Author: Leigh Geary
So, you’ve spent hours, days, weeks and months developing your mobile app. You’ve carefully crafted it. You’ve made a beautiful interface, and it’s really, truly useful. You’re rightfully proud of your creation but you’re about to hit your biggest problem. After uploading, adding a graphic, a video and …
Are you showing signs of addiction? Well, even if you class yourself as a “moderate” user, you’re probably using you phone more than you think. Recent research has shown that those classed as a “moderate” user will touch their phones on average 2,617 times per day. I know, …
Two new phones have been confirmed by the Vodafone network here in the UK. First, the Xiaomi Mi 9 is coming. This runs Android 9 and has a 6.39″ 19.5:9 Full HD+ OLED display. It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 CPU and an Adreno 640 GPU. There’s …
Want a big, fat 200GB of data for your phone? Well, whether you’re a Virgin cable customer or not, you can now get it for £22 per month on a 12 month deal with Virgin Mobile. In addition you’ll get 5000 minutes of talk-time and unlimited texts. Normally …
Oh dear. Some serious problems for Samsung this morning as first users of their Galaxy Fold experience broken hinges and flickering displays. This is not what the company wanted at all. Before I type another word, I should mention that a proportion of the problems appear to be …
The boys from Vodafone have recently tried some new and interesting ways to expand their coverage. First we saw their mini 4G masts and then they went ahead and put a mast inside a manhole. Now they’re adding 4G to phone boxes, and let’s be honest – I …
A Nokia handset for less than £90? Interested? Well, today you can go and get one. It’s powered by Android 9 (Go Edition) and is a great first smartphone for those wanting to move on from the traditional feature phone. The Nokia 1 Plus (details here) has 1GB …
It’s nearly Easter, so a well-deserved break and some lovely chocolate eggs are definitely in order. This Easter you can use your downtime with the family to enter a competition to win £1,000 to spend at Amazon. It’s all thanks to Alexa, which will deliver everything from recipe …
As a techy geek, whenever I hear the word “Giga”, I think of “Gigabit”. Indeed, the word itself actually denotes a billion, and it’s got Vodafone into a spot of bother as they roll out their direct fibre solution – Gigafast. The offering is a FTTP (Fibre to …
If you’ve seen our NOA handset coverage and you want to learn more, you can head to their website. However, they’ve now opened their first physical store in the EU. It’s the first over 100, with 15 alone planned for Ireland alone. Their first outlet is within Swords …
I had a listen to last week’s podcast and, well, the audio quality suffered somewhat due to the rain on the windscreen. So, I had a bit of a think. This, then, is where the Coolsmartphone Mobile Podcast takes a massive leap forward this week, so it’s definitely …
Yes, it looks a bit like the Honor 10 lite but this is actually the new Huawei handset and, like the upcoming Honor 20 Series, Huawei have a numbered series of handsets too.. errmm.. and this is the P30 Series. Confused yet? Well, following the excellent P30 Pro …
The naming convention is getting me a little confused this early on a Monday morning. We’ve already had the excellent Honor View20, which I reviewed here and loved. Now, though, it looks like there’ll be more “20 Series” phones coming soon. Honor have put out this launch notification …
We published our first ever podcast, unbelievably, way back in 2012. On Tuesday we’ll be publishing Episode 244. The number 244, as you may be aware, is the dialling code for Angola. It’s also the year that Philip the Arab became the new Roman Emperor. So… ermm.. to …
Using your phone whilst driving? Perhaps you have a cheeky look at it when you’re stuck in traffic or in a long tail-back? Well, beware, because the police are now starting to roll out automatic systems which will attempt to spot your phone usage and then flash a …
Seen my Honor View20 review? Like the Desktop Mode and the long battery life? Well, if you want it and you can pay up front, you’ll be glad to hear that there’s a time-limited discount on this particular device. It means that you can get a stonking 128GB …
Way back in the day, a new network called “Three” appeared on the scene. They were the first 3G network at the time and, if you had a rather bulky 3G video phone, you could do video calls and browse the internet on the move. At the time …
Here in the UK Xiaomi are relatively new. They launched officially in November and their new Mi 9 has done very well so far. In London last year we were told again that their hardware net profit margins will be “capped” at 5%. Their CEO, Lei Jun, made …
You know Sonos? Right? Yeah. They’re the go-to people if you want some serious sound in your home. Now IKEA have release Sonos speakers which are integrated with their furniture. Called “SYMFONISK”, it includes a table lamp with sound and light in one place, plus a book-shelf speaker …
Afternoon. Hope you’re well. I’ve just been charged £100 for a parking fine. Nice huh? Thanks Euro Car Parks! 🙁 I’m going to eat chocolate to try and feel better. Plus, right now, if you’re a Vodafone or VOXI customer, you can join me. Let’s start with Voda, …
