Author: Leigh Geary

Jump into the Vodafone Winter Sale

OK, so all of these deals are available until February 4th, so you’ve pretty much got a month exactly. Here goes, as we dive into the offers. First up, SIM-only plans. There’s unlimited texts and minutes on all of these, but the 10GB data plan is now £20. …

Virgin Mobile January Sale Deals!

So it’s January, and as we all pretend that we can still sit around eating chocolates in our pants, there’s the harsh reality that we actually have to go out and do some work… or shopping. Yes, more shopping. If you want the best deals, these next few …

It’s 2019! Buy more stuff!

Happy New Year all! Yes, it’s January 1st 2019. Come on, you must still have £19 kicking around somewhere, right? Well, for a penny less you can get a 128GB microSD card for boosting the amount of storage available in your Android phone. Head to MyMemory for the …

Just a few Boxing Day deals

It’s Boxing Day, so – for almost the fifth day running – I’m about to get stuck into yet another massive meal. Luckily, I have my sneaky stretchy jeans. If you’re one of those nut-jobs who’ve been up since 5AM to get to a Boxing Day sale in …

The Coolsmartphone Christmas Message

People of the world, I’ve been doing this for almost 17 years now. Writing about smartphones started as a mad hobby and has slowly taken over my life. I have the privilege of talking to you lovely lot though, and that does tend to keep me going 🙂 …

Xiaomi – An early look at the Boxing Day offers!

Yes folks, it’s not even Christmas yet and we’re getting details of the deals you’ll be able to get after the event. Xiaomi have sent us their offers, which include the Redmi 6, Redmit Note 6 Pro, Pocophone, the A2 and the Mi 8 in their Westfield store. …

Santa flies in, powered by Vodafone

Yes, Santa is about to unload his sack down your chimney. However, there’s also a smaller Vodafone Santa flying around, and he’s powered by 4G! This is the Santa Drone, and he’s flown via a 4G link. This means that the drone can fly much further than ever …

Unlocked pre-owned iPhone 7 – £219

When I start seeing “last minute gifts”, it’s usually a sign that I should maybe start my shopping. I’m looking around for a cheap iPhone at the moment (I know, don’t ask) and this reconditioned iPhone 7 pinged my radar. It’s £219 on giffgaff and you get a …

Xiaomi complaints result in Advertising Standards response

We were down in London last month for the UK Xiaomi launch. Their kit is absolutely top notch and they’re causing waves by creating flagship phones without the insane price-tag. At the launch, which we covered here, there was a lot of promotional activity going on. The launch …

Card games on your smartphone

When I was a kid, we didn’t go on holiday to exotic sunkist destinations. No evenings walking on the beach or playing in an outside fairground. Oh no, it we were in a VW camper van in Wales, freezing our bits off. I loved it though. I loved …

A busy Boxing Day for new smartphone owners

This year is another bumper few days for sports fans. Boxing Day, the 26th of December, will see a huge fixture list, and Premier League fans get to see Wolves, Burnley, Everton, Crystal Palace, Cardiff City, Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea in action. It’s a …

Virgin Mobile – Another great deal

This one actually appears to be better than the £12 for 12GB we spotted the other day. You pay a bit more for this one – £16 per month – but you get 30GB of data. In addition there’s 2500 minutes of talk-time and unlimited texts. As before, …

New Mujjo Touchscreen Gloves – Review

Paying €49.90 or $49.90 for a pair of touchscreen gloves might seem a bit much, but believe me – I’ve tried touchscreen gloves in the past. Yes, you can get cheaper gloves out there, but you’ll be walking around in a minefield of gloves which either make your …

Get yourself some Amazon vouchers for recommending SMARTY

Sitting on the Three network, SMARTY is a new SIM-only network which offers three simple plans. They have on-line help if you get stuck, but everything is easy and straightforward – just order a SIM, whack it in your phone and pay on a per-month basis.. They have …

Virgin Mobile – 12GB for £12 per month deal

Right, got to be quick with this one because apparently we’re already entering into “last minute gifts”-territory and I still don’t have any presents purchased. If you fancy getting 12GB of monthly data and like EE coverage, sign up to this Virgin Mobile deal. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got Virgin …

Gionee to restructure as they struggle on

I used to work at the biggest online gambling company in the world. I’ve seen at first hand the speed that systems have to respond and how mobile phones are now pushing the industry to huge new heights. If you’re ready for online casino fun, find more casino …

Fancy a quick game of Pachinko?

