this Mini Mixer to switch between the two devices. …

Sitting down? Why? Work standing up!

I sit in an office for the best part of the day. Let’s face it, being parked on your posterior isn’t healthy. However, if you drive a computer all day you can choose to stand up instead. So, you just need to buy an entire new desk right? …

Xiaomi M365 Scooter. Get it for less with this code.

I love the amount of scooter and electric-bike emails I get. Sadly, I’ve not had one to test just yet. However, the people from Pure Scooters have sent us a special code that you can use until 2PM tomorrow. It’s valid on orders over £350 and the Xiaomi …

Diggit XL Bluetooth speaker. Ideal for your outdoor adventures

I went camping this weekend and, as usual, took a fairly rugged outdoor speaker. However, after seeing this new Diggit XL speaker pop into my inbox I’m fairly impressed by the helpful little addition – a stake. It’ll push into the sand or ground to keep the speaker …

Pixel 3a available at EE with free Google Home Hub

OK, so Carphone Warehouse are giving you a free laptop if you buy the Pixel 3a. What about EE? Well, anyone buying either the Pixel 3a or Pixel 3a XL on an EE handset plan before May 23rd will get a free Google Home Hub. That’s worth £119. …

Get yourself a laptop if you buy a Pixel 3a with Carphone Warehouse

Well, I blew the entire contents of this story in the title, didn’t I? That’s a fail. Anyhow, as we mentioned in the earlier story, you can get yourself the new, cheaper Pixel 3a. It’s got pretty decent specs and a very decent price-point. Just £399. However, if …

Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL arrive.. and there’s something new

The smartphone industry has a bit of a problem right now. First, there’s those expensive high-end phones like the Samsung Galaxy handsets, iPhones and Huawei’s. You usually buy them on a contract. However, there’s now cheaper phones that are getting scarily close to the specs of those flagships. …

Podcast 247 – One day late, but still sounding great

It’s a long, long drive in a 50mph zone today, and I recorded the whole thing twice because the first time I’d forgotten to press record. Doah F1 Car tech. Truly bonkers. Xiaomi pricing. Our rather expansive reviews. Launches! Lots of launches!. How to not use the toll …

Honor 20 Pro official images appear

We know that the new Honor 20 Series is coming on May 21st, but – rather interestingly – they’ve decided to let us take a look at the phone ahead of the actual launch. The official image is above. That’s a bit weird, sure, but if you notice …

OnePlus launch event confirmation

So, we probably know the pricing and what the upoming OnePlus 7 looks like. Now, as we revealed earlier, we’ve got confirmation that the UK event will be on May 14th. The update comes via the official Twitter channel, where there’s a teaser video. Excited yet? A better …

Moto Z4 makes an appearance.

Blimey, the Moto Mods won’t die off will they? Here’s a look, via the always trustworthy @evleaks, at the new Moto Z4. There’s a slightly protruding camera at the back, another up-front on a slight notch and a 3.5mm audio port. That, I’m afraid, is all we know …

New EE Smart Plans launched. Here’s the deets!

Say hello to the new EE Smart Plans. They’re a new range of packages which are both flexible and personal. You can choose from swappable benefits, including the EE Video Pass, EE Music Pass, access to the BT Sport app and Extended roaming. Don’t know what the EE …

The Xiaomi Mi9 pricing question. Why are we paying so much?

I touched on this in the recent Mi9 Vodafone launch but I felt I had to expand on this a little more See, I have a problem with Xiaomi at the minute. It’s not about their handsets, or the quality, or the performance – I loved both the …

Fashionable Swedish wireless earbuds announced by Urbanista

They tell me that these £89 Stockholm wireless earbuds are the “pinnacle” in terms of sound output and design. Urbanista have announced them today and you can go ahead and buy the things in one of the four colours on their website. They come with up to 14 …

Why online dating can be dangerous

I’ve not really been involved in dating for over two decades now, but in that time the whole process has changed massively. Back in my day, you’d meet women in pubs and nightclubs. You’d never see them in advance or get a look at their pictures. That would’ve …

Xiaomi Mi9 now available to buy on Vodafone.

We took an up-close look at the Xiaomi Mi9 in February but now you can buy the thing. It’s available right here on Vodafone UK with prices starting at £49 per month with a £9 upfront cost. That’ll get you unlimited calls, unlimited texts and 25GB of data. …

Watch the Formula 1 of sailing on your iPhone

If you’re into your sailing then you’ll be wanting to get SailGP. It’s an iPhone / iOS app which let’s fans watch the races live across the world. Just choose what you’d like to watch and which boat to follow, then you can tap into the live data …

InvisibleShield Liquid Defence – On test

After we covered the liquid foundation for your phone just recently, we got some to test. Oh, and before I start, I’ll mention the usual US / UK spelling differences between Defence and Defense are in play throughout this article. Defence is how I’ve learned to spell it …

Podcast 246 – Who the hell parks like that?

I recorded this yesterday. Just yesterday. It’s our funtastical podcast – the one that walks that dangerous line between serious tech talk and how I once parked my Lexus underneath a Land Rover (no, really). So week I’ve got you a slice of the following… A properly professional …

Virgin Media cranks up the speeds and boosts bundles

Want even faster broadband at home? Well, for £62 per month you can get half a Gig down and 35Mbps up with their Business fibre service. Not only that, but Virgin Mobile – operating on the EE network – are now combining broadband and mobile deals, plus they’re …

Video review – The Wallet Slayer

Last month I took a look at the Wallet Slayer cases from SilkSmartish. You can find them on Amazon USA too, but if you buy from their site, they’ll do international shipping. However, I wanted to show you how these cases worked, because you can carry your cards …

Cool Android time-filler game. Invaders.