We’ve spoken lots here about mobile gaming, but there’s a battle that many smartphone manufacturers have fought for many years now. Running a graphic-heavy, high frame-rate game on your phone needs grunt. Lots of grunt. It sucks your battery, it makes your CPU work hard, you need more …
Yes, the P20. Sure, I know that the P30 and the P30 Pro are the new kids on the block, but let’s not forget just how good the P20 is. Dan reviewed it last year and was mightily impressed, however now you’re going to see it get a …
Yes, I’m straight off the plane and into the car to record the podcast. Driving down the M6 in heavy rain definitely makes for an interesting sound in the background. The podcast audio sounds like a badly-tuned FM radio station. Gotta love it. Gotta love it. This week …
OK, sitrep. Vodafone launched a virtual network called VOXI but you had to be younger than 26 to get one of their SIMs. Then, a little while later, you could get a SIM if you were under 30. They then added a stack of freebies and started selling …
Each month Vodafone dish out cash to a worthy local charity. The Community Connection Awards are a way to give back to the local communities in and around the towns, cities and villages where Vodafone stores operate. Often in partnership with local newspapers, they invite clubs, causes and …
Keeping your phone in good condition usually involves a case or cover and a screen protector. Situation normal there, but Invisible Shield have now come up with some foundation for your phone instead. Yes, foundation. It’s basically a liquid protector for your smartphone, smart watch or tablet with …
The PR peeps from Virgin have been in touch and tell me that you can either grab the iPhone 8, the iPhone X or the Samsung Galaxy S10 with a stonking 100GB of data for a mere £4 more than their 1GB pricing. Pretty cool eh? And that’s …
So, you like the look of the P30 handsets? Well, head to the overview from Dan if you’re wanting to know more about it. However, as mentioned on my network comparison piece you can get it on Vodafone too. They’re going to be pimping the Red Entertainment plans, …
Trying out 5G is a little tricky because, put simply, none of us have 5G phones just yet. Now though, if you’re in and around Birmingham, you can try out 5G at Grand Central. Vodafone have invited people travellers to test 5G speeds as part of live trial …
Another week, another podcast, and yes – it’s still as regular as a Brexit Meaningful vote. This week it’s a 48 minute edition covering the story behind the Android bike computer, phone cases, the new Huawei P30 and my quest for a well-priced reconditioned iPhone. As usual, the …
How long have we mentioned this eh? I suggested it to the Huawei bosses when I was in China and we asked them again on our podcast… Joking aside – that was a question we asked when we interviewed them for the CSP podcast. — John M (@GreyingGeekJohn) …
Every now and again I take a look at the rather brilliant robots that are created by the teams at Boston Dynamics. This time they have some interesting industrial robots that counterbalance using a weight between their two wheeled legs. This is just a test of the automated …
I’m perhaps a bit “old-school” because I still have a wallet. In recent years I’ve seen more and more people using a flip cases which has their debit and credit cards on the inside. With people using real cash less, they’re now just merrily tapping away with either …
That clever folding Samsung smartphone looks beautiful, no denying that. However, deep down we’re all thinking, “Surely it’s going to develop a crease or crack somehow?” I tend to use my wallet as an example. It’s got folds and stretches all over it so, despite what my head …
Want to get your floor tiled? Or your bedroom wallpapered? Perhaps you want to have some other work done around the house? If so, you can look out for a local trader. There’s plenty advertised online, in local leaflets and – if you see van outside a neighbour’s …
A few days ago I used lots of cable-tie to strap the ultra-small Unihertz Atom smartphone to my bike. You can have a look at the rather rudimentary fixings here or get up-close with the Atom in my earlier story. Yes, there’s a proper bike mount for this …
Yes, an iPhone. Wait though, let me explain. 🙂 I’ve always pushed back on giving my son a phone, but this year he’s heading to high school and will be travelling further, plus all his mates now communicate via Facetime, WhatsApp or text. He’s used an Android tablet …
The fairly random “A range” of Samsung devices don’t usually get the same level of coverage as the Galaxy S handsets, so let’s take a look at the new Samsung Galaxy A70 which was announced yesterday. This one has a 6.7″ FHD+ (1080×2400) Super AMOLED Infinity display with …
OK, so after the leaks we got a look at the P30 and the P30 Pro from Huawei here in Paris. As we expected, there’s a clever camera setup with a 10x zoom. The P30 Pro gets a Leica Quad Main Camera, whilst the P30 has a Leica …
Right, if you’re at the end of a contract or thinking about buying an additional phone, the Galaxy S10 range could well be on your radar. We’ve covered all the Galaxy phones during Mobile World Congress, but I think it’s worth looking again at the hands-on overview we …
