Author: Leigh Geary
This morning all of our adverts vanished off the site. After looking into it I’ve found that it’s because of our switch to a fully secure URL. We put a redirect from the old http:// pages to the https:// equivalents, however what we… well, what I didn’t do, …
Good morning everyone, and welcome again to my quest to get rid the home phone. Having a phone at home can, for some, be a necessary evil. You may not use it, but it’s usually given to you even if you only want broadband. The thing is, when …
After taking off from Doha, the Qatar Airways flight seemed like any other. However, on the way to Bali, things started to change. A couple, their child, and a smartphone were about to become the reason for the flight making an unscheduled landing in Chennai, India. Midflight, the …
Many years ago I had a hi-fi system. It consisted of a central tuner, cassette player, record player and graphic equalizer plus.. two speakers. Two stereo speakers. A right channel and a left channel. You could position the speakers around your room for the best stereo sound. The …
Back in the day, and I’m talking way back in the day (anyone remember the Amiga?) I I used to love adventure games. Yes, it was a few years ago, but the graphics were just good enough to make you believe that you were stepping into a different …
Hey there, it’s me. Today I’m reviewing an iron. Yes, an iron. This isn’t a normal iron though. Oh no. This is a steam generator iron. Normally we’ve perhaps shied away from buying one of these things. We’ve always gone for the “usual” type of iron which has …
This is a hard-wearing speaker from a company called VAVA. It’s rated as “IPX6” so should, in theory, cope with a blast of water from a jet plus dust and sand. Basically, they’re offering a speaker that you can attach to you bag and go camping with here, …
I’ll be honest here. I don’t have £999 for a phone. I’m using an Honor 9 for £379.99 (read all about it here) and.. well, it’s perfect for me. Lovely camera, a speedy experience, great screen and it looks bloody gorgeous. If I had £999 floating around, I’d …
Every now and then we get an email from a company which includes research relating to mobile phones. The company involved will want to get their name mentioned (in this case it’s Protect Your Bubble) so that they can have some free advertising. This is another one of …
Who fancies buying a brand new (and very expensive) iPhone X, then taking it to bits? Anyone? No? Wait! The free repair guide website, iFixit have put their hand up, and they’ve detailed the process here. They tell me that… The iPhone X opens from the side just …
There’s plenty of monitoring apps out there but, if you want to pay absolutely nothing, the new Easy Logger app might be of interest. It’s for Android and you will need to side-load an APK, but for precisely nothing per month you’ll get full logging of all phone …
As you’ll know if you read our HTC U11 review, we do like the HTC handsets. Before the U11 was announced, we got to play with the HTC U Play and the U Ultra but, come on, hands up who actually has either of those two. There lies …
After the launch of the O2 Generation Flex and their very own “Youth network” (Vox), Vodafone have announced a new set of fresh ideas to add a bit more flexibility. First, something called “Vodafone Passes”. These let contract customer use some data-intensive apps without chopping away at their …
They call it a quadcopter. I’m gonna call it a drone. This drone, though, has considerably less “faff” about it than most drones, and it’s less than £40, which really isn’t bad at all. When it arrives, you’ll notice that the remote control is far bigger than the …
Just a couple of days ago we took a look at the latest iPhone X prices but you guys, quite rightly, said that they were quite a lot of money. Well. Yes. Now, we did find some deals for around £50 per month but, even though this was …
Fancy the Pixel 2 or the Pixel 2 XL? Well, if it’s size you want, the Google Pixel 2 XL has a bigger 6″ screen and a higher price-tag t’boot. £799 will get you a 64GB version, and it’s £899 for the 128GB model. It’s got a pOLED …
Yesterday we reviewed the 10,000mAh portable charger from RAVPower. It’s small enough to fit in your pocket and is powerful enough to recharge your smartphone or Bluetooth speaker several times over. It’s only £13.99 from Amazon but we’ve managed to get it down even further with an exclusive …
In February next year it’ll be exactly 15 years since this website came into being. I was, for many months before that, writing all this stuff on another domain. A free stick of chewing gum if you remember that far back. If I’m honest, after you’ve seen the …
WOoo!!! Another power bank for me to review. I LIVE TO REVIEW POWER BANKS!!! Guess what this one does. Go on, guess! Yes, this will power up from a wall charger or another USB input via the microUSB central “Input port”. You get two microUSB-to-USB cables in the …
As you may have realised by the sheer age of this website, I’m old enough to remember when there simply were no phones in school. I grew up in an age when there was a First School, a Middle School and a High School. At no time did …