Many years ago, when school computers looked like this, I went to school with a guy who ended up – as I’ve just found out – coding Android games. Last time I saw him was at his wedding, when I got very drunk indeed. Anyhow, he posted something …

Fitness tracker inaccuracy. Storm in a teacup.

I was pretty puzzled by the Which? investigation into fitness trackers last week. With the London Marathon happening today, they decided to run a check on the trackers, which can record your distance, pace, heart-rate and location. Some 118 trackers were tested over a marathon distance – 26.2 …

Oppo Reno – Up close

We mentioned the fact that the Reno 5G was, in the UK at least, scheduled as an exclusive to EE. However, Jonathan Morris, from the excellent jmcomms.com, has sent over some more pictures of the Reno range, including the new Reno 5G. It shows that cool motorised pop-up …

Remote control homes. Getting more clever by the day.

Long-time readers may be familiar with our love of home heating control systems. Back in 2014 we looked at the Nest thermostat, however since then we’ve seen competitors entering the marketplace and more people getting in on the programmable thermostat fun. It doesn’t matter too much about how …

Oppo Reno 5G announced. Exclusive to EE.

Just a short while ago we told you about the upcoming Oppo Reno. Now it’s confirmed, and it’s got 5G too. Here in the UK it’ll be EE with the exclusive, and they’ll have it on sale later this year. It’s the first 5G handset from Oppo, but …

Some of the best Monopoly smartphone games

  It’s the Easter holidays, so I’m doing my best to ensure that my son isn’t stuck to his smartphone all the time. Today it’s resulted in him bringing out a whole load of board games. We’ve had the infamous “Mousetrap”, plus “Buckaroo”, “Scrabble”, ”Trivial Pursuit” and, of …

EE goes 5G for Glastonbury

Heading to the Glastonbury Festival on June 26th? Well, EE are going to be the technology partner for the sixth year and will be installing the latest 5G network at Worthy Farm in a landmark trial – creating the UK’s first 5G-connected Festival. A predicted 70 terabytes of …

Three SIM-only deal. £10 per month for 8GB

Well, this seems like a very decent offer. It’s a 12-month plan on Three and you get the inclusive Three “Feel at Home” roaming too. Available via uSwitch it’s a full 8GB of data and unlimited everything else for a tenner. Not a bad deal at all, and …

How APK sideloading became mainstream

Here at Coolsmartphone we download pretty much everything for our Android phones via the Google Play Store. There’s over a million apps and games available there, and they’re all categorised and reviewed. For years though, all Google Android phones have been able to “side load” apps. This means …

giffgaff celebrates award by… increasing prices

This is awkward timing. On the very same day that giffgaff won the Which? Best Network award for the 7th year running, they’ve also announced that their £5 and £7.50 goodybags will be going up in price. The £5 goodybag will be increasing to £6 and the £7.50 …

Total phone content protection and monitoring. SpyMyPhone.

Just recently I’ve been looking for a way to keep tabs on my son. He’s just got his first ever proper smartphone and, although I don’t want to snoop on him too much, I do want to ensure he’s safe. One app that has pinged my radar is …

giffgaff wins recommended Which? Provider yet again

It’s the 7th year running for the network, which is only 10 years old, and they’ve won the “the Best Mobile Network” award. A lot of “virtual” network operators have claimed the top spots, with Utility Warehouse and Plusnet Mobile coming second and third respectively. They’re closely followed …

Samsung Galaxy Fold delayed

Last week we told you about the rather poorly Galaxy Fold handsets. Broken hinges, busted displays and a peel-able screen protector that, if removed, breaks the screen. Now Samsung have pushed back the launch of their new folding device in order to “fully evaluate the feedback and run …

Podcast 245 – I bet you didn’t expect us…

Well, what a completely insane Easter weekend that was. We went to the countryside, I flew a drone, crashed it, then went to the beach and I also found time to mow the lawn, clean the bathroom and even clean out the car. My life is so rock …

EMUI 9.1 coming to stacks of older Honor and Huawei kit

Based on Android Pie, EMUI 9.1 is the latest iteration of the Huawei / Honor skin. The newest version brings the incoming call videos we mentioned just the other day, plus improvements to GPU Turbo mode, voice assistants triggering via the power button and much more. The latest …

iOS 12: Full preview and insight into key features

My son now has an iPhone and just recently I noticed that it hadn’t been fully updated. Usually I’m the one in the family who has a weird need to ensure that all the apps are updated on my phone and that the OS is the very latest …

The TicWatch S2 and now the AI-powered TicPods. Dive in!

You may have heard of Mobvoi and their TicWatch S2. It’s powered by Wear OS and has a 1.39″ AMOLED 400 x 400 display. Inside, it’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 CPU and comes with 4GB of storage with 512MB of RAM. Plus, it looks bloody …

Ekster – Trackable smart wallets

These are sold in shops like Macy’s and Selfridges and are crafted from the highest grade leather available in Europe. Basically, they’re high-end but they’re also clever too. These are ultra-slim smart wallets which can be tracked and actually run via solar power. Yes, solar power. This means …