Wait, what is pachinko ? Yeah, not many people outside of Japan have heard about it. However, you probably will have heard about pinball, and this is a vertical version. In Japan there’s traditionally been mechanical and noisy machines which use balls which are smaller than Western pinball …

Nissan want me to test drive their new GT-R

Yeah, so two phone calls this morning. One from Nissan wanting me to test-drive this thing, then another from Theresa May shouting, “I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO” whilst crying hysterically. Then, after a lie down, I suddenly realised that I’d added Baileys to my coffee and none …

Vodafone expanding coverage with manholes

If you’re looking to grow your mobile coverage you’d traditionally think of large mobile masts, right? We have a love / hate relationship with these things, and our mast finder article has been inundated with people trying to find out where their most local mast is. Sadly, there’s …

The Elderly are becoming more tech-savvy with smartphones

On a recent train journey to London I had a rather heart-warming experience whilst sat next to a group of elderly ladies. They had a paper map, stuck together, and were planning their day trip to the city. They happily discussed where to go, what to see first …

O2 seeking millions in damages from Ericsson

After a pretty terrible outage, it’s become painfully apparent how much we all rely on mobile data. Customers on O2 will receive compensation but O2 / Telefonica are also seeking compensation from the people who caused the problem – Ericsson. According to The Telegraph there’s a damages bill …

The mobile wallet. Just as safe as your bank.

We went to London last week. It was part of our annual trip to the city to see the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. However, whilst my mates nipped to the nearest cashpoint, I decided to chance it and not use any cash at all. Now, going to …

O2 Outage compensation on the way

So, yesterday someone at Ericsson forgot to renew a certificate. This caused O2, giffgaff, Tesco Mobile, Sky and Lycamobile customers to lose all internet connectivity and there was some severe red faces as the O2 network ended up on the front pages of newspapers and websites for all …

Great brew. No queue.

At my previous employers they had free Costa Coffee on tap all day long. Truth be told, I’m kinda detoxing now and only have one every now and then. However, if you’re a Costa lover, you live or work in London and you have the Costa Coffee Club …

Get the Palm today

We told you about the upcoming Palm companion which appeared on the “Coming Soon” bit of Vodafone recently. It’s credit card sized and is great for slotting onto your bike, taking on trips, going to the gym or on nights out. Now available, you can get this one …

(LIVE) No O2 for you too? Network problems continue to rumble on.

If you’re using an O2 mobile today then, well, you probably won’t be able to read this … not unless you’re on WiFi. Since 5.30 this morning there’s been major problems with connectivity, which O2 are blaming on a third party software issue. Up to 32 million UK …

EE first in the world to range a 5G OnePlus phone

Read our EE 5G news recently? Well, it’s certainly coming thick and fast, with EE whacking up 9 sites already and a big push to cover all the busy areas with the new technology. In addition, 5G will enable mobile networks to compete with fixed line broadband providers. …

Amazon Launchpad – Great Gadget Gift Ideas

Looking for gift ideas this Christmas? Yeah you are. Admit it, if you’re anything like me you won’t have even started buying stuff. So, before the panic sets in, here’s a list of stuff that could spark your interest. It’s all part of the Amazon Launchpad gadget range, …

YI Dome Camera, now reduced

This is a 720p IP camera with a wide-angled lens and has night vision. It’s ideal for seeing to your home if you’re away for Christmas – you can setup activity alerts and setup certain positions so that you can quickly switch. A two-way audio system also means …

A week with the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro – Day 3. The interface.

Morning all. So, I had a lovely intro to this third day with the Mi 8 Pro. You can see our story so far here. This morning though, I woke up to find that the Mi 8 Pro had received an update, and the GUI looked remarkably different. …

Vodafone launch a new reward scheme – VeryMe Rewards

Getting little treats like free cinema tickets, cheap meals or a coffee can be a great way to keep you a happy mobile customer. Anyone remember “Orange Wednesdays” back in the day? That proved popular and other networks, like O2 with their Priority scheme and Three with Wuntu, …

Trying to save for a new phone

So, as you’ll know, I smashed my last phone in quite a spectacular way. It fell out of an open-sided bus and I’m still trying to find someone clever to actually repair the thing, or at least get the precious photos of it that I took (and sadly …

A week with the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro – Day 2. The camera.

This morning I woke up. It was a bright, sunny day and the birds were gently tweeting their morning chorus. It made me feel lucky to be alive. I couldn’t wake to spring out of bed and greet the day with big, open arms. Ah well, no. Not …

OnePlus team up with McLaren

If you’re going to imprint the feeling of speed into the minds of customers, it’s probably not going to hurt if you partner with an F1 racing team, right? That’s exactly what OnePlus have just done. They’re going to host a “Salute to Speed” event on December 11th, …

A week with the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro – Day 1. A tour

I went a bit crazy about the Mi 8 Pro during the launch. Was it the free wine they were giving out? Was it the fact that it was 3 o’clock in the afternoon and I was drinking on an empty stomach? Well, perhaps some of that, but …

And another £1000 !

In my earlier article I should’ve also mentioned that Bournemouth Hospital Charity have also been awarded a £1,000 from Vodafone. Their Bournemouth store team chose the deserving cause. Bournemouth Hospital Charity helps with care and treatment for patients in the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals. Through their charity …