A little bit of me still whinces when the price tag on a phone is four digits long, and I can’t buy an iPhone X myself because it would be worth more than the car I’m driving. That’s just weird. There’s no getting away from the iPhone X …
I review a lot of phones and one trend I’m definitely seeing is the addition of “phone health” apps. On Android they’re designed to keep your phone in shape. To make sure that rogue apps aren’t running in the background, sucking memory, power and space. Space, no matter …
If you’re travelling light then, even if you’re going ultra-light like I’ve done on my various charity bike rides (which, of course, I don’t like to talk about), you’re going to be taking your smartphone with you. To be honest there’ not a great deal of places where …
Late last night we switched the site over from http://www.coolsmartphone.com to https://www.coolsmartphone.com. There’s a few reasons why we did this. Firstly, Google is pushing for websites to do this as it secures the connection between you there and us here. Any data flowing from the site or into …
The lovely people at ROMOSS were so happy with our earlier review of their all-in-one power bank that they’ve sent us ale and a free man shed. Not only that, but there’s also an exclusive 20% voucher code if you want to buy one from Amazon. The portable …
I’ve been pretty impressed with the XZ Premium ever since I first saw the thing back in March. The build quality is the usual Sony finery and that 5.5″ screen resolution (2160×3840 pixels) is stunning. It also comes with the ultra-fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 CPU, 4GB RAM, 64GB …
Hey! Want a power bank that looks a bit like a suitcase? Well, that’s what we’ve got right here. Think of a normal portable battery. When you want to charge the thing up you’ll need to get a cable and find a USB wall charger or something similar. …
As you’ll know if you read my impressions of it, I loved the Huawei P10. I really, really didn’t want to give the thing back. With a lot of smartphones now becoming fairly similar with their specs, I’m always on the look-out for three key points… A good …
I’ve been meaning to write this for a while but it kept slipping off my radar. On Saturday, whilst at the local Tesco, it popped up in my head again as I spotted a lengthy queue at the lottery counter. There’s still a fair amount of people who, …
The all new Pixel 2 XL is already in the hands of reviewers and the feedback is generally good… apart from the screen. A strange blue hue and a familiar screen burn-in on the XL 2 is appearing after just a few days of use. As it’s the …
OK. Call them power banks, call them portable chargers, you basically fill them up via the wall socket or some other USB power outlet, them you put them in your pocket and charge up your electronic gadgets as and when you need. Great. Most portable chargers are quite …
It’s fairly obvious to many. You go and buy a new mobile phone. It’s on a two year contract. You probably pay about £38 per month for it. As you near the end of the two years, you’re itching to upgrade to the latest handset. Unless you’re with …
When I get home and do a scan of the surrounding WiFi hotspots, it’s pretty apparent that a huge amount of my neighbours have gone with BT Broadband. If that’s you, this post is perfect if you’re ready to switch to SIM only. BT, as you may or …
A short while ago I had Virgin Media broadband installed at home. Like many, I had a TV, phone and internet package. I wanted better broadband speeds, and I got it. However, the TiVo box wasn’t something I “connected” with. There’s definitely some odd and grating design decisions …
OK, I’ve got to be quick with this one as iD Mobile have, after pushing out lots of bonkers adverts, gone a bit nuts with this one particular deal and I’m going to make the most of it. If you’re looking for a low-cost SIM-only plan for a …
If you’ve got a Huawei Mate 9 then you may be looking on with envy after the Mate 10 announcement. Don’t worry though, because, if you’re super-quick, you can get in on the Android 8.0 (Oreo) action too. Head to the Huawei beta test area and you can …
Last week I was reviewing a car and this week I’m getting a pitch from an electric scooter company. It’s certainly different to my years of reviewing phones. This one is an electric bike which can get you to nearly 28 mph in just 3.3 seconds. Depending how …
Pretty much everybody reading this will be using their smartphone in exactly the same way. You’ll be scrolling down the screen with your finger or thumb. Standard. However, you can hook up a range of both wired and wireless (Bluetooth) kit to let you interact in an arguably …
Because I’m a tight-wad, I paid a mere £8.46 for a dash cam. The resulting product, unsurprisingly, is a piece of crap. The low-light performance is appalling, the build quality is flaky, the rear LCD panel doesn’t always illuminate and despite the “HD” promise, the 640×480 video reproduction …
Back in the day we’d all either owned or played on a NES. Now, if you want to relive those times there’s a miniature version.. Yes, you can travel back to mid-80’s, when the Nintendo Entertainment System first appeared on our shores, and play games like Super Mario